I have put my own family tree to one side while I create a a "model" of one of the villages a branch comes from.
(I'd welcome any comments or suggestions)
http://trees.ancestry.com.au/fhs/home.aspx?tid=6504917 (there are many mistakes still, I know)
I looked at various methods but mytrees on ancestry appealed because it allows you to link an entire family's census entry to each person in one go.
I started with the 61 because it was more legible than 51 and basically created each family as I found them. where they appeared in earlier or later census I linked that too.
I used a tool to print out a census list then filled in the gaps from the 41.
I am currently doing the same with the 81 and will repeat with the 1901. There are less gaps now so its quite quick.
I have used BMD and PRs to resolve marriages but once you have a good portion of your model you can match up prospective couples quite easily - you even recognize them by name !! BMD districts as you know are much bigger than parishes but most of the assumptions become very easy once you have a certain amount of your model.
Things I have found so far (Holme Village in the Pennines near Huddersfield)
Over 3000 separate people and over 6000 records for a village of approx 400-500 people 80-100 households.
My GGF Haigh Howard linked to maybe 10-20% of them and many more by marriage. Mind you the Howards dominate the village (in terms of population if not prestige) and there are so many John and Mary Howards (13 in one census alone I think)
I think the genealogy for anyone touching the village is quite straightforward despite several duplicated names . Now I have most of them in a database i can resolve where there is a duplicate name of similar birth date. (eg she married him so he the other one MUST have married the other).
I also have found maybe 20-30 people on ancestry who have villagers in their tree. at most I would have found 4 of them through links to my direct ancestors.
When my model is as close as it can be to 'perfection' I aim to invite these people to contribute and share. I'm sure in a close knit village each event influenced other non related people.
Events I have so far:
-a legal dispute between the villagers and the schoolmaster in the early 1700s
- Reservoir building in the 1800s to 1950 and subsequent farm clearing
- The Holmfirth floods especially in 1852
- Getting Hydro electric power in the 1920s
- Build ing the home Moss TV/Radio mast in the late 1900s
- The woodhead rail tunnel inquiry (a few miles away but notable)
I'm not sure my work will end up on ancestry, Id like them to become "WIKI=like" so I can add in more flexibility.
Would love to hear from anyone with interests in the area or who has attempted something similar
