I’ve just been updating and polishing my Family History
files. This is very much a work-in-progress and isn’t likely to be finished any
time soon! I have been doing this for over 50 years, too, so there are a LOT of
people “in the database”.
Turning your family history into a story is not a job for
the faint hearted, and, truth be told, isn’t necessarily of any interest to
anyone outside your immediate family. (Or even to them!)
BUT
Your family history can be a great source of “plot”. It will
show you the size of families and the names in use, and, in many cases the
occupation of your family members, and their locations.
Everyone in the UK has access to the General Record Office
of Births, Marriages and Deaths. They
have a useful web page at https://www.gov.uk/research-family-history
and you can look online and order certificates of your “person of interest”
I also recommend https://www.freebmd.org.uk/
This site is useful for looking up records and getting the date (by quarter)
and place of their birth, marriage or death. This will take your research back as
far as 1837, when they started keeping BMD records.
I’m sure lots of us have got a battered photo-album, or an
old biscuit tin, handed down to them and FULL of very old family photos. I urge
all of you to check, and if at all possible, sit down with Gran, Mum or Great-Aunt
Lilly, and try to identify them. You are
not going to write their stories, (generally) but they CAN inform your choice
of characters in your next book. They also show you what people were wearing at
that time. Don’t leave it until it’s too late!
They really did good beard back in Victorian times! Prototype
Hipsters. I would really love to know their names.
Another great source of names can be the old baptism
records. These have generally been collected by a local Family History society and
can really be useful.
This is a screenshot of a random, simple, Google query on Births in
Helston. Lots of genuine names and occupations here, and plenty of fuel for any
age you would want.
My own family tree – and
all these details are available through the General Record Office. The
“gap” in the right -hand column is because the Greys were out in India. They
were jute merchants in Calcutta.
In that column, my great-great-grandparents, there is an
army officer, a vicar, a Quaker mill owner, some “box-wallahs”, a Purser of the
Botallack Mine, a railway contractor (he had several thousand fellow-Irishmen
working for him, on the railway to Holyhead) a peer’s son and another peer’s
daughter!
Most of us had relatives who served in the Great War. The
Imperial War Museum is the best place to start. Its also FREE!
https://www.iwm.org.uk/research/tracing-your-family-history/tracing-your-army-history
Another really great resource is the National Archives at
Kew. They have details on almost everyone and everything. I’ve spent many happy
hours going through “stuff” there!
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
John King was my Gt Gt Gt Grandmother’s 2nd
husband. This was the official notice condemning him to Debtor’s Prison in
1800. (not for long!)
Ditto the London Gazette. Historical Novelists and readers
will surely have heard or read of “The Gazette” or engagements being announced
in the Gazette, or someone being Gazetted. This still goes on for EVERY
official government announcement. And, again, it’s FREE!
And lastly,
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
Just packed with info on almost everyone and
everything.
So, some rules.
- Any event dated before 1066 is likely mostly guesswork.
- Any history before the Victorian era will have been written by a man.
- All history is written by the victors (who pay for it).
- And finally – do remember – we are STORYTELLERS first and foremost.
Now happy hunting, and don’t over-research! (you will,
anyway!)
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And finally – some news about the hedgehogs!
We are getting regular calls from about 3 or 4 of them. Actually,
IDing individuals is very very hard. I keep putting up pics from our cameras
and share them to our local Facebook Groups. Quite a few people are feeding
them now in the village. This is a GOOD Thing!
Remember, now matter what you feed them, this only
represents about 20% of their diet. The other 80% is made up of invertebrates,
insects, beetles, slugs and other tasty items the find while rootling round
your garden.
What a cool post. Your family history is so interesting, I can understand how easy it would be to get sucked into the research rabbit hole. Please give my warm regards to the hedgehogs. They are lucky to have you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, John. This is an entertaining and rich post - I too have been doing genealogy for many years (since the 60s when I helped transcribe the register of St Hilda's a Hartlepool - before the days of record offices).
ReplyDeleteThe days shorten, but there is so much left undone . . .
Great post, John, with lots of useful links. We have a family tree which goes back to the 18th century. Researched in the 1930s, there are hundreds of names on it, all written in beautiful copperplate writing. The mind boggles how the genealogist managed to research it all before the internet.
ReplyDeleteOh I remember it only too well! When it meant going to the Vicarage and asking if you could see the parish registers, or going to the County Record Library and working your way through the Probate Register! Everything in manuscript, of course!!
DeleteWell done to your forebears!!
Fascinating blog, John! My family history has been researched by cousins for several years - well before the internet. They, the cousins, reached back to 1737. Not long ago my husband and I discovered why a family house had been called Hartgrove, which I'd always thought a bit fanciful. However, when we went to see a village production of radio play of mine (that's another story) in Somerset we found a hamlet called Hartgrove. This ties up with family history in the West Country. The latest piece of information is that we are related to Benjamin Britten. His mother and my grandmother were cousins, Sorry, JOhn, if I've bored you with this before!
ReplyDeleteNot at all!!! Fascinating!!
DeleteWe have fascinating relatives, too. I’m sure most of us do. One of mine was at Trafalgar in the ship behind Collingwood’s - HMS Mars. His name was Patey and there’s a book called The Genealogical History of the Naval Pateys
ReplyDeleteA brilliant post, John - with so many useful links to explore. My in-laws work on their family history each winter, and have reached back to the 1700s. No one famous to report, but still an interesting peek into their world. 'Who Do You Think You Are,' (the TV programme) also throws up fascinating info on historical everyday life... Glad the hedgehogs are thriving. : )
ReplyDeleteA very absorbing post, John. All I've got in the family archives is a paternal grandfather who had two bastardy orders against him and who went to prison, twice, for non payment of same. He married the girl in the end. Could be a book in it?
ReplyDelete