Getting Started

I find the best way to begin to trace your ancestors is to make a pot of Tea or Coffee, or even something a little stronger. Then settle down with a pad of paper and a pencil, (I recommend pencil as when you start to use the Archives, it is necessary, as pens can damage documents or books). If you are using a ruled pad, leave every other row empty, so that you can add extra notes later. In addition, I would suggest that you use a fresh page for each family generation.

Starting with yourself who are you

· When & Where were you born?

· Where did you go to School?

· Where did/do you work?

· Where did/do you live?

· Who is your spouse / partner?

· How many children do you have?

· Are there any Grandchildren?

Now move to your Parents

· When & Where were they born?

· Where did they go to School?

· Where did/do they work?

· Where did/do they live?

· When were they married?

· How many children do they have?

· Did your father work in the pits; does he have any interesting stories?

· Did your father or mother do military service, if so did they see action?

· Next do the same for your grandparents, however at this stage don’t worry about their children.

Repeat the process for your Grand Parents

Now it is possible in this day and age, you may know about your great grandparents, write down what you know about them.

The next stage is to look for old photographs and family papers, (birth, marriage or death certificates; newspaper cuttings, army papers etc.) also there may be a Family Bible.

Now with all of these copy them and keep the originals safe, as it can be costly and sometime impossible to replace.

To increase your family knowledge, I would suggest that, you arrange a get-together, with the elder members of the family, I would however recommend that do it on a one to one basis as you can get them all talking together and they may go off at a tangent and lose the train of thought. I would suggest you record these meetings, as it can be useful later if you miss to write a detail down, as you get engrossed in talking.

Also, ask about old Photographs and family papers, and ask for copies. (One point to remember, stories of family deeds can be embellished over the years, where possible check out the information with the newspapers of the time.

With the information you have accumulated you could now try some of the internet sites to see if you can advance you knowledge, (remember, if you don’t have a computer at home all the local libraries have free access to the internet). The first site I would try is the 1901 Census, then the 1881 Census. Once you have the family back to the 19^th Century, it may be best to use the archives to crack the problem as you have access to a greater variety of information from census to church registers and voting registers. The 1911 census was the first census filled in by our ancestors in their own hand, it will give the total number of children (living and deceased) they had and the number of years they have been married

Most local libraries have Ancestry online available, on the computers.

One point to remember, the information, which you gather from the internet, if it is a transcript, I would then check these facts out with another source as errors are quite common, wrong dates and places, which can: a) lead you on the wrong tracks, and b) cause problems with your information tracking. Also, be prepared for variation in the spelling of surnames, for you have to remember, pre-1900, the ability to read and write was limited.

Also remember, not every parish is on the Internet. Thus you will find a great number of the churches are not available on Family search, the reason for this could be the elders of the church refused the permission for the records to be released, or the church was founded after 1812. If either of these reasons applies to one of the churches, in which you are interested, then you will have to use the Archives (Local Record Offices), to gain access the relevant registers.

The local record office also houses a collection of other documents, for by the previously mentioned including Newspapers and tithe plans, colliery records and school records.

However, you must remember to reserve a reader at the Archives or library, you just can’t turn up and expect to have access to what you want.

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Getting Started

Send mail to johngmilburn@annfieldplain-fhs.co.uk with questions or comments about this web site.