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Family History

Annie Wozencroft's story and related pages
Ancestors of Adrian Middleton (gif).
Ancestors of Adrian Middleton (web pages).
The Briggs Line (gif) **.
The Briggs Line (web pages) **.
Links

Background - It began with Little Orphan Annie!

My initial intention was that this excursion into family history would focus on Annie Wozencroft - my maternal grandmother. She died long before I was born, and what I knew of her was a sketchy outline given to me by my mum, Miriam, and by my Auntie Edith before they died. Add to this a few papers left by my mum and the story began to unfold.

The research started in the 1980s using the Sheffield Local Studies Library, but only scratched the surface. A lot of information is now available through the internet and more census returns have been released. These and other sources form the basis of much of the latest digging and of these notes.

When mum died in 1994 she also left a box of assorted 'junk'. It has taken eleven years to get around to sorting it - only to find that it included some fascinating documents that also add to the story.

Though the central character is Annie, the research has extended is several directions that relate to her background, history and associations; and also into various branches of my ancestry.

Where they are specifically noted, I have tried to show references and sources as { }. Notes in [ ] show where I have added comments or information to original text. Italics mark my notes to myself for further research.

This is (and will probably remain) a work in progress - hence a large number of notes in italics!!

Go to Annie's story and related pages
for information about Annie, various relatives,
other people associated with the story,
and some notes on the places where they lived.

During my digging I have inevitably digressed, and I have not found (or made) time to tailor specific pages to cover the data. Instead I have started gathering the data using free 'PAF' database software available from tne Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). From this database I am starting to produce web pages covering various parts of my family tree. Thes eare listed at the top of this page. Those marked ** are the first showing related families based on earliest known ancestors of mine. Naturally, they only include branches that I had unearthed when I produced the pages. I may well have more data in my files, so if they are relevant please use the email page to contact me.)

And finally (for now), I have included a page where I will accumulate links, addresses, and such, mainly for my own use (but also for anyone who finds them useful).

... and it would not have been possible without ...

Though not individually acknowledged, Civil Registration Index (Birth, Marriage and Death (BMD)) searches are usually through FreeBMD or www.ancestry.co.uk - the latter uses data provided by FreeBMD, but FreeBMD also includes scans of the actual index pages which can be useful where transcription is incomplete. The Ancestry database also lags behind the updates available on FreeBMD. Such data only begins in 1837 when Civil Registration was introduced.

Census searches are occasionally done in a Local Studies Library, but more often using www.ancestry.co.uk. Census data prior to 1861 is not generally available online, but 1851 has recently become available at Ancestry - though I have not used it yet. 1841 data for Sheffield is also becoming available through 'Sheffield Indexers'.

Other data, notably the International Genealogical Index (IGI) is from www.familysearch.org. This includes a miscellany of data including some useful Baptism records. It also includes marriages and other data prior to 1837.