FAMILY HISTORY NOTES - Family history is much more than just the production of a family tree. Some information can, of course, be gleaned from that tree, such as birthplaces, marriage places, family sizes, and the repetition of a popular given name, but the people on that tree were all real people who led real lives. For some the only documentation, especially further back in time, might have been their baptism, marriage or burial in a parish register, but occasionally a will, or a military record, or a manor court record, or an overseers' accounts entry, or a petty crime report produces something more illuminating, and a look at a history of where they lived can give an overview of their lives. From about 1841 onwards information gathering becomes a little easier. Firstly compulsory census returns, with the names of all the people in every household, were compiled, and still are every ten years, complete with occupations - something not always known before, and secondly local news events starts to get more of a mention in the increasing number of newspapers, and more working class people gradually begin to be named in them, too.