Genealogy Chat

I think that apart from maybe old crone everyone has problems getting back beyond 1700 so I thought I would start a thread for those brave souls who are trying.

I would love to hear success stories and hints from people more knowledgeable than me. Old crone where are you? When I studied history I chose medieval and modern options so missed out the Tudors and Stewarts so hope to pick up some tips.

Time line 1603 death of Elizabeth 1st end of the Tudors 1603 James 1st of England 6th of Scotland first Stuart King act of union. 1605 Gunpowder plot 1607 founding of Jamestown first successful American settlement 1611 King Jame's bible 1620 Sailing of mayflower 1625 Accession of Charles 1st 1642 English civil war (Cavaliers and roundheads) 1649 Execution of Charles 11 1649 and 1660 Cromwell and the Commonwealth 1660 restoration of the monarchy under Charles 11 1665 blackdeath kills up to one third of population. 1666 Great fire of London. 1685 Succession of James 11 1688 William and Mary 1707 Queen Anne

1. Realise you need a lot of luck some records survive some don't Men are usually easier to find than women. Pray for unusual christian or surname 2 look what's available for local parish. Access to archives have a search facility. If you find any useful imformation you have to contact your local record office. 3.. Memorial inscriptions. Some are on line some from FHS. can give extra information particularly children who died in childhood 4. Wills check national probate register National archive site has an index of wills if you find one it can be downloaded for £3.50 5.. Rootschat free site has lots of local links 6. Genuki has a list of local resources.. 7. Historical maps. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parish registers. These are the source of most of the IGI records. They normally record christenings, marriages and burials. Early registers were a simple book with details of birth marriage and death entered in chronological order. An entry may read something like May 6th Mary daughter of Thomas Brown blacksmith and Mary his wife was baptised. Common abbreviations bap. baptised Sep. buried Names were often latinized Jacobus, for Jacob, Francis for Frank etc. The BVRI index has a partial record of christenings and marriages from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales from 1530. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a list of the major collections available at British Origins (http://www.*britishorigins Boyd's Marriage Index covering the whole of England (1538-1840) * Marriage Licence Allegations (1694-1850) * Wills (1700 - 1845) * Probate records (1267- 1500 and 1383- 1883) * London Apprentice records (1442-1850) * Apprentice records covering the whole of Great Britain (1710-1774) * Court Records ( 1574- 1714) * Boyd's London Burials Index (1538-1853) * Boyd's London Inhabitant Imformation from lost cousins newsletter. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Collections held by ancestry. Various probate and parish records. Lists of emigrants from Great Britain to the United states from 1600-1700. American emigrant ministers (1690-1811) (Ministers who received funds from the crown to go to the Americas including the West Indies and Canada includes name date of departure and destination). Commissioned sea officers of the royal navy 1660-1815 Cambridge university allumni 1261-1900 Catalogue of knights 1660-1760 dictionary of national biography landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland (pedigrees of landgentry = members of aristocracy without nobility.) Plantagenet roll of blood royal (descendents of Edward 111 (1312-1377).

Page: 1 | 2 (Currently on page 1) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Added by Katarzyna . on 26/06/2006 19:09:27 The LDS has filmed many different types of records from IGI to records re land Registry, Cemetaries, Military records, Probate Records, Schools, Directories, Public Records, etc etc. They also list all the parish churches etc that they have filmed for the IGI so you can find records for a specific Church , chapel etc. Go to: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp? Then to Family History Library Catalogue at top RHS From here you can search the site in many different ways , by town, village or by name etc. For example if you click on a village name, eg Baylham, Suffolk, and follow the blue links this would give you , Cemetaries Census Church records . For a town like Ipswich it gives about 15 links including the above and Military records, Probate records, Directories and many more. Just keep following the Blue links. When you have found the records you were looking for you can ‘View Film Notes’ which gives you the FHL Film number you need to order it from an LDS centre. Searching by name is useful too. Hope this helps as a further resource for those who didn’t know it existed.

Although there is almost always a generation hiatus in parish records (if the earlier registers have not been lost) it is a much easier century to research that the 1700s. 1. There are lots of lists and taxes: hearth tax, free & voluntary [sic!] present, lay subsidies etc. Lots of these have been published. 2. Records are in English during the Commonwealth 3. Wills during the Commonwealth are proved centrally, so there is only one place to look: Documents Online. I think that administrations are indexed in published volumes.

Aaargh. Just realised those were not nudges! Will delete when told to!

Latin: Amo, Amas, I love a lass, Bella is her name, Bellum is a war. for those of you who are too young to have done latin at school. The national archive has a free 0n-line latin course as well as one on reading old hand writing. Family search.org has a useful latin vocabulary under research help.

As an example, these are all the taxation records that TNA hold for the village of Edgefield, Norfolk to the period 1600 - 1700: E179/153/514 [1602 Feb 1 or later] 1601 Dec 15 eight fifteenths and tenths E179/153/538 [1606 Aug 1 or later] 1606 May 17 six fifteenths and tenths E179/153/542 [1607 Nov 1 or later] 1606 May 17 six fifteenths and tenths E179/153/546 [1610 May 1 or later] 1606 May 17 six fifteenths and tenths E179/153/570 1621 April 30 1621 Jan 30 x Feb 17 two subsidies E179/153/577 [1624 July 10 or later] 1624 May 13 or later three fifteenths and tenths E179/153/579 1625 March 7 1624 May 13 or later three subsidies E179/153/605 [1628 Oct 24 or earlier] 1628 June 16 x 29 five subsidies E179/153/613 1628 Dec 4 - 8 1628 June 16 x 29 five subsidies E179/154/665 1661 Sept 28 1661 July 8 free and voluntary present E179/154/667 1664 Feb 26 - March 23 1663 July 27 four subsidies E179/154/668 [1663 Oct 15 or earlier] 1663 July 27 four subsidies E179/154/678 1667 April 13 1667 Jan 18 act for raising money by a poll E179/154/693 1667 March 13 - April 20 1667 Jan 18 act for raising money by a poll E179/154/697 [1673 March x Sept 19] 1662 May 19 hearth tax E179/154/698 1678 May 6 - July 12 1678 March 20 act for raising money by a poll E179/154/699 1678 May 8 - Oct 18 1678 March 20 act for raising money by a poll E179/154/715 [1595 Oct 1 x 1604 June 30] 1593 March 24 three subsidies This is from the E179 database on TNA's website. Probably half of them contain lists of names, and the rest are just summaries.

Although luck DOES have alot to do with it, be cheered by the fact that if you can get a hook into one ancestor in the 1600s, you will probably find a lot more! I would add to the list above - Estate Papers. The great County families were still operating a manorial system, largely, and most kept copious records, which have been preserved. The detail on some of these papers is stunning - Gilbert Holden in 1559, paying £20 for 200 fat geese from the 'Goseman', for distribution to his estate workers on the occasion of the birth of his first (legitimate!) son. 'The upper workers and stewards and freemen to have the fattest, the lower to have the thin' - not much changed there, then! I always think of the 1600s as being a link between the 'Dark ages' and the modern world we live in. It is truly fascinating, and some of the Manor Leet Court hearings are hilarious! We tend to think that the lower orders in those days had no rights and no representation in law, but that is certainly not true as far as I can see. A Bonded servant complains to the ~Leet Court that his daughter has been ill-used by her master. The master is fined, the Estate gets half (LOL!) but the girl gets half too - amazing in 1615! OC

Wills if you can find them can be suprisingly informative. Here is my ggggggg......grandmother's from 1623. 17 It(e)m I gyve and 19 bequeath more unto the sayd Margarett my 20 daughter my best garment my best Peticote 21 my cloak one dubble cauchion one p(ar)telett 22 one smock peticote one round caushon 23 & my best hatte. It(e)em I give & bequeath 24 unto Katherine Bridge my God daughter 25 my biggest brass kettle savinge one & 26 my best brasse kettle savinge one, one pewter 27 platter, one brasse chaffingedyshe one cowe 28 & one sheete of linnen cloth. It(e)m I gyve 29 & bequeath more unto the sayd Katherine 30 Bridge my God Daughter one payre of 31 squares, one p(ar)telett, one apron, one pillowbere 32 one whyte towell, one drink barrell & 33 one open barrel. It(e)m I gyve & bequeath 34 to Anne Shepheard one hatte for 35 the ladies, one peticote, one dubble cauchon 36 & one smocke. It(e)m I gyve & bequeath unto 37 Katherine Hope my Godchild one pewter 38 platter, one pottinger & one boorde cloathe 39 All the rest of my goods by this my last will 40 & Testament not given nor bequeathed 41 I gyve & bequeath unto Peter Hope 42 my sonne whom I make & ordaine my sole 43 Executor of this my last will and Testament 44 In wittness whereof I have hereunto 45 sett my hande & seale. Dated the day 46 & yeare beforewritten. 47 Wittnesses hereunto 48 William Hill by me Katherine 49 Richarde Bridge Hope

Nudge for other brave souls.

There is a thread that has parish registers that are online. If you are researching Cornish ancestors, then you are very fortunate because of the online parish clerks that do transcribing of parish registers. If you are researching ancestors from Suffolk, then this site is well worth exploring - because of people who do look-ups and because of other people that may be sharing your interests:- www.suffolk-surnames-list*.*co.uk/

nudge for later

Annie Excellent thread. Would also suggest that people not only join the Family History Society/ies of their county or counties of interest, but that they also join the Local History or Record Societies. I am heavily into Northants and have joined not only the Northants FHS but also the Northants Record Society. I obtain a copy of the Northants 'Past and Present' every year, which always contain very interesting articles on many of the places in Northants, detailing families and names within a given area. I also get a free book on all sorts of areas in Northants. One book that I have is called'Early Northants Wills' and that has been a very valuable source as many go back to the 1400's. I also have the chance to purchase many indepth books quite cheaply. I have 1 on Rockingham Forest telling me about life in that area in the 1400 to 1700 era and another book on the Hotot family of the 1400's.This has led me on to other books and a deeper understanding of Northamptonshire Life, as well as leading to many many names in all the books I have, going back to the 1500's, which has led me to other villages for research. Once you have names for estate papers the A2A site is amazing as it tells you where they all are. The Estate Papers are not necessarily with the county of interest. As the population of the UK in the 1600's was only about 4 million people, even the Smiths/Smythes are not too daunting in a small village! A Local History Library will often give detailed information on any given area which you can then follow up by accessing other books that may be referenced in this way. Janet

Nudge janet

nudge for future us love linda x

keep nudging for the future

nudge

Janet North London Borders