Hopefully you found our previous blog on top tips for those geneaological brick walls helpful. In this blog, we provide some further top tips to get through that brick wall or would simply like to add flesh to the bare bones of your research.
Witnesses
Witnesses on documents are regularly ignored when doing family history, but they can often hold clues about relationships.
For example, witnesses on parish marriage registers may be relatives, such as brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles, in-laws, or even adult children from an earlier marriage.
Witnesses who are signatories on other legal documents (such as wills) may also have connections to the person concerned, so do make a note of these names in case they may be of significance.…they can sometimes help you ascertain if you have found the right person.
Newspapers
Newspapers are an underused resource, and yet they can often be a goldmine for family historians.
Not only may there be an article relating to one of your ancestors (for instance, relating to a crime, local event, or celebration), but they also contain announcements (for example, of a marriage or the birth of a child), notices of bankruptcies and even photographs. Coroner’s inquests were often also reported on in local papers and where coroner’s records have not survived, a newspaper report can fill in the gaps.
Many local newspapers have been digitised and are available to search on the British Newspaper Archive online, which we have free access to here at the Royal Berkshire Archives.
Overseers records
Parish registers of baptism, marriage and burial are the go-to records for family historians, aside from General Register Office births, marriages and deaths and census returns. But what about other parish records?
Some of your ancestors may be found in records of the Overseers of the Poor, which are held within parish records collections.
Prior to 1834 (where the new workhouse system of Unions was introduced under the New Poor Law), it was the responsibility of each ecclesiastical parish to take care of its poor and deal with bastardy cases and even apprenticeships.
Overseers records include settlement and removal papers. If an ancestor moved to a new parish and sought poor relief, the Overseers would send them, by way of a Removal Order, back to their parish of origin, as they would have been viewed as a drain on the parish. If you are having trouble locating an ancestor, settlement and removal records are worth a look.
These records also include Bastardy Bonds and Orders. If you had an ancestor who was illegitimate, there may be a record within the pre-1834 overseer's records in that parish, citing the father’s name and requiring him to pay for the upkeep of the said child.
Or perhaps your ancestor was apprenticed to someone under a particular trade? Do check out apprenticeship records in the Overseers records too.
Survival of Overseers records varies widely from parish to parish, but luckily those which do survive for Berkshire have been transcribed and fully indexed, so do check these if you have ancestors from the county. We have typed bound transcripts in our reference library and also a digital version loaded onto our public PC.
Context
As highlighted in our previous top tips article, what makes family history interesting is putting flesh on the bones of research. Names going back generation after generation are one thing, but what did these people do and, what was going on nationally and locally when they were around? Researching the context of the time your ancestor lived in can give you greater insight into their experiences.
Perhaps they lived in west Berkshire at the time of the Swing Riots of 1830, or were one of the many workers at Huntley and Palmer’s Biscuit factory. Did your ancestor work on the Great Western Railway? Or maybe they were a pupil-teacher at a local school?
Parish records, newspapers, prison records, school log books and records of businesses are all great sources for expanding your knowledge of your family.
But do also read secondary material to get a feel for what was happening at the time, as this can help bring your family story to life.
The BRO reference library is full of a vast array of material on local history that could help you, so do come and take a look.
Focus on a ‘stand out’ ancestor
It can be fun to focus on one ancestor (or even family group) in your tree who stands out in some way. Did they achieve something in particular? Is there something about them that fascinates you or even inspires you, such as a tale of upward mobility or migration/immigration? Did they marry someone of a different class or race or was there a significant age gap with their spouse? Maybe they had a fall from grace or were notorious in some way? Do they have a compelling story?
Maybe now is the time to build a biography or story of that ancestor’s life, searching all available records and writing it up in a blog like this one!