Tracing your family tree is about much more than simply plotting your lineage on a piece of paper. It's about using facts and records to get as close to your ancestors as you can. Who were they? Where did they live? What were their lives like?
Using the birth, marriage and death data which is available, you can start to put together a very detailed picture of what life would have been like for your ancestors. The information is all readily available to you - and the advent of tools such as those on the Ancestry.co.uk website can help even further.
Learn more about your family name by visiting the learning centre on Ancestry.co.uk
What's available?
The comprehensive Births, Marriages and Deaths records was started in 1837. It lists the following information:
- Births : Name and gender of child, place and date of birth, and sometimes parents' names.
- Marriages: Names of bride and groom, place and date of marriage.
- Deaths: Name and date of birth of deceased, date and cause of death, where they're buried, and sometimes useful information like names of parents, occupation, and more.
Find out more about Birth, Marriage and Death records Free with Ancestry.co.uk
Prior to 1837 you can find information in parish records, although this is going to be a little more limited. Parish records cover christenings, marriages and burials, and you can often glean vital information from these sources. Londoners can use the Pallot Marriage Index, with details stretching back to the late 18th century, in the same way.
What do I do with the information?
You're most likely to be working backwards so if you find the birth records of an ancestor, see if you can find their parents' names and then work backwards. When and where did they marry? Is it different from where they ended up living, and if so why? When and how did they die? When and where they born, and who were their parents?
Although the information will become more patchy and your search will become murkier the further back you go, you'll discover stories more intriguing and complicated than you'd have imagined as the branches become further and further spread out.
A good place to start your search is Ancestry.co.uk as their database includes details for millions of names taken from parish records from the 16th century onwards, meaning that you have a good store of info in one place to go back through many generations. From there, you can embark on your own journey - visiting places of birth, marriage and burial, and so on.
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