The checklist you have compiled by consulting your
family is your starting point but, before you go any
further, it is important to check your facts for accuracy.
Memory is fallible, and it can be very misleading
to rely on the spoken word rather than the official
record.
Checking the details of births, marriages and
deaths in the recent past and for much of the
19th century is relatively easy because of the system
of civil registration that was set up in 1837.
Your family may have kept the actual birth,
marriage and death certificates of your parents,
grandparents and other relatives. If not, you will
probably want to obtain copies of at least some of
them, from the registers kept by the various registry
offices. Details of how to do this are given in
our faq pages, what you need to know now is that you
do not have access to the registers themselves, only
to their indexes, and that you must buy copies of
any certificates you want to inspect. (It
is not possible to view the certificates before purchase).
These certificates will give you a wealth of detail
about who your ancestors were, where they lived, and
perhaps even their occupations. They could also open
up other lines of enquiry.
First of all it is important to start with what you
know to be fact and to work backwards.
If you know that your grandmother died in 1960 but
are not sure when she was born, look in the indexes
to the registers of deaths first. If you find her
there, you will also find some useful information
with which to search further, even without buying
a copy of the death certificate itself. For instance,
you will find her age of death so that you have firmer
evidence on which to base your search of the birth
indexes.
Keep a careful note of all the information
you discover, even if you can't immediately see its
relevance. It may turn out to be of use later. You
may know your grandfather's first name, for instance,
but not his second name. The death register might
give you his second name or at least the initial.
Knowing this initial may help you to find his name
in the other registers when you look for more details
of his life.
Do not assume that all the information given in the
indexes is necessarily correct. It is easy for
mistakes to occur. You might know that your family
has always spelt its surname as 'Whittall', but if
you cannot find a record under this spelling it is
worth trying 'Whitehall or Whitell, Whittel'. Another
common cause of confusion is when people have given
an incorrect age at their wedding. The bride might
have wished to appear younger than the General Register
Office, or at least younger than she was!
