Meet the relatives... how to explore the roots and branches of your family tree

There was a time, not that long ago, when generations of the samefamily lived in the same place and where sons followed fathers into the same job for life.

The world has changed, but our need to know where we came from has not –and that desire for a sense of continuity has seen an explosion in the those wanting to trace their ancestors. It's not an easy task. While the internet has brought the traditional banks of dusty records into the 21st century, knowing just where to start can prove daunting.

"Your research skills don't have to be that technical to have some success," says Else Churchill, from the Society of Genealogists. "But the more you get into it, the more family historians become experts in the records they use

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"If you're the sort of person who's got a mind for detective puzzles and solving problems, then it's a great hobby.''

Where to begin

The best place to begin researching your family tree is at home. Ask older relatives for family names, dates and places and look for birth certificates, letters, newspaper cuttings, diaries or anything that will fill in the background on your family.

It's also a good idea to decide what you want to find out. Do you want to draw up a simple family tree or do you want more of an idea of what life was like for your ancestors? Are you going to follow just one branch of the family or try to get an overview of everyone?

Exploring archives

Once you've established a basic outline of your family's background, it's time to start finding solid records as evidence.

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While many records and indexes are now held online, archives and record offices remain an invaluable source of information.

"People haven't changed a lot,'' says Else. "Just like today, our ancestors ran up against a huge amount of bureaucracy and luckily, because we haven't been invaded since 1066, there's an incredible amount of paperwork stored in record offices, the National Archives, local council offices and libraries. It is also worth contacting the Society of Genealogists. If you're really lucky, you might find the research has been done before.''

Births, deaths and marriages

If the ancestors you're trying to trace were alive before 1901 and if you know where they lived, you'll be able to find them and details about their occupation in the census returns. However, most people tend to start with more recent history, and by looking at records of births, deaths and marriages.

Civil registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages began in 1837 in England and Wales (1855 for Scotland and 1864 for Ireland), when registration became a legal requirement. Before you can order certificates, you will need a certificate reference number, which you will find in alphabetically arranged indexes. The indexes are available at the Family Records Centre (www.familyrecords.gov.uk) in London and the certificates for England and Wales are kept at The General Register Office (www.gro.gov.uk) in Southport.

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Separate registries for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland are located in Edinburgh, Belfast and Dublin (See www.gro-scotland.gov.uk; www.groni.gov.uk; www.groireland.ie). The certificates include more information than indexes alone – such as the name and residence of the mother and occupation of the father on birth certificates and the names of the fathers of the bride and groom on a marriage certificate.

Going further back

Censuses and BDM records will get most people through the Victorian period, but before that the most important records tend to be those of the church.

From 1538 in England and Wales, and 1555 in Scotland, each parish in the UK had to keep registers of baptisms, marriages and burials. Although they are not exhaustive (some records have been lost over the years), you might find the names of your ancestors and dates of the events – and other information – on microfiche at the church or County Record Offices.

"The church was also the administrator of the Poor Laws," adds Else. "If your ancestors weren't so well off, they would have run up against the Poor Law and you might find records of them being moved to a workhouse or having illegitimate children.''

The internet

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One of the easiest ways to find out details of your family's history is undoubtedly the internet, which hosts thousands of sites and chat groups for those interested in genealogy.

"We were doing social networking long before teenagers got hold of it," says Else. "On a site like GenesReunited.co.uk, you can say 'I'm interested in this individual, this is my ancestor, is anyone else related to him?' It's possible to find cousins that way and make links to other branches of your family tree."

Many archives publish their indexes online, so you can search for your ancestors in census returns and BDM records on sites like

www.ancestry.co.uk. Some index searches are free, but you will have to pay to see a copy of the actual record.

Census records

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The records for England and Wales have been moved a number of times and historically some weren't looked after particularly well.

With the advent of microfilm technology, copies of the census returns became available in most county record offices and some libraries – and then came the internet. A group of local historians teamed up to transcribe the 1881 census and create an index on CD ROM. The index is now freely available at www.familysearch.com

The National Archives published the 1901 census for England and Wales online (www.1901censusonline.com) complete with its own index and the rising interest in family history sites has seen the launch of numerous other sites.

"If you can't find your ancestor on one site, competition means you may find it on another," says Else. "It may be transcribed better, the images may be clearer or they have a better and easier way of searching the index."

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The best sites to use are www.thenationalarchives.gov.uk, www.ancestry.co.uk, www.findmypast.com and www.britishorigins.com.

While the census records are only opened up to historians after 100 years, under the Freedom of Information Act you can now apply to the National Archives to search for an address in the 1911 census where you think your ancestors were living.

However, it is expensive, and the most interesting column, which includes personal information about an individual, will remain hidden until 2012.

Finding missing people

There are several reasons why people might not show up where they ought to be on a census. Back in 1841, most people lived in parishes, but by 1901 the population of Britain had more than doubled and there was a shift to bigger cities.

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"One of the problems you might encounter is when ancestors moved to a bigger town they often become more anonymous or difficult to find," says Else. "Equally, it may be that your ancestors were not actually at home during the census, but were in hospital, the merchant navy or even the workhouse or lunatic asylum." Institutions were separately enumerated and the records can be found at the end of the registration district, not necessarily in the parish where your relative might have lived.

Merchant ships and British Naval ships in British ports were all enumerated, with the master as the head of the household, but soldiers serving overseas were not included until 1911.

So if you have an ancestor who you know was alive in 1901 but he's not on the census, it could be that he was serving in the Boer war or one of the British colonies.

Military records

As part of your ongoing family history search, you will find that military records can be a very important source of information.

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You might be lucky enough to find letters, documents and even medals tucked away in the attic that show whether your forebears fought in the biggest battles of the First World War, but once you have the basic information again you will have to start searching official records – and the easiest place to start is online.

The National Archive (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) holds all the public records for England, Wales and some Irish records, while Scottish records can be found at The National Archives Scotland (www.nas.gov.uk).

The website also features a section dedicated to researching military history. To get the most out of your research, you will need to know the full name of the individual you are searching for (ie Tom James William Whiting not just T Whiting) and if you don't know which force they served in (army, navy, airforce or marines) or details of the specific regiment, battalion or ship, try the Ministry of Defence website (www.mod.uk). The date when your ancestor enlisted or was demobilised is also useful to know. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds details of all the 1.7 million servicemen and women who have died in action since 1914. Local newspapers, which published lists of casualties between 1914 and 1918, are also worth exploring.

Newspaper archives

Local newspapers can provide more personal details about your ancestors' lives and a rich sense of the world in which they lived. A wedding report might include a guest list, details of gifts and descriptions of outfits worn or a funeral might include a list of attendees and inquest details.

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In addition, newspapers will have church announcements, advertisements by traders, details of bequests, accounts of local crimes and court proceedings. All things that can add to your pictures of their lives, directly and indirectly.

Newspapers began to be systematically collected and sent to the British Library in 1822. Colindale in London – home of British Library

Newspapers – now has more than 52,000 separate newspapers, journals, and periodical titles, occupying some 20 miles of shelf space. The online search facility (see www.bl.uk/ services/reading/newsrrcatalogue.html), means you can look through the catalogue and place orders in advance of your visit. Some regional newspapers are still available in their original form but most are now on microfilm or scheduled into a filming programme. At present the British Library Newspapers are being digitised and so far 1,000,000 pages of content from some 48 local titles have been uploaded onto the British Library Newspaper website for the 19th-century.

Wills

Another area worth exploring is wills and probate, which detail what was bequeathed to whom when one of your ancestors died.

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From 1796 people had to pay death duty on their estates, and so details of next of kin were registered. Before 1858, the person charged with overseeing the will (executor) would register it with the ecclesiastical court to get a "grant of probate". After that time, all wills for England and Wales were registered at a Central Court of Probate and today they're held at the Principal Probate Registry.

Registers up to 1858 can be found for the Prerogatives Courts of Canterbury at The National Archives, and in the Borthwick Institute, York. Wills registered at the local diocesan courts can be found at County Record Offices, while in Scotland they can be found in Edinburgh or at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

CASE STUDY: THE POET AND THE DEBTOR

Hilary Robinson

There may well be skeletons in the closet – the proverb warns – but delving into the past can also reveal illustrious connections, and we found both, within two generations.

There had always been a suggestion that there was a Lord in the family who apparently"disowned" his daughter, my great, great grandmother for "marrying into trade".

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We knew she was from Hull and were able to trace her wedding certificate of 1847 when she married a printer, Richard Johnson. The certificate revealed that her father was "Joseph Roberts, Gentleman". Not quite a Lord, but having managed to track him down it spurred us on try trace the family back further.

In Hull Archives we found Joseph in Kelly's Trade Directory of 1819 and his profession was given as black beer brewer. He had married Ann Bellwood Savage. Her father was also called Joseph and an examination of his will, ordered through the Borthwick Institute in York, revealed a man of considerable means who made substantial provision for his grandchildren and daughter – "independent of her present or any future husband".

Married to Eliza, he also had a son, John Wordsworth Savage. In the past, maternal maiden names were often used as middle names and it was then we had our first hint of our family's connection to the famous poet. The National Archives are now online and we discovered many records relating to Eliza Wordsworth's father, John, who had married in Silkstone. It is well documented that William Wordsworth's paternal great grandfather, a family listed in Burke's peerage, originated in the neighbouring village of Penistone. Through wills, online records and the research of other Wordsworth associates, we now have hard evidence of a link.

It wasn't all illustrious connections. A visit to the website www.findmypast.com revealed that things hadn't gone to well for our brewer Joseph Roberts and he was named in the Bankruptcy Register. Looking at pages of London Gazette and the Hull Packet, via the British Library's online archives showed he was imprisoned for debt and was held, then, in the notorious London, Fleet Prison.

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I have no idea whether he was guilty of malpractice, bad luck or just poor management, but it did explain why his father-in-law was determined to ensure his daughter had financial independence. Joseph ended his life, a gentleman, so perhaps he somehow managed to redeem himself and maybe one day we'll find out how.

n Hilary Robinson is a children's author and radio producer.

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