Genealogy Chat

Alan Thanks for your comments. I have a problem in that most of my surnames in the family are quite common and the first names usually are too. However I am enjoying fleshing out the lives of the 19th century relatives I've found. nell

Branda Thank you for your comprehensive reply. I will certainly start new searches in the directions you have indicated. ill let you know if I have any success. Regards Alan

Kim, Do you have a specific person called Moralee you are looking for. I love puzzles so if you know who and dates and the last person you currently have idetified maybe I might be able to find it for you. Regards Alan

Alan, Thank you for your reply. You are one of the lucky ones, whose family left records, mine left nothing, even though they had their own business of broom making. My Walton's have not been too bad until now so I can't complain really, but my other one is Moralee in Durham, and the variations of that are never ending, so I stand no chance! lol Kim

Occasionally churchwardens records can help. In a period where registers are lost, I have descriptions of the knell being rung, or the ground opened for a grave. There were certainly books prior to 1538: some registers start before this date. I too have heard of those in the Vatican. However, it is suggested that many of them do not name the parish they relate to, so sorting them out would be difficult. Exchequer records in E179 at the National Archives have various subsidies, there are muster rolls etc. Apprentices may be listed in records. Inquisitions Post Mortem provide details of who inherited land. Proofs of Age (rare, but wonderful) demonstrate that people were of age. Marriage licences may give ages and the names of guardians. Unfortunately, the Wars of the Roses, like the English Civil War, was a period when record keeping was not well maintained. However well documented your tudor ancestor was, unless he belonged to the elite, or sought to claim an inheritance through the courts, the chances are that the trail will go cold at about 1500. Walter Raleigh (I think I am descended from his Aunty Joan) has an ancestry complicated by men marrying two or three times, often into the same family as their fathers. I have seen seven comparative pedigrees, and goodness knows which, if any, is accurate. If you consider, too, the way in which the Tudors moved around and rose to prominence from obscurity, it's amazing that any trees of that period can be proved. Happy hunting. B

Dear Kim Having done my own search for Waltons in Durham I understand your problem. Having search 2800 records on the IGI I hadnt finished even Cambridge so you have my sympathy. Best of luck Alan

Dear Kim, You pose a very good question, that in general cannot be answered. However if you are lucky enough to have sufficient family records and at the same the public records are available it is possible to construct a clear family tree. My own family has approximately a total of 2000 publicly available records that have been exploited by various members of the family (with documents) over a period of about 150 yrs. The interest and the internet has certainly made it much easier than when my father and his uncles and cousins started out on the venture. If your family is small and lived within a small area where good records were kept it can be fairly easy, but you only need a short period such as the Civil War and all records are lost and you cannot make the connection. A quiet backwater of rural Yorkshire has been good to us. I hope this explains my interest. Many regards Alan

Dear Marjorie, Nicknames were first used (spposedly)in Yorkshire with the Name Tempest 1195 reflecting their Character, and Dearlove 1275 meaning Philanderer. Of course this may be just a literary interpretaion but the names certainly came out of the "John of York" about this time. I have spent some time on the A2A site and whilst interesting I haven't found anything usefiull before the earlt 1700's. Very interesting though to find a number of Dearloves in court for stealing, and I will add these to the records I have at some future date. I agree with the Cathedral thing generally but I find it intriguing that of five or six earliest dated records indicate that the people lived within the confines of the cathedral/abbey town/city and that the marriages and christenings took place within their walls. It is now late, so I must sleep, but thanks for your stimulating info. Many regards Alan

Alan & Marjorie, Please can you advise me how you 'substantiate' going back that far back please, or am I too finicky? I have got back to 1724, but only through a death, but as far as I can make out, fathers or mothers were not registered on those marriages, as I have them. The name I am researching is Walton, in Durham and I could take my pick, but I could not 'state' they are mine, so how do you that? Advice needed as I can only spend 1 week a year in Durham as I live in South England. Thank you Kim

Alan Sorry to be thick, but when you say the name was a nickname, what exactly do you mean? I also have an ancestor from early 1300s who bore the wonderful nickname of "John the Cock of Symonstone" but his real name is always given too, as an alias. As for the Cathedral thing, I don't think its all that significant sadly, the Cathedrals were the Mother Churches and all events were reported there, probably as Bishop's Transcripts, even if they took place elsewhere. It also occurs to me, my research is always in Lancashire, which has a stupendous amount of archive material. The boundary between Lancs and Yorks has been pretty fluid in the past, especially where the Church was concerned - much of my very early stuff comes from "The Western Deaneries of the Archdeaconry of Richmond", Richmond being in Yorkshire of course, but the Church owned large parts of Lancashire too. Have a look on A2A, you may find something useful Good Luck. Marjorie

Dear Miriam Thanks for your reply. I think that I have now exhausted these sources and therefore I am looking for new alternatives. However I thank you for your response and if I am successful in going just one generation further I will let you know how. Many regards Alan

Dear Helen (little Nell) Dont give up!!! I had a good start. As the family have been musicians until this generation since about 1800 a lot was already recorded. The interesting work is now to tie in the other family groups. The records are there for you to find, provided that your name is fairly unique. 'Smith' no chance but with DEARLOVE lots of opportunities. Regards Alan

Thank you Marjorie (a name I have been playing with this evening as to who was her father). The name Dearlove has very limited distribution within the UK. At the moment I have from the 1500's Yorks, London, Canterbury, Durham, St Albans (that I linked to London this evening) and Lincoln. It is interesting that all have Cathedrals and a number of Christenings and Marriages occur in the said buildings. But for the Dissolution maybe we could get further back, but it looks like searching Manorial Rolls, although this may be difficult for London. Alan

Durh! Forgot to say, have you looked at Manorial Records? They have also been surprisingly useful in my search.

Dear all, Thanks for the instant replies. I currently have marriages in the 1540's and 50's so I can estimate the approximate dates of birth. The problem now is that I have search wills and general history, and this gives me two leads. First the origin of my surname is in Yorkshire first recorded as a nickname in 1275. The second is a recorded will in 1300's. Ive hit my 'brickwall at 1544 in current docs available, so I dont know what to do next. Thanks to you all Regards Alan (in Sth of France)

I have been lucky in that the Parish Regs for my lot (one line only) go back to about 1532. Before that I have had some (limited) success by using Marriage Agreements and Wills. Don't forget that many Parish Registers and other Church records were burnt during the Dissolution and many more simply did not keep records at all. I think it is a case of a long hard slog through the Archives for the area you are researching. Sorry this isnt very helpful.

Alan Blimey, I'm struggling to get past 1800!!! nell

Does anyone know how to find the above when the parish registers run out? I know that during the Dissolution of the Monastries many of the parish records were sent to the Vatican and are no longer accessible. Any help would be appreciated.