| Frequently
Asked Questions
Ron
Wild presents a selection of the questions most frequently
asked of professional genealogists, together with their most
frequently given answers.
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The
impressive headquarters of the Daughters of the American
Revolution in Washington, DC. |
My
great-aunt was a member of the DAR, can you tell me which
of my ancestors fought in the Revolution?
Yes, I can get a copy of her membership application that will
list your great-aunt’s lineage back to whomever is credited
to service in the American Revolution. Acceptable service
could be, signers of the Declaration of Independence, military
service, civil service or patriotic service. Many people have
stated that they were members of the DAR (Daughters of the
American Revolution) but in reality they never were members.
They may have been qualified, but they never took the time
to fill out the application and file their documentation.
If this is the case, then you will need to trace your ancestry
back to the Revolution and check with the files of the DAR
to see the ancestral links to that particular patriot. (Diane
E. Greene AG, PO Box 62124, Boulder City, Nevada, 89006;
Specialization: US and DAR/SAR lineage applications)
What
early Canadian immigration records are available?
Clients are usually referring to the passenger lists dating
from 1865 through 1919. Searching passenger lists is a time
consuming and arduous task since the records are arranged
by date and port of entry. For the most part the records are
not indexed. Many researchers can undertake this labor-intensive
research through their local library. The National Archives
of Canada loans microfilmed copies of the passenger lists
through the inter-library loan system. One caution is that
often the passenger lists provide little information other
than the name, age and ticket number of the passenger. (David
Agar, e-mail: dagar@freenet.carleton.ca)
How
can I find out who the parents of ____ are?
Out of 14,000 requests for free help in the past six months
this is the most common question asked of Genealogy Research
Associates. It invariably leads to the question of how can
the birth, marriage and death records be located. With the
general lack of US vital records prior to the 1900s people
become frustrated when told that they are going to have to
learn how to use vital record substitutes. To help we wrote
“Your Great Ancestral Hunt” which is available
free online and teaches the basics of goal setting in genealogy
research.
Another frequently asked question relates to finding out who
the immigrant ancestor was and when they arrived and from
where they came. To answer this question Genealogy Research
Associates, in cooperation with Brøderbund, started
a series available free on the Internet called “Tracing
Your immigrant Origins” (www.familytreemaker.com/
university.html). For information on these educational
classes send a SASE to Educational Courses at the address
below. (Karen Clifford, President, Genealogy Research Associates,
139 East South Temple, Suite 300, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111)
What
qualifications do you feel I should be looking for in a professional
genealogist?
I think you have really hit the proverbial “nail on
the head” with this type of work. Let me make it clear
that not every genealogist is created equal. Some are more
qualified than others. Some have professional credentials
to display their skills and some do not have the client’s
best interests at heart. It is up to you as a prospective
client to analyze the field carefully since as with any market
it is “Buyer Beware!”
It is not imperative that you hire someone with professional
credentials, as there are many researchers without them who
will provide excellent research and results. However, if you
hire someone with a professional credential e.g. CG, CGRS,
AG, and many others, which is always my first choice, you
are guaranteed that they have gone through rigorous examination
in the areas of their specialization or expertise. In addition,
it is not necessary, as it once was to hire a researcher local
to your area of interest. Many professional genealogists now
have wider access to distant records or network to distant
agents who reciprocate on research needs.
There are five major qualities that you should look for in
a professional researcher: integrity, professional qualifications,
reliability, general and specific knowledge of records and
good research and documentary skills. Don’t be afraid
to ask for report examples from prospective professionals.
It is your money and you should have some assurance that it
will be spent as you wish. (Brian W. Hutchison, B. Comm.,
C.M.A., C.G., F.S.A. (Scot), Senior Partner and Managing Director,
Gen-Find Research Associates)
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My
ancestor served in the British Army in the War of 1812; can
you find his record?
I have many enquiries from overseas regarding ancestors who
served in the British Army. Army life was notoriously hard
and it was not at all uncommon for soldiers to desert to live
in the areas in which they were serving.
Desertion was a major headache for the Navy in the War of
1812 which took place between the British and the new American
Republic all along the border between Canada and the US from
Detroit to Maine and as far south as Washington. Many of the
British warships had so many desertions that it was necessary
for them to operate on skeleton crews. British military records
can be searched and contain much useful information such as
age, physical description, service record and often names
of parents. (Roger Barrington; Specializes in London, England
searches and national searches at the PRO; e-mail: rbfhs@globalnet.co.uk)
What
are the origins of Irish names and were all the Irish records
destroyed?
Many people call wanting to know the origin of Irish names,
usually as a preliminary to beginning a search for ancestors
with an Irish name. There are many reference works available
but we usually recommend MacLysagh’s list of “The
Surnames of Ireland” as a good starting point. The other
question that is frequently asked concerns the destruction
of Irish records in the 1922 fire at the Public Records Office,
Four Courts, Dublin. Of course, not all Irish records were
destroyed. Birth, marriage and death records indexes and registers
were held in separate offices and are available from 1864
for birth, marriages and deaths and for non-Roman Catholic
marriages from 1845.
Parish records are widely available and some date from the
late 1790s but most are available from 1820s onwards. The
census data from the 1821, 1831, 1841, 1851 and 1871 censuses
were destroyed for various reasons and because of this the
1901 and 1911 census data has been filmed and is widely available,
the originals being held in the National Archives, Dublin.
Very few passenger emigration lists exist in Ireland but these
are widely available in the countries to which most Irish
emigrants went and many have been filmed and indexed. (Paul
Quinlan, Celtic Origins, Dun Laoghaire, Republic of Ireland;
tel: 353-1-2806634; e-mail: info@genealogy.ie)
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The
real Debrett can assure you that most
people are not entitled to coats of arms. |
Are
you the real Debrett?
Yes, in the 1970s the demand for professional help in tracing
family history became so great that a separate division of
Debrett’s Peerage Ltd. was created to carry out research
for families from all walks of life. In 1982 Debrett Ancestry
Research Ltd. became a separate company but we still have
close links with the publishers, Debrett’s Peerage.
One of the most popular questions we still receive is “Did
my family have a coat of arms?” Coats of arms were not
issued to families but to individuals who were often able
to pass these along to descendants but this required design
changes to recognize the uniqueness of each individual issue.
Only the eldest son was able to use the unchanged coat of
arms on his father’s death. The vast majority of individuals
are not entitled to use a coat of arms but may be eligible
to use a differenced, design changed, version if they can
prove direct lineal descent from someone who was issued arms
in the past. (Debrett Ancestry Research Ltd., PO Box 7, New
Alresford, Hampshire, UK SO24 9EN)
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Non-conformist
ancestors, such as those who belonged to the Wesleyan
Church, present unique research problems. |
My
British ancestor was a nonconformist, how can I find out about
him?
A nonconformist was someone who did not attend the Anglican
parish church for worship. He could be one of many different
denominations including Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists,
Presbyterians, Quakers. Early surviving nonconformist chapel
registers are held at the Public Records Office in London.
Other records have been deposited locally at County Record
Offices. Most are available on microfilm at libraries and
family history centers worldwide.
Some nonconformist ancestors do appear in Anglican parish
records since from 1754 to 1837 all marriages, except Quaker
and Jewish, had to be conducted in an Anglican church and
were recorded on the parish register. Also between 1695 and
1705 births of children to nonconformist parents were recorded
in the Anglican parish christening register. Many burials
of nonconformist ancestors would have taken place in Anglican
churchyards but usually in the north part of the churchyard
that was reserved for excommunicants, paupers, suicides and
nonconformist burials. They would all have been recorded in
the parish death registers usually with a cryptic comment
explaining the circumstance. Some private nonconformist burial
grounds do exist and include the one at Bunhill Fields, London
in which 120,000 nonconformist burials took place between
1695 and 1852. The registers are in the Public Record Office,
London. (Mary Wright; e-mail: d.m.j.wright@btinternet.com)
Do
you guarantee results for your clients?
We wish that results could be guaranteed but as any professional
genealogist knows and should tell you, there may just be too
many missing pieces of the puzzle to produce the results for
which a client would hope. If your ancestor was prolific at
leaving records, many of these can and will be found given
adequate time and investment. However, if your ancestor was
never in one place long enough to leave an historical record
of himself, the chore will be much more difficult. Remember,
the more solid and supported the facts are that you supply
to your researcher, the quicker and less costly a search will
be by a professional genealogist. (Brian W. Hutchison B. Comm,
C.M.A., C.G.,F.S.A. (Scot.), Managing Director, Gen-Find Research
Associates; e-mail: director@gen-find.com)
My
ancestor served in the British Army. I have his name and approximate
date of
service, can you find something about him?
If your ancestor was a commissioned officer then the information
you have will almost certainly be enough to locate his military
records which might include some personal details. If he was
an enlisted man, it would be much better if you knew the name
or number of his regiment.
If the regiment is not known, sometimes it is possible to
find it by a process of elimination. For example, a marriage
certificate or baptismal certificates of children may indicate
where a soldier was serving over a number of years and searches
of the muster rolls of the appropriate regiments might show
his name. The information found in a soldier’s record
varies with more recent records usually being more productive
from the point of view of a family historian. This does not
apply to WWI records. (R.W. O’Hara, 15 Ruskin Avenue,
Kew, England, TW9 4DR; website: www.users.
dircon.co.uk/~searcher/)
This
article originally appeared in the September/October 1998
issue of Family Chronicle.
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