Here we follow one local resident’s own family history search. Stacey Dickens (25) has lived in Scunthorpe all her life. She wanted to try and trace her grandmother and her grandmother’s sister's – Stacey’s great aunt – side of the family.
Stacey said:
"I’ve never attempted to trace my family roots before. So I really don’t know what to do or even where to get started. I’m guessing the first thing I need to do is speak to my nan and aunt and see what they know. Their maiden name was Hornsby and it’s that branch of the family tree that I’m keen to look at. Hornsby is a popular name in Scunthorpe – there are local streets with that name and several local companies. It would be great to see if any of it can be traced to my nan and aunt’s family!
"A family member did once research the Dickens side of our family name and managed to trace back right through to the early 1800s. He was unable to firmly establish if we were actually related to Charles Dickens but he did find out loads of other really interesting information so I’m looking forward to trying to do the same.
"I don’t really know much about my nan and aunt’s side of the family. I know my late great grandmother, had a Dutch maiden name – so goodness knows where this might end up. And I’m not really sure of what facilities there are locally to help me with my search – so I’m really looking forward to finding all of this out."
Carol Longbone is the council’s local studies librarian at North Lincolnshire Central Library. Here’s her advice on what to do to get started with researching your family tree:
Step one:
The easiest way to start researching your family tree is to interview your family for their stories and to try and make some interesting connections. They can be invaluable in giving you details of ancestors that you might not know of. Try to prepare a preliminary family tree. This should help sort out dates when people were born, married or died.
Step two:
Search for clues. Have you got any family heirlooms? Maybe there’s some old photographs, medals, letters or other documents that might give you some clues. If in doubt, take an item to the North Lincolnshire Museum – staff won’t value any items but they’ll be happy to look at them and try and explain what they are.
Step three:
Visit the library. The central library has loads of brand new books on how to research family trees. It has dedicated staff on hand who will help show you where to get started, what to look out for and also signpost you to other organisations that can help with your particular search.
To find out what Stacey finds out and how her family tree develops go to month two of our family history case study.