Genealogy Chat

Being realistic how far do you think most people are able to trace back to, I have followed back to 1801 and this took me about two weeks to do, but since getting to there I have hit a wall and can not find anything previous to that, I got to Thomas Jaggers born 1801 married Sarah, had 5 children lived in Barking Essex, Is it a case now of manually going back, or is there ways to do this on the net, maybe I should look for a colleague course in Ancestors. I am just finding it very very fasinating yet very very frustrating, but also must say there are so many ppl willing to help on this site too, Its very freshing Thanks to all the ppl that have helped me.

Regards Susanna Jaggers

Have you searched the igi , latter days saints site?

Sorry I think I'm being really thick but what is igi?

Please exscuse the ignorance

Regards Susanna

If you want a hobby where you can predict the outcome then you'd need to take up knitting or perhaps making jigsaw puzzles!!!!

The great thing about this one is that everyone's tree is different and you never know what is round the corner or where the research might take you.

If one branch stops at 1801 then that doesn't mean they all will.

I've been doing my own tree for nearly 40 years (though really seriously for only about 10).
I've got branches which end abruptly at the 1841 census and I cannot work out where to look next.
I've got one branch which goes back to 380 AD

First I'd suggest downloading a large fanchart and put your direct ancestors on it. That will show you branches you may have forgotten to look at.

Make a list of all the ancestors you know who have been alive since censuses in 1841 and Civil Registration in 1837. Do columns for each census plus each certificate and tick the column for which piece of information you've actually found so far. That may show you areas that need checking.

If you live anywhere near an area where they came from learn to use the local Records Office. If not find your local LDS centre and learn to use it.
Explore the IGI as much as you can and find out every piece of information you can which may be online. Google names, find surname meanings, research areas they lived and occupations,
Look for online and offline wills, Look at every site you can find online for the rare names on your tree. For one of my names I spent weeks studying every reference to the name on the Internet and contacting everyone I could find with the name.

You may have hit a hurdle but it's not a wall after only 2 weeks!!!!

Good luck
Sue

Sites to look at


http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htm

http://www.ffhs.org.uk/

http://www.cyndislist.com/


Sue

How can you have missed the topic at the top of the Tips Board which is kept there for new researchers?

That explains the IGI

Sue

Thanks Sue ,, Im off to read it now thank for all your information it is much appreciated , and wow forty years of looking !!!

Thanks once again
Regards Susanna

A lot will depend on the name. I've been lucky my own name is unusual & out of area so armed with the info I already had I was back 150 years with no problem at all.
Then if you have Jones in Wales, forget it!

Ah but even then you can get lucky.

I did a Jones in Wales tree for my husband's nephew. I didn't expect to go far but his grandfather had a unique and peculiar first name.

That meant I found a couple more generations back fairly easily and one of the women who married into the family had an unusual surname.
Her ancestry led back to a well documented family in Gloucestershire and without a lot of digging I discovered an already well researched family with a medieval link that went back to about 1300.

OK I did get only so far with the Jones/Williams/Evans bit of the tree but nephew ended up with a sizeable tree to stick on his wall or show family.

Sue
x

Hi Trish, They must of been married around 1820's ish , I was trawling last night trying to find, Sarah's maiden name, to put me on the right track, but to no avail yet, many more avenues to explore, thanks for the pointer in the direction of Yorkshire.

Kind Regards

Susanna

This submitted entry looks as if it could be your Thomas. It makes me wonder if looking in Essex further is definitely the way to go.
THOMAS JAGGARS
Male
:
Christening: 02 SEP 1792 Barking, Essex, England
:Parents:
Father: WILLIAM JAGGARS

You can't assume this one is yours yet but I'd want to look closely at parish records in Barking.

Sue

If you can get to Barking then this is the place to visit.

http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/4-heritage/local-history/local-study-centre-familyhistory.html

These people will do searches for a fee.
http://www.sog.org.uk/prc/essex.shtml

It might be worth you joining the local family history society and seeing if anyone there can help
http://www.eolfhs.org.uk/parish/barking.htm

This page is useful and has links
http://www.saintmargarets.org.uk/history/Records.htm

If anyone you know has access to University libraries or online University access then this article looks as if it might be fun
http://nq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/citation/s3-III/67/283

Interesting information about the parish here
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42725

If you live a long way from Barking then it is always possible to find a local genealogist to do an hour or so's research. That can often be cheaper than getting the staff at a records office to do it.

You may find someone on this GR site who lived in Essex and is going to the Essex Records Office and would look up something for you.

Good luck
Sue
x

Thanks Sue,

Like you said assumption can not be taken, but great place to start, and Barking is only approx 30 mins from me so not a problem getting there, Looks like a little nudge in the right direction and I am off again,

Cheers All

Susanna

Your question 'what am I aiming for' can be answered in so many different ways.
What exactly constitutes a 'good tree'?

For example...most people (not into genealogy) when they discover that this is my hobby, will ask 'How far back have you got'?

For me, it is not how far back I have managed to get, but how accurate my information is and how satisfied I am that it is correct, and that the person I have found IS my ancestor.

To me, it doesn't matter that one branch might only go back to 1900, as long as the information I have is correct, to the best of my ability. As long as I feel I know plenty about that person and their life.

Rather than have a list of names with birth and death dates, I like to put as much flesh on the bones as I possibly can. THAT is the enjoyment of the hobby for me.
I want to know what job they did, where they lived, and what sort of house was it. What made them live where they did, or move to wherever they went? What did the village look like in those days, where might they have gone for a pint of beer?
I look out for old maps, old photos, social history, local history, everything I can think of to get a real insight into each person in my tree.
That's what I'm aiming for.

Good luck.
K

Do you know what K, your right!!! I have found out that 4 Generations of my Grandfathers where all Plasterer's and 3 Gereations back we have only moved within 5 miles ,,

I live in the town where my Grandparents lived worked and where married here, and I work where my Great Great Grandparents lived, In fact I pass by where their house would of been daily, and before I started this I never even knew!!!,,

Im boring everyone silly in my family at the moment, but as my dad is the youngest of seven, that span of a period of 20 years, I have plenty of old Aunts in their 70's and 80's all willing to share their memories, and they have given me all the birth, death certs they have to assist me.

But my aim has now changed too....

It's Quality not Quantity!!!

Regards Susanna
TY

1801 in two weeks is pretty good - it takes that long for me to get one set of certificates, let alone enough generations to get back over 200 years!
You must be really lucky with the postman !!!! Or are you not bothering with certs??

Rob

Asking older relations what they can remember is a really good way to start.

I was lucky that both of my grandmothers knew a lot about their families and it didn't take long to confirm most of the stories. One of my grandmothers saved newspaper cuttings and her birthday book had people's dates of birth and year in it.

Your aunts can probably remember their grandparents and that is likely to have got you back to the 1881 census easily. I can well believe that information from that has shot you back to the early 1800s.

If you keep going long enough at this hobby then it will be quantity as well as quality! I could bore you to death with details of the lives of some very distant ancestors!!!


Sue
x

Hi all,

Don't forget the good old cemetery. Not long after I started my research (and by heck, I didn't get back to 1801 in a fortnight!), I paid a visit to my local council offices and searched the municipal cemetery records. I learnt a lot in a day, found relatives I never knew existed, the body of a 5-week old uncle I never knew I had, and lots of maiden names to go off, to get me back further.

But the best is the grave at Prestbury in Cheshire. I wrote to the clerk there asking for a grave for my husband's grandparents, Thomas and Mary Ann Warhust (died 1948 and 1964). They had the burial but couldn't give me a location. However, the nice lady searched a bit more and said "how about this grave"? Thomas Warhurst, buried 1799 aged 68, wife Dorothy buried....., James Warhurst buried 1887, aged 61, his wife Elizabeth buried... and Peter Warhust buried 1944 aged 10 - are they anything to do with you?". Wow!!!

I had already determined that James Warhurst was my husband's great great granddad, and knew his wife was Elizabeth Harrison. I couldn't get any further back than James born 1826. But what clinched it was his grandson Peter, who I knew had died aged 10 of Leukaemia, he used to live two doors away from my husband. So I had gone back 100 years and 3 generations in one investigation, and I wasn't even looking to go back! I have since located the parents of Dorothy, who married in 1720, so I am probably nearly back to the 1600s with no effort!

No, don't forget the old graveyards.

Happy hunting!

Margaret

Susanna, you are so lucky that you have plenty of family around to answer your questions.
Ask, ask and ask some more, while you have the chance.
How I wish I'd started this hobby when I was much much younger, when I had a lot of great aunts and uncles around, and my grandparents were still alive.
I have a milliion questions I'd love to ask them, but cannot.

This is an addictive hobby - be prepared to lose sleep!!!!!!!!

K

Yes, its strange isnt it how everyone says "How far back have you got?"

Im the same, I have "names" back to the Domesday Book and beyond and people think thats brilliant - but its the backgrounds, the personal stories, the wills, the statements, the court appearances that fascinate me.

These were real, living, breathing people, some of them living 90 years or more, longer than Ill probably live and each day they talked, ate, worked, cried, laughed - thats the kick for me - realising they were flesh and blood - not just names on a parish register or headstone.