TRACING YOUR GEORGIAN ANCESTORS 1714-1837

Researching your ancestors from the period before 1837 is very much more difficult than in the Victorian era because civil records were only required to be kept from 1837. This helpful book covers the sources that are available for the era before 1837, and with modern digitisation you can sometimes be getting results in a matter of hours, whereas previously it would take days or weeks. Knowledge of historical topics is helpful, for instance the differences between religious denominations and the working of the poor laws. First names were limited in Georgian times, with half of boys being called John, William or Thomas and half of girls being Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah or Ann. Children were often named after relatives in a specific order, and the confusing result is that two adult male siblings might have children with identical names born within a year or two of each other. Researchers need to be aware of the key year 1752, when the beginning of the year changed from 25 March to 1 January. Parish records include baptism, burials and marriages, and some parishes have documents from vestry meetings recording churchwardens, ratepayers and poor law disbursements. Diocesan records might cover church courts and probate. Nonconformist churches had different rules, for instance Baptists did not practise infant baptism, while Roman Catholics, often known as Papists, can be found in the archives of quarter sessions, for instance in 1767 when a record of all Papists was required by law. Education, the military, the landed gentry and criminal records are other areas covered. 212pp, paperback, illus.