Before you start..
The first thing to remember when beginning your family tree is to begin with yourself and work backwards to your parents, grand-parents and so on. It sounds obvious but you'd be surprised how many people find a person from the distant past with the same surname and then try and work the other way to find a link!
Talk to your relatives, parents and grand-parents and compare their stories and memories. You may be surpised to find that they don't always match. Be patient with older relatives, after you've talked to them once they'll have a chance to reminisce about the past and if you talk to them again you'll find out some more.
Keep a look out for the following to help with piecing together your history-
Talk to your relatives, parents and grand-parents and compare their stories and memories. You may be surpised to find that they don't always match. Be patient with older relatives, after you've talked to them once they'll have a chance to reminisce about the past and if you talk to them again you'll find out some more.
Keep a look out for the following to help with piecing together your history-
- Family Bible
- Letters, postcards and other correspondence
- Diaries
- Memorial Cards
- Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates
- Professional Certificates and Qualifications
- Newspaper cuttings (obituaries and news stories)
- Embroidery Samplers
- Old Photographs
- Gravestones
More tips for successful online genealogy research
1. Keep an open mind – facts and information you thought you were sure of may turn out to be incorrect.
2. Surnames may change – the surname you are searching could have changed quite a few times over the years maybe with one letter added, changed or dropped or maybe to a completely different spelling altogether.
3. Dates of birth – birth dates can be out by quite a few years between one census and another, due to household members being secretive about their ages or simply forgetting how old their relatives were!
4. Ancestors can move – many of your ancestors may be from a different part of the UK than you thought, and may have moved for work reasons or sometimes to escape a previous life!
5. Places of birth – Sons and daughters may have their places of birth written down as the same as their parents on the census but this might not have been the case.
6. Mistakes online – mistakes have been made when transferring the documents online due to misreading poor handwriting and just human error.
1. Keep an open mind – facts and information you thought you were sure of may turn out to be incorrect.
2. Surnames may change – the surname you are searching could have changed quite a few times over the years maybe with one letter added, changed or dropped or maybe to a completely different spelling altogether.
3. Dates of birth – birth dates can be out by quite a few years between one census and another, due to household members being secretive about their ages or simply forgetting how old their relatives were!
4. Ancestors can move – many of your ancestors may be from a different part of the UK than you thought, and may have moved for work reasons or sometimes to escape a previous life!
5. Places of birth – Sons and daughters may have their places of birth written down as the same as their parents on the census but this might not have been the case.
6. Mistakes online – mistakes have been made when transferring the documents online due to misreading poor handwriting and just human error.