Great topic, Crista. I'm a first generation Australian of English / Irish / Scots / ancestry. I started the genealogy back in the 90s when there was no internet let alone Ancestry. I bought books, attended courses and learned how to find what I needed the hard way. I still say that you can't beat a good Genealogy Book as a companion to any internet searching as it teaches you the nuts-and-bolts of researching. Am always happy to assist others where able.
i would add that the GRO records are copies of ones held at a local level. Local authorities that hold the originals will also provide certificates, often quicker and some have their own online indexes and search tools. ( I think free BMD will show the authority with the records.) I have found them to be more helpful than GRO and if you provide enough information they will often contact you if the request looks like its for the wrong record or if there is another matching record or look a bit further if the expected record is not there. Some will provide certificates populated by a scan of the original record which will capture the real signatures and writing so any writing prone to transcription error can be seen. The local authorities will often respond quicker, sometimes offering same day service sometimes for an extra fees. Its also correct that there are many people with the same name even within the same area. Sometimes siblings will even christen their own children together with the same name. Even in the 1800s the uk was a heavily populated country and people did not venture too far from their families. A common thing I see is people linking names into their tree just because the names and ages match. In america the appreciation of distance may be different too as i sometimes see people linked who are 50 or 300 miles apart which in the UK is pretty unlikely. During the industrial revolution employment booms moved from agriculture, to coal/ore , to iron working to steel, to transport. You may see families following that work. Another tip would be to look in the census records at other people in the street as often families stuck together even if they don't carry the same name. You probably wont see a link straight away but realize later on. This also happened to Irish families who migrated to England, once established in an area they tended not to move around but stuck together. There are also a lot of small places with similar names so you can get confusion from that too. Fishing communities might sometimes show links with other ports. Its also true that the original records will sometimes have anecdotal parish information about a family that will not be captured in a transcript.
Thanks so much for this Crista! So good to finally come across a video with info for research on Ancestry within Britain! Please do more of this and don't neglect your UK customers - I may have not found other videos so do direct me to any others you have done :-) I use many, many more sources AND go out there to do physical research but this was so very welcome :-) I was born in London and although I've traced my direct Pallister line confidently back to Thomas Pallister b.1704 in Durham and tentatively back to Robert Pallister b.1568 in Durham, I am a self taught genealogist/family historian. I am learning every day and most of the beginning of this video contained nothing that I don't already do. However the tuition on the Card Index here, especially for the UK researcher or anyone researching ancestors in the UK was very helpful indeed. Please also let me know if there are any videos dedicated to the Card Index that I may find useful. A question I have regarding the 'maps' section on the Card Index is that I find many great historical maps for the various counties in the UK there but can't find the information 'about' the map that I'm looking at! Is that there and I'm just missing how to find it or do you have tons of maps uploaded without giving the user the info of who's map it is and what year it was created? Off to check out the book you recommended. Thanks for this video - There are no mountains in Bexley :-) Lois Pallister
Hi Lois! I'm so glad you found this helpful. While most of my videos are very U.S.-centric (since that's where my research experience lies), the principles of genealogy methodology and the tips for using the Ancestry site are universal. I hope you can see through the specific examples I use to make the connection to your own research. Here are links to the videos you asked about: Using the Card Catalog - th-cam.com/video/TnCABhqERKA/w-d-xo.html Browsing Records - th-cam.com/video/O2bgSgzq3MI/w-d-xo.html
Regarding marriage banns, two of my great-grandparents had the banns read on three consecutive Sundays in 1881, but the actual marriage was in a register office (non-church) in 1897. All my Nan's siblings were born between 1882 & 1895; Nan was the only child born *after* 1897!
Another source of marriage records are the records of marriage bonds and allegations, these are normally compiled on a county level and quite fairly common where banns are being avoided or ages are young, many are available online but not all indexed. For a substantial period birth, marriage and death parish records were also copied to the relevant bishop. Transcripts of these are also available but not necessarily indexed.
Thank you. I'm researching England right now. Your suggestions are helpful, especially with the indexes because the marriage index doesn't always show the spouse at the same time. I have to make sure that I note which ones seem to match one spouse then search for the other spouse to make sure the location and date range matches. I still have to see if there are records for the community.
When you mentioned the difference between a searcher and researcher, you mentioned a Researcher checks maps, local history, family surnames… I shudder, when I see others who have records such as Births, Marriages and Deaths of people that can not be the subject they are tracing as the records they have attached to this person of interest could not in anyway be the correct record as the area of the record is some distance from the place where the family is residing for example: John Smith born in Norfolk, Occupation farmer. Married in Cornwall, first child born in Lancashire, second child born in Norfolk, third child born in Dorset …John Smith dies in London. All this happens prior to 1800. No research has gone into studying how unlikely this could be. There is nothing on record to support the travel. I suggest family genealogists use Maps and Gazetteers in their research. In particular “ A Genealogical Atlas of England and Wales as well as one for Scotland and one for Ireland. I couldn’t do my family research without theses very Important resources. They are essential for those who do not live in the U.K. and Ireland, to becoming familiar with the Villages, Towns, and Parishes their ancestors lived in.
Thank you. I also am troubled by the many identical names in each location born near the exact same time. Loved the info about searching maps, topography etc. Thomas Matthews and Clara Sanford/Stanford are not unusual names. I lucked out by finding DNA matches in England to the Matthews line. No info on clara though but I suspect she didn't live too far from Thomas.
This was very helpful. You mention your ancestor... are you referring to Richard Lippincott? If so, he is my ancestor too. I am very interested in researching more about him and what it was like to be an early Quaker in New Jersey, Any advice?
You are only put in a DNA Circle if you (or one of your immediate family members) has that person in their family tree. Remove the person from the tree and it will remove you from the circle.
There is a piece of media I would really like to see but the tree is private, the account is very old and the owner hasn't logged in in "over a year". I can see there is 174 people invited to it but I have no way of knowing who those people are to ask them to show me it.
Jack, have you tried to send the person a message by contacting them on Ancestry? I've sent questions before to people who have tree's (both private and public) that are no longer active and they still receive the e-mail. Sometimes they respond.. sometimes they don't. It's always worth a try. If they respond, they don't have to reactivate their tree, but maybe they can take a look at what it is you need, and share the info with you? :0)
Very informative, but what do you do when you don't know where in England the person you are looking for lived. All we know is he sailed from England as an indentured servent and arrived in Philly. Is there somewhere to find this info?
Great topic, Crista. I'm a first generation Australian of English / Irish / Scots / ancestry. I started the genealogy back in the 90s when there was no internet let alone Ancestry. I bought books, attended courses and learned how to find what I needed the hard way. I still say that you can't beat a good Genealogy Book as a companion to any internet searching as it teaches you the nuts-and-bolts of researching. Am always happy to assist others where able.
i would add that the GRO records are copies of ones held at a local level. Local authorities that hold the originals will also provide certificates, often quicker and some have their own online indexes and search tools. ( I think free BMD will show the authority with the records.) I have found them to be more helpful than GRO and if you provide enough information they will often contact you if the request looks like its for the wrong record or if there is another matching record or look a bit further if the expected record is not there. Some will provide certificates populated by a scan of the original record which will capture the real signatures and writing so any writing prone to transcription error can be seen. The local authorities will often respond quicker, sometimes offering same day service sometimes for an extra fees.
Its also correct that there are many people with the same name even within the same area. Sometimes siblings will even christen their own children together with the same name. Even in the 1800s the uk was a heavily populated country and people did not venture too far from their families. A common thing I see is people linking names into their tree just because the names and ages match. In america the appreciation of distance may be different too as i sometimes see people linked who are 50 or 300 miles apart which in the UK is pretty unlikely. During the industrial revolution employment booms moved from agriculture, to coal/ore , to iron working to steel, to transport. You may see families following that work. Another tip would be to look in the census records at other people in the street as often families stuck together even if they don't carry the same name. You probably wont see a link straight away but realize later on. This also happened to Irish families who migrated to England, once established in an area they tended not to move around but stuck together. There are also a lot of small places with similar names so you can get confusion from that too. Fishing communities might sometimes show links with other ports. Its also true that the original records will sometimes have anecdotal parish information about a family that will not be captured in a transcript.
Thanks so much for this Crista!
So good to finally come across a video with info for research on Ancestry within Britain!
Please do more of this and don't neglect your UK customers - I may have not found other videos so do direct me to any others you have done :-)
I use many, many more sources AND go out there to do physical research but this was so very welcome :-)
I was born in London and although I've traced my direct Pallister line confidently back to Thomas Pallister b.1704 in Durham and tentatively back to Robert Pallister b.1568 in Durham, I am a self taught genealogist/family historian. I am learning every day and most of the beginning of this video contained nothing that I don't already do.
However the tuition on the Card Index here, especially for the UK researcher or anyone researching ancestors in the UK was very helpful indeed.
Please also let me know if there are any videos dedicated to the Card Index that I may find useful.
A question I have regarding the 'maps' section on the Card Index is that I find many great historical maps for the various counties in the UK there but can't find the information 'about' the map that I'm looking at!
Is that there and I'm just missing how to find it or do you have tons of maps uploaded without giving the user the info of who's map it is and what year it was created?
Off to check out the book you recommended.
Thanks for this video - There are no mountains in Bexley :-)
Lois Pallister
Hi Lois! I'm so glad you found this helpful. While most of my videos are very U.S.-centric (since that's where my research experience lies), the principles of genealogy methodology and the tips for using the Ancestry site are universal. I hope you can see through the specific examples I use to make the connection to your own research.
Here are links to the videos you asked about:
Using the Card Catalog - th-cam.com/video/TnCABhqERKA/w-d-xo.html
Browsing Records - th-cam.com/video/O2bgSgzq3MI/w-d-xo.html
1911 is the last census available but there was a national register in 1939 which is now open. This is not yet available on Ancestry.
It is now
Regarding marriage banns, two of my great-grandparents had the banns read on three consecutive Sundays in 1881, but the actual marriage was in a register office (non-church) in 1897. All my Nan's siblings were born between 1882 & 1895; Nan was the only child born *after* 1897!
Good find, Frank!
Another source of marriage records are the records of marriage bonds and allegations, these are normally compiled on a county level and quite fairly common where banns are being avoided or ages are young, many are available online but not all indexed. For a substantial period birth, marriage and death parish records were also copied to the relevant bishop. Transcripts of these are also available but not necessarily indexed.
Thank you. I'm researching England right now. Your suggestions are helpful, especially with the indexes because the marriage index doesn't always show the spouse at the same time. I have to make sure that I note which ones seem to match one spouse then search for the other spouse to make sure the location and date range matches. I still have to see if there are records for the community.
When you mentioned the difference between a searcher and researcher, you mentioned a Researcher checks maps, local history, family surnames… I shudder, when I see others who have records such as Births, Marriages and Deaths of people that can not be the subject they are tracing as the records they have attached to this person of interest could not in anyway be the correct record as the area of the record is some distance from the place where the family is residing for example: John Smith born in Norfolk, Occupation farmer. Married in Cornwall, first child born in Lancashire, second child born in Norfolk, third child born in Dorset …John Smith dies in London. All this happens prior to 1800. No research has gone into studying how unlikely this could be. There is nothing on record to support the travel. I suggest family genealogists use Maps and Gazetteers in their research. In particular “ A Genealogical Atlas of England and Wales as well as one for Scotland and one for Ireland. I couldn’t do my family research without theses very Important resources. They are essential for those who do not live in the U.K. and Ireland, to becoming familiar with the Villages, Towns, and Parishes their ancestors lived in.
Thank you. I also am troubled by the many identical names in each location born near the exact same time. Loved the info about searching maps, topography etc. Thomas Matthews and Clara Sanford/Stanford are not unusual names. I lucked out by finding DNA matches in England to the Matthews line. No info on clara though but I suspect she didn't live too far from Thomas.
Can you do a video on researching northern Ireland Ireland family history thank you
This was very helpful. You mention your ancestor... are you referring to Richard Lippincott? If so, he is my ancestor too. I am very interested in researching more about him and what it was like to be an early Quaker in New Jersey, Any advice?
How can we remove ourselves from DNA Circles that we know for a fact are incorrect??
You are only put in a DNA Circle if you (or one of your immediate family members) has that person in their family tree. Remove the person from the tree and it will remove you from the circle.
There is a piece of media I would really like to see but the tree is private, the account is very old and the owner hasn't logged in in "over a year". I can see there is 174 people invited to it but I have no way of knowing who those people are to ask them to show me it.
Jack, have you tried to send the person a message by contacting them on Ancestry? I've sent questions before to people who have tree's (both private and public) that are no longer active and they still receive the e-mail. Sometimes they respond.. sometimes they don't. It's always worth a try. If they respond, they don't have to reactivate their tree, but maybe they can take a look at what it is you need, and share the info with you? :0)
Very informative, but what do you do when you don't know where in England the person you are looking for lived. All we know
is he sailed from England as an indentured servent and arrived in Philly. Is there somewhere to find this info?
Sue, have you tried searching for your ancestor in our U.S. Passenger List records?
it's actually England and Wales joined together in one place, Scotland and Ireland are seperate
Thank you! Much needed tips.
Thank you! Very helpful!
My British lines first came to the Colonies in the 1630s. Waaaaaaay back.
On my maternal side ive managed to trace back to 1400s in lancashire england, but my paternal side i cant find anything after the 19th centur6