Construct your family tree: How to use birth, marriage and census records

Introduction

There is a lot of information online and elsewhere about how to find the basic documents that help you build a family tree. The fundamentals for genealogists are birth certificates, marriage certificates and census returns. Death certificates are also important, but are usually not as significant as birth and marriage certificates when it comes to building your basic family tree. Their role may well come later when you are filling in the gaps and building a fuller picture of your ancestors' lives.

In this article, I hope to present some basic facts about the three key research tools I have identified and provide an idea about how they can be used to build your family tree.

Getting started on the document trail

As any family historian will tell you, you need to work from the known into the unknown when researching your family tree. If you start from the launchpad of solid fact and work your way carefully and methodically back into unknown generations, you are much less likely to make mistakes or end up researching people who do not turn out to be your relatives.

You need to build a document trail that will lead you back into your family's past. At every stage, be sure to check your logic: you must ensure you are always dealing with the right person, and not just with someone who has the same name as your ancestor. A bit of common sense and a lot of fact checking are the name of the game, but if you build your family tree from solid foundations, it's likely to flourish, in whichever direction it grows.

Ordering your first document - a birth certificate

Let us take a hypothetical example to demonstrate how you might get going on the document trail, and how the various resources fit together. You have to choose which certificate you want to find first, so here comes the golden rule again: start with what you know. You may have established a certain amount of information about your ancestors from members of your family, or even better from certificates and other documents that they have preserved. You need to decide which information you are sure about and which may have been misreported or misremembered. You can then start your search on firm footing.

Suppose your starting point is your grandfather's birth. Your family members agree that your grandfather was called Henry Alan Crosbie and that he was born on 18 June 1890 in Bath. Your father adds that Henry's parents were called Arthur and Ada Crosbie, but knows no more about them because they died when he was young. Some of these details might be confirmed by information in family photographs, letters or diaries, and perhaps Henry Alan Crosbie's death certificate, which your father may have.

A good first step would be to order a copy of Henry's birth certificate, which can be done by searching the birth indexes for England and Wales under his name and year of birth, and buying the certificate from the General Register Office (see 'Elsewhere on the Web' links). When it arrives, you will be able to examine the information it contains and confirm it is correct: the name and date of birth should match the information you know to be true. And your father was right - Henry's parents are listed on the certificate as being Arthur Alan Crosbie, a teacher, and Ada Crosbie, formerly George (George was therefore her maiden name). You now have your first genealogical document, and have discovered the names of your great grandparents. These names should be added to your family tree.

The next step - a marriage certificate

Your next step is to obtain a marriage certificate for the parents of Henry Alan Crosbie. You know from the birth certificate that they were called Arthur Alan Crosbie and Ada George, so you can hunt for this combination in the marriage indexes, where you come across them in 1883 in the Bath registration district. Using the reference you obtain from the index, you can once again order the certificate. When it arrives, this document will give you further names for your family tree.

The marriage certificate tells you that Arthur Alan Crosbie was 22 years old at the time of his marriage, that he worked as a trainee teacher and that his father was William Arthur Crosbie, a wheelwright. As for Ada, she was 18 years old at the time of the marriage, had no occupation and her father was Frederick George, a chair maker. You have now identified two of your great great grandparents!

Keep going - more birth certificates

So now what? Well, you have enough information to search for the next round of birth certificates. You now know that Arthur Alan Crosbie was 22 when he married in 1883, which means that he should have been born in or about 1861. Ada George was 18 in 1883, so was probably born in or about 1865. It is a good idea to allow a bit of room for error when calculating years of birth from marriage certificates because it was not unusual for one or both parties to doctor their ages a little - perhaps to make the bride appear younger than the groom, or to pretend they were over 21, which would allow them to marry without parental consent.

You should therefore search the birth indexes for Arthur and Ada in the relevant years, and a few years either side. If you are lucky, there will only be one person of each name born in the right time period, leaving you confident that you have found the right ones. However, you will have to do some checking when the certificates arrive. You know from the marriage certificate that Arthur's father was William Arthur Crosbie, and Ada's father Frederick George, so does this information match what is recorded on the birth certificates? You may even find that the professions of wheelwright and chair maker that appear on the marriage certificate are replicated on the birth certificates, but remember that many years had passed in between, and people might have changed occupation between one document and the next.

Once you are happy that you have the correct birth certificates for Arthur and Ada, you will have the full names of both sets of parents, so can continue by searching for both marriage certificates. With luck and sound technique, you might keep this pattern up for several generations.

Be on your guard - some basic health warnings

Wouldn't it be lovely if everything always worked out this simply? Well, sometimes it does, especially if you are dealing with an unusual name. But there are never any guarantees in genealogical research, and often all sorts of complications emerge that force you to turn detective to keep yourself on the straight and narrow.

For example, the name Henry Alan Crosbie is not very common, and you are unlikely to find lots of options in the indexes. But what if the name you are looking for is John Smith or Anne Williams? Then when you search the birth indexes, you are likely to come up with dozens and dozens of options. It will then be up to you to choose between them. Sometimes you will have to order more than one certificate before you find the right one. You might even find that there were two people called John Smith born at the same time in the same place, and worst of all, with parents of similar names. Then you really do have to be careful!

The census, which we will come to in the next section, is a fabulous tool for distinguishing between different people, particularly by pinpointing our ancestors' exact location. If you follow the rule that you never put anyone on your family tree unless you are sure of their identity, and that you ask yourself at every turn if you are sure this is the right person, you are likely to keep on track.

The census

The census is a very exciting tool for family historians because it allows us to see a snapshot of our ancestors: we may see them at home with their families, in a military barracks, at boarding school, visiting friends or relatives, in prison or in all kinds of other places. We see information such as how each member of each household was related or connected to all the others, how old everybody was, where they were born and what jobs they had. It can be like peering in at the window of our ancestor's home.

The census was taken once every ten years, and returns for 1841-1911 are available online. Returns after 1911 are not yet available to the public. In Ireland, the only available censuses are 1901 and 1911 (see 'Elsewhere on the Web' to locate these tools).

Returning to our example of the Crosbie family, you know that Henry Alan Crosbie was born in Bath in 1890, so could search for him as a baby in the 1891 census. From his birth certificate, you know his parents' names and his father's occupation as well as where he was born, so it should be fairly easy to identify the correct return. Now you can see Henry in his domestic setting. You might learn from this return that Henry had three siblings, or that a widowed grandparent lived with the family - and dozens of other details.

You could then search for Henry and his family on the 1901 census, when we might expect Henry to be listed as a scholar. Perhaps there are now further siblings, or someone you thought should be in the household is missing - have they married, died or moved away? By the 1911 census, you may find that Henry too has left home: is he living as a lodger with someone else? Or has he himself married?

You could also use the census to trace your family further back and confirm the links you have from your certificates. You know that Henry's parents, Arthur and Ada, did not marry until 1883, so they will both be single on the 1881 census. You might be able to find them at home with their parents, and again on 1871. On earlier censuses, you may find even earlier generations of the family. It is always a good idea to collect as many census returns as you can for each ancestor. At every stage make sure that your certificates and census returns agree with one another and are describing the same family.

Untying the knots

Information provided on the census can be very useful in confirming who is in our family tree, and indeed who is not part of the family. For example, if your ancestor was indeed called John Smith, and you are having trouble distinguishing the correct birth record from the numerous options, the census might just be able to help.

If the correct John Smith married in 1882, and gave his address as 18 Church Green, Newquay, on his marriage certificate, then you might be able to find him at this address on the 1881 census. You will then have the names of both of his parents and probably several siblings, too, as well as his place of birth.

If one of the siblings had an unusual name, perhaps Edgar Job Smith, then it is likely there will only be one option in the birth indexes, and it might be more useful for you to order this birth certificate instead of pursuing your search for John's. Alternatively, knowing the names and ages of so many family members from the 1881 census, you might search for the family on the 1871 census, then the 1861, and see where the family was living at around the time John was born. From the location and the names of both parents, as well as the occupation of the father close to the time of John's birth, you may be able to narrow down your options in the birth indexes and be confident when you have the correct certificate.

Keep it up

By using birth and marriage certificates and census returns, you may be able to get your family back to the early 19th century - and perhaps a little further. Before this, other records become more important, particularly parish records, which are discussed elsewhere on this site. Whatever stage you are at in your family history, finding documents that relate to your particular ancestor is essential. Assumptions are dangerous and guesswork fatal! But careful research and a keen eye for detail should see your family tree blossom.

Good luck with your research.

About the author

Jenny Thomas has worked on seven series of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' and researched and advised on numerous other television projects. She is the co-author of Genealogy Online for Dummies and is a frequent contributor to family history magazines. She has appeared as a genealogist on television, radio and in the national press, and works as a media and private researcher, a writer and a lecturer.