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_FOR THE BIBLIOPHILE AND BOOK-LOVER._
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Full of helpful and practical suggestions for the Bibliographer and
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Gleanings in Old Garden Literature.
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LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK,
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_A KEY TO THE FAMILY DEED-CHEST._
How to Decipher and Study Old Documents
Third Edition, Revised. Enlarged and Illustrated.
By E. E. THOYTS. Art cloth, =5/-= net.
Some of the difficulties which beset any one who studies such
documents for the first time, unless he be an expert, are the
deciphering of the ancient and unfamiliar style of writing; the
peculiar abbreviations and signs which were used by our forefathers;
the quaint phrases and expressions and obsolete words occurring; the
arbitrary and old-fashioned spelling, which to the uninitiated are
always vexatious. It is to enable the more or less experienced student
to meet and cope with these and similar difficulties that this work
has been compiled, by one who has had considerable experience in
research.
LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK,
62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
FOR THE GENEALOGIST.
_BY WILLIAM H. WHITMORE, A.M._
ANCESTRAL TABLETS.
A Collection of Diagrams for Pedigrees so arranged that Eight
Generations of the Ancestors of any Person may be Recorded in a
connected and Simple Form.
Royal 4to, Quarter Roxburgh, gilt, =8/6= post free.
“A difficult plan to explain on paper, but is fascinatingly simple
when actually handled, as an American critic truly remarks--‘No one
with the least bent for genealogical research ever examined this
ingeniously compact substitute for the family tie without longing to
own it.’”--_Reliquary._
LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK,
62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
HOW TO
TRACE A PEDIGREE
BY
H. A. CROFTON
LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK
62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1911
PREFACE
I have endeavoured in this little book to give the amateur
pedigree-hunter the benefit of what I have personally found to be the
most valuable documents to search, and full instructions as to where
he can consult them, also the various steps to be taken in tracing a
pedigree, without unduly crowding his attention with names and classes
of documents which he may need to consult.
I have, however, added most of these in a later part of the book, so
that sufficient information should be obtainable within its pages to
meet the requirements of the average genealogical searcher in the
British Isles.
H. A. C.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
INTRODUCTORY 1
I. FIRST STEPS IN PEDIGREE-HUNTING 3
II. WILL-SEARCHING 8
III. PUBLISHED SOURCES OF INFORMATION 13
IV. MISCELLANEOUS MS. DOCUMENTS OF VALUE TO THE SEARCHER 19
V. HOW TO MAKE A FAMILY TREE 24
VI. ADDITIONAL NOTES ON PEDIGREE-HUNTING IN LONDON 27
VII. THE PEDIGREE-HUNTER IN IRELAND 33
VIII. THE PEDIGREE-HUNTER IN SCOTLAND AND THE PROVINCES 38
IX. THE WILL-SEARCHER IN ENGLAND 45
X. AN ADDITIONAL LIST OF PUBLICATIONS WHICH MAY BE USEFUL WHEN
TRACING A PEDIGREE 48
XI. THE PAINS AND PLEASURES OF PEDIGREE-HUNTING 52
XII. HOW TO SAVE EXPENSE IN PEDIGREE-HUNTING 56
XIII. LAST WORDS 59
INDEX 65
HOW TO TRACE A PEDIGREE
INTRODUCTORY
Various authorities have derived the word “pedigree” very differently,
and it is impossible to say anything definite as to its origin. One
of the most picturesque and possibly the most probable derivation is
from _pied de grue_--crane’s foot. Evidently this was intended as a
word-picture, the claws dividing from a bird’s foot being suggestive of
the different branches issuing from the parent stem in a pedigree. When
speaking of stems and branches, our thoughts are naturally directed to
trees--hence, of course, the expression a “family tree.”
Many nations have preserved the records of family genealogy in their
national archives; indeed, all have done this more or less, and all
honour to those who have been keenest in the matter, for a nation is
composed of families, and family or individual history or biography
helps to make the history of that nation, while heredity perhaps more
than environment tends to explain the complex character with which each
individual member of it is endowed.
The study of genealogy, therefore, is a useful one; but, apart from
such considerations, there are many who are personally interested in
their own ancestry, and would like to be able to trace pedigrees and
learn more of their family history; but the probability is that they
have not the slightest idea how to set about the work. Others may think
(however interested they might be in _results_) that the details they
would have to master must be necessarily dry as dust, and that the
search itself would run away with a great deal of money.
Well, though it is quite possible to expend large sums in
pedigree-hunting, it is by no means necessary to do so; and, though
some dry records may have to be plodded through, searches are in
general replete with interest. The reader may possibly be reassured on
both these points before laying down this little book, the especial aim
of which will be to show the amateur how he may become a successful
pedigree-hunter.
CHAPTER I
FIRST STEPS IN PEDIGREE-HUNTING
The reader being anxious to trace his own or a friend’s pedigree, or to
look for some missing link in an ancestry--how should he set about the
work?
To do this more efficiently, and to save unnecessary expense, he
should first ascertain and set down whatever _is already known_ on the
subject or can be discovered, before proceeding to record-searching.
We will suppose that he is interested in ascertaining the ancestry
of a certain man, whose father’s name is known and, perhaps, his
grandfather’s; but he cannot trace the pedigree farther back.
Also, presumably, he may know where this individual and, possibly, his
father and grandfather lived. From such data, however slight they may
be, his future knowledge is to spring--for he must work from the known
to the unknown. This is necessary in all genealogical searches.
Friends of the family can give him some little particulars--all of
which should be carefully noted down--and a visit to the place where he
locates the earliest known member of it, if practicable, might be very
advantageous.
If this is not possible at the moment, he should write to the vicar of
the parish, who, from the parochial entries, would supply information
at a moderate cost. There might also be tombstones, with names and
dates on them, which would help materially.
Some parish registers have been printed. The searcher should ascertain
whether the parish in which he is interested is among the number, and,
if so, whether the published entries have been brought down to the date
he requires, as in that event he might obtain the necessary information
in some large library free of cost. But he is scarcely likely to be so
exceptionally fortunate at the start, so will probably have to make the
requisite inquiries.
Before doing so, however, our pedigree-hunter should carefully consider
the _surname_ of the individual in question. If he boasts of an
uncommon one, as say, for instance, _Vandeleur_, the chances are that
all the Vandeleurs mentioned in the same parish books will belong to
his family. If, however, he is a _Smith_--well, the Smiths are not a
very small tribe, and several of the name unrelated to each other
might appear in the same parish. To obviate the difficulties which this
would entail, our pedigree-hunter should be clear as to the district in
the parish or name of the house in which his ancestor lived. But, if he
does not know this, how is he to ascertain it?
Well, he probably _will_ know it in the case of the latest of his
ancestors, say, his father or grandfather, and let him work from that
point. Failing this, a study of the family names in each district
should reveal the secret.
The _surname_ itself, especially if the searcher has been able to trace
the ancestry some way back, should be carefully noted with regard to
the different forms in which it may appear, for in early days there was
a quite delightful variation in the spelling of names; so a somewhat
similar sounding name, if spelt differently, should not be ruled out of
court as having necessarily nothing to do with the matter, the _odds_
being generally on the other side.
Even if parochial registers supply no additional details to those
which friends have been able to give, their testimony may be of great
importance, for the recollections of old friends are more or less
traditional, and the golden rule to be most carefully observed by
genealogists, is
_Verify your Information._
An honest searcher would never appreciate a “faked” pedigree; but it
is fatally easy to assume a certain point, and, working from that
assumption, to have all future details more or less incorrect.
No time should be considered wasted which is spent on verifying
information.
The searchers should not even take it for granted that all Peerages or
similar works are always correct; as a matter of fact, this is far from
being the case.
Even in the mystic circle of the Baronetage it is said that some
sixty claimants have appeared, whose titles, though received for long
unchallenged, cannot be fully verified.
Our late king recently ordered an _official_ roll of the Baronetage to
be registered and kept.
This does not preclude, however, the pedigree-hunter from consulting
Peerages and works of Family History at libraries; indeed, this might
well be the next stage in his search. Let him look through his Library
Index, under the heading “Genealogy,” and consult works in it which he
thinks might bear on the matter in hand.
There are many such in all good libraries, a list of which will be
given later on; but, while the search is in its infancy and does not go
farther back than two or three generations, probably the Peerages (if
the family is of social position), with perhaps certain other printed
pedigrees and works on family history, such as Burke’s _Commoners_ and
_Landed Gentry_, should suffice for the present.
But the golden rule in genealogy should always be remembered; and,
though the information thus derived may possibly be fairly correct,
many details may call for verification later in the search.