Inspired by the BBC series, Who Do You Think You Are - Radio Humberside invited local people to take up the Family History Challenge and discover for themselves just how addictive genealogy can be.
On Friday Feb 10th, teams in Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby set about tracing their family trees, with our challenge to see how much they could find out in one day. Maureen took up the quest in Grimsby... this is what she discovered.
"I am a Tutor for the Community Learning Service, NE Lincolnshire Council and was asked to deliver a beginners Internet and Family History course that I have been doing since September. I have been helping my learners to get started on family history research but had not looked at my own family, until I was given the chance to take part in Radio Humberside’s Family History Challenge.
Radio Humberside set the challenge on Feb 10 as part of their Genealogy weekend – the task – to find out as much as possible about my own family tree in just one day. A tall order, but I was not entirely alone – I had help from Grimsby Library and one of their family history experts, Jennie Mooney.
My parents are both in their mid-seventies and I thought it would be nice to be able to find out about our ancestors for them but also for future generations. We did have a few mysteries in the family, as is the case with most people. I had a good chat with them about what they already knew.
Internet searches help you get started
My paternal grand-parents (Joseph Rickel Toyne and Louisa Toyne (nee Plumtree) were a mystery. All we knew from my grandfather was that his dad liked the drink and was violent. Grandad had told me that he had hid under the table to escape his father when he was young. Eventually through lack of money and support from her husband grandad’s mum took them to Caistor workhouse for a couple of weeks after which the children were then all fostered out to different families (Fanny, Margaret, Joe, Charles, Jack and Arthur). Grandad thought his mum had had a breakdown and had ended up at a mental institution at Lincoln but wasn’t sure. He had no idea what happened to his father and wasn’t bothered.
We did not know where my maternal great grand-parents came from (John Upton and Susan Mary Upton) nor did we know Susan’s maiden name. They had lived in Riby since the early 1900s. Also on the maternal side, we knew my great grand-parents (Samuel Bilton and Betsy Ann Bilton) came from Barrow but nothing further.
Armed with this information, Jennie and I set about our quest to fill in the gaps in my history and find out more about what happened to my grand-parents.
1901 Census
Jennie advised me to look at the 1901 census on the Internet; this would enable me to access, view, store and print a census return. This was really useful as I found all my great grand-parents from both sides together with who was in the household at the time of the census: children, dates of birth, locations of births, occupations and where they were located. This enabled me to find that John Upton and Susan Mary Upton came from Pointon and Rippingdale which are villages next door to each other in the Bourne district. One mystery solved.
Microfiche of Births, Deaths and Marriages
We then looked at microfiche (negatives the size of index cards) for births, deaths and marriages. These contained the district, reference numbers and, quarter of the year for the latter events. From this information I am now able to contact the General Register Office and obtain certificates to obtain more details. For example a marriage certificate will give maiden name of bride, father’s name on both sides. I used the microfiche to find the marriage date of Joseph and Louisa Toyne, John Upton and Susan Mary Upton, and sent for the copy marriage certificates.
Microfilm of Censuses
We looked at the 1881, 1871, 1861 and 1851 census on microfilm and was able to print out copies of census sheets. The library staff just on a hunch suggested looking for a Joseph Toyne with the possibility of him being Joseph Rickel Toyne’s father. The 1881 revealed Joseph Toyne and Maria Toyne were sharing their home with Thomas Rickel (listed as brother-in-law) therefore this would mean Maria’s maiden name would be Rickel – the likelihood of finding both names in the same household was a fluke. It also showed Joseph R Toyne as son born in East Torrington. Another mystery resolved but again I requested a copy of the birth certificate of Joseph Rickel Toyne to back this up. Also note Rickel had been spelt Rickle in 1901.
The Internet
There are several sites we used to research information being www.freebmd.org.uk, familysearch.org.uk, the nationalarchives.gov.uk and familyrecords.gov.uk. The library have a licence with ancestry.com which enabled us to look at information for free. FreeBMD revealed that Susan Mary’s maiden name was Barnes and ancestry.com showed her living with her maternal grand-parents in 1871 (the Smarts in Rippingdale).
The library also had loads of other sources of information available.
The whole experience for me was well worth doing. Yes it answered my queries but as soon as I resolved one query another would appear. I managed to go back 6 to 7 generations on both sides of the family in only a single day, imagine what I could find out with more time. The Quest showed the majority of my ancestors are from the farming industry and lived in Lincolnshire. With one side of the family being builders but again in Lincolnshire.
I am now addicted to family history research. Many thanks to the BBC and Grimsby Library for all your support."
If you would like to find out how you can start your own Family History research, find out more at bbc.co.uk/family history or contact your local library for more information.
