Hints on tracing your ancestry!

[sirdaniel1975]

OK folks, some of us here are a bit more experienced in genealogy than others. It seems to be the hot topic in the Heraldry & tartans thread section for nearly 3 months now.

So, I was thinking wouldn't be great if those of us with more experience in a thread could contribute some helpful hints that have helped themselves or others.. WELL, lets do it! I'll start it off with some basic things and as this thread expands I'll add more as well.

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1. Talk to your family and find out everything and then some.

I can't stress this enough, you need to find out as much as possible.

a) B.M.D.'s (Birth Marriage Death's), remember your mothers & wives are usually the ones who keep a records of everyones birthday. Locking down the current generation is essential. Go back one person and generation at a time. Don't forget to get those siblings B.M.D.'s as well. Your direct ancestor might not be in the census record or whatever record here or there. But maybe the siblings are. You might be able to peg that great great grandfather's name you were trying to determine.

b) Don't forget about the places associated with the B.M.D.'s either.. (I'm sure there's a lot of Robert Clark's, John Clark's, William Clark's, etc...)



2. Start researching records; census, BMD, Newspapers, SS death index, etc....

a) Find out their profession, very interesting and essential. (some of my ancestors have been inventors, potters, circus performers, etc..)

b) Parish records are so important, find out what their religious faith was. Most census records will list the parish, I suggest researching the parish as I have done. You might found out they were members of a congregation of a famous parish/minister, as I have.

c) Military service.... check draft records, enlistment records, find out their rank, etc...

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For some interesting hints:

From:http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/P.../patterns.html
Naming Patterns in the
18th & 19th Century



In general, families tended to name their children in a specific pattern, as follows:

Males

First-born Son - named after the father's father
Second-born Son - named after the mother's father
Third-born Son - named after the father
Fourth-born Son - named after the father's eldest brother
Fifth-born Son - named after the father's 2nd oldest brother or mother's oldest brother

Females

First-born Daughter - named after the mother's mother
Second-born Daughter - named after the father's mother
Third-born Daughter - named after the mother
Fourth-born Daughter - named after the mother's eldest sister
Fifth-born Daughter - named after the mother's 2nd oldest sister or father's oldest sister

A Listing Of Some 18th and 19th Century Nick Names

[ardchoille]

Very good information! I help friends with this type of research and most of them tend to overlook census records, church records, obituaries, and military records.

Thanks for posting.

[sharpdressedscot]

Thanks, I hope this helps in my quest to find the Holy Gra- er, I mean to find my ancestor's ancestors.

[sirdaniel1975]

Letters and Numbers


As many of you know when your researching your families roots you’re often stumped as to why sometimes names have been misspelled or dates are commonly recorded wrong in the digitized records. This can be a nightmare for the novice at genealogy. The first time researcher will often overlook a digitized record because he/she feels the record is not one of their ancestors. They’ll say, “My family doesn’t spell our name that way, or that’s not him/her, the abt is off by 40 years.”

I encounter some misread, misspelling, or mistyped documentation for most records all the time. That’s the honest truth. Below is a diagram of handwriting samples from www.ancestry.com .


It’s easy to see how some letters can look like others and how some letters even look like numbers. Just imagine how hard the people who digitized these original records by typing out the info into a computer filing program.

Next I will show a series of examples of numbers and script handwriting from 1841 census records around the UK. The first one is from Wales and 6 people are shown in the sample provided. I had looked up the name “Williams” being it’s similar to mine and I know it’s commonly used in Wales. Now, the sample provided are not the “Williams” folk that was listed on the census record. The names on the left side are fairly legible, most of the ages list are except the last one which is smudged. The words on the right are their professions which in my opinion are illegible.



Notice the 2’s are faded towards the bottom of the number. The ones with a big curly loop will appears as 9’s over time. The first person who is 23 years old, that might look like a 1 or a 7 over time. I’m sure that the last number is a 25 and I‘m referring to the last person. As you can see, the nightmare is a reality.



The above samples in this record are from 1841 Buckinghamshire, England census. I looked up my grandmother’s maiden name Rodwell. The people shown in the example are not Rodwell’s, just on the same page. Notice how distinctively different the 3’s, 5’s, 6 and 8 are.



The Above sample is from the 1841 Isle of Man census. I looked up the name “Mann” and most hits were “Munn”. All these numbers have a unique style being a different person wrote them and the location is a factor as well.



This is the Wales record again. Notice the differences…..



Another Wales sample here.. Look at this really good..



Look at the 8 in this Wales record. If the top loop fades, it will be a 6. The seven looks more like a 1, the only reason one knows it’s not, there is a 1 that proceeds it.



Look at the eight again, it’s from the English record from before. Under the right age conditions, it could become a 7 or a weird looking 3.

I will continue with the number issue much more. Personally, I’m not very good at reading script/cursive. I rarely write in this for that reason. People just aren’t very distinctive with it and all the letters tend to look the same to me.



This is still the English record. Look how similar the 3 and the 5’s are. The 2 in the 20 could appear as a 1 or a 7.

[sirdaniel1975]

This is from the Wales record. Here’s a perfect example of fading. Susana, is she 23 or 25 years old? Now you know why an abt of +/- 2 years search parameter is so important. I personally think it’s a 25.



Just look at the above row of numbers, see in the light areas where the fading will occur in this style font.



I searched endlessly trying to find a six written this way, which I have seen before. Under the right negative circumstances, this 6 can appear as several different numbers. Here’s my example:



3/5 1/7

I hope that this will not detour any of you from continuing your research. It should only help you in your efforts.

[ChattanCat]

Wow, that is why it is difficult to trace your geneology past the digital age. My mother has traced my past to Robert (Catenach) Catanach who died in Perth, 1803. Married to Mary (Waddell) Waddle. I continue the search. Thank you sirdaniel1975.

[Riverkilt]

Don't forget to ask your older relatives if they have any old letters and old photos. The pics often have names and dates, even location of the studio if they're an old studio print. Letters have addresses and return addresses and infrequent letters from cousins and more distant relatives often outline family connections.

usually they're tucked away in a shoebox in a box in the back of a closet or up in the attic. Clues abound if you gently persist in asking after old letters and pics.

Ron

[sirdaniel1975]

Don't forget to ask your older relatives if they have any old letters and old photos. The pics often have names and dates, even location of the studio if they're an old studio print. Letters have addresses and return addresses and infrequent letters from cousins and more distant relatives often outline family connections.

usually they're tucked away in a shoebox in a box in the back of a closet or up in the attic. Clues abound if you gently persist in asking after old letters and pics.

Ron

Ron,

Are you psychic? That's what I was planning my next post to be.. Probably this Saturday. Good Man!

Daniel

[Detroitpete]

Yep, for me it was the whisper of a notion that my grand father made that we were "mostly Scots, an what wasn't was mixed with Irish and Welsh women" that set me on my path to figure out who 'we' were. A traditionally Swedish name that actually traces back to a family in Aberdeenshire early 1720's. This line mixed with Scot/Irish McElewaines, Halls, Corrathers and Adams.

The highlight of this adventure has not only been in 'finding' that next person you are searching for, but also in gathering the details of thier lives you can piece together from the scraps of documented personal history and other sources.

The stories are wonderful, sad and hilarious. In a way--I see this as a "tartan" in itself. The whole process has me thinking about the symbology/meaning of colors and what they represent in our stories to develop a tartan specifically for my family branch--and name it in honor of my grand father.

[Nick the DSM]

Hmm, I wonder if my family has any scriptures or letters lying around.