The essential elements for everyone to turn their family seedling into a full-blown tree is Bs, Ms and Ds. I hate acronyms, they seem designed to dissuade a person from entering a field of work, pleasure or whatever. But BMDs are there to help, sometimes, and confuse, frequently.
BMD (or births marriages and deaths) are the records harvested from local government and church records and most of them are now available online. The pain level of searching these records is largely determined by the name you inherited. So knowing my wife's grandfather's name was David Evans and he originated in Wales is as useful as the proverbial needle in a haystack, whereas my grandparents on my mother's side were Batty and Pickup. Much easier to find them in records.
So whilst I may never find my Wife's grandfather's birth record (it's one of over 27,000 born in Wales at that time), other names are easier to track. In my family tree, the Crank's (on Dad's side) lived very near the Batty's (on mum's side). They thankfully never met so Batty Crank as a surname was thankfully avoided.
Bs
Birth records have only really been properly recorded since Registry Offices held records. Prior to that, you are far more likely to find a record of baptism. But here again, beware, I assumed that Henry Pickup was born in 1810 because that was the record of his baptism. But when I realised he was baptised over 50 years after his mother, I had to dig deeper. His mother was baptised in the Church of England as a baby whereas Henry was baptised in the Bacup Particular Baptist Church as a young adult. Thankfully non-conformist churches are better at recording the date of birth whereas the Church of England often only recorded the date of baptism. But the parish records often contain fascinating details that the simple DOB record does.
My 3rd Great Grandmother is recorded on her son's parish birth record as "Elizabeth, A Stranger from the Woods". I then noticed that several mother's were also 'Strangers from the Woods' which was the clergy's way of saying they weren't members of his parish. In very small writing the clergyman also exclaims in capital letters. "A SINGLE WOMAN". I subsequently learned that this single woman from the woods was actually a 14-year-old servant, who was taken advantage of by her master. He, on discovering he had got sweet young Elizabeth up the spout, of course, sacked and disowned her and sent her away. She was estranged.
Ms
Marriages can be harder to find, as a man marrying a woman in her parish is not recorded as a marriage in his parish. Now if they lived in adjacent parishes, this is not much of a problem. But my 2nd Great Grandfather nearly put a spanner in the works by marrying someone in another continent.
Right here in the Ms, there is another B - betrothals. Again tread with care, as my 28th Great Grandfather was betrothed to his wife by their parents when they were still babes in arms, and marriage at the age of 12 was commonplace (probably because they would likely be dead by their 40th year).
Ds (and another B)
Death records are often the most reliable records of all. Cause of death reveals that several of my relative's died young from Spanish Flu.
Throughout the centuries deaths from plague or 'the black death' are not uncommon. In the 15th and 16th century, deaths such as "killed by his horse whilst hunting". "slaughtered in battle" or "beheaded" are alarmingly prevalent. The other B is burials. But follow these clues with care, I have one ancestor who died in battle in France, and was buried there until after the battle when he was exhumed and his remains were moved to a Priory in England, until the priory was demolished and what was left of his remains were finally laid to rest in the local cathedral.
In the 14th Century, I have several ancestors who had their heart buried in one city and their head in another. God alone knows what happened to the rest of the body.
BMDs can be a mine of glorious information, but can equally baffle if you don't dig deeper. Engaged before the age of one can be a total block unless you delve into history and discover that this really happened.
