Family History
tracing your ancestors at the Maesbury Broadplace

Basic definitions:
Genealogy - a list of names, with date/place born, of your ancestors (where your genes came from)
Family History = family stories, what sort of people they were - did they have lots of money? and why didn't you get it all?
- be careful, if the genealogy is wrong then you'll have someone else's family history.... maybe entertaining, but just fiction.

1. find your own birth certificate!
- are you really sure you weren't adopted...?
- was that man really your father...?

- make sure you have the full certificate, not the short version

2. your parents' BMD - birth, marriage, death certificates
- birth and marriage certificates are essential, beware that if they are still alive there may be things that they don't want you to know... you need to see the originals!

3. Grandparents, four of these.
- From 1911 birth certificates give mother's maiden name, so your parents' certs should give both grandmothers' original identities.

4. If your grandparents were born before 1901 find them in the 1901 Census.

- each census is closed for 100 years, so the 1911 census will not be available until Jan 1, 2012.

- if they were born after 1901 then you have to get the certificates for your great-grandparents, then find them in the 1901 census.

• Ancestry.co uk - censuses 1841-1901, registry of BMDs from 1837, and lots more. (subscription £69.95 per year, we will have one for the Broadplace)

Repeat the above back to the 1841 census, and 1837 for BMD - but note that before 1870 registration was not compulsory, so some will be missing...

Certifcates:

General Register Office - www.gro.gov.uk
- all BMD (Birth, Marriage, Death) certificates from September 1837
- order online for £7, usually delivered in 7 days

birth cert from 1849, marriage cert. 1840, death cert 1858:

- the number of ancestors doubles with each generation back. For 4 grandparents you will need 4B, 2M and 4D = £70 - but you can usually manage without the death certs to reduce the costs.
- full BMD certs for 8 great-grandparents = £140
- keep doubling . . .

• OldMaps.co.uk - mostly late C19th, free

Before 1837

BMD records started in 1837 so it gets harder before that.

The main source is the Parish Records which started in 1538 and recorded Christenings, Marriages and Burials.

They vary a lot in what they record, how carefully they were made, and how many have survived.

These are Church of England records - towards the end of this period non-conformist churches kept their own records separately.

• Family Search.org - from the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) - easily the biggest and best online collection of Parish Records, mostly pre-1837 - and it's free
  
  
  
• Genes Re-united - upload your tree and search those from other people to find connections - a great way to meet cousins you didn't know you had. Subscription is £7 per year, good value (part of the 'Friends Re-united' site)

Recording it all - the 'Family Tree' software, installed on one of the Maesbury Broadplace laptops, can convert your new found data, including potos, into a tree design which can be printed or uploaded as a website.

Maesbury Family History Message Board - if your ancestors are from the Maesbury are you can use this messagae board to swop info