An Introduction to Family History Research

The history of the CRAMP family began with a whim on the part of the writer to find a convict ancestor.  Unfortunately, this was not to be.

In January, 1986 Janice Crowd (nee CRAMP) decided to trace the family history.  It began with me writing to every CRAMP registered in telephone directories throughout Australia.  Access to Family History Societies and researchers throughout the world was at this point unknown to me.  The Internet was also at that time unknown.

After many false leads I eventually hit the jackpot with a response from a lady in Broken Hill NSW.    She had been corresponding with a researcher who had forwarded copies of birth lists for a line of CRAMPs back to 1725.  This lady generously forwarded these lists to me as they were not of her line and this made my search all that much easier.  My grateful appreciation goes to her.

Turns out there was a family bible that was handed down through the generations from the eldest son and listed every family member from 1725.  Sadly the bible had gone with its owner to New Zealand and I had missed seeing it by as they say "That much" but I did manage to get photocopies of the pages so I could finish my search.  

After this everything seemed to just fall into place.

In 1987 I decided to change my name from CROWD (my former married name), to find a new direction in life.  I thought of reverting to my maiden name of CRAMP but felt that I needed an independence that could not be provided by the name CRAMP.

I noticed that my father and other relatives had a Christian name of STAFFORD somewhere in their name.  It was thought that the name had been derived from where some of my ancestors had come from (Staffordshire or the County of Stafford in England) and so I decided on the surname STAFFORD.

Whilst researching this history I found that the name STAFFORD as a Christian name was actually from my WATKINS line.  This line was my paternal Great Grandmother’s line and in 1834 when Abigail STAFFORD married into this line, she began a trend which has continued up until this generation (where it ceased), that of giving children a Christian name of STAFFORD.

In 1987 I joined the Nepean Family History Society at Penrith NSW to search for further information.  I also began listing my information in the International Genealogy Index (I.G.I.) and began corresponding with many people from all over the world - all with the one aim - to search for the truth about their family.

The paperwork throughout this research phase was overwhelming and I felt like I was drowning in it trying to sort through it all.  It was also very costly especially obtaining birth, death or marriage certificates from overseas but ultimately it was all worthwhile.

I hope that what I present in this blog will be helpful to others.