The Journey

Surnmaes provide links with your mamily’s past and researching these last names is the first step in uncovering your heritage. They are a means of identification showing accomplishments, and status among others.

Given names identify individuals as shown in the oldest of historical records, but the appearance of surnames is relatively recent.

Where Germanic culture dominated, family names were virtually non-existent, appearing gradually about the 10th century. It was not until modern times that family names were inherited as they are today.

in the 11th and 12th centuries the latinization of names in official records was a common occurence and over the subsequent centuries names were altered to make it easier for immigrants to spell their names.

In england the Domesday Book (1086) is ascribed to the introduction of family names. There are indications that surnames were first adopted among feudal nobility and gentry, slowly spreading to other levels of society.

Some of the early Norman nobility had what is called a ‘territorial surname’, a consequence of feudal land ownership which indicated in France the lordship of a village etc. In some cases Norman nobles dropped the french derivation and titled themselves after their English holdings.

By 1400 most English and some Scottish used surnames. However, many Scottish and Welsh did not adopt surnames until the 17th century. Henry VIII (1509-1547) ordered marital births to be recorded under the surname of the father.

In Ireland the use of surnames is old, being the first European country to use them and was first recorded as adeath in 916. ost of the European surnames were occupational or locational to distiguish one person from another.

Modern variations in spelling are often related to phonetic spelling developed during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Multiple other sources arose for surnames:

• The formal use of paternal names of fathers, grandfathers etc, changed to just passing on the father’s last name to the children. In the 16th century i was standard for a woman to take her husband’s name after marriage.
• ‘Personal Surnames’ indicated personal characteristics, location of origin, occupation, parenrage, patronage, adoption, clan association.
• ‘Topographical Surnames’ used a nearby physical feature – hill, stream/river etc. also could be used to indicate nationality.
• ‘Habitation Surnames’ also derived from locations taken from existing names of villages/towns/parishes, manors/estates, regions/counties.
• ‘Occupational Surnames’ come from common trades. Similarly surnames could indicate postions of office, authority, military.

• Consider the variations of your names, both forename, middle name and surname.
• Surnames can be given as second forenames reflecting the name of the father/grandfather or an earlier ancestor. In addition it could be gained from the mother’s maiden name.
• Records do not always include second/middle names.
• The mother’s side is often revealed through the use of her family name for her children.
• A lot of families have in their genealogy a birth record that mentions ‘Base Born’, in other words, born of an unmarried mother. Occasionally they give the father’s name, but most often, not. There can be a clue in the child’s name to the father. In my case John Smith Seage was recorded ‘Base Born’, John Smith being the clue to the father. (Both parents were in service and I believe that they intended to marry when they could. They married 7 years later.)

Useful sources

https://www.genealogy.com/articles/research/52_donna.html on Illegitimate Children

‘Illegitimacy’ by Eve McLaughlin (Varneys Press: Aylesbury, Bucks., England: 1992)

• 1538-1700 naming patterns often followed – children were named after the parents’ father/son, mother/daughter, often regardless of the child’s position in the family birth order.
• Godparents are often mentioned in some registers and should also be considered in the naming pattern.¹
• C18th and C19th naming conventions followed a basic pattern, many given names originating from their ancestors.

And so on. ²

• Where there are no censuses for the time period that give a family structure, it is possible, with a degree of certainty to build a family structure from initially, church records. Other sources, Wills, Deeds etc are needed to support and extend the information.

• Marriage partners could normally be found within what people called ‘their country’ to which the parish belonged; an area bounded by the nearest market town. In this case Market Harborough. A husband or wife could be found within a 10 to 12-mile radius.
• Often men marry in a bride’s parish
• There are periods where the couple could be married outside their own parishes, providing they had a certificate of residency i.e. Dingle, Northants. Fleet in London was another place where you did not require banns or a licence, especially if you were divorced or a wdow/widower.
• The bride’s maiden name may not be mentioned in marriage records, especially early C17th which leads to difficulties in identification.
• The marriage records often give the residency of the couple at the time of the marriage. This, however, does not imply that they were born there.
• The average age at marriage is about 24 (23.4) for women and 26 (25.3) for men. Average time the marriage lasted was 17-19 years ³.Often the age would be in the early 30’s because of the need to secure skills, land, especially with apprentices, to have sufficient money to be able to set up a home.
• There are cases recorded of children being baptised less than 8.5 months after the wedding.
• The first child is born on an average of two years after the date of the marriage.
• Couples could be married either by Licence or by Banns. The marriage banns were called on three Sundays (not necessarily consecutive) prior to the wedding in each parish. The Sunday of the last reading may not be the date of the marriage as given in some records. 1 in 6 to 1 in 4 never married.
• There can be a seasonal marriage pattern. There are peak periods. When people married coincided with the ending of annual service contracts – spring in pastoral farming areas, late autumn in arable regions and the August harvest time.
• There are also forbidden periods for marriage – Lent, Advent until later C17th.

• Many men and women, according to David Hey “Oxford Guide to Family History”, who reached the age of 30 could expect to live another 30 years though far more people died in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s than in old age. About 6/7% of those who survived childhood to become adults lived beyond the age of 80. This is an age when 35 is middle aged, and 50 is considered elderly.
• The average mother could have 7-8 live births over 15 years. Before adequate contraception the first child often born within about two years (18-26 months) after the marriage and continued after regular intervals. Average age of a woman at the birth of the last child was 40 (39.3). In some cases, the more births had would affect the life span of the mother. Pregnancy in the C18th was difficult and hazardous. No anaesthetics and women quite often died in childbirth. Most married women had several children and it is not impossible that having 6-10 children could adversely affect the mother’s health leading to an earlier death.

• It was normal for single people and families to move around, but mostly it was restricted to their ‘country’ or neighbourhood in which the person was born. Although parish boundaries were no deterrent, movement was usually restricted to a 20-25-mile radius, often less in an area bounded by the nearest market town.
• Younger sons would often leave home to make their fortune elsewhere, the eldest son having or will inherit the family property.
• Yeomen, husbandmen tended to stay in the same area, having sufficient resources to survive in reasonable comfort, but having few opportunities to better themselves.
• The neighbourhood can often be defined as that from which marriage partners were drawn. The bond that united the neighbourhood was strengthened by frequent intermarriage of the core families. Evidence of this is present in Wills, Inventories and Deeds.

• There can be problems with Parish registers, often only the minimal information is provided because of a variety of reasons. A common problem is that the farther back registers go the date of birth is rarely given, only the baptism date. Usually most children would be baptised within several days or a few weeks. This is especially so in times of high mortality rates for children. However, there is a possibility that the baptism could take place within several years after birth.

• Wills only tell part of the inheritance of family estates. Part/s of the parents’ estate could be passed on to children before the death of the father. This could take the form of land, goods, payments for education and apprenticeship, marriage portions before the will is written. It was normal to settle land and/or money on children when they marry.  Also, the family farm could be given to a son when the father was too old to run it.

• In rural areas it was common that the eldest son inherited the family farm, but the family tried to ensure that younger sons received other property and/or money and daughters provided with a marriage portion.

• Kinship networks are the widest and strongest where the population is the most stable. In addition the repetition of names in families can be a strong indication of kinship.

• Again, in rural areas neighbours were often approached to help with the formalities with the transfer of properties I.e. Wills, Deeds, as witnesses, trustees; marriage witnesses.

• Searches made plus or minus 5 years as basic, but plus or minus 10 years could also to be used. This gives you more options to find best fits.
  
• Searches for possible children to cover a span of 15 years from the date of marriage.
• Family Search is useful where the range of search in years can be better defined from a set date rather than plus or minus searches.
• Do gut feelings have a place in genealogy?

It is important to be aware that documents may not be wholly true, with the possibilities of error in the records, whether by accident or deliberate; and that the farther back we go by generation there is a sparsity of records.

It is not possible to rely just upon vital event records, but the need to find other supporting sources and evidence.

Beware other family trees that you find on some of the larger genealogy sites. Look for the ones with the most evidence – not just transcripts – even the most professional transcribers make mistakes. Check the details thoroughly, in one case the person on the tree was said to be a lodger, paying tax at the age of 7 years.