Family tree

Chestnut

The 1921 UK census was taken on 19th June 1921 and will be released on Find My Past in January 2022. The population was less than 40 million and now it's 67 million. The 1931 census was destroyed in a fire in 1942 and there was no 1941 census, so the 1921 is probably the last we'll see in our lifetime.
There is a census this year on 21st March, but I've not heard anything about it yet.

Don't forget the 1939 Register, one of the most useful documents when researching more recent family history.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/1939-register/

Hejira Agreed the 1939 Register can be very helpful if accurate as it has dates of birth. However, I have found a lot of them are completely wrong which has made me lose confidence. It has mostly been in Wales, and for some reason the dates of birth were correct but the year of birth was always one year out. Don't ask me why, it's a total mystery. I found numerous entries like that.

That's strange. The enumerator would surely write down whatever he or she was told (or heard). It wasn't uncommon for people not to know their year of birth or even their true date of birth or what was recorded on their birth certificate (which in itself may not have been true) but a mass of errors sounds very odd indeed.

I have found the 1939 Register very useful for tracing people who cared for early evacuees. I also discovered that my paternal grandmother (who I never knew) had been married four times because each change of name is recorded on the Register.

Family History is so fascinating!

I've discovered a gt-gt-grandfather born in India, who arrived back in England aged 3, following the death of his father in India (Yellow Fever) and the death of his mother (at sea) also from Yellow Fever).

Then I discovered a young woman (gt-gt-aunt) who was imprisoned for theft in 1850, after being 'framed for the theft by her employer/lover' - so lucky not to have been deported!

I've also been able to unravel the story of another gt-gt-aunt - on a different side of the family - who emigrated as a young, single woman (age 19) to the USA. Her family had remained in contact, but she'd never returned and died 10yrs after arriving in the US. My children are now in contact with the next generation - keeping up the family links!

My final 'mystery' involved my dad's 'birth father'. Dad was adopted age 3 after the death of his mother - by his mum's sister and her husband. She had married AFTER giving birth to him, but then died due to pregnancy complications. No record of who his father was, but had a DNA contact from somebody that was completely unknown to me. Talking with this person, the only 'in common' that we have is a surname from the background of my dad's 'Adoptive Father' - a person that there shouldn't be a 'blood connection' with! Looks increasingly as though his mother had an illicit relationship with her brother-in-law prior to giving birth and then married the first convenient man! After her death, her sister adopted my dad while her own husband was serving the the Royal Navy.

I'd never had an interest in Social History until starting all this - but it's the best thing I've ever started doing.

baubles

I waste a lot of hours on various sites without getting very far. My family are Irish and they were poor, there aren’t a lot of records.

We have Irish forebears and a cousin in America tried to do some research. She got only so far but apparently the information on our mutual grandfather was somehow blocked or not available.

I know that the records office in Dublin was destroyed by fire at some point, and wonder if the papers were lost there. The family came from Belfast I think (my father remembered his grandfather had a Belfast accent) but this would be before 1922 before Ireland was divided, so their records may well have been in Dublin.

Only speculation, of course. As I have a cousin each on my mother's side and on my father's side working on it, I won't be starting on this adventure myself.

I do find it fascinating, though.

I agree it is interesting for social history. On my mum’s father’s side, the men were ag labs( agricultural labourers), then helped to build the railways. Others worked down the pits ( coal mines). Girls went into service as maids. In the city, there were framework knitters, then lace makers.