FAQ

Can you do some family research for me/Are you a professional genealogist?

Sorry, unfortunately not (although I'm flattered some people seem to have got this impression!). I'm just a keen amateur researching my own family tree, so I don't have the time or resources to undertake work for other people. If we are researching the same branches of the family tree, though, I would be happy to send you an email if I update the site with anything that might be of interest to you. (When I have the time I also intend to set up a facility on the site whereby you can sign up to be automatically informed of relevant updates.)

Why is Joe Bloggs not included in the site?

There are several possibilities.

• I simply haven't got round to that branch of the family yet.
• I have hit a brick wall in my research and don't know about that person yet.
• Joe Bloggs is not actually one of my relatives, and/or doesn't appear in any of the documents I have which relate to them.
• The person is still alive. I don't store information on living people.

Jane Jones was a trapeze artist. Why does your site say that she was a housekeeper?

One thing I have learnt during the course of my research is not to trust family legend. Of course, if you have documentary evidence that Jane really was a trapeze artist (which perhaps she was between the census returns which I have seen), I would be absolutely thrilled to see it.

Lewisham isn't in Kent.

Well, it was once upon a time. This site only contains information from documentary evidence. If I have a birth certificate saying that a person was born in Lewisham, Kent, then that's what it will say on the site, regardless of subsequent boundary changes.

You have William Brown's date of birth wrong

Entirely possible. I have been known to mistype dates, so if you have a copy of the same document and you're sure I've made a mistake then please do correct me. Other possibilities are:

• The date given on the site is an approximation calculated from an age given in a census entry or certificate because I don't have documentary evidence for the date of birth.
• There is a discrepancy between documents. Lydia Wise apparently knocked ten years off her age in the 1871 and 1881 censuses, although the age on her death certificate is still consistent with the earlier documents.
• We are looking at different people.

Why is Sarah Smith listed as having two fathers?

For a couple of individuals in my family tree there is conflicting evidence on their parentage, with one name being given on their birth certificate and a different one in other records. In these cases I have included both possibilities.

What software do you use?

The content displayed on this site is handled by a software application which I am developing myself. For charting purposes I use Family Historian 4 (my software only has very rudimentary charting capabilities as yet).

Where can I get charts printed?

www.genealogyprinters.com has in the past provided me with a quick and friendly service, printing off charts which I created in Family Historian.