Comments on: A family tree mystery solved

By: Cathy

Cathy — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:13:51 +0000

Alice Maud West who died in 1953 is my great grandmother. I can confirm that she was never married to Henry Clinch – a fact of which she was apparently bitterly ashamed until the day she died. I believe that most of her children did not know. She told the husband of her youngest daughter (Rosie) I believe in hospital after she broke both hips(?). The story in my family is that she was from good stock and was thrown out when she fell pregnant. I am the granddaughter of one of her daughters Edith (one of the twins – the other was Janet)who married Richard Patten.

I am only just starting to research the Clinchs having been concentrating on my grandfather, Richard Patten, but is great to have found a distant relative! Do you have any photos of the Clinch clan?!

By: Tony C

Tony C — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:07:21 +0000

I’ve joined Ancestry dot come for the 14 day free trial and been having a look throught the census records with some success, at least one branch I’ve tracked back to the mid 1800s. The family info is a bit scant so this might be a bit more of a detective job than I first imagined. Also luckily the surnames have been pretty rare so no Smiths or Joneses.

By: Tony C

Tony C — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:54:34 +0000

Thanks chap. Might take you up on that.

By: Darren

Darren — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:30:27 +0000

Woody, I actually envy you because you may be about to embark upon something very exciting and intriguing… and possibly frustrating, but very rewarding. If I know you as I do, I think you’ll love the mystery and discovery of the process of tracing your roots… and when you place an ancestor in the 1700’s you really feel you’ve achieved something.

The obvious first step is to get as much info as possible from your parents – ideally if they know names of their grandparents and where they lived then they may be traceable in the 1901 census. Dates of birth, marriage and death all help. If your parents, aunts or uncles have any birth, marriage and death certificates passed down they will reveal a lot of info. Hopefully you’ll turn up some unusual surnames, if you’re unlucky you’ll have to pick your way through Smiths and Joneses.

The 1901 census is the latest available, the 1911 census won’t be available until 2012 cos of some daft law. So if you can place ancestors in 1901 it’s usually fruitful going back to 1891, 1881, and so on.

I have a subscription to an Ancestry site so I can search and view census documents – let me know if I can help.

By: Tony C

Tony C — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:57:14 +0000

Chap…where do you start with all this family detective work? My father has been going on about this kind of thing for ages but so far done nowt.