Tracing records in 1700s/early 1800s

[whatsagoodusername]

Is it all parish records, or is there anything else likely to give clues?

I've managed to get back to about 1765 with one branch of my family tree, but get stuck there. So I'm wondering if there's something new I can search. I'd really like to get it back another generation or two because family legend says we are related to another family (owns reasonably prominent business) and I think it would be at that generation, or not at all. I've tried going back from the other family and get stuck at the same point.

I've got an ancestry.co.uk subscription. Thanks if you have any ideas!

wills? I found a will naming a whole family unit that gave me a vital link to a wider family. Have you tried find my past? The search isn't as good as it used to be but they have a different data set to ancestry which may give you some extra information and many libraries let you use it for free.

You could also try some fairly random stuff like searching the national newspaper database (also on fmp or you can buy an independent membership) for family names. People may appear in local stories as well birth, marriage death announcements.

I have also searched the online catalogue for local record offices and very occasionally a name has turned up in a random document (for me it was a deposition in a 17th century court case!)

If you are still looking, try Discovery on the National Archives website. It searches both national and local archives in one go, and you can filter the results quite easily.

Depending on your family habits the Old Bailey records are online