Microsoft Excel was chosen to collect data for the documentary part of the study.
The following worksheets were set up and data collected for bearers of both the Brimer and Brymer surnames:
· Births England and Wales 1837-2013
· Births Scotland 1855-2015
· Marriages England and Wales 1837-2013
· Marriages Scotland 1855-2015
· Deaths England and Wales 1837-2013
· Deaths Scotland 1855-2015
· Individual Censuses 1841-1911
· 1939 Register
· Wills
Data was collected using Ancestry(subscription), FindMyPast(subscription), FreeBMD(free), FamilySearch(free) and ScotlandsPeople(pay per view). It was found to be more economical to visit a ScotlandsPeople Centre in Scotland than to use the website, although it was then not possible to review the record again later.
Corrections for wrongly transcribed records were sent to the relevant websites after investigation had identified who the individuals concerned really were. Some surnames had obviously been transcribed wrongly. Others only became obvious when looking for families in subsequent censuses. Over 200 record corrections have been submitted.
Record Linkage was then inferred from the data extracted and recorded using Family Tree Maker. This was fairly straight forward for the Scottish records as they are so detailed, birth certificates giving both parents names and date and placed of marriage and death certificates giving spouse and parents details. Unlike Scotland, indexes were used for England and Wales births, marriages and deaths. This meant that linkages were inferred from first names, dates and places. This was possible in most cases due to the relatively small size of the family and unique names. Cross referencing with census records and wills confirmed the linkage process was correct. If there was still uncertainty, certificates were ordered and other data sources consulted such as army or navy records, newspapers, school records, 1939 Register.
Once all of the spreadsheet entries had been entered onto Family Tree Maker it was apparent that some individuals had data missing. This was then searched for to see if it was mistranscribed, missing or involved a change of name or country and entries made accordingly.
At this stage of the documentary research it was possible to identify the number of branches of the families back to the early 1800s and their heads of line. It was also possible to determine if there were other avenues to follow in the DNA study as a result of late name changes and emigration. The development of each branch was evaluated with regards to its reproductive success and number of living male descendants.
Brimer-Brymer database last updated at 2016-07-02 00:29:43 with 4028 census records and 2856 individuals