How do I trace my Suffolk roots?

QAnn, Annie or Anne Beckham states in each census between 1851 and 1901 that she was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She died in 1902 and is registered as Ann Dobie by her son-in-law.

According to census and death information, she was born between 1825 and 1833. I have never found a marriage record for her, but I believe that she had five children with widower David Black Dobie, a “medical man”.

I have been unable to find Ann with certainty in the 1841 census, and to research her line further back, I need to find her parents. Can you help? A Parish registers for St James and St Mary, Bury St Edmunds, are held at the town’s record office, which is part of Suffolk Archives ( bit.ly/sro-bury). There are some transcripts

locally and online, but none are complete.

If Ann Beckham is not recorded in the registers, try nonconformist records. Film versions of those at The National Archives (TNA) up to 1836 are held in Bury St Edmunds Record Office. Various indexes and digitised copies can also be found online at ancestry.co.uk, familysearch.org, find

mypast.co.uk and thegenealogist.co.uk. Ann may have mistakenly believed that she was born in Bury St Edmunds because her family moved there when she was young. I suggest checking census returns for Beckhams in the town itself and the surrounding area.

Incidentally, the Suffolk Family History Society (SFHS) Suffolk Marriage Index, 1813–1837, lists two Beckham marriages, both in Mettingham in the 1830s (about 35 miles away), plus the possible phonetic variant of ‘Beacham’ in Ipswich. SFHS has published indexed transcripts to parish registers and records that may identify other parishes to search – see suffolkfhs.co.uk. Some are on both FamilySearch and Findmypast.

Bury St Edmunds Record Office has a personal surnames index, which covers parish Poor Law records up to c1840. I checked this for ‘Beckham’ but found nothing relating to Bury St Edmunds. I also consulted the Archdeaconry of Sudbury probate indexes up to 1858, again without success.

However, pre-1858 Suffolk wills could also be proved at Norwich Consistory Court and the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. These can be located using the Norfolk Record Office catalogue ( nrocat.norfolk.gov.uk), TNA’s Discovery Catalogue ( discovery.

nationalarchives.gov.uk) and Ancestry. Finally, workhouse records can include details of settlement. Bury has minute books for 1748–1930.