Quick And Easy Tips

Inspired by the new crop of celebrities uncovering their family stories, but not sure where to begin? Sarah Williams offers a helping hand that will get your research off to a flying start

Don’t let celebrities have all the fun! Explore your family’s past with our simple guide to getting started

The world of family history always sees a flurry of activity when a new series of Who Do You Think You Are? comes to our screens. The sight of celebrities uncovering fascinating stories about their families encourages a lot of people to think, “I wonder if I can do that too?” And

for most of us, the answer is a resounding “Absolutely!”

Although there’s lots to learn about tracking down records and understanding what they can tell you, most family historians just pick things up as they go along (although a subscription to Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine will help to keep you on track). The important thing to know is that even a complete novice can make real and rewarding progress by following these first steps.

So don’t be put off by technical terms, and don’t be daunted by too much information. Just follow these simple tips to start your own journey into your family history.

1 Write Down What You Already Know

Start by sketching out a basic family tree with what you already know about yourself, your siblings, your parents and your grandparents. It can be surprising to discover what you don’t know, as well as what you do.

2 Talk To The Older Generation

Spend time talking to your older relations. Even at the early stages of your research, it’s important to capture what they know. Photographs or set questions can help inspire useful responses. Ask if you can record a conversation (most mobile phones will have an option to record audio) rather than take notes, so that you can concentrate on listening and asking questions, following any new leads that they give you.

3 Harness The Power Of Social Media

Social media has changed the way we communicate, and family historians can benefit from this. For example, announcing that you plan to research your family on Facebook can result in offers of help from other members of your family who may have done some work already, or want to go on the journey with you. Or you may find a local friend who already has a membership with a commercial genealogy website who is willing to help – perhaps you can share costs. At a later stage you may decide to focus on a particular line and set up a Facebook group for anyone descended from a particular couple, encouraging people to share family photographs.

4 Start Building Your Family Tree

Although you can draw a family tree by hand, most people now go for digital options. Almost all digital family trees can be saved as a GEDCOM file, a special file format that means you can move your work to other sites or software at a later stage if you want.

The main commercial genealogy websites, such as ancestry.co.uk and findmypast. co.uk, let you set up a free account so that you can start filling in your family tree facts into a simple template. These are particularly useful if you later want to take out a subscription to one of these sites, as they will suggest records as well as connections to other users’ trees. Make sure you work from facts, not assumptions, and only add details that you are confident are correct. Ancestry has recently added ‘Tags’ that let you flag up facts in your tree that you haven’t yet verified, but question marks can also be used.

5 Spend Your Money Wisely And Use Free Resources

As with most hobbies, there are costs associated with exploring your family history. So it’s worth investigating the free resources at libraries and archives. Most will have free access to the Library Edition of ancestry.co.uk, and many will have other resources including digital newspapers.

There are also lots of very helpful free resources on the web. For example, familysearch.org is the biggest free online resource for family historians. Run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it has a growing collection of records from around the world, all available for free to registered users. The site also runs a communal, universal family tree that you can add to or search for forebears.

Both Findmypast and Ancestry have some records that are free to search and view as long as you are registered with them (as opposed to a paid membership). Also, keep an eye out for free-access weekends.

Other major free websites include freebmd.org.uk (for searching the Civil Registration Index for England and Wales of births, marriages and deaths, often abbreviated to ‘BMDs’) and www.genuki.org.uk, but there are also dozens of specialist ones such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission ( www.cwgc.org), as well as the National Library of Wales ( library.wales) and the National Archives of Ireland ( genealogy.nationalarchives.ie).

6 Don’t Take A Wrong Turn

It might seem premature to warn you about mistakes before you’ve even got properly stuck in, but family history can be full of red herrings that may lead you in the wrong direction – and there’s nothing more frustrating than finding out that you’ve wasted time researching the wrong family!

• Always start from known facts, and work backwards. • Don’t accept hints from subscription websites unless you

are confident that they are correct.

• Transcriptions and indexes are useful tools, but try to track down an image of the original document as well, in case mistakes have crept in.

• Check out inconsistencies. People did change jobs and locations and did not always know their date of birth, but be wary of records that don’t add up.

• Remember, someone with the right name may still not be your forebear. Make sure that there are no other likely candidates, keeping in mind that the record containing your ancestor may not be digitised yet.

7 Check Out The Census Online

Now it’s time to get stuck in with some historical documents. One of the key records for genealogists is the census. Taken every 10 years, records are online for the vast majority of the population from 1841 up to 1911. They are a great way to piece together family relationships and track someone’s progress through life, as well as uncovering occupations and discovering disabilities. The 1911 census is the only one available where you can see the original householder’s schedule, usually filled in by the head of the household. Earlier records show the enumerator’s list compiled using a combination of schedules filled in by households and a certain amount of door-to-door canvassing.

You can view the censuses for England and Wales via subscription sites ancestry.co.uk, findmypast.co.uk and thegenealogist.co.uk, and scotlandspeople.gov.uk for Scotland. Transcriptions of the censuses can be searched for free via familysearch.org. Remember that the census records the population on a particular day and may not reflect someone’s usual address, for example they could be visiting relatives. It’s also important to bear in mind that a couple could both have and lose a child within the 10 years between censuses. Censuses do not tell the whole story.

8 When to Buy BMDs

BMDs have had to be registered in England and Wales since 1837 (1855 for Scotland), and this provides a rich resource. However, these vital records come with a price: £11 in England and Wales, although PDFs for death or birth records are £7. It’s cheaper in Scotland where you can order digital copies of civil records via scotlandspeople.gov.uk. Birth records will give you date of birth and name of parents including the maiden name of the mother. However, new GRO indexes give the maiden name ( www.gro.gov. uk). Also, if you have an account

on findmypast.co.uk or ancestry. co.uk, you may find an ancestor’s date of birth in the 1939 Register. It’s also worth checking church records on subscription websites, because a church marriage record will have exactly the same details as on a certificate.

9 Dealing With Brick Walls

It’s great when everything falls into place. You type a name in a search box and up comes your grandmother in 1911 with her family. You go back through the decades and your family tree flourishes. But sometimes that search box draws a blank, and in family history we call that ‘hitting a brick wall’. • Try putting less information into the search form. A date of death or place may mislead the search. • Experiment with different spellings. Our ancestors were less fussed about how they spelled names

and indexes often contain errors, especially where handwriting is difficult to read.

• Search for siblings, especially if they have a less common name. They may give you new leads.

• Try different databases. Although all of the main subscription sites offer census information, they

all have different search options and often different transcriptions.

10 Join Our Forum And Subscribe To WDYTYA? Magazine

A subscription to WDYTYA? Magazine will help build your family history skills and keep you up to date with new data releases. It will also give you a monthly dose of inspiration and, if you get stuck, the experienced members of our friendly forum will give you a helping hand (see page 44).