F.A.Q

Civil registration was introduced in 1837 in England and Wales, this means that the government has records of the vital events - Birth, Marriages and deaths of its citizens and residents. So with these records most families can be traced to the early 1800's  Before this time we rely on parish records, If they have survived it can be possible to go back further, it is not guaranteed but I do try.

I am based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Home of the Swindon Railway Works, later GWR.
My local library hold many Railway records and I can access the Newspapers - Swindon Evening Advertiser from 1854 and the North Wilts Herald from 1861 which can be viewed on the microfiche machines.

I am also able to visit the Wiltshire and Family History centre in Chippenham if needed. Travelling will incur an additional fee. Priced on number of hours needed to spend there and travelling time.  

I prefer to use Ancestry.co.uk for the majority of my research and building trees. I am also a subscribed member to Find My Past, which, in my opinion is better for me to locate burial records also it is the only site to obtain the 1921 census as of this date.

Every 10 years from 1841 a census was taken from every household by an enumerator and from 1911 filled out by the head of the household.
These census' can give a wealth of information from places of birth, occupation, addresses and Sibling information

Find my past also offers the ability to search some newspapers online which is a great little nugget to help with research - especially If an obituary can be found

I consult with the BMD Database and from here I can order Birth, Marriages and Death certificates, These may need to be ordered at an additional fee -
£7 for a PDF(Birth and Death only)
£11 for a posted Certificate (Birth, Death and only Marriages)
to find out parentage and confirm dates.

Parish Records - In many cases, church baptism, marriage and burial records are available for before 1837. These will be included where available online.

Military and armed forces records -
Although there were quite a lot of documents destroyed there are quite a few service and pension records who served in the First World War as well as model index cards.

Criminal records - Prison files and court records provide details about an ancestor who broke the law

Unfortunately this can happen quite often and those brick walls are hard to break down. I will use what I can and explore many avenues to get those all important questions answered.
I still have cases in my own tree that I am forever revisiting and trying to find DNA matches.

I will never guarantee I can find any information, but I will use all of my experience and training to research your ancestors and Family Tree.

Absolutely! I will double and triple check your information to make sure you are on the right track.
You may of hit a brick wall, may need to access other genealogy sites that you don't have access to or some things just don't make sense.

I am more than happy to look into your tree

My name is Katie, I was introduced to history from an early age by my paternal Grandmother, my Nan. She first ignited my passion when she took me to the Tower of London before the age of 10. The stories of the princes in the tower, Traitors gate, the Bloody Tower and Tower green were like stepping into a world of make-believe but this really happened! This was the start of me wanting to know more - especially of the Tudor period.

Fast forward another ten years and when clearing out part of the attic at home, I came across a couple of handwritten, basic family trees in which many names were not familiar to me at all. I knew of my Great Grandparents as I was so lucky to have known 5 of them before they passed. But there was one name that intrigued me - Trifeana. Who was this person? This name, totally unlike any I have heard before and I wanted to know more. I signed myself up to GenesReunited not knowing what I was doing or where to look. I familiarised myself with what records were available and eventually found a "Tryphena Comley" in the 1901 census. She is my 3x Great Grandmother, and Im still stuck finding where she is buried.
I upgraded to Ancestry and it was so overwhelming at first. They only had census' to 1901 then and now we have the 1911, 1921 and the 1939 register to help with the more recent research.
I continued to work on my own tree off and on for many years, being blessed with the ability to ask my Grandparents for their knowledge and stories and surprisingly the amount of photos they had. I could come up with a really good view of my ancestors, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to do things right.
When I was pregnant with my second son I enrolled in an online genealogist course and spent many hours starting from the beginning and starting from scratch to ensure I was following people and lines correctly. I passed and earned a diploma for my studies and felt more confident going forward.

Sadly over the next four years I would lose all of my Grandparents. With them went all their knowledge and stories that I still wanted to know and record for my future generations. In this time my amazing husband was diagnosed with a brain tumour and fighting his fight so hard for so long throughout covid, I became a Widow raising my two young boys with the help of family.

Not knowing what I wanted to do with my life for such a long time I turned back to my first love - History. Revisiting all of my tree from the roots up to the branches again. I purchased birth, Marriage and Death certificates where needed to fully immerse myself in the life of my ancestors. Who were they, Where did they come from, What were their professions and also how they died. One of my main task in my research is to find where they are buried and remember them.

I have started my own Facebook page to remember my ancestors on the anniversary of their Births, Marriages and death
Find Here -
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090717739161
Here I try and tell their stories with the information I have compiled over the years and keep them alive for future generation.