Genealogy Family History for All

Although it seems quite a morbid thing, probate records are a fascinating insight into our ancestors’ lives. Locating a pre-1858 will can be quite a complex matter.

Genuki has a brief guide to probate records for England and Wales http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Probate.html

The National Archives website has a searchable database of PCC Wills from 1384 to 1858 you can search that via this link http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/wills.asp

and, you can, if you wish order a downloadable copy of a will online.

The Scotlands People website also has an online database of Scottish wills and testaments from 1513 to 1901 which can be searched at http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=554&407

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has this page on Wills and Testamentary records:

http://www.proni.gov.uk/records/wills.htm

After 1858, calendars of probate and administration were collated, and these can be searched at record offices, and some of the larger libraries.

Please contact a centre close to yourself prior to planning a visit to search through these records.

For More on Using Wills and Probate Records in Your Family History Research, please take a look at this link:

http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/topics/wills_3.htm

There are of course many other records which will be useful to you in your family history research, Please see my New Resources Page, where I have placed a number of links to other websites etc.

I’ve found that census data is invaluable when trying to add something more to the raw data in the family tree. You can extract a lot of information from the information available on census returns, such as whether an ancestor was employed, what they did for a living, whether they went to school or not, and occasionally find previously unknown relatives living in the same household as your ancestors!

The Census has been taken every 10 years since 1801 in England & Wales, except in 1941, for obvious reasons.

However, only those from 1841 onwards are of any real interest to family historians. 

The census returns are available for public viewing for 1841, 51,61,71,81,91 and 1901. The 1911 census of England & Wales is due to be released by the National Archives in January 2012.

There are many websites now which offer access to census data, of course, there are also local record offices and libraries which offer the public access to view original census returns.

Please check with your local library or record office to see if they hold

the records for the census year you’re interested in before arranging a visit.

http://www.ancestry.co.uk is one such site, the National Archives Site has more information on the Census at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/census/

You can search Scottish Census data online for all census returns from 1841 - 1901 at http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

For Information on Northern Ireland Census data, please visit http://www.proni.gov.uk/records/census19.htm

There is a huge amount of information to be gathered from church records.

Prior to the beginning of civil registration, these records are a good source of information for you.

I gave a link a little earlier in this eBook to the record offices and libraries locally which hold civil registration indexes. (http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/ficheholders)

These same offices, and libraries will most likely also hold records of baptisms, marriages, burials and so on.

Although, obviously, it’s always worth checking with them just to make sure before planning any visit.

I’ve usually found the staff at these places to be most helpful, and are eager to assist in whatever way they can in your quest to research your family tree. If you need any help researching these records, then don’t be afraid to ask the staff.

Of course, church records can be used alongside the civil registration indexes for more recent information from the 19th and 20th centuries to gain a good understanding of your family history.

This is the reason why, close to the beginning of this eBook, I wrote that it would be a good idea to make a note of church services and so on.

From this you can get a good idea of family traditions, of course, traditions do change over time.

You may well find during the course of your research in these records that a relative you thought was a catholic was actually baptised a protestant, or vice versa.

It’s interesting just to make a note of these things, as something may puzzle you in your research when you just can’t seem to get across what seems like a huge hurdle.

If you knew, say, that Great Uncle Daniel got married in a Catholic church, but was baptised in a protestant church, if you can’t find the baptisms for Daniel’s children in the place that you thought, you have another possibility to check on.

Many Family History Societies publish booklets with transcriptions from their local churches, or they may well just have an index to the services. It may be worth your while consulting the Federation of Family History Societies website  and having a browse there.

They do have a publications section which you could find useful.