How to solve genealogy brickwalls

Everyone finds brickwalls in their family history, if only we could travel back in time and ask our ancestors to untangle the branches of our family tree. But there are many ways we can piece together the puzzle and break through these research roadblocks.

Quick links: 

• Why have you got a brickwall?
• Explore errors & omissions
• Why can't you find someone in the birth, marriage and death indexes?
• Case study: how family historian Peter Day solved his brick wall - after 15 years!
• How to solve a family history puzzle: 7 steps to success
• Keep learning with Family Tree

Why have you got a brickwall?

It might well be that your brick wall issue is a genuine blockage with little hope of bypassing it, the records needed to resolve it may not have survived, for example. 

However, more often than not it might also be the case that the tricky situation causing the obstacle on your tree has nothing to do with the records at all, and absolutely everything to do with you!

Explore errors & omissions

Genealogist and Family Tree regular Chris Paton explains that a different approach to birth, marriage and death records in England and Wales, can help to smash through a brickwall.

The conventional wisdom for researching these tells us that civil registration in the two countries commenced in July 1837, Chris writes, and that from this point it should be possible to locate such events initially from the published General Register Office (GRO) indexes, from which we can then order up certificates.

So, if this is the case, why might it be that an event can suddenly not be found in the indexes?

Why can't you find someone in the birth, marriage and death indexes?

There could well be a few reasons.

Are you aware that the GRO indexes, for example, were actually created as a secondary part of the registration process?

Initially the records were compiled by local registrars across the two countries, and then copies conveyed by superintendent registrars every three months to the centralised GRO. When copies were made, inevitably sometimes errors were introduced, and some items were overlooked.

What's the solution, when you can't find someone in the General Register Office BMD indexes?

To overcome this issue, it is well worth trying to find the same record from the original superintendent registrar's office, rather than the GRO.

A useful starting point is to visit the UKBMD website at www.ukbmd.org.uk/local_bmd, where you can identify if local indexes have been created for a particular area and made available online.

If so, records can then be duly ordered.

Sometimes you will need to try completely different record collections that will provide similar evidence for the details you seek.

While coverage for death registration was almost complete, even from the early days of civil registration - with a death certificate formally required before any burial could take place - it is estimated that about 5% of births may never have been registered prior to 1875.

In such a case, you may need to turn to locally generated records instead. (For instance burials, memorial inscriptions, newspaper notices etc).

Case study: how family historian Peter Day solved his brick wall - after 15 years!

It's always useful to see how fellow family historians solved their brickwalls. Peter Day finally solved a research problem after 15 years of trying! To help you solve your brickwall a little quicker than that, he shares his findings here.

'I built the Russell tree up as far as William 15 years or more ago, and then got stuck,' writes Peter.

'I’d re-visited several times, but with no progress, and no clues. This time I succeeded – by persistence, a new approach and striking lucky.' Peter was hunting for his clay pipe maker ancestor William Russell.

Tip 1: cast a wide net and search the web

Peter writes: ' I started with a general search on the Web. I soon found a useful-looking paper on the topic of clay tobacco pipes from an archaeological perspective. This paper from the mid-1970s focussed on tobacco pipes made in London.'

Simply Googling it can lead you to very specific information. Peter's archaeological leads provided him with information about clay pipe makers, one of whom was his ancestor - and gave his address... Peter: 'I now had a definite link between William Russell and Bristol.'

Tip 2: persistence pays, so keep delving

Some more delving turned up another work ‘Clay Tobacco-pipes, With Particular Reference to the Bristol Industry’. This proved to be a work of 1800+ pages, published by “Parks Canada, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs” (?!). Unsurprisingly, the only copy that I could locate was in Canada, and at £75 GBP + eye-watering postage and packing, I was looking for a more practical means of access.

Public libraries can often source material that us mortals cannot. They are an under-used resource for genealogy. In this case the Hertfordshire Library Service came up with a link to a freely downloadable copy.

Tip 3: timeline the dates

Peter looked carefully at the dates that he can uncovered so far. Peter writes: 'The dates jig-sawed neatly: William’s date of birth, estimated from the age at death in Wapping, was 1743. If we assume that William started his apprenticeship at age 14, as was the norm, then we also arrive at a DoB of 1743. I now knew that William Russell, tobacco-pipe maker of Wapping, was not born there, and that the endless hours that I had spent scouring images of parish registers from Wapping outwards had been wasted.'

Timelining dates helps you spot gaps, inconsistencies and duplicates in your information.

Tip 4: look for less usual names in the family

Peter writes: 'It transpires that William has a bother, Joel, a reasonable assumption to make for the moment. Whereas the name William Russell is as common as muck, and Edward Russell not far behind, Joel Russell is a rare name indeed.

'This helped enormously, because all I had to do was find a family headed by an Edward, with sons William and Joel who have dates of birth close to those suggested by the dates that they took up their apprenticeships. I looked for candidate families by starting the search with Joel Russell.'

Search for family members with less usual names, as they can be easier to identify with confidence.

How to solve a family history puzzle: 7 steps to success

• Brick wall step 1: Get to know your ancestors
• Brick wall step 2: Watch out for variations
• Brick wall step 3: Study a map
• Brick wall step 4: Discover your surname origins
• Brick wall step 5: Grow your tree online
• Brick wall step 6: Broaden your search
• Brick wall step 7: Archives and books

These simple seven steps will help you to break through a family tree brick wall…

Brick wall step 1. Get to know your ancestors

Spend some time looking carefully at the details that you do know, as this can help you spot family matches in unusual locations.

Brick wall step 2. Watch out for variations

Nowadays we are very precise about our personal details (such as the spelling of our names, our birthplace and our birthdays), but our ancestors may have been much more vague. Look out for similar entries, as they could provide leads.

Brick wall step 3. Study a map

Your ancestors may come from an area that you’re not familiar with. By looking at a map you can get to know the names of neighbouring towns and villages – which could be possible places that your ancestors moved to or from.

Brick wall step 4. Discover your surname origins

If the trail goes cold and you’re not sure where to look for your ancestors next, research their surname origins. Many surnames originate from a specific location – and so looking in such an area could increase your chances of finding your ancestors by that name.

Brick wall step 5. Grow your tree online

There are many online tree websites to choose from. The advantages are that many of them offer ‘tree-matching’ tools – which will link you to fellow family historians who may share your ancestors. They may already have solved the brick wall and be willing to help you.

Brick wall step 6. Broaden your search

If you can’t find your ancestors in the parish registers, for instance, perhaps try looking in the Nonconformist registers. Or if they’re not showing up in the census records, perhaps they went overseas so search for them in the passenger lists.

Brick wall step 7. Archives and books

The internet is a treasure-trove of information for family historians, but it doesn’t contain everything. If you can’t find the records you need online, you will need to look elsewhere. Record offices, archives and family history societies could be your next port of call.

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