I first started my research way back in 1976 when my father died unexpectedly 
and I realised I didn't know much about his family as his parents had died 
years before I was even born.

At this point in time I had just a few things in the back of my mind, stored 
there since childhood.  Firstly there was a "French connection", secondly the 
Roberts line originated from Falmouth in Cornwall and thirdly I had been told of 
the family matriarch, namely Little Mother Tooth.

The French connection wasn't difficult to find, tracing my ancestors back to 
the Huguenots.  Falmouth in Cornwall remained elusive until April 2008 when I 
established that this was thru a female blood line but discovering who Little Mother 
Tooth actually was has been amazing:

Little Mother Tooth was born in Islington, London in 1844 as Mary Ann Staley.  
She married and had three children before her husband died in an accident.  
Subsequently she married Mr Tooth and went on to have some "little teeth".  
Visitors to my tree will find it is over-run with Staley's as they have turned 
out to be one of the largest families in South Derbyshire.

This then led me to trace my mother's ancestors (the Reed's) and my husbands 
too (the Palmer's).

I hope you enjoy browsing my tree and please do contact me if you have any 
comments.


CENSUS:
1841 Sunday 6 June
All ages 15 and above should have been rounded down to the nearest 5 year 
multiple, i.e. ages shown as 15 may be 15-19, ages shown as 20 may be 20-24, 
etc. Another point to remember for ages is that people often said that 
they "were in their 60th year" meaning that they had passed their 59th 
birthday. If a person gave information meaning they were in their 60th year, 
they will be shown as being 60, whereas strictly keeping to the rules, they 
should be recorded as 55.

1851 Sunday 30 March
1861 Sunday 7 April
1871 Sunday 2 April
1881 Sunday 3 April
1891 Sunday 5 April
1901 Sunday 31 March  

It must be remembered that many of our ancestors could neither read nor write. 
The Enumerator left forms with them but when he collected them, often he would 
have to fill them in on their behalf.  The Enumerator then had to transfer all 
this information into Enumerator Books and these are the documents that we are 
able to access thru websites like Ancestry.com   The original forms were 
subsequently destroyed, so there is plenty of room for error.