The document discusses various genealogy resources and techniques for researching family history, including: - Birth, marriage, and death records that can be found online or through local records offices starting from 1837. Earlier records require searching parish records. - Census records from 1841-1911 that provide increasing amounts of information about individuals and their households over time. - Parish records including baptism, marriage, and burial records that were typically kept by the Church of England starting in 1538. - Other resources like the International Genealogical Index, census indexes, and family history websites that can help in researching ancestors and building family trees.

1. Where do you come from? RECAP

2. I am! Rodney Fox 3, Restormel Close Rushden NN10 0QW 01933 469003 07876 356986 [email_address]

3. Welcome! The first of our monthly meetings Is this the best Tuesday in the month? Welcome to new members who signed up at the May U3A anniversary meeting Welcome to familiar faces who have attended before

4. Meeting logistics Every 3rd Tuesday each month St. Peters Catholic Church, Rushden 2.00 to 4.00pm Attendance fee to cover fixed hire cost of hall and related equipment, and any incidentals currently set at £3 Each session is free-standing

5. State of Play We have held 17 sessions since the Group was launched in August 2009 Attendance (including me) has been 15,17,14,12,15,12,12,11,12,12,8,8,10,10, 14,10,5. Average is 11 At £3 per session we need 9 attendees to cover hire of hall and projector

7. U3A Group Leaders Meeting Friday June 25 th 09.45 – 12.00 Catholic Church Hall Rodney out of town Looking for a deputy?

8. We have a BLOG www.rodneysgenealogyblog.blogspot.com/ All materials from earlier sessions Plus other items of interest that I come across in my genealogical ramblings!

9. There are a lot of Genealogy BLOGS about!

10. Brother and sister to marry? Sydney, May 31 (ANI): A young Irish couple, who have a son together, is said to have been left devastated after reportedly finding out that they are half brother and sister. According to the Mail on Sunday, the pair, who grew up far apart and met two years ago, said DNA testing last month revealed they share the same father. The young man, who is known only as ‘James’, was unable to find out the truth about his family background because of secrecy surrounding Irish family law. The couple, aged in their 20s, are now planning to undertake a landmark civil case against a judge and a child psychologist who were involved in James’ case. “ When we found out that we were half-brother and half-sister, we were devastated,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted James, who has decided to keep his family’s identity a secret for the sake of their young son.

11. Brother and sister to marry? The couple say they still plan to get married and have more children, despite being shocked and pained by the news. Their decision to marry could present them with legal battles as their relationship is seen as illegal in the eyes of the law. he couple said their decision to remain anonymous was due to fear of ridicule and even more so to protect their son, who they believe would be stigmatised by society and picked on at school. That they met in the first place was a remarkable coincidence. “ We grew up in separate towns about 100 miles (160 kilometres) apart,” said James, of Leinster. “ We met by chance in a town neither of us is from. We’d never met before and there is about two years between us.

12. Brother and sister to marry? “ We got on very well. We are very similar in what we like and dislike. We really hit it off. We agreed on everything. I’d been in relationships before but I just knew this was different,” he revealed. The couple’s shared father, who is known as ‘Tom’, had unknowingly fathered James in a short-term relationship before he settled down with his current family. Once he found out about James’ birth some four years later he proceeded with a legal battle to gain access to his son, but the court ruled that his son should have no knowledge of his real father, or any access to him. The couple said they hoped speaking out would help others in similar situations. “ People reading this think our situation is a one-off and that the chances of this happening are the same as the chances of winning the lottery - but every week someone wins the lottery,” they stated

13. Rushden & Higham U3A Genealogy Group

14. For me……… Find out about my families More than names and dates More time to do so later in life Realising I am just a link in the family chain Intellectual challenge in overcoming brick walls

15. Zorah’s homeland Twin island republic in Commonwealth Mixed races Mixed up religion Oil and Gas and Pitch Lake Steel Band Calypso Carnival Trinidad & Tobago

16. Mining Connections

17. Coal Mining families The early nineteenth century saw a dramatic rise of activity in the mining of the country's coal fields. Thousands of people were drawn off the land and from factories into the coal mines. Stories of how these people lived and worked began to circulate among the general public. They were thought of as wild, hard drinkers who had no morals and were Godless and without any education. It was said that women and children worked long hours underground in cramped and dangerous places doing hard, back-breaking work. The public conscience was stirred and Victorian philanthropists pressed Parliament for some action.

18. Coal Mining families A Royal Commission appointed Commissioners and they were dispatched to examine the conditions in the coalfields of the country, to take evidence and to report their findings back to Parliament. The Commissioners who reported on the conditions in the coalfields and travelled round gathering his evidence with a secretary, who was skilled in the new Pitman's Shorthand and who took down every word that was spoken at the interviews with coal owners, mine officials, teachers, Poor Law officials, the Police and the men, women and children who worked the mines.

24. Working conditions

26. DNA and Chromosomes 22 X chromosome pairs Some characteristics from both parents 23 rd chromosome determines male or female X + X or X + Y? Y chromosome traces back through the male line largely unchanged Mitochondrial DNA traces back through the female line largely unchanged

27. How Many? Remember, you are descended from both your father and mother. You have two parents Four grand parents Eight great grandparents Sixteen great-great grandparents Thirty-two great, great, great, grandparents (3g grandparents) Sixty-four 4g grandparents One hundred twenty-eight 5g grandparents and so on. By the time you have gone back ten generations, you will be looking for 1,024 ancestors in this tenth generation.

29. Do…….. Define your goals Be methodical in your research Get organised…chart, forms, logs, etc Use primary sources where possible Keep track of your sources Be persistent when you hit brick walls Enjoy the discovery process, no matter where it takes you!

30. Don’t…. Expect any of your ancestors to be royalty or famous Assume Family History research is a simple process Assume everything you find on the internet or someone else’s family tree is correct Expect to find all the information in 1 day Forget your female lines

31. How to Proceed Gather records that you already have Document what you already know List all of your blood relatives and people who have married into the family Talk to relatives and document what they know Gather records that they have

32. Existing family history records including: Birth / baptism / marriage / divorce / death / funeral certificates and documents Diaries / Family bibles / photographs / correspondence / personal possessions School records Call-up records, Service records, medals Newspaper items

33. Keeping Records On paper / card On someone’s website e.g. Ancestry, Genes Reunited On your own computer General purpose application e.g. spreadsheet, powerpoint Family history specific application e.g. Legacy, PAF, RootsMagic, etc.

34. How to Proceed Determine how you are going to keep your family history information Start entering the information Broaden the net of informants by joining Genes Reunited Add any information found Move onto central registration documents and census returns

35. Genes Reunited Website to compare people in your family trees to people in other family trees Find someone who may be “shared”, ask the other people to compare what is known about their equivalent to your information Gain access to their family trees information with their permission

36. A word of warning With any information obtained from other family researchers, treat it with some suspicion Chinese whispers, misunderstandings, leaps of faith Always try to check the original records, especially where they relate to a key person in your family chain

37. Your Information Find it Yourself Known Relatives Information Ask them New relatives Information Genes Reunited BMD Information Census Information Parish Registers Information Other Sources Of Information

38. Births, Marriages and Death Records BMD

39. Approximately when? After 1837, there was civil registration of births, marriages and deaths, you can get a certificate if you find the record in the indices Before 1837 there were parish records that recorded similar, but different information, namely baptisms, marriages and burials. There are no certificates to get for these events

40. Typical Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates Birth Marriage Death

41. DETAILS YOU WILL FIND ON A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE DETAILS YOU WILL FIND ON A BIRTH CERTIFICATE DETAILS YOU WILL FIND ON A DEATH CERTIFICATE When married Name and surname Age Condition Rank or profession Residence at the time of Marriage Father’s name and surname Rank or profession of Father Date Bride and Groom Ages Bachelor/Spinster Widow/Widower Divorcee Employment details Address Both father’s names Both Father’s professions When and where born Name if any Sex Name and surname of father Name, surname and maiden name of mother Occupation of father Signature, description and residence of informant Date of Registration Date and place of birth Name, or Female/Male Girl/Boy Fathers name Mothers name/formerly Employment details Name, address, status, address Date When and where died Name and surname Sex Age Occupation of deceased Cause of death Signature, description and residence of informant When registered Date and place of death Name of deceased Male/Female Age at death Occupation of deceased i.e. Widow/son/daughter and address Date death registered

42. Where to find BMD records You cannot view the actual birth, marriage or death certificates online or at local record offices, copies must be ordered from the General Register Office, either by post or online. Certificates are significantly cheaper if you provide the Register Office with some basic details about the certificate you require, referred to as the ‘GRO index’. You can get this information from a number of places.

43. Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates General Records Office (GRO) for England & Wales (1837 onward); “www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/” General Records Office (GRO) for Scotland (1855 onward); “http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/bdm.html” or “ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk” General Records Office (GRO) for Northern Ireland; “http://www.groni.gov.uk/index.htm”. Cost of Certificates from these sites is normally £9.25 and take about 5 to 10 days to arrive Main sources of actual copy certificates:-

44. Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates Local County Records Office (CRO); personal search of an individual county’s records on Microfiche FreeBMD.co.uk website; partially complete records of BMD with good search facility Ancestry.com website; Birth Index data included “Mother’s Maiden Name” from 1912 Death Index data included “Age” of deceased from 1870 Death Index data included “Date of Birth” from 1970 To help one find the correct BMD index ref:- To Obtain a Certificate, you need to accurately identify the District (Parish), Year, Quarter, Volume and Page of the appropriate Index for the person you want

45. Free BMD This free website for post 1837 events is being developed by volunteers and already includes many millions of entries copied from the General Register Office indexes of births, marriages and deaths. With over 170m records, it is not yet complete. We typically use Free BMD via the internet to identify these events

46. Registration Quarters The indexes to the registers are quarterly rather than annually - the four quarters being known as March, June, September and December. Each of these covers the month itself and the two preceding months, as follows: January, February, March registrations in the March quarter April, May, June registrations in the June quarter July, August, September registrations in the September quarter October, November, December registrations in the December quarter

47. The name, year and quarter, district, volume number and page number are the details you need to include on the application for a certificate. In many cases, FreeBMD have also made an image of the original index available to download free of charge.

48. Census Records 1841-1911

49. Census A census was taken to record those living in each household at midnight on a Sunday. The dates of the census varied from year to year Sun/Mon. 6/7th June 1841 Sun/Mon. 30/31st March 1851 Sun/Mon. 7/8th April 1861 Sun/Mon. 2/3rd April 1871 Sun/Mon. 3/4th April 1881 Sun/Mon. 5/6th April 1891 Sun/Mon. 31st March / 1st April 1901 Sun/Mon 2/3rd April 1911

51. 1841 Census Sample

52. The 1841 census Relationships between family members are not noted. Although an address for each property was required, it is rare to find anything other than the name of the hamlet in rural areas, or the street name if situated in a town or city. Similarly, take great care with the recorded ages. They are usually very misleading, as people aged 59 and 61 would be recorded as 55 and 60 respectively, and it is possible to find two or more children listed as aged 15, whereas in fact they may have been aged 19, 17 and 15.

53. Census returns 1851-1901 Although the level of detail provided was still at the discretion of the enumerator and the willingness of the householders to co-operate an increasing amount of information is provided about property addresses. More house names or numbers are increasingly used as time progressed; though earlier returns for rural areas still tend to group houses by hamlet or street. Each property is separated from the next by double parallel lines in the margin, with households within a single property separated by a single line.

54. Census returns 1851-1901 The following data can be expected for each individual : Forename, (sometimes middle name or just an initial), and surname Relationship to head of household Marital status Age at last birthday, including how many months for infants under 1 year old Sex Occupation or source of income County and parish of birth if in England or Wales; or country of birth if outside Any medical disabilities they might have suffered from From 1891 in Wales: language spoken

55. Typical problems / issues Incomplete records Common names Inaccuracies / transcription errors Tying generations together in parish records Moving about Coming forward with siblings descendants Not at home on census day

56. 1911 Census At release time, the 1911 census was only available on a pay per view basis…and quite expensive at that! Findmypast.com now has it available on a subscription basis. Rodney has subscribed!

57. Baptism, Marriage and Funeral Records Parish Records

58. Parish Records Parish registers are one of the main sources used by family historians researching families in England and Wales. Parish registers are simply records of baptisms, marriages and burials as recorded by the minister [rector, vicar or curate] in charge of the Church of England parish.

59. Parish Records Parish registers were started in England in 1538 Many churches, however, did not begin keeping records until a further notice was sent out in 1558, and even then, many did not comply Most of the parish registers are now stored in a County Record Office, although a few are still in the individual churches.

60. Bishops Transcripts These are contemporary copies of the Parish Registers - that is, copies made in the parish in the same year as the original parish register entries They may not be an exact copy of a register entry They are useful where a parish register is missing, or where there are gaps or difficulties in reading existing ones

61. Development of Parish Records Baptisms Marriages Burials 1538 basic information basic information basic information 1754 witnesses & signatures added 1813 father's occupation and abode added abode & age added sometimes occupation 1837 age & abode added father's name & occupation added

62. Early Combined Register

63. Marriage Registers 1754 to 1837

64. IGI The International Genealogical Index (IGI) is an index of BMD events created by the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). The index is available for viewing at all LDS Family History Centres, on microfiche or CD ROM, and also available for searching on the Internet on the LDS website.

65. IGI The IGI with 80 million entries is certainly the most comprehensive available index of English parish baptisms and marriages available. (Burials are not in the index, except for a few isolated examples). The IGI does not cover every one of the 12000 parishes in England. For those parishes which it does cover, there may be whole periods missing.

66. IGI For those which it does cover, there may be omissions of individual records even in the covered periods. Some entries in the IGI are from the Bishop's Transcripts and not the original registers, and the BTs themselves are prone to errors and omissions. (Having said that, even the original registers may have entries missing which are in the BTs and vice versa).

67. IGI You may find more than one entry in the index for the same event with conflicting information. Bear in mind that the IGI is primarily an index of ordinances carried out by LDS members as part of their religion, rather than an index of parish registers

68. IGI Some entries in the IGI are from submissions by individual LDS members rather than from parish registers, and many of these are very prone to errors. Be very wary of entries which have an "@" symbol beside them or which state a birth date (rather than a baptism date), or which state a date as being "about".

69. IGI The golden rule with the IGI is to treat it for what it is. An index. If you find an entry in the IGI, always look at the films/fiche of the original parish registers. Used in this way, it is a great tool to help you with your research.

70. The Vital Records Index - British Isles The Vital Records Index contains approx 12.3 million birth, christening, and marriage records, with varying degrees of coverage from within each county It contains no death records Generally speaking, it contains records which are “not” in the IGI, and therefore it is an invaluable supplement to the IGI

71. LDS Family History Centre Northampton The Centre has many resources useful for the family historian including the IGI and 1881 census. They have also microfilmed many other records including parish registers, probate records, books and censuses. This is located at 137 Harlestone Road, Northampton. Telephone 01604 587630 (limited opening hours) where you can order and view these records

72. Not Anglican? exploregenealogy.co.uk/NonAnglicaSources.html According to the 1851 census, about 25% of the population didn't consider themselves to be Anglicans. Many of those were classed as Nonconformist, an umbrella term taking in Methodists, Quakers and other denominations. That means there's a fair chance that at least one of your ancestors didn't belong to the Church of England. Because of that, they generally didn't appear in Anglican parish registers, which can seem like a dead end in genealogy.

73. Not Anglican? BMDregisters.co.uk Methodists, Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents, Protestant Dissenters, Congregationalist, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Quakers (Society of Friends), Dissenters and Russian Orthodox. Maternity Records plus various other BMD records.

74. Roman Catholic catholic-library.org.uk/ catholic-genealogy.co.uk/cg/index.htm catholic-history.org.uk/cfhs/ Tracing Your Catholic Ancestry in England By Michael Gandy. 16 pages. ISBN 1-86006-084-6.

75. CENSUSES CIVIL BMD RECORDS About 1840 PARISH RECORDS GENES REUNITED GENUKI , FHS, GOONS, ETC GOOGLE, ROOTSWEB and OTHER LISTS Ancestry.co.uk LDS 1881 Findmypast.com FreeBMD Ancestry Findmypast.com Local BMD sites LDS Microfiche LDS IGI / BVRI

76. Library Access Both High and Rushden Libraries have PCs that you can use to access the Internet. This will give you free access to FREEBMD and the LDS Family Search site with the IGI Both libraries have free access to the Library gateway to Ancestry.co.uk

77. Where do you come from?