Summa Genealogica

I began writing this article in an attempt to summarise a few ways in which you can ensure that the conclusions of your family history research are accurate and be content in the knowledge that you are building a family tree that is, as far as is possible to know, correct. However, when I put pen to paper and began drafting my ideas, I realised that one post will just not do this subject justice, there are many sub-topics and off-shoots that could be discussed. What about the FamilySearch "World Tree"?, how can Family Search be used to your best benefit?, what about royal ancestry?, how far can a family tree accurately be traced?, were just a few of the questions I am often asked and wanted to include in this article, but it would become a gargantuan and unweildly treatise, in which most of the information would probably be lost due to reading fatigue. Although I have tried to keep this article a more consise introduction to and explanation of the Genealogical Proof Standard,...

When researching our ancestors, one fascinating tool that offers both insight and interest is the ability to visualize the geographic distribution and density of their surnames. While surname distribution maps may not always provide direct genealogical information, they often offer clues about the geographical origins of ancestors and, occasionally, insights into the etymology and meaning of surnames. These maps can suggest regions where further research might uncover documents related to your family’s history. A particularly helpful resource for this is Barry Griffin’s surname mapping website ( barrygriffin.com ). Using data from the 1901 and 1911 Irish Censuses, Griffin has compiled distribution maps for thousands of Irish surnames. Not only can you search for a specific surname (including using wildcard searches like "M*cDonald" to return variations such as "McDonald" or "MacDonald"), but the site also allows you to browse the Top 100 Surnames by coun...

In the  previous post  we proved that Thomas Graves was the son of Storer and Mary Graves. In this post, we will take a look at Storer Graves' life, and in turn, prove his parentage. Marriages We first meet Storer in the baptismal records of his children through Mary, in Thurcaston, Leicestershire. The children are listed in the last post, and were all baptised between 1806 and 1820, in Thurcaston, Leicestershire. Therefore, we can expect to find a parish marriage record for Storer before 1806, which will tell us his wife's maiden name. We duly find the marriage of Storer Graves to Mary Hall on the 27th November 1803 in Thurcaston. [1]  This marriage record tells us that at his marriage in 1803, Storer was a widower, so he had been married before. And Storer also signed his name, demonstrating that he was literate. Searching for any marriages of a Storer Graves prior to 1803, we find a Storer Graves being married to Jane Clarke, both of the "South End of Mountsorrel" ...

In the first post, I explained that in this series I shall be tracing the ancestry of Thomas Graves, born c.1811, and baptised in 1815, in Thurcaston, Leicestershire. However, before we begin to move backwards up his tree, we will look at Thomas Graves, his life, family, and tragic death. Birth Unfortunately, we do not know the exact date that Thomas Graves was born, but the 1841 Census gives his age as 30, the '51 Census as 40, and '61 Census as 50, and all give his place of birth as Thurcaston - with such consistency, we can say that his birth was fairly likely to have been between 1810-11. He was eventually baptised on the 24th December 1815, in Thurcaston, Leicestershire, along with his siblings Benjamin and Mary Graves. [1]  His parents were Storer and Mary Graves (as we will see in Generation II), and Storer was a cordwainer at the time, someone who makes shoes from leather. Thomas's other siblings siblings were:  Ann Graves, baptised 24th Aug 1800, in Hathern, a ha...

As mentioned in my side tabs, one of my passion projects is documenting and "collecting" interesting Royal Descents of various people and families, partly out of my own interest in the subject, and also out of the hope that someone will find their own ancestors amongst this blog, and may learn some new information about them through it. A Royal Descent uses so many different sources of information to prove them that to see them written out and following the process of the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS, henceforth) can be tremendously useful for teaching people and helping them see potential avenues for further searching in their own research. That is what the following series is going to do: we will start with and go in-depth into the ancestry of Thomas Graves, probably born around 1811, and baptised in 1815, in the parish of Thurcaston, Leicestershire. On the 1841 census, he was living with his young family in Leicestershire and his occupation was "Ag Lab", an a...