Online Genealogy Tracing

[DeepC]

Has anyone had any success with the free genealogy sites such as Family Search (http://www.familysearch.com) etc.

I am drawing a total blank on my family. I guess it is partly because we were non-conformist.

If anyone has any had any success with other sites can you give me a 'heads up' so I can run my 'knowns' through them and see what I can dig up.

Cheers

DeepC

[stagger]

Useful tip if you're using the 1901 census online search facility. Before paying to retrieve specific census sheets you can get an idea as to whether individuals you are interested in were part of the same family by looking at their index numbers.

If they have consecutive (or close to consecutive) index numbers then they were probably living in the same property.

[DeepC]

Cracking response folks.

I'm going to try and question some of my very old relations to see whether I can flesh out even the last 100 years. My surname is Clark and my paternal family lived in Luton, Bedfordshire in the past hundred or so years.

Stagger thanks for the tip.

Has anyone used the 1837.com website for BMD information?

Mike, I'll bear in mind that you are something of an expert on this subject so you might have to expect a PM or two in the future!

Cheers

DeepC

[Bern Oulli]

DeepC I've used the 1837 BMD index (http://www.1837online.com) for a fair bit of research. It is very like being at the Family Record Centre because what you view are scans of the register pages. Once you have found the record (you think) you want you can then order it on-line and wait for it to come through the letter box 5 days later. Very efficient. Remember it is a pay as you go service and your unused credit will ultimately time expire.

Have you thought of purchasing the complete 1881 census from the Mormons? Something like 25 CDs in a bound wallet for about £30. Absolutely invaluable and will get you off to a head start.

[DeepC]

Thanks once again.

I have had a play with 1837.com and that has confirmed a few details.

I have been given a family tree of a family which is interlinked with ours quite closely.

I now know the following.

Dad is Philip James Clark (Born Luton 20th April 1948)
Dad's Dad was Alec Samuel Clark (Died Luton October 1989)
Dad's Mum was Ruth Mary Kingham (Died 1973)

I think....

My Great Grandad's name was Arthur George.

Small beginnings eh!

DeepC

(Daniel Philip Clark (Born Luton 28th April 1977))

[Keef]

Much good info above. I've done a fair bit of digging, and found that the one to watch is several children of the same parents with the same name. Baby Frederick dies at 3 months. Another son is born a year later and also called Frederick. He dies aged 6, so... And so on. That can lead you to some confusing results.

I've got the Mormon 1881 Census on CDROM, and that's proved very useful. Also got the British Isles Vital Records Index - also very useful. The various web search sites are also good.

Beware, though, of the Mormon website. It's chock full of errors and worse. Many years ago my elder daughter and I were just starting our research, and worked out a theory to link the bits we had. She wrote to the Mormons to ask if they could confirm our theory. We never got a reply, but a year or so later we found all our guesses logged on the Mormon site. We thought "whoopee - we were right".

Then we did a lot more research, found the right records, and realised that all those theories were wrong. But the Mormons have entered them all as if they were right. Could be very confusing...

Have you checked the Nonconformist records for your family? I'm lucky that mine were mostly Anglicans, and I've visited the Parish Churches where they lived and pulled lots of good data from the records there.

[DeepC]

The more recent (post 19??) Death records in the BMD index list a date of birth. Has anyone any idea of how accurate these are. The reason I ask is that I got a date of birth off 1837online Death index and then checked the birth index for the period when it says the person was born. They do not appear.

Cheers for you help once again.

DeepC

P.S. I have almost given up on the Mormons as they seem to have little interest in listing any of the Luton Clark family.

[Brian Dixon]

Deep C,
I have had a good bit of success with Genesconnected (http://www.genesconnected.co.uk)

You may be able to link up with relatives who are already researching yout tree - even a distant branch.

As a result of using this site, I located a distant cousin and managed to get photographs of my great grandparents, plus loads of otherwise unknown relatives.

Good hunting.
Brian

[DeepC]

I'm drawing a blank on nearly all the websites listed.

I am now back to my great great Grandfather.

My Great Grandfather was....
Arthur George Clark of Luton (Married to Bertha Gray. 1883-1971)
My Great Great Grandfather was....
James Clark of Barton le Clay (Born in Streatley, Married to Susan)

I have managed to get the family details of the 1901 Census.

It looks like it is now time to start paying for certificates!

Thanks very much for all help so far. If any of you have the time to run James and Susan through a search on genealogical CDs that you own I would be exceedingly grateful.

DeepC

[DeepC]

1881 Census has the following according to www.familysearch.org. At last I got it to find something of mine!

Name Relation Marital Status Gender Age Birthplace Occupation Disability
James CLARK Head M Male 33 Streatly, Bedford, England Agricultural Labourer
Susan CLARK Wife M Female 31 Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England Straw Plaiter
Emily CLARK Daur Female 12 Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England Straw Plaiter
John CLARK Son Male 9 Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England Scholar
Mary Ann CLARK Daur Female 6 Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England Scholar
Minnie CLARK Daur Female 3 Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England Scholar
Ruth CLARK Daur Female 1 Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England

Do the CDs tend to carry any more info?

DeepC

P.S The John aged 9 above is 'the black sheep' of our family. He disappeared and was not heard of again.

[Keef]

Not a lot more ...

Dwelling: 6 Hexton Road
Census Place: Barton In Clay, Bedford, England
Source: FHL Film 1341395 PRO Ref RG11 Piece 1653 Folio 66 Page 11
Marr Age Sex Birthplace
James CLARK M 33 M Streatly, Bedford, England
Rel: Head
Occ: Agricultural Labourer
Susan CLARK M 31 F Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England
Rel: Wife
Occ: Straw Plaiter
Emily CLARK 12 F Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England
Rel: Daur
Occ: Straw Plaiter
John CLARK 9 M Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England
Rel: Son
Occ: Scholar
Mary Ann CLARK 6 F Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England
Rel: Daur
Occ: Scholar
Minnie CLARK 3 F Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England
Rel: Daur
Occ: Scholar
Ruth CLARK 1 F Barton Le Clay, Bedford, England
Rel: Daur


There's nothing about James in the Vital Records Index - he was born about the time BMD records began. So you'd need to go to Streatly/Streatley and see if he's in the Church's baptism register. That would give you more information about him.

[DeepC]

Keef,

Much appreciated.

What is the easiest way of finding the maiden name of the wife, Susan. I have tried looking up all the James Clark marriages in Bedfordshire on FreeBMD during the likely marriage years and then relooking up the other names on the same register page in the hope of finding a matching Susan. Nothing has come of that.

What years were Census's taken. Is there a 1861 Census for instance. I know they are every 10years on the XXX1 year of the decade but when did they start and are there others that are being put on the web.

It is unlikely that he would have been baptised/christened as the family has been non-conformist particular (strict) baptists for some years. For instance I know that another of James' sons, my ggrandfather was a deacon at the Ebenezer Strict Baptist chapel in Luton. I therefore suspect that James would have attended the chapel I now attend, Hope Chapel in Barton le Clay. Streatley is the next village from Barton.

Thanks once again,

DeepC

[Keef]

What is the easiest way of finding the maiden name of the wife, Susan.

There isn't anything easier than what you have done. Based on the 1881 Census, it's likely they married a year or two either side of 1868.

So a search reveals:

1. JAMES CLARK
Gender: Male Marriage: 19 NOV 1868 Barton In The Clay, Bedford, England

And looking that up reveals:

Marriages:
Spouse: SUSAN FROST
Marriage: 19 NOV 1868 Barton In The Clay, Bedford, England

That do?

What years were Census's taken. Is there a 1861 Census for instance.

Every 10 years. There was one in 1821 and in 1831 as I recall, but they didn't record names so aren't much use to you. I've waded through the films of the 1841 census at the FRC in London, and extracted bits from it. (Maybe the 1831 had names, can't remember at this distance, but it wasn't much help if it did cos there's nothing in my notes from it).

The 1881 is available on CDROM (I have it here, which is where the family details came from). The 1891 as far as I know isn't. The 1901 is available online, and you can look up all sorts of information, print it out, and so on (for a fee).

I therefore suspect that James would have attended the chapel I now attend, Hope Chapel in Barton le Clay.

I don't know what records (if any) chapels kept. Maybe the elders (or deacons, or whatever) will know? The Church of England has been legally required to keep records since 1550 or thenabouts, so if you can find where those records are stored, you can do a lot.

[DeepC]

Correct on the Marriage. I got an email today from a mate (who is also a distant relative) who said his grandmother was a cousin of Susan. His grandmother's name was Frost. His dad is the current Deacon at the Chapel so I asked him to find out if there were any records kept.

Cheers Keef, The Mormons come up trumps once again.

from what I now know.....

The 1881 Census is online at the Familysearch.org website.
The 1891 is online at Ancestry.co.uk
The 1901 is online at the census.pro.gov.uk website.

FreeBMD and 1837 online have the BMD indexes online.

I am pleasantly surprised how easy (with your help) it has been to get back 150 years without leaving the comfort of my home or office chair.

Family Search is coming up with no likely Clarks in Streatley who may be James' Father and Mother.

Cheers

DeepC

[Keef]

No, James was born about 1848 which is the time the requirement to register was coming online, but folks weren't generally doing it.

Prior to that, you're back to parish records or the equivalent in chapels (if they kept any). It gets harder at that point.

Oh - and be flexible in your spelling. Many people back that far weren't literate, and the spelling of names was "fluid". I've traced branches of my and my wife's family back a long way, and in the early years every generation seemed to spell the surname differently. Read: the local Vicar wrote it down how he thought it should be. Between generations, the Vicars changed, and the spelling along with them.