Remove the blinkers
I would like to offer a cautionary tale to your readers concerning becoming blasé about their online searches for ancestors. I have been researching my family’s various branches for a number of years, both in local archives and online. As they generally didn’t appear to have moved much beyond their immediate locality, which was mostly north- east England, Midlothian and South London, I tended to concentrate my efforts in searching for them in those areas.
One of the things that used to frustrate me when searching online using the main genealogical companies was that if I forgot to narrow my search to Britain, or even a region, they would throw up records from other countries such as America and Canada. I was convinced that these were spurious links that came up because the Soundex function picked up a similar- sounding first name or surname.
However, during one session searching online I decided to follow what appeared to be a match for a family member in America where the name, date and place of birth actually did seem to match. And, surprise, surprise, it turned out to be correct. Since then I have taken off the blinkers and opened my eyes to the potential idea that in fact some of my ancestors were willing to take a chance on a new life in the New World. Using US census and BMD records I have found two distinct and extensive branches from north- east England who emigrated to America and settled in the likes of New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New Jersey, Milwaukee and Chicago. As the USA’s more recent records seem more accessible online, I discovered that many of their descendants are either still living there or have only recently passed away.
The object lesson here is not to be dismissive when searching for ancestors, especially online, and take time to explore whether these anomalies could in fact reveal distant branches of your family beyond these shores. David Bond
Editor replies: Many thanks for your letter David – you are of course absolutely right. I remember testing out the Australian free newspaper website trove.nla.gov.au with some of the more unusual surnames in my own family tree. I wasn’t expecting to find anyone who was actually related, but to my great surprise discovered a fascinating story regarding a branch of my family who emigrated after the First World War about whom I had previously known nothing. Perhaps your prize of an Ancestry DNA test will reveal even more unexpected family connections!