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You can't. However, everyone has at least one firm starting point- themselves. Your birth certificate should name one or both parents, and you can then work back from that to the previous generation, and so on.

I honestly fo not know what if any regiments were maintained in Australia independent of the main British army at that period. British army records are all at the National Archives at Kew, so that would certainly be a good place to start looking. As with the fostering question we started with this evening, I am not absoltely sure so please come back next time or contact me direct and I will find out the proper answer for you.

It is fair enough to think the birth place given in the 1891 census is incorrect- try 1901 census for a second opinion. you can also seek his death, as this should reaffirm his marriage, and (assuming he stayed in Scotland) his death- this would give both parents' names. You could then seek their marriage in Scotland or Ireland, and once you knew where that took place, you could seek his birth or baptism there.

There are no central birth records in France, so you need to know which area to look in. If the surname was an unusual one you can try localising it through telephone directories. Do you know for sure he was not naturalised (ie, by checking the records in HO1 at the National Archives, with copies at the family Records Centre? That is a shame, as a naturalisation record would say where he came from. However, if he left a will, he might have left legacies to people back home, thus answering your question.

By now the records, if they have survived, should have made their way to the National Archives at Kew. That is where I would look for mention of your intreguing ancestral airoplane!

I wonder what records you have searched, and indeed what your great great grandfather's name was. Why not start obtaining his children's birth certificates and look for him in census returns. I am guessing from what you have written that his wife was head of the family in a census AFTER he died- so you could seek his death working back before then.

Tax records would not be the best nes to use. The 1881 census has been fully indexed at www.familysearch.org- if you are lucky you will find your ancestor at work, in her employer's house, with them in as well.

First problem: I your grandfather may have used one of two names (as suggested above), but this merely means you will have to search under two names rather than the more usual one. As you, equally, have two possible places of birth, search in both- he should appear in Irish Civil Registration one way or the other. Second problem: you have the clue that your aunt could have ended up being called Sarah Santos, you could try locating her in contemporary directories, or (I know this could be a big task) contact the Santoses in the current NY phone book and see if they have heard of her. Actually, it's quite possible she is alive and well and living there as Mrs Santos, so I'd approach this with a fair degree of confidence.

Thanks, Lyn. It's great to hear I was of some help. Knowing how not to trust records is something you learn over time.

What a wonderful surname- Puffett! You list an impressive array of websites, but also underline the way so many researchers now are becoming too reliant on them (yes, even this one!). The original records are still out there, and will solve many such problems. Why not visit the Family Records centre, or look at the indexes on fiche at a Mormon Family History Centre? If your John really was born in about 1849 (see previous question!) he should show up in the 1851 census of Filkins, which is probably a tiny village. Again, the original records can be searched on fiche at the foregoing locations.

'Chatham pensions from 1802-1894 may be found in ADM 29 at the National Archives. you could also look in the records of military births, baptisms, marriages and deaths which were seperate to the civilian ones, at the Family Records Centre. you've a good, unusual combination of names there-I'm sure you'll find the answer!

It would be virtually impossible to find the ship, and of very little help either. Most Jews did indeed walk down to France and then catch a boat to England- there were ferries then as now, going to Dover but also to many ports up the east coast. I have used Lithuanian Jewish records, by the way- you can sometimes get very good results from them.

It could just be a clerical error- or you could have two different people! 'Jane Smith formerly Jones' means that Jane was born a Jones and married a Mr Smith. If your two certificates have different maiden names, then have you considered that (to follow my example) one wife named Jane and the husband remarried, to a woman also called Jane but (of course) with a different maiden name?

it is certainly possible that a man called Dooling could be recorded on a certificate or census return as Dowling, or vice versa. How do you find out if they are one and the same? By finding out more about him/them. If the occupations and ages of the person in Ireland match the person in England, you will have good circumstantial evidence they were indeed one and the same. At last your man has a good, unusual forename- if he'd been called Psddy you would have a harder task in front of you!

As your American ancestress was born in 1821, she would most likely have married after 1837. If she married in England (or Wales) her marriage would be in the indexes to General Registration, which you can search at the Family Records Centre. Bear in mind, though, that they could just as easily have married in America. Many people emigrated to America, as we know, but bear in mind they didn't all make it big- many gave up at the sight of the endless prairies and caught the next ship home. Your Derbyshire ancestor may have been one of these. If the American marriage is not in the IGI you may have to do some fairly strenuous digging to find out where it might have taken place, by seeing where in America the surname occurs. Try seeking your ancestress in every possible British census, as at least a state of origin may be given in one of them. NB- a thought for you, and everyone else joining in tonight- if you state the name of the person you are seeking, there is always a chance that someone who has heard of your forebear might see it- also, it helps me in most cases to know whether we are dealing with very popular names or (as in the previous example) not.

Don't worry about the post mortem records themselves. Better and usually more detailed reports of such incidents are often to be found in local papers which, then as now, love a good accident. The local studies library local to Dulwich may hold local newspapers. Otherwise, you can use the fantastic collections of the British Library Newspaper Library, Colindale Avenue, Colindale, London NW9 5HE, 0207 412 7353, www.blpc.bl.uk. A good bibliography of newspapers is the Tercentenary handlist of English & Welsh newspapers, magazines & reviews, 1620-1919, The Times Publishing Co. Ltd, 1920, (repr Dawsons, 1966), and you can also consult J. Gibson’s Local Newspapers 1750-1920, England and Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, a select location list FFHS (1991 repr).

Well done getting back to your great grandfather. The basic tips are 1. ask as many relatives as you can; 2. make fullest possible use of General Registration of births, marriages and deaths and 3. census returns, some of which are now indexed on-line. Oh yes and 4. enter all your details on GenesConnected! If you want to send details of exactly what you're stuck on with your great grandfather I'll try to give you some specific advice.

Lanarkshire, of course, is the county of Glasgow, a populous city even then, drawing people in from far and wide, especially by river up the Clyde. Sadly, 1841 was the earliest census. There is no straightforward answer here. As you probably know, the Old Parochial Registers are fully indexed on-line at www.Scotlandspeople.gov.uk but many people come a-cropper by relying solely on the indexes- don't forget that the original registers may contain more information which could be the key to slving the problem. Equally, just relying on the indexes means you may not notice gaps in the registers, or realise when they begin. There may be a gap in the Dunsyre registers into which your man's baptism may have fallen. Also, if you just rely on the indexes (i am not saying that you have- this is just a thought) you may have missed variant spellings, such as Brice, but why not consider other ways the name could have been spelled- such as that wonderful old Scottish suname, Bruce?

You have a perfectly normal marriage entry for the time- father's names and ages weren't generally given until 1837. If the marriage was by license (the original register should specify) the marriage license documentation itself may name the father. Otherwise, seek the couple in the 1841 and more detailed 1851 census: the later should give you the parties' ages and then you can seek their baptisms and of course you may find their parents living nearby into the bargain.

There is no easy short-cut into this area. You may simply have to find out what homes there were in the area and track down their records. Similarly, to find a court order you would need to guess which court it mught have been- and not all records in either category survive. You could use a contemporary street/commercial directory to see what homes were in a particular area- there are good collections at Guildhall Library and the Society of Genealogists. Perhaps, however, there is another way altogether of getting round your problem, which is presumably to find out where someone came from. If so, let me know more details.