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The fascination with our roots and with our history is
as strong as ever it was. These days, unprecedented innovations
in research and archiving facilitated by computers, technology and
the Internet mean that our ancestors are more accessible than they
have ever been. Travel, communications, corporate culture and the
Net may have turned us into a global village, but we still hanker
for information which establishes our origins and our identity.
The settlement of the British immigrants to all points on the compass
in recent centuries has resulted in a big percentage of the populations
of the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa
and so on being directly traceable back to a Welsh, Scottish, English
or Irish community and beyond.
Digger spoke to Mike Potts of Ancestors UK, a busy and bustling
firm specialising in genealogy.
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Digger: Is it always possible to trace a person's family
history?
Mike: No, not always. If people have no or very little knowledge
of their parents (for example they were adopted or abandoned), and
their parents were not married, then it can be very difficult or
impossible to find out more, especially where one is dealing with
a common surname, such as Smith or Jones.
Digger: What is the minimum information required to trace a history?
Mike: The minimum information would be someone’s full name,
and date of birth.
Digger: What are some of your chief sources of reference for tracing
ancestry?
Mike: In Britain, the chief source of information are the records
of general registration, that is to say birth, marriage and death
certificates. These are indexed quarterly (and in recent years annually)
by surname. In England and Wales these records commence in 1837,
in Scotland in 1855 and in Ireland in 1864. There are also the records
of the census, every ten years from 1841. These are only made public
after 100 years and the 1901 census becomes available in January
2002. Other major sources are parish registers, which in England
can date back as far as 1538 and wills, which date back into the
Anglo-Saxon period. Other nations have their own sets of records,
which vary considerably in quality.
Digger: What is the furthest back that you have traced a person's
family?
Mike: We have traced some of our client’s families back to
the late Middle Ages (14th century), but this takes an
awful lot of work, quite a bit of luck and usually a high status
family.
Digger: What have been the most interesting, the most surprising
and the most shocking revelations about people's family trees?
Mike: People are often shocked by the frequency of illegitimacy
amongst their ancestors. The Victorians have a very stuffy image,
but they were human like the rest of us, and children born out of
wedlock were not uncommon in the 19th century. Neither
were heavily pregnant brides! We have also seen murderers, suicides
and have traced connections to many famous people, such as the poet
Percy Shelley. Death certificates record cause of death and have
produced many interesting stories over the years, including the
man knocked off Beachy Head by a low flying plane, and the gunpowder
mill worker killed in an explosion and buried in five parts! Military
records can produce detailed and fascinating accounts of our ancestors’
service careers.
Digger: What is the fascination people have with their roots?
Mike: I suppose people like to have a sense of where they came from
and to know who their ancestors were during the great events of
our history. Many people also seem to be hoping they will discover
famous ancestors, or even discover a lost legacy. The latter hardly,
if ever, happens!
Digger: Has technology and communications made your job easier?
Mike: Yes. Increasing amounts of information are being placed on
disk, most notably the 1881 census of Britain, available on CD-Rom,
and fully indexed and searchable. And the Internet is now a huge
forum for people to exchange information and link up with distant
relatives. Large amounts of information and some actual records
are available on line, though most British records must still be
searched manually, either in national or local archives. The Internet
is particularly useful for speeding up international research.
Digger: Do you get a lot of people from abroad trying to trace
their British origins? Do you also trace histories for people in
other countries?
Mike: Since most people in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
and similar places originate from British ancestors, a lot of our
clients come from these countries. We also trace ancestry for people
around the world, and we sometimes find that a British family has
roots somewhere else, such as Germany or France.
Digger: Can anyone have a heraldic device or emblem made-up
for their family? How is this controlled and monitored officially,
if at all?
Mike: In England heraldic devices are controlled by the College
of Arms. Only families that have been awarded a grant of arms are
legally entitled to display them. This is controlled, but only where
arms are being publicly displayed (such as on letter heads). Many
people have a coat of arms hanging on their wall, or on a key ring,
that is associated with an unrelated family of the same name as
them and this is not a problem. If you can prove direct descent
from someone who was granted an achievement of arms, you may be
entitled to use them. Anyone can apply for a new grant of arms,
but you need to be ‘of good family’, have a university
degree or professional qualification, or a commission in the services,
plus a few thousand pounds spare! The decision on whether to grant
arms to an individual rests with a herald of the College of Arms.
Digger: They say that you can link anyone in the world to anyone
else in the world within five relationships. Would you agree with
this and do you see trends and patterns in the course of your work?
Mike: Ultimately we are all distant relatives, but I am not sure
about within five relationships! I don’t know how you would
ever prove that. But if you go back far enough, you will find a
huge number of direct ancestors, since the number doubles every
generation. Thus we have 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, and
128 gggggg-grandparents! It is estimated that most English people
would be related to about ¾ of the medieval population of England.
As for trends and patterns, yes, we do see them, but they are probably
heavily biased by the make up of our client base. The social class
of a family (working, middle or upper) is, I am sorry to say, not
something that seems to change that often.
Digger: Do you think it's important for us to know where we come
from?
Mike: Yes, I do. Since I started working for ancestors, I have traced
my own family back to the early 18th century, and I have
found the greater sense of knowing where I come from rather comforting.
It also tends to put your own life into perspective and certainly
makes you aware of your own mortality. I have encountered some people
who were adopted and have been unable to find any trace of their
relatives. I get the impression they feel very alone in the world.
Digger: What are the most amusing and entertaining aspects of your
job?
Mike: The most rewarding part is finding some really interesting
information that our client had no idea about. As for the amusing
and entertaining parts, well…. probably hearing what some people
think is sufficient information to trace their family, such as "…my
ancestor was John Smith and probably came from England, or maybe
Wales or Scotland, sometime in the 18th century…".
Digger: Now that people are more mobile and we have had much immigration
and integration, has this made your work more challenging?
Mike: Not really, so far. Most of our clients are natives of the
British Isles, or had ancestors from Britain. We don’t seem
to get that many enquiries from people whose ancestors are recent
immigrants. Perhaps this will change over the coming years?
Digger: If someone wants to learn more about Genealogy or their
family history, what should they do?
Mike: Please visit our web site.
Many thanks to Mike Potts for the interview. Ancestors.co.uk
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