2. The Genealogical Dark Ages?
Back in the days before the advent of the personal computer and the internet, we would
have found our genealogical forebears hard at work in their local archives hunting through
original records for the documentary traces of their ancestors - or would we?
Today if I go hunting my ancestors at any of the online sites, such as Ancestry orThe
British Newspaper Archive, as well as original records such as births, wills or newspaper
articles I also use finding aids such as Pallot's Index to Marriages or the National Probate
Calendar.These were produced either by the original holders of the records such as the
Probate Registry or by those who needed indexes to enable them to undertake their
business such as Messrs Pallot and Co who were record agents.
At Family Search today you can also look at pedigrees or family trees constructed by
contributors to the site. However, what did you do if you wanted to look at pedigrees
which had already been researched before the convenience of the internet?
3. Written Pedigree Indexes for Britain
The Genealogist’s
Guide
G W Marshall LLD FSA
(1903)
A Genealogical Guide:
An Index to British
Pedigrees in
Continuation of
Marshall's Genealogist
s's Guide (1903)
J B Whitmore BA FSA
FSG (1953)
4. Nature, Origin and Purpose of these Sources
These sources are indexes of pedigrees which have been documented in a variety of places including
heraldic visitations, county histories, biographies, local periodicals and guides and a variety of
published and unpublished books and pamphlets. Many of these documents have been privately
published and therefore are of very limited circulation.The pedigrees mentioned in texts such as
"The Genealogist’s Guide" can be difficult to find as the references can be codified in the
abbreviations of the time which are less well known today. Whitmore's "A Genealogical Guide"
provides some help in this regard but even if you can decipher the references then you may find it
difficult to find the original document. For example,Whitmore includes "Descent of My Family (J. H.
Hoare, 1903)" a privately printed pedigree which I have been unable to find any reference to.
5. The Genealogist’s Guide
G W Marshall LLD FSA (1903)
George William Marshall, LLD FSA (1839–1905) was an officer of
arms, serving the College of Arms as Rouge Dragon Pursuivant from
1887–1904, and as York Herald from 1904–1905. Marshall compiled
large collections of wills, pedigrees, registers, church notes and other
genealogical material, 32 volumes of which were bequeathed to the
College of Arms under his will.
The Genealogist’s Guide is limited to an index of "pedigrees" defined
by Marshall as "any descent of three generations in the male line".
This very much reflects the patriarchal nature of genealogy at the end
of the 19th century which had arisen out of a need for pedigrees to
prove line of descent and support primogeniture.
6. The Genealogist's Guide (Page 408 – Hoar or Hoare)
At first glance this is a confusing mixture of publication titles and abbreviations which may
have been well known to genealogist's in Marshall's day but are less well known today to
users of online indexes. However once it is transcribed (with the essential assistance of the
introduction and abbreviations found inWhitmore – next slide), laid out with each
reference on a separate line and the abbreviations expanded fully then the citations to
pedigrees become easier to understand and therefore to find [see the more information
slide for details].
7. A Genealogical Guide: An Index to British Pedigrees
J B Whitmore BA FSA FSG (1953)
This index was very much a continuation of Marshall's Genealogists's Guide of 1903.
Major John Beach Whitmore, BA FSA FSG (1882-1957) was a compiler of a range
of genealogical records, abstracts and indexes especially monumental inscriptions and
LondonVisitation pedigrees.Whitmore's outstanding piece of work was "A Genealogical
Guide" which updated Marshall's work to include pedigrees published from 1903 up until
between 1945-1948 when Whitmore compiled his Guide.
Circumstances preventedWhitmore examining some privately printed family histories the
existence of which was known to him from notices in booksellers catalogues and
elsewhere, these he marked with a double asterisk. For example “** Descent of My
Family (J. H. Hoare, 1903)”.
Whitmore also stated that other family histories which he had been unable to examine will
be found in "A Catalogue of British Family Histories (Theodore RadfordThomson, 1928: 2nd
Ed. 1935)" which was reprinted in a 3rd edition with Addenda in 1980.
8. A Genealogical Guide (Page 257 – Hoar, Hoare)
LikeThe Genealogist's Guide, the entries inWhitmore like the one above are also a
confusing mixture of publication titles and abbreviations. Unlike Marshall however,
Whitmore provides a detailed introduction of nearly thirty pages which clearly lays out
what has been included in his work and why. It also provides an explanation of the citations
used and a list of abbreviations. The introduction is also useful when trying to interpret
Marshall's work.
9. The Genealogist's Guide: an index to printed British pedigrees
and family histories, 1950-1975
G B Barrow (1977)
This index was written by G B barrow as a
supplement to GW Marshall’sGenealogist's
Guide and J BWhitmore’s Genealogical Guide.
Geoffrey Battiscombe Barrow (1927-2002)
was in the antiquarian book trade, having
been Cataloguer of Manuscripts and Early
Printed Books for the famous
bookseller Bernard Quaritch Ltd. Barrow's
earlier work "A History of the Battiscombe and
Bascom Families of England and America" is
one of the very publications which these
indexes refer to and it appears both under
Battiscombe and Bascom on page 11.
10. A Catalogue of British Family Histories 3rd Edition with Addenda
T RThomson (1980)
Theodore Radford Forrester
Thomson (1897-1981) was a
Fellow and Honorary Librarian of
the Society of Genealogists.
His Catalogue of British family
Histories was first published in
1928. His other publications
included the "History of the
Family ofThomson of
Corstophine".
11. A Catalogue of British Family Histories (Pages 84/85 - Part)
Hoare –
Pedigrees and Memoirs of the Family of Hore ... Hoare ... comp. by Sir Richard Colt
Hoare, Bt., fo., Bath, 1819.*
[Collected and compiled by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart. (1819) Pedigrees and Memoirs of
the Families of Hoare of Rushford, Co. Devon; Hoare ofWalton, Co. Bucks; Hoare of
London; Hoare of Mitcham; Hoare of Stourton; Hoare of Barn Elms; Hoare of Boreham,
Co. Essex. Privately printed for his Family and Friends. Bath. Imperial Quarto (10-12"). 64
pages.]
*An asterisk denotes 'privately printed'.
12. Where do you find the documents in the Indexes?
Many of these old publications being out of copyright can now be found online at a
variety of websites. For example a fully digitised copy of "SomeAccount of the Early
History and Genealogy of the Families of Hore and Hoare" is available at the Internet
Archive.This was particularly interesting for me as the document identified that in the
Domesday Book a village (modern dayOwer) was known as "Hore". I am currently a
long way from tracing my Hampshire Hoare family back to the village of Hore in 1086
however it is certainly motivating.
Entry for Hore in the Domesday Book (image kindly made available by Professor J.J.N. Palmer. Image may be reused
under a Creative Commons BY-SA licence - please credit Professor J.J.N. Palmer and George Slater.)
13. Where do you find the documents in the Indexes?
As well as the Internet Archive many other old publications are available onGoogle
books. Lipscombe's History of the County of Buckingham for example, can be found there
and below is shown the pedigree chart for this Hoare family (Page 360).
14. Where else to look
Many genealogical societies, archives and libraries hold
collections of documents which include pedigrees. My favourite
is the library of the Society of Genealogists (SOG). "The Society
of Genealogists collects printed and published family histories
as well as unpublished material in typescript or manuscript
form. Family histories and pedigrees can be found all over the
library and of course online. Hence there is no one place to look,
whether at the Society of Genealogists, or on the Internet.
The Document Collection contains thousands of unique miscellaneous manuscript research notes arranged by
surname.These notes (or microfiche or digital copies of the notes) are available in the archive section of the
Lower Library where you will find a printed list of all the surnames represented. An alphabetical list of the
surnames and families in the Document Collection can also be found on the SOG website." SOG also has an
excellent guide to " Surname Searching at the SoG and Elsewhere.What’s Been Done Before?" available
online at their website.
15. Using Printed Pedigrees
You would not just copy someone else's tree from Ancestry or from a
Family Search pedigree and equally you should not assume that these
pedigrees are automatically correct.These pedigrees will however
provide you with ample pointers to look for other primary evidence
which can help you reliably trace your family history.
16. More Information
More information including examples from the indexes for various
Hoare families can be found at:
http://dhgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/10/brickwall-1-using-printed-
pedigrees.html
Marshall, Whitmore, Barrow andThomson dealt primarily with English
andWelsh pedigrees but there are similar finding aids for Scottish and
Irish published pedigrees.
17. This Slideshare prepared by
Declan Hoare, Genealogist at DHGenealogy
Website: http://dhgenealogy.blogspot.co.uk/
One Place Study Blog:
http://humesofsaffronhill.blogspot.co.uk/
One Name Study Blog:
http://hoare1ps.blogspot.co.uk/
Member of the Association of Professional
Genealogists
