Compiling a Family Chronicle
This is fun if you enjoy putting your findings down on paper and arranging them in an interesting manner for your family and generations yet to come. First of all though you will have to decide which branch of your family tree you are going to focus on initially. Will it be your father’s or your mother’s side?
What sort of life did your parents live? Did they spend time in foreign parts? I know someone whose father nearly got cooked in a cannibal’s pot – luckily he got wind of it and escaped in the nick of time! That episode alone would serve to liven up their family chronicle! Had your mother been distantly related to Michael Palin it might explain her travels in exotic places!
So what needs to be done at the start? It’s very helpful to find out whether branches of your family tree have already appeared on genealogical sites published on the web. This can save hours and hours of work especially when you are new to the game and taking time to grapple with the many aspect of your research activity. One can discover which tree-owners have done a lot of the spade work for you, and most of them are only too happy to share their findings with you.
If you want to incorporate their work into your tree as appropriate it would of course be a basic courtesy to gain their knowledge and permission to do so. And this will work both ways, for as your researches prosper who will come across primary data which will help to confirm the accuracy of their findings as well as your own. You are likely to know more about those relatives who are nearest to you on the tree that you share. You may have a photo of a person who is just a name to them.
So what goes into your chronicle? Basically everything that is factual and helpful to build up a picture of a person, a family or a community. There may be diaries still in existence, and probate wills to help confirm who belonged to that particular nuclear family. So often the same names crop up and you have to be sure where they fit into the tree, and on which branch. Some of us have photos going back to the early 19t century. We are fortunate indeed if our ancestors engaged in photography within the family circle or were able to afford a studio sitting. This visual side of our ancestral record greatly enriches our enjoyment of the whole endeavour.
This whole exercise can develop in a simple way with modest input, or it can develop into a major publishing venture. If your ancestors were pilots, naval engineers or merchant shipmen for example there would be a lot of material available about conditions at sea in that era which you can build into your history. Mind you if your forbears came from Cornwall you might not wish to find out too much about the wrecking and smuggling that went on in earlier times. You have to be ready to take on board the good and the bad, the noble and the less-than-noble. Your ancestors won’t have been paragons in every aspect of living any more than the current generation could claim to be!
So when you have accumulated a lot of material you should be able to bring together background notes of the period under review, images of all kinds, charts of the family tree, presented in sections and carefully labelled, with notes on ‘side-shoots’ [ interesting In-laws who are not in the blood-line]. There might be extracts from diaries and wills, maps of family locations, and much more. Above all it will be your own, personal, unique record of a group of people whom you have come to know, and hopefully to respect and love. You will discover a unique bond that no one else can experience or savour as well as you, for you are part of them as much as they are part of you.
Why Surname Spellings have changed
In our genealogical researches while building our family tree we have come across a number of interesting surnames. Cardinall is found with lots of variant spellings, such as Carnell, Carnelley, Carbonell and Cardinal. This particular name has two possible origins.
On the first hand it was an occupational name for a crossbow man who specialized in fighting from the battlements of castles. It derives from the Anglo-Norman French “carnel” battlement, embrasure. Secondly, it may be a contracted form of the surnames Carbonell and Cardinal. Carbonell derives from the Old French “carbon”, charcoal, a nickname for one with a swarthy complexion or hair black as coal, the essential characteristic of charcoal.
The name was sometimes confused with the surname Cardinal and became Carnall. The surname Cardinal comes from the Old French “Cardinal”, cardinal, the church dignitary, a pageant-name or a nickname for one like a cardinal or someone who habitually dressed in red. One Hugo de la Karnell appears in Huntingdonshire, UK, in 1247. On 9 Sept 1629, Andrew Carnall was christened in Whitechapel, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de la Kernel, which was dated 1244. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to “develop” often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
Claringbold is of Norman origin, introduced into England after the conquest of 1066 in the forms “Clarembald” and Clarebaut”, a personal name from the Old German “Clarembald”. The name is composed of the hybrid elements “Clarus”, the latin for “famous”, and the Old German meaning “bold”. Interestingly, the name was again introduced into England in the late 17th Century, as part of the great influx of French and Flemish Huguenots, escaping religious persecution on the Continent.
Some modern-day bearers of the name may derive it from that source as in “Anthoine Clerembault”, married to “Judeth Bosquett” in the French Huguenot Church in Threadneedle St. London in 1705. “John Claringbold” was married to “Sarah Bridges” on the 8 July 1688 at St. James’, Duke’s Place, London, The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Clerenbald, which was dated 1223.
Janeway also has Huguenot connections. This unusual and interesting surname originally denoted an Italian national, from Genoa in the province of Liguria. The name “Janaway(s)” is the medieval English spelling of the Old French word “Genoveis”, meaning a Genoese, in Italian, “Genovese”. In the Middle Ages there was a busy trade with England especially in silks and spices. Merchants and master mariners from Genoa were to be found in all the costal and trading towns of Europe.
There is some indication that the name “Janaway” was used as a nickname for a clever, resourceful person, since this was the opinion held of the Genoese in medieval times. The modern surname can be found recorded as Jan(n)away(s), Jan(e)way, Gannaway and Jennaway. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Janna, which was dated 1273, in the “Hundred Rolls of Kent”, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as “The Hammer of the Scots”, 1272 – 1307.
Most of us will probably discover the surnames on our family tree to have been spelt differently from time to time, as we take our researches further back and further afield across the continents. Spellings were only stabilized in quite recent times. Often the family name might ‘develop’ quite independently of the random spellings made by the sexton or clerk.
What are the Software Options?
When you start collecting information for your family tree you will soon fill up your notebook! Then you will find the need for an expanding file to keep all those details in place, making sure that nothing of value is lost by the way. As your hobby develops you will probably go on to use box files as well, one for each branch of the tree you are researching.
You may well find that this will be adequate for your needs, as the whole process can be successfully handled without a computer. But it’s more than likely you will gain a great deal by loading everything significant into a computer software program. With regular back-up and storage of hard copy you are unlikely to lose much of lasting value. As always you can sample what is being offered before deciding to go for a low-cost program or one that has extended options.
Firstly may we introduce you to a free download called the Family Tree Builder. This is available from www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder This software has been downloaded millions of times already and would be a useful starting-point. It offers a private family site that can be shared with family members, smart matching technology, a section for photos, automatic face tagging, charts to make you proud and very easy to use.
If and when you feel the need to go a little more up-market and avail yourself of a number of extra powerful features you can go for the Family Tree Maker from Ancestry.com. This software is very popular and is probably one of the best but you have to pay for it. It’s available at www.familytreemaker.com It has many features; in addition to creating charts, time-lines and family trees, you can upload your own videos, audio clips and pictures.
You will come across lots of material on other sites on the internet and all the information you glean in this way can be incorporated into the program and organized as you wish. Another excellent feature is the printing option. You have the facility for printing out keepsakes by using the online printing service at the associated Ancestry.com You can print out family history books or even family posters on this system.
One very useful feature is the way in which you can add specific information for one individual at a time. As you focus on that one person you can include details of their parentage, whom they married, the names of their siblings and details of their children. You can add dates of birth and death, details of their home village or town and facets of social history to make it so much more personal and interesting. Then they can show you a map of the area where they lived.
Another great feature of this programme is that it enables you to publish your tree on line for other members of the family to view. Should they be living on the other side of the world, which can make physical contact difficult or expensive, they can communicate with you and add formation to your tree from their particular branch. Indeed being able to share what you have been able to put together is one of the most rewarding aspects of creating a family tree. So often the branches spread out world-wide and new friendships are made. Whatever software you use it’s hard to put a price on the rich contacts you can make.
Primary and Secondary Sources
Documents, documents, documents –so how do we find out way through the maze?
They come in all sorts of sizes and are found in a great variety of places. There are diaries, wills, newspaper cuttings, photographs, film clips, certificates and lots more. Some of these are considered Primary sources, while other are considered Secondary sources.
A primary source is a document or even a person who is contemporary with the period you are researching and recording. Let’s take an example: the assassination of John F Kennedy in Dallas. Primary sources for this event would be all news accounts generated at the time [22 November 1963], including newspaper stories.
Additionally, any person who was present at the event can be counted as a primary source as well. Even those individuals who were not actually in Dallas at the time of the shooting, but were alive and can attest to their feelings, what they saw on television, as well as the mood of the nation and the world, are considered primary sources. This would even include diaries of individuals who witnessed the event, and government documents and other papers generated as a response to it.
Secondary sources include books written after the event, recreations of the event, TV documentaries and so forth. Historians use secondary sources in several ways. First, they may use these when they just can’t get access to the primary source. Or they may start by reading the secondary sources with an eye to discovering precisely which primary sources that particular author used. And then they can go straight to that source itself to see what else can be gleaned from it. In pursuing research, historians attempt to access as many primary sources as possible.
So what are the key primary sources for the family historian and genealogist? We start off with what are generally called ‘vital’ documents. These are the official state records of who was born, married and died in a certain district, territory or country. Birth Certificates give you the name, date and place of the child’s birth. It also gives you the sex of the child which is helpful when the male and female forms are very similar and in old documents may be less than legible, as in the case of Francis or Frances.
Marriage Certificates not only give the date, place and names of the couple themselves, but in more recent years give details of the parents and their occupations as well. This is very useful in checking that we have the right ‘John and Mary Ann’ for our family tree, when names recur time and time again, and sometimes five generations may have the name ‘William’ for example.
Death Certificates give you the name, place and date of the deceased, but may also give you their date of birth as well. Sometimes it is vital to have both the primary and secondary sources to confirm a relationship that might otherwise remain in doubt.
Another invaluable primary source of information is the Census especially those which include a list of names in any one address and their ages and occupations.
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Basic Steps to Building your Family Tree
You’re eager to get started on your own family tree but you’re not quite sure how to set about it. Help is at hand! It’s possible that you have only seen some of the more fancy or elaborate family trees and so have the (understandable) impression that it’s all too much like hard work, or you have be a dab hand at graphics To be honest with you building a family tree is really strait forward if you follow a few simple guidelines.
There is a great deal of help on tap. You may be the sort of person who can get down to it all on your own with the occasional glance to left and right to see how others are doing it. Or you may be looking to a friend to help you on your way and get you launched into your researches. There may even be family members who have already done research that you haven’t yet heard about, but who would be delighted to give you a hand along the way and dig deeper into the family archives so that everyone benefits from your enthusiasm.
It comes as a surprise to some of us that there are so many websites offering free services of one kind or another. Now let’s imagine that you have collected all the names and important dates of your relatives on a near branch of your family tree. How do you set it all out? You will want to place them neatly in a chart so that’s well-organized and easy to read. The simplest method is to find a template and fill the details into it.
There are a number of sites offering ready-made family tree templates that you can fill them out yourself from your own research notes. One of the easiest to fill out is found at http://obituarieshelp.org/genealogy_forms_downloads.html. Here you will find a downloadable Four Generation Family Tree Landscape Chart. This basic chart provides spaces for family names and dates of Birth, Marriage and Death.
Other family trees are more decorative. You might like to take a look at this site: www.thetreemaker.com/samples/family-tree-example.html This site offers you a Blank Family Tree Template or a 7-Generation Bow-tie Chart that you can buy and fill out on your own. There is a space for yourself in the middle and then you put your father on one side and your mother on the other, and progressively work back to grandparents and beyond. There is even a space for a Family Crest!
Other charts may be found at http://genealogy.about.com/od/free_charts/ig/genealogy_charts/family_tree.htm From here you can download the chart (free of charge) and fill it out on your computer and print it off.
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/freeforms This site has a lot of information on family tree research.
But if all this is really too much effort, or you would like to have a Family Tree you can present to a member of the family on a special anniversary you can have it professionally executed. Indeed there are several sites available where you can commission others to do the work for you. You provide the photos and names of family members for inclusion on your family tree and pay them a fee for creating it. Attractive as this idea may be, having someone else create a masterpiece for you may take some of the joy out of it. Part of the fun is always doing it yourself. So if you really want to walk this way look out for those sites yourself. We really have your interests at heart!
Family Tree start-up
First off where do we start? We can’t do better than make a start just where we are when we set about compiling our family tree. Whether our family circle is large or small there will be family members we would like to know more about. Sometimes it is possible to start with a Family Bible, especially if they go back several generations. We will be setting out on an adventure not knowing where it will lead us.
On my father’s side an uncle started to research our family tree some 50 years ago, and he did a marvellous job, but it was like having one hand tied behind his back. Why? The internet hadn’t been invented! It is so much easier now than it was. Let me give you a few examples. I had an aunt who married an Australian doctor. One of his relations had done all the hard work of tracing their roots back from Melbourne to Wales, and so we have the full tree going back to the 18th. Century on that side of the family.
On my mother’s side I stumbled across a website giving me hundreds of relations of my great grandmother. She herself wasn’t mentioned [11th child of 15] because the site administrators were majoring on the male blood line but we had all the information that we needed about her siblings, especially the ones who had emigrated from Melbourn in the UK to Melbourne in Australia.
Even when we have all this help from others on the other side of the world we have to make a start right where we are. If we are fortunate there will be family papers and certificates to search through and old photographs of aunts and uncles and hopefully grandparents and even great grandparents. It certainly helped if they could afford cameras in those early days or a sitting in a studio. I had an ancestor who painted a self-portrait in the 18th. Century but was too modest to sign it. We only think we know who he was.
They may even have been interested in genealogy in those far-off days, although it seems that this was a rare occurrence. Sometimes people would rather draw a veil over uncertain events in the past and understandably so. Some members may have been really keen to write up their family history, while others may have been totally indifferent and may have even torn out the details from their Family Bible! Yes, it has happened!
We were fortunate to be asked to write down our personal statement of where we had come from and the outline of our life’s journey some years ago, and so we have a lot more detail than we would otherwise have had. A number of these cousins and siblings involved in the project have since died, but we have material that could not now be gained through word of mouth.
What other help is available? There are lots of websites on the internet, many of which require an annual subscription, but some are free. It’s possible to take out a trial subscription for a 7 or 14 day period with some sites; then you can unsubscribe if they don’t quite meet your requirements or expectations. Censuses are another very important and useful source of information for family history researchers. The first one to be held in America was on 2 August 1790 in the 13 states then belonging to the Union. The first in the UK was held in 1810, but the first very useful Census to genealogists in the United Kingdom was held in 1841 when family details were included for the first time. Happy hunting!
What equipment do we need?
So what sort of kit do we need? Let’s start with the basics. Whether you are meeting relatives and chatting to them about their lives and where they fit into the overall family tree or doing other kinds of research, always keep a record of findings in a serviceable notebook.
As you progress you will find this hobby is so addictive that you won’t be able stop in a hurry! As more and more data is acquired you will need an expanding file system to house all your new-found information. As you acquire memorabilia of family members past and present you may well need a parallel filing system to help you handle that effectively too.
After a while you will amass a great deal of information and to keep well organized you will probably need to set aside a Box file for each family sub-group. Sometimes fellow researchers are able to pass over information about a whole section of the tree encompassing dozens of pages. If and when that occurs you need to make sure you have somewhere ready to receive and store it, and have it clearly labelled.
Now while all of the above can be done without a PC or laptop it will be tacitly assumed that you will be using one. Certainly a scanner will be an invaluable aid as original documents you acquire can then be scanned and returned to the family member who lent it to you as appropriate. This could be a very useful resource if and when you decide to write up your family chronicle and wish to incorporate data already on memory.
In this category there might be photographs of individuals or family groups, copies of vital records such as Birth, Marriage and Death certificates. There may be printed invitations to these family occasions going back many years, or letters of condolence in more languages than English if members of your family married overseas. These and many more could provide vital clues as to who should be on your family tree, and so included in your family archives.
