Doncaster Family History Society

Alphabetical Family History

A is for Archives where documents are kept.

B is for Banns after Hardwicke's Marriage Act.

C is for Census it helps us, you see,
to follow your ancestors when making your tree.

D is for death registers, on fiche or in book;
on CD are burials worth taking a look.

E lectoral registers start in 1832,
and if they survived are very useful too.

F for family Bible which your ancestors may have kept,
to record births, baptisms and death.

G is for graveyard, an interesting place,
with ancestor's headstone, a name and a date.

H is for hearth tax which helps you decide
whether ancestors were affluent or maybe otherwise.

I is for illegitimate, look in overseers book,
to see who is paying a mother down on her luck.

J is for Justices, keepers of the peace.

L for local history, put some background to your tree,
were your ancestors poor ag labs, or maybe gentry.

M for Monumental Inscriptions, thanks to transcribers
are there for researchers present and future.

N is for newspapers, a valuable source,
look at them local, or Colindale, London , where you will find lots more.

O Occupations are puzzling 'cos some have ceased to be,
there are various books to help you with these.

P Parish Registers were ordered by Cromwell to make,
with luck you can go back to 1538.

Q Quarter Sessions are something you might want to look at,
theft, assault and riot are some things they dealt with, and quarterly they sat.

R is for recording all the info you get,
record where you found it, and check it's correct.

S is for school records, settlements and such,
strays and shoemakers, you will find useful books.

T is for taxation on all sorts of things,
records of teachers and title deeds, records for travellers, tithes and tontines.

U of course, is for USA where in Salt Lake City are the Latter Day Saints;
also Union Workhouses became law in 1834,
these were also used as hospitals to care for the poor.

V is for Vestry where the parish chest was kept.

W is for Wills which are very informative,
they give you an insight of how your ancestor lived,
they also give names of their family and friends,
and how they are leaving their household to them.

Margaret Wilson