Helen Augusta Crofton

“ HOW TO SAVE EXPENSE IN PEDIGREE-HUNTING
There is no doubt that if any one wishes to expend a small fortune in record-searching he may find opportunity of doing so; if, on the other hand, even shillings are an object to him, he can carry on his work for very little expense.
The English Record Office, with its vast stores of information, is free to all searchers; so are the British Museum Reading and MSS. Rooms; also the other great London libraries.
At Somerset House, where so many of the wills are stored, the fees are one shilling for each document searched. ”

“ If the genealogist is not a student of Heraldry, he will find it both interesting and probably advantageous to form some slight acquaintance with this fascinating subject. The question of the Arms of a Family are of more importance than its Crest and Motto, and through the knowledge of what arms are, and have been, borne by it, the identification of some of its members may be established. ”

“ But, whatever kind of “tree” is adopted or worked out, the study of wills should be productive of new ancestors with which to embellish it.
If working in London, Somerset House will be the happy hunting-ground of the will-searcher, and in various parts of England there are District Registries at which old wills are also kept.
Perhaps, in a sense, the searcher in Ireland has most need of all to be grateful to the powers that be with regard to this aspect of his pedigree work, for, practically speaking, all Irish wills can be found in Dublin. ”

“ Most of the probably most helpful MSS. and publications have been mentioned in this little book; but if the pedigree-hunter is roaming among the documents in the Record Office or the British Museum, or among the contents of a great library, let him look through the various [Pg 60] indexes and try to find out something new for himself. There is a joy in discovery, even if it is only that of an unknown document, and it is impossible to enumerate every work which might help all cases, while new ones, of course, are constantly being added. ”

“ There are many such in all good libraries, a list of which will be given later on; but, while the search is in its infancy and does not go farther back than two or three generations, probably the Peerages (if the family is of social [Pg 7] position) , with perhaps certain other printed pedigrees and works on family history, such as Burke’s Commoners and Landed Gentry, should suffice for the present.
But the golden rule in genealogy should always be remembered; and, though the information thus derived may possibly be fairly correct, many details may call for verification later in the search. ”

“ Some families rise in the social scale, others descend, and the genealogist may come across numerous instances of the vicissitudes of families.
Heirs to the highest of what were regarded as extinct titles have been found occupying the very lowest positions in the social scale. Who knows whether some unexpected stroke of fortune may not come across our genealogical searcher. In fact, there are few limits as to the possibilities which may arise in pedigree-hunting. ”

“ In certain other instances, where official fees are charged, literary searchers are often most leniently considered, for in genealogical matters a good deal depends on the pedigree-hunter himself, and a system of red tapeism is not everywhere carried out.
For university and school details and entries the registers can often be consulted absolutely free of cost, so the searcher with the narrow purse has really little to fear financially when embarking on the delightful task of pedigree-hunting. ”

“ MISCELLANEOUS MS. DOCUMENTS OF VALUE TO THE SEARCHER
We have already considered the subject of Wills and Parish Registers. Besides these, there is a multitude of miscellaneous manuscripts from which genealogical information can be gleaned; but what they are will, in a certain degree, depend on where the pedigree-hunter is searching.
If in London, the treasures of the Record Office are at his disposal, which MS. treasures claim a later notice to themselves. The Dublin Record Office, in a lesser degree, will supply many somewhat similar documents, while in Edinburgh he also can effect much. ”

“ Irish wills, as we have seen, are stored there, and the fee for the perusal of any document is one shilling.
Here again, however, “the literary permit” can be obtained; it is usually issued for a month at a time, and is renewable. But whether there or in England, no free search is permitted, unless the required documents are nearly a century old, and in every instance the search must be undertaken with a purely literary object in view. If the pedigree-hunter wishes to make good his claim to property, or has any other legal project in his mind—well, he must pay for his investigations. ”

“ The pedigree-hunter should go through as many indexes of documents as he can during his visits to this Record Office on the chance of coming across something new and valuable.
There are bookcases lined with volumes of indexes round the walls of the Search Room, and others, such as those required for Chancery and Exchequer Bills—known as “Bill Books”—will be given to him on application.
Though so much is discoverable at the Record Office, the Dublin searcher must not confine his [Pg 35] attention to it, as there are other treasure-houses in that metropolis also. ”

“ The records of the Scottish Universities supply information which may be very valuable to the genealogist, in much the same way as those in England and Ireland. These Scottish Universities are St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh.
The Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, is a very celebrated one, and of printed books, such as [Pg 41] have been recommended, the genealogist should find a plentiful supply in any large library in Edinburgh or Glasgow.
Perhaps our pedigree-hunter, when looking up a Scottish family, may rejoice in the existence of the Clan system in Scotland. ”

“ An honest searcher would never appreciate a “faked” pedigree; but it is fatally easy to assume a certain point, and, working from that assumption, to have all future details more or less incorrect.
No time should be considered wasted which is spent on verifying information.
The searchers should not even take it for granted that all Peerages or similar works are always correct ”

“ But the fact remains that there was only a population of a few millions in Great Britain at the time of the Norman Conquest, and our ancestors at that date apparently consisted of a much greater number, so that the probabilities are that almost every Englishman of either Saxon or Norman ancestry must have been descended from every one living in England at the time of the Norman Conquest, including the Conqueror himself. ”

“ Having thus gone through what seem to be the most probable wills for his purpose, the pedigree-hunter may profitably wend his way to a large library, and consult printed authorities before he studies others in manuscript.
There is no royal law about this, however; much will depend on where he lives and what he is looking for, and, possibly, he may elect to go daily from manuscripts to printed collections, and vice versa. But this chapter will be devoted to information as to the probably most useful printed books to consult. ”

“ Several old Navy Lists can be found in the British Museum, and the Navy Office keeps registers of the officers and men, with date and place of their deaths. The ages of the men are also entered.
Universities, though their lists of graduates are published, have treasures of information only obtainable at first hand. So, where one or more of these is likely to prove valuable, their records should, if possible, be searched. ”

“ We have previously seen that wills in Scotland have not the same evidential value as in other parts of Great Britain, that Irish wills can be practically all found in Dublin, and that in London, Somerset House is the depository where wills proved since 1858 have been kept, as well as those proved in the Court of Canterbury, these latter being not altogether restricted to testators who lived in that district. ”

“ Libraries.—The British Museum.—The London genealogist is also especially fortunate with regard to libraries. Foremost of all comes, of course, that at the British Museum. There not only is access to the Great Reading Room free by ticket (on the recommendation of a London householder) , but the Newspaper Room and MSS. Department are also free, and both are very valuable to the genealogist. The latter is especially so, as it contains a store of manuscripts and Pedigrees, Herald’s Visitations, and numberless miscellaneous documents. ”

“ Literary free permits are, however, as we have seen, issued in connection with most of the great offices where genealogical information can be gleaned, and by the help of these far the greater part of the pedigree-hunter’s work can be carried on almost free of expense. ”

“ Still, the pedigree-hunter should discover much valuable information at the parish registries.
But besides the Probate, Diocesan, and Parochial Registers, if his object is to find out particulars about a country family, he might consult Municipal Documents, County Records, and should refer to the Old Record Commission Reports of 1800 and 1837; these are compiled from the returns made by custodians of records throughout the country, and supply ample information in various miscellaneous matters. They have been already mentioned.
Marriage Licences are sometimes a fruitful field for discoveries. ”

“ As a matter of fact, the majority of our greater and lesser nobility are of royal descent, and if our pedigree-hunter’s ancestors were allied to such families, the descent in his case should be comparatively easy to prove. ”

“ The Guildhall Library.—Another London Library, where printed books on genealogy can be had in abundance, is that of the Guildhall, which ranks in this way only second to the British Museum Library.
[Pg 33]
CHAPTER VII
THE PEDIGREE-HUNTER IN IRELAND
As has previously been intimated, the pedigree-hunter, if looking up an Irish family, can discover almost everything he wants (if discoverable at all) in Dublin.
So, even if living in some country district in Ireland, all he requires is to locate himself for some time in the Irish metropolis. ”

“ All such registers, however, are now superseded by the General Register of Sasines, which commenced in 1869.
Wills, which are such an essential item in English and Irish pedigree-hunting, are not quite so important in connection with Scottish families, for up to 1874 a Scotsman could not devise land, so his will could only deal with personalty. Still, of course, wills must be looked up and noted in Scotland as they would be elsewhere. ”

“ Indexes to such Bills must first be consulted, then the manuscripts themselves. This will be rather a long task, as such documents are very numerous and often lengthy, but the result can scarcely fail to be beneficial.
Assize Rolls, which give particulars of cases tried before itinerating judges, may also reveal a good deal.
Deeds of various kinds, leases, etc., open up a wide field for the searcher; in fact, more leisure time than is, as a general rule, at most people’s disposal might profitably be employed on the Deeds alone. ”

“ Well, he probably will know it in the case of the latest of his ancestors, say, his father or grandfather, and let him work from that point. Failing this, a study of the family names in each district should reveal the secret.
The surname itself, especially if the searcher has been able to trace the ancestry some way back, should be carefully noted with regard to the different forms in which it may appear, for in early days there was a quite delightful variation in the spelling of names ”

“ A docket will be given him to fill up containing the necessary particulars, and the document itself will follow with very little delay.
The pedigree-hunter may be asked if he has a ticket entitling him to search here. Such tickets have been rather lately introduced by the Record Office authorities; before that, no restriction was placed on a searcher, and this is almost a nominal one; he has merely to be recommended by a householder. ”

“ All these Canterbury Prerogative wills are at Somerset House. Some northern wills are at York for the same reason. But all wills since 1858 are deposited at Somerset House.
In the Registrar-General’s office there, registers have been kept regularly since 1837. The fees [Pg 31] are not high. If, for instance, the pedigree-hunter wants to ascertain the date of a certain birth, the search through five years for one name costs five shillings.
To look up wills costs one shilling each, unless the searcher has a free literary docket ”

“ The last-named District Registry, that of York, is not exclusively confined to wills of those who lived in the district; the others almost universally are.
Each Registry, as a rule, comprises several of the suppressed Diocesan and Minor Courts. They all date from early times, the latest being those of Winchester and Wells, which contain no wills before 1660, and the earliest that of Bury St. ”

“ Of course, this works out also in another way, and makes us all descended from the serfs as well as from the lords of the soil. Though the [Pg 62] matter may not be capable of demonstration, it is an interesting point to consider. ”

“ Edmunds, where the wills date from 1354.
When noting the contents of a will, the pedigree-hunter should put down all particulars, even what at first sight might appear trivial, as [Pg 47] small items sometimes lead to great discoveries. The names of the witnesses to a will, for instance, should never be omitted.
Of course, it is not necessary to copy a document in full, but its contents should be noted somewhat in this way—
Will of John Browne, of . ”