Quick Questions #1: Ancestry

[tamaranth]

Inspired by a reference in Route 66 AD to Egyptian priests at the time of the Roman Empire, who claimed to trace their ancestry back 10,000 years:

How far back (in years) can you track your family?

Can you think of anyone who can track their family back before the Norman Conquest?

Comments

[childeric.livejournal.com]

If one is of British descent it's really very easy to trace families back to 1837, when the registration of births, marriages and deaths was enacted. Previous to that it becomes increasingly hard, although if one happens to be a scion of the landed gentry that helps a lot. Tracing descent into the pre-Conquest period is hard indeed unless one's ancestors were very very elevated personages.

Have you tried playing with the National Archives' 1901 census online (http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk/)?

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Aha, but the Glasgow Records Office (allegedly) burned down in 1861, taking huge chunks of dark and dirty family history with it -- or so my aunt assured me.

And 2 problems with the census online:(a) my father's side of the family weren't in England, (b) I don't have much info about my mother's side of the family -- e.g. surname. (She used her mother's: I have no idea what her father's full name was.)

[childeric.livejournal.com]

Ouch, yes, the record office burning down is a big problem. There'll still be some centrally-held records, but not extending back very far beyond 1861. It's not insuperable, but you'd be dependent upon luck.

Your mother's birth certificate shouldn't be impossible to trace: that would have details of her father. But, naturally, it all depends on how much info you have.

There's a vast amount on the PRO/National Archives website about this sort of thing. Or try the Family Records Centre in Clerkenwell.

[childeric.livejournal.com]

Presumably you've seen http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/)