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 If you have just started researching your family tree,
Simon Fowler has some sound advice in this and other articles in
our ancestors series.
Simon is editor of
Ancestors Magazine
published in association with The National Archives. He is an
experienced writer and lecturer regularly giving lectures at the
Society of Genealogists. His latest book
Military History on the Internet has just been published by
Pen & Sword
Ancestors is the Family History
Magazine from the National Archives click
for the special offer they are making to laterlife visitors
Using the official records of
births, marriages and deaths, and census records, as described
in previous newsletters, it is fairly easy to trace your
ancestors back to the days of Jane Austen. Going back before
then is more difficult – there are different types of records
(never mind the handwriting) to master. But it is perfectly
possible, although most people get stuck in the first half of
the 18th century. Even having three hundred years of ancestors
is something to be proud of.
Parish registers
The most important records are undoubtedly those kept by the
Church of England. Cardinal Wolsey ordered the keeping of
registers of baptisms, marriages and funerals in 1538, although
few survive before the early 17th century. Indeed they are still
kept today. If you married in a church, you will have joined
generations of your forebears by signing the register.
Initially there was no compunction for vicars or, more often,
their clerks to provide anything more than the names of the
individuals being married or buried, and the name of the child
being baptised and their father (although even this is sometimes
omitted). Occasionally you may come across a detailed register,
but these are rare.
In 1753 printed marriage registers were introduced and these
provide more details of the bride and groom. Then in 1812
clergymen had to fill in printed baptism and burial registers,
both of which provided more information than had previously been
the case.
There is no national collection of parish registers, although
the Society of Genealogists has the best collection (
www.sog.org.uk ). Relatively
few are available online. Even so, if your ancestor came from a
small parish it is worth checking Google or another search
engine, because a number of local history societies and local
historians have placed registers online.
In general, parish registers are held at county record offices.
You can find details of these archives at
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon .
There are two indexes based on parish registers, although
neither are complete.
www.familysearch.org contains millions of entries of
baptisms and, to a lesser degree, marriages which originally
appeared in the International Genealogical Index. The National
Burial Index has details of burials. At present it is being
transferred from
www.familyhistoryonline.co.uk to
www.findmypast.com
so you may need to check both sites to find the entry you want.
Not everybody was baptised, married or buried in an Anglican
church. From the 17th century a number of new faiths grew up –
generally referred to as Nonconformists – such as Methodists,
Baptists and Quakers. Their registers are available online at
www.bmdregisters.co.uk
, although not everything is yet available. Transcripts of
entries are also available at
www.familysearch.com .
Monumental inscriptions
Inscriptions on gravestones and memorials inside chapels and
churches can contain a wealth of information. There are many
transcripts of monumental inscriptions, as they are known, but
relatively few exist online. NAOMI, the National Archive of
Memorial Inscriptions,
www.memorialinscriptions.org.uk , is aiming to rectify this.
As a pilot project they have provided data for Bedfordshire and
Norfolk.
Incidentally, war memorials are indexed at
www.ukniwm.org.uk ,
although the site includes relatively few lists of the names
which appear on the memorials. However,
www.roll-of-honour.com
, has many such lists particularly for the First World War.
Wills
Wills exist since the 15th century. However, until well into the
20th century relatively few people made wills because they had
very little to bequeath, and what there was, was generally
amicably divided by the family. It is thought that about 10
percent of people made wills, and not exclusively the rich, so
the indexes are well worth checking.
From the beginning of January 1858 wills were proved centrally.
Detailed indexes are available in the National Probate Calendar
which is available at a number of record offices and The
National Archives until the end of 1943. The wills themselves
can be ordered in person at the Probate Search Room, First
Avenue House, 4249 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP or by post from
the Court Service, York Probate Sub-Registry, First Floor,
Castle Chambers, Clifford Street, York, YO1 9RG. There are also
plans to digitise the wills and make them available online.
Before 1858 finding wills is much more difficult. Wills were
proved in a number of different ecclesiastical courts. The two
most important were the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC),
which covered the whole of England and Wales and whose wills are
available at
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline , and the
Prerogative Court of York (PCY) for England north of the Trent,
whose records are now at the Borthwick Institute at the
University of York
www.york.ac.uk/inst/bihr . Otherwise wills were proved in a
bewildering number of local courts, most of whose records
survive at county record offices.
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Articles in the series:
Get going with your
family history
Census Returns
Birth, marriage
and death records
Birth, marriage
and death certificates
Going back
before 1837
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