A grandparent would be the best relative from whom to obtain information. If a grandparent is not available, any grand-aunt, grand-uncle or elderly relation possessing a sharp mind can do as well.

The opportunity to talk to an elderly relative should be taken immediately, before it is to late. It should prove a worthwhile exercise, as old people like to talk about the past and do not always find someone who is prepared to listen. Always make a note of anything that you are told or use a tape recorder. Afterwards the information obtained should be written down.

Bear the following in mind

When sitting down with an elderly person to inquire into your family background, you should bear the following in mind:

1. Give yourself plenty of time.

2. Be careful of hearsay (something heard from somebody else and not known directly). The story is told that during the Great War a message went down the trenches by word of mouth Send up reinforcements, we are going to advance, it was received as Send up three and four pence (three shillings and four pence), we are going to a dance.

3. Tell the person to whom you are speaking little, so as to avoid it being repeated to you later and you treating it as confirmation.

4. Be patient.

5. Use your discretion when it comes to the matter of illegitimate births.

Questioning

Be systematic in your questioning

At what age did he/she die?

Was he/she the eldest in that family?

What was the age difference between him/her and the eldest in the family? (This will give you an indication of a date of marriage).

Was there any age difference between the father and mother?

What ages were they when they got married?

Where did the father and mother come in their own families?

The following should also be borne in mind at this stage and later when going through the registers of births: Within a year of marriage, a child was usually born and every one or two years thereafter during the mother’s fertile years.

A word of caution

Do not treat all that you are told by your family and by relations as fact, verification must be sought in the records. For example: The family owned certain property, but were swindled out of it; the swindler or his descendants will often be named (but the story may not be true); members of the family went to America and were never heard of again (they may never have existed in the first place); An ancestor held high rank in the Army or Police (people are always promoted in the telling).

Children’s names

Children were nearly always called after someone and it was the custom to call the first boy after his paternal grandfather, the second boy after his maternal grandfather, a third boy might have been called after his own father, an uncle, or grand-uncle on either side of the family. The first and second girl may have been called after the grandmothers and a third girl, after her own mother or an aunt. It is only in the present generation that this practice has begun to wane.

A first step on the Internet

Go to FamilySearch.com a site of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints and see if you can verify anything that you have been told. Here you will have the opportunity to search the International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.), there are Tips as to how to search the I.G.I..

To download a free copy of Legacy Family Tree 3.0