Start with what you know, or think you know

So, if you are reading this either you clicked the wrong button or you are interested in finding out about your past – or, you’re stalking me.

I have spent the last week going through the parish registers for Essex searching for family. I did find out that in 1500s the parish registers were all written in latin, et notum fuisset!

The first thing I did and recommend you do is to ask questions – of your parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, people with same last name even the internet. Bit of a cautionary note – you may hit some brick walls like I did with my Dad, get false information, partial information or they may legitimately may not know. Do not despair.

My main experience has been with England with some side trips to Scotland and even India! My initial sources of information were (gulp) my Dad, my mother and my Dad’s mother. Alas, my other grandparents had died well before I was born.

There were snippets of information from my grandmother which didn’t really connect but did serve as some guide points along the way. Much as my dad would not talk about his immediate siblings or father there were even glimmers there – his maternal grandfather worked for the railway and was a guard on the Royal Scotsman (turned out to be the Flying Scotsman of the LNER) and his name was John Henry Green.

One of the things he did volunteer was that we are related to Lord Horatio Nelson! Every time there was a picture of Trafalgar Square with the Nelson monument in the middle he would say “We’re related to him!” Allegedly all written down in the “family bible” whereabouts unknown. Tidbits of information but write them all down, who knows what’s real and what’s imagined. Nelson’s mother’s maiden name was Suckling ergo the parish registers I was going through.

Then there was my mum. Bless her, she was trying to be helpful. Her dad was Joseph and her mum was Evelyn – good start. She even knew her mum’s father’s name – Joseph Buck. Wow, guess I’ll start with mum’s side. I’ll go through what tools are available now but when I started it meant a trip up to the local Family History Centre run by the Church of Latter Day Saints, open on Tuesdays. Scroll  through reels and reels of microfilm, make notes, order other reels of microfilm and impatiently wait until they arrive and repeat. Use the internet and pull up whatever genealogy information was available. I even have a complete copy of the British 1881 census on CDs (my laptop doesn’t even have a CD port anymore).

Bottom line, I found out all about granddad Buck from Lowestoft, Suffolk. How he skippered a barge for the Coleman Mustard Company. Such a bright yet naive start. I decided to order a copy of Evelyn’s birth certificate. Alas, in the stone age of family research I had to order a copy online then wait patiently for snail mail, sail mail and back to snail mail until I received an envelope in the mailbox! Christmas all over again. Opening the envelope and slowly pulling out Evelyn Hilda May Buck’s birth certificate (or certified true copy) and there written for the world to see, her mother’s name – Eliza Buck and her father’s name – JAMES Buck!!!!!!! What?

Went back to my mum, how could this happen? How did you have the wrong name for your grandfather? Well son, a while ago my sister Betty saw an ad in the paper saying that Joseph Buck from Lowestoft had died and any one having a claim to his estate should contact the undersigned immediately. Her mum was from Lowestoft, her last name was Buck so that must be her father! Urg. If anyone out there wants information on Joseph Buck just let me know, I’ll be at the Family History Centre scrolling through reels and reels of microfilm. I should have been suspicious when my mum did not know that my Aunt Marina went by her middle name and not her first name, Isobel. “Really, her name is Isobel?” I guess with twelve kids in the family it would be hard to keep track.

Bottom line, write everything down. There will be unexpected side trips but just keep digging. Next post we can talk about what is available to keep track of all this information. I would be interested if anyone wants to share their miscues along the way or if you have any questions, make a comment.

As a side note, I have managed to get my mum’s Buck family back to 1770 – so far.