Not everyone who contacts this study is an experienced genealogist with a family tree already under way. Many people arrive with something much simpler — a fragment, a memory, a question. This page is for them.
What kind of “clue” might you have?
People contact this study with all kinds of starting points. Some are tangible:
- A photograph with a name on the back
- A set of war medals
- A wedding or birth certificate found in a drawer
- A family bible with names and dates written inside
- A military discharge paper or service record
- A postcard or letter
Others are less tangible but equally valid:
- A story told at a family gathering — “Grandma came from Scotland”
- A name found in this study’s database via a Google search
- A vague sense that your family has Gray or Grey connections somewhere
Whatever your starting point — however vague or uncertain — it is worth getting in touch. Even a guess can be a useful starting point, and I would rather have too little information than none at all.
What to tell me
When you get in touch, share everything you know — and if you’re not sure about something, say so. Guesses are welcome as long as they are identified as such. Useful information includes:
- Full names — including maiden names where known
- Approximate dates and places of birth, marriage and death
- Any known locations — towns, counties, countries
- Names of parents, siblings, aunts and uncles — though I understand this may feel intrusive if they are still living
- Anything you know about occupation, religion or military service
- The object or story that sparked your interest — sometimes the detail that seems least important turns out to be the most useful
What I can typically find
Starting from a solid family unit — ideally grandparents, parents and children in the early twentieth century — I can usually research back to the early nineteenth century. Where parish records are unambiguous and available online, it is often possible to go further, sometimes into the eighteenth century. It is rare to get further back than that, though under the best circumstances it is possible — my own Gray line goes back to the late seventeenth century.
Records I draw on include:
- Census records 1841–1911 (England and Wales), plus census records from Australia, Canada, the USA and other countries
- The 1939 Register
- GRO birth, marriage and death indices (FreeBMD)
- Parish records — baptisms, marriages and burials
- Military service records
- Other online sources as relevant
What happens next
I aim to respond to initial enquiries within a week. From there we correspond by email until I have enough information to establish a solid family unit to work from. Research then typically takes a few weeks, after which I send you the results — including a link to the relevant pages in the study’s SecondSite database, where you can browse the individuals and families I have found.
A note on living relatives: In accordance with GDPR legislation, I do not record personal data about anyone who is, or may be, living. This means that if your research connects to living family members, those individuals will not appear in the SecondSite database. I am happy to share what I have found about deceased relatives in full — but information about living people is handled with care and discretion.
Brick walls and limitations
Not every line of research leads to a clear answer. Common obstacles include:
- Adoption — tracing birth parents is rarely possible from genealogical records alone
- Missing marriage records — some couples did not marry, or married abroad, leaving no traceable record
- Divorce records — these are difficult to locate and not always available online
- Common names — a John Gray married to a Mary with a son called Robert is not unusual, and distinguishing between two such families in the same parish can be impossible without additional evidence
- Gaps in online records — not all records have been digitised, and some have been lost entirely
If I hit a brick wall I will tell you honestly — and suggest what further steps might be possible, even if they are beyond what I can do remotely and without cost.
Sensitive discoveries
Occasionally research reveals something unexpected. I handle such findings with care and judgement, always with consideration for living relatives and the potential impact of any disclosure. You can be confident that anything sensitive will be treated with discretion.
Ready to get started?
Get in touch and tell me what you have. There is no obligation and no cost — just share your clue, however small, and I will see what I can find.
Get in touch: Use the contact form to share your Gray or Grey clue — as much or as little as you know — and I will get back to you within a week. Contact me →