Genealogy Chat

I don't know if I've just been lucky, but my problem is that I am certainly not going to live long enough to look at all the documents I have found for my family. No self-discipline either - I start off looking for one thing and come to, all startled, about two hours later, having read my way through someone ELSE'S fascinating family! Lots of luck and - enjoy! Olde Crone

My stupid families never show up on a2a but I hadn't thought of trying just the village names etc so I'm going to give it another shot. My Flewers family from London are so hard because they moved about so much and avoided most censuses - surely there must be something on them somewhere at the LMA. Thanks for your tips - it sounds like the best plan is not to have a plan and just browse until something captures my interest. Lyla

I agree with you, Lyla, about being overwhelmed by the amount of information available. I always go with good intentions of looking for something specific and don't find it because I have got sidetracked!! If your rellies were in a trade, then you may find apprenticeship records. I know that the Oxfordshire Records Office has a book that you can look through that indexes them all alphabetically, so others may have that too. Don't forget to see if they have any copies of wills. I got a copy of a will from Oxfordshire and it had loads of other family papers with it, including a letter written by one of my rellies in the early 1800's. You never know what you will find.

You sometimes find school attendance registers and more often school log books. The log books can make fascinating reading though they do not often mention the names of pupils. Two weeks ago I picked up a vital clue to the movements of one of my family from an entry in the school log book. One library had the registers indexed but I don't know how common that is, not come across it anywhere else so far. MB

Lyla Look on good ole A2A for Settlement/Removal/Bastardy Orders to start with. If your area has not yet put these records onto A2A, they should still have them in the Records Office. However I don't know how they file them (by name or by date, I mean!) Its worth having a general look on A2A anyway, before you go. Search for your 'names' and the most unexpected stuff may pop up. But do be very flexible with name spelling. I usually follow up a name search by searching by village/town name too, as this often throws up some really strange renderings of names - I would never have thought to look under OLOLODEN for Holden, but found this by searching the village name and as the name Holden was also spelt correctly on a follow-up document I was certain the OLOLODEN family was mine! Happy hunting. Olde Crone

Lyla Sometimes you can find things by serendipity. My first visit to the London Metropolitan Archives I was searching (in vain) for a marriage. Gave up and wandered about and found that the LMA has The Times on microfilm and I located the report of the trial of another relative! Most records offices also have books which are worth checking out. Kew has a great library and I found a book with a floor plan of the house in which a great-grandfather worked as a servant. I hadn't gone to Kew with the intention of finding it, I just stumbled across it whilst browsing as I was waiting for some documents to come up from storage. nell

Thanks guys, can't wait till my next records office visit now. Would still love to know more about finding settlement/removal orders if anyone has experience of those. Lyla

Land tax assessments usually cover the period 1780 -1832, but it varies from county to county and even within counties. There are indexes for Surrey, Hampshire and probably other counties which may help you decide whether you want to look at them. At the very least, they will list owner, occupier and the tax payable. They will usually also show, at least for some of the dates, the nominal value of the land assessed (this did not change over time), the name of the property and the acreage, down to rods, poles and perches Very often, a couple of landowners (never my ancestors!) own most of the land in the parish, while the poorest people are not listed. If, however, you are lucky enough to have ancestors listed, they are useful because: 1. The lists are done annually 2. They are usually copied from last year, so are in the same order 3. The tax remains the same, (if it goes up in one year, it's the same rate for everyone) so you can identify property from year to year 4. If you find a year in which a property is named, you can then name that property for the earlier years. Using land tax assessments I have: 1, Proved people with the same surname held the same piece of land for three hundred years, giving weight to the theory that it was the same family. 2. Where several people with the same surname and christian name lived in the same parish, determined which of them was buried in a certain year, when you couldn't tell from the registers. 3. Proved a friend's family legend that their ancestor was a neighbour of William Cobbett (the author of Rural Rides) by finding the men side by side in the land tax assessments. You do have to look at the records for several years and I have taken to preparing special forms, with columns for the years across the top, so I can see at a glance when properties changed hands, without have to wade through reams of notes.

Marr lic bond - the contract drawn up to say 2 people are going to marry. At one of the record offices I visit, the bonds are in a separate index, so it's really just another locating resource, but especially useful for grooms when you don't know where they married. It will give you name and approx age of both parties, occupation & place of abode of groom, and name of his bondsman, who may be a relative or employer. Some are more useful than others - with a more common name, helped me work out which couples were my entries in a marriage register as it gave occupation (farmer) There were two John A's both married to an Elizabeth, both having children at the same in the same village. Bp register referred to one as farmer, other as cordwainer. Only one couple married in village (turned out to be cordwainer) From marriage lic bond found marriage for the farmer in another village, also bp for bride. Hope this makes sense. Jay

Thanks those tips are really helpful. I know what you mean about Aladins cave but its quite daunting when you don't know what you are looking for. Jay - re marriage licenses - what do they tell you that is not on the marriage parish entry? Lyla

Totally agree with how useful a2a is. By browsing through entries for one of my surnames, found ref to a will with brief resume of beneficiaries. As he was a widower, he left his estate to various members of his extended family.It mentioned his brother (my direct ancestor) and all his children by name, also a sister, her children and other nephews and nieces. It was invaluable, as it confirmed several queries at the same and helped me verify the tree for the extended family. Mar lics are interesting if you can find any, also quarter sessions. Some solicitors have deposited old deeds For more recent times, sometimes you get village school records including log books. Record offices are like an aladin's cave - you just don't know what you are going to find. Jay

The A2A website is a good place to start looking for these sort of references but nowhere near all the records offices' holdings are on there. When you get to the records office look for filing cabinets containg place name and surname card indexes. One branch of my family featured in lists of land owners granted land when their parish common land was enclosed in the early 19th century. Field names were given and the acreage that they were each awarded. The card indexes of surnames and place names led me to the file which contained these documents. Settlement papers, wills etc were also listed in the card indexes. Another county had booklets, transcribed by the local Family History Society, listing names and details of men who had been drawn to serve in the militia. This gave me occupations and number of children for a few of my relatives as well as saying whether they had actually served or not. I guess if the transcriptions hadn't been available a search for militia lists would have turned up references to the originals.

Sometimes I'm a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information held at the records offices. I've gone as far as I can with baptisms, marriage and burial records and would like to investigate some other avenues. I thought it might be helpful to have a thread where anyone could add tips and information about other resources they have used such as settlement/removal orders, workhouses, hospitals, schools, bastardy bonds, land tax, voting registers and many others. What information did you need for your search and what did you find out from the records? All tips very gratefully received! Lyla