Thread: Help needed over that brick wall

Hi, I am researching my family 'Skitt' from Portobello, willenhall staffs. I have managed to get back to 1821 using the census and bdm and parish records when I still lived local and able to get to the records office.



My brick wall at the moment is

• Getting back further than 1821 using the internet
  
• Putting the flesh on the bones of what I do know
  

Can anybody give any advice for this?



Thanks

Dan Skitt

Hi Dan



Have you tried familysearch.org

Two free sources for pre-civil registration information are www.familysearch.org and http://freereg.rootsweb.com/cgi/Search.pl BUT they don't cover everywhere or everytime.



You can also google your county and/or parish names and genealogy, there are all sorts of snippets that might help, and you may be lucky and find an online parish clerk who can help.



But eventually you have to go to an archive - and its a whole new world! Some records offices/local history centres are cramped and have very limited opening times. Others are very spacious and the staff can be extremely helpful. They often have information you can't find elsewhere, so as well as parish registers, they may have

poor law and settlement papers,

quarter sessions papers and

old newspapers.

Maps and photographs are also helpful for fleshing out the bones!

Street directories may have your folk if they had a trade, or were posh enough to be listed as residents.



You might find out about some of these documents on www.a2a.org.uk



Most archives have their own websites, often with searchable indexes to some of their holdings.

Another resource is www.familyhistoryonline.net - but check the databases cover the place(s) and dates you want before you buy any credits.



You might also find that there's a Family History Society who can do baptism, marriage and burial searches for a small sum. certainly cheaper than paying a county archive, which tends to charge about £10-20 an hour.



The LDS also have family history centres around the country which are staffed by volunteers. You may need to phone to make an appointment, but you can order microfilm of parish registers you want and you get 3 weeks to look at them on site.

The LDS centre in London is opposite the Science Museum. You don't need to make an appointment and they have a wealth of parish registers, reference books etc which I've found very helpful, as its easier for me to get to London than to Gloucestershire or Cornwall, where my ancestors come from.

The LDS in London seems like a good idea, can you tell me if you can find out what parish records they have there?

Hello Dan,



Have you tried this web site www.wolverhamptonhistory.org.uk/resources/familyhistory



Notebook

Forgot to say that Wolverhampton Archives is now closed until February 2009 as they are moving to new premises at the Molineux Hotel.



Notebook