Family Tree has tapered off!

[TonyMcGartland]

When the family tree seems to have hit a 'brick wall' and seven years of research has brought you back to 1779 and one person left standing, where do you go next in finding out more. Years of trying has unearthed little more, do you just give up?

[Craclyn]

Follow the collateral lines downwards. You may find other branches who have information that can help you to knock down your brick wall.

[SelDen]

I think that acknowledging that you have come to the end of reliable records for a particular line can be the sign of an honest researcher. In some places the records just aren’t there for ordinary working people beyond a certain date, if they kept out of court, Parish support and did not own or lease property or leave wills, and perhaps moved around.

However I would also wholeheartedly endorse the “go wide” approach suggested by Craclyn. I appreciate you may already be doing this but perhaps go even wider than you have?

Following up siblings and cousins and their children can open up many more doors, including those leading backwards. Evidence which may be weak for your immediate line may look quite different when you have the picture for the wider family.

Part of going wide can include DNA testing. This will confirm ( or otherwise) your paper trail and is also likely to suggest new avenues of research.

Good luck.

[coombs]

I think admitting defeat is sometimes a thing you have to do with a certain relative. Especially a common surname. Say for instance you descend from a John Smith who wed Mary Hamilton in London in 1752, finding the parents and baptism of John Smith will be virtually impossible as it is pre census and civil reg eras, and London attracted people from all over the UK. If they married on or after 1 Jan 1754, the chance increases if you look at the original register and note the 2 witnesses (sometimes more or even just 1). You may strike lucky if your John Smith wed in a London church in 1756 and the 2 witnesses was Hepzibah Smith and Cornelius Smith. 

Sadly, non conformity can make finding an ancestor much harder as the survival rate for NC records is quite low I think.

[hallmark]

Have you tried checking what is recorded for each townland your kin were at? 

e.g Leitrim 1739 to 1810

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSNX-X9DN-K?i=6&cat=185720

keeping an eye on Column2... the Barony. 

Rosclogher  would be your Barony. All a matter of luck!!


Keep eyedrops nearby..... 

[Lola5]

I think there has to be  a cutting off point.

You cannot go trailing over the same old ground for clues / records that you cannot access..

I gave up on my Irish line eventually only to be surprised some years later when  that  parish records  were released.
Still stumped  on earlier generations though.

Another branch is hopeless beyond 1782 so given up on that.
Something for those who come after me to discover.

Sometimes the unexpected happens   and those for whom  you  have long searched are revealed.
Happy New Year. To All.

[coombs]

It does get harder the further you go back. Less survival rates of records, or records stop before a certain date. Useful censuses only go back to 1841, BMD registers back to 1837.

Wills, poor law records, ratebooks and parish registers are 4 big resources for pre 1800 research, and many a time I have found a page missing from a parish register. Failure to find a baptism in parish registers may indicate non conformity or even no baptism/gaps in the PR's.

[Ruskie]

Have you tried checking what is recorded for each townland your kin were at? 

e.g Leitrim 1739 to 1810

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSNX-X9DN-K?i=6&cat=185720

keeping an eye on Column2... the Barony. 

Rosclogher  would be your Barony. All a matter of luck!!


Keep eyedrops nearby..... 

Completely irrelevant, but have you noticed that if you zoom in on that link, in the heading, the letter “o” in “County” has a little face drawn in it? Very charming I think. 

[TonyMcGartland]

I think there has to be  a cutting off point.

You cannot go trailing over the same old ground for clues / records that you cannot access..

I gave up on my Irish line eventually only to be surprised some years later when  that  parish records  were released.
Still stumped  on earlier generations though.

Another branch is hopeless beyond 1782 so given up on that.
Something for those who come after me to discover.

Sometimes the unexpected happens   and those for whom  you  have long searched are revealed.
Happy New Year. To All.

Very valid point, I think its time to stay away and let the clues come to me. I have over 1500 people  on my tree and it has been a pleasure finding them all.
Happy New Year