Discover The answers to last issue’s challenges
TAKE YOUR RESEARCH TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Your first brainteaser challenge:
The answer
We set the question: ‘I’ve found family clues back to the 1760s, having found ancestors in the 1841 Census who were 80 years old. What records should I use to start researching pre-1841?’. We asked you to name three sources, and how they are useful. Your answer could include:
• The Church of England’s parish registers are the most important and valuable source for pre-1841 research. The information that you get from the early Victorian censuses should, in most cases, allow you to find your ancestors’ baptismal and marriage records. Of course, not all of our ancestors were baptised in the Church of England and not all the relevant records have survived but parish registers should certainly be your first port of call.
• Wills can be enormously helpful when trying to untangle complex family relationships and can often provide us with details stretching over two or three generations.