how far back

hg · Post by hg » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:32 pm

Just wondered how far back you have gone in your research!

I know the farther back I go the harder it becomes but, it seem like some of you have had a lot of success.

Any tips?

thanks

Helen

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:18 pm

For me,

It was all the way back to the lizard-like creature that crawled out of the swamp.

No, hang on, that was me!

Actually it was all the way back to when it started to get uninteresting.

All the way back to when all I was getting was names and dates and places.

It was then that I started to work forward. How far did I get? Guess!

Alan

hg · Post by hg » Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:34 pm

Oh Alan.

You made me laugh you lizard-like creature

I am aware that this family research is a work in progress.

I was just interested as a guide for myself. I have managed to go back to 1770 so far.

regards

Helen

keewik · Post by **keewik** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:19 pm

I've got back to 1667 with one line - I find you can get further back with the families who've stayed in one village for years - mind you unravelling the intermarrying can be a nightmare!

Post by **AnneM** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:52 pm

Hi

I think that the distance you get back is largely a matter of luck depending on various factors, principal among them:

the quality of records in the place where your ancestors lived
the frequency of occurence or otherwise of the surname (the more unusual the surname the better your chance of getting a reliable result further back where the information given is limited, after all how do you determine which John Brown is yours)
the level of literacy and relative wealth of your ancestor

In a couple of my lines I've got back to the mid C17 though one of these depends on my great grandfather being the person I am as sure as I can be he is. This is generally testimony to the quality of records in Perthshire and the Scottish Borders. I've not given up on finding more info though and consider all my lines work in progress.

However for one line of my husband's I'm pretty sure I'm back to the C15 but his ancestors had money and were literate. Accordingly they left wills and correspondence and had people buried in cathedrals etc. That makes a huge difference. I still have one link to prove absolutely there though but I'm pretty certain.

As Alan says though if you have no more info than a name it can be a bit unexciting finding people in the dim and distant past.

Anne

Rach · Post by **Rach** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:12 pm

AnneM wrote:Hi
However for one line of my husband's I'm pretty sure I'm back to the C15 but his ancestors had money and were literate. Accordingly they left wills and correspondence and had people buried in cathedrals etc.
Anne

Thank goodness things have changed. In another 100+ years time it will be a dawdle finding ancestors. Although there could be many more sources to trawl through as everyone has multi records kept all over the place! Perhaps there will be archives of cctv footage of town centres with cries of 'Does that woman look like great great granny going into that shop?'! The mind boggles about the records that may be kept.
Many of my lot didn't move very far and I have births back to the late 17C for one or two and I am still trying to be greedy and get back even further!
Rae

Post by **SarahND** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:17 pm

I would agree with Alan that you go back until it starts to get uninteresting... That is, provided you can get back that far! In one way it can get less interesting farther back, if all you have is OPR births and marriages that just give the names and dates. On the other hand, in the days before compulsory registration, sometimes the only way to establish that you have the right people is to find wills, property records, court cases, Kirk Session records etc.-- and those tend to be quite interesting!

Regards,
Sarah

David Lang · Post by **David Lang** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 1:11 pm

Have got most line on both mothers and father side back to 1770/80s , apart from which is the biggest brick wall and numerous posters on here have had a go at solving it , with no luck yet.

Hopefully with a bit a spare time , i will be able to get into the Kirk Sessions of the places my people stayed in and get a bit more meat on the bones for a couple of lines.

As everyone says it is down to luck, wealth, location and unusual surnames mostly!!!!