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Messages - EmPers

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1
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Where are the boundaries of my tree?
« on: Thursday 05 July 07 14:42 BST (UK)  »
I take a practical point of view. Pick the part of your family you are interested in and work back to the earliest direct ancestor who you can still find on a census, with some of his/her family. From that point I work downwards, researching all the children and children's chilren that I can. Then going back I tend to stick with the direct line and siblings only, principally because it gets a lot harder to trace forwards.

This method also makes it easier to display on a tree, you have a descendancy tree from someone born about 1810, with lots of branches, so you can see where the rest of your clan dispersed to, but you also get levels going back so you can see your origins.

You may find there are several of these families fromthe mid nineteenth century that you want to research, in which case you just have several trees. I consider mine as different families even though they are combined by about 1910. I lbel them according t othe prinicpal family name, even if this isn't entirely accurate (for example I have a CLARK and a CLARKE family, although both families used both surnames interchangably)

2
The Common Room / Re: Rootschat At Wikipedia
« on: Monday 11 September 06 00:57 BST (UK)  »
I've just been through rewriting and wikifying the article, so it's more in the Wikipedia style. That should keep them happy about it this time I think.

It's important that anything people add should be written in a non-point of view style, otherwise they get cross and view it as an advert.

3
The Common Room / Old Books & Handwriting help
« on: Tuesday 23 August 05 23:43 BST (UK)  »
Hello everyone.

I recently discovered an old copy of 4 of shakespeares plays. The title page has at the bottom:

London.
Charles Knight & Co.
1843


Would this year be the date the book was published, or is this just the founding year of the publishers?

Also the book has two names written in it, one of whom I am sure is my relative (hence the book being in the family). One name clearly says John ? Clarke Birmingham. I can't tell what the ? is, although I think someone with more experience of reading old writing would be able to, as it is distinct, although faint.

The other is much harder: H J H..... is all I can get? Any help?

4
Family History Beginners Board / How to go about getting Wills?
« on: Wednesday 17 August 05 20:02 BST (UK)  »
OK, I've got the skeleton of my tree, now I want to put leaves on it, and for starters, that means Wills. Now I've looked about and read various things on Wills but I'm still at a loss, and I'm probably missing something very obvious.

I've seen all these things about Wills being proved in the perogative court of canterbury and that 1858 is an important date and all that, but it doesn't really make any sense to me.

What I really want to know is: which people should I look for wills for? how do I go about doing that? and where will I find them? and what sort of finding aids are there?

I have a mixture of ancestors from various backgrounds except rich (although not all were "poor", there are tradesmen, military and the like), so just a general overview would be good, and some advice on which ones to start with to get to grips.

5
The Common Room / Re: Spending your money on Family research - where are those bargains?
« on: Tuesday 05 July 05 12:15 BST (UK)  »
The best value I've had was a book out of the local library and a train ticket to Kew!

6
The Common Room / Best use of a few hours in London
« on: Monday 04 July 05 19:42 BST (UK)  »
I'm going to have a couple of 4 hour or so periods on my own in London in the next few days, and was thinking I might use them to do a little research. But I'm a little stuck about the best things to research. If I had something to start from (like a military ancestor I wanted to research) I would happily trot off to Kew as I have done before, however this isn't the case. So I present to you the areas I could attempt to research, and would like you to offer advice for which area and the best place/way to go about it:

BETTERIDGE/THORNTON:
I haven't managed to go back much beyond 1881 on this line. They lived in a small village outside Chipping Norton, Oxon. Which hopefully should make them easier to find. I haven't looked at many censuses on these, mainly because I haven't really had access to it.

CLARK (No E for simplicity purposes)
Even less than the above family. Lived in Aston/Birmingham. I haven't got a certainty on them in 1881, although I have a theory about the father changing the name by which he goes by. Any ways to deal with this?

CLARKE (E for reason above)
Moved from Leics to Birmingham around 1860. Birmingham branch is thoroughly researched. Leics stuff is quite disorganised, but I think is quite solid back to around 1800, some "Fringe folk" (as in brothers/sisters and their families) could do with solidifying.

WEST
Same state as before, but were very much based in a warwickshire village until they moved to Aston. I'm very happy with the research back to 1800 or so, but would like to try and research down from some of the siblings I know less about. But West is a common name and Birmingham is a big place.

SLAUGHTER
Butchers in Birmgham from 1830 onwards, before that from Evesham, but I know very little at all about them from before. There are a lot of downward bits I'd like to find more about, but I know about most until 1901, so I reckon I'm stuck for a few years.

FISHER
The research is in a mess, but the information is there for quite a lot. Before doing more I need to sort out what I've got, and solidify a few links. So that's a no for the coming week.

So what and where should I research? And any advice for researching at (as I'm sure will be suggested) the FRC?

EmPers

PS For those of you thinking it, if you give me clear instructions and information, and respond to the main part of the post as well, then the answer is yes.

PPS If you didn't understand what that was talking about then you probably weren't thinking it.

7
The Common Room / Re: mailing list?
« on: Sunday 26 June 05 23:39 BST (UK)  »
http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/SSX/#Genealogy

lists two e-mail lists, although when I looked just now neither page was working, but that could be me.

8
Armed Forces / Re: 1857 Army records help
« on: Sunday 27 March 05 23:24 BST (UK)  »
The clasps will generally signify a battle he was involved in. It was customary for a medal to be awarded to all participants in a campaign, e.g China War medal. This would then come with clasps signifying the battles participated in, e.g Canton, Taku Forts.

Are you sure it's not LC badges as well? I know the marines used to award GC badges on a regular basis, note they really were badges rather than medals.

9
The Common Room / How to confrim someone changing their name?
« on: Sunday 27 March 05 00:42 GMT (UK)  »
I have an Albert Clark, 27, who's marriage certificate (1897) gives his father's name as Job Clark, Warehouseman, and Florence Clark is a witness. They are in ASton at this time.

In the 1901 Census, I've found Job Clark, 74, Warehouseman living in Aston, with Daughter Florence, 33. He's the only Job that seems vaguely likely, and the place fits, as does the job, daughter, etc.

That's all fine, however, when we try to find him in 1881, or 1891 we come unstuck. Simply put, there is no even vaguely likely job clark in either census (that I've found, anyway).

However, there is this family in 1881, who seem likely, except for the father's name:
 Alfred CLARKE   Head   M   Male   54   Birmingham, Warwick, England   Warehouseman     
 Clara CLARKE   Wife   M   Female   53   Birmingham, Warwick, England       
 Samuel CLARKE   Son      Male   16   Birmingham, Warwick, England   Glass Blower     
 Albert CLARKE   Son      Male   12   Birmingham, Warwick, England   Scholar     
 Florence CLARKE   Daur      Female   14   Birmingham, Warwick, England   Scholar     
 George CLARKE   Son      Male   9   Birmingham, Warwick, England   Scholar 

The father's age and job match, as do florence and albert. The birth places fit as well, but the name, doesn't. MAybe I'm justing wishing this family to be mine, but what can I do to confirm or dispell this idea in my head?

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