Hi and welcome to the inaugural blog on Ancestry Resources.
Here's a research tale which illustrates how one burning question can trigger further enquiries, which then throw up a multitude of leads.
A few days ago I took a work-based call from a lady who had been adopted at birth. She knew her birth mother had died several years after and wanted to know how to lay her hands on a death certificate. As it was an English birth, I said I would need to get the Civil Death Registration Index references. Her mother’s name was quite uncommon - not Smith or Jones thankfully - so using Ancestry’s BMD (Birth, Marriage & Death) collection that proved a quick step.
But in common with many family tree hunters I couldn’t leave it there. What did her mother's middle initial stand for? So, I just popped her name and town of death into Google and lo and behold she appeared as the top of the page. The entry was from Findagrave.com (a database of human - and even pet - cemetery records) and it revealed her middle name, place of burial and exact date of death. A clear photo of the gravestone revealed that she had been buried with a younger sister, who had died in infancy. This made for an even sadder story - I really wanted to come back to the lady with more positive information so I pressed on.
What might local historical newspapers reveal? I dived into the British Newspaper Archive and searched for her name in the local paper. There was just the one entry and it proved a veritable gold mine. The death’s page listed an astonishing total of 23 notices of condolence. Beyond her parents there were notices from the extended family, friends, neighbours and others. One was a from a surviving third sister, born just four years before her teenage sister had given birth. Most intriguing was a heartfelt notice from a fiancé (was he the lady's father?). In addition were notices from hospital ward staff and what appeared to be her once employers. As expected only first names were supplied, but with relatives they were helpfully prefixed by aunt, uncle, nephew etc.
Such a discovery illustrates just how useful death notices can prove to be. This one was made so much more poignant by her young age and how many people posted their sympathies. Dozens of relatives were named and in an instant a whole family tree was opening up.
Now it was a case of finding how they slotted in. In order to find out which aunt was married to which uncle and how they related to the young mother I took to FreeBMD, which covers English and Welsh civil registration back to 1837. I first tackled an unusual male forename and it turned out he was married to the young girl's maternal aunt.
But what about her surviving cousins?
Tip
When it came to identifying her nieces and nephews I found FreeBMD really useful. From September 1912 mother's maiden names were added to birth certificates. As I don't want to reveal the adopted lady's identity, here is a rock-based example; searching for births with Jagger and Scutts in the (parental) surname fields, Dartford-born Michael (aka Mick) and his younger brother, Christopher are revealed:
TIP 2
Let's find the first names of Mick Jagger's parents. Searching marriages with Jagger and then Scutts provides the following result:
So, Micks' father is Basil, but what about his mum? Performing a marriage 'reverse search' will tell us. Simply reverse the surname search (with mother, then father) and ensure the date, place and reference numbers tally. Hit 'Find' and...
Eva appears as Mick's mother. As you might guess, 'reverse searching' is one of my favourite techniques on FreeBMD.
Now, back to my original enquiry. I emailed the lady with:
1. Her mothers death certificate reference numbers and an order link for the General Register Office.
2. A link to the location and image of her mother and aunt's grave.
3. Screenshots of all 23 death notices, which promised plenty of leads.
It was now in her hands as to whether she made contact with her 'new' relatives, many of whom still lived nearby. The following day I returned to her response. A message of thanks, it ended by her saying she 'was blown away'.
Though borne out of sad origins, it was undoubtedly a family history success story.
