Back in time without
HAVING launched our new Facebook page to encourage and assist all those who would like to take up family and house history projects while they are isolated at home during the Covid-19 crisis we now look at how to go about the research.
The aim of Southport History Hunters is to welcome anyone interested in taking up genealogy, perhaps for the first time, and to offer guide notes and support and, to interact with local and family history enthusiasts through the prism of the newly-created Facebook page – to give you something to do during this time of uncertainty.
The aim of Southport History Hunters is to act as a springboard to highlight some of the ways in which local, house and family history research can be very relevant to our lives, and provide an improved sense of identity and place through engagement with the “real thin”,’ and even a place for primary-age children as well as the elderly.
Not only is local, family and house history a significant part of fun education, but where we live and grow up is an important part of who we are.
Many localities have a plethora of resources but with Southport losing its main reference library and Botanic Gardens Museum people are unsure of what is held at The Atkinson and Crosby library, and other places.
Over the weeks and months the Facebook page will explore and identify what is where.
To start you off on your research, SHH offers, freely, some guide notes and special features to hopefully act as inspiration – but if you have any specific questions please feel free to get in touch.
Starting a family history project can be the beginning of a wonderful adventure – a journey that can take you on a magical trip back to the past. However, it is a step-by-step project, it won’t happen all at once, or as easily as you might think.
It is a marathon, not a sprint – just like this cursed virus we are living through!
The first thing you should do when starting to trace a family tree is to gather together the information you already know about your family, such as the names and birth dates of your parents and grandparents etc.
One of your first major steps should be joining one of the big genealogy sites online, which would be a great help.
If not, we will do our best to direct you to the sources you need – although being stuck at home does, of course, limit you at the moment.
If you get into difficulty we are here to help (or we can do the work for you, for a small fee, during the Covid-19 crisis).
When you begin your family history research you should interview older relatives first, as they hold the key to unlocking the past, so ask them what they remember about their own parents and grandparents and ask them if they have any copies of birth, marriage or death certificates.
A set of specific questions will appear on our new page to guide you.
These first-hand accounts can be a very useful resource when you are beginning your research project, but please remember that there may be skeletons in the cupboard – but don’t worry, this is the case in a great many families at some point along the way.
Your relatives may also have newspaper cuttings, diaries, letters and journals relating to your ancestors and, it is possible that one of them has already begun their own research into the family that they are willing to show you.
Please remember, however, that your elderly relatives may well have miss-remembered some facts about the family, or state dates and facts incorrectly, so you should always try to double check what they tell you before adding them to your tree.
Our grandparents told us some wonderful stories, but the dates and order were all over the place, and one grandparent’s memory contradicted the other, but it usually sorts itself out.
When starting your family history research project it is up to you to decide which avenue you wish to explore first – whether to start with your father’s or mother’s line or, investigate a line which has a more unusual surname, which could be easier to trace (but, of course, this is not always the case).
What information you decide to include when starting your task is also entirely up to you.
You could perhaps begin by researching your immediate family, focusing on one line and then branching out from there.
It is important to focus your research so you are not overwhelmed or overloaded by all the details you will collect.
You should always work backwards, finding your parents, then their parents and so on.
It is entirely possible, as you conduct your research that one particular relative captures your imagination, and you find that you would like to learn more about their life first, do what inspires you – and keep it fun, as well as educational.
The first records you may use could be street directories, census returns and parish registers, to get you up and running, although the most crucial sources you will probably use/ need are birth, marriage and death certificates (BMDs).
You can order these by finding the details on the GRO Index (births 1837-2007, marriages 1837-2005, deaths 18372017).
This will give you your ancestors’ basic biographical data, which you can use to build up your tree.
From there – when this horrible crisis is over – you can continue your research by venturing to record offices like Crosby Library and Preston Record Office, and start attacking archives such as census returns, electoral registers/ rolls, directories, maps and plans, nonconformist registers, parish registers, quarter sessions records and school records, etc, to build up a picture of your ancestors and add meat to the bones of their existence.
Once you have found extra information on your ancestors you may want to consider how you will properly record your family history findings, maybe by using a family history chart (we will provide you with some), which will help you keep track of your research in a