If you have tried to find your ancestors on the online census indexes or birth, marriage and death indexes, but have been unable to get any results, don’t give up.  Remember that these indexes have been copied from handwriting, which can often be very difficult to read.  Errors are far more common than you might think.

Sometimes, it is not even the transcribers fault!  To give you an example of this, I tried for a very long time to find my grandfather, Francis McEwen on the 1871 census.  As he was later known as Francis MANLEY, I had tried every possible spelling of both surnames on the Ancestry.co.uk indexes, using the phonetic search, and trying out every possible spelling of McEwen (which are many!).

Eventually,  in desperation, I tried taking out the Christian name.  In looking through the long list that followed I found this entry:

Fracis McEwen, born about 1865, Ardwick, Manchester.

Bingo!

All that was missing was that little “n” – and when I looked at the original census document, I found that it was the fault of the enumerator, not the transcriber!

This little discovery led to a whole new breakthrough in my Manley/McEwen ancestry and uncovered a mystery surrounding my grandfather’s parentage.

This all goes to show that if you are having difficulty finding your ancestor on these indexes, you really need to spend some time with different surname and Christian name spellings.  Of course, you can un-check the “exact spelling” box to enable a phonetic search – but do not rely on this.  There has been many a time when I have found an ancestor by trying a different spelling myself when it had not come up under a phonetic search.

On Ancestry.co.uk, you can search for a surname without a Christian name, or vice versa, and it is certainly worth doing this if you are getting no results – unless, of course, your ancestors surname is something like Smith or Brown, in which case you will get far too many results from the surname alone!

Equally, entering the Christian name without the surname is only really effective if you have a fairly unusual name or you are searching within a very small parish.

Using genealogy records online is not as straight forward as it may seem, and there is a real knack to using the online indexes.  The trick is to keep trying every possible spelling or mis-spelling of your family surnames, and don’t forget to try variations of all the other search criteria, such as location and relationship too.  Even male and female have been known to get muddled up!

Happy hunting!

Blank family tree chart

This problem has been very nicely solved by Godridge’s of Coventry. Their 7 generation blank chart is nicely printed onto glossy paper with a green background in a semi-circular design which allows you to show your ancestors back to your 64 great-great-great-great grandparents!

The chart allows you to use Avery mini-labels, onto which you can write or print your family history details, so creating your unique family tree in a neat and attractive way.  After you have entered all your details, you can get the wall chart framed, and so create a great talking point for any family or visitors!

Godridges also have available paternal line family tree charts, twin line family tree charts (showing both paternal and maternal lines) and 4-generation family tree charts.

To find out how to order your blank family tree chart go to Godridges of Coventry.

Below is a very simple example of how a family tree chart is laid out:

Sample of part of a family tree from www.cradleylinks.com

How much information you include is up to you, but generally, the basic details are usually put underneath each name.

For example, here is what I would put on my own tree for my paternal grandfather:

Walter Bott
brn. 17/10/1884, Manchester
m. 6/10/1914, Isle of Man
d. 8/6/1949, Isle of Man

You will need to use abbreviations when setting out your information. There are no hard and fast rules about this, but you will need a basic understanding of them, and a consistent system for your own use. Here are a few basic examples to get you started:

Born - brn.
Baptised - bapt. or c. (christened)
Married - m. (it is common practice to put a =
between husband and wife on the family tree)
Died - d.
Buried - bur.

Another way of laying out information about your direct ancestry is the Pedigree Chart. This clearly shows your direct ancestors (parents, grand-parents etc) but does not show any siblings. Each generation is shown vertically, instead of horizontally.   Here is a template for this from http://www.toombs.public.lib.ga.us/So You Want to Grow a Family Tree.htm

Pedigree chart template

As I mentioned before, there are software programs you can buy for organizing and laying out your family tree.  The one I use is Family Tree Maker, but you can find many others by searching online, or finding reviews in family tree magazines.

I also recently came across this website: www.godridges.co.uk where you can buy nice presentation family tree wall charts which show 7 generations of your family.

Once you know how to draw a family tree, you can use the format for making notes when you are in archives and for working out family relationships.  You could also get really creative and draw your own big tree with illustrations!

Ros Bott