An Introduction To Family History

By Andrew Sefton (Born and raised at Hall Farm, Bishop Wilton)

Tracing your family tree is increasing in popularity due to the availability of the Internet and email, enabling access to information that has never before been possible. The most popular site on the Internet is www.familysearch.org which is a huge site run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons). They have set themselves a goal of recording every individual that has ever lived on the planet. Over 400 million people are now in their database. They have details of the births and marriages of nearly all parishes in the UK. If you use this site to look for your family then it is important to treat it like an index and to always check it against the source records. They have also published another important information source for UK family historians, the 1881 census. This can be bought for around £30 and is a valuable resource for researchers. It is possible to search by name and by place, and list all family members and occupations, and so will be very useful for research on Bishop Wilton. It is available from: LDS Church Distribution, 399 Garrets Green Lane, Birmingham, B33 0UH, tel. 0121 785 2200. The 1881 census is now also available on their web site above.

Another useful site for research on the Internet is GENUKI which can be found at www.genuki.org.uk. The Yorkshire site is run by Colin Hinson and takes contributions from many sources. For example, I have contributed to the Bishop Wilton and Birdsall pages and transcribe the Births, Marriages and Deaths from the Malton Messenger newspaper. Other useful Internet sites are:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/search.html - The search page for GENUKI.
http://www.census.pro.gov.uk/ - The 1901 census, now up and running!
http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html - Roy Stockdale’s Newbie’s guide
http://www.acsweb.hull.ac.uk/arc/collection/humad2.html - Hull University archives and manuscripts pages. Type ‘Bishop Wilton’ in the search to find lots of references.
http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ - Old Maps of Bishop Wilton (1854)
http://www.rod-neep.co.uk/ - Lots of CDs of old trade directories etc.
http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ - An attempt by volunteers to store all the Births, Marriages & Deaths in the UK after the start of Civil Registration in 1837.

The above is a good starting point for research on the Internet. However the traditional areas of research for family historians are just as important and are essential in order to check the validity of the Internet information.

ORAL RESEARCH - Start with your immediate family, record their life experiences and backgrounds. Visit the older surviving members of the family and record their photographs. Make sure they write names on the back! Some of the best information I have on my family has been obtained by talking to family members. Using this technique and asking the origins of grandparents you should be able to get back to 1901. You can then search the 1901 census on the Internet or visit York, Beverley or Malton library which have the census on microfiche.

CENSUS - the recording of all individuals in the UK every 10 years; because of the 100-year privacy rule the latest one we can look at is 1901

1901 - the first one to be available on-line over the Internet.
1891 - now available on CD but is not in a searchable form as they have merely scanned the original sheets, so unless you know the address it can be difficult to search.
1881 - available on 30 CDs from the LDS. This is the most useful as it is searchable by name and place.
1861 & 1871 - not yet available on computer CD but viewable at the library.
1851 - the most useful early census as it was the first to contain family relationships and accurate age of individuals. Mostly available from Local Family History societies in printed form and fiche.
1841 - available now on CD in a scanned form (n.b. many pages are hard to read).
1801 to 1831 - no use as they only list numbers of people in each village.

CIVIL REGISTRATION - started in 1837 but not made compulsory until 1875. It is possible to look up any Birth, Marriage or Death in York Library which has films of each year up to 1990. It is necessary to know the year and each year has 4 films by quarter. If you find a birth, for example, then it gives the name and reference number. Note down the reference number and then the Birth Certificate can be ordered from the GRO, PO BOX 2, Southport, PR8 2JD. For details see www.statistics.gov.uk. Birth and Marriage Certificates usually name the parents, so a jump to previous generations can be made.

PARISH REGISTERS & BISHOPS’ TRANSCRIPTS - Prior to 1837, things get more difficult. The Borthwick Institute in York holds many Parish registers and copies of Parish registers sent to the local Bishop and called Bishops’ Transcripts, and it is possible to book a film reader to look through them. You need to check both as each can have records which may be missing from the other. It can be difficult deciphering the old handwriting and it is down to potluck the amount of information recorded by the local incumbent. Luckily the Church of Latter Day Saints has transcribed many of them on their web site mentioned earlier. Usually the birth of an individual is shown with the father’s name (and sometimes the mother’s!). Again it is possible to work back.

Other information sources include: Old Trade Directories such as Kellys, or Bulmers or Baines. These can be found at local libraries and increasingly nowadays in scanned form on computer CD ROM.

WILLS - The Borthwick Institute in York holds a large number of early Wills prior to 1857, and these are a very valuable source of information on early family members. Wills fall into two groupings: up till 10 January 1858 probate matters were dealt with in ecclesiastical (i.e. church) courts, and after that date by the Probate Registry. So for those Wills before 1858 apply to the Borthwick for the relevant document, and for those after this date to the Probate Registry. The address is: Probate Registry, Duncombe Place,York, YO1 7EA

I hope this has inspired you to have a go. I will be willing to give you a helping hand if needed. My web site is www.andysefton.com.