Genealogy has become a fascinating, exciting, intriguing and rewarding a hobby over the decades. You, the researcher, become a detective trying to put all the puzzle pieces together to create a picture of your heritage.

To produce some worthwhile results, the family researcher will need to invest time, energy and some money to initially get started. The amount of work and especially the costs can vary for individuals. Yet, spending huge amounts of money does not guarantee a full pedigree lineage dating back a thousand years. There are several great methods of researching without spending a fortune.

The greatest asset is that in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; there is a tradition over hundreds of years of keeping records. Not just the parish and church records, but also on property and Poll Tax Rolls. Lists were kept of occupations and tradesmen in certain regions as well as a general surname registry.

The most famous and one of the earliest records was the Domesday Book of 1086. The two volume books were a listing of all properties, structures and resources; such as pigs, cattle, oxen, etc. to provide information for the generating of taxes. This was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086 with eventually over 13,000 listings by 1087 of settlements, assets and the people across what was England, the lands south of present-day Scotland.

Starting with yourself, then tracking ones’ ancestors back from parents, grandparents and great grandparents to the second great grandparents would place their birth lineage to a time between 1820 and 1840. Taking the lineage back another hundred years from then brings you to the 1730s. This is one’s fifth great grandparents and represents approximately 128 ancestors. With the compilation of records in the U. K. many researchers will be able to document their ancestors that far back.

The most important aptitude any family researcher needs is ‘patience.’ Just locating the correct information on one’s parents and grandparents can be a challenging task.