Technical Note

The main sources of information for a family story like this are memories and family folklore, and, increasingly so as you get back into the past, written records. In England, official government records started with the 1837 Registration Act. From that point, the law was that births, marriages, and deaths were to be registered. This was backed up by a census every ten years (although raw census information is kept secret for 100 years). Prior to 1837, local records such as parish and estates records are the only aids to the process of working out where you came from, and what your ancestors did.

But even the official records are not necessarily what they seem. I doubt if there were many prosecutions for failing to register key life events. Also it wasn't illegal to fail to marry when starting a family (and you might just say you were married when you were not – who would be able to tell?). In addition, the level of literacy might not have been such that "true" information was effectively captured. We also have to interpret handwriting from official records, or search information that a transcriber has already interpreted. This is particularly the case with the census. So as more and more official records become accessible digitally, there is still a premium on looking at original documents.

If you are new to family history, there are links to helpful getting started resources in the Useful Information section and at the top of the other genealogical links page.

So a word of caution: there may be some fundamental flaws in the information presented here, because of the above problems, or even just a lack of rigour in checking sources.  Any information prior to the Great Grandparents ought to be taken with a tiny pinch of salt.

And finally, I am human too. Any mistakes are primarily my responsibility.