Family History Revisited Part 1 - How it all began

 

I haven't recently thought about my family history until now, when I realised that there were things I had done and not recorded before I started this blog. So, what I want to do now is to summarise the highlights of my searches in chronological order. There will be little about the family members themselves and more about the process of their discovery. 

First Thoughts

First of all, I found it difficult to remember how this all started. What I do know is that I had certain documents about my father's ancestors, so it was this side of the family upon which I first concentrated. I also found this post on my blog dated 2nd February 2007, only eight weeks after my very first post.

Mum and Dad

In April 1999, I was sorting through papers from files left by my stepmother, Margaret. It was then that I started thinking more about Mum and Dad and their life together. How they came from very different backgrounds and became the first generation from both families to move away from Yorkshire. I have already made a few notes from talking to various aunts, but there is a lot stored in the memory banks that I need to set down. I then thought I would like to know more about their ancestors.

Family History

So in the September of 1999, I found an evening class in genealogy. This gave some good advice on tracing family history. I spent the next two years doing all the basic research, meeting relatives etc and I came to the point when it would mean a lot of travel to local archives throughout the country and time on the computer to write up my findings. I decided to put everything on hold until I retired. When my new computer arrives, I want to purchase "Family Historian 3" which seems to be the best bit of software recording details of all my ancestors and creating charts.

Genealogy of the Family of Roberts of Sheffield 1937

I was already in possession of some important documents that set me on my way. The first is the "Genealogy of the Family of Roberts of Sheffield 1937" (see photo at the top), recorded in my post on December 1st 2008: "The 1937 Family Tree". It was one of a few drafted by Charles Augustus Roberts, and this version ended up with my great-grandfather Vincent Littlewood Roberts. This was for him to enter his descendants in the blank spaces under his name. But this never happened.

I believe this document came into the possession of my grandmother and then on to my father. It provided extremely useful information for the start of my searches, although not always completely accurate. 

My Evening Class

Dragging down all my files from the loft (four lever arch files and some loose paperwork) what I didn't expect to find were my notes from that very first meeting of the family history evening class of 23rd September 1999.

If I remember correctly, one of the documents we were given at the first meeting was a birth brief for recording family information. Below is an extract from mine. 

Some Memorials of the Family of Roberts

This book was the third edition of Some Memorials of the family of Roberts and dated 1924. It was "For Family Distribution" and arrived in my possession through my great-grandfather Vincent Littlewood Roberts and then my grandfather and grandmother. The book was prepared and published by Samuel Roberts of Queen's Tower, Sheffield. I met his descendent Sir Samuel Roberts just before Christmas 1999 at the London office of Henry Boot on Conduit Street. He gave me a copy of the latest book published by his father Peter Roberts in August 1971.

Like the earlier edition, the book contains a family tree. It includes one Jacob Roberts (from whom I am descended), the elder brother of Samuel Roberts, who is the ancestor of Sir Samuel Roberts above. 

In the "Introduction Extended", Peter Roberts says, "In 1970 a special study of the area of Holmfirth was carried out." This led to discovering more ancestors, including one Oliver Roberts, born 1496? as the document below. 

The Seventeen Generations of the Roberts Family

I did in fact list all Roberts descendents in my post of 6th March 2023. If we now add my brother Paul's grandson, this makes eighteen. 

Therefore, all the research had been done for everything before our common ancestor Jacob Roberts born 1697. My post of 6th March 2023 details all the male descendents from Jacob Roberts below.

Sheffield Family History Society

I became a member of the Sheffield Family History Society in the spring of 1999. Their journals and publications provided useful information. Their publications included that vital Sheffield Burials Index and the link to the Church of All Saints, Ecclesall, which I visited on 15th June 2009. See post 22nd June 2009.

Visit to Sheffield 29th December 1999

This visit should not be confused with that later visit in 2009, as noted above. My notes from that first visit are as follows: 

Below is the Roberts Memorial in Dore Churchyard. The inscriptions are for David Littlewood Boyd Roberts, an uncle who died in infancy; my grandfather, Stanley Boyd Roberts; and my grandmother, Edith Haywood Roberts. See notes above.

As this takes us to the end of 1999, it feels the right way to end Part 1. I have not yet started my searches for records of my family, but this comes next at the Family Record Centre in Islington.