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Topic: Bit of a newbie to Genealogy (Read 588 times)
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Darrenfromny
RootsChat Extra
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Posts: 3
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Can someone help me please?
I'm a bit new to Genealogy (Well been doingit for about 6 months now) But was wondering how to put 'meat on the bones'. All I have at the moment are names and dates, and I have no idea where to start when finding a 'story' about my ancestors.
Thanks,
Darren
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Tees
RootsChat Aristocrat
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Posts: 1442
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Hi Darren,
Welcome to the Rootschat!! The people here are great and helpful!!
Have you looked your ancestors up in the censuses yet?
It will help you to write a "story" even better on your family. 
Regards,
Tees
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SooCatt
RootsChat Veteran
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Posts: 888
Grandad
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Hi Darren
Finding out about their occupations is always good for background history and also if you can find photographs of the areas that they lived in from around the right era. You'll be surprised how these little details can bring a family to life.
Welcome to Rootschat
Susan
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Crampton, Cook, Bell, Pinkney, Curry, Duffey, Marshall, Smurthwaite, Urwin - Durham/North Yorks Harrison - Northumberland Rowland, Nicholson, Sneaton - Whitby Athey, Ball, Lamb, Handley, Rymer, Duffey, Pool, Stringer, Wilkinson, Varley - West Yorks Fisher - Essex Cencus information is Crown Copyright, from " http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk" |
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Darrenfromny
RootsChat Extra
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Posts: 3
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hello!
Thanks for the nice welcome.
Yes i've looked up their names on the census', and i've descovered several generations.
Just need to add more than just names and dates to my tree.
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Darcy
RootsChat Marquessate
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Posts: 4090
Searching for little needles in big haystacks
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Hi Darren, 
welcome to RootsChat.
First of all you need to get to know your people really well.
Have you found your ancestors on the all censuses where you can see all the family members, where they lived and what their occupation was?
Once you start gathering this information and trace the births, deaths and marriages the story will start to form all by itself .
You will find discover information that will make you laugh - and cry. The more you get to know them the better it gets - they will become real people, with real stories, instead of just names and dates.
If we can help you with any census information just post the details and you will be surprised at the help you will receive.
Kind Regards
Darcy
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Fisher, Pitts, Lucas, Emmit, Keal, Bennett, Maddock, Jackson, Pidd, Lincolnshire Bullock, Read, White, Gloucestershire. Shepherd, Foyle, Crowter, Green, Wiltshire Strickland, Fisher, Butterworth, Brown, Northhamptonshire Shepherd, Bullock, Waterhouse, Lancashire Fisher, Goodwin, Rutland Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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Tees
RootsChat Aristocrat
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Posts: 1442
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Hi Darren,
Then, you just follow up on Susan's suggestions.
That would liven your story up on your family.
Best wishes,
Tees
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Biker
RootsChat Honorary
RootsChat Marquessate
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Posts: 4620
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Hello there and welcome!
I know what you mean, experienced or novice alike it's difficult to get some meat on the bones as you say.
This has recently been discussed here http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,157444.0.html so you can see we're all up against the same issues.
I'd also have a look around the Beginners board as well as Useful Links and perhaps the Resources section (if it has one) of the Counties your folk lived in.
Best of luck with your research
Regards
Biker
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stonechat
RootsChat Aristocrat
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Posts: 1095
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Well there are several possibilities
1) Based on any interesting profession. YOu can investigate these.
2) Look for any interesting cause of death - may be reported in the papers.
3) Do you have acccess to Times Digital Archive - you can try searching - it can be a bit time consuming, but you can find interesting stories.
When you started, did you ask around living elderly members of you family for their recollections?
Sometimes you also need to root around things that don't make sense or ask why did someone do that
I am sure other people will come up with totally different ideas
Bob
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Douglas, Varnden, Joy(i)ce Surrey, Clarke Northants/Hunts, Pullen Worcs/Herefords, Holmes Birmingham/USA/Canada/Australia, Jackson Cheshire/Yorkshire, Lomas Cheshire, Lee Yorkshire, Cocks Lancashire, Leah Cheshire, Cook Yorkshire, Catlow Lancashire
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avm228
RootsChat Marquessate
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Posts: 3098
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hi Darren
There's lots you can do to put meat on the bones, as it were. A few thoughts:
1. A simple "Google" (ancestor's name & place) can yield all sorts of interesting stuff if you're lucky.
2. You don't say where your ancestors were or what they did - but local newspapers from the time can be very informative; I have found obituaries in local papers particularly useful. Also, The Times now has a digital archive so if they did anything notable on a national level (or were keen on placing birth, marriage and death announcements) they might be in there.
3. The National Archives provide online access to wills, military service information, and more: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
4. Access to Archives (a2a) has details of archival collections of all sorts of amazing stuff, from bastardy bonds to business records to collections of family documents: http://www.a2a.org.uk. Much of the material is in libraries around the country; local librarians can also be extremely helpful.
5. It can be very helpful if you find others researching the same people. Sometimes precious resources such as family bibles survive; other times there is wonderful oral history passed down one side of a family which is lost on another side. You can make such contacts here, and/or on CuriousFox, genesreunited and all sorts of other sites. If your ancestors were located in a particular area then the local family history society can often provide both good information and good contacts.
6. Last, but definitely not least, talk to any older relatives you have about their memories of earlier generations - make notes of what they have to tell you and ask whether photographs survive. There may be a treasure trove of stuff in the attic which can't be matched by any research!
It's likely that there will be parts of your tree where you can find lots of colour and others where detail is harder to come by. In my tree one g-g-g'father was a major fraudster and very colourful character and there are all sorts of newspaper reports and even a book written about him. Others were industrialists whose letters and business records and wills survive. But many in my tree were ordinary labouring people who left little written record of their existence, so while I can learn lots of social history about the sorts of lives they are likely to have led it's harder to get a picture of what they were like as individuals.
Enjoy the ride (and welcome to Rootschat).
Anna
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Ayr: Barnes, Wylie
Caithness: MacGregor
Essex: Eldred (Pebmarsh)
Gloucs: Timbrell (Winchcomb)
Hants: Stares (Wickham)
Lincs: Maw, Jackson (Epworth, Belton)
London: Pierce
Suffolk: Markham (Framlingham)
Surrey: Gosling (Richmond)
Wilts: Matthews, Tarrant (Calne, Preshute)
Worcs: Milward (Redditch)
Yorks: Beaumont, Crook, Moore, Styring (Huddersfield); Middleton (Church Fenton); Exley, Gelder (High Hoyland); Barnes, Birchinall (Sheffield); Kenyon, Wood (Cumberworth/Denby Dale)
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Berlin-Bob
Global Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Offline
Posts: 5166
by My Daughter. Chatting to find her Roots !
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Hi Darren,
Welcome to RootsChat
Just to expand on the "occupation" ....
While answering this query
Topic: 1800 Employment
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,163562.0.html
it occured to me, that this is a good example of how you can start with any occupation, and "add meat to the bones"
This is just one of many examples on RootsChat. So try taking your ancestors' occupations and look them up on the Occupation Interests Board
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,296.0.html
Good luck,
Bob
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Searching for Coleman, Moore, Kallnung in London; Margulies, Remenyi in E. Europe; Ancestors of Hessie Stevenson-Coleman-Baxter (Ireland, 1861) and, of course, any other ancestors for my web-site. All Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) |
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Darrenfromny
RootsChat Extra
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Posts: 3
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Thanks for the help everyone.
Hopefully this will get the ball rolling now!
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Ruskie
RootsChat Aristocrat
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Posts: 2873
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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I love searching for where my family lived using this:
www.old-maps.co.uk
It's a bit cumbersome to use, but still fun.
I also find this surname profiler interesting:
www.spatial-literacy.org
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stonechat
RootsChat Aristocrat
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Posts: 1095
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Also look for wills - these can give an idea of people by what they live, what conditions they impose.
Bob
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Douglas, Varnden, Joy(i)ce Surrey, Clarke Northants/Hunts, Pullen Worcs/Herefords, Holmes Birmingham/USA/Canada/Australia, Jackson Cheshire/Yorkshire, Lomas Cheshire, Lee Yorkshire, Cocks Lancashire, Leah Cheshire, Cook Yorkshire, Catlow Lancashire
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Gadget
RootsChat Marquessate
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Posts: 17519
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I have the problem of having an amazing amount of really wonderful stuff on one line - my Burgess-W.ilson-Carsons from Kirkcudbright - wills, letters, misc documents, articles and small booklets. I feel guilty about writing so much up - feel it will make my write up unbalanced and I feel the other lines will get jealous. I'mnow getting around that by reading up as much on the local histories and occupations they had to bulk them out a bit.
Gadget
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