Even so, there are still thousands of records that can only be accessed by visiting local record offices or archives, and even though the big online genealogy website entice us by announcing the release of many more records (as both Ancestry.co.uk and FindMyPast have both done within the last fornight), there may only be a few documents online that give us much information about a specific ancestor.

So what can you do to enrich your knowledge of an ancestor without travelling to a local archive or paying for someone to do it for you?

Last week I decided to have a look at FindMyPast‘s recently released Manchester Collection.  Both my mother’s and my father’s family have lived at some time in Manchester, so I hoped that I might find something on here pertaining to both sides of my family tree.  However, the only document that I could definitely link to an ancestor was the registration document for my maternal great-grandmother’s entry into the Manchester Workhouse.

I knew that Ann Reid (nee Jepson) had spent some time in the workhouse because I had found her there on the 1901 census, and I knew from my mother that she had had a very bad time after the untimely death of her husband, and that the younger children (including my grandmother) had gone into foster homes.  The information contained in the registration document was fairly dry – it told me nothing more than the dates of entry and discharge, her religion and age.  There was not much here that I didn’t already know, but I used up some of my FindMyPast credits to see the original document.

The date of her entry was interesting because it was 28th December 1900.  This was my grandmother’s 8th birthday, and I immediately thought what a horrid birthday that must have been for her, with her mother entering the workhouse, and having to go and live with a foster family.  It was also interesting that the creed register gave her religion as Church of England, as she had married into a Roman Catholic family from Ireland.

I then looked to see if I could find any more information about this workhouse, including any photographs.  The wonderful website Workhouses.org.uk gave me this page full of information about the old workhouse, and the building of the Cumpsall workhouse (where my great-grandmother stayed) in 1855-7.  According to a report in 1866, it was “…one of the best managed work-houses that I have ever inspected. It is in thoroughly excellent order throughout, and generally in such a state as to reflect the highest credit on all concerned in its management and care.”  This was good to know, considering the terrible things I have read about most workhouses, and I was glad that Ann Reid was in such a well managed place.  This website has plenty of photographs, which I have not copied here as they are under strict copyright, but I did find a photograph of an old sign about visiting hours dated 1879, and I wondered whether the rules still applied in 1900!

This may not seem like a huge amount of information, but it certainly enriches what I know about my great-grandmother’s life, and gives me a bit of insight into the year she spent in the workhouse.  Somehow, this kind of information brings our ancestors much closer.

Of course, more details are no doubt to be had by visiting Manchester archives, and I hope to deepen my research further at some point by doing this – but my point today is that there is still much you can find out about your ancestors by looking at relevant resources on the internet, and it is always worth following up any information you find by using google searches or online maps.

But it is this ease and quickness that worries me.  Genealogists who have had no training in research have never been taught to question every record, and are often too ready to believe everything they see in writing.  And while the published trees on sites such as Ancestry are very useful and can help to provide bits of information that you have not found yourself, you should never rely on them without following up the sources yourself.  I have seen terrible errors on these trees, and I find it sad that many people are probably chasing their family up the wrong tree!

I was glad to see in the recent episode of Who Do You Think You Are? that they showed the mistake that had been made with J. K. Rowling’s family tree – where a military person with a similar name and dates had been confused with the real ancestor – and without some careful studying of the actual details the correct ancestor may well have been missed.

Although I am a big fan of this programme, I have often felt in the past that they have made tracing your ancestors look far too easy, so this was a welcome change.  It is as well to remember that months of painstaking research have taken place before the filming of these episodes – it doesn’t all just happen as you see it (I may be teaching my granny to suck eggs here – but even the most intelligent could be fooled into believing it’s all a bit of a doddle).

So, if you are an amateur genealogist, it is ESSENTIAL that you take heed of the following guidelines:

• Understand Your Sources.  When using that most popular of sources, the census, for example, it is important that you understand its origins, the way the information was collected, and attitudes towards it.  The information that you see on census records has very often been written down by the enumerator by what he has heard from the head of household, copied at least once – and then indexed by modern transcribers.  Think how many spelling errors that will result in!   And did you know that many sufferagettes – and their supporters – refused to be included in the 1911 census as a protest against the Government’s refusal to allow votes for women?  Reading up about the history of every source you use will give you a professional understanding of how you should approach it for research.

• Question Your Sources. Just because something is written in ink does not make it true.  Think of all the reasons a human being might have for twisting, exaggerating or hiding the truth.  Always ask yourself, why was this document created, and who was it written for?  It sure as hell wasn’t written for the benefit of future genealogists!  The census was never intended for future publication, and was a statistical record for Governmental use.  Newspapers need to sell interesting stories.  Marriage registrations were merely a legal document – who cares if the name of the father is made up? (which often happens when the bride or groom were illegitimate and wanted to hide that fact…)

• Always Use Original Sources. In other words, do not rely on the indexes, or the information you get from the International Genealogical Index (IGI) or published family trees.  While these are extremely valuable tools for tracing elusive ancestors (I use the IGI all the time), it is imperative that you follow up this information by studying the actual original sources (e.g. parish registers) to make sure that the secondary source information you have seen is correct.  You will often find more information in the original records anyway (such as occupation, or place of origin etc)  The IGI is not complete, nor always accurate, and those who have published their family trees are not always very careful about their own research.  I know it is frustrating when the original sources are many miles away – but that is what we professional researchers are here for!  If you can’t look at the original records yourself, get someone reliable to do it for you!

• When Possible, Back Up Your Sources. Every source you use for each ancestor should be compared with others, and where possible, cross-referenced with similar sources.  This is not always possible – especially as you go further back in time, but doing this can bring up discrepancies and conflicting pieces of information that can be clues to further research.  Check every possible census record for your ancestor and compare each bit of information.  My grandfather has a different place of birth in the later records than for when he was a youngster.  Why?  If this happens in your tree – first make sure you have the right person by checking all other records, then look for other clues.  In my grandfather’s case, he was adopted by his brother-in-law after his parents’ early deaths – and his place of birth and surname from then on was the same as his adoptive father’s.  It is quite possible he did not know where he was born – or perhaps he wanted to disassociate himself with his origins.  We may never know…

• Always Take a Given Age with a Pinch of Salt! Ever since human beings walked the earth, they have had various reasons for hiding their age.  Yet I am always amazed at how many people treat the ages in records as absolute.  We all know of someone who has taken a few years off themselves because they don’t want to be thought of as middle-aged or old, or the teenager who adds a year in order to look more grown up.  Things were no different in Victorian times or any time before that.  Victorian wives or husbands who were much younger than their spouse would often give an older age on the census to make the gap between them more ‘respectable’.  The age on a death certificate was often a guess by an informant or official, who would go by how they looked.  In our age of obsession with facts and form-filling, very few of us would not know our date of birth – but 100 years ago and more  it was extremely common for many people not to know how old they were.  As a general rule, when using the census, the closer to a person’s birth the census is, the more accurate it is likely to be – but you should always give at least 5 years each way when searching for the birth/baptism.

• Study Every Source in Detail – and remember that what’s missing can be just as important as what’s there.  Don’t make the mistake of taking the main information from a source and then discarding it.  Look at it closely; read between the lines; use your imagination and what you know of human nature.  Who were the witnesses on a marriage or a will?  Were they extended family who could help you find the next generation?  Did they marry by licence or by banns?  If by licence, they could be wealthy and have left wills or land records.  Which church did they marry in – the established church or a non-conformist church?  Why is a child born in 1857 missing from the household in 1861?  Did they die?  Are they staying with relatives?  Could those relatives be grandparents who could be your next generation…?  Remember that siblings, friends and witnesses can be very useful for following up lines and confirming family links.

• Always search from what you know backwards. My last guideline, but by no means the least important.  Start with what you know:  your own birth details, and your parents – and then start confirming previous generations using genealogical resources.  Before going back to the next generation, make absolutely sure that your links are sound and that you have the right people.  If you start to go back using a possible ancestor, you can get into a terrible muddle.  Don’t try to establish a link from a hopeful ancestor down to your known ancestors – this usually does not work in practice.  Always work from the known backwards.

Whilst it can be tempting to race from one generation to the next, you will actually find your searches far more enjoyable if you take your time and make sure you are in the right tree before extending your search to the more distant past.  Tracing ancestors is far more satisfying when the result is a shortish tree full of absolute facts, rather than a long, extended tree of mere probabilities and possibilities.

This was proved to me quite recently when a client sent me details of what he had found about his family in a history book about the village of Offchurch in Warwickshire.  My thanks to Chris who has allowed me to copy directly from his email:

I got the history of Offchurch book today and it mentions the Page
family several times

In 1619 12d was paid to Edward Page for the mending of the Bells

In 1631 Edward Page the Churchwarden copied information about recusant’s.

In the 1655 Rent Book Widow Mary Page is described as occupying a house
and close plus 1 water corn Mill Quendon Mill and close 1 Water Mill
Offchurch Mill and three meadows.

In 1661 Edward and William Page arrange a lease but are Non-Conformists
who left the village in 1664 and were fined the same year in Leamington
Priors for attending an unlawful religious assembly.

In 1678 a Stephen Wright is mentioned as the miller at Quorndon Mill on
a 7 year lease.

When a church bell was replaced in 1681 it was inscribed “Thomas
Page..Churchwarden 1681″

In 1696 Thomas Page is paying 16 pounds 10 shillings rent, and William
Page senior 1 pound rent, and Dorothy Page 5 shillings rent.

William Page carpenter and son appear numerous times in the account
being paid for various work. The author explains that William Page was
primary a carpenter not a farmer and so only had a couple of closes.

The only Mill at this time was Quendon MIll because Offchurch Mill had
fallen into disrepair.

In the tithe maps of 1848 William Page the Miller at Quendon Mill is
listed as having 5 acres by the Mill.

This kind of information can give you details about occupation, status and places of residence – which could lead to some interesting visits to study the ‘history on the ground’ that was linked with your family.  The little snippet about non-conformism is also very useful as it could mean that the family were missing from the established parish registers and could lead you search near-by non-conformist registers.

Many libraries, county record offices, family history societies and local bookshops have local publications for sale – and you could also try looking at online book sellers such as Amazon or Ebay.

If you are visiting the parish, always have a look inside the church as you will often find little leaflets on the local parish which could contain family history information.

Look out too for books about the local trades or industries.  I know which fishing boat my great grandfather skippered thanks to a little leaflet published in the Isle of Man called “The Port St. Mary Fishing Fleet of 1886″ published by Capt. Harry Watterson in 1986.

If you have had some good results from other genealogical resources, please let me know and I’ll post about it on this blog.

(Image produced with the kind permission of Warwickshire County Council)

One of my favourite resources for newspapers is the British Library’s British Newspapers 1800-1900 site where you can carry out a free search using a name or phrase and date ranges.  You can also choose which publications to search if you wish to limit the search to a particular area.  If you turn up something that looks like it might be relevant, then you will have to pay for either a 24 hour or 7 day pass.  I have turned up several stories that included clients’ ancestors using this site.

It’s worth trying this site for any ancestor (although of course it helps if the name is slightly unusual otherwise you will end up with too many results) – but if you think that your ancestor was a criminal, policeman, a bankrupt, a prominent person in the community, or died in unusual circumstances, then I would suggest that newspapers would be one of your main resources.

Here’s a nice little example of what can turn up.  An Australian client of mine has an ancestor who was a London Bobby, so yesterday I ran a search for his name (which was a fairly unusual one: Jesse Button) and found the following newspaper report from 1864 (which is slightly appropriate in light of current news stories):

THAMES

A SPECIMEN OF THE EAST END RABBLE AT THE LONDON HOSPITAL

- Wm. Bennett, cooper, Richard Leftwich, painter and glazier, Ann Robertson, and Sarah Jifford, all from the neighbourhood of Lime-house-fields, were brought before Mr. Partridge charged with disgraceful conduct in the Whitechapel road on Monday afternoon, and assaulting Jesse Button, a police-constable, No. 359 K. – On Monday afternoon, at half-past four o’clock, the prisoners were among the crowd assembed in front of the London-hospital, to witness the departure of the Prince and Princess of Wales.  The prisoners were very noisy, and endeavouring to excite confusion.  Bennett made use of most disgusting language, and insulted several respectable females.  One lady remonstrated with him, and he laid his hand on her shoulder, and made use of some revolting epithets.  She called Button, a police-constable standing near, and the prisoner swore at her, and said, “If you can’t bear to be touched, and can’t bear a little slang, you should not come to the east.”  Button requested him to behave himself, and not make a disturbance.  The prisoner immediately struck the constable on the chin.  The officer took him into custody, and he made a violent resistance, and kicked Button on the knee.  A host of policemen went to the assistance of Button, and took the prisoner away.  Leftwich jumped between Bennett and the policeman, pulled him away, and tried to rescue him.  All this time the two females, whose conduct was singularly audacious, were throwing stones at the police, and calling out, “Down with them; kill them.”  Some of the stones struck the policemen, but they were not materially injured.  Mr. Partridge said the conduct of Bennett was disgusting and unmanly, and sentenced him to six weeks’ imprisonment and hard labour.  He fined Leftwich 20s., and the two females, who said they made up trowsers, 10s. each.  The women made use of the most horrible language as they were leaving the dock.

Whilst my client was delighted with this piece of information, I suspect that the possible descendants of William Bennet, Richard Leftwich, Ann Robertson and Sarah Jifford may be slightly less delighted – though hopefully just as interested!

Here we have a very visual story of a moment in an ancestor’s life – an absolute gem for any family historian.

Apart from online searchable indexes, you should also try your local library and county record offices where you can usually find old newspapers published on microfilm.  Find out first whether any of these are held online – though many will not be indexed and are only worth searching if you have a specific date in mind, such as a date of death (if you are searching for an obituary or report of an unusual death such as suicide or accident).

There are also a searchable newspaper database at Ancestry.co.uk.

Searching UK Newspaper archives can be very exciting – you never know what you might turn up from your ancestor’s life!  Make sure you check out these excellent genealogical resources.

Once you have received the will you ordered you will be eager to get on and read it and see if it contains information about other ancestors, or whether it gives you the link between families that you are looking for.  But don’t rush at this.  There is an art to reading wills and inventories, and quite often, especially if the will was written before 1800, you will need to learn some paleography skills too.

Inventories

If you are lucky, a will sometimes has an inventory attached, which is basically a list of assets and possessions and what they are worth, added up to give the total estate’s worth.  These can be really fascinating, giving you a real insight into an ancestor’s lifestyle and giving you a solid picture of the furniture, clothing and general bits and pieces that make up a person’s life.  They can include such items as beds, chairs, furnishings, foodstuffs, livestock and crops – and you will also get an idea of the type of property they lived in as each room is itemised for its contents.

The Will

Onto the will itself – if it’s easy to read, then all you need is a basic understanding of the way wills have been generally formatted so you can differentiate between the clerk’s standardised text and your ancestor’s “voice”.

As in most legal documents, don’t expect there to be much punctuation!

The Preamble

A very usual beginning will be:  In the name of God Amen following by the testator’s name, parish and occupation.  Very often this will be followed by a statement explaining that although sick of body is of full and perfect memory to prove that he knew what he was doing (i.e. he was mentally able to write a valid will).  This will usually be followed by some standard text committing his body to Almighty God and his body to burial in the parish churchyard etc.  If the testator was Catholic, or of a very profound religious turn of mind (or perhaps hedging his bets), there may be a lengthy religious preamble where the testator expresses penitence, or asks for forgiveness etc.  Whilst a lengthy preamble like this can suggest strong religious beliefs on behalf of the testator, one should not rule out an enthusiastic clerk using conventional formula!

Payment of debts and funeral expenses will be the next thing to follow, along with the wish to annul any previous will.

The Bequests

Now you are into the juicy part of the will, where the testator shares out his property, monies and/or possessions to his family and friends.  Each bequest usually begins with the word “Item” followed by I leave to or I bequeath to then the name of the beneficiary.   To be sure that the bequest goes to the right person, wills usually describe the legatees very well, giving the relationship to the testator, where they live and (for a married woman) the name of their spouse.

If there are any child beneficiaries, their legacies are very often held in trust until they reach the age of 21.  This can help you to confirm approximate ages for children or grandchildren.

Sometimes, property & monies that are to be held in trust, shared out, or paid at intervals, would be wrapped up in extremely lengthy and complicated legal jargon covering every last detail and eventuality (such as the legatee dying before receiving their share).  This can make for rather tedious reading (especially as there is very little punctuation!), and while it is worth going through it to make sure there are no significant details about the family that you need to know, don’t worry if you don’t understand everything.  It is just worth knowing that your ancestor was keen to make sure every T was crossed and every I dotted!

Sometimes, the character, beliefs or attitudes of your ancestor will break through all the formal language giving you a glimpse of the real human being.  I recently transcribed a will for a client whose ancestor insisted that if his wife should marry again, then his son should “slam the door in her face”.  This kind of emotive language can raise a few questions about the relationships between husband and wife, father and son etc, and is delightfully intriguing!  (By the way, I did check, but as far as I could find out, the wife never did marry again…)

The Executor

All wills name an executor (or female executrix) – sometimes two – who were appointed to supervise the administration of the will.  These were very often trusted close friends or relations (mostly the wife or eldest son).

The End Bits

The last few words of a will are often something like: In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 15th day of July in the year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-two

The testator will then sign, and the witness statement will be underneath as follows:  Signed sealed published and declared by the said [testator's name] as for his last Will & Testament in the presence of followed by the signatures of the witnesses.

Probate

Either on the bottom, the back, or on an attached piece of paper, the probate will state the date that probate was granted along with the names of the executors.  The amount of the estate is sometimes stated.
Paleography

If the will was written before 1800, and particularly if it is a 16th or 17th century will, you might find it extremely difficult to read, and can sometimes look as though it’s written in a different language.  The earliest wills were written in Latin, and in this case you will need to find a Latin transcriber.

However, if it is English, the clerk’s hand can be very difficult to decipher, as well as the fact that many words were spelled completely differently, some are out of use completely, and many letters look almost unrecogniseable to the way we would write them today.

If the will you have ordered is like this – don’t panic!  Paleography (or palaeography if you want to be absolutely correct) is not a difficult skill to learn, and the more you practise reading old handwriting, the easier you will find it.  The National Archives have an excellent online tutorial in reading handwriting from 1500 to 1800 and you can start this tutorial here.

If you don’t have the time to do this yourself (and even when you’ve learned a bit of paleography, it can still be a lengthy process if the will is a long one), most professional genealogists will transcribe a will for you for a fee.

Nuncupative wills

If a person’s final illness was very short and they did not have time to make a will, often an oral statement (often known as “deathbed wills”) would be made and accepted by the church courts.   These wills were only valid up until 1837 (with the exception of those in the armed forces who died in action).

Administrations

Administrations (often abbreviated to  “admons” in record office indexes) can often be found where a person died intestate (without leaving a will).  They are letters of administration granted by the court to those it considered legitimate administrators – usually the widow, or eldest son.

A few more notes to remember.  Don’t be too worried if you have the will of an ancestor, but he does not mention all his children, or only leaves a small sum of money to them.  This does not necessarily mean that they have been “cut out” of the will.  It may be that they have already been provided for, and if they are only left a small amount, the testator may have wanted to mention them to confirm them as their son, but in the knowledge that they had no need for any great legacy.

Also, remember that the word “cousin” can refer to a wide range of kin, and that other relations, such as father, brother, son etc can also refer to in-laws.

This has been a very brief guide to wills, but I am planning to set up a page where you can download information leaflets for a small fee, and I will be writing a much more detailed guide to finding and reading wills and inventories.  I will probably include a separate guide to paleography.  I will announce this on my blog as soon as I’ve set it up so do watch this space!

(Picture supplied by Staffordshire Record Office)

Here are some brief details about some of the taxes that have been levied throughout history:

Hearth Tax 1662-1689

This was a tax of 2 shillings for each fireplace, hearth or stove in the person’s home. Some people were excempt, including paupers or if the house was worth less than a rent of 20 shillings per year. Most charitable institutions and industrial hearths were also exempt. You can usually find these records at the local county record office and at the National Archives.

The hearth tax returns that are available for search will include the taxpayers’ names, the amount they had to pay and/or the amount of hearths. Finding your ancestor’s name in these records can give you an idea of the size of house they lived in.

As you can imagine, this tax was extremely unpopular and evasion was common, so not everybody who was supposed to pay this tax will be on the lists.

Window Tax 1696-1851

Another unpopular one! This tax varied in form over the years, but in general it was a tax charged depend

ing on how many windows a house had. Again, people living in poverty were exempt – but many people avoided or reduced this tax by blocking up windows. In fact, whenever you’re traveling through the British countryside, keep a look out for 18th century houses that have bricked up windows (there are many!) – and impress your fellow passe

ngers by telling them why!

The window tax records will give you the name and address of the taxpayer, the number of windows in the house they occupied, and how much tax was paid. Again, this can give you an idea of the size of house they lived in. Most of these records are held at County Record Offices.

Marriage Duty Act 1695-1706

Imposed in order to pay for war in France, this was paid on the occasion of births, marriages and burials – though people on poor relief were exempt. Some of the assessments produced by the tax collectors have survived and can usually be found at the relevant CRO. They list household members and relationship to the head of household. So, if your ancestors are listed, this can be quite useful for establishing family relationships during this 11 year period.

Land Tax 1693-1963

This was levied on land that had an annual value of over 20 shillings. However, the most extensive surviving records are from the period of 1720-1832. Interestingly, Catholics were charged double from 1692 to 1831.

Land tax records list landowners, and from 1772, the occupiers of a property. They will tell you how much tax was paid and can be found in CROs or borough archives. Not all of these records have survived, and it very much depends on which county you are searching in. However, the information can tell you a good deal about the kind of property your ancestors lived in.

Poll Tax 14th, 17th and 18th centuries

Remember the poll tax riots of the 80s? Well, that was nothing new. Poll taxes were collected at various times as a specific amount per head (e.g. 4 pence per head in 1377 for those over 14 years old) and were always unpopular. In fact the poll tax of 1 shilling per head that was introduced in 1381 resulted in that year’s Peasants’ Revolt. The age of those eligible (if that’s the right word!) and the amount of tax varies from year to year.

Some of the very early poll tax returns are at the National Archives and are in Latin, and later ones should now be indexed and are available at TNA and at some CROs. Sometimes they note occupations and occasionally household member relationships.

The above is a very brief guide to the most useful tax records – but it’s always worth checking what other tax records are available at your local CRO. Here is a list of a few others that might be of use to you, though not all of them have survived. Check CROs, the National Archives and also Quarter Session Records.

Tax on male servants 1777-1852 (the surviving records only list the employers’ names)
Tax on female servants 1785-1792 (as above)
Horse tax 1784-1874 for those owned riding or driving horses
Carriage tax 1747-1782
Silver plate tax 1756-1777
Game tax 1784-1807
Coats of arms tax 1793-1882
Dog tax 1796-1882
Hair powder tax 1795-1861 (for those who wore wigs – this tax helped to end the fashion for wigs!)
Sheep tax 1549/50 (by size of flock)
Uninhabited houses 1851-1924
Income tax 1789, 1803-1816, 1842 onwards (mainly for wealthier classes until fairly recently)

The next time you moan about your car tax, income tax, VAT or any other tax, spare a thought for your ancestors who no doubt also had a grumble about whatever taxes the government decided to extract in their lifetime!

The most frustrating situation is where you have an ancestor with a common name, and do not have a specific area of origin.  Unless you can gather more information from other sources, this is always going to be the worst scenario.  A “John Smith of England”, born about 1827″ is not going to get you anywhere!

All the same, even if you have a definite place of birth, and/or an uncommon name, there are some ancestors who just don’t seem to want to be found!

Here are a few tips that have helped me get past many a sticking point in the past, both for myself and for my clients:

• Siblings can be very useful in tracking an elusive ancestor.  Brothers and sisters of the person you are searching may be found on census records or may be witnesses to a wedding.  If you are unable to find your direct ancestor, then try searching for their brothers and sisters, not only back in time, but forward in time.  You could find that your missing ancestor was living with a brother or sister, and the name has been badly transcribed therefore not turning up in index searches.   If you can’t find a baptism for your missing ancestor, then try looking for the baptism or birth record of their siblings.

• Witnesses on marriage certificates – even if they don’t look like siblings – could be useful.  Try finding them on the census and working out how they are related to the subject.  Sometimes witnesses are church officials, but often they are relatives or friends of the people getting married.  A female with a different surname may be a married sister, or they could be nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts or cousins.  Researching these people could provide you with clues as to where your ancestor was living or where he came from.

• Relatives and Visitors on the census should also be noted and researched.  Any extended relation who is living in the household on the census should be thoroughly researched.  Sometimes widowed parents-in-law lived with their married children, as did unmarried brothers or sisters.  Visitors and boarders are not always un-related and quite often turn out to be relatives by marriage, so should also be checked out.

• Phonetic searches are not always reliable, so don’t rely on your search engine to come up with every possible variation of a surname spelling.  Try as many different spellings of the surname as you can think of .  Think of how a surname might sound (could that “n” sound like an “m”?) – or how it might look when written down.  Not only were name spellings not standardized, modern transcribers make many errors when writing the indexes, so use your imagination when searching and keep trying different spellings.

• Search Engines in many genealogical websites can have very useful search criterias, and you can try searching with all kinds of different information to try and locate your ancestor.  If your ancestor’s name is fairly uncommon, and you are fairly confident you know where they came from, you can try searching for a Christian name without surname, or vice versa, using the place name as an exact search.  I found my own grandfather this way – his name was Francis Manley, but I could never find him in the 1881 census.  When I tried searching for Manley without the Christian name, with a definite year and place, I found his name had been written as “Fracis” – which never came up in the index search!

• Military or Maritime ancestors might have been away during the census, so if you think your ancestor might have been a sailor or involved in overseas military campaigns, this could be why he does not show up on a census.  Some military and shipping records can be seen online at the National Archives Website Documents Online Service.  Other records of this nature can only be seen by visiting the National Archives at Kew, but you can still search some indexes online.

• Baptisms & Marriage Records of the parish registers can be useful if you are unable to find a birth or marriage certificate.  Of course, you need to know where they were likely to have been born or married.  Only a few parish registers are online at present, so you will either need to visit the relevant county record office, or hire someone to do this for you.

• Wills can be very useful if you cannot find an ancestor in the parish registers or other records.  If your ancestor was fairly wealthy, and held property in more than one county, he is likely to have left a PCC (Perogative Court of Canterbury) will, which can be downloaded at the National Archives Documents Online website.  However, if he only had property in one small area, it is more likely to be an archdeaconry will – and you will need to have an idea of where he was living when he died.  It is always worth looking for wills of possible relatives of your ancestor – as they may mention him or her in their will, and this can help you establish parentage and origins.  Looking for wills can be time consuming and sometimes expensive – but if you do find a will, they are well worth the search as they provide very interesting information about our ancestors’ lives.

• Land records can also be useful if you have an idea of where your ancestor lived.  Sometimes these can provide family information if, say, an ancestor was passing a piece of land to a son, or transferred land as part of a dowry, for example.

• Ancestry.co.uk allows you to make a general search at the bottom of their home page, and if you have come to a full stop this search engine can be very useful for finding any other possible sources of information and documents.  I have on occasion come across baptism records and criminal records for clients’ ancestors that I had not found before.

• Know Your History! Having a bit of knowledge about the history of the time can help you to understand your ancestors’ possible movements and his possible actions. For example, a factory worker in mid-19th century Manchester or Liverpool could be an Irish immigrant.  If your ancestor worked as a gardener, he may have worked on one of the large private country house estates, and there could be local land records showing employees and salaries.

Remember that every single piece of information you have about your ancestor is a potential clue.  Never dismiss anything, and always follow up every bit of information you have.  It may lead to a dead end, but it could also lead to a real breakthrough.

Some of these tips will be more useful than others, depending on how much you already know about your ancestor, and what kind of person he was (e.g. a factory worker is unlikely to have left a will – though you should never rule this out).

My overall advice is to never give up and to keep looking.  Sometimes, if you really are completely stuck, it is a good idea to leave it and work on another line for a while.  Often, when you come back to this ancestor, you will have a new idea for how to go about your research – or more information may have become available online.  More and more information is being published on the internet, so it’s always worth checking what’s available every so often.

Find an elusive ancestor can be frustrating, hard work and ultimately disappointing – but on the other hand, when you do make that breakthrough it is so exciting that it will have been worth all that hard work.

Happy hunting!

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For a last minute gift, or one you can send by email, check out my special genealogy gift vouchers which you can find on THIS PAGE.  And if you order before 31st December 2011, you will benefit from my Christmas 20% discount.

One great website where you can find a range of products is My History. You can find all kinds of products here, including:

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Have a Great Christmas!

Ros

The most useful records are settlement examinations.  The Settlement Act of 1662 placed restrictions on who was able to claim relief.  This protected parishes from having to provide poor relief to people who did not have adequate links to the parish.   Families wanting to move to a particular parish had to be examined by parish officials before they could legally  settle there.  If they were not thought suitable, they could be forcibly removed.

If you think your ancestors might have applied for poor relief, you can search the settlement records, and if you are lucky, you may find information like this:

Elizabeth Joseph (33) of 18 Petticoat Lane married her late husband Lewis Joseph 4 Jun 1850 at Great Synagogue and has 5 children Rachel Joseph (12), Emanuel Joseph (11), Sarah Joseph (9), Ann Joseph (7) and Joseph Joseph (2 ½); about 1852 husband took 35 Petticoat Lane at £8 15s per quarter and stayed 2-3 years and at same time 50 Petticoat Lane at £1 p.w. and husband occupied shop and bakehouse at 35 and let rest out; husband died Christmas 1860. 15 Jun 1863. (Copied from the Origins Network Website)

You can find settlement records in County Record Offices all over the country, but if your ancestors were in London, it is certainly worth checking the indexes at The Origins Network

The first two sets available cover the parishes of St Botolph Aldgate and St Sepulchre, and contain over 20,000 names.  Keep checking back as they will be regularly adding to this series.

To get access to the poor law records series if you are searching London genealogy, go to this link: The Origins Network and subscribe for membership (you can join for 3 days only for a small fee, or pay monthly or yearly).  You will then be able to navigate to the British Origins pages and then to the Poor Law collection.

Ros Bott