records prior to 1800

[HeatherL]

Hey,
  I'm hoping that someone can help me out. How do you continue with your tree prior to 1800? All of the records have become anoyingly scetchy and I can't seem to track down the information to go back any further (ie. parents names are not listed on records, death records don't list anything beyond name and date...) Where do you get the information to go back further? I've been checking parish records, but I don't know of any other sources and the parish records aren't giving me info anymore...

Thanks
Heather

[Ruskie]

Hi Heather.

You could try posting details of your families on the appropriate board on rootschat and someone may be able to help.  Some people have fiche and transcripts of parish records, some are willing to do lookups at various record centres.

Where is your research? If it's UK based, some counties are better covered than others, both on the IGI and with other free and fee based records. Census records can still be useful for anyone born in the 1700's and still alive in 1841 and particularly 1851. Freereg has decent coverage for some parishes but nothing for others.

I'll wait till you let me know where your research is before I go any further. 

[Ron Lankshear]

Some burials will give age at death - sometimes death of a widow records relict of ..........
Children usually parents are shown..

Marriages yes parents not usually shown at all but the witnesses may be very helpful. Note IGI on line does not shown witnesses but the LDS film should show witnesses. Sometimes the parish for the spouses are shown. If witnesses are siblings and later you find a Will listing them and your folk then wow.

Baptisms sometimes  only father is shown but siblings may be shown with both father and mother.

Wills can be enormous help. They usually list all the living children and for women their married names. So you think a baptism may be your person and then go looking for a will for the father to see if the "child" mentioned in terms that identify as your's.

Newspaper - the Gale 18th and 19th century are available through libraries etc. These often give BMD details or simply mention people

and as said Post the details to forums like Rootschat

[Gadget]

Hi Heather  

A look through your previous posts suggests that you are looking for Snaddon's (variations) in Clackmannanshire.

If the baptisms/marriages are not on SP, the family might not have been Church of Scotland and the records for other denominations are more patchy    An alternative might be to check Kirk Session Records. At the moment it would be difficult for you as they are held in Edinburgh but,  if you can wait a while, SP are supposedly going to put them up online in some form.

Regards


Gadget

[HeatherL]

Ruskie, at present am mainly looking at records around clackmannan in scotland. I live in Aust.

Ron, what is an LDS film? I'm still new at this. To date all of my research has been via that internet so I wouldn't have a clue where to start when it comes to looking at hard copies of records. Wouldn't they all be stored at Scotland? I assume that they'd have a national archive or something and that you'd have to access it in person... Where do you find wills? I saw a link for wills on SP at one stage, but when I clicked on it nothing came up except info on what a will is   I've seen access to historical local newspapers at the library, but not international ones. Is there any online access for those?

Gadget, what are Kirk Session Records? I've found marriages and births on SP, the problem is identifying them as been the correct one as the included information becomes increasingly scetchy. I'm not sure how to confirm whether the birth record that I'm looking at is for the correct person as the parents names don't appear to be listed anywhere else. When you've got 20-odd James' Snaddons all in the same area it's a bit hard to identify the correct one without a bit more info

[Ron Lankshear]

The Mormon church has Family History centres around Austrlia. You can order films from them
see http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp

I do not know what they have for area of Scotland you mention

There is a Scottish section on Rootschat and you can see Links there and also help for various areas, Speciific queries re areas ask on what seems likely

Also I have a Scottish links page on my site

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lankshear/fhlinks/scotland.htm

[HeatherL]

Thanks Ron.
   Is the mormon church where you get LDS films from? What is an LDS film?

[Ron Lankshear]

The Mormorns also called LDS Church of Latter Day Saints when raising the IGI (which you can search at the web site I sent also) Filmed the church records. For marriages these are more detailed than the IGI mainly witnesses. And they also include deaths (hopefully with ages) which are in the main not shown on IGI

So you go to an LDS FHC family history centre and ask about films . if they do not have the film at that office they may charge a fee to get if for you. Make sure you check it thorougly for any leads you have and allow time for a return visit whilst they have the film as when you get home you look at the notes and see a name that inspires another search

[Ron Lankshear]

Also if you are in a capital city the State Library such as Mitchell in Sydney may have many records available and also places The Society at  http://www.sag.org.au/