Genealogy Chat

I'm in too late for this thread, but wanted to let you all know that there is some good advice in there.

I have fallen into a 'one name study/one tree study) for the Vernon family. Fortunately there is a lot of information taking the noble line back to 996AD and I've charted out 31 generations of the family already and linking in other lines as I go. No, I haven't found the link to my own family which is slowly working backwards - up to late 1600s so far, but I am enjoying visiting all of the great houses and castles that the family lived in, built or bashed down.

So, if you are a Vernon or one of the at least 10 variants that I have found so far, please get in touch at [email protected].

The other lines of research haven't come to a complete halt as I have cousins on my mothers side doing that family, and some on my fathers side that are interested. I'm thinking about conning my cousins children into transcribing the bmd indexes for me for a bit of extra pocket money as I have only done 30 years of deaths and have over 2500 names already.

Are we mad? Yes. But very very very happy.

Helen Vernon

Lyla Good luck, but be warned - you will find yourself in some very strange places! (For instance - 1539, a big family row, culminating in a priest being beheaded - I HAD to check if this was true - it was, but took some finding! Another one, Lord of the Manor, JP, Overseer of the Poor etc etc, having at least seven illegitimate children, all of whom he set up nicely with farms etc, marrying the mothers off to his Estate Workers - I was enthralled. My REAL family research goes on the back burner and I sometimes feel guilty about the amount of time I spend on 'the others', but it is so addictive, I cannot stop. Lots of these people have been much easier to trace than my 'real' relatives, incidentally!) Marjorie

Marjorie I am going to give it a try with my Flewers line so you may not see me around for a few months! Maybe I'll even find a clue that will help me break down my brickwall in the process! I'm not very computer friendly so shoe boxes sound like the perfect solution for the likes of me. Thanks for the advice - I'm off to start my ONS right now. Lyla

Lyla Yes, it will take ages to do from scratch I expect!Still, what better way to pass all those long winter evenings? When I am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE its the same person, I put it on one bit of paper for that person. Any doubt, and I put it on another bit of paper. Sometimes info comes up later which shows its the same person, so info is transferred and one bit of paper thrown away! Example: IGI bmds, I write in pencil until I have proved or disproved who they really are Absolutely proven information i.e. certs,parish records, I write in black ink. I also use different coloured inks for certain records - A2A in red outline, my own direct line all in red, a book I found about the family in green and so on - this means whilst flicking through I can pick out 'categories', i.e. census returns or Ellis Island stuff. For a Family Group I will put the children on the parents sheet in a simple list, each child having a sheet of its own - proven in ink, unproven in pencil. I have actually tried to create a data-base on my pooter but it proved far more difficult to manouevre than a couple of shoe boxes! As I said, it works for me even though its a bit Heath-Robinson. I am actually amazed at how much info I have amassed without consciously looking for it. Marjorie

Hi Marjorie I'm liking your idea but I'm just wondering whether you can see the bigger picture with this method. Do you record everything you know about each individual, parents, siblings, census sightings etc on each bit of paper? It must take a long time to put together. I think I'm going to give it a try. Anything is better than a file filled with scraps of miscellaneous paper. Thanks Lyla

Lyla I have hit on a method of storage which works for me. Each person gets a half-sheet of A4 (usually scrap,LOL). It is headed with their name and an approximate date of birth, or if even an approx date is impossible I put 'alive in...' whatever the year. If someone else is mentioned, e.g. a marriage, or a baptism, the that person also gets a bit of paper, which is cross referenced to the other. This method works well for any situation - for instance, a Will in 1688, mentioning six people, generates 7 names. A settlement order for a man, his wife and five children, again generates 7 bits of paper. A wonderful, wonderful Court Case, lasting 70 years, gave me ten generations!!!! I then file them alphabetically, by first name and then by approx birth date order in shoe boxes - men in one, women in another and married-ins in yet another! (You can get nearly 1000 bits of paper in a shoe box). When I get a new bit of info I can often tie it in with someone I have already got - very satisfying! Marjorie

Mine isn't an official ONS but I've set up a Yahoo group for fellow researchers of the rare surname CULLIFORD and its variants. I started tracking just my own family but that involved hunting down others in the same area. When I formed the group a number of the members discovered they were related. I haven't managed to get any further back with mine recently but tracking the surname down has led me sideways into connected people and I've found more than my fair share of black sheep on this line! They are all distantly related somehow anyway so the fact that I can't put all the interesting characters on my own tree (yet!) doesn't bother me. I like all the background stuff that I've found out while doing genealogy. Sue Sue

Lyla Of course mate and please if you find any Fewell's or varients let me know. Kath x

Kath If you find any Flewers mixed in with your Fewells can I have them please? Lyla

Hi Carole Thanx for that mate, it gives me some hope. I have checked Ellis Island Before and there were no Fewell's or varients, but will check out the OZ one right now. Thanx again for your help regards Kath x

I too seem to have unwittingly started an ONS with my collection of information on the Flewers/Fluers family. I’d like to do it all properly but I can’t come up with an efficient way to store the information about all the unconnected family groups and miscellaneous instances of the surname that I have collected. They are currently written on a jumbled spreadsheet and then stuffed in a fat folder on top of the wardrobe. Any better ideas? Lyla

I emailed a family name via ONS website that I was having great trouble with in hubby's family tree but have received no reply.

Thanks for helping Robin, I tend to treat the info on the IGI with caution but it's helpful to know that Illingworth is in Halifax. I might get in touch with Calderdale Fam Hist Soc again and see if they have the transcriptions.

Hi Andy, Great idea for a thread! Thanks for pointing it out to me. Carole :-)

Rachel -- missed your reply, fell asleep -- it's in IGI, I don 't know any more sorry

Carole, Please see my other thread - tips for NOT SO newbies....a lot of potentially useful sources there that you've just mentioned :-) Andy

Kath, I also had a problem with overseas records - I didn't have clue where to start! For years I only had bits and bobs through exchanging family histories, but gradually I've managed to build up information as more sites appear online. For example, for Australia I've used the National Archives of Australia (a quick search of Fewell brought up 13 entries, including people who were born in the UK and emigrated there), the BMDs for News South Wales, WW1 & WW2 Nominal Rolls, Cemetery lists, newspaper indexes, convict records, passenger and shipping lists, and lots more besides - all available online, and I googled of course. For the States I used Ancestry and the Ellis Island Passenger database, but to be honest the US wasn't a particularly popular destination for Dibdens. For Canada I've used the National Archives of Canada, British Colombia BMDs, Veterans Affairs (Virtual War Memorial Database). And for Southa Africa I've used their National Archives. I've searched countless other overseas sites and indexes, and often found nothing, but when I have found something it's usually tied in with something else I already have, so I've managed to track most back to the UK and tied them in. Hope this helps to start you off, and have fun. Best wishes, Carole

I have been doing a Fleetwood one name study for years now have collected thousands of them and managed to assist many others with their branches, never ever think that Fleetwood is an ususually name (as we did until we started) it gives enormous satisfaction to help someone and maybe crack their brickwall for them, if only someone could crack ours!! It is hard work though xxhugxx

Hi Like many others i fell into my ONS of my maiden name of FEWELL. Luckily for me there were a few others researching the tree,so it was basically done for me, i just added my branch which the others knew nothing about. I have become so obsessed with the study, it's costing a fortune and i have only scraped the surface. I will be in future joining the Guild and submitting my Name,but more work needs to be done I do have all registered Deaths in England and Wales and Births/Marriages up to 1955 Also Pallotts Marriage index. I have started to go abroad with the name, but just my family only at the minute. What i'd like to know is how do you check/get info about the surname abroad??? I also have several variations of the name Fuell/Fuel/Fewel/Feuell so it's gonna take a good few years to do. But i can't think of anything better, than finding out about my ancestry. Kath x

Hi Like many others i fell into my ONS of my maiden name of FEWELL. Luckily for me there were a few others researching the tree,so it was basically done for me, i just added my branch which the others knew nothing about. I have become so obsessed with the study, it's costing a fortune and i have only scraped the surface. I will be in future joining the Guild and submitting my Name,but more work needs to be done I do have all registered Deaths in England and Wales and Births/Marriages up to 1955 Also Pallotts Marriage index. I have started to go abroad with the name, but just my family only at the minute. What i'd like to know is how do you check/get info about the surname abroad??? I also have several variations of the name Fuell/Fuel/Fewel/Feuell so it's gonna take a good few years to do. But i can't think of anything better, than finding out about my ancestry. Kath x