Prior to 1 July 1837, when civil registration began, the records of the various Church of England parishes in England & Wales were extremely important. By their nature, they did not record information about everybody within the parish.
Category: Family History
Organization … Backups
And, going right along with organizing your file structure, comes organizing your backups. You may think that backups are not particularly important, but they are. What happens if your hard drive fails, for example? In my case, I had to reinstall Windows (part of the reason there was a 6-week gap in my posts) but… Continue reading Organization … Backups
Organization … Documents
I have never been big on New Year’s resolutions. My attitude has always been that “today is the first day of the rest of my life.” I was horrified, today, to realize today that I have not published a post for over a month; nearly six weeks in fact. So, I have resolved to publish… Continue reading Organization … Documents
Why Can’t I Find … Birth (1)
This series of posts will concentrate on why you may not be able to find a given person’s birth record. By that, I include not just birth certificates, but also baptism or christening records, family Bibles, and newspaper announcements of births. Only as a last resort would I accept a census record as proof of… Continue reading Why Can’t I Find … Birth (1)
Who Is Joseph Rogers?
While I would like to think that I am fairly successful at family history research, that is only true in general terms. And this blog is not always going to be full of success stories. This post is a case in point. Despite more than 50 years of looking, I really don’t know anything much… Continue reading Who Is Joseph Rogers?
Always Check Originals
One of the things I stress a lot is the need to check original documents. And yes, I know that is not always possible, but it is in the vast majority of cases. There are two huge reasons for this. One is so that you have evidence to back up your findings. The other is… Continue reading Always Check Originals
Finding Mary Hornsby
I was recently able to uncover the identity of one of my 3rd great-grandmothers. Of course, I still have more to do, like finding her baptism record, but at least now I have a definite last name. I have been looking for her, on and off, for about 40 years. Actually, it’s ever since I… Continue reading Finding Mary Hornsby
Data Entry – Places
Now, just as with personal names and dates, it is important to be consistent with place names. But it is also important to avoid unnecessary abbreviations. For example, a lot of my people come from Gloucestershire. But if I search for Glos (an abbreviation), or GLS (the Chapman code) for the county, how much data… Continue reading Data Entry – Places
Data Entry – Dates
I’ve started, so I may as well finish. How should you enter dates? This is much less critical than how you enter names of people or of places. You are not very likely to search for an exact date, after all is said and done. For internet searches, a year will usually suffice, or even… Continue reading Data Entry – Dates
Data Entry – Names
First, let me state that there is no absolute standard for data entry in family history – at the end of the day what’s important is that your system works for you, and not against you. As such, while these are guidelines only, I would like to think they comply with common sense. This post… Continue reading Data Entry – Names
Family History research in England 