I went all over peculiar because I Googled a name and Hey Presto...oodles of lovely information about a family I'm researching...
Was coming up against brick walls time and time again and idiotic information...for instance a couple who were six and ten having dozens of babies...it might well have been the 1600's but even allowing for the standards of the times, that seemed to be a highly unlikely tale.
So in sheer desperation, I Googled, and found an old chap back in the 1800's had written out the family history...could have kissed him! But he might be a trifle stinky by now...or just rattling bones.
He's included all the little bits which make a family tree really come alive...one man was killed by the 'Scotch' and had his cattle stolen by them in a cross border raid...another fell from his horse...and one poor family lost four children within a week to Scarlet Fever.
There are details about the lands they owned through inheritance and acquired through marriage...the number of wives and children they had and those who went abroad...mostly to the West Indies it would seem.
The author took his information directly from Parish Registers...he even names the Clergy who had charge of them...other information he gleaned from previous writers of the family history.
I've only skimmed through it for the moment...there is much to read...
It's times like these that researching some-ones family tree is truly worth the time and effort involved.