As most people begin their research into their family tree, they find that their family has moved, sometimes over large distances, over the generations. This can make it a little more difficult to find the next branch of family history that they are searching for.
The good news is that there are now a number of locations online where you can search immigration records.
Immigration records can hold a lot of family research information. Among some of the things that immigration records may have are:
Name
Nationality
Location of Birth
Age
Height
Eye and Hair Color
Occupation
Relatives They Had in the U.S.
Previous Address
Address Where They Are Going
Date They Arrived in The U.S.
The Ship They Arrived On
These can be a huge help in your family research as you are able to piece together where a branch of your family tree moved to in the 'New World' and where they set up residence. Often, once a family found an area to settle down, the next few generations would stay in this area, which may help you in your next levels of research into your family history.
So, where should you look to find family history immigration paperwork?
EllisIsland.org
For the most part, immigrants who traveled to the new world came through Ellis Island in New York. There were usually rather detailed records being kept of their arrival as well. Now many of these records are available online at www.Ellisisland.org . This is a database of over 22.5 million names of those immigrants who came to the U.S. through New York's Ellis Island. The database covers those who came off of the ships from 1892 – 1924.
Castle Garden
If you know your family members came over before 1892, you may need to take your family research to Castle Garden, www.castlegarden.org instead. This has the names of over 10 million immigrants who came into the United States before Ellis Island Opened in 1892. Before that time, Castle Garden was the immigration center and these records have those who came through from 1830-1892.
National Archives
Another family research source for those who know they have family that came to America during the Irish Famine is the National Archives http://aad.archives.gov/aad/ . This database has the names of over 600,000 people who came into New York between 1846-1851 during the famine. If you know some of your family tree was in Ireland, this may not be a bad place to take a look.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Monday, 9 November 2009
Internet
In between revealing my family history I will review and promote products on the internet that can help record your family history research progress offer help and information.
The first family history resource under the spotlight will be Ancestry, I use this site to record all my family history and have given access to other family members so they can see our family history in action. I took my first step on the internet root with 14 days free trail to Ancestry, this gave me
This site offers links to historical records. Birth, marriage, death records linking your family history, and giving you the all important proof that you need and you can apply for copies of the records.
All the UK census records from 1841 to 1901 showing you’re the location of your family history, their occupations, ages, and place of birth. They also have links to other people researching their family history that you can contact and link your history to that long lost cousin or aunt.
Another function is the use of their family history recording area, you can build a family tree, upload photos, videos and add links to other web sites with supporting evidence of your family history.
So have fun discovering your family history at ancestry.
The first family history resource under the spotlight will be Ancestry, I use this site to record all my family history and have given access to other family members so they can see our family history in action. I took my first step on the internet root with 14 days free trail to Ancestry, this gave me
This site offers links to historical records. Birth, marriage, death records linking your family history, and giving you the all important proof that you need and you can apply for copies of the records.
All the UK census records from 1841 to 1901 showing you’re the location of your family history, their occupations, ages, and place of birth. They also have links to other people researching their family history that you can contact and link your history to that long lost cousin or aunt.
Another function is the use of their family history recording area, you can build a family tree, upload photos, videos and add links to other web sites with supporting evidence of your family history.
So have fun discovering your family history at ancestry.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Starting on the Internet
Skipping a quite years and coming to the accessible of the internet and searchable records online. I discovered that the national census was the easiest form of information available to me on family history. So Istarted to trace the people I had discovered in Thame and Twyford, of course there were a lot of years missing in between and I could only start to trace the surname of Wenman not knowing if they were related.
This uncovered more people but not a direct link to any people in my family history, so I decided to start from my grand partners and work backwards from them. I started with my grand mother’s family history, she was born in Drayton Praslow in Buckinghamshire in 1915, so her parents would have been on the 1901 census. The first place I looked was logically Drayton Parslow but found nothing so I started looking at the surrounding villages and found my great grandfather as a child living in nearby Stewkley.
So now I am back to the person who the family history myth centred on. According to the myth his father died after returning from the Boar War of an injury and my great grandfather was offered the opportunity of returning to the family seat to be raised as the next heir. Problem one how do I discover his father and what he died from, I chased various avenues on the Boar War memorials finding nothing
However I did discover he died at 43 years of age in Drayton Praslow so I sent for a copy of his birth certificate, he died of tuberculoses, his name was Joseph Wenman and he was married to Julia Turney. He had several brothers and sisters and his father was a carpenter by the name of John. So here I am with more information that before but no closer to the family history myth but bitten by the family history bug.
This uncovered more people but not a direct link to any people in my family history, so I decided to start from my grand partners and work backwards from them. I started with my grand mother’s family history, she was born in Drayton Praslow in Buckinghamshire in 1915, so her parents would have been on the 1901 census. The first place I looked was logically Drayton Parslow but found nothing so I started looking at the surrounding villages and found my great grandfather as a child living in nearby Stewkley.
So now I am back to the person who the family history myth centred on. According to the myth his father died after returning from the Boar War of an injury and my great grandfather was offered the opportunity of returning to the family seat to be raised as the next heir. Problem one how do I discover his father and what he died from, I chased various avenues on the Boar War memorials finding nothing
However I did discover he died at 43 years of age in Drayton Praslow so I sent for a copy of his birth certificate, he died of tuberculoses, his name was Joseph Wenman and he was married to Julia Turney. He had several brothers and sisters and his father was a carpenter by the name of John. So here I am with more information that before but no closer to the family history myth but bitten by the family history bug.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
My First Steps
I started with the memorials found in that church, I spent time writing down all the names dates, of burial etc. Some memorials gave me the links between the family members but others were just names with no spouses or children mentioned.
The memorials were beautifully preserved inside the church and some of the memorials were to lords and viscounts, so I had a head start with finding the links. I started with the village I found the church in, Twyford in Buckinghamshire, and looked for prominent families in that area. I then started to research their family history, finding lots of information in the history of the county of Buckinghamshire enabling me to make links between a lot of the names I had found in the church.
The family history I uncovered was intriguing and pointed me in the direction of other villages and towns in the area. The first one I investigated was Thame in Oxfordshire. Their family history showed the family of Wenman marrying into the Williams family who were very wealthy landowners in and around Twyford, Thame and other areas. When Lord Williams died sometime before 1660, he left his estate to his two daughters one Isabel who was married to Richard Wenman, great-grandfather of Thomas, 2nd Viscount Wenman, here I had the link on the name I was looking for Wenman.
This led me to Thame Park a large mansion on the outskirts of Thame, my first port of call was to the local church, where I found nothing, the local tourist information centre was better and I discovered that Thame Park had its own chapel, hence nothing in the local church, but having also found out that Thame park was now in private hands I could not get access to the chapel or the burials records. I started researching the history of Thame Park and found that there were no descendants of the Wenamns left, the family having died out with no male heirs left. This tied into my family history myth of the lack of male heirs but did not give me any links to follow up on and a seeming missing generation. My next move was to apply for a copy of the last will and testimony of the last Wenman I had found there Sophia Elizabeth Wenman Baroness of Thame, unfortunately there was no mention of other Wenman’s in the will.
So I was left at a dead end again.
The memorials were beautifully preserved inside the church and some of the memorials were to lords and viscounts, so I had a head start with finding the links. I started with the village I found the church in, Twyford in Buckinghamshire, and looked for prominent families in that area. I then started to research their family history, finding lots of information in the history of the county of Buckinghamshire enabling me to make links between a lot of the names I had found in the church.
The family history I uncovered was intriguing and pointed me in the direction of other villages and towns in the area. The first one I investigated was Thame in Oxfordshire. Their family history showed the family of Wenman marrying into the Williams family who were very wealthy landowners in and around Twyford, Thame and other areas. When Lord Williams died sometime before 1660, he left his estate to his two daughters one Isabel who was married to Richard Wenman, great-grandfather of Thomas, 2nd Viscount Wenman, here I had the link on the name I was looking for Wenman.
This led me to Thame Park a large mansion on the outskirts of Thame, my first port of call was to the local church, where I found nothing, the local tourist information centre was better and I discovered that Thame Park had its own chapel, hence nothing in the local church, but having also found out that Thame park was now in private hands I could not get access to the chapel or the burials records. I started researching the history of Thame Park and found that there were no descendants of the Wenamns left, the family having died out with no male heirs left. This tied into my family history myth of the lack of male heirs but did not give me any links to follow up on and a seeming missing generation. My next move was to apply for a copy of the last will and testimony of the last Wenman I had found there Sophia Elizabeth Wenman Baroness of Thame, unfortunately there was no mention of other Wenman’s in the will.
So I was left at a dead end again.
Family History Centre
Welcome to the family history centre, I have been researching my family history for over 20 years and have found no better resource than the internet. I am going to share my experience, set backs and discoveries with you.
I started researching my family history about 20 years ago following a discovery in a church depicting our family name on some very grand memorials. I started by finding out who the memorials were to and where that family came from. This research was all carried out in libraries using very dusty old books as the memorials I discovered were from the 1600-1800’s.
After discussions with older members of my family I found a family history myth of a fall out between families after the man of the house died, returning from war. It went something like this:
He returned from the Boar war wounded and died from his wounds, he was the hier of a wealthy land owner, who then wanted to take his grandson and bring him up as the heir. The mother of the grandson didn’t want to lose her son so got married to a local man and took her son with her, having nothing to do with her previous husbands family.
This provided fuel for my interest to find out more and started a 20 year passion to find out my family history. I hope you enjoy my story and find some useful links here.
I started researching my family history about 20 years ago following a discovery in a church depicting our family name on some very grand memorials. I started by finding out who the memorials were to and where that family came from. This research was all carried out in libraries using very dusty old books as the memorials I discovered were from the 1600-1800’s.
After discussions with older members of my family I found a family history myth of a fall out between families after the man of the house died, returning from war. It went something like this:
He returned from the Boar war wounded and died from his wounds, he was the hier of a wealthy land owner, who then wanted to take his grandson and bring him up as the heir. The mother of the grandson didn’t want to lose her son so got married to a local man and took her son with her, having nothing to do with her previous husbands family.
This provided fuel for my interest to find out more and started a 20 year passion to find out my family history. I hope you enjoy my story and find some useful links here.
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