Family History
What's the difference between a Family Tree and a Family History?
Family History is the research that goes behind compiling a Family Tree. It has been defined separately to Genealogy for what you might call snobbish reasons. Genealogy has been seen as this ancient pursuit of heraldic links and pedigrees. Family History has been seen as more of an amateur pastime or hobby. Essentially, it's exactly the same practice of research, and both will have the Family Tree. It's just that Family Historians tend to build a Family Tree, and Genealogists build pedigrees.
Do I need to do both?
In many ways, doing family history will create your family tree. So it isn't really a case of doing one or the other. You can try and do family history without a family tree, but without knowing who these people are, a) you've got no certainty that they're the right guys in your family tree, b) you're not quite sure where they appear in your family tree and what relevance the research that you're going to undertake is going to have, and c) the social context won't really work. So family history and family trees do go hand in hand, and without one, the other is rather meaningless.
I know very little about my family where do I start?
A lot of people don't know a huge amount about their family, either through estrangement or death of parents and grandparents, or just lack of interest or from having moved away. This is where you have to go right back to basics and start with yourself again, maybe your own birth certificate to find out or confirm your parents' names. Once you've found their names, check to see whether they're married. Their marriage certificate will give you their age and the names of both fathers. That will allow you to then look for their birth certificates and the process then repeats itself. There is a very logical stepping stone process, just because you don't know much about yourself doesn't mean you can't do family history. It just means you have to start looking for records much closer at the beginning of your research.
When should I start tracing my Family History?
You should start tracing your family history as soon as possible because the thing is a lot of people are only tempted to get going after the death of an elderly relative, because those stories are no longer there and there is a curiosity about finding out the background to them. It's like Christmas gatherings, you hear the same story trotted out year in and year out but no one actually thinks to sit down in a corridor and write it. Do it now. Do it now before that memory is lost or the person is gone, before any precious objects and artifacts are thrown away or discarded. It is never too soon to start taking your family history.
I'm stuck, what should I do?
If you're stuck, don't despair and don't panic. First of all, work out why you are stuck. If it's a case of there's just no more evidence, then you may have to employ the help of a specialist or another researcher, because they are obviously more expierienced and have acutally got access to the records that you might not have access to. Usually it's worth coming back a generation or working nearer the present day - you'll find another branch of the family to work around. You may even want to start trying to find living relatives that you have never met before - they could have a family archive that you know nothing about, that would solve some of these problems. It's not just a case of going back in time, you can sometimes come forward and sideways to find new clues that you never knew existed.
I only have a nickname of a relative how do I trace them?
If you've got a nickname, then you really can't rely on any data that you've been given. But if it's someone that's been born many years ago, that you've only known since they've died or known about after their death, order the death certificate. Work with family members who probably do know them and see if you can find out circumstances of when they died, because the death certificate will tell you their real name, also where they lived, if they were married or widowed and also their age or date of birth, and that will get you around that problem immediately. So, with nicknames, it's a common problem, but with a bit of interrogation of the family, you should be able to get round that.
How do I trace my surname?
Surname history is a great funnel. They tend to break down into various categories of origin. You've got the occupation style, say Smith or Cooper. You've got ones which are linked to a very specific place, so Beckham comes from West Beckham, a manor in Norfolk. You've also got those which identify some sort of physical characteristic. Brown, for example, could be brown hair. Or you've got a patronymic name, which includes a father or son's name. So "Mc" is a Scottish version, "O'" being the Irish. Magnuson relates very much to the Danes and the Norse who settled it across. So you can actually look at the type of surname group, and then work out a bit about where that would have come from. And many are very places specific.
My surname is very unusual, how do I begin to trace it?
My surname is very common, how do I begin to trace it?
Common names do pose various problems, because you're going to find them all over the place. Usually they are the ones relating to occupation-based, so, Smiths, for example. You'll have Smiths in every town, so you really need to start to look for unusual Christian names, middle names, or a very particular place where the family comes from. That will help narrow down the possibilities, but if you are trying to trace the history of a fairly common surname, it is going to mean a lot more searching, more possibilities, and therefore more cost in ordering certificates until you've found the right one.
I need to trace a place or location, can I do this and how?
How do I trace an occupation within my family?
Occupational history is usually best done at the local level, because records of local businesses or trades will actually be kept at the county archive. You can start looking at trade directories, which show you street by street, and place by place who was working in which profession. If you want a more general level, it's probably worth thinking of a specialist museum or institution. If you had a relative working in the cotton industry in Lancaster, Weaver's Triangle is the best place to go. If you had a miner, the National Coal Mining Museum will show you what life was like underground. The National Railway Museum at York will show you what life was like either building or working on the railways. Certain occupations do have specific museums, archives, and institutions, whereas the rest, you probably need to go to looking at a local or county level to see what's been deposited.
