Not a cry for help,but a tip I always find useful and may help beginners,so posted it on this Forum,(hope I'm not 'teaching your grandmother to suck eggs').
Because so many of my ancestors lived in villages (being agricultural workers),when looking at the census for details of a known family member I always,where practical,go through all the pages for that village.
It's surprising how often I came across families (note them down!) with the same surname,and at this time when few people moved out of their village,it was almost certain they were connected.How they were related was not always apparent at the time,but often came to light later in my searches.
Other unexpected information can also emerge e.g an Ann Duffell was a witness at the wedding in 1847 of Maria Elsey,one of my ancestors,the census gave Ann as the wife of a neighbour of Marias husbands family.Seemingly trivial it adds flesh to the event.
Marriage certificates can be a wealth of information and is always worth extracting as much information as possible,as with any document.I'm digressing
Because so many of my ancestors lived in villages (being agricultural workers),when looking at the census for details of a known family member I always,where practical,go through all the pages for that village.
It's surprising how often I came across families (note them down!) with the same surname,and at this time when few people moved out of their village,it was almost certain they were connected.How they were related was not always apparent at the time,but often came to light later in my searches.
Other unexpected information can also emerge e.g an Ann Duffell was a witness at the wedding in 1847 of Maria Elsey,one of my ancestors,the census gave Ann as the wife of a neighbour of Marias husbands family.Seemingly trivial it adds flesh to the event.
Marriage certificates can be a wealth of information and is always worth extracting as much information as possible,as with any document.I'm digressing
