WEEK 3: USING MAJOR SOURCE TYPES

Welcome to Week 3

This week we'll explore major types of genealogical sources.

3.1

WELCOME TO WEEK 3 VIDEO (02:17)

3.2

WHAT WILL WE LEARN? ARTICLE

Major source types

The main source types used by genealogists across the world are
civil, religious and census records.

3.3

INTRODUCING THE MAJOR TYPES OF SOURCES USED IN

GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH: PART 1 VIDEO (10:08)

3.4

INTRODUCING THE MAJOR TYPES OF SOURCES USED IN

GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH: PART 2 VIDEO (07:08)

3.5

CIVIL RECORDS ARTICLE

3.6
 RELIGIOUS RECORDS ARTICLE

3.7

CENSUS RECORDS ARTICLE

3.8

DISCUSSION: WHAT OTHER TYPES OF SOURCES ARE

USEFUL? DISCUSSION

Using sources and sources in archives

A look at how to use documents to fill in your family tree. We

explore different types of records at a physical archive.

3.9

USING SOURCES TO FILL IN A FAMILY TREE VIDEO (07:39)

3.10

EXPLORING CHURCH AND MILITARY RECORDS VIDEO

(06:53)

3.11

USING ARCHIVES, LIBRARIES AND HISTORICAL OR FAMILY

HISTORY SOCIETIES ARTICLE

3.12
MILITARY RECORDS ARTICLE
Evaluating genealogy databases

What to consider when deciding to choose a databases to use.

3.13

WHICH GENEALOGY DATABASE SHOULD I USE? ARTICLE

3.14

EVALUATING DATABASES ARTICLE

3.15

DISCUSSION: WHAT OTHER DATABASES HAVE YOU FOUND

USEFUL? DISCUSSION

What's in a Name?: 'Land and sea'

Part three of the story which follows Chris as she researches her
family history

3.16

WHAT'S IN A NAME?: 'LAND AND SEA' VIDEO (03:54)

3.17

DISCUSS THE STORY DISCUSSION

End of week tasks

Activities to conclude the third week of the course.

3.18

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT IN WEEK 3? QUIZ

3.19

TIME TO REFLECT DISCUSSION

3.1 Welcome to Week 3

In Week 3, we’ll be exploring the different major types of

sources used by genealogists around the world.

Not every country has all these sources available but there should
be something here for everyone. Broadly we’ll consider why the
records were created, who created them and any issues,
challenges and opportunities that they may present when you are
searching for family members.

We’ll take a set of birth marriage and death records and show how
these can be used to fill in a family tree and this will link back to
our discussion of indirect evidence in week one.

The importance of archives and other organisations in preserving

and providing important family history data will be considered
and…finally, we’ll think about how to evaluate databases in terms
of their ease of use, transcription error rate and other important
issues and how to decide which databases to use for particular
research questions.

We also invite you to discuss which databases you’ve used and

found helpful in your family history research.
Transcript 0:07Skip to 0 minutes and 7 secondsHello, and welcome to
week three of your course, Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree. This week
we're going to be exploring the different types of major sources that genealogists
use around the world. Not every country has all of these sources available, but
there should be something within this week for everybody. So, broadly, we're going
to consider the main source types-- why they're created, who created them, what
you can do with them, issues, challenges, and opportunities that they may present
when you're looking for your family members. We're going to be looking at civil
records, and, broadly, these contain birth, marriage, and death records created by
governments.
0:48Skip to 0 minutes and 48 secondsThen we'll look for-- look at
religious records, broadly looking at a number of Christian denominations, but we'll
also consider a few non-Christian faiths as well. And then we're going to look--
move on and look at census records. Not every country created census records,
but they are a rich resource for genealogists. So we'll consider some census
substitutes for those countries of particular interest. Finally, we'll take a look at
military records and how those are created. We'll also be using a set of birth,
marriage, and death records, and getting in-depth with those. And using them to fill
in a family tree, so that you can have a sense of how these can be interrogated,
and used in your research.
1:34Skip to 1 minute and 34 secondsSo, through this we'll look at some
indirect and direct evidence. And then, we'll look at the importance of archives in
preserving and providing important family information, and what data can be
considered and used through them. Finally, we'll look at how to evaluate
databases, in terms of what they cover, the ease of use, rates of transcription and
how good they are with transcription, and other important issues, and which should
help you decide what databases you might want to use for your personal research.
So you'll also get a chance to discuss, which databases you've used, and how you
found them useful. So I hope you enjoy this week.

© University of Strathclyde

3.2 What will we learn?

85 comments

The main source types used by genealogists introduced in

Week 3 include civil, religious and census records.
We will focus on the methodologies of how to use these records to
trace families and individuals as well give a sense of the typical
types of data these records usually contain.

We will also have a brief tour of an archive’s church and military

records to give a sense of what you might find in physical archives
as contrasted to online. There will be an exploration of the major
repositories of these records and how to use them including online
resources. While some country specific sources will be detailed in
this week, overall the focus is as broad as possible.

In this week we will cover:

1. The methodologies of using records to glean family

information and populate a tree.

2. The importance of archives, libraries and family/history

societies to genealogists

3. An overview of different types of records and where to find

them
A. Civil records
B. Religious records
C. Census records
D. Military records

Study Groups
Choose the study group tab at the top of any step to access your
study group for this course.

Your study group is a place to get to know your fellow learners a

bit better, to support and encourage each other, and to discuss
what you’re learning in depth with the same set of people during
the course.

It’s also a place for collaboration. You can visit this group
whenever you like, but for most weeks we will ask you to complete
some research or searching tasks or to discuss an idea
specifically within your study group. This is strictly optional for this
course but doing the tasks and/or collaborating is a great way to
really solidify your learning. So why not take this opportunity to say
hello?

© University of Strathclyde

3.3 Introducing the major types of sources used in

genealogical research: Part 1
150 comments

This video is in two parts and this first part considers two of
the major sources genealogists use: civil and church records.

We look at what type of information they typically contain and why

they are so crucial. Some countries have particular strengths and
weaknesses in some of these areas and we’ll introduce these.

The documents featured in this video can be found in the

‘Downloads’ section below.

Transcript 0:09Skip to 0 minutes and 9 secondsOK, so what we're

going to talk about now is looking at the three major sources for genealogical
research and exploring those, looking at why they were created, perhaps who they
were created by, and maybe more importantly, what you can get out of them as
genealogists. So, we're focusing on three major sources. But keep in mind that
there are lots of other types of sources, as well, that we'll talk about during the
course of the course. So, the three major sources I'm going to particularly focus on
right now are civil, church, and census records. Civil records - looking primarily at
birth, marriage, and death records.
0:55Skip to 0 minutes and 55 secondsBut these can also encompass
things like divorce records, annulment records, looking at civil partnerships, and
now gender recognition registers, but also adoption. And some countries have
what are called family registers, as well. And these are all kept by the government.
As I say, created by a government body, so that might be the top level of
government in a country but you might also find these records created by things
like state, province, counties, or perhaps even a local city. So it helps to know
who-- what the level was, and who the body was that created them in order to help
you find these records. And why they were created?

1:43Skip to 1 minute and 43 secondsWell, they give you an identity

within a society, and provide a way for you to interface with government, and, I
suppose, to receive sources and things like that from the government. But it also
creates a data source for vital statistics so the government can know how many
people died in the last year, that kind of thing-- how many children were born so
they can start planning for-- well, we're going to need more schools in the next five
years, that kind of thing. But as I say, these really do vary by country. Start date--
some countries, these records started quite late. Some started quite early. France
is one of the countries where civil registration started, really, quite early under
Napoleon.

2:31Skip to 2 minutes and 31 secondsThe details taken vary quite widely

country by country. Scotland's quite wonderfully provided-for in details. But other
countries have much less details taken in some of the records. But also, the
availability of the records varies by place, as well. So it helps to know all of these
things when you are going through and looking for documents. So here's an
example of a civil registration record. This is a marriage register from Scotland.
And as I was saying, Scotland is one of the countries that has just a wealth of data
taken down in their birth, marriage, and death records, marriage in particular. So
this one's handwritten. And a lot of them are handwritten.

3:26Skip to 3 minutes and 26 secondsSo that's one thing you get to

challenge yourself with- is getting over the hump of looking at the writing, and
figuring out what it actually says. So the type of information you get here is, in this
case, what church they married in because, although this is a civil record, these
people got married in a church. You get information about the witnesses and the
names of the people involved, who got married, their mother and fathers' names,
and their ages, where they lived. So there's just a wealth of information on this
record. So we are quite lucky in Scotland for our civil records. So, really one of the
bedrock things for genealogists are civil registration.

4:21Skip to 4 minutes and 21 secondsSo, also looking at church

records-- and these can include things like baptism records, marriage ceremonies,
burial records-- but they can also include things like confirmation records and pew
rentals. So you get lists of people who rented the pews, which can tell you
interesting things. Congregation membership lists-- and these can tell you,
perhaps, when somebody moved into a congregation, and if the minister kept a
note of when, perhaps, they left. And sometimes you get notes of where people
were going to, that kind of thing. But there are many other types of church records,
as well. I've just listed a couple here. So why were these kept? Well, one reason
was moral control.

5:11Skip to 5 minutes and 11 secondsThe churches usually liked to

make sure that their parishioners were behaving in a certain way. And this also
gave proof of parentage. Certain countries, in certain time periods, the parish was
in charge of poor relief and education. So you had to prove that you were from that
parish and that your parents weren't able to keep you, so hence, you needed
parish relief. But also gave you the right to worship. If you're a member of the
congregation, you have the right to worship in that church. And this will vary from
denomination to denomination, the right to worship. Other things to consider about
church records are-- was there an established church in the place where your
ancestors came from?

6:05Skip to 6 minutes and 5 secondsAnd an established church is a

religious body that's, I suppose, okayed by the state. It's the religion that's the one
that the country is, not involved with, but has direct relationship with. And it's good
to know if there was an established church in the country of interest, because that
might tell you, particularly if your ancestors weren't part of the established church,
why, perhaps, they showed up anyway in those records, because there might have
been a good legal reason for it, i.e. the only way to get married at a particular time
in that country was in the established church, even if your people weren't part of
that church in the first place.

7:02Skip to 7 minutes and 2 secondsBut also can tell you why, perhaps,
they're not showing up in those records. And maybe they went to a different place
to get married because they weren't allowed to marry in their faith in that area. So,
yeah, think about government versus state. And obviously, some countries there's
a big legal divide between state and religion. So, also, as I've been talking a bit
about people who aren't part of the established church-- and one of the terms for
that is non-conformity. So you don't conform to the established church. And that's
really a term that's used for other Christian denominations. And in the United
Kingdom, that includes things like Methodist, and Baptist, Quaker, those types of
things.

7:53Skip to 7 minutes and 53 secondsSo other-- people can be found in

records of non-conformist churches. And knowing where those records are kept
can be quite challenging sometimes. But it's good to ferret those out. And
obviously, there are faiths that are non-Christian. And knowing that your ancestors
were followers of different faiths, and knowing who holds those records, if they're
still kept within the synagogue, or the mosque, will be helpful to you. And knowing
who might show up where, when, is always a good thing to know. So we'll talk
more about church records later in the course. So, here's an example of a
marriage register for the Church of England, which is the established church for
England. This is from 1831.
8:50Skip to 8 minutes and 50 secondsAnd this gives less information
than the civil record we were just looking at. But you do still get the names of the
people who were getting married. You get information about-- they're a bachelor
and a spinster so they hadn't been married before. And you're getting their witness'
names. Now, one of the reasons why I chose this to look at is some of the people
involved are putting their mark down. And this is an example of one of the extra
added bits of information that a record can give you. A couple of the people are
literate. They're able to write their names themselves. But the bride-- you've got her
name written down, and then her mark with an X.

9:35Skip to 9 minutes and 35 secondsSo she will have put that mark
down, which tells you that she wasn't able to write. And one of the witnesses is in
the same thing with having his name written down. So, yeah, you're getting a little
less information than in a civil record, but still lots of good information here, and as
well as that added bit of social interest.

© University of Strathclyde

3.4 Introducing the major types of sources used in

genealogical research: Part 2
141 comments

This video is in two parts and this second part considers

census records which is a major source for many areas of the
world.

We look at what type of information they typically contain and why

they are so crucial.

Some countries have not taken censuses that are of use to

genealogists or have not kept genealogically useful information
created by the census. For these countries we can use ‘census
substitutes’ and we’ll introduce a few of these.
The document featured in this video can be found in the
‘Downloads’ section below.

Transcript 0:05Skip to 0 minutes and 5 secondsOK. Looking now at

census records, again, not every country has taken a census or have census
records that actually track individuals' names, which as genealogists is what we're
interested in-- being able to identify individuals and find out information about them.
Some countries just have statistical censuses that count up people, and that's all
the information you can get. But if you're lucky, you've got a census that you can
find a household or a person of interest. Censuses are usually created by
government agencies, although they can also be created by churches. In the past,
churches have done censuses as well. But the ones we're particularly interested in
are those created by governments. So again, different levels of government have
created censuses.
1:00Skip to 1 minute and 0 secondsSo you can get the federal or the
main government of the country, but then in certain areas, smaller things like states
and provinces have done censuses. So knowing that there might be different
censuses available would be of use. Then there are things that are called special
censuses. The religious census-- there was a religious census in 1851 done in the
United Kingdom. And while that didn't list individuals' names, it tells you a huge
amount about the local area, and how many people were going to the Baptist
church, versus the established church, versus the number of, say, Jewish people in
the area. It gives you some information about the place that your ancestors
perhaps lived in.

1:52Skip to 1 minute and 52 secondsThings like slave censuses-- in the

US, there were two years, 1850 and 1860, that the government took down names
of people who were owners of enslaved people. And that took down information--
not names, usually, of people who were enslaved, but how many, what ages they
were, that kind of thing. So it can, again, tell you information about the community
in which your ancestors lived, and if your ancestor was a slave owner, how many
people they owned, and that kind of thing. And other types of censuses, as well--
mortality ones, how many people died in the last year, that kind of thing. So the
census questions that are asked really reflect the interests of the government.

2:41Skip to 2 minutes and 41 secondsAnd the census questions can

vary wildly from year to year. But you tend to get usual ones-- names, ages, and in
households, units. But other questions, as I say, can vary. So you get information
for one year. From what place in the world did your parents come from? What
religion are you? What religion were your parents? Interestingly, Canada for a
number of years asked questions about what type of insurance did you hold. In
Scotland, how many windows, how many rooms with windows did you have in your
house. So all of these interesting questions can really shape and inform the
information that you find about your family.

3:37Skip to 3 minutes and 37 secondsBut at the core, what censuses tell

the government is how many people were about, i.e. how many people do they
need to feed, and that type of thing. But what we get from them, as well as
demographic information, we get information about the ages of the people in the
household, and the sex, are they male or female. Usually we get information about
occupations, what they did. And they can be used by governments to apportion
funding, and in some places the number of legislators in a particular area, so very,
very important records, both for governments but also for us as genealogists.

4:24Skip to 4 minutes and 24 secondsThis is an example of an

American census, a federal census, taken in the 1900, from Portland, Oregon. And
in this-- this is one of the censuses from the States, where they're asking about
where your parents were born. The US being a country of immigrants, was very
keen to know how many people were born within the country, and born to people
who were also born within the States, that kind of thing. But the other lovely thing
about this particular census is it gives you the month and the year in which
someone was born. And that's genealogical gold for tracking down when someone
was born. Lots of other information here, too-- could they read, could they write--
good things.

5:19Skip to 5 minutes and 19 secondsSo one other important thing to

note about censuses, before I move on, is that it can very much vary from country
to country, as to who was represented in a household unit. For many years, in the
United Kingdom, it was who actually was sleeping in a place on the night that the
census was taken. And that's who would show up in the census. So if you don't
find someone within that household, don't just assume that they've died in the last
10 years. It may be that they're off staying with their grandmother, or they're on
holiday, or off working somewhere else.

6:04Skip to 6 minutes and 4 secondsBut that's different from other

countries, where you may find people who were normally residents in a census
being put down, whether or not they were there on that night or not. So it really
helps to know how things were taken, why they were taken, in order to inform what
it is you're actually seeing. So just to recap, three major records, civil, church, and
census-- these are all very fundamental sources for genealogists. But don't forget
that other ones are important as well. And there are just a vast, myriad of other
sources-- passenger lists, wills, military service records, passports, the list goes on.
But these are the three key sources to know about and to find yourself using.

7:00Skip to 7 minutes and 0 secondsI encourage you to all get out there
and start using them. [CHUCKLE] Thank you very much.
© University of Strathclyde

3.5 Civil records

128 comments

What are they?

Generally, civil records are created by government entities to

record the vital events of its citizens. These events most typically
include birth, marriage and death but can also include divorce,
adoption, legitimisation, annulment of marriage, and foetal death.
The registration of events in many countries is legally mandated
and fines can be levied if an event is not registered.

Why are they created?

Civil registration gives people a name and identity within society

which facilitates the delivery of benefits and government services.
Their creation also provides a data source for vital statistics so
that a government can tell how many people died, were born in a
year and so on.

Civil records also give evidence of parentage and thus evidence of

entitlement to inheritance. Civil registration also provides a facility
for marriage and (in some countries) civil partnership that does not
depend on religion.

How are they created?

In many countries, the responsibility is on the people involved in

an event (parents, marriage or civil partnership participants, family
of the deceased) to inform the government; a process normally
termed registration. Historically, in some places, a government
employee would tour an area to discover and thus record events
instead of the parents or other parties having the responsibility to
seek out registration.
Which level of government was/is involved?

The level of government, Federal, state/provincial, county or city,

responsible for civil registration varies by country and also
potentially by time period within a country. In the United States of
America civil records are now usually maintained at the state level
by a department of public health however, marriage records are
often dealt with at the county level. But, many exceptions apply to
US civil records and it’s best to check out the local situation before
making assumptions. In contrast, civil registration in England and
Wales is taken care of by a national system administered at the
local level by registrars. Records are then copied to a national
office for central storage. Civil registration in Scotland, Ireland and
New Zealand is also centrally maintained.

Generally speaking in Canada and Australia civil records are

created and maintained at the provincial/territorial or state level,
respectively.

When started?

Due to the influence of Napoleon and his advance across Europe,

many areas under his rule began civil registration from the late
1700s. In many places, this system continued even after re-
gaining autonomy. French civil registration records for example,
date from 1792 and are held at registries in local town halls.

Civil registration came rather late to the ‘New World’ compared to

countries in Europe and dates do vary from place to place; again
you are encouraged to research local variations.

The resources in the ‘See Also’ section below can be consulted for
more information on the topic.

© University of Strathclyde
3.6 Religious records
126 comments

What are they and why are they created?

Generally, religious records are created by a religious body

(churches, mosques, synagogues, etc.) to record the events of its
members such as baptisms, marriages and burials . However,
they can also include other types of records such as pew rentals,
records of rabbis visiting the sick, the calling of marriage banns,
pilgrimage records, religious court records, congregation
membership lists and so on.

Many records will have been created to keep track of whether an

individual had taken part in a necessary element of his or her
religion; baptism, circumcision, pilgrimage, etc. In some areas
where the religious body had responsibilities such as providing
education and poor relief to the local population; records would
have been kept to help identify who belonged to a congregation
and thus should have had access to support. In Scotland, for
example, a child with an acknowledged father could not become
the responsibility of the parish but rather should be supported by
that father.

How are they created?

Typically religious officials, (clergy, rabbis, imams, clerks, nuns,

etc.) will create the records at the time of an event. However, there
is clear evidence that sometimes a gap would occur between the
time of an event and its recording in a register with unfortunate
results. See the image that accompanies this article for an
example of this from a Scottish parish baptismal register.

Sometimes clerks had to provide their own ink and paper and this
could have a detrimental effect on the quality of the records as ink
was watered down and as much text as possible crammed into
one page. Some religious bodies did provide printed forms for
their clerks to fill in and these are often easier to use than the
more free form registers.

Is there an established religion in the country of interest?

An established religion is officially recognised by the state and this

status can confirm many responsibilities and rights upon that
creed or body. Records from an established religion can serve as
legal documents and can provide, for example, conclusive proof in
family disputes, particularly relating to inheritance.

If your ancestors lived in a country with an established religion you

may find them in the records of that religion even though they did
not follow that particular faith in private life. In many parts of the
world, belonging to a particular religious body provided access to
legal landownership, the ability to undertake higher education, the
right to marry legally and so on.

Consider the status of Catholics in England post-Reformation who

due to a series of penal laws were not allowed to transfer land,
hold military or government offices and endured a wide range of
restrictions on religious activities.

Particular considerations with religious records

If your ancestor belonged to a faith outside the established

religion, then you may find those records less easy to access;
however this is not always the case. The records may still be held
by the faith body in question but sometimes they have been
donated to local archives so do check.

Be aware that faith groups split and then sometimes come back
together. You may find that one year, for example, your ancestors
belong to the ‘Anti Burghers’ and the next to the ‘New Lichts’ by
following a seceding minister into a new group. All too often when
groups split records get lost in the disruption which is a challenge
for genealogists.
Religious records continue to be created even after civil
registration begins in a country so remember to source these up to
the modern day.

The resources in the ‘See Also’ section below can be consulted for
more information on the topic.

© University of Strathclyde

3.7 Census records

150 comments

What are they and how are they useful for genealogists?

Generally, census records are typically created by government

entities to count (or enumerate) the people living within a particular
area. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a census as, ‘an
official count or survey, especially of a population’. Censuses have
been taken by bodies such as churches and individuals however
these are not focused on in this article. For genealogists, they are
very useful as they pinpoint your ancestors to a given location at a
particular time and they often show people in family groups which
can reveal relationships and previously unknown family members.
They can include information on occupations, parental origin, year
of migration, ability to read and write, religious affiliation and much
more.

Why are they created?

Primarily so that governments know how many people are living in

the area of enumeration; this helps with issues of funding
allocation and to assess the number of legislators required for an
area. Perhaps more interestingly, the characteristics of a
population are also assessed and this is where we get information
such as whether a person could speak or write a particular
language, the value of any life insurance held, whether a person
was deaf and so on. All of this information gave the government a
snapshot of its population and thus could help answer particular
issues of concern.

How are they created?

Nowadays, often by sending out a form in the post and then if a

household does not reply, a census enumerator will come to your
door. A number of countries are now doing away with a formal
census and relying on data taken from various systems
(education, taxation, national identification schemes, etc.).

Historically, enumerators were assigned a set route and they

would deliver a form to each household on their route; the
householder would fill it in and give it to back to the enumerator
the next day. Be aware that if your ancestor was not literate, they
would require help to fill in the form and this could lead to issues
with the spelling of names.

Enumerators would then copy information from the householder

forms into an enumeration book which would be sent onto a main
office. For some censuses, the householder forms have been
preserved and are available for genealogists to view but in most
cases, it’s the enumeration book that we see. So be aware that
this information is copied from the original data.

Which level of government was/is involved?

The level of government, national, or state/provincial, responsible

for censuses varies by country and also potentially by time period
within a country. In most countries censuses involving a count on
a national level will be the responsibility of the national/federal
government. However, some countries have had censuses
undertaken by individual colonies, states or regions such as in
Australia, the United States and Canada. These censuses usually
include different questions than the national ones and tend to
focus on issues of local interest; they are also often taken in
different years than national censuses (or they predate them) thus
allowing you to expand the search for your ancestors.

When started and how often?

The very earliest censuses happened in ancient times but for

genealogical purposes an early census of interest is that of
Iceland in 1703 which recorded the name, age, residence, and
social standing of every inhabitant; an index of this census is
available.

It is usual for censuses to be taken every 10 years though some

areas hold them on a 5 year cycle. Again, this frequency can
change over time so do check your area of interest.

Particular issues with censuses & census substitutes

Some countries do not keep (or have not kept for particular years)
the individual/family details taken as part of census enumeration,
thus all that is available to us are the statistical outcomes. These
can be interesting as they give a flavour of the area in which your
ancestors lived but no information on a particular person will be
available.

It’s important to find out who was supposed to be included in a

household as this varies by country to country and from time
period to time period. In some places, only those staying in the
residence on the census night were to be counted in that
household and in others, those who were ‘normally resident’ were
to be counted. Obviously knowing this could change your thoughts
of who you anticipate being on the census at that address!

Substitutes for censuses can include local directories which list

residents of an area, town or city by name and usually by address;
voters rolls which only list people eligible to vote and are usually
arranged by address; taxation rolls – these can include taxes
based on property and an example of these are the Scottish
valuation rolls which were produced yearly and list the names of
the owner and if a property was leased or rented the main
householder’s name for each property. Also look out for taxation
assessment lists which list people and businesses who were liable
to pay tax; these are often arranged by area and then by name
and are usually taken yearly.

The resources in the ‘See Also’ section below can be consulted for
more information on the topic.

© University of Strathclyde

3.8 Discussion: What other types of sources are useful?

669 comments

In the previous steps, we’ve covered some of the major

source types that genealogists use but of course, there are
many other types to consider.

These could be tax records, land transfer records such as deeds

or leases, wills, passenger lists, passports, and many others.

We are curious about what sources you consider most important

for the geographic area(s) or time periods you work with. There
are some wonderful sources out there that unless you have some
local or specialist knowledge can be missed. It’s impossible to
know about every source that exists and this is where combining
expertise is very powerful.

Please share your knowledge with your fellow students and your
tutors in the discussion below.
3.9 Using sources to fill in a family tree
141 comments

In this video direct and indirect evidence found within three

Scottish civil records is used to fill in a family tree.

These techniques can be used with any country’s records though

Scottish records are particularly rich in family information. This
show and tell should give you an idea of how to glean evidence
from documents and how to approach using a common
genealogical chart.

The documents that feature in this video can be found in the

‘Downloads’ section below.

Transcript 0:04Skip to 0 minutes and 4 secondsUsing sources to fill in

a family tree-- in this lecture, we're going to be looking at three documents and
using the information found on them to fill in a family tree. Now, this should give
you an idea of what direct and indirect evidence can be gleaned from documents
and how to approach using a common genealogical chart. So, I'm going to use
Scottish records here, which are blessed with a wealth of detail, but these
techniques can really be used with any country's records. To begin with, we'll look
at a birth record for a child named George Pearson who was born in central
Scotland in the late 19th century.
0:41Skip to 0 minutes and 41 secondsAnd this record shows us
George's name, and it gives us information-- when and where he was born.

0:47Skip to 0 minutes and 47 secondsIn this case, the 7th of July, 1893,
at 3:42 in the morning. He was born at Glenview in Bothwell and which we know
from other sources is in the county of Lanarkshire in Scotland. The third section
gives us his sex, which in this case is an M for male. And yes, that really is an M. A
main challenge with records is getting to grips with the handwriting. And I can
promise you that the more you look at old records and try to work out what they
say, the better you'll get at it. Next, we have his parents' names, including the
maiden surname of his mother. And that's what MS stands for-- maiden surname,
which in this case is McLaren.

1:27Skip to 1 minute and 27 secondsThe other information we get here

is his father's occupation, which in this case is a wholesale stationer. And rather
wonderfully, Scottish birth records give the marriage day and place of the parents,
if they were married. And finally, we get the name of the person registering the
birth which, in this case, is Charles Pearson-- George's father, who was present.
And this means he was physically present at the address where his son was born,
not that he was in the actual room at the time-- which was highly unlikely given this
time period. So now, we'll see how this information can be used to begin to
populate a family tree.

2:06Skip to 2 minutes and 6 secondsThis is a standard ancestral chart,

which we've adapted for use on our genealogical courses. It's a four-generation
chart and shows both the father and the mother's lines of the person shown at
position one, in this case the baby whose birth record we just looked at-- George
Pearson. Then we've been able to add information on his parents' names, his
father's occupation, and their marriage date and place. This is a good start for our
family tree, and the next record we'll look at will add even more information.

2:41Skip to 2 minutes and 41 secondsThis is the marriage record for

George's parents-- Charles Pearson and Isabella McLaren, who were referred to
back on George's birth record. So firstly, we can see the date and place of
marriage. As this information-- along with the parents' names and father's
occupation-- agree with that found on the birth record, we can be fairly sure that
this is the right couple. Then we see the names of the groom and the bride, along
with the groom's occupation and their marital status. And in this case, both parties
hadn't been married before as they're shown as "bachelor" and "spinster". So the
ages come next here-- with the groom being 33 which, subtracting that from 1891--
i.e.

3:21Skip to 3 minutes and 21 secondsthe year of the marriage-- gives us

a possible birth year of 1858. And the bride's possible birth year being 1868 as
she's 10 years younger. The next column shows us where they were normally
resident at the time of marriage. And then, we get the names of the couple's
parents along with the occupations of the fathers. And Scottish records are
particularly helpful as they give both the father's and the mother's name, including
maiden surname-- unlike England and Wales where the mother's name is still not
given on marriage certificates. Along with providing valuable direct data, this also
helps us be more confident that we found the right couple's record and allows us to
search for their parents with greater confidence.

4:04Skip to 4 minutes and 4 secondsYou'll also note that against some

of the names is the notation "deceased", and this is an indication that the person
has died by the time of the event being registered. And here, we'll see that the only
parent still alive is Isabella's father Duncan McLaren. And thus we can look for
death records for the other parents. The last thing to look at here are the names of
the witnesses-- W. Martin and Kate McLaren. And it may be, given Kate's surname,
that she's related to Isabella. And the other witness might be related as well. It's
just not so obvious from the name.
4:38Skip to 4 minutes and 38 secondsSo with the addition of this further
record's data, our tree has become much more populated. We've been able to add
in possible birth years for Charles and Isabella as well as possible birth places,
based on their residences. We've also been able to push back another generation
and give names, occupations, and years before which death has occurred. We
have one more record to look at to complete our overview.

5:03Skip to 5 minutes and 3 secondsSo, this is George's father, Charles

Pearson's death record. And this is Isabella's husband for whom we saw the
marriage record in the previous record. And again, we see his name, occupation,
and his wife's name, Isabella McLaren-- who's still alive as there's no notation of
the word "deceased" here. And this information is good corroboration that we have
the right man, as it matches with what was found previously. And here we can see
that he's a papermaker's agent, which is in the same line of work as wholesale
stationer as seen previously. And then we get the date, time, and place of death.
And in this case, he died in Glasgow

5:42Skip to 5 minutes and 42 secondson the 12th of July, 1914, at 6:45

in the morning. So as seen on the birth record, we get an indication of his sex and
his age, which gives us a possible birth year of 1859. Then, we get his parents'
names, occupation information, and whether they are deceased-- as both of them
are-- at the time of Charles' death. And again, this information agrees with what
was found on Charles' marriage record, so we can be fairly comfortable that we
have the right man on this record. The cause of death and duration of that cause is
then given along with the information on the certifying physician. And he died of
Lobar pneumonia, which he had for 10 days.

6:26Skip to 6 minutes and 26 secondsThen, we see the name of the

person registering the death. In this case, it's a son with the initials J.M. so it's
probably a different son than George, who we met in the previous records. Let's
see what this information now does to our family tree.

6:44Skip to 6 minutes and 44 secondsSo, as you can see, we have quite

a bit of information now for Charles Pearson, including some possible middle
names which were given on his death record. We also know that Isabella died after
Charles' death date of 12 July, 1914, as she was shown as being alive on his
death record. And we have another son, J.M. Pearson to add to the tree. Now,
there isn't a place for him on this tree. And really, we need to begin another tree,
showing him in position one. So hopefully, this has given you a good sense of how
much information can be derived from a handful of records and how they can really
fill out a family tree.

7:23Skip to 7 minutes and 23 secondsAlways remember to take down

possible dates of birth and death and witness names as they can be very useful.
And always use a pencil when you're filling in a paper-based tree, because it's
amazing how often you have to change things.
3.10 Exploring church and military records
160 comments

Archivists and librarians at the Mitchell Library based in

Glasgow, Scotland share a selection of church and military
documents held at the Glasgow City Archives.

Records such as these are available in many archives and

libraries around the world and provide important birth, marriage
and death information but can also give additional details such as
photographs and military service dates.

While much data is now available online, it’s important to

remember that you may need to make a trip to an archive or
library to access physical records.

Transcript 0:09Skip to 0 minutes and 9 secondsThe map and

photograph collections found at the Glasgow City Archives located at the Mitchell
Library here, in Glasgow, can really enrich family history research.
0:23Skip to 0 minutes and 23 secondsThis is an early baptismal register,
which show records like these across the world. It's really very informative. It's
telling you when the child was born, and this child was born in 1837. It tells you
when they were baptised. It gives you their name. It tells you whether they were
male or female. It gives you their parents' names, and really interestingly,
obviously, it gives you the name of the mother's maiden name. And that's a vital
connection to going back and looking for a marriage certificate. It tells you where
they lived. And it tells you who baptised them. So for people who are actually
looking pre- civil registration, this is the next step for them to actually find out about
their ancestors.

0:59Skip to 0 minutes and 59 secondsWe also have communion rolls.

The church records are really important, because they give you membership. They
exist pre- civil registration but also we have them after civil registration. It means
that you can actually-- it's the only place to find them in an early period but in a
later period ..in a later period it can add vital details for your family history. And this
one here I'm going to look at is actually an Episcopal Church. And again, there's
Episcopal Churches all over the world. And this is a marriage ... a baptism and a
marriage volume, and it tells you the details here.

1:33Skip to 1 minute and 33 secondsAnd so this is 1823, and it tells you

that Thomas David Stewart of the Honourable East India Company Service was
married to Mary, eldest daughter of George Pinkerton, Esquire in Barony parish.
They were married on 1st of September 1823. And I'm sure if you found that about
your ancestor and that vital clue about East India Company-- I'm sure if you found
that you'd be really excited to see that. And it would give you a next step to look for
East India Company records.

2:02Skip to 2 minutes and 2 secondsThe church also includes a lot of

membership rolls, and I'm just going to use one for you just to give you an idea
what they are. And this is a membership roll for a church. It's actually a communion
roll. And, again, it gives you some really vital detail-- It gives you the name of the
communicant. It tells you where they lived. So we know which area they lived in. It
tells you their employment or their profession so we could follow and look to see if
we could find any records of that. It tells you when they were admitted to the
church. And that actually, really interestingly, actually tells you where they came
from. Some come from England.

2:33Skip to 2 minutes and 33 secondsSome come from Ireland. And so

it's a really vital source for taking a step back to their place of origin. When the First
World War broke out, Glasgow, as a city, was authorised to equip a number of
battalions and prepare them for battle. It wasn't just Glasgow. This happened all
over the world. Battalions were being raised by cities and different other
organisations so you'll find records elsewhere. What happened -- Glasgow raised
the battalions, they equipped them, they kitted them out for war, ... they gave them
all their equipment and clothed them. And there's some really interesting records
for family historians that came as a result of this process. So I'm going to show you
a couple of examples today.

3:07Skip to 3 minutes and 7 secondsThese are for the Highland Light

Infantry-- two battalions that were raised by the city of Glasgow. What we've got
here is a Nominal roll for tabs. So on people's uniforms, on the top right of their
collar, they had certain information about people. And this was records that were
created to show what information was going to be put on the tabs. So you've got
the person's name. You've got the regimental number, and you've also got their
religion which is really important because, obviously, it might be required if they got
into any trouble. We've also got a number of other records about the raising of the
battalions.

3:39Skip to 3 minutes and 39 secondsSo when they did clothe them, we

have a lot of information about their uniforms, their shoe sizes, their hats, all sorts
of things. This is an example of that too. So what we have is ... it cross references
with the record we saw a second ago for the Nominal rolls. We've got the person's
name. We've even got their height here, in this column, and their jacket size. In
other record we've got, they mentioned their shoe size, their hat size too.

4:05Skip to 4 minutes and 5 secondsAnd we've cross referenced all

these into a database, so you can look up your ancestor and find them in there--
find their name, find their regimental number, which will lead you on to some other
records if it helps for that. We've also got-- you might find things like their shoe size
really colourful, good bits of information about your ancestors you might not find in
any other records at all and allow you to know more about their daily lives. During
1914, Glasgow's Evening Times, like many British local newspapers, decided to
put information into the paper either as news of the events or as an appeal for
information from the families of servicemen who were missing, wounded, or killed
overseas.

4:39Skip to 4 minutes and 39 secondsThe information can be very

useful to family historians, because it often gives the information such as name,
regiment, rank, very often the address of the servicemen, sometimes their
occupations, and workplace and often the names of the parents or families. It very
often too-- something that can be really important-- is a photograph, a service
photograph, and that might be the first published photograph that the families might
have seen. This particular section is from 1916. And there's a Roll of Honour
section here, which identifies some interesting photographs, which I think are very,
very lifelike. Here, it gives the name of the mother who is looking for information. It
gives their home address, the area she's from.

5:19Skip to 5 minutes and 19 secondsIt gives the name and rank of her
son who was killed. And it gives the place of work. The library decided in the 1980s
when it began to establish a family history section to use the information in this
paper to create a database that would be useful for family history research and
also Glasgow's experience of war. Initially, the focus was on families from
Glasgow. All service Glasgow personnel were indexed and the database contains
information on name, regiment, and rank. It also gives the date of publication, the
date of death if that's known, if a photograph is mentioned, and also a sentence
about the event, for example, if someone was killed or if they were missing at a
particular, named battle.

6:05Skip to 6 minutes and 5 secondsAnd so the database, itself, can be

really, really important for family historians coming to that online on the Mitchell
Library website glasgowfamilyhistory.org.uk. That database was completed in the
2000s. But from then on, it was decided that there'd been-- really due to demand--
that there was such interest in people from areas local to Glasgow, or not far from
Glasgow, that it should include all service personnel who were mentioned in the
Evening Times Roll of Honour. That exercise was completed in about November
2014, in time for the centenary of the first outbreak of the First World War. And the
database now contains over 15,000 names, and it can be accessed online.
3.11 Using archives, libraries and historical or family history
societies
129 comments

It can be hard to remember that not everything has been

digitized and made available online due to the constant flood
of new data collections being released by databases.

However, these represent only a small fraction of the records and

other items of interest that may help you in your family history
research.
These bodies offer access to books, databases, collections of
letters, official documents, photographs and much more.

 All of which may offer hard evidence in your genealogical

search or…
 May add local colour, fill in the informational cracks and tell
you what was happening in your ancestors’ world.
 They may also give good advice for other places to search
and experts to consult.
What are archives?

Archives keep records of individuals or organisations with

significant historical, cultural or administrative value. Often these
are unique ie. the information was only recorded in one place and
thus can only be accessed at the archive holding that record
collection.

Archives are created:

 for the specific purpose of maintaining and preserving

important records,
  to provide access to records for reasons of historical
scholarship or for
 the accountability of the organisation creating the records.
What about libraries?

Libraries keep a range of different materials and resources,

including published works, which are not necessarily unique. They
allow public access to published works and other resources such
as images, maps and newspapers and sometimes they also hold
unique manuscript collections.

Historical or Family History/Genealogical Societies

These societies promote and encourage the study of local and

family history in the area in which they are based though they can
be family, religion or topic based such as the Bunker Family
Association or the American Jewish Historical Society. They
are often volunteer organisations comprised of individuals who
love genealogy and history. A great example of an organisation
that combines staff and volunteers is the Society of Australian
Genealogists.

Do not assume that because a body is called a ‘historical society’

that they will have no interest for genealogists. As an example,
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania says that they are,’ one
of the most complete and professional genealogy centers in the
nation.’

Societies engage in projects such as recording memorial

inscriptions in graveyards and transcribing a variety of record sets.
Increasingly, they provide access to digitised records via society
websites and membership is usually available which typically
gives access to these record sets as well as the expertise of other
members.
Being in the company of people who are passionate about your
hobby can be quite intoxicating particularly if your spouse or
friends tend to glaze over upon hearing your latest genealogical
finds!

Finding and accessing archives, libraries and societies

There are lists of archives, libraries and societies available online

which give contact details and links to websites for further
information. Many also belong to umbrella organisations such as
the Federation of Family History Societies and these often
also give contact details.

There are online catalogues available for many archives, libraries

and societies and some of these will be covered in greater depth
elsewhere on the course. However, it is often the case that these
are made available on a country wide basis such
as ArchivesCanada.ca which is a portal for archives across
Canada.

The resources in the ‘See Also’ section below can be consulted for
more information on the topic.

© University of Strathclyde

3.12 Military records

122 comments

What are they and how are they useful for genealogists?

Many of us will have family members who served in the armed

forces whether they enlisted for one conflict or served over a
lifetime. Military and naval records can provide many interesting
details on an ancestor’s life and any wars in which he or she took
part but they can also give many useful genealogical facts as well.
You may find it difficult to find people who served in the armed
forces in the usual records used by genealogists as they may
have rarely been at home so won’t be found in census returns.
Birth, marriage or death events may have happened across the
world while on service and thus you might not find these records
where expected.

Military records are the official records of a military force whether

that is the army, navy, air force, coast guard, marines, militia, etc.
They can contain records that track a person’s service, record any
medals or promotions they may have received or any training
undertaken or their post-service pension. There are a vast number
of different types of records that the military bureaucracy creates
to track its members which we can be thankful for as genealogists.

Why are they created and what type of information might we find?

Like any organisation a military body needs to know who its

members are in order to track such things as experience, training,
pay, progress through the ranks, names of any dependants a
member might have in case a pension needs to be paid,
information on the next of kin in case of death and so on.

Often the first record created is an attestation record which is the

papers that are filled in when someone signs up for service. These
contain a varying amount of information but you usually will find
names, birth information, names of the next of kin, and addresses.
Other records you may find on someone will depend on their
branch of service, how long they served, if they served overseas,
whether they got into trouble, and whether they were wounded or
died.

The military also created birth, marriage and death records which
record any of these events happening on a military base or
through the auspices of a military chaplain or other officiate.

Particular issues with finding military records

Your success in finding information about your military ancestors
will depend in part on:

 whether they were an officer vs. enlisted as generally it is

easier to track officers as more records were kept on them
and
 whether you know their regiment’s name, the ship served on
and so on. Many record sets are not arranged by individuals’
name so if you are looking at a resource that has not been
indexed, then you may have to resort to looking page by
page through the resource for your ancestor.

Family sources may help you with these questions. However,

many databases that include records on
individuals are searchable by name (so you may not need to know
regiment, etc. depending on how common the name is that you
are looking for).

While many military records have been digitized and indexed

online, there are many more that are only available in physical
archives. However this is an area that is being developed
particularly fast so do keep checking to see if what you are
interested in has been made available online or if you need to plan
a trip to a particular archive of interest!

A few research tasks

Try out some databases containing information on military, civil

and church records through answering the questions posed in the
document which can be found below in the Downloads section.
These tasks are totally optional. They use free online databases
so no subscriptions are required, we’ve not specified the
databases to use for certain questions this time for an extra
challenge. We suggest discussing your answers in your Study
Group’s discussion area - to access that, click on the Study Group
icon at the top of the page.
The resources in the ‘See Also’ section below can be consulted for
more information on the topic.

© University of Strathclyde

3.13 Which genealogy database should I use?

129 comments

Over the years, many valuable genealogy databases have

become available online, with several very large international
providers, many more localised providers and also numerous
specialist databases dealing with specific topics.

This step can only provide you with a taste of what is available
and give you some guidance on how to approach these online
sources.

Major International Providers

The three largest and well established international providers of

genealogy databases are Ancestry, Family
Search and FindMyPast. However, other international databases
are growing in size and importance, a good example of a newer
database is MyHeritage.

In the case of Ancestry and FindMyPast, it is possible to conduct a

basic search free of charge, with payment being required for
access to the full details of a search result. This usually allows the
user to view an image of the original source as well as a
transcription. Family Search is a non-commercial provider, being
run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so most
information is freely available, although access to images may be
limited.
Each of these three providers offer large quantities of data
covering areas around the world, some of which is held by more
than one provider and some of which is unique to a single
provider. For example the indexes of the civil registers for England
and Wales from 1837 onwards can be found on Ancestry, Family
Search and FindMyPast. On the other hand, the records of civil
marriages held in Natal Province, South Africa can only be
accessed via Family Search.

Family Search contains a considerable number of sources with

images only. These sources are at present unindexed, but the
images can be browsed, so if you either have a search to make
with very specific and accurate information, or have lots of time to
spare to browse through these, they can be useful sources.

Finally, as far as these major providers are concerned, it is

important to keep a regular check on what unique databases they
hold. Over the last few years, Ancestry and FindMyPast have
negotiated agreements with archives to digitise and transcribe
specific record sources with sole rights for a certain number of
years to make these available online. These are subsequently
released for the use of other database providers. One example is
the Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 database on
FindMyPast, which is also available as UK, Outward Passenger
Lists, 1890-1960 on Ancestry.

You should not restrict yourself to only using one of these

providers, but be aware where to search less standard but still
very important record sources. This is where it becomes essential
to consider other data providers, of national, regional and special
sources. Here are a few good examples of these.

National/Regional

ScotlandsPeople provides access to the statutory civil registers

and census records for Scotland, as well as parish registers,
Roman Catholic records, Valuation rolls, wills and coats of arms.
Free BMD is an index to the civil registers of England and Wales.
An easy to use and completely free resource. It also has
associated sites FreeCEN and FreeREG, for information from UK
census records and parish registers.

The Arizona Department of Health Services allows searches

for birth and death certificates for the state of Arizona in the USA,
with free access to images of the certificates. Some other
American states do have online indexes to civil registration
information, but coverage of states is very patchy.

The New South Wales Registry of Births Deaths &

Marriages, has an index to these vital events which took place in
New South Wales, Australia. A number of other Australian states
and territories have made similar indexes available online.

Specialist Sources

Special sources such as the armed forces, specific occupations

and more are also well catered for online. Although all three of the
major providers have records of the armed forces, there are also
specialist websites such as the Naval & Military Archive, which
are of value.

Interest in specific occupations has resulted in sites like the Sugar

refiners & sugarbakers….database which has gathered
together information from various sources on over 42,000 workers
in that industry mainly in the UK from the 16th to the 20th century.

As well as lists of individuals, this site helpfully includes maps

and directories of sugarhouses and other interesting historical
background. If such databases are large enough they may also
provide timelines for both companies and individuals. Multiple
entries for an individual build a picture of his/her time in the
industry, many over a number of decades, and some surnames
provide evidence of the occupation being carried on through the
generations.

Other databases include a mixture of types of information such as

the Ellen Terry Archive STAR website hosted by the University
of Hull. This includes a large body of records which can help
people find out more about ancestors who may have worked in the
theatre in Great Britain or those with ancestors who remember
attending a special theatrical event.

There is even BlackSheepAncestors, which gives free access to

a variety of records of prisoners, and links to court records and
executions in the USA, Canada and UK. It is all a matter of taste,
but for some researchers there is a fascination in locating a
criminal who after all may only have been a minor offender in
modern day terms.

To track down these many and varied websites, you should

find Cyndi’s List a valuable resource. This is probably the best
general listing of online genealogy sites, arranged in categories
and also searchable by keywords. Otherwise, an Internet search
engine is always a good standby and it’s always worth searching
on an ancestor’s name to see what comes up.

So, to sum up, the answer to the question which genealogy

database should I use? is as many as possible. Both to achieve
as comprehensive a search as possible in all the relevant
available online sources and to guard against inaccuracies in
transcription and indexing, you should aim to cover a wide range
of websites. Some guidance on how to evaluate databases will be
given later in the course.

This step has only covered databases which include largely

primary sources. Secondary sources are also very important in
providing background information to the basic genealogical details
you gather and we will look at how to search for these in Week 5.

© University of Strathclyde

3.14 Evaluating databases

145 comments

As we’ve seen, genealogy databases are extremely numerous

and varied and so it is important to be aware of the points to
be considered in deciding whether a particular database is
suitable for your research needs.

Coverage

Most important is the coverage. Does the database cover the

sources which could potentially provide the information you are
looking for? If so, does it cover all the relevant surviving sources
or only some of them, and are all the details from these sources
made available in the database?

The three major international providers: Ancestry, Family

Search and FindMyPast, host many large data collections with
often fairly general titles which may not clearly convey their
coverage. For example, the England & Wales marriages, 1538-
1940 collection on Ancestry includes information “extracted from
marriage records from selected various counties in England and
Wales.” However, there is not a list of which counties are covered
nor the time periods of coverage for each county.

It is important to seek out the full details of exactly which sources

are covered and for what periods of time, as this can tell you why
there is no information on an ancestor in a particular data
collection. This information is usually provided on the providers’
websites, but may need some hunting for.
Transcriptions: amount of detail given and error rate

There is also the issue of how full a transcription of the source is

actually given. Particularly in the case of Family Search, which
returns search results in a fairly restricted format, some details
may be left out, such as information on occupations and
residences which can sometimes appear in the original church
records.

This leads on to consideration of transcriptions and images of

original sources. In very many cases, databases include both a
transcription and the image of the original source. Although the
value of a transcription is that it makes it easy for the researcher to
read, as the original may be rather difficult to read, there are also
disadvantages. There is scope for errors in any transcriptions and
the error rate in some databases has been found to be quite high.
Because the indexes used to search the databases are built from
the transcriptions, this can result in entries for specific individuals
just not being found.

Whenever there is the opportunity to access the image of the

original source, this should be done, to check that the transcription
is accurate and also because not everything on the source may
have been transcribed. If you have a problem in finding a record of
an individual in a particular source, it may be that the same source
is also available on another website. If so, try searching there also,
since a better transcription may have produced a more accurate
index.

Cost considerations

There are, of course, other considerations which may affect your

choice of databases, such as the cost. Much of the data held on
the Family Search website is free to access as are the indexes
on FreeBMD (and its associated
indexes FreeCen and FreeReg), but accessing full transcriptions
and images of sources may often require payment. Providers tend
to offer different subscription packages and pay-per-view options
and so an awareness of what can be accessed free and which
providers offer the most appropriate payment options to suit your
needs is important.

The user friendliness of various sites as far as the availability of

search options, detailed information on the coverage of databases
and general site navigation may also influence which providers
you use most often.

© University of Strathclyde

3.15 Discussion: What other databases have you found

useful?
525 comments

In the previous steps, we’ve discussed a range of databases

and thought about some general points as to what to
consider when deciding which to use.

Now, we’d like to hear your thoughts about which databases

you’ve found useful. Do you stick with just a major database such
as Ancestry or FamilySearch or are there others you use?

Share your thoughts in the discussion below.

3.16 What's in a name?: 'Land and Sea'

178 comments
Watch the third part of the story ‘Land and Sea’ where Chris
learns more about her family, their surroundings and
occupations.

Within the video, Chris demonstrates the use of Google Streetview

and then goes on to discuss the National Library of Scotland’s
Map Collection website and their online tool which allows the
overlay of old and new maps. If you are interested in learning
more about this tool, please visit their Explore Georeferenced
Maps webpage.

The next step will be a discussion where you will be asked to

share your thoughts on the story.

Transcript 0:10Skip to 0 minutes and 10 secondsBasically, censuses

count residents of a place. Nowadays, they are normally taken by governments
and along with knowing how many people a country holds, are a way of gathering
different bits of information such as education levels, languages spoken, and place
of birth. Censuses usually list everyone normally resident at an address, although
this does vary by place and time period. Censuses can also give a good idea of
what an ancestor's housing and community was like. So how useful have census
records been for you? Well, I think at first I really didn't appreciate just how much
information you could glean from the census records.
0:47Skip to 0 minutes and 47 secondsInformation not just about who you
were searching for but who was also living in the house, and who was missing. I
had a problem because of the name changes. I found Maria Hausen rather than
Riepenhausen in the 1881 census. She's given as head of household. Her
husband Charles and her eldest son must have been at sea. William is listed as an
engine fitter. Her other five children are listed. Her sister, Eliza, is with her too. She
is living in Broughty Ferry in a house with seven windows.

1:21Skip to 1 minute and 21 secondsSo the link that census records give
to a physical address, and thus to the actual space in which your family existed,
really provides the opportunity to go and look at the actual town, street, and,
potentially, buildings where your ancestors lived and breathed. It's great that you
found Maria and the family in Broughty Ferry. Did the census records tell you
anything else? Well, for me there are two added bits of information on the census
forms. It gives the head of house's occupation and it gives the family's address.
This led me to do many, many more searches. Not just for the family, but for their
way of life, and the house they lived in too.

1:57Skip to 1 minute and 57 secondsGoogle Maps is very useful for

street view. National Maps of Scotland is good too. You can overlay maps so you
can actually see a map of how it was then and how it is now. The house in
Seabank Road where Lizzie lived with her husband Gavin is very poignant for me.
My father must have come here for his holidays. I remember him talking about
hearing the clip clop of the horses in the stable. [HOOF CLIP CLOP]

2:29Skip to 2 minutes and 29 secondsSo there's obviously a strong

tradition of men working on the sea in your family. It might be a good idea to go
look at Merchant Marine or shipping line records. Have you been able to consult
these? This research has been difficult. Chris found that you often need to start
with the ship's name and number. And I suggested that a trip to the National
Archives at Kew or the Maritime Archives in Liverpool might be useful. Chris had
already found a First Mate's certificate for Charles and she discovered that his
three sons also went to sea. The youngest son James worked for the Blue Funnel
Line in Liverpool and he had an interesting story.

3:04Skip to 3 minutes and 4 secondsJames had been working as Ship's

Captain for many years when suddenly in 1917, the admiralty refused him his
papers which meant that he couldn't captain a ship in European waters. This was
during the First World War and his German connection was causing problems for
him. I found James Riepenhausen's death listed in the register of deaths. He died
aged 53 in Birkenhead. The National Probate Calendar tells me that he left his
estate to his wife Helen. There's still so much more to be found out about this line
of the family.

3:37Skip to 3 minutes and 37 secondsNext time, Chris follows in Lizzie

Riepenhausen's footsteps, taking us to the west coast of Scotland.

Images in this video: Census records: with permission Crown

copyright/Scotland’s People; Streetview: ©Google, with
permission; Tall Ship (original Glenlee): with permission Riverside,
Glasgow; Steamer: Boston Library, Public domain; Waverley: Ben
Salter, Flikr CC BY 2.0; Port of Liverpool: Public domain via
Wikimedia Commons; SS Viking: Public domain via Wikimedia
Commons
3.17 Discuss the story
399 comments

Chris had some great results from using census and

occupation records.

Have you had any surprising or meaningful discoveries using

census, military or occupation records?

Share your thoughts in the discussion below.

3.19 Time to reflect

438 comments

Well done for reaching the end of Week 3 of the course. We

hope that you are enjoying the course so far and have
learned something new.

The course team would be particularly interested to hear if

anything specific this week has captured your imagination: did
anything surprise you? Have your existing views on this topic been
confirmed or contradicted?

Please feel free to add your comments to the discussion below.