Did You Know?

ENGLAND AND WALES RECORDS
Did you know....?	CIVIL REGISTRATION Government-registered records of birth, marriages and deaths which occurred in England and Wales are from 1837 to the present day.

Did you know....?	CENSUS RETURNS Censuses are taken every ten years from 1841 to 1901 and can provide researchers with a 'snapshot' of their ancestors lives.

Did you know....?	PARISH REGISTERS One of the primary sources of information before 1837. From 1538 until that time it was the responsibility of the established church of England and Wales to record baptisms, marriage and burials. This was carried out at the parish level and the survival of these records varies from place to place.

GENEALOGICAL FACTS
Buyer Beware	Just because a researcher calls himself or herself professional or accredited, does not mean that he or she is trustworthy or ethical. Certain family history researchers consider themselves ethical because they are accredited. They provide below par work, or take it upon themselves to carry out research out of the requested area. This places the client in an embarrassing situation of being expected to pay for something that was not originally requested. Similarly, there are some clients who refuse to honour their side of the contract. Therefore we request payment before we commence work.

Seeing is NOT believing	All of the genealogical information that you find must be verified by examining the original source. It is very easy to accept the word of living relatives, or accept data (indexes or books) that is published or online (databases). Memories are not always accurate, and people can make mistakes during transcribing. Original records can contain errors. When assessing the evidence ask yourself, who was the informant? Was he a family member or just a visitor? How well did he/she know the family and their particulars?

GENEALOGICAL MYTHS
	It is impossible to cover this topic here and it would only be duplicating information already online, so visitors will benefit from visiting Cyndi's List and following relevant links. It must be stressed however that genealogical information found on the Internet or in publications, can never be accepted as a primary source. Such information is considered a secondary source and must be confirmed with the primary source.

Last updated: August 26, 2008