Does anyone know where to get genealogy from England?

Question

I am looking for genealogy for the surname SERVEY, and I have been to the mormon genealogy site and have traced the name to England and France. The furthest it went back was 1520 I believe. Is there anyway to get infor futher back than that? Thank you.

Answer 1

Two things...
Historical information that far back is VERY UNRELIABLE. The persons who had records of their lineage in those times were mainly royalty, and even then the records are questionable.
Tracing a surname is also unreliable. Genealogy / family history is YOU, and the connections that you have positively verified. Unless you are certain of your own gr gr grandfather for example, you cannot even be sure if any of those records apply to YOU.
Everyone wants to do it quickly. instead of accurate. As an example, many people jump to the ancient records and try to fit themself in. But if they had worked from themself back, one step at a time, they may not know that there could be something like an adoption or illigitimacy in the 1800's, that everyone kept hidden or knew nothing about.
Forgive me if I am assuming that you haven't done the basic research. If you have not, you are making the one biggest and most common mistake of beginning research.

Answer 2

Hey Dragon Chaser,

Ah, good job. You can get fairly good records from the UK. There are a variety of places to look also. One great place is the GENFORUM for a specific surname, but SERVEY is does not have a forum. So, here are some sites for the UK and what I have for France.

There are old maps, origins, BMD, and GENUKI. There are similar sites for Scottland, and Ireland. If you Go to Cyndislist, and search for the Country, you will find tons of sites for a country. Check out the Cyndis list for France search below.