Friday, October 10, 2008

Beginning to research my family tree

My Dad started the genealogy thing a few years ago and i have always been meaning to join in the effort and try and get going with it. Unfortunately he died before i got the chance, anyway now my current OU course is over (exam result in December) i thought i would finally get started. Luckily my Nan's sister's son-in-law back in the 1970s hired a researcher to look into this already so i got a head start with some old census results and my great-great-great-great-aunt's baptism certificate (actually not 100% sure i put all the greats in there, my papers are at home) which is interesting as she was baptised in Jackatalla in India which nowadays looks like this.

My great-great-great-great grandfather Richard Genner was a private in the 84th Infantry regiment serving in India, i'm assuming this is the 84th Foot (York & Lancaster) Regiment which was in India at the time. A few years later my great-great-great-great grandmother Mary was, according to the 1861 census, living in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire married to a retired sargeant Thomas Butler. I'm assuming Richard died in India (divorce is a possibly but pretty unlikely i would have thought considering the time) and Mary re-married Thomas, perhaps in the same regiment. The regiment fought in the Sepoy rebellion and lost a lot of soldiers.

To go back any further i'll need to try and get Richard and Mary Genner's birth certificates though this could be problematical. Anyway a trip to the archives at the British Library must be planned for next year. Now to explore some other branches of my family tree.

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