Trace Family Tree

November 21st, 2010

 

What is Trace Family Tree all about? Simply put, we will show you how to set about using genealogical resources to take your family back in time. Genealogy is now one of the most popular hobbies in the world and it’s still growing fast. All beginners ask the same question, “where do I start?”

 

 

WW1 Photo That Includes 14426 Fusilier AF Wickenden (He used his second name first)

 

 

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We start with ourselves. We prove who we are so that we could go before a court if necessary and show beyond reasonable doubt that we are the person whose name we are using. You birth certificate is your evidence. Now that you have it, you can also see who your parents are. That piece of paper will give your date of birth & where you were born, parents names, one of their addresses, father’s occupation and mother’s maiden name if they are married. You can see that this is a very good starting point.

 

 

Copy of Birth Certificate for Frederick Arthur Wickenden

 

 

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Once we have proven who we are, we can use this knowledge to start proving who our parents are, and so on from ancestor to ancestor through the generations. England has national records going back to 1837 and if your name is uncommon it is a comparatively simple matter to get back that far. The documents we can use are birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates. All of these carry valuable information for the researcher.

 

 

 

Copy of Marriage Certificate for Arthur Frederick Wickenden

 

 

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Going further back than 1837 gets a bit more tricky as we then have to use parish registers. The items were kept in the churches where our forebears were born lived, married and were buried. Some of these documents go back to the sixteenth century. Trace Family Tree will be built up over the course of time to show you how to use those mentioned above and other documents to find your way back in time so that you will be able to build up your family tree.

 

 

Copy of Death Certificate for Arthur Frederick Wickenden

 

 

6d71c39fce7f1ad Trace Family Tree


 

The sources we will show you include census records, newspaper articles, trade directories, internet resources, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, military records, war grave records and more. Genealogy is a fascinating hobby and is one that can become a bit addictive. Luckily it can also be left alone for some time and picked up again as the mood takes us. Keep coming back to Trace Family Tree to see what has been added to the site, read book reviews and see what we think of some of he software available.

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Birth Certificate, US Version

March 9th, 2011

 

 

Genealogy is both an art and a science. Tracing your family history back for hundreds of years can be challenging and present some twists and turns that you may not anticipate. It is also interesting and fun to find out about family members, where they lived, and to imagine what they’ve done. One of the most simple ways to get started is with your own birth certificate, or that of a parent or grandparent.

 

Finding out details about your family members should be done in order of present day and moving backward, rather than the reverse, as some people believe. Starting with your own generation, move backward in time and use those things which you find in order to find out details about preceding generations and ancestors.


Your own birth certificate can tell you a great deal about your family history. If you look at your birth certificate carefully, most will give you a city and state, as well as a hospital, if you were born in one, Just those details alone can help you a great deal. You know your own name and from that, you may begin to trace your fathers family. Your birth name will typically be your father’s name, and the city in which you were born will give you details. From there, you may search for the same name in tax rolls, for marriage licenses and death certificates, as well as searching out military information.

 

A great deal of this information will be found online, including a large number of passenger ship logs, death and birth information, cemetery records, and even military records from previous generations. Census rolls are released after thirty years, and you will be able to find census reports of families with the same name living in or around the area of your birth

 

Likewise with your mothers family, you’ll find information about them and where they lived and perhaps where they worked and what property they owned by reviewing tax rolls in the area of your birth. Your mother will be listed on your birth certificate by her maiden name in most cases. This gives you a clue about the family name, and you may look up and find her birth certificate in courthouses or genealogical sites across the country. Most courthouses today offer the opportunity to order birth certificates for genealogical purposes from the county or state in which your family member lived. You need not travel to obtain genealogical information as you did in the very recent past, because so much is now being opened to us online.

 

Your own birth certificate, or that of a parent or grandparent can offer you a wealth of information from which to begin tracing your family tree back through the generations. As you move backward, you will hit walls where you must back up and begin again, but each new step will bring you closer to an understanding of how you came to be who-and where–you are.

 

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The Census, What is it Good For?

December 14th, 2010

 

 

 

Trace Family Tree uses the Census of Great Britain to find useful information of ancestors. The national census is carried out every ten years and started in 1801. 1801 to 1831 there was very little information gathered and in 1941 there wasn’t one taken due to the second world war interrupting proceedings. In fact thos first three only took a sort of head count and unless the enumerator went above and beyond the call of duty and included something more. There was no remit in place to preserve these documents and therefore the ones you are looking for may not be in existance. However, there are actually quite a lot left and these were usually kept in county record offices.

 

 

 

0341a825cc44599 The Census, What is it Good For?

 

 

 

As you can see from this image of a page from the Tonbridge, kent 1841 census, there is still not an awful lot of detail vailable to the family historian. But, you can see that whole families are now named. When you look at the 1891 cenus for Kingston upon Thames below, you will see that names, ages, occupation and place of birth are all included. This information can be used to help obtaining birth, marriage and death certificates of your relatives which will provide you with even more details for your research and the story of how your family lived and prospered.

 

 

 

fd5cfd0040c9204 The Census, What is it Good For?

 

 

 

In “the olden days” of last century, one had to physically go to a records office in order to view these census documents but there are now several web sites that make them available for a fee or on subscription. My view is that the subscription sites are good value but it may not be a good idea to take out a full year. My personal strategy is to wait until I know that I will have a vacation and when I will be able to spend a block of time on my family history research and take out a subscription that will be value for my money. I am still in what is considered full time employment and this works for me now. When I retire, I may well change the way I do things as I will want to take advantage of the annual pricing in order to be able to use the site when I am available all through the year. The choice is yours.

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