WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
The most difficult step in family history is the initial one. The flow of accessible information from archives to internet offers all kinds of information. So much so that people often wonder where to start or how to navigate through the mass of available material. These resources are invaluable, but when trying to trace the dead, the best place to start is with the living.
STARTER’S WISH LIST
At the top of any wish list should be birth, marriage or death certificates, which are the building blocks of family-history research. Diaries and letters contain information that can aid your search, but they also offer a fascinating insight into the lives and times of your ancestors.
FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS
These are manna from heaven because every picture tells a story. There’s an immense power in gazing at photos of people who are long gone, and also a kick in working out from whom you inherited certain physical traits. It’s always a good idea to check the back of a photograph to see if someone has written the date on which it was taken, or even the names of those featured.
If there’s no date, look carefully at what people are wearing because clothes can offer a clue: for example, in the late Victorian period, women’s dresses were often simple and plain, while earlier on in Victoria’s reign they were often adorned with ribbons and bows. If the men are in military uniform, the buttons, medals, caps or insignias can indicate their regiment or rank.
OTHER HEIRLOOMS
This can include war or service medals, often inscribed with regiment or ship names, or press cuttings about significant moments in your ancestors’ lives.
Comedian Rory Bremner’s quest to know more about the military deeds of his father, who died of cancer when Rory was 18, first took him to his brother Nigel, who had inherited the family archive. Among the photographs and other memorabilia, he found a letter that confirmed his father had seen front-line action in the Second World War and indicated where. This offered him priceless detail that not only brought his father to life, but also gave Rory a starting point for his research.
SURVIVING RELATIVES
If you’re lucky enough to have surviving relatives from a previous generation, whether that’s parents or grandparents, then you have the perfect starting point. Not only will a chat with them yield precious nuggets of information to kickstart your quest, it’s also an ideal way to preserve an oral history of your family. It’s a great idea, with their agreement, to record interviews with any relatives. Not only does it free you to listen carefully to what they’re saying rather than having to scribble down notes, but those tapes can be used by your descendants when their time comes to research the past.
BEFORE YOUR INTERVIEWS…
Write down everything you know (or think you know) about your family history. Include any family stories or legends. Sketch out a rough family tree if possible. At this stage it might only feature you and your immediate family but it will indicate where the gaps are and where you should target your research. Put yourself and your immediate family at the centre of this tree with any dates of births, marriages and deaths that you know, the names and details of any siblings, your parents’ names and significant dates if possible, as well as any other relatives.
It doesn’t matter if this is just a rough diagram at this stage. There’s no need to invest in an expensive piece of genealogy software just yet. There are templates you can find online, or you can simply do it yourself with a piece of paper and a pencil. Put your generation’s branch at the bottom of the page, then your father and mother’s names above that, and each of their parents’ names above that, and so on. However, it’s entirely up to you how you structure it, or even if you structure it at all. The only ‘must’ is that you find a method to organise your research for easy reference as you proceed.
The actor Kevin Whately’s brother Frank had a family tree that their father had put together more than 50 years before, which set the actor on a journey back into the 18th century to unearth a story of wealth and religion. A family tree can help you pinpoint and focus your search on the ancestors that interest you most. Armed with the bare bones of a family tree, and with a note of any family stories, it is time to arrange and prepare for any family interviews.
INTERVIEWING TIPS
Be flexible Write down any questions you might want to ask beforehand, but don’t be a slave to them. You can always return to your list later in the interview.
Be respectful If you’re recording the interview, whether it’s in person or over the internet or phone, you should always tell your interviewee and make sure they’re comfortable with it.
Be encouraging Keep your questions ‘open-ended’; for example, ‘What do you remember about your childhood?’ will elicit more information than ‘Do you remember your childhood?’ and will encourage your subject to open up.
Be patient Memories can be hazy and people need time to recall events. Allow your subjects to speak and minimise any interruptions to avoid derailing their train of thought.
Be sensitive All families have their secrets, and some people are not willing to speak about them.
Be vigilant Don’t accept everything you are told as gospel truth. I was once told that a distant relative had been killed in the American Civil War. It turned out to be nonsense.
WHAT IS YOUR AIM?
Once you have completed your interviews and collected all the materials and heirlooms you can possibly find, it is time to ask yourself exactly what the aim of your research is. In most episodes of Who Do You Think You Are? the featured celebrity is interviewed at the start of their journey and indicates what they’re keen to find out. Broadcaster and conservationist Bill Oddie was eager to know the truth about his mother’s illness, for instance. Go through your notes and see if there’s a particular story you want to look into first.
Of course, as has happened in the show many times, your research might take you down another path entirely, but having a clear idea of what you want to know can help to focus your research. Perhaps you want to discover whether Uncle William really was a serial bigamist, or find out more about the mysterious case of Auntie Doreen and her missing husbands…
NO CLEAR GOAL?
If you don’t have a clear goal in mind and you just want to trace your family’s path from the past to the present – like many people do – then it is best to choose one branch of the family to research first, to avoid being overwhelmed.
You’ll have your surname, probably passed down by your father, and your mother’s maiden name, which opens up another branch of investigation. If you have the details of your grandparents, then that’s another four names and maiden names to research.
If you’re aware of who your greatgrandparents are, then that’s another eight names – and before you know it, things can get extremely confusing and complicated.
Pick one branch and go as far as you can with it, then return to the start and investigate another branch. Many people begin with their father’s family because that’s the strand that gave them their surname, but equally many others start with their mother’s. If you have no preference, the key for beginners is to select the side of the family that’s easiest to research, which means the branch with the most distinctive surname. The rarer a name is, the easier it is to trace.
So, if you’re someone who’s been teased all your life for having an unusual surname, this is where you can have the last laugh: the long-suffering Shufflebottom family will find it much easier to trace their lineage than the ever-present Smiths.
Who Do You Think You Are? by Dan Waddell, is published by BBC Books, priced £9.99.
Who Do You Think You Are? is broadcast on BBC One on Thursdays at 9pm.
Place names
Some of the most common surnames originated from a desire to differentiate people according to where they lived. So John who lived near the hill was known as John Hill, and John who lived beside the village green became John Green. Other common surnames of this type include Brook, Beck or Moore (from Old English meaning ‘open land’ or ‘bog’).
Patronymics
Many surnames derive from the name of a father in the mists of time – such as Johnson, Jackson, Robertson (son of John, Jack and Robert, respectively) – which has then been passed down the line. Fascinatingly, in Iceland this practice still continues. If Jon Sigurdsson has a son named Olafur, he becomes Olafur Jonsson.
Occupational
In feudal England there was a need to differentiate between John the blacksmith and John the wheelwright, so they became known as John Smith and John Wright, respectively. Other common surnames derived from this source are Baker, Cook, Taylor (tailor), Miller, Cooper (a craftsman in wood).
Nicknames
There is a sense that all surnames are nicknames because they were given to people so as to differentiate them from others. Most intriguingly, there are those who were named for their habits. ‘Fairweather’ might be someone of a sunny nature; ‘Moody’ might mean just that. It’s not always literal; the surname ‘Drinkwater’ could mean your ancestors liked to drink water, or it might have been given sarcastically because they were drunks who’d be better off drinking water!
STARTER’S WISH LIST
At the top of any wish list should be birth, marriage or death certificates, which are the building blocks of family-history research. Diaries and letters contain information that can aid your search, but they also offer a fascinating insight into the lives and times of your ancestors.
FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS
These are manna from heaven because every picture tells a story. There’s an immense power in gazing at photos of people who are long gone, and also a kick in working out from whom you inherited certain physical traits. It’s always a good idea to check the back of a photograph to see if someone has written the date on which it was taken, or even the names of those featured.
If there’s no date, look carefully at what people are wearing because clothes can offer a clue: for example, in the late Victorian period, women’s dresses were often simple and plain, while earlier on in Victoria’s reign they were often adorned with ribbons and bows. If the men are in military uniform, the buttons, medals, caps or insignias can indicate their regiment or rank.
OTHER HEIRLOOMS
This can include war or service medals, often inscribed with regiment or ship names, or press cuttings about significant moments in your ancestors’ lives.
Comedian Rory Bremner’s quest to know more about the military deeds of his father, who died of cancer when Rory was 18, first took him to his brother Nigel, who had inherited the family archive. Among the photographs and other memorabilia, he found a letter that confirmed his father had seen front-line action in the Second World War and indicated where. This offered him priceless detail that not only brought his father to life, but also gave Rory a starting point for his research.
SURVIVING RELATIVES
If you’re lucky enough to have surviving relatives from a previous generation, whether that’s parents or grandparents, then you have the perfect starting point. Not only will a chat with them yield precious nuggets of information to kickstart your quest, it’s also an ideal way to preserve an oral history of your family. It’s a great idea, with their agreement, to record interviews with any relatives. Not only does it free you to listen carefully to what they’re saying rather than having to scribble down notes, but those tapes can be used by your descendants when their time comes to research the past.
BEFORE YOUR INTERVIEWS…
Write down everything you know (or think you know) about your family history. Include any family stories or legends. Sketch out a rough family tree if possible. At this stage it might only feature you and your immediate family but it will indicate where the gaps are and where you should target your research. Put yourself and your immediate family at the centre of this tree with any dates of births, marriages and deaths that you know, the names and details of any siblings, your parents’ names and significant dates if possible, as well as any other relatives.
It doesn’t matter if this is just a rough diagram at this stage. There’s no need to invest in an expensive piece of genealogy software just yet. There are templates you can find online, or you can simply do it yourself with a piece of paper and a pencil. Put your generation’s branch at the bottom of the page, then your father and mother’s names above that, and each of their parents’ names above that, and so on. However, it’s entirely up to you how you structure it, or even if you structure it at all. The only ‘must’ is that you find a method to organise your research for easy reference as you proceed.
The actor Kevin Whately’s brother Frank had a family tree that their father had put together more than 50 years before, which set the actor on a journey back into the 18th century to unearth a story of wealth and religion. A family tree can help you pinpoint and focus your search on the ancestors that interest you most. Armed with the bare bones of a family tree, and with a note of any family stories, it is time to arrange and prepare for any family interviews.
INTERVIEWING TIPS
Be flexible Write down any questions you might want to ask beforehand, but don’t be a slave to them. You can always return to your list later in the interview.
Be respectful If you’re recording the interview, whether it’s in person or over the internet or phone, you should always tell your interviewee and make sure they’re comfortable with it.
Be encouraging Keep your questions ‘open-ended’; for example, ‘What do you remember about your childhood?’ will elicit more information than ‘Do you remember your childhood?’ and will encourage your subject to open up.
Be patient Memories can be hazy and people need time to recall events. Allow your subjects to speak and minimise any interruptions to avoid derailing their train of thought.
Be sensitive All families have their secrets, and some people are not willing to speak about them.
Be vigilant Don’t accept everything you are told as gospel truth. I was once told that a distant relative had been killed in the American Civil War. It turned out to be nonsense.
WHAT IS YOUR AIM?
Once you have completed your interviews and collected all the materials and heirlooms you can possibly find, it is time to ask yourself exactly what the aim of your research is. In most episodes of Who Do You Think You Are? the featured celebrity is interviewed at the start of their journey and indicates what they’re keen to find out. Broadcaster and conservationist Bill Oddie was eager to know the truth about his mother’s illness, for instance. Go through your notes and see if there’s a particular story you want to look into first.
Of course, as has happened in the show many times, your research might take you down another path entirely, but having a clear idea of what you want to know can help to focus your research. Perhaps you want to discover whether Uncle William really was a serial bigamist, or find out more about the mysterious case of Auntie Doreen and her missing husbands…
NO CLEAR GOAL?
If you don’t have a clear goal in mind and you just want to trace your family’s path from the past to the present – like many people do – then it is best to choose one branch of the family to research first, to avoid being overwhelmed.
You’ll have your surname, probably passed down by your father, and your mother’s maiden name, which opens up another branch of investigation. If you have the details of your grandparents, then that’s another four names and maiden names to research.
If you’re aware of who your greatgrandparents are, then that’s another eight names – and before you know it, things can get extremely confusing and complicated.
Pick one branch and go as far as you can with it, then return to the start and investigate another branch. Many people begin with their father’s family because that’s the strand that gave them their surname, but equally many others start with their mother’s. If you have no preference, the key for beginners is to select the side of the family that’s easiest to research, which means the branch with the most distinctive surname. The rarer a name is, the easier it is to trace.
So, if you’re someone who’s been teased all your life for having an unusual surname, this is where you can have the last laugh: the long-suffering Shufflebottom family will find it much easier to trace their lineage than the ever-present Smiths.
Who Do You Think You Are? by Dan Waddell, is published by BBC Books, priced £9.99.
Who Do You Think You Are? is broadcast on BBC One on Thursdays at 9pm.
What’s in a name?
Everything starts with a name, but which one and what does it mean? We can learn a lot about our roots from our surname. Much will depend on where your family came from, but if your ancestry is British, many names fall into four main categories.Place names
Some of the most common surnames originated from a desire to differentiate people according to where they lived. So John who lived near the hill was known as John Hill, and John who lived beside the village green became John Green. Other common surnames of this type include Brook, Beck or Moore (from Old English meaning ‘open land’ or ‘bog’).
Patronymics
Many surnames derive from the name of a father in the mists of time – such as Johnson, Jackson, Robertson (son of John, Jack and Robert, respectively) – which has then been passed down the line. Fascinatingly, in Iceland this practice still continues. If Jon Sigurdsson has a son named Olafur, he becomes Olafur Jonsson.
Occupational
In feudal England there was a need to differentiate between John the blacksmith and John the wheelwright, so they became known as John Smith and John Wright, respectively. Other common surnames derived from this source are Baker, Cook, Taylor (tailor), Miller, Cooper (a craftsman in wood).
Nicknames
There is a sense that all surnames are nicknames because they were given to people so as to differentiate them from others. Most intriguingly, there are those who were named for their habits. ‘Fairweather’ might be someone of a sunny nature; ‘Moody’ might mean just that. It’s not always literal; the surname ‘Drinkwater’ could mean your ancestors liked to drink water, or it might have been given sarcastically because they were drunks who’d be better off drinking water!