A good place to start your research is to ask your relatives of names and events
they remember. Once you have this you are ready to start! Armed with names of aunts, uncles, grandparents,
and their siblings you already have the beginnings of your database. If you have dates, that is even better.
The tree usually starts with YOU and goes back one generation to your parents, two generations to your grandparents etc. (The trees I have put on here start at my grandparents to safeguard the identity of those still living.)
I found it was difficult to find evidence of my grandparents,even though I knew they existed!! The answer was: they were born too recently to have evidence in the census. (since starting my trees the 1901 census has been made available to the general public) and also I could not find any evidence of them in the Birth, Marriages or Deaths records. (More records are available now and this is not the case any more.)
So I started researching the 1881 census:
I found my paternal grandfather at ages 1 yr 3 months and my maternal grandmother at age 3 months.
I also found the streets where they lived, and the names of their parents. A bonus as the tree then grows!
Finding my maternal grandparents proved to be much more difficult. I searched the 1881 census knowing that my grandfather had not yet been born. However I knew the names of some of his siblings, so I was looking for a family with those names in. Many, many records later I found the correct family!!!
These are the places where I researched most:
I have found this next one to be invaluable since a lot of my relatives lived in Norfolk, UK. I found some of my family in the 1841 census, some in the 1871 census and some in the 1881 census. You can search this site by surnames, or by parish plus they have links to documents, photos and lots more:
I have also found this one to be very useful. Lots of interesting places here to look up information.
I have not paid one cent yet to do any research. It has all been FREE. However, my parents come from big families, so I had a lot of information to begin the research. My mother is from a family of seven and my father from a family of eight. I am not sure yet whether this makes any difference. I don't believe it would.
My friend is also researching her ancestors and is able to find recent births, marriages and deaths as she has a subscription to a site and can access all these records. I cannot as I don't have a subscription. However I can research from the
I am not quite sure if she gets more detailed records than I do. With recent births I am given the mother's maiden name which is a bonus. I don't get that with the earlier records. This is a good way to get started with your tree using names you already know to find their birth records and mother's maiden name.
In July 2007 I bought a subscription with ancestry.com. I am delighted that I did as I have been able to find more evidence now since I have access to ALL the UK census results. I have since then used the ancestry site to put my family tree on. Because of this I am given hints that I can follow up and use if the evidence points to it being part of my family tree. If I find the evidence to be useless, I need not add it. Ancestry also links you with others who are searching for the people you are searching for if you wish. Your tree can be made public or private, depending on your wishes. My tree is private. However I have invited other family members to view it and add to it if they wish.
(I wish to point out at this point that I am NOT paid by Ancestry.com to endorse their site!!..
I have been researching the beta records, birth, marriage and death records from 1837 to 1983. (www.ancestry.co.uk) I find these really useful, though they can be a bit laborious to use and find the relevant information. They can also be frustrating when one section of the records is there but other quarters are not. I did a research on the marriage records for a specific year : Yarmouth vol 4b page 466 and only came up with two records. Unfortunately both were males! the two females were missing. So I could not do the cross referencing that I wished to do!
On the plus side: these records were not available when I started researching the family tree over ten years ago, so with all their shortcomings they are still valuable!
More Beta records research. This time I was searching for a couple whose names I knew. I found the marriage of the male and got the volume and page, the quarter and the year plus the place where the marriage was registered. Then I looked for the record of the woman he married. I could not find her. A friend who is also researching her family tree searched on her computer 300 miles away! She messaged me to tell me she had found the record in the Beta section, but the name was spelled differently to how we were expecting and consequently wasn't on the page I had been looking at, even though I was looking for name variations.
Similarly I helped her find the male of a marriage whose volume, page, date, place and both partners were known. This time the page that came up was not the one that held the name of the person we were looking for. We were on the "Mc" part of the alphabet instead of the "Ma" section. So this time it was just a matter of finding the correct page since the name was input correctly onto the marriage register.
Names are often recorded incorrectly in the birth, marriage and deaths records. I have first hand knowledge of this as my name is spelt correctly on my birth certificate but is spelt incorrectly on the page of birth registration. So be prepared for variations!.
For this research I had the males name and found the year he was married, the quarter, the place, the volume and the page number. However I only knew the woman's Christian name. How to find her surname? I next went to the BMD (birth, marriage and death records) and put in a query for the year, the place including the volume and page number plus the woman's Christian name. Two women of the same Christian name showed up for this year and this district BUT only one had the correct page number! Then I could do the cross referencing and double check that I had the correct woman. I did!!!
I have been researching the death records for the Berry/Haylett family tree and I have not found it easy. He did not show up in any of the searches I did. It is definately helpful if you have the year that they died and then you can easily find the quarter that the death was registered. I have no idea when my great-grandfather died and I have searched the death beta records going from quarter to quarter, year to year. I went from 1901 to 1925 and found no evidence of him at all. He could be there but is not the age recorded there that fit in with my records; or he could have died in a different place to where I am expecting. However even taking these things in to consideration I still found no definate evidence that it was his death I was looking at. I found two possibilities, but the ages were wrong even if he did die in a different location.
Two days later and I have found the records!!! It took a lot of searching but I found his death! I found out my great grandfather died when he was aged 80, in Yarmouth (where he was born). He died in 1935. I searched through 35 years in all of beta records for death, looking at each quarter for a Samuel Berry. I knew where he was born, and the year he was born in, so I knew the age I was looking for each year, and also looking at the location. A lot of effort but well worth it when you eventually get there!
I am researching a new tree. Go here to see how I am doing!
Here I had the name of the female and some of her children but in the later 1891 census and the 1901 census there was no father named. I searched for the 1881 census and found it, with a few more children on it.
Next I researched marriages:
a Joseph Whittingham married a Mary ann Fleming 3rd qtr 1871 at PANCRAS London Vol 1b page 85 A Jospeh Whittingham married a Mary Ann Gilby at the STRAND London 1st Qtr 1872 vol 1b page 702
Next I researched births of the Mary Ann's:
birth of Mary Ann Fleming (one of many Mary Ann Fleming's!!) at St Pancras 2nd qtr 1853 Vol 1b page 86. I couldn't see any born in St Giles. Birth of a Mary Ann Fleming 2nd qtr 1851 St Edmonton (london)Vol 3 page 156
birth of a Mary Ann Gilby 4th qtr 1851 ST GILES vol 1 page 89
Then I researched birth of "Whittingham"'s
I found a John Whittingham (who had been in the 1881 census) and his middle name was GILBY!
The 1881 census gave me the father's name. I researched marriages. I researched the two possible Mary Ann's birth... found that a GILBY was born in St Giles. Researched births of Whittinghams and found that JOHN had the middle name of Giles.... hence mother is a Gilby and the wedding was at St Giles!!! Great eh!
I ordered 9 marriage certificates the other day and this Thursday 7 arrived, and on Friday the last 2 arrived.
It was good to see that a lot of my evidence tallied.
However I came across some confusing evidence. I have one person who was deceased at his daughter’s marriage but the certificate showed his occupation and didn’t mention he was deceased. Also by this time one census showed his wife widowed and then the next census date she was remarried.
Again on another marriage certificate another person’s occupation was given but my evidence had shown him deceased.
I might have thought this was normal but on yet another marriage certificate it showed the person’s occupation but that he was now deceased.
On the evidence of two marriage certificates I found I had the wrong parents in both cases. So I had to delete the siblings and parents from the tree.
On another person I find I need to get a copy of her birth certificate to ascertain I have the right parents. The IGI shows a Mary Ann Holley christened 02 Sept 1866 Burlescombe Devon Parents James Holley and Elizabeth. ALSO IGI shows Mary Ann Holley christened 07 Feb 1864 Burlescombe Parents James Holley and Mary. The three censuses here shows birth about 1865, about 1865 and about 1866. The death registered in Taunton says Mary Ann Maddock 46 years old, which makes her birth 1864 and her parents James and Mary (which is what I think is correct but I now need to verify it by gettign her birth certificate.)