Swyre Puncknowle, The Bride Valley
Ancestral Research Web Site
Ancestral Research Web Site
Our Thoughts, Hints & Tips on the Ancestry Hunt!
Like everything in life we start and do, we seldom have any idea where to start and where to go.
The following is what we realised and found out after jumping into that great big void called ANCESTRY!
What is included here has been said or written many times in the past, but when you start on this journey you haven’t heard or read it anywhere!
What happened?
You woke up one day and thought who am I? Where does my family descend from?
You suddenly realise you don’t know your mum or dad’s brothers or sisters?
You watched a TV programme and it started you thinking?
You thought you had some spare time on your hands!!!! Well you thought you had!
There are so many reasons why we start a journey into our ANCESTRY.
You may have realised, like us,
We left it ‘too late’, the sad fact is when we are younger (as we look at our children and think WHY aren’t you interested?) we thought it was always something we could do tomorrow as today we are quite busy, and of course it’s not that important, is it?
‘Too late’
Don’t leave it ‘too late to ask questions, the one thing we have learnt and sadly realised is: it’s true we don’t live forever and the information and the knowledge that we have also doesn’t live forever!
The only memory of the past is the one that is passed on!
You never know you have the right answer unless you have asked the question In the first place, to the right person, with the possible right answer!
You can no longer find the answer or how it ‘really felt’ unless the person is there to tell you.
Sadly as we all move on and are replaced by next generations; so does all our information and experiences.
ASK THOSE QUESTIONS NOW, while you still can, then write it down, keep what you find, making sure that tomorrow: those on the ANCESTRY trail will have all that information and knowledge and also they will know how it felt!!
Always remembering that our today will become tomorrow’s ancestry!
Remember history is our lives today, and tomorrow only we know what we did, why we did it, where we were and who we are.
We have learnt the hard way, by not asking, then it’s too late, and the chance has gone. We can all generalise on the past, but to say I was told “I can remember living in the old cottage, and by the way we had a bucket in the garden to use as a toilet and I remember granddad used to smoke when he went out there, as it made the air more pleasant! And of course we didn’t have running water in the house, we went down the road to a pump, and the village didn’t have ‘electric’ or ‘gas’, when it got dark the only light we had was a candle, that is if dad had earnt enough to buy one”.
Always take notes, keep copies, write everything down, if possible let the person telling their own story write it down or even better ‘record it’. What could be better than to hear one of your ancestor’s telling you their story!
Ancestry Research is like opening books without titles or contents pages you don't know what you are going to find until you turn the next page!
Today is ‘just’ another day, ‘just’ like all other days another page in a book or another book.
Another book, which will one day be someone else’s ancestral journey.
‘Photographs’
‘With today’s technology it is so much easier to preserve all our old photos and prints’ (We do operate a professional Photography salvage, rescue, service, including restoration and reprinting on card or mounted canvas etc. please contact for details).
“I have photographs that I have been looking at since I was a child, these photos are now well over 100 years old and are falling to bits and covered with fingerprint burns”.
We are now scanning all these photos at the Highest Quality, so that we can re-print for our children and grandchildren, to hold, touch and enjoy just as I did. Whilst a scanned photo can never replace the original, it can protect it.
The scanned copy will enable the original to be kept safe from further damage etc. When scanning, we also scan the backs, and ask the family if they can name anyone, and do they remember anything that was happening at the time or anything about the photo being taken.
So many old priceless family photographs have been lost forever for so many sad reasons, or our relatives who were in them, have also gone and can no longer identify themselves. As generations move on, the knowledge of our ancestors stand still with the people that know or remember, while every picture tells a story it cannot tell you ‘who’, ‘when’ or ‘where’.
We can guess or try to work it out but the truth stays in the memories of those passed.
Another golden rule now is ‘ask anyone who might know, while they are still able’. We also adopt these rules in all our ancestry work, ask as many questions as possible, for all the little stories etc, while there is still some one to ask.
So I have asked some questions found some weird information (that used to be some dark family secret), I have run round the ‘the elders’ (the old ones). Got all the photos and pictures, also found a few names I never heard of before, had them scanned, archived and reprinted, also got a copy on the computer, oh yes the computers up and running and finally earning its keep, its now called The Ancestry HQ. It sits proudly in the corner smugly threatening me it will breakdown. But another golden rule always keep backups, of course you also have to instil total fear in anyone that gets within 6ft of the computer!
Now what? First off decision time,
What are my aims?
How far do I want to go? (well at this time, trust me tomorrow, you will want to go just that little further, and as for the day after that!!!!! you’ll see).
Do I want to build a family tree?
Am I going to build my tree ‘online’?
Am I going to use a family tree maker program?
Or could I just use a spreadsheet?
Now I want to find out more!
Firstly document what you know, then start building your family tree. Start with yourself and your Mother, Father and any siblings that you know of. Then add their spouses and children.
Now you have a family tree underway! Next write it out or print it: Then show the family, what else do they know? Add a bit more, don’t forget to add all the dates you know or have found, add links or notes about any photos you have, also add all the bits of information, stories and gossip, It’s all part of your Ancestral Story.
Now you really have started a family tree.
.
Well that should be all the current tree information entered, now what?
For you the great ancestry hunt really starts, this is where you enter the great depths of the unknown!
Time to take stock!
We have a good start, which can now go off in many directions,
Example:- starting with you, that equals 1 line, then from your mother and father you have 2 lines to follow, then you look at your grandparents and you have 4 lines, then your great grandparents gives you 8 lines to follow. It gets scary how quickly the numbers add up! Then you have the children of each pair of parents, and then you branch off to their partners, then their children!! Wow time to reign in. Set yourself some rules, what line to follow and stick to it, its always good to have a look round when you find a lead, but take a few notes and move on. Try and avoid the taking of tangents, remember you can always go back to see if you can find more, you can always decide that you want to include another line later. Most family trees historically follow the paternal blood line, that being your father’s line, then his fathers line etc. But it’s not unusual to follow the maternal line i.e. mother’s side then her mother etc. But as your tree grows so can the ancestral lines grow! But only one line at a time.
Then you start finding living cousins etc that you never knew you had.
Our family has grown beyond belief over the years and we have found some really nice people that we now see on a regular basis. Yet it was only a few years ago we never even knew of their existence.
But where?
We started off with a trial with, www.ancestry.co.uk <http://www.ancestry.co.uk> as at this time we did not have a clue where else to go, and also at this time there were very few on line facilities. Today it’s a different story: almost all the things you need are online or going online. We also visit Record Office’s, Library’s including The British Library, History Centres
Etc. etc. we still find many records in these places that are not online or are in an incomplete form, or have transcribe errors; also to see the original documents about your ‘family’ is a strange experience! We also subscribe and belong to ancestry and history groups, lastly we have over the years built a large personal Library of data and information, including old maps! And now regularly subscribe to www.Ancestry.co.uk <http://www.Ancestry.co.uk> (world wide), Find My Past (full package) we find these 2 compliment each other, and suit our requirements. On top of these 2 we also belong to others.
Where do you go next? You could try some free trials, and then join a basic package to see how you get on.
Check out our Links page here you will find useful websites including a lot of free ones!
‘We do sell an ancestry search and build package to help you with your family tree’
Please ask for details.
You should if your ancestry is in primarily in 'England' be able to get back to the 1800’s quite easily ‘famous last words’.
You will start your journey looking up Birth, Marriages and Death records or more commonly known as BMD’s.
Then as you go back further in history you will start looking at the census returns, at the moment these start with the 1911 Return’s in 10 years we should be able to have access to the 1920 returns! The census returns go back to 1841 then every 10 years after.
‘BUT BE CAREFUL HERE’ not all returns are complete or correctly transcribed (each company / group / organisation, transcribes differently) there is a new census transcribe service that is slowly growing (more details later). We always check the original before we believe what is transcribed.
Added to that you have 'census returns' that have been damaged or destroyed, a large quantity was also lost during WW2.
Then added to that, you find little human errors or maybe you could call them misleading ‘white lies’, most of the time this was to make someone a different age! Lets face it, did he know his wife was really 9 years older than him, or she was only 14 when they got married, then they had a child when they were in their 60’s or maybe their daughter had being a naughty girl, and the guilt had to be covered up. Then of course possibly the saddest one is lying about their age so they could carry on working to save going into the workhouse.
Also remember, you were only on the census if you were in the house at that time, on the date the census was taken. You may have been away on that day or maybe visiting elsewhere, then of course you would be on that census return.
Remember a Census return is just a snapshot of who they were and where at that time, and not necessarily a true reflection of normal life generally.
And lastly, you had the rebel’s that stood in the street at census time so they did not have to complete the return! Just as members of my husband’s family did.
Lastly, Parish records, these hold unbelievable information if its still there or available. These where available are slowly coming online, if not you do have a lot of work on your hands, but you can do it ‘if you also have luck on your side’.
Parish Records are a whole subject on their own (maybe a subject for another day).
Again we do offer a professional service if required please ask for details.
This is just a short insight of what you might expect and just a glance of what you may need, apart from what has already been mentioned, there are many other research modes you can use, please check our links page.
The following is what we realised and found out after jumping into that great big void called ANCESTRY!
What is included here has been said or written many times in the past, but when you start on this journey you haven’t heard or read it anywhere!
What happened?
You woke up one day and thought who am I? Where does my family descend from?
You suddenly realise you don’t know your mum or dad’s brothers or sisters?
You watched a TV programme and it started you thinking?
You thought you had some spare time on your hands!!!! Well you thought you had!
There are so many reasons why we start a journey into our ANCESTRY.
You may have realised, like us,
We left it ‘too late’, the sad fact is when we are younger (as we look at our children and think WHY aren’t you interested?) we thought it was always something we could do tomorrow as today we are quite busy, and of course it’s not that important, is it?
‘Too late’
Don’t leave it ‘too late to ask questions, the one thing we have learnt and sadly realised is: it’s true we don’t live forever and the information and the knowledge that we have also doesn’t live forever!
The only memory of the past is the one that is passed on!
You never know you have the right answer unless you have asked the question In the first place, to the right person, with the possible right answer!
You can no longer find the answer or how it ‘really felt’ unless the person is there to tell you.
Sadly as we all move on and are replaced by next generations; so does all our information and experiences.
ASK THOSE QUESTIONS NOW, while you still can, then write it down, keep what you find, making sure that tomorrow: those on the ANCESTRY trail will have all that information and knowledge and also they will know how it felt!!
Always remembering that our today will become tomorrow’s ancestry!
Remember history is our lives today, and tomorrow only we know what we did, why we did it, where we were and who we are.
We have learnt the hard way, by not asking, then it’s too late, and the chance has gone. We can all generalise on the past, but to say I was told “I can remember living in the old cottage, and by the way we had a bucket in the garden to use as a toilet and I remember granddad used to smoke when he went out there, as it made the air more pleasant! And of course we didn’t have running water in the house, we went down the road to a pump, and the village didn’t have ‘electric’ or ‘gas’, when it got dark the only light we had was a candle, that is if dad had earnt enough to buy one”.
Always take notes, keep copies, write everything down, if possible let the person telling their own story write it down or even better ‘record it’. What could be better than to hear one of your ancestor’s telling you their story!
Ancestry Research is like opening books without titles or contents pages you don't know what you are going to find until you turn the next page!
Today is ‘just’ another day, ‘just’ like all other days another page in a book or another book.
Another book, which will one day be someone else’s ancestral journey.
‘Photographs’
‘With today’s technology it is so much easier to preserve all our old photos and prints’ (We do operate a professional Photography salvage, rescue, service, including restoration and reprinting on card or mounted canvas etc. please contact for details).
“I have photographs that I have been looking at since I was a child, these photos are now well over 100 years old and are falling to bits and covered with fingerprint burns”.
We are now scanning all these photos at the Highest Quality, so that we can re-print for our children and grandchildren, to hold, touch and enjoy just as I did. Whilst a scanned photo can never replace the original, it can protect it.
The scanned copy will enable the original to be kept safe from further damage etc. When scanning, we also scan the backs, and ask the family if they can name anyone, and do they remember anything that was happening at the time or anything about the photo being taken.
So many old priceless family photographs have been lost forever for so many sad reasons, or our relatives who were in them, have also gone and can no longer identify themselves. As generations move on, the knowledge of our ancestors stand still with the people that know or remember, while every picture tells a story it cannot tell you ‘who’, ‘when’ or ‘where’.
We can guess or try to work it out but the truth stays in the memories of those passed.
Another golden rule now is ‘ask anyone who might know, while they are still able’. We also adopt these rules in all our ancestry work, ask as many questions as possible, for all the little stories etc, while there is still some one to ask.
So I have asked some questions found some weird information (that used to be some dark family secret), I have run round the ‘the elders’ (the old ones). Got all the photos and pictures, also found a few names I never heard of before, had them scanned, archived and reprinted, also got a copy on the computer, oh yes the computers up and running and finally earning its keep, its now called The Ancestry HQ. It sits proudly in the corner smugly threatening me it will breakdown. But another golden rule always keep backups, of course you also have to instil total fear in anyone that gets within 6ft of the computer!
Now what? First off decision time,
What are my aims?
How far do I want to go? (well at this time, trust me tomorrow, you will want to go just that little further, and as for the day after that!!!!! you’ll see).
Do I want to build a family tree?
Am I going to build my tree ‘online’?
Am I going to use a family tree maker program?
Or could I just use a spreadsheet?
Now I want to find out more!
Firstly document what you know, then start building your family tree. Start with yourself and your Mother, Father and any siblings that you know of. Then add their spouses and children.
Now you have a family tree underway! Next write it out or print it: Then show the family, what else do they know? Add a bit more, don’t forget to add all the dates you know or have found, add links or notes about any photos you have, also add all the bits of information, stories and gossip, It’s all part of your Ancestral Story.
Now you really have started a family tree.
.
Well that should be all the current tree information entered, now what?
For you the great ancestry hunt really starts, this is where you enter the great depths of the unknown!
Time to take stock!
We have a good start, which can now go off in many directions,
Example:- starting with you, that equals 1 line, then from your mother and father you have 2 lines to follow, then you look at your grandparents and you have 4 lines, then your great grandparents gives you 8 lines to follow. It gets scary how quickly the numbers add up! Then you have the children of each pair of parents, and then you branch off to their partners, then their children!! Wow time to reign in. Set yourself some rules, what line to follow and stick to it, its always good to have a look round when you find a lead, but take a few notes and move on. Try and avoid the taking of tangents, remember you can always go back to see if you can find more, you can always decide that you want to include another line later. Most family trees historically follow the paternal blood line, that being your father’s line, then his fathers line etc. But it’s not unusual to follow the maternal line i.e. mother’s side then her mother etc. But as your tree grows so can the ancestral lines grow! But only one line at a time.
Then you start finding living cousins etc that you never knew you had.
Our family has grown beyond belief over the years and we have found some really nice people that we now see on a regular basis. Yet it was only a few years ago we never even knew of their existence.
But where?
We started off with a trial with, www.ancestry.co.uk <http://www.ancestry.co.uk> as at this time we did not have a clue where else to go, and also at this time there were very few on line facilities. Today it’s a different story: almost all the things you need are online or going online. We also visit Record Office’s, Library’s including The British Library, History Centres
Etc. etc. we still find many records in these places that are not online or are in an incomplete form, or have transcribe errors; also to see the original documents about your ‘family’ is a strange experience! We also subscribe and belong to ancestry and history groups, lastly we have over the years built a large personal Library of data and information, including old maps! And now regularly subscribe to www.Ancestry.co.uk <http://www.Ancestry.co.uk> (world wide), Find My Past (full package) we find these 2 compliment each other, and suit our requirements. On top of these 2 we also belong to others.
Where do you go next? You could try some free trials, and then join a basic package to see how you get on.
Check out our Links page here you will find useful websites including a lot of free ones!
‘We do sell an ancestry search and build package to help you with your family tree’
Please ask for details.
You should if your ancestry is in primarily in 'England' be able to get back to the 1800’s quite easily ‘famous last words’.
You will start your journey looking up Birth, Marriages and Death records or more commonly known as BMD’s.
Then as you go back further in history you will start looking at the census returns, at the moment these start with the 1911 Return’s in 10 years we should be able to have access to the 1920 returns! The census returns go back to 1841 then every 10 years after.
‘BUT BE CAREFUL HERE’ not all returns are complete or correctly transcribed (each company / group / organisation, transcribes differently) there is a new census transcribe service that is slowly growing (more details later). We always check the original before we believe what is transcribed.
Added to that you have 'census returns' that have been damaged or destroyed, a large quantity was also lost during WW2.
Then added to that, you find little human errors or maybe you could call them misleading ‘white lies’, most of the time this was to make someone a different age! Lets face it, did he know his wife was really 9 years older than him, or she was only 14 when they got married, then they had a child when they were in their 60’s or maybe their daughter had being a naughty girl, and the guilt had to be covered up. Then of course possibly the saddest one is lying about their age so they could carry on working to save going into the workhouse.
Also remember, you were only on the census if you were in the house at that time, on the date the census was taken. You may have been away on that day or maybe visiting elsewhere, then of course you would be on that census return.
Remember a Census return is just a snapshot of who they were and where at that time, and not necessarily a true reflection of normal life generally.
And lastly, you had the rebel’s that stood in the street at census time so they did not have to complete the return! Just as members of my husband’s family did.
Lastly, Parish records, these hold unbelievable information if its still there or available. These where available are slowly coming online, if not you do have a lot of work on your hands, but you can do it ‘if you also have luck on your side’.
Parish Records are a whole subject on their own (maybe a subject for another day).
Again we do offer a professional service if required please ask for details.
This is just a short insight of what you might expect and just a glance of what you may need, apart from what has already been mentioned, there are many other research modes you can use, please check our links page.