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Genealogical Research
Ancestrography
specializes in pre-census genealogy and genealogical biography. There is a
wealth of sources available in local archives of which only a small
proportion is yet online. Research prior to 1841 (the first detailed census
year) becomes progressively more difficult and expert advice or completion
will often be of inestimable value; before 1733 many documents were in Latin
and we can help you jump this hurdle too. Projects undertaken by
Ancestrography in East Midlands archives (Derbyshire, Leicestershire,
Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland); advice given for projects throughout
the UK.
Nottinghamshire was the home county of the Separatists who formed the nucleus
of the Pilgrim Fathers. Ancestrography is therefore well placed to assist
descendants of such "First Families" in thorough research about
their European ancestry. Mistakes have been made in the past about the early
settlers and can still be corrected by careful use of extant sources in
Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire archives.
Family trees and ancestral biographies compiled from all available sources
including census, parish registers, wills and inventories, manorial records,
poor law records, churchwardens' accounts and many more. Set in the context
of demography, local and national history, and the history of the family,
which is now an academic discipline in its own right.
Summaries
of Ancestrography success stories
What I
often do is help people who have already traced back their family but reached
a dead end, having run out of obvious sources. Here are some of my successes:
- Three clients sharing the same surname had found
common ancestors and traced them back to the start of parish registers.
By collaborating and sharing costs they were able to hire me to pick up
the trail in manorial court rolls and follow it right back to 1389.
- Client had traced his ancestors back to a marriage in
1616 but could find no earlier record in the parish; I found out where
they had come from (and hypothetically why they moved) and found two
earlier generations including a change of surname.
- Client had gone back to a baptism in 1699 with no
earlier records for the surname locally; I spread a wider net,
looking for clues, found where they came from and traced back another
four generations to a will made in 1572.
- Client in New Zealand was stuck because an emigrant
ancestor who arrived in 1860 had lied about her age when married in
order to cover up the illegitimacy of her eldest child (she had
also lied about her own father's name because she was herself
illegitimate). I unscrambled all the facts & motives and identified
her and her husband's families going back three generations further.
- An American client wanted to know about certain
relatives of the Pilgrim Fathers who had stayed behind in Europe after
1621. I discovered where they lived and proved that they did not
return to their original home in Nottinghamshire because they
had sold up all their land there in 1618 (probably to get cash for
the Mayflower venture).
- A client was stuck in the 19th century because there
were two individuals with the same name; I identified their ancestor and
then traced the male line back to a couple married in 1606 - discovered
four hundred years later to the day!
- Two namesake settlers in 17th-century
Virginia had long been conflated into a single person; I was able to
identify them in English records and suggest how they were related and
so disentangle them!
Latin and English
documents transcribed, translated and fully interpreted, giving you extra
insights into your ancestors' lives. If you would like this sort of
professional help with your project, e-mail Peter Foden at
enquiries@ancestrography.co.uk.
Research elsewhere
Genealogical
research often spills over county and national boundaries. Peter makes
regular research visits to The National Archives and British Library in
London and has contacts in other parts of England and Wales who are well able
to undertake your research in their regions. Please ask for Peter's advice by
e-mail, or follow these links:
Freda Raphael, Historicalsearch
(Derbyshire and adjacent counties)
Pam
Buttrey (Greater London as well as Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and
Merionethshire Record Offices). For an example of Pam's work, visit www.mcfadden-buttrey.com, to see
details of Salt &
Silk - chronicles of the Aubreys of Clehonger, interpreted
by D Meredith McFadden.
Ancestrography
can also recommend other well-qualified researchers in East Anglia (Norfolk
and Suffolk), Bath, Bristol, Dorset, Somerset, and Wiltshire.
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