Genealogy Chat

Hello,
Just wondering how far back is it possible to get on a family tree (not royalty) I seem to have stopped and finding it hard to find info

Mary

That's a tricky one Mary! The general answer is as far back as parish records go I suppose. The humbler the family the harder it is I suspect! And if you have common names it becomes very difficult indeed.
For example, my own most recent stumbling block is about 1800 (based on findings on the 1841 census), and the furthest I have managed is 16th century.
Jan

Thanks Jan

I have found a birth / christening for 1563 but can't find parents name I'll try a little longer before calling it a day :-) :-)
Mary

Parish records first started to be kept in about 1538 but were suspended during the Cromwellian period, making it difficult to bridge the gap.
Also the very early records were very basic, usually baptisms gave no mention of the mother,just the father´s name & marriages just gave the names of the bride & groom. Burials were even worse with just the name of the deceased & the parish they were from, unless it was an infant inwhich case it usually says son or dau/of & the father´s name.

That's interesting about Cromwell. Thanks wisechild, i'll look into that. Some of my tree goes back to 1640 but i'm frankly not too happy with some of it.

One of the main problems which you yourself have stated is that for the common man and not nobility/royalty you do have to be 100% certain that the person you have found is your ancestor.

And this is something which can be very hard to prove.

Hence all the duff trees on Ancestry where the submitted IGI records are used as concrete proof of relationship without any addiitional documentary evidence.

Lets be honest in a small village it may be easier to verify. But in towns there could be many people of the same name, and the farther back you go the more likely you are to find more people with the same names as the bible and occupation based surnames were the most common to be found.

It is as you say difficult to be certain as you go back , Quiet a few on my tree signed with a X so there name is spelt by the person doing the writing at the time, I'm researching my family name Hyde and Fullwood at the moment but there are so many in the same area I do not think you can ever be 100% sure The names William and Elizabeth are the most common on my tree

Mary :-D

Just one more thought - though seemingly going in the wrong direction, have you looked for wills? I have only 2 in my entire family, but by stating some family relationships they solved an otherwise impossible problem and enabled me to take my family back further.
Jan

Jan

I have not looked at any wills, how do I start that kind of search not knowing if any family members even had a will??

Regards

Mary

For wills before 1858, you look on National Archives website:

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

It isn't the easiest site to navigate, but go to this page and scroll down. Fill in the form for the ancestor you are looking for.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/wills.htm

You can download anything you find - it's pretty cheap, the ones I found cost only £3.50 though they might have gone up!

You might not find anything but worth a shot.

Jan

(lol Jan, good news!, now gone down £3.36)

Chris :)