Are you interested in tracing your own branch of the family, or helping others to do so?
Hopefully the following may provide a few 'clues' as to how to start, and what you need to find
out and from whom etc.
Stage
|
Subject
|
Brief Comments
|
1
|
Where do I start?
|
From the 'known' (e.g. yourself and your own details),
backwards
|
2
|
Who can I ask?
|
Your Parents, their Brothers and Sisters, your own Brothers
and Sisters, other Relations, Friends of the Family etc
|
3
|
What should I ask of them?
|
Details re your own as well as your parents' and their
parents' (etc) full names, when and where they were born,
married, etc, together with any details re dates and places
of death and where family members were buried etc.
Were Wills made, did individuals have 'nicknames' , did
they have children, and if so, what were their names, are
they still alive, and if so, where are they living? Do any of
your family have any Certificates, Family Bibles or any
other records relating to individuals or the family in
general?
|
4
|
What should I look for?
|
Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates
|
5
|
What will the Certificates tell me?
|
Dates, Names, Addresses, Occupations etc. Which
parents were living when children were born, or when
couples' married. Names and Occupations of
individuals, plus maiden surnames.
|
6
|
How will those details help me?
|
Taking for example a Birth Cerificate. On this will be
found the names of the baby's Mother and Father, together
with the Mother's maiden surname, and the couples'
occupations and address.
Using the surnames of the Mother and Father it will be
possible to check for their marriage within the
GRO Indexes, and to obtain a copy of their Marriage
Certificate.
On their Marriage Certificate will be stated their
addresses, their ages and Occupations, and most
especially, the Names and Occupations (and whether
living or deceased) of their respective Fathers.
|
7
|
What are the GRO Indexes?
|
GRO stands for the 'General Register Office' and it is the
central point at which details of all Births, Marriages and
Deaths for England and Wales are assembled and written
into large Books of Indexes, each of which states basic
references to the relevant 'event'.
For example, whatever the event, the Indexes will have
recorded within them, the person's; SURNAME;
FIRST-NAMES; VOLUME No; PAGE No; and the
REGISTRATION DISTRICT, whilst every Index is compiled
in 'Quarters' for each Year.
|
8
|
What is a 'Quarter'?
|
Each Registration Year is broken up into 4 'Quarters',
being January-February-March (referred to as JFM);
April-May-June (AMJ); July-August-September (JAS);
and October-November-December (OND)
|
9
|
What date did the GRO Indexes begin?
|
1837, with the introduction by the then Government of
'Civil Registration'.
|
10
|
Why was Civil Registration introduced?
|
Before 1837, records relating to BAPTISMS (not Births),
Marriages, and BURIALS (not Deaths) had been entered
into Church and Chapel Registers compiled by both the
Established (i.e. Church of England) and Non-Conformist
(i.e. Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Quaker, Catholic
etc) faiths. Unfortunately such records were not an exact
'science' and many events failed to be recorded due to
various reasons.
Another reason for the introduction of Civil Registration
(besides the penalties imposed by successive Governments for anyone failing to register any Birth,
Marriage or Death), was that Civil Registration was
indirectly a form of Census, or counting of the people, etc,
or put another way, it was a means to know what was
happening to the population on a day-by-day basis.
|
If any of the above didn't answer any of your questions, please email me at 
and I will do my best to help you further.