PATRICK'S PEOPLE

general information about this site

Some people have not only used information found on Patrick's People but have quoted it word for word, without any attribution to Patrick's People, as if it were their own work.

Please note that Patrick's People is a free website with information provided for everyone to use. The information it offers is mainly the work of one researcher, with generous contributions of work from other researchers in particular areas. If you use the information here, you should make it clear that it has been taken from Patrick's People website, and is not your original research.

Ideally, you should check information you use from Patrick's People for yourself. If you do not, or cannot, it is even more important to give Patrick's People as your source. Some sources used in Patrick's People are primary sources, some not. If you do not check for yourself the information provided here, you may unwittingly be using incorrect information, and coming to wrong conclusions.

The SOURCES of the information provided are many. They include

• birth, marriage and death records, from the GRO Scotland and records of other countries

• census material from UK, US and other sources

• official historical lists, registers or reports

• Poor Law records

• church records

• cemetery records

• electoral and ratepayers' rolls

• directories

• land records

• passenger lists

• newspaper articles and notices

• published books and reference material

• internet sites

• personal written and spoken communication

POINTS TO BEAR IN MIND 

• Individuals in the database, when they are known to be related, are linked in pedigree form. Hyperlinks connect each individual with another. If no hyperlink operates for the name related to them on the page it means there is no entry for that name. If there is an entry to be seen the hyperlink will connect the two names. All of the individuals in OUR FAMILY are related by blood or marriage through a parent, a brother or sister, a spouse, or a son or daughter, but only people in the family born in 1910, or before, have published entries. 

• There are no published entries for people born after 1910, for reasons of privacy

• Names in the databases are listed with a variety of spellings, based on alternative forms encountered in research on the person concerned. It is important to be aware of this when searching. Try different spellings if the first has no result for you

• Some name entries contain a great deal of information; others have very little

• Some names have very specific dates and places attached to them; others are more general. They may even have practically no firm dates and places. Where a date is not known, the formula used may be 'xxxx or earlier' or 'yyyy or later'. So, for example, if a person is known to have married in 1870, but their birth year is not known, the birth may be indicated as '1852 or earlier' -  the differential used here is 18 years, and the differential for this type of formula is always 18 years. If someone marries in 1870 and his/her father was already dead then, his father's death date, if not know yet, will say '1870 or earlier' if the mother was alive at the time of the marriage her death date will say '1870 or later'. Dates before 1700 may of necessity use 'about' with a years or year range, since accurate dating may not be available

• A woman's maiden name is entered as her  surname, where this is known, and her married surname is listed as an alternative surname, possibly with other alternative surname spellings found for her

• Where there are children listed for a single person or married couple don't assume those are ALL of the children born to that person or couple - they are the children that have been found to date

• there are two separate sections in Patrick's People: OUR FAMILY  and NOT OUR FAMILY. However there may be links between them for individuals and for families; separating them means that if there are links and relationships they have not yet been found. Check in both sections if the first is unsuccessful

• Research is ongoing and the website is updated once or twice a year so check back again if your search is unsuccessful at first, but remember only certain lines are being researched at any given time

last updated 8 September 2009

back to BACKGROUND TOPICS LIST

back to MAIN opening page