A FORMER teacher and local historian has designed a series of classes, which start this month, to help Teesdale residents find out more about their family trees and the heritage of their homes.
Catherine Ryan, from Boldron, will be helping uncover the secrets of the past in a series of five classes designed to lift the lid on local social history and where to look for information.
The course, which will be held at Boldron Village Hall, on Saturday afternoons between 2pm and 3.30pm, from February 29, will provide handy tips on where the best historical documents are to be found.
Mrs Ryan, who was a primary school teacher for a number of years, said she will be exploring civil registration, census and electoral records, parish registers and other church records as well as outlining what records are stored at the various county record offices.
She said: “I’ve always been interested in local social history and have completed a number of projects researching a variety of different Teesdale families.
“Over the years I have built up a good knowledge of archives, books and online resources which is freely available if you know where to look.”
Mrs Ryan, who is also treasurer of Boldron History Group, said when people first think about researching their family tree or even the history of the house they live in, lots turn to the well-known online companies.
However, she adds knowing where to look can save money with a lot of information freely available from other sources.
She added: “Sometimes you find really handy hints for your family tree with these online companies but you have to be careful as many times there will be errors in existing trees online due to the number of people with the same name.
“Wills are always great for verifying certain bits of information and helping fill in blanks for children.
“Deeds to property are also really helpful as well, as they can build up a picture of who the person was as they generally specify employment.”
Mrs Ryan added newspaper archives are also a real bonus as are court records. The final class she will be leading will shed a little more light on the latest social history trend for DNA sampling.
“DNA is going to be a much bigger thing in family history in the future,” she added.
“It will especially be useful for some families in Teesdale that have the same names through generations but are not related and this will be the only way to find out.”
Anyone interested in signing up to the classes should contact Mrs Ryan on catherine@dales-ancestors.co.uk or call 01833 631463.
