Genealogy Chat

Are there any records that can be looked at to find family history further past 1500s. Going back to 1400s and 1300s?? Or even further

All such records will be in the appropriate County Records Office(s)

But it's most unusual for anyone doing FH as a pastime to get back that far with any degree of certainty, or accuracy

Have you found the 'Visitations of .....?
Dating from about 1530 to 1688 - they sometimes have little family trees - but they are of the wealthy and gentry.

Edit : google 'Visitations of wherever' to see if they are on line.

The further you go back the less records there are.

The ones I know about for the period.....

Deeds (from 11c)
Feet of Fines (from late 12c)
Manor Court Rolls (from 13c)
Inquisition Post Mortem (from early 13c)
Lay Subsidies (from early 13c)
Quarter Sessions (from mid/late 14c)
Probates (from mid/late 14c)
Chancery Proceedings (from late 14c)

As Reggie has stated your first port of call would be the relevant Record Office to see what has survived, I would check out any online catalogue they may have.

Good luck
Chris

There was a little village I used to live in where the remains of an iron age settlement were discovered. DNA tests were done on the human remains that were found and also on a number of the present day villagers. It was discovered that some of the villages were related to the people that had lived there two thousand years before.
I know some of those people (not the ones from the iron age). There are chuffed to bits about the findings. But I doubt if they could find records to fill the 2000 year gap.
I wonder what is the furthest back anybody has traced their family history. :-S

Was that the Cheddar Gorge DNA Testing - they found that Lord Bath also had same DNA as locals....

If you recall the WDYTYA for Sir Matthew Pinsent, his line was traced back to royalty.
Their records were kept, so are there to be seen. The programme took him back to King William I, and before then it was believed the line went back to Adam and Eve!
However my book of the Royal line of succession has the line going back to Cerdic, who died in AD 534. Believe it if you will.

I remember the Pinsent one.

He had a 'gateway' ancestor (cannot remember who that was) and that meant the line had already been traced back and a pedigree was held at the College of Arms. An amazing document.

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/

Chris

It was another Somerset village I lived in; not far from Cheddar. I think it was just one skeleton they found in Cheddar Gorge. They called it Cheddar Man. As to the Marquis of Bath being related to half of the county, I couldn't possibly comment. ;-)
They do say if you look back far enough, you'll find we are all related. Does that mean we are commiting incest? :-S

No a lot of that goes back to Edward 2nd (not sure really which Edward!)

But go back far enough and then we are definately all related.

Well they say you can't choose your family but you can choose your friends. Looks like little choice in the first!!!

Thanks for the info. I heard someone traced back 100 AD and figures like Confucius has gone BC. But it would be impossible to go back to Adam & Eve because those are no such beings.

I have lots of Marys and Josephs on my family tree; but no Jesus yet ;-) :-D

So does anyone recommend alternative ways to searching different records in the 1500s, 1400s, 1300s, 1200s, 1100s, 1000s and even BELOW!???

You could try http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk
Prior to that you're going to be struggling.

Try thePeerage.com to see if any of your family names are listed.
Not that it means you have a connection, but it's a start.

Have you actually got back to the 1500's with proven genealogical info for your lines?

Ancestry has the Plantagenet Roll - which goes back to Edward III 1312-1377.

I traced a 'cousin-in-law' back to that line. (But not me, drat!) My search was helped by the fact that his grandfather had an unusual forename and came from an army family. I first located the family members on a Roll page that spanned 1819-1874.

I recall that there was also images of the Tudor Roll of "The Blood Royal of Britain" available.

In case anyone might be interested:

I have just gone onto Ancestry & found my way back to those records. You need to go onto(into?) the Ancestry Card Catalogue & search the databases using plantagenet as a keyword (or tudor). Then you can do a namesearch of that specific database.

I am not too sure what you mean by 'alternative ways to searching different records'.

I think that when you get into the time frame you are researching there are only going to be fragments of information available on the internet, for example catalogue indexes and their description of individual documents contained therein. I would expect to then have to visit the relevant Record Offices to view documents I was interested in to get the full story.

Google may find the odd list/transcription of documents where maybe an individual or group have worked on them but then you would need to know what you were looking for to search effectively.

One thing to bear in mind is that early documents may well be in Latin so a good dictionary would be useful together with cotton gloves, to protect not only the documents but you too, as they may well be filthy :-)

Good luck
Chris