What do I need to look for?

[missprim]

I've just found out I can go to my local community centre and use the computers there to do my family tree for free but I'm not sure what information I should be looking for.
Starting with a name and their date of birth, date of marriage and date of death i.e BMD what else should I be looking for please?

[chi-chi66]

Try this......
http://genealogy.abou...er/ht/family_tree.htm

[chi-chi66]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...rees/before_start_01.
shtml

[missprim]

Thanks for the links chi chi I will take a look.

[dotty.]

Hi, you need to do a good deal of preparation research initially to ensure that you firstly do not waste time following the wrong person and secondly you do not start looking in a set of records that are unlikely to contain your ancestors. There are a few articles on this site that may help you narrow down the type of records you need:
http://www.theanswerb...-your-family-history/
http://www.theanswerb...tory-research-source/
http://www.theanswerb...nline-transcriptions/
http://www.theanswerb...amily-history-part-1/

[missprim]

Thanks for the links Dotty, there's a lot of reading to be done :-)
Unfortunately I have left it to late to ask relatives as they have passed away.
I have 1 living Aunty who is now 91yrs old but she has no recollection of her parents, grandparents so I am hoping to find most of the info online.
My Aunty did remember one of my great Uncle's and I emailed the church where he might be buried and they wrote back to say I would have to pay £20 for the first hour of research and £17 thereafter. Don't fancy having to do that as he might not even have lived in that district when he died.
Are there records online of where people are buried?

[dotty.]

The coverage does vary and very much depends on the level of volunteer work done over the years by members of the congregation or by local family history societies, the best place to check for any records or graveyard surveys is to use GENUKI for the village you are looking at, most are covered, just GENUKI and then the name of the village , you should get some decent hits that will give you possible leads.

[tinkerbell23]

I think i am going to start my tree again too- good luck xx

[TheOtherHalf]

When I first started you could get on to Ancestry on the Library for free. Dont know if you still can.

You need to get started somewhere. Can we help to get you started with what info you have. Names, places, dates etc

[Kiki-frog]

It also might be worth looking at the Online Parish Clerks project:
http://www.onlineparishclerks.org.uk/
Depending on where your ancestors came from, you might well find transcriptions of the parish registers.

[missprim]

Oooo sounds interesting, will check those sites.
Theotherhalf, yes you can still do it for free at my local library but there isn't always someone around if you get stuck, so I am going to my local community centre where it's also free and usually someone on hand.
Good luck to you Tinks if you decide to do it. x

[missprim]

I think it would help if I knew what I was doing :-)
The first person I was hoping to find was my Great Uncle Bill
He was born in Manchester on 6th April 1875 and his full name was William Arthur Sellars/Sellers/Sellors.
My last remaining Auntie thinks he was married twice and had a son Joe from his first marriage, but at the age of 91 her memory isn't as good as it was.
At some point in his life U. Bill moved to Onchan on the Isle of Man and I was hoping to find if he was buried there along with his second wife Fanny.
I was hoping to find out the name of his 1st wife and then concentrate on Joe but I think I will have to wait until next week when it will be explained to me how to go about doing this.
Thanks for all your help up to now.x

[dotty.]

think this is your william arthur and parents/siblings on the 1881 census:

Name: Fredk Sellors
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Birth Year: 1854
Birthplace: Manchester, Lancashire, England
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Marital Condition: Married
Profession/Occupation: Engine Tenter (22)
Address: 189 Morton St
Census Place: Gorton, Lancashire, England
Disability:
Record Type: Household
Family History Library Film: 1341933
The National Archives Reference: RG11
Piece/Folio: 3906 / 108
Page Number: 8
Household Gender Age
Fredk Sellors M 27
Spouse Eliza Sellors F 24
Child Fred Sellors M 7
Child William A Sellors M 5
Child James Sellors M 1

[missprim]

Thanks dotty that is definitely him, his brother James who was 1 on that census was my Granddad.

[dotty.]

found this baptism of his son:
Baptisms: 15 May 1901 St James, Gorton, Lancashire, England
William Arthur Sellors - Child of William Arthur Sellors & Elizabeth Harriet
Born: 23 Apr 1901
Abode: 15 Bryson Grove
Occupation: Dyer
Baptised by: A. T. Cowen
Register: Baptisms 1892 - 1901, Page 283, Entry 2262
Source: LDS Film 2113170

[dotty.]

You can use the 1901 census to locate William and Elizabeth in Gorton, probably on their own as they will have married around 1896-1901, check the marriages on the free BMD index on ancestry or try here:
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Search/indexp.html
That's where I found the baptism in 1901 and no other entry in the index came up for william arthur sellors, possibly they married in a church/chapel not yet in the index, or possibly william is indexed without the arthur included.
You can check the free BMD for William jnr's registration which will give you the registration district you need to use to look for any later sellors births registered in that same district after 1901, or, just go straight to the 1911 census and try to spot the family on there, assuming William Arthur snr and jnr were alive in 1911, possibly Elizabeth had died by then as you say William snr remarried.

[craft1948]

1911 living at 99 Buxton Road Newtown New Mills, Derbyshire.

SELLARS, William Arthur Head Married M 35 1876 Bleachworks Labourer Lancashire Longseyes
SELLARS, Elizabeth Harriet Wife Married 14 years F 36 1875 Lancashire Bridford
SELLARS, Bertha Daughter Single F 12 1899 Lancashire Gorton
SELLARS, Joseph Arthur Son M 1 1910 Cheshire Newtown

William married Elizabeth Harriet Welch in Chorlton, Lancashire in 1898.

[dotty.]

Hi craft, William Arthur's birth place on the 1911 will have been mis-transcribed, it will probably have been 'Longsight' as there is no such place called 'Longeyes' in Manchester. I know that we could find pretty much everything MissPrim would need on this but I think she wants to get to the local community centre and learn how to do it for herself.

[dotty.]

It also looks like William Arthur jnr born 1901 may have died young as he is missing from the family in 1911, but also, there is a big gap in ages between Bertha and Joseph.

[craft1948]

In 1911 she'd had 4 children dotty....................2 of whom had died. The one shown on the census, Bertha died when she was 22.

[craft1948]

I can't find his first wife dying though, or his second marriage.........