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Introduction

In January 2002 when the Office of National Statistics published the 1901 census for England and Wales on the Internet there came a sudden influx of would be genealogist eager to trace their ancestors. The massive volume of hits on this website caused it to crash very shortly after it’s launch and to remain offline for some weeks.

Most of the initial newcomers very soon discovered that it is not as easy as they imagined trying to trace relatives on the census returns. The website shows digital images of hand written census returns, reading these is dependant entirely on the clarity of the enumerators handwriting, which in some cases can be very difficult to understand. You must also bear in mind that spelling of names can vary depending on how well the person filling in or transcribing the census form could spell, and that people sometimes filled in the forms with the

Getting Started

If you enter into family history with the hope of discovering rich uncle Percy twice removed has left you, the only known living relative a small fortune, you will probably be very disappointed. Most of us come from hard working stock. Without the luxury of a welfare state they had to eek out a living wherever they could and most of our pedigrees contain at least one instance of illegitimacy. By far the most sensible place to start is with any living members of your family, especially the older generations. Speak with them and note names places and dates. If they have any old photographs ask if you might get these copied and write the names of the people in them on the back. Birth, death and marriage certificates can also be useful. Family bibles are often passed down through generations and are used to record births, deaths and marriages. You will then have to choose a line to follow and stick with it, decide whether it is to be the distaff or paternal line. With the first there will be a lot more surnames introduced because females as a rule change their name when married. Maybe, if this is your first attempt at family history it would wise to stick to the paternal line and follow your own birth surname.  Now with the knowledge you have already collected from relatives put onto paper, a family tree. It is important to keep accurate records as you go along or you will very soon lose track or get distracted from the line you started to follow. There are quite a few good software packages available to do this.