English Genealogy – Finding your English roots

One of the things I love about this job is that people are usually very appreciative when you find their ancestors!  This is particularly true of our friends across the pond in the New World of the United States, and also of our Antepodian cousins on the other side of the world.  English genealogy can prove difficult if you are several thousand miles away – but finding out about your roots in the Old Country generally proves to be extremely exciting and fascinating, even when you have to find someone else to do it!

Many of my clients are either American or Australian, and of course so many people in both these great countries have British genealogy.  How exciting to find out where and how they lived before they took the enormous decision to leave these shores for new lives.

Of course, it is not always possible to look into the minds of those ancestors and find out exactly why they made that decision – but by looking at their occupations, environment and lifestyles, you can sometimes get a very good idea of their reasons for leaving everything they have ever known behind them.

Unlike today, when we can stay in touch with friends and relatives through the phone and internet, and hop on a plane if you want to see them, those ancestors who emigrated to America or Australia knew they would never see their loved ones again, and were leaving the place they had known for good, without really knowing what kind of life lay ahead.  Not only that, but they usually had to face a dangerous, lengthy and extremely uncomfortable journey across often stormy seas in order to reach their destination.  That must have taken a lot of courage.

Of course, sometimes, people were sent abroad against their will – and many an Aussie will find an ancestor who was transported from England for some crime, whether minor or major.  It can be of great interest to find out details of your ancestor’s crime through trial and transportation records.

If you have English genealogy – or Irish, Scottish or Welsh ancestry – you can find much on the internet.  But at some point you will need to hire a local researcher to research the local archives for parish register records, wills, land records and other documents that can provide an insight into your ancestors’ lives.

A word of warning though.  Before you hire and English or British expert, you need to try and find out as much about your ancestor as possible, particularly if their name was a common one.  We may be a small country, but we have a fair size population, and trying to find a Thomas Brown of England, just isn’t going to work unless you have some idea of where he came from!

So, do as much as you can within your own country before asking for help over here.  The best kinds of records to look at will be the census records in your country.  Much of the time these will only give a vague place of birth, such as “England” or “Ireland” – but do look in every possible census to see if at any time they gave a more specific place.

Try to get hold of any death or marriage records.  I believe that death records in the United States give a lot more information than they do over here, and can give a clue to their origins.  Once you have a death date, you could also try looking for local obituaries in newspapers, which will often give details of a person’s origins.  The information on marriage records differs from state to state, but might give parents’ names, and possibly even origins if you are lucky.

Try also to find any immigration records you can find.  It is usually much more likely to find these records in the place of arrival, rather than the place of departure.  Ancestry.com has a good coverage of American and Australian passenger lists and other immigration records, so it’s a good place to start.  If you can find your ancestor here, you will often find at least where they sailed from, and very often where they were born.

Once you have as much information you can find from your own country’s records, then you are equipped to request searches into your UK roots.  However, sadly, there are cases where this information just cannot be found, and unless you are lucky enough to have a very unusual name, then it is unlikely you will be able to trace your Thomas Brown.

If you unsure, then you can always make an enquiry.  I am very happy to have a look at your case and give you some advice about the possibility of finding your ancestor.  You can email me at info@tracingancestors-uk.com.  Or, if you have more information about your immigrant ancestor, you could try one of my research packages on my research service page.

My main expertise is for English Genealogy – but I do have professional contacts in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, so I can help you wherever your ancestors came from in the UK.