tracing siblings pre census

[cazzz1975]

how is this done? I am trying to find siblings for a family circa 1786, problem is that by 1841 most have disbanded their family homes, I found one sibling (I believe but not sure) as a witness to a marriage (after 1837) but other than that its a bit of a needle in a haystack

[sigma]

Search the IGI at http://www.familysear...h/frameset_search.asp You can search for a particular person or do a surname search for a particular parish using surname and batch number.This may show you siblings.

Batch numbers can be found at http://freepages.gene...England.htm#PageTitle

[dotty.]

Pre -census sources that are easily searchable are the IGI on familysearch.org as above, they cover parish registers of baptims and marriages and sometimes burials that members have added. The entries are included in 2 ways, the LDS library has purchased the primary or secondary sopurce material and transcribed and indexed it, or a member of trhe LDS church has submitted their research for inclusion. Parish registers began in 1583 and were overhauled in 1597, if a church existed on or after those dates their regsiters were systenatically included as and when the lDs church processed them into the index, originally they were indexed by county and now they appear on your search screen alphabetically by surname in alphabetical by county and then date order.

Other sources that vary in acessibility are wills pre 1858, many counties have these already indexed by surname and you can search their database quickly for free and take a ganble of the right one, google cheshirewills to see how their's works it's only £3.50 a copy and they send actual photocopies of the will folios. Brillliant source.

Land Tax Assessments can give info in tenants and landlords and are included on the familtsearch pilot from the LDS for alot of counries. Your local CRO website will cover these.

The greatest sources are the Quarter Session records each CRO has available, try the access to archives site, it is very detailed and will lead you to lots of records you did not know about.

[dotty.]

Parish Records are the administerial records of a PARISH or diocese and occasionally deal wioth individuals, they will also be in the CRO and are online to a certain extent.

The best way to establish what records are available in both hard copy, index or any media is to look at the GENUKI page for the place you need, any published source or any archived source is listed as well as how to access it, in alot of cases this would be via a Family History Society, which are the local groups that acieve charitable status through theor work recording and publishing local family history data.

Records of the guilds in major towns are a great source if you have family that had a guilod occupation but these records tend to be less accessible and it depends on the trade or craft.

Going back even earlier, the manoral records, usually deposited in CROs are a great source for establishing who occupied the tenant farms in a manor, families could inherit the deeds and they are listed in the manoral records,

Alot more is online now but it is not consistent accross counties and so the best thing you can do is use GENUKI initially.

[dotty.]

reading that back cazzz I've typed 1583 when i meant 1538, i'm always reversing my numbers lol

[cazzz1975]

thanks for the replies guys, the problem I have is that the name of the person I am researching has a quite common name, well common enough in yorkshire (west riding) so when I find his birth, in the same year there are a few more entries with the same name all sharing the same area.
the worst part is some of these fathers have the same christian name as each other as well!! arghh

[dotty.]

you can only try to eliminate the ones that are not right by making a family group sheet for each one and looking at their maternal side or their spouses to spot anything that links them to a particular line. This is one reason for using the roll numbers and anmcestral file references on the iGI as it indicates that a record has come from the same source.

Monumental Inscriptions would really help here too, have you found out whic graveyard they might have used?

[cazzz1975]

actually no, I had never considered that (monumental inscriptions) I generally was going by the area initially because the family seemed to be living predomantly in several areas (darfield, ecclesfield, barmburgh(sp), mirfield, doncaster) that was all good and they used the same types of names in the family which made them a bit different, however the further you go back after 1837 the less reliable the info.

I am trying to find if two lots of the same surnamed family in a small area could be linked, there seems no clues though.

what kind of info can be gleaned from monument inscriptions?

[cazzz1975]

they used the same types of christian names which made them more reliable- I could use reading it back before I submit!

[dotty.]

The headstones will give you the names ages and dates of death for the occupants of the grave and usually the relationships too. I always am amazed at how useful they are. If old stones have been moved or relaid as paths there is usually a written record o the inscriptions by the church and often published or deposired. family history societies will record a gravetard and the church will give them access to such records to include in their survey. so no inscription is lost forever with stones being moved for ground clearance or re-consecrating. use GENUKI or the names of burial rounds and remember west yorks was a thriving methodism area in the 1700s

[dotty.]

sorry my keyboard is rubbish i;ve miised letters everywhere there!

[dotty.]

http://www.cfhsweb.com/

[cazzz1975]

thanks for that dot, I will have a gander !

[dotty.]

sorry:
http://www.doncasterfhs.co.uk/