Hi,

Now for some information on death certificates. Search the official index (or one online, but they mightn't have a full index). An importnat thing to remember on this one. It makes senses, where appropriate, to search for the wife first. If she has died, the certificate will probably tell you if the husband has already died. ie. widow of ........

Good luck with your searching and I'll be back soon.

Regards,

Colin

P.S. All the information on this blog mainly relates to people searching for ancestors born in England.

Hi,

Marriage Certificates- you may need to search the index. If you don't know when people were married, try looking at the years immediately prior to their first child's birth. Marriage certificates can give a wealth of information. If you know where they got married, you may not have to send off for a marriage certificate, and may be able to get a copy of the entry in a 'Church Marriage Register', at the appropriate record office.

Regards,

Colin

In order to help further, and double-check information, you may went to order birth, marriage and death certificates.

I'll tell you today about birth certificates. Registration started in 1837, although not everyone registered a birth. You will need to check an index, online or at a local record office (there may be a charge online). You will need to look under the surname, and the year is split into quarters. Look at the quarter after which they were born. If not there, try the quarter they were born in, and the quarter after the first one checked. If you don't know what month he/she was registered in, you'll just have to check the year. Unfortunately, there may be people with the same name. You will then, unfortunately, have to go through a process of elimination (trying the person on the index, registered in the area, closest to wherre you thought they'd been born). There is no guarantee, though, that any certificates ordered are going to refer to any of the people you are looking for.

Once you have found a reference number, you can then use it to order a copy of a birth certificate from the General Register Office. This can be done online or through the post. It will tell you who that person's parents were etc.

Hi,

You may now be able to search the other cenuses using the same sort of procedure. The main detailed censuses, which are currently available in England 'to view' are the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901.

Regards,

Colin

On the 1901 census, you may find that, for example, your great-great grandmother was living with your great-great-grandfather and they had children (if the children were still at home, their names would be given). The great-great grandfather's and great-great grandmother's 'approximate' age would be given, so you can then hopefully apply for birth certificates. You will also at this stage be able to possibly go back to the 1891 and 1881 censuses, and find out who they were living with earlier on in life. This may give details of their parents.

Regards,

Colin

Hi,

Right, so hopefully we've got some names and dates of your 'biological' family.

If your family are from England, and one of your dates is pre-1901, you can now search the 1901 census. This will cost you a little bit of money, unless you can get free access. If you don't have any pre-1901 dates, you will probably have to order a birth certificate of someone, whose parents were born pre-1901. You can then search for one of the 'parents' on the 1901 census, providing they were still alive.

More tomorrow.

Regards,

Colin

Hi,

Now you've written information you know, it is time to ask relatives what information they know. You may wish to telephone relatives you haven't spoken to for a long while.

I'll take you through another stage soon.

Regards,

Colin

Are you doing your family tree?

Hi,

One of the first things to say is you'll probably never DO it! There are generally that many branches that come off a main tree, you can carry on for a long time.

Please note you could find out 'stuff' you don't want to, when doing your family tree.

If you do decide you want to 'do it', a good start would be to write down any names, dates and information you already know.

I'll do another step tomorrow.

Regards,

Colin

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