Family history basics

How to begin tracing your family tree

The golden rule with family history is to always start with yourself and then work backwards a generation at a time. As you work backwards you should try to check and confirm dates and events. If you find that a large proportion of your family come from one area, it may be worth joining the Devon Family History Society.

The following is a simple step by step guide to getting started and should not be taken as comprehensive. It is advisable to purchase a book on the subject and read this before you start. There are several good ones available especially "Beginning Your Family History" by George Pelling (published by Countryside Books, 1990, 5th edition, ISBN 1 872094 12 0).

• Interview relatives about the family. Try to get not only names and dates but also the areas or parishes where people lived and came from.
• You can now draw a simple family tree showing where gaps need to be filled in. All of the names and dates that you have got need to be checked and verified which will save time later on.
• Dates as far back as 1837 can be checked on the General Register Office Index (GRO Index).

The GRO Index was compiled after the introduction of Civil Registration in July 1837 and is a list of all births, marriages and deaths from 1837 to the present day. It covers England and Wales so no matter where your relatives lived, you should be able to find them. The Index itself is divided up into years and each year into four quarters. Within each of these quarters the entries are listed alphabetically by surname.

• Once you have located an entry and noted the details (including the reference number) you can then obtain a copy of the certificate. This can be done by either contacting the Register Office (if the event happened in Plymouth), or if the event happened somewhere else in the country, you will need to use the General Register Office website.
• Other useful sources that can also be checked are the census which is undertaken every ten years and starts in 1841. The last census available for consultation is currently the 1901. All of the censuses are indexed and can be viewed in the Record Office or any Library using the Ancestry Library Edition website. You must remember that the information given is not always accurate and should also be checked against other sources. If you discover that an ancestor was in the Royal Navy, Marines etc. it is also worth obtaining their service and medal records from the National Archives in London as they can provide valuable information. You can purchase them online using the documents online web pages.
• Once you have found out all that you can about your ancestors after 1837, you will need to start looking at the original parish registers. Before Civil Registration in 1837, the only record of an event taking place was in the parish register. These registers record baptisms, marriages and burials.

Some parishes have been put on to the International Genealogical Index (IGI) which is an alphabetical index of births, baptisms and marriages and some burials (not deaths) from 1538 to approximately 1837. It is a useful source of information but any detail should be checked against the parish registers. These are available in the Record Office.

• To check the registers you will need to know the parish or area that your ancestors came from. You then need to go to the Record Office that is nearest to the parish in question. Each County has a Record Office. In some large counties (Devon, Yorkshire, Kent and Cumbria) there is more than one office. An index of Record Offices can be found on Mark Howells's County Record offices website.

Most of the parish registers are available on microfiche and therefore the original documents will not be produced. Microfiche readers are easy to use and copies can be taken from the fiche for a minimal cost.

• It is also worth looking at other sources of information that are available at Record Office which may help to expand your family tree. These include tithe maps, poor law papers, letters, diaries and estate papers.

For information on topics such as Irish and Scottish ancestry, non-conformity, Quakers, Jewish records, Catholic records, emigration/immigration etc., it is advisable to consult a more specialist publication such as "The Family Historian's Enquire Within" by Pauline Saul (published by the Federation of Family History Societies, 1997, 5th edition, ISBN 1 872094 83 X).

And finally do not be disheartened if you find that you get stuck around 1700. It is not easy to go back beyond this and very few people manage to take their family trees back much further.

For further information, see the Devon Family History Society's getting started webpage.

Summary of family history sources in Plymouth