Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
A Beginner’s Guide to Researching and Creating a
Family Tree
Hannah Baker
Lesson one is available to download, free of charge from the Pharos
website.
The full course starting date is:
1st January 2013
To enrol on the full course, please visit
www.pharostutors.com
Please check the website regularly for information about starting
dates later in 2013.
In Association with findmypast.co.uk
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 1
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
Lesson One: How to start your Family Tree
Welcome to lesson one of the Beginner’s Guide to researching and creating a Family
Tree. You are about to embark on a fascinating journey back through the history of
your ancestors – ordinary people, who you will find have extraordinary stories to tell.
Genealogy, which is the study of family history, has become an increasingly popular
interest over the past 10 years due to two factors. The power of television has
undoubtedly had an impact with a range of series now illustrating the ease at which
you can research your past. However, the biggest change for genealogy has been
the dramatic increase in the number and range of records which are available via the
Internet, making genealogical research much faster and easier.
Briefly, this course aims to provide you with a solid, beginner’s knowledge of the
hows, wheres and whys of genealogy. The first lesson, will help you to get satisfying
and tangible results in a short space of time. The remaining two weeks of the
course, in which we hope you will choose to participate, will further build on your
skills and knowledge and include interaction with your tutor and with other novice
genealogists, your fellow students.
As part of the class you will have access to the wealth of resources at
findmypast.co.uk, learn how to use several key sources, acquire new computer and
Internet skills, and experience the Pharos style of online learning. Each lesson offers
a mix of information and practical skills. The outlines of all three lessons are given
below :
Lesson One covers four topics:




Create a family tree chart using resources available online
Gain practical experience in starting to trace your paternal and maternal lines
of ancestry
Learn about the contents of the censuses and research them online
Participate with confidence in an online forum
Lesson Two covers four topics:




Learn about the contents of civil birth, marriage and death records and search
indexes online
Learn about the contents of church registers of baptism, marriage and burial
and search them online
Consider the issues surrounding the debate about the use of online transcript
and original document research
Develop your skills in using a variety of online searching tools
© Hannah Baker 2013
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Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
Lesson Three covers four topics:




Learn how and why sources should be recorded accurately
Evaluate a range of computer packages designed to help your research
Learn research skills that will move your research forward
Participate in an online chat session
If you have not yet enrolled on the full course, please follow this link to the Pharos
home site where the enrolment process is easy to follow :
http://www.pharostutors.com/coursedescriptions.php#100
Starting with what you know
One of the exciting things about modern day family history research is that is it
relatively quick and easy to get some results, so let’s see how far we can get.
To begin research you must know three things about any family members you plan
to research: names, dates of life events, and locations where they lived and died.
You will find from your research that some names are much more common than
others (i.e. Smith and Jones) and that you cannot get very far without basic date and
location information. If, for example, I search for a John Smith born between 1925
and 1930, without any idea of where he was born, I find 5670 possible candidates!
That is one reason why you should not start your research at your computer. Get
information from those who have the facts that may focus your searching . Begin
initially with the oral records in your own family – asking those with some knowledge
of the family what they know. When you begin to ask relatives about their
knowledge of the family, it is amazing what little nuggets of information are revealed.
You may suddenly discover that a family who you believed to have lived in a
particular area for generations originated from somewhere totally different.
Even at this stage, it is not too early in your research to think about how you are
going to record the information you receive from relatives. Some genealogists
believe that it is important to record (via audio or video tape) any conversations that
you have with relatives, so that you can refer back to them. This is a very useful way
of checking information but don't worry if you don't feel comfortable with this form of
information gathering. It is more important to get the information and to make your
relative feel at ease. It is just fine to record the details with pen and paper at this
stage and you can ask about making a recording if there is another interview.
If you are interested in more formal gathering of oral history, the BBC website
provides a great guide for this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/htd_history/oral/recording_oral_hist_01.shtml
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 3
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
Caution Part One:
Although asking relatives and friends for information is the best starting point, never
assume that the information you receive is entirely accurate. It is quite common for
ancestors to be known by one name and appear in records under a different name.
This is particularly common with middle names being used. Sons were often given
the same first name as their father and to avoid confusion, were known by a middle
name instead. Where you can, ask what the full name of a person was.
Caution Part Two:
One of the fringe benefits of tracing your family tree is that you develop a much
better understanding of social history (how the lives of people have changed over
time). Also with this understanding will come a better appreciation of how moral
expectations have changed. Many family trees are touched by some form of
illegitimacy. Adoption wasn’t formalised until the 1920s and the options for women
who found themselves with an unwanted pregnancy were limited. Bigamy is
surprisingly common as divorce before the middle of the 20th century was rare and
expensive so when marriages broke down, one party may simply disappear from the
locality and start a new married life with a different person elsewhere. Many families
kept these sorts of issues private for generations and revelations about an ancestor’s
past are not always easy to accept and understand. Therefore, when talking to
family members, always exercise a degree of caution if they understand something
differently from what your research has revealed.
If you are interested in looking at the issues of confidentiality and sensitivity, I would
recommend watching some episodes of the BBC programme Heir Hunters where
professional genealogists often deal with sensitive family revelations.
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 4
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
Building Foundations
By focusing on your own knowledge, and using the oral memories of others you
should now have what you need to begin. Let’s see how quickly we can build up the
basics of a tree.
The best but often overlooked place to start your tree is with yourself. You know all
of your own personal details but if your research is going to be a lasting record, it is
important that your information is accurate for future generations. Also, if you are
going to be using a computer based package to store your research notes (more
about this later in the course) you will need to nominate a “home” or “root” person for
your tree. By making this person you, the computer will automatically be able to tell
you your relationship to others in your tree.
You have jotted down what you know and added to that through talking to family
members and you are now ready to start tracing your family tree. I will begin with a
PATERNAL (male) line and then explain about researching a MATERNAL (female)
line. Paternal lines tend to be easier to follow as the surname will probably remain
unchanged through the generations.
You will need two basic records in order to start your research :
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Census Records
At this point, if you have not already done so, please activate your 14 day FREE
subscription to :
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 5
Beginners’ Guide
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
You can do this by visiting the findmypast.co.uk website at
www.findmypast.co.uk
Through the findmypast.co.uk website, you will be able to access all of the records
that you will need for this course and to begin your research on your family tree.
Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Civil registration in England and Wales started in 1837. These records now provide
the genealogist with the basic facts about a person’s life.
We can only search the indexes online; to get more information about a birth,
marriage or death, including the exact dates, you need to buy the actual certificates.
We will look at how to buy certificates in lesson two.
Start by looking at your own birth register entry (records at findmypast.co.uk range
from 1837 to 2006).



On the top blue tab of the findmypast.co.uk home page, you will find the link
to “search records”
On the drop down list, click “life events”.(BMD is the standard acronym for
Births, Marriages and Deaths. findmypast.co.uk also refers to them as “Life
Events”)
Fill in as many of the boxes (known as fields) that you can and the computer
will search the records
It may come up with several possibilities but by knowing the location of your birth you
should be able to find the correct entry. Click on it and the register entry will be
displayed. This is an example of what you should see :
BMD Search result details
Civil Registration event: Birth
Name:
GARDNER, Helen E
Registration District:
Hertford
County:
Hertfordshire
Year of Registration:
1961
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
Mother's Maiden Name: Beachcroft
© Hannah Baker 2013
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Beginners’ Guide
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Volume No: Help
4B
Page No:Help
234
This is a digital transcript of the index (which you could also access through
findmypast.co.uk if you want to check the original).
Name
Registration District
County
Year of Registration
Quarter of Registration
Maiden Name
Volume / Page number
The full name is recorded here
The county is divided into registration districts,
usually one of the main towns in the county so
your relative may not have been born in the
town but in a neighbouring village.
This is the county of the registration district
The year of the entry. Take care if you have a
birthday towards the end of a year as it may
not be registered until the following year
(parents currently have 42 days after the birth
of a child to register it)
Registration records DO NOT provide the
actual date of birth. The records cover a three
month period referred to as a “quarter”. For
this record, the birth could be anywhere
between the July and September of that year.
In order to get an exact date you would need
to refer to the birth certificate itself.
Birth records since September 1911 record
the mother’s maiden name (very useful when
tracing a maternal line as we shall see later)
These refer to the actual book where the
records are recorded. If you wish to order a
copy of the original certificate it is very useful if
you have this reference as you will be asked
to provide it where possible
Having looked at and understood your own birth record, now try looking at that of
your father (or other male relative) and grandfather (if you know it).
Starting your basic tree
Congratulations ! You should now be familiar with your first set of essential
genealogical records. You should also have acquired some factual information
which hopefully confirms the oral information you had received earlier to start your
tree. However, before you go any further, you need to start recording the information
you are acquiring. There are a huge range of digital ways of creating and recording
your family tree. For now, at this early stage whilst you are concentrating on finding
your way around the records, pencil and paper is the best way to begin. A good
starting place is to download a free 4 generation pedigree chart from this web-site.
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 7
Beginners’ Guide
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
http://www.freegenealogyuk.co.uk/freefamilytree_pedigreechart.pdf
Starting on the left hand side, as you look at the chart, it will ask you to fill in your
own details and then those of your parents, grandparents. Have a go at filling in as
many births as you can (although remember we are concentrating on the paternal
line at the moment).
Don’t become overly concerned at this stage if you cannot find an entry for a relative.
There are numerous reasons why this can happen which we shall explore later. For
now, familiarization with the records is the aim.
Marriage and Death Civil Registration Indexes
Marriage Indexes work in a similar way to
birth indexes. They give the same basic
information of where the marriage took
place (the registration area, not the actual
building where the marriage took place),
the quarter of the year in which it took
place and the reference for finding the
actual record. Marriage indexes also help
particularly when you know a female
relative by a married name and not a
maiden name. It is very difficult to continue
tracing a maternal line, when you don’t
know the maiden name.
You will want to confirm you have the right index entry by looking for the spouse.
Findmypast.co.uk provides a “Marriage Finder” tool. It can look for an entry with the
same reference code and in almost all cases this will be the match you expect. The
marriage certificate, which you will probably order, can confirm this. Now have a go
at finding some of the marriage entries for people in your family.
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 8
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
If you don’t know an exact date of a marriage, a good guess is often useful and
narrows down the search. For example, if you know that Jessica Strong was born in
1890. She was unlikely to have married before her 18th birthday in 1908 or, for first
marriages, after her 40th birthday 1930, so you can begin your search between these
two dates.
Death record indexes are the last in this series of essential civil documents and
work in the same way as marriage and birth record indexes. Don’t be afraid again to
do some educated guessing as to the date of death. For example if you know that
William Cartwright was born in 1910 and you have a picture of him looking in his 60s,
there is no point searching for a death before 1970.
Much genealogical research relies on educated guessing when you
are lacking in information, it is the research which then has to prove or
disprove your thoughts.
PHAROS FORUM
Hopefully at this point you will have traced a Paternal line back through several
generations. You will have experienced how to work first hand with transcripts of
records and may have come across some difficulties in your research. Now, it is
good to start sharing your questions and findings with other genealogists as you will
find support from others in invaluable in furthering your own research. As with all
Pharos courses, an on-line Forum has been set up specifically for this course which
can be accessed through the Pharos website. This forum is available via a
password which is known only to the course tutor and your fellow students (so that
you can feel comfortable that everyone is of a similar level of experience and
interest).
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 9
Beginners’ Guide
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
EXERCISE : Please access the on-line Forum and post a message about your
research so far. What have you found out? Have there been any surprises? Have
you come across any difficulties in using the records? How does it feel to have
started your research?
How do I access the Forum?
If you have already paid for the full course, you will have a Student Account with
Pharos. Once your account is set up, a link to the forum will appear in your Student
Area about 7 days before the course start date.
(Then follow with the link)
If you have not yet paid for the full course, then you will need to do so now.
There are detailed guides to the Forum waiting for you in your Student Area.
For the Forum to work really well, please feel free to share your experiences and
knowledge in an open and helpful manner. We all have something to learn from
each other.
Census Records
Census records are the
genealogists equivalent of
gold dust ! A brief knowledge
of their history should help you
develop confidence in using
them and understand how to
get the best from them.
The idea of a census has been around for a long time with evidence that they were
being taken as early as 4000 BC. A census is a population study.
At the start of the 19th century, the governments of the time realized that they knew
alarmingly little about the population in their jurisdiction making town planning, public
health and education very difficult to provide adequately for – so the idea of the
modern census was born.
From 1841, the census has been taken every 10 years (except in 1941 due to the
Second World War). Census records are kept confidential for 100 years so
genealogists currently have access to the census records for the following years :
1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 10
Beginners’ Guide
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Over the years, the census has provided more information relevant to genealogists
by increasing the range of questions asked. It should however be noted that the
1841 census provides much less information than its successors.
You can see this by comparing the 1851 census with the 1911 census
Name
Position in Household
Marital Status
Age
Rank or Profession (Job)
Place of Birth
Known disabilities
Years married
Number of children born alive
Number of children still living
Number of children who have
died
Workplace/Institution
1851
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
1911
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Looking at the census forms
We are now going to look at a particular census form in detail. Although the format
varies a little across the census once you have become familiar with one of the
years, the others are self explanatory.
All of the census records are fully available at findmypast.co.uk. You can access a
basic record where someone has copied the information from the original document
into a database. You can look at the original pages from the enumerators’ books
(called the original census image).
The basic records are very useful and quick for gaining information but remember
mistakes are easily made, especially when the person copying the information may
be trying to decipher a difficult handwriting script, so it is best to check the original
wherever possible.
On the next page you will see the 1851 census return for :
John Smith, born 1771 in Norwich, Norfolk
(If you have difficulty looking at the image below, try printing it out or doing a search
through findmypast.co.uk using John’s details to have a look at the original
document).
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 11
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
© Hannah Baker 2013
Beginners’ Guide
pg. 12
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
Census – Step by Step
You are now looking at a page from the Enumerator’s book. The Enumerator was
an appointed official, responsible for collecting the information. Each citizen was not
responsible for writing the information themselves until 1911 (and in the 1911
records you can actually see your ancestor’s writing and signature). Many people at
this time could not write so although the Enumerator would aim to be as accurate as
possible there are often discrepancies in spellings particularly with names and place
names.
Starting at the top of the page, we have the basic geographical information of the
Ecclesiastical District and then the City. Some records then give further specific
geographical information such as town or village.
You can see the names of the individuals listed down the left hand side of the form.
Immediately, you can see that we appear to have a list of people with different
surnames who are unrelated living at this location. If you look at the heading of the
left hand column, you will see that it refers to the “institution” so we know we are not
looking at the record for an ordinary home. Moving to the second column, you will
see that the heading is “position in the institution” and each individual is listed as an
“inmate”. Today, when we talk about “inmates” we would usually think of inmates as
prisoners in prison but this doesn’t seem to be the case here as the inmates all have
occupations listed (5th column). Therefore, a fair appraisal would now be that we are
looking at the record for a work-house and John Smith was living in the Norwich
workhouse. Although this is a fair appraisal, further research would need to be done
to clarify that this is a work-house.
Other information given about John includes his age (John’s specific entry is third
from the bottom of the list). He is given as 80 years so from this we can work out an
estimated birth year (1851 – 80 = 1771). Although we now have a year, always
research several years either side of the year you have calculated to find an
accurate birth.
The third column refers to the “condition” of the individual. This relates to their
marital status. Usually categories here are Mar (married), Unm (unmarried), Widow
or Widower.
John’s occupation is listed as Gardener. You can also see a whole range of different
occupations given on the page.
Finally we have the column which tells us where the individuals were born, in John’s
case, St Peter per Mountegate (?). When a place name is difficult to decipher, as it
is here, an Internet search may find a solution. It would be fair to assume in this
case that St. Peter is a part of Norwich as no other geographic area is mentioned in
the birth line.
In conclusion, although the census has given us lots of information, we have had to
make several assumptions about John Smith and further research would be needed
to clarify details about him.
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 13
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
Tracing from census to census
Having looked at a specific census record in detail, it is time to track an individual
back through several successive censuses. William Carter appears in the 1901
census. He was born in Paulton, Somerset, in 1842 and by entering these details
into the search tool you can find the 1901 record. It is about 2/3 of the way down the
page. You can ignore the series of numbers down the left hand column as they are
entry numbers, not house numbers. William's street is given and he is living in New
Town. He was married to Hannah and was 59 years of age (approximately). William
was head of the household and a coal miner.
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 14
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
© Hannah Baker 2013
Beginners’ Guide
pg. 15
Beginners’ Guide
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
We can now have a look at what William was doing 10 years earlier in 1891.
Return to the findmypast.co.uk search facility and select the 1891 census this time.
Enter the same details as before
Original
census
image
Name
Relation
Birth Occupation
Condition Sex Age Year Disability
Where Born
CARTER, William
Head
Married
M
50
1841 Coal Miner
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
CARTER, Ann M
Wife
Married
F
46
1845
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
CARTER, Rhoda
Daughter Single
F
19
1872
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
CARTER, Joseph
Son
M
17
1874 Coalminer
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
CARTER, Alice
Daughter
F
13
1878
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
CARTER, Mary
Daughter
F
11
1880
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
CARTER, Albert
Son
M
9
1882
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
CARTER, Elizabeth Daughter
F
7
1884
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
CARTER, Melinda
Daughter
F
5
1886
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
CARTER, Florence
Daughter
F
3
1888
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
© Hannah Baker 2013
Single
pg. 16
Beginners’ Guide
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Immediately, we have some differences, the main one being that William appears to have
a different wife and a lot more children.
Firstly, we need to be as sure as we can that we are looking at the same William Carter.
In this case, he has the same approximate birth year, same birth place and the same
occupation, so it is likely that we do have the same person.
We would need to check the original census image to see the name of William’s wife and
it does indeed clearly say Ann. It is possible that Ann has died between the 1891 and
1901 census and that William married Hannah as his second wife. A death record
search for Hannah or a marriage record search for William and Ann could confirm this.
Another possibility is that Hannah and Ann are the same person. Names do change
through the records more frequently than you would first think. My own great
grandmother had her birth registered as Hannah and her death registered as Anna (and
she was known as Annie).
This record is intriguing as to what has happened to all the children. The older children in
this census are likely to have grown up and “flown the nest” by 1901 so it is worth
completing a search on each of them in the 1901 remembering that the girls may have
married and no longer be Carters. It is also worth checking death records if you can’t find
them in the census.
Just by looking at a couple of census records, it is possible to see how the avenues of
research are opening up and how one record leads to another. This is the exciting part
of genealogy, the research that you can do is almost limitless and you never know what
you are going to find out or where the path is leading.
Let’s just do one final check on William Carter through the census to see what we find.
Name
Birth Occupation
Relation Condition Sex Age Year Disability
CARTER, William
M
M
41
1840 Gunner R A
Where Born
Original
census
image
Paulton
VIEW
Somersetshire
In 1881 William is actually now serving in the Navy and is at sea at the time of the
census. He is listed as married but because he is away from home on the night of the
census, his wife is not listed on this document, so it would be worth doing a separate
census search for Ann Carter in 1881.
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 17
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
EXERCISE : You should now have the confidence to start searching through the
census records yourself. Try looking for William Carter in the 1871, 1861 and 1851
censuses.
Keep a note of all of your findings and any problems that you encounter and post
these to the Pharos Forum. Here other students and I, your tutor, will be able to
access your comments and give you help and advice.
If you are interested in finding out about the census in greater detail, I would
recommend the Knowledge Base section of the findmypast.co.uk website.
http://www.findmypast.co.uk/helpadvice/getting-started/interested-familyhistory/index.jsp
The knowledge base also includes guides to a wide range of other sources and
records and is well worth a look.
I really hope you have enjoyed lesson one of this Beginner’s Course and are
enjoying exploring the records we have looked at to be able to start forming your
tree.
There are two further lessons which form part of this Beginner’s course. In them you
will be introduced to a wider range of records and to digital means of storing,
sharing, and presenting your findings. You will also continue to have access to the
Pharos Tutors Forum for this course and will be able to participate in a live on-line
chat room with myself and other students to experience how helpful on-line access
to expertise can be in your research and further learning.
Details of how to purchase the remainder of the course are available on the Pharos
Tutor’s website and I look forward to welcoming you back soon.
Hannah Baker
Tutor
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 18
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
Bibliography
BBC Oral Histories
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/htd_history/oral/recording_oral_hist_01.shtml
BBC Productions – Heir Hunters (generally available on BBC iplayer)
Free Genealogy Charts
http://www.freegenealogyuk.co.uk/freefamilytree_pedigreechart.pdf
findmypast.co.uk guides to different sources
http://www.findmypast.co.uk/helpadvice/getting-started/interested-familyhistory/index.jsp
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 19
Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd
Beginners’ Guide
Pharos Course Links
By the very nature of this beginner's course, it touches only on the basics. You will
want to learn more. At the end of each lesson, a list of other Pharos courses is
provided for your reference, as and when you want to expand your knowledge and
skills. Full details of every course are available on the Pharos website.
www.pharostutors.com.
So You Think you know FamilySearch – a
guided tour
4 week course
Victorian Families – Your ancestors in the
census
5 week course
Organizing your Genealogy
3 week course
Remember also that lessons two and three of this Beginner’s course will be
available to you through enrolling on the full course now. Full details are on
the web site.
© Hannah Baker 2013
pg. 20