What is the best way to trace your ancestors before 1700 (General)
by roy meek 
, Sunday, February 27, 2011, 10:54 (5025 days ago)
What is the best way to trace your ancestors before 1700? or would this be very
impracticable.
What is the best way to trace your ancestors before 1700
by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Sunday, February 27, 2011, 11:10 (5025 days ago) @ roy meek
Roy
You may get lucky esp. if there was some degree of "status" involved , but in general the further back the less chance of records being taken or surviving :-(
You may have a literate "line" and family papers / bibles etc to explore. You may have to rely on "public" records - however there was no formal census / headcount, so parish records / BTs become the prime source.
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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>
Researching Family Trees pre 1800
by m p griffiths , Sunday, February 27, 2011, 11:19 (5025 days ago) @ roy meek
What christian/surnames are you looking for?
The earliest records on FOD is 1538 (98 entries)
The Gloucester Marriage Index have a few back to 1625.
The Church of Latter Day Saints site is also very useful
as is the Gloucestershire Records Office Database (including Wills from 1541)
http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives
Earlier records are sometimes written in Latin - as in my 'family records' - and I used paid Researchers to search Gloucestershire/Wiltshire/Berkshire Records Office for these documents.
Also not forgetting exchange of information with fellow researchers via various websites.
Researching Family Trees pre 1800
by bristolloggerheads , Wednesday, March 02, 2011, 17:56 (5022 days ago) @ m p griffiths
Depends how much they moved about too! People weren't as static as we like to think. Court records are a good source but almost certainly in Latin. I would collect as many possible wills as you can. If you're lucky someone has already reserached a connected line - put yourself about on the various boards!
Researching Family Trees pre 1800
by rookancestrybest , United Kingdom, Wednesday, March 02, 2011, 20:21 (5022 days ago) @ bristolloggerheads
The branch of my family which I've traced back furthest (not from the FOD) (to Tudor times) is the one branch which did not appear to move further than the next town. There
are very good church baptismal and marriage records in the parishes where they lived and they were C of E. But even with these one has to be tentative as it there could have been others with the same names in the same area. The Familysearch.org website has this same branch of my family recorded back that far.
Research - Family Trees Gloucs Electoral Registe
by m p griffiths , Thursday, March 03, 2011, 15:25 (5021 days ago) @ rookancestrybest
Gloucestershire Electoral Register 1832 is available on line. This is just an Index - with name/place - although the Gloucestershire Record Office copy gives more info re: owner/lessee/mortagee
www.oldgitsonline.co.uk/searchvoters.php
Gloucestershire Family History Society
http://www.gfhs.org.uk/elecroll.htm