First Steps in Family History Research

With a new series of Who Do You Think You Are? on television, it will inevitably catch people’s imagination and start them wondering about where they came from. Perhaps this programme has sparked you into thinking about your past, or maybe you have been sorting out family possessions and come across some tantalizing old documents that has given you the urge to discover more. This is a series of articles in which we hope to offer some guidance to those of you who are starting out on what will be a fantastic voyage of discovery

This is a series of articles in which we hope to offer some guidance to those of you who are starting out on what will be a fantastic voyage of discovery. It is fascinating to think of how the decisions our ancestors made many years ago, or the circumstances in which they found themselves, has shaped the people we are now. Sadly, we will not all have remarkable ancestors like those featured in WDYTYA – after all they select the most interesting family histories to feature, with two thirds of the celebrities researched never making it to filming the programme. Nevertheless, your own family history research will uncover facts about your family that are sure to surprise, sadden or fascinate you. When embarking on research you must be prepared to accept that not everything will be rosy.

Who Are You?

Write down everyone you know about in your family and how they relate to you. Draw up a simple tree. Look at your birth certificate. If you have the full certificate, it should contain the names of both your parents and you will find out your mother’s maiden name. If you have a certificate that does not show your parents details, you have a ‘short’ birth certificate and it might be advisable to obtain a full one from the General Register Office. Normally when people have the ‘short’ birth certificate, it is because it was issued free of charge and the ‘full’ one had to be paid for. However, it has been known for people to obtain their ‘full’ birth certificate, only to discover that the father who brought them up, wasn’t named on their birth certificate, which may suggest he was not their biological father.

Ask Your Relatives

Before rushing back through the generations, take time to look at what you and your relatives already know. Not only will this save you time and money, but sadly these people may not always be around.

Ask parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents if they have any stories about members of the family and whether they have any old family documents. You might be surprised at what is lurking in Granny’s attic! Amongst the sort of things that will be of interest are:

Birth, marriage and death certificates
Photographs or cine films
Family bibles
Identity cards
Medals, badges and other items connected with service in the armed forces
Old passports
Wills
Diaries
Newspaper cuttings
Accounts, receipts
Correspondence

Record Your Findings

You are advised to make a copy of everything that is found, even if it does not seem relevant at this stage. Write down everything your relatives tell you, see if they can identify people on photographs, if so write the names down. However, always bear in mind that what they tell you might not be entirely accurate! Carefully record where you obtained the information from, in case you need to ask further questions later! Try and ask another person the same questions and see if you get the same answers!

Which side of the Family to Research?

A popular question posed by beginners! It is easy to become overwhelmed with the amount of information you acquire when you get involved in family history research. Remember that each generation you go back you will double the number of your director ancestors each time. You have 2 parents, 4 grand parents, 8 great grandparents, 16 2xgreat grand parents, 32 3xgreat grandparents, and so on. By the time you get back to your great, great, great, great grandparents, you could be looking for 64 direct ancestors, plus their siblings!

It is, therefore, advisable for beginners to concentrate on just one branch of the family to start with. But which one? Most people opt for their family surname – that is their father’s surname – simply because it is the one they are more familiar with. However, if it is a common surname you might be setting yourself too much of a challenge to begin with. Think about your mother’s maiden name, is it less common? If so, that might be a better place to start. After all half your genes come from her side of the family!

Verify

Okay, so you have managed to get some names and maybe some dates from relatives. What you need to do now is prove the facts with paper records.

This is a article series that will be continued next week.. stay tuned!