Genealogy Chat

I've started tracing my family tree today! and already I'm stuck. I can get quite far back on my paternal grandfathers side but have reached a dead end with my maternal grandmother in as much as my dad only know his mums maiden name and thats it. How do I go about getting further back? Please help! Laura

You know her maiden name? You can buy her marriage certificate. Give us some names and rough dates. Though Im a bit confused here - you are doing the maternal side and dad only knows HIS mums name? If you are doing your mums side - do you have her birth certificate? and your mum and dads marriage certificate? To make it clearer, can you tell us what you do know and what you have found so far please?

stop and take stock of what you actually know, like the programe said! tell us what you do know, then well tell you what else you probably know and where to find out what you dont! Jess just click add a reply - just below the tab that says TIPS BOARD and you'll get a white box. type in that, scroll down and then click on add reply at the bottom

Hi Laura, We are here to help if we can Helen

Ok, I currently know back to the 1800 on my dads dad's side. I phoned my dad and asked him what my Grandmas maiden name was, he told me she was Doris Emmerson (Doncaster) and that she had 2 sister Violet and Vera. Doris' Dad was called George, I don't know her mum's name, but my dad doesn't know her maiden name. Both my Grand parents have passed away so I can't ask them. I'll be trying to do my mum's side, and will ask my Nanan for help on that one as I expect she'll know more that I do. I've tried looking on the census' for members of my paternal family that are missing up the links and haven't managed to find them yet. Any advice on what to do next will be greatly appreciated! Lxx

So, you are actually tracing your paternal grandmother - your dads mum side? And her name is Doris Emmerson from Doncaster? And her dad was called George Emmerson. And she has at least two siblings, Violet and Vera. And what is dads fathers name? and where did he come from? And does your dad know when his parents married? And where?

Ok, so doris Emmerson would have been born about when??

I'm looking for my dad's mum's side as someone else has already done my dad's dad's side. Doris Emmerson would have been born at some point between 1925 and 1930 (I think) She died in 1994 and if it helps my dad George Sylvester Soffe was born 9th March 1949.

Does your dad have any older siblings? At least youre lucky to have an unusual name.

My dad's one of 7 he has one older brother but the rest are all younger Does that help?

It narrows down the time span for a marriage for your grandparents. Does your dad not know how old mum was when she died?

Is this nan? Name: Doris Soffe Death Year: 1993 Age: 67 Birth Date: 16 Feb 1926 Death Registration Month/Year: Feb 1993 Registration District: Doncaster Inferred County: South Yorkshire Inferred Country: England Register Number: B41D Entry number: 16 If it is, you now have her birth date, so that you can buy a birth certificate from Doncaster R.O or GRO online for £7 and that will give both parents names. Hopefully that will take you back before 1901 and you can then start using the census to trace her parents backwards.

Doris Emmerson birth Doncaster 1926 Mothers maiden name SHERBURN ref 9c1523 Jan/feb Mar qtr

You can probably look for a marriage around 1945/47 for Doris and your grandad.

Well, you have a start now Laura, good luck.

Wow! Where did you find all that? I have no idea where to look!

You can look for the marriage on ancestry free on the bmd index beta - just go in and enter marriages and the Soffe (grandads)name, which is rarer and trawl through the quarters by quarter, make a note of the marriage reference and then go to GRO website, enter all the info and pay your £7! (Thats why its important to narrow down the possible time span of the marriage - dad born 1949, bro 18 months earlier? 1947 - assuming they were married before he was on the way - say 1945-1947. (Though you said someone had already researched that side? then they should have a copy of that certificate???) You can do same with the birth certificate reference, pay £7 and you get her mums maiden name. If you intend to do a lot of research it would be worth you taking out an ancestry sub - if you go to the Lost Cousins website you can register on there and then click on the Ancestry logo for 20% discount - works out about £55 for 24/7 access for the whole year 1851-1901 census and 1841 due any time now, plus lots of other stuff.

Where did you look for the datails on my Grandma? I'm sure I'll be able to get a lot of the missing info for other people in my tree from the same place. Thanks for all the help, it's really appreciated.

ancestry