Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Who has got back the furthest in their family tree

my cousin has got back to 1575 with our family tree, so gobsmacked to think it was nt far off henry the eighth time wish there was photo s from that day.

My family tree goes back to 1630. But I do have quite an uncommon surname and I was fortunate enough to find someone who had researched its origin and meaning. He was able to trace things back to the very first recorded history of it in 1285. He found records of the first family to use it and how it originated. Fascinating stuff.

Working online from Canada, I have only been able to get back 5 generations. My Elmslie branch goes back to Alexander Elmsley and Margaret Grey in Rothbury, Northumberland. I suspect they originated over the border in Scotland. Another brick wall in that branch is Isaac Stirling who came to Birkenhead from Londonderry, Ireland. I am also stumped by Thomas Broster b. c 1833 in Dunham on Hill. There are about 3 different Thomas' about that age so I can't pin him down from here. He married Ann Woodward of Eastham whose parents were Peter Woodward (stonemason) and Mary Mort (m 14mar 1833, St. Peter's, Liverpool). I have a public tree on Ancestry - Elmslie Broster Frankton Millns , but my membership has lapsed so I can't communicate through there.

There are so many pitfalls in doing this - but it is a really absorbing way of studying your family's history . I've managed to get back to 1808 on my father's side - apparently my roots are in Scotland . But with my name being Wilson , a common name up there , I've hit a brick wall - reseaching Scottish records is just as confusing.
My maternal great grandfather filled in his 1911 Census form giving his name as A.A.Lewis and he was from Barrow in Lancashire-is that the same as Barrow in Furness ?(I don't think it is}.
Another relative appears on his daughter's wedding certificate under the name Beny Green-is it Benjamin or a misread Henry ?
All this is confusing-especially with the tendency for some people to be a little 'creative' with the truth when filling in official forms-it went on even then apparently !
For all that , I'll keep plugging away and continue to test the patience of those fine people at the Archive centre !

Maybe Barrow near Clitheroe.

Thanks , Geekus - I'll chase that one up . Geography was never my strong point !

I think it's only a small place.

Family church (for Christenings, etc) may have been somewhere like Clitheroe, or Whalley depending on how long his family lived there.