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Help for a newbie please.

Sparkhill Boy

Sparkhill Boy

master brummie
I have used ancestry to trace my relatives back as far as the early 1800's. Now I'm finding that the parents of the people I have found would be on a census dated 1831 if there were such a thing.
Where do I go from here please.
I live in Dorset, so it would be difficult to "pop around"
Many thanks in anticipation.
 
If any of your ancestors were born before 1837 then you could try www.familysearch.org.uk. It is a list of Parish register christenings, some times you can get lucky, 1831 census are available at Libraries i think, i have never viewed one as yet :)
 
Who is it you are trying to find?

You can always ring the Library where the census would be held and ask them to do a search for you, they will charge a small fee tho.. the 1831 census is a lot like the 1841 in that it doesn't list place of birth and relationship of the people in the household.
 
Claire-brum. Do all libraries hold census records of the local or wider areas. Or do the main libraries hold national records? G
 
I am not sure about National Libraries, I do know that if you want Birmingham then you have to go to B'ham Library, for Leeds you would have to go to Leeds etc, etc, it is a pain, most Libraries hold some Parish records for outside their area's but they are limited, Birmingham does but they aren't as vast as would be held at the city in questions Library. So i think your best bet is to contact the Library for the City you suspect they were in. Also depending on the city, you might get lucky and get a hit on the Trade Directories, this often listed address's... B'ham and some other cities held them i have found them online, but a lot of cities didn't unfortunately.
 
The 1831 and previous census are statistics only. The purpose of all of the census is to give the numbers of people region by region, their occupations etc. We as family historians have been able to benefit from the census taken from 1841, in fact it would be a hard task to identify our ancestors without them. However the 1831 is a head count only, logging numbers, where the largest populations are, employed and unemployed. There are no names and no address's as far as I am aware. I know that Walsall did publish names with what is called the 1d dole, where households were each given given 1d. I bought the CD containg the records, but again it is households and last name only with the number of people living in the household. :)
 
Hi, I have been able to go back to the 1600 with my families, Im doing 3.
I founf the Church of the Latter Day Saints a good way of getting free info. you also get the pedigree and families so you can go back a long way. It is of course Family Search but going through the Church there is no payment to be made:) Best of Luck JoanH
 
The LDS or Family search is very good but beware that you can only tell if the information given can be verified as your ancestor if the information comes from Parish or other written records.
Much of the information gathered by LDS is submitted by members and very often is incorrect.
I have all the certificates relating to my great grandfather but a very remote family member somewhere in USA has submitted his details and every one is incorrect. I have contacted LDS and asked them to remove the submitted articles.

The Extracted are correct records,the submitted would need to be verified.
 
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I reported an error to Family Search regarding a death on a submitted record. I know the record is wrong because the individual was referred to in his father's will 3 years after the so called death listed on Family Search. When I emailed FS the 1st reply was:
"Thank you for contacting FamilySearch Support about incorrect information in our data base on familysearch.org. The information in the data bases can not be corrected or updated, however we encourage you to send the correct information. Click anywhere on the blue links below for documents that will help you submit the correct information."
I suggested in my follow up email that if the record could not be changed they remove it, but they ignored my suggestion & focused on a point I simply did not make.
I have always been very wary of submitted records, but now even more so given that I am told incorrect entries cannot be corrected or removed.
 
Call me an old cynic but I trust no ones research but my own, not even my husbands! I often ask for help from lots of sources, web sites etc but even though I am extremely grateful for everyones advice and input I ALWAYS double check the information that others provide.

When I first started researching I was sent off on a wild goose chase by someone's information because they hadn't read the birthplace on the census correctly and I didn't check it myself. There is a big difference between Cambridge and Derby!

In the past I have been sent trees that include my ancestors several times and found a lot of material to be incorrect. Indeed on two occassions I have been advised by others of the name of the father of one of my ancestors but have never been able to prove it myself. When I asked for their reference details for the info they were unable to provide the details of where they got their info from. I suspect one had cribbed the info off the others family tree and that the first individual had made a large supposition which I believe to be false.

Getting futher back in your tree becomes more of a challenge the further back from about 1790 you go. Unless your ancestors were wealthy and or important little will have been recorded about them. Many records simply do not survive and it is hard to access the information without cost in time, travel and cash.

Some local family history society members have a reciprocal arrangement to look up information in their areas for a similar favour. This may help cut the cost and travel. If I look anything up for anyone I always provide the reference and a photocopy if possible.

Good luck with your research

Helen
 
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