Katharine wrote:Yes, I agree, I sometimes feel they miss out bits I'd like to know more about. Didn't see the Graham Norton one. I suppose it's difficult as they need to make it as interesting as possible for the viewers. I believe Michael Parkinson was approached for the programme, but when the did the initial investigations, they said his family were too straightforward, so it wasn't worth making a programme about them.
I'd love someone to follow my family tree. I did try a while back, but didn't get very far. I was always under the impression that my great-great grandmother was French, but the investigations I made didn't back that story up. Unfortunately the parish records which might help are kept in Essex, and I'm in Suffolk, so it would be something like a 40 mile drive to look them up. That's when it would be handy to have the BBC get a lot of experts to do it for me.
Graham Norton's was fascinating because they went back to the late 17th C and found that his family had been Yorkshire settlers in Ireland. Which struck a note with him because he says that his family never actually 'felt' Irish.
You may be able to do better with your family tree than you think. I did my Mother's side and had a real stroke of luck because they were a cadet branch of a minor gentry family that had been in West Yorkshire since the 12th C. My father's side are undistinguished agricultural workers from Lincolnshire - and even there I could trace them back as far as the late 18th C.
Apologies if you have already been down this route but, if not, then try:-
I) Your local library. The ones around here all have free access to the Ancestry website. Maybe it is a national arrangement? With a bit of luck and a fair wind you may be able to get back to the first English census of 1841. Any adults registered at that date obviously take you a bit further back still. At present you can search censuses as late as 1911. So, really, it is only the 20th century that is more problematic and hopefully you can fill in those gaps with your own knowledge of the family.
ii)
http://www.familysearch.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is a free website run by the Church of the Latter Day Saints. It is a brilliant site and even if you don't follow their church you don't need to worry as they don't get in touch or even advertise on it. They have got heaps of parish records going right back into the 16th and 17th centuries. Apparently they have been electronically recording this information all across the UK.
iii) Copy birth certificates from the registrar are available for a small sum (about £9 if memory serves). These fill in gaps when you get stuck in the 19th century.
If, at any point, you can track your family down to a particular, small area (and if you have an unusual surname) then you have a real chance of going back generation after generation.
(Sorry to go on if you have already done all of this).
