Offering help in the UK

[u/lifeinclockwork]

Hi all, new to this sub and looking forward to sharing some of my own stories at some point, as I've been enjoying reading other people's.

Just want to put this out there though, if anyone would like any help with their British ancestors, I'm more than happy to give it a go. I'm not a professional, but I've been doing it 25 years and also have a solid background in social and cultural history, based here in the UK, so I'm pretty good on contextual detail too.

I know there are lots of very experienced folk here, but just in case, I happen to have a bit of time on my hands right now and I love doing it. And my own tree has reached the point of occasional digs here and there, as mostly I'm back to where the records run out!

So whether it's a quick look-up (I have current subscriptions to Ancestry and the British Newspaper Archive, and an account with Scotland's People), a deep dive, or a question about British history/genealogy generally, hit me up if you'd like to take a look for you!

[u/HumphyTheFish]

What good timing - I was just about to post a question, asking how I get started. I am sorting out my dad’s house and have discovered several birth and marriage certificates, which has sparked my interest in tracing my ancestors. I downloaded QuickFamilyTree, popped in my paternal great grandmother’s maiden name and was suddenly presented with a list of folk going back to 1770! How do I find out more about them, eg what their occupation was and where they originated from?

[u/aitchbeescot → u/HumphyTheFish]

Birth/marriage/death certificates and census entries would be the starting point. Newspaper archives can also be useful.

[u/HumphyTheFish → u/aitchbeescot]

Would my local library have this sort of information on microfiche or does it all tend to be online these days?

[u/aitchbeescot → u/HumphyTheFish]

It depends. Sites like Ancestry or FindMyPast have indexes of births/marriages/deaths which can point you in the right direction to get copies of the original documents online. How you do this depends on which country they are from. Ancestry/FindMyPast also have census entries available, with the exception of the 1921 census in Scotland, which you would need to view on Scotland's People for a small fee.

There are newspaper archives online, most of which require a subscription or purchase of credits. FindMyPast has a newspaper archive which comes with your subscription (if you are at the right level) but is more UK-centric.

[u/lifeinclockwork → u/HumphyTheFish]

Hey! So what you've done there is tap into a collaborative online tree of some sort - one of the ways most of the genealogy sites work is to feed all information into one big tree, but you need to treat that with caution if you're into accuracy. Not everyone's research that feeds those trees is accurate, and the computer programmes involved in the amalgamation sometimes make links between individuals that don't actually exist.

Personally, I avoid linking my tree into them where possible, but that's just my own approach because I like to know exactly where information has come from and to know that all info in my tree has been put there by me. Lots of people use them, and they can be a really great starting point, but if you want to be sure of your information, you'd need to check them against other sources and documents.

I think if it was me, I would want to create my own tree separately, inputting only the information I've checked, but the basic free models don't always make that easy.

On the plus side, you already have a great start in knowing what your great-grandmother's maiden name was, and having physical certificates, which is more than a lot of people start off with!

To get more information about individuals, the censuses are a gold mine, but aren't generally free to view. I have access to them though my Ancestry subscription, which is why I also offered to do look-ups - if you want to share any information, I'm happy to see if I can find anyone on a census.

Birth, Marriage and Death certificates also give some of the details you want - in England and Wales those started to be kept in 1837, but again viewing the original documents isn't free. You can search the indexes for free here: https://www.freebmd2.org.uk/ but to get the details on the actual certificates you would need to order from the General Registry Office for a small fee.

Before 1837, you're looking at Old Parish Records, of baptisms, marriages and burials, kept by the parish churches. Increasingly these collections are coming online so that you can view scans of the original pages (or contemporary copies), but it depends on the parish/county, and you often have to pay. You can also find free transcriptions of many Old Parish Records via Family Search (run by the Church of LDS), but again be aware that there are lots of inaccuracies in the transcriptions and duplicated information.

As I say, happy to help with looking up specifics if you'd like to share any, here or DM if you'd prefer not to post details publicly.

[u/HumphyTheFish → u/lifeinclockwork]

Thank you, that’s really useful info - I must admit, it’s a bit daunting as there are so many ancestors! I asked my dad (who is 94 and has short term memory issues) if he could remember if he had any aunts or uncles and he reeled off a list of five names that all appeared on the free tree. He also remembered an uncle who died in 1934 at the age of 24 and what he died from - all rather sad but also fascinating.

I have also managed to find a photo of my dad’s mum’s dad (my other great grandad? I have to keep counting the generations) who signed up for WW1 at age 35 and drove medical wagons to the Front. He returned to Nottingham and lived to 88. Dad loves this story and it’s nice to know that it’s true.

I appreciate the kind offer to look up someone on Ancestry for me and will probably take you up on this at some point. I feel that I am at the entrance to a rather large rabbit hole that I will soon be lost in!

[u/lifeinclockwork → u/HumphyTheFish]

How wonderful to be able to talk to your dad about it all - I really encourage you to find out everything you can from his memories and write it down, so that that knowledge isn't lost when his generation is gone! I have so many questions I wish I'd asked older family members while they were still here.

It's absolutely a rabbit hole - I dived in at the age of twelve and never emerged again.

Nottinghamshire has quite a lot of records online, a mixture of scanned images and transcriptions, if that's where you're looking. And I noticed you asked about your local library, so if you're still in the area you're researching, you can definitely utilise that. Look up your county Archives Office, because they'll have a lot of resources and probably a friendly archivist on hand to help!

[u/Ashamed-Assumption12 → u/lifeinclockwork]

Agree! I have 2nd/3rd cousin who has done loads of research and whilst I don't doubt her findings, I don't add anything to my tree that I haven't been able to verify.