roylance/aldcroft

[roifromnwales]

I am just starting out in this.
I know my grandmother married a George Roylance who was then Killed in WW1
She was in service at Daresbury Hall and there are Roylances who come from Lower Peover area so it is not too big a jump to think that is where George came from [as george seems to be a common name with them too]
I do not know her maiden name. how do I find it?
I am also looking for connections to Aldcroft as her daughter Edith married a Maurice Aldcroft and they lived in Warrington for many years having a ladies shop in Latchford. Maurice worked for Cook's trave agents.

anybody with ideas on how to proceed from that info?
any help greatly appreciated.

[Wirral]

Hi Roy
Welcome to the forum. :) The first step is to obtain copies of your parents' birth certificates. That will give the first name & maiden name of your grandmothers. Then you apply for the marriage certificate of your grandparents, Which will give the names of the fathers of the bride & groom, so you can then start looking for the previous generation. By then you should be back to the turn of the century so you can begin to use the censuses (taken every 10 years from 1841 - 1901).
For relatives in the 20th century you can use a combination of birth/marriage/death certificates, local trade directories (which list the heads of households as well as tradespeople) & electoral registers & newspapers. It means a bit of hopping backwards & forwards from one source to another, but it is surprising how much you can find out. One drawback is that little of this 20th C info is online. You will need to go to a library or records office that holds the data.