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I am looking at a tree from a distant cousin of mine. The lineages go right back to royalty, so far, I have discovered it goes back to 300s AD. I ALWAYS like to clarify who I add to my tree so how do I do that with the lack of records in those times (ranging 300s-1400s?

I think your cousin is indulging in flights of fancy

I would just love to get back to the 1700s with some certainty! I can get approximate birth years for the ones that appear on the 1841 census and a few of those I can take a little further back but nothing much prior to the mid 1700s. I would love to know how to get further back with sufficient "proof" to add more to my tree. Then again, I only put people on my tree that I can provide sources for the information.. I'd rather have a wee accurate tree than a list of unverified possible ancestors.

Daniel, Don't dismiss the idea entirely just yet. It's far more common that you might think to be descended from a member of royalty.

The royal families were well documented, going back well over a thousand years. So once you've connected a clarified member of the family to the royal line, the rest is easy. It's the bit inbetween that's difficult.

Church records were kept for wealthy families of the parish, long before they were kept for everyone else. And a lot of local archive centres still have these.

Also, the wealthy often left Wills. You may be lucky enough to be able to find one that leaves money to someone in your clarified family.

Have you asked your distant cousin how they connected the families?

Well, there is one thing that makes me more certain is that my cousin is Belgium. He seems to provide accurate dates and some text describing the source of information. Lineages go way way way back to royalty of Saxony, Frankish and et cetera, predominantly Dutch. So this is why I think that he is not making stuff up, as what idiot would anyway. But I want to use his as a guide and that is why I am asking for types of sources I can have alongside. The royalty lineages are also online (wikipedia etc).

Ask your cousin to provide details of his/her 'sources'...........then check them yourself.

How much of the info came from 'wiki'?

It doesnt matter how big your tree is or how far back it goes,

You and anyone else only has to include one single individuel to that tree based on a single assumption and that link will make the rest of the tree a fantasy

Roy

I have emailed him twice and have not got a response. This is part of the problem.
A lot of the information way back about the Kings are displayed on Wiki but I understand that there can be a lot or more sources for that. Is for the recent ancestors, it goes way back to these kings as if everything is without an error. :-D

I would err on the side of caution if I were you Daniel.

Parish records only begin around the 1538 mark and many are very difficult to read because of the format (or lack of!).

Many of us have seen cases of people who claim to be related to royalty of many nations - going back to the year dot. There are some who claim to be related to Adam and to Father Christmas too. Just look at some of the trees on this site and you will see what I mean.

I was once contacted by someone who claimed we were related and that we had royalty etc in the family.....what a load of old codswallop that turned out to be!

Just go steady with your research and see how far back you can manage. There isn't a prize for having notability/notoriety/or massive numbers in your tree. Enjoy!

Thanks Cynthia. I think the information is quite good. I will just have to look at the sources provided. And, it is impossible for any individual to be going as far back as Adam as that individual does not exist. I have too, seen trees going back to "God Almighty", it would be great if he existed also. But it is different with the tree I am looking at, it seems to match up since my ancestors came from a very popular and well known Belgium country "Antwerp".

Why has Reggies post been reported? Looked ok to me

I have gone back to approx. 1600 on one line with an unusual name....but to be honest I do not know if it correct or not. There are several trees on ancestry which I have referred to but not copied, mainly because they hav'nt checked their findings, as they have one married couple who were born approx. 1669 when I searched for the marriage, it took place in 1652. So probably one person posted it and the others all copied without checking

we have a tree given to us by a cousin of my OH's

he would only give it to me once I had proved to him that I was a serious researcher!


He has taken this tree back to Welsh royalty in the 13th century

I thought "wonderful"!

Then I started checking details as I checked my version of the tree against his.


Problem!


BIG problem!


Mistakes in years and dates of birth in his maternal cousins, and his mother's siblings and cousins.

I went back 3 generations ............... all of which I had documented as best as I could in my version .................. and we differed on at least 30% in each generation.


This guy is a respected researcher in his real life field ........... which is documenting the history of certain buildings in northern France and and Brittany.


I have to give him the fact that he did the family research about 20 years ago, before there was much online.


BUT .....................


how can I trust the 14th century connections if I've found mistakes in the 19th and 20th century ones???

i concur with the above. I shared my tree with a "tree grower" and when I checked her tree Ifound she had copied infomation on my mother and grand mother wrongly.Anybody useing the information would then be barking up the wrong tree. BEWARE.

Yes that is true people but this is why I am asking the main question. I am using this persons tree as A GUIDE! I am wondering, how can I clarify the research before 1400s??? So far I am just getting lectures which is cool but I take dead-ends and mistakes into consideration already so there is no need to keep popping that up.

Why don't you ask the person who's tree it is to tell you where they got the info from?

I personally have not gone back that far, nor do I intend to

Whereabouts are the 1400s families living? Are they in Holland and Belgium, or are you still looking to research in the UK?

The lineage stars from my Great-Great Grandfather who came from Belgium. Hence why it is a good chance for them to be correct but that is why I am asking if there are sources to look at.

And, yes, I have contacted the owner about 6 times and have not got a response. That is why I am here.

That sounds as if the ancient records, ie, those before your gt gt grandfather, are in Europe.


I have no idea how good, or how easy, it is to trace records in Belgium, France, etc.

I would assume that it is much the same as in the UK ..................... nobility quite well recorded through manorial records, wills etc.

Peasants hardly recorded, except occasionally on manorial records.

Catholic church records re baptisms, marriages might be a possibility ................ IF you can find out where they are kept.


I fear it means that you might have to go personally to the relevant countries, discover where the records are held .................... which could well be in towns or villages, or churches and not in any easily accessed central place.

Then you're going to have search the records yourself.


In actual fact ....................... it could well be that all you really know is that your gt gt grandfather came from Belgium in the 19th century (is that correct?), and tracing back to his father or grandfather could be very difficult unless he has an unusual name.

I have managed to get a good amount of information and I have now contacted the Belgium Archives. But, yes, I will definitely need to consider checking out the records via visiting the country itself but that may be a long time from now.

I have no experience with records in Belgium, but I am currently searching French records and can assure you that they contain much more information than those found in the UK. It may be the same for Belgian records.

Many French parish registers are available to view on line, I have been able to trace my French branches back many more generations than the English, Scottish or Irish lines. Not back to 1400s, but certainly 1700s or 1600s - and my lot were mostly laboureurs, not nobility!

So you may be able to verify references via on-line records. Good luck.