FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The questions and answers on this page are mainly made up from typical questions I have received over the last two or three years. I am not trying to put people off writing to me, I enjoy receiving mail. At the same time, please remember, I can't do your research for you.
I will add to this page as time and demand permits.

REPLY: Not unless the name you are researching corresponds to my own research and family tree and the exchange of information is reciprocal.

Believe it or not, I am now getting up to five of these requests a day. Although I have recently returned to England, the process of re-organizing my life means that I do not have the time for any research for other people at present. With operating this site, trying to make a living and other commitments, I already have my hands full.
As a consequence of my return to England earlier this year (1998), I may consider starting to work part-time as a professional researcher. If this happens I will set up a separate section so there is no confusion with the rest of the site.
Try leaving brief details in "The Message Section" where you might be lucky and make contact with other researchers. I see all these messages which are copied to me and I will contact you if I know something that might be of assistance. I should add that I am always interested in hearing from anyone who can add useful information about names that do appear in the various pages on this site, especially in the smuggling section. I am also looking for additions for "The Family Names" section of the site.

REPLY: It depends whether you want to do the research yourself, or not.
If you want to start your own research, the first thing to do is to speak to and obtain information from all living, elderly relatives. If you research has just started and you cannot trace the family back too far, try and obtain copies of birth, marriage and death certificates. An excellent resource I always recommend is your nearest Mormon library, they have some great facilities and helpful volunteer staff. The only difficulty you might encounter at these libraries is that they don't always have copies of the most recent records for many parishes. Some records are available with no charge but some films which have to be sent from Salt Lake City cost a small amount to cover the shipping to your local centre.
Another excellent source of material is the Kent Family History Society which is detailed on my "Books and Sources" page. They have a regular quarterly journal and also have a large number of microfiche of parish records that can be purchased for a reasonable amount. The research interests of all new members are published in their journal.
If you don't want to do your own research then it might be worth contacting one of the local archives who might be able to help you. I used to know some researchers myself but have lost contact with some of them and don't like to make recommendations I can't be sure of. The cost of hiring someone who has direct access to the local archives could save months or years of work and let you move ahead with the rest of your own research.

3. I can't find my family name on your site but I know they came from Kent. Why is this?

REPLY: I have included some sections which might help with research, such as the Ted Wildey Marriage Witness Index and "The Meeting Place" (The Ted Wildey Index was an excellent sources at one time but I am not sure of the relevance of it now so I will no longer list it on these pages. The Meeting Place will be re-established when I have the time). However, the main point of this site is to help people, and particularly genealogists, learn something about Kent and where their ancestors may have come from, especially if they don't have the chance to visit. Family names are included in some sections where it is appropriate or might be of interest to include them. However, the chance of finding your particular family name on this site is probably fairly limited. A recent census of Kent gives the current population as just over 1.4 million and just because of it's location, must have had one of the most transient populations of any English County over the years. The number of visitors to this site from all over the World attests to this fact.

REPLY: If the information is not already available on this site then I certainly don't mind receiving questions. I do not have too much information about the larger towns in Kent which I hope to rectify eventually. Although I know many of these towns, their history can be extensive and obviously in most cases, covers many hundreds of years. I do need more reference material myself and expect to obtain more information now that I am back in England.

REPLY: When this site was established there were not many records on the Internet. in fact, when this site was started there was only one other Kent site on the Internet!! There have been dramatic changes since I started this site and I can't list all of those sources here.

6. Looking through records of one of my ancestors, he gives two different places of birth. Why is this and what might be correct?>

REPLY: I don't know what records you are looking at but this use to happen regularly in England soon after census returns started. I have a Great Great Grandfather that gave a different place of birth on every return up until his death. In one case it was the place where he was born but in two others it was the name of the place where his Father and family happened to be living at the time. The reason for this was that the people did not trust the Government or the new census and therefore, if they had moved around and were not living in a place which was totally familiar to them, they gave the name of an alternate location where they knew that they would feel at home. In other words, whether the place shown is actually their place of birth or not, it was very likely a place with which they did have a close association and will probably be worth investigating. They were afraid that the census would be used as a means to remove them back to their original parish of settlement. [See also Removal Orders]