April 2018 Around The World Today Series 1 Episode 2 By Terry D
Terry D talks about Tracing your family roots is a very popular pastime, and there are many places online where you can start to research your ancestors. Perhaps you have already had some help and advice to get started on these. But they are only the start: there is much more information available...
Ways to Listen
Where to Start
Start with using a web page like Find my past or ancestry and plot a family. Then put your Parents and your brothers and Sisters and your Grant Parents then add in f you Parents have any brothers and Sisters.
you will now see a family tree start to take shape
Genealogists who seek to reconstruct the lives of each ancestor consider all historical information to be "genealogical" information. Traditionally, the basic information needed to ensure correct identification of each person are place names, occupations, family names, first names, and dates. However, modern genealogists greatly expand this list, recognizing the need to place this information in its historical context in order to properly evaluate genealogical evidence and distinguish between same-name individuals. A great deal of information is available for British ancestry with growing resources for other ethnic groups.
Records that are used in genealogy research include:
Vital records
Birth records
Death records
Marriage and divorce records
Adoption records
Biographies and biographical profiles (e.g. Who's Who)
Cemetery lists
Census records
Religious records
Baptism or christening
Brit milah or Baby naming certificates
Confirmation
Bar or bat mitzvah
Marriage
Funeral or death
Membership
City directories and telephone directories
Coroner's reports
Court records
Criminal records
Civil records
Diaries, personal letters and family Bibles
Emigration, immigration and naturalization records
Hereditary & lineage organization records, e.g. Daughters of the American Revolution records
Land and property records, deeds
Medical records
Military and conscription records
Newspaper articles
Obituaries
Occupational records
Oral histories
Passports
Photographs
Poorhouse, workhouse, almshouse, and asylum records
School and alumni association records
Ship passenger lists
Social Security (within the US) and pension records
Tax records
Tombstones, cemetery records, and funeral home records
Voter registration records
Wills and probate records
To keep track of their citizens, governments began keeping records of persons who were neither royalty nor nobility. In England and Germany, for example, such record keeping started with parish registers in the 16th century. As more of the population was recorded, there were sufficient records to follow a family. Major life events, such as births, marriages, and deaths, were often documented with a license, permit, or report. Genealogists locate these records in local, regional or national offices or archives and extract information about family relationships and recreate timelines of persons' lives.
Given Names
Genealogical data regarding given names (first names) is subject to many of the same problems as are family names and place names. Additionally, the use of nicknames is very common. For example, Beth, Lizzie or Betty are all common for Elizabeth, and Jack, John and Jonathan may be interchanged.
Middle names provide additional information. Middle names may be inherited, follow naming customs, or be treated as part of the family name. For instance, in some Latin cultures, both the mother's family name and the father's family name are used by the children.
Historically, naming traditions existed in some places and cultures. Even in areas that tended to use naming conventions, however, they were by no means universal. Families may have used them some of the time, among some of their children, or not at all. A pattern might also be broken to name a newborn after a recently deceased sibling, aunt or uncle.
An example of a naming tradition from England, Scotland and Ireland:
Child Namesake
1st son paternal grandfather
2nd son maternal grandfather
3rd son father
4th son father's oldest brother
1st daughter maternal grandmother
2nd daughter paternal grandmother
3rd daughter mother
4th daughter mother's oldest sister
Family Names
Family names are simultaneously one of the most important pieces of genealogical information, and a source of significant confusion for researchers.
In many cultures, the name of a person refers to the family to which he or she belongs. This is called the family name, surname, or last name. Patronymics are names that identify an individual based on the father's name. For example, Marga Olafsdottir is Marga, daughter of Olaf, and Olaf Thorsson is Olaf, son of Thor.
Many cultures used patronymics before surnames were adopted or came into use. The Dutch in New York, for example, used the patronymic system of names until 1687 when the advent of English rule mandated surname usage. In Iceland, patronymics are used by a majority of the population. In Denmark and Norway patronymics and farm names were generally in use through the 19th century and beyond, though surnames began to come into fashion toward the end of the 19th century in some parts of the country.
Not until 1856 in Denmark and 1923 in Norway were there laws requiring surnames.
The transmission of names across generations, marriages and other relationships, and immigration may cause difficulty in genealogical research. For instance, women in many cultures have routinely used their spouse's surnames. When a woman remarried, she may have changed her name and the names of her children; only her name; or changed no names. Her birth name (maiden name) may be reflected in her children's middle names; her own middle name; or dropped entirely. Children may sometimes assume stepparent, foster parent, or adoptive parent names. Because official records may reflect many kinds of surname change, without explaining the underlying reason for the change, the correct identification of a person recorded identified with more than one name is challenging. Immigrants to America often Americanized their names.
Surname data may be found in trade directories, census returns, birth, death, and marriage records.
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