• STARTING OUT

• OBTAINING AND USING BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGE RECORDS

• USING CENSUS RECORDS

• OTHER USEFUL RECORDS

• USEFUL LINKS

STARTING OUT

STARTING OUT

1)    The first step should be to draw up a family tree as best as you can. This should include full names (or nicknames) and dates of birth, marriage and deaths, addresses where they lived, occupation etc - as much detail as possible. 

Go back as far as you can. This will probably be grandparents or great-grandparents if you are just starting. Ask any relatives for as much information as they have to confirm, change or add details. 

Take care though, do not believe everything you hear as many people's folk memories are notoriously unreliable. Very few people's great grandfathers were related to that rich ancestor or duke that Great Auntie Mabel swore they were.

2)   Once you have drawn up your initial tree, you should decide how you wish to proceed. 

Some people select one surname, usually, though not always, their own maiden name and go back along that route. Others will decide to follow as many of the lines back as possible. In terms of what you wish to know about your ancestors, then naturally that is an individual choice. However, I would advise against what I term a 'stamp collecting' exercise, i.e. just gathering as many names and dates as possible to create the largest tree they can. Family history research is only truly rewarding if you put it into the historical and social context of the times in which your ancestors lived. So try to discover how each of them they lived - find out what did their jobs entailed, what were living conditions like, what were the towns/villages they came from like, why did they emigrate and so on. A good guide to starting is given on in genuki (click for site)

3)   You will almost inevitably find that if you are researching your ancestors in the Abertillery area, they or their forebears will have migrated to the town. 

Abertillery did not really exist as a village/town other than for a few isolated farmhouses in the early part of the 1800s (see the history section of the site). Some individuals I know can trace some of their ancestors to those 'original' families in the area, but this is unlikely to be the case for the vast majority of researchers. People started to move into the area in the late 1800s and very early 1900s. The upshot of this is that you will almost certainly be searching records in other counties/localities at sometime in the early and mid 1800s.

4)   Specific records naturally exist for the Abertillery area such as burial records, though these can be sometimes sketchy. 

The best way to work back to the early part of the 1800s (circa 1840) will be through national records that cover the period (see below). Essentially these are records or births, deaths and marriage and census returns. Again, I suggest that new researchers look at genuki to gain more advice. Once you come to the period before 1837, you will need to look at parish records and other types of records since official ones only really started with registration in July 1837, which did not become compulsory until 1875 - see this link (click for site). The first "real" census was 1841 and even that is scant in detail compared to the next in 1851. On the subject of censuses, the last one at present that can be examined is 1901 and to glean information after that date may involve for example looking at electoral registers or, of course, the indexes for births, deaths and marriages.

OBTAINING AND USING BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES RECORDS

Certificates of birth, marriage and death are extremely useful in helping you trace your line back. The information will aid in working out relationships, places of abode, occupations etc

What details do births, deaths and marriage certificates contain?

The details contained on a full birth certificate include:

• Name, date and place of birth.
• Father's name (if given at time of registration), place of birth and occupation.
• Mother's name, place of birth, maiden surname and, after 1984, occupation.
• (Registrations made before 1969 do not include details of the parents' place of birth and mother's occupation.)

The details contained on a marriage certificate include:

• Date and place of marriage.
• Name, age and marital status of man and woman.
• Occupation and usual address.
• Name and occupation of each party's father.
• Names of the witnesses.
• Name of the person who solemnised the marriage.

The details contained on a death certificate include:

• Name, date and place of death.
• Date and place of birth (before 1969 a certificate only showed age of deceased).
• Occupation and usual address.
• Cause of death.
• The person who gave information for the death registration.

What do the certificates look like?

How to obtain copies of certificates for births, deaths and marriages:

There are a number of ways to do this.

• The first (but not recommended by me) is to get them from the registry office that covers the area where the event(s) took place. 

**TOP LOCAL TIP: - For Abertillery, Blaina and Nantyglo, the registration district was Bedwellty and prior to  late 1861, it was Abergavenny. For ancestors who lived or were born in Six Bells, Aberbeeg or Llanhilleth, it may be that the the registration district you require is Pontypool **

In the case of Abertillery, the registration district was Bedwellty (please note prior to late 1861, it was Abergavenny) and so you will need to contact the Registry Office at Tredegar (all dates from 1837 onwards). 

Like most registry offices, they are busy conducting present day affairs and so family history enquiries are low on their priority list. If you do wish to obtain certificate copies in this way, you will usually need to know the name of the person whose birth, death or marriage you are seeking, together with the exact/approximate date on which it happened, the place at which it occurred if possible (church, house etc) and, again if possible, in the case of births, the name of parent(s). 

Once you have that information, you will need to write to the office with the details you have and a cheque for £7 for each certificate copy required made payable to the "Superintendent Registrar" at:

Registry Office, The Grove, Church Street, Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, NP2 3DS, Wales (01495 722305)

In my experience, however, the best way to obtain certificates is by using the General Register Office indexes (or St Catherine's indexes as they are also known) and this will allow you of course to obtain copies of ancestors' certificates who were living elsewhere in Wales or England without having to visit that specific area's registry office.

In 1837, a system of official registration was introduced in England and Wales. The General Register Office holds records for all births, deaths and marriages registered in England or Wales from 1 July 1837, and adoptions and still-births from 1 July 1927, up to approximately 12 months ago, and certain events registered abroad. You can only obtain information from the entries by purchasing a certificate.

Luckily in recent years, a number of sites have become available to look for indexes - they include:

• Free BMD

This is free to view as the indexes are transcribed by volunteers. They are far from complete though  - some years are nearly all done - and so you may not find the information you want there at present. I would look at this first before pay-for-view sites below and you may be lucky.

You can then go to http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/ and order the certificate you want using the details.The cost of a Full Certificate for birth marriage and death (standard service) is £7.00 each. You will require a credit or debit card and will have to register initially for the service.

If you are unlucky with Free BMD, then the best route is to use subscription sites

• www.ancestry.co.uk

• www.findmypast.com

These are pay-for-view sites, though the charges are reasonable and comprehensive. You can use the information to obtain the certificates you want from http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/.

**TOP LOCAL TIP: - For Abertillery, Blaina and Nantyglo, the registration district was Bedwellty and prior to  late 1861, it was Abergavenny. For ancestors who lived or were born in Six Bells, Aberbeeg or Llanhilleth, it may be that the the registration district you require is Pontypool **

Alternatively, find out the index number for the event you are researching by looking up the indexes in person at the Family Record Centre in London or at libraries or record offices where copies (usually on microfiche or film) are held.

The index will look similar to this:

Births, September quarter 1900 (i.e. registered between September and December, 1900)

Jones, John Bedwellty 11a 135

Again, you can use the information to obtain the certificates you want from http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/ directly via the site itself.

A census is a survey taken at a specific moment in time. In Wales and England, government national population censuses were started in 1801 and have been held every 10 years since then. However if you looking to find information about ancestors from these censuses prior to 1841, unfortunately you can forget it since these early censuses, with a few notable exceptions, did not include any details of individuals, but were rather just population counts. So we shall concentrate on 1841 and censuses after that date up until 1901, which is the last census that is publicly available under the current 100 years restrictions on such records.

How did these censuses work?

Designated people called enumerators were used to collect the information concerning the people living in a specific household on a designated Sunday night (when it was assumed most people would be at home). The head of the household had to provide the information for each person resident or staying at that time. On the morning after, the enumerators collected the household schedules. If these were not completed properly, the census enumerator had to ask for extra details at the doorstep, although this was not done uniformly. The information was listed in the Enumerators books which were centrally stored in London, the information from which survives in most cases though some books are missing including the Aberystruth area for example in 1851.

1841 census Sunday 6 June - PRO Class Reference HO107

This is a very basic census listing just the names, addresses, ages and occupations of the persons and whether or not they were born in the county in which the census was undertaken. So in terms of finding out where people were actually born, it is of little real use. Furthermore, no relationships are given except occasionally in column 5 where you may see Farmer's Wife or similar. All ages 15 and above were rounded down to the nearest 5 year multiple, e.g. ages shown as 25 may be 25-29, so care should be taken when estimating year of birth.

From 1851 onwards, the censuses are perhaps more like we expect with more detailed information requested. Details given for each one are listed below.

1851 census  Sunday 30 March  - PRO Class Reference HO107

1861 census Sunday 7 April - PRO Class Reference RG9
1871 census Sunday 2 April - PRO Class Reference RG10
1881 census Sunday 3 April - PRO Class Reference RG11

1891 census Sunday 5 April - PRO Class Reference RG12

1901 census Sunday 31 March - PRO Class Reference RG13

How do I find my ancestors on a census?

I would now recommend use of subscription or pay-for-view sites which also have search facilities. These include:

• www.ancestry.co.uk

• www.findmypast.com

• www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk  - 1901 only

If you are struggling to find your ancestor using the search, use name spelling variants or wildcard searches as often the names are spelt differently or there were mistakes. So to look for Llewellyn for example, you could try Llewellyn, Llewelyn, Llywelyn, Llewelin, or even Lewelyn etc. A initial wildcard card search could be Lle*

Alternatively, you can look up the census returns which are held on microfilm/fiche at the Family Records Office and also for Wales at the National Library at Aberystwyth. Alternatively, Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormon church) Family Record centres often have records for the area they cover. In Gwent, you can also visit the Record Office at Cwmbran (website - Gwent Record Office) or Newport Library which hold local copies.

**TOP TIP - If you are unsure where in a locality your ancestors lived you may have to just plough through the census until you find them. However, often there are Census indexes for either people or addresses, which can aid you in finding your ancestors.**

Census indexes

These indexes will show basic details that may allow you to find your ancestors in a census.

They will look something like this:

1851: RG9

Thomas Newman aged 32
Piece Number 3997/Folio 166/Page 28 - Abertillery

Book a microfilm/fiche reader at the centre (record office/library/LDS centre) you are going to use in advance.

You will need to go to the fiche/film that has piece 3997. You can often ask for help for this or it is listed in a catalogue.

Once you have the film/fiche with that piece, search through and look for the Folio number which is situated at the top right hand of the page in view (do not however confuse this with the page number itself). It is not on all pages, so go back through the pages until you come to the one with the folio number given which covers all pages listed until the next folio number. You will look to find 166 in the case above.

Once you have done that, now look for the actual page, 28 and one of the entries listed will be that of Thomas Newman and his family with the 1851 details given in full.