This page contains background information about genealogy and how the family tree was compiled from historical records.
USE OF REFERENCE INFORMATIONThe family tree was compiled using information that can be traced back to original documents including birth, death and marriage (BDM) certificates and census information. For some people, we have also been able to refer to copies of Wills, photographs and other materials.
Prior to 1837, UK records were almost exclusively made and kept in the individual parish churches. These records were normally copied by hand and sent to the office of the Diocese and these are referred to as "Bishop's Transcripts". Hence there were often two records of pre 1837 BDM information namely the parish record and Bishop's Transcript.
After 1837, civil records were also kept. Hence there were often three records of post 1837 BDM information namely the parish record, Bishop's Transcript and civil record.
The first national census of the UK was taken in 1841 and it has been held every ten years since (1851, 1861, 1871, etc). For privacy reasons, the latest census which has been released to the public is that from 1911. The 1921 census is due to be released in 2022.
The first census in 1841 was quite brief and listed the names of the people in a household, their ages (accurate to one year up to 15 years of age but then rounded to the nearest 5 years) and whether or not they were born in that county. Subsequent census contained more information including relationship to the head of the household, occupation, age in years and village of birth. In any case, the census are very useful for showing family groups at decade intervals.
When researching family groups, there is sometimes confusion because names may be different between records. Some of the common changes are where the spelling of the name has changed (eg. to Toup or Toope) possibly due to illiteracy, or where there has been a transcription error (eg. changed to Loop but reviewing original record shows that it should be Toop) or where a nickname has been used (eg. Betty instead of Elizabeth). Because of this, care must be taken when searching for records on the internet because they may be under a different name.
Wherever possible, we have corroborated various pieces of information to confirm each segment of the family groups. Census information has been used to confirm members of family groups which are then corroborated with BDM information.
As some records have been lost or are not yet available, full corroboration may not have been possible and so there may be some errors in the current family trees. We are therefore open to correction and welcome additional information so please give us your feedback via the "Contact Us" tab.
HISTORY OF RESEARCH FOR THIS WEBSITEThe original research for this website was conducted by Eric O’Neil and his wife Patricia (nee Toop) and they started prior to 2000. They visited the various churches on the border between Dorset and Somerset and copied the records to trace their line back to about 1700. Andrew Toop joined the team in Feb 2010 and since then, the team has compiled the extended family groups.
When the 1911 UK census was released in 2012, the team compiled a list of all of the Toop references and worked through each one to check that it was included in the various family groups. By October 2015 we had accounted for over 95% of the references so that gave us confidence that most of the Toop family segments are included in our tree segments.
The team is indebted to www.OPCDorset.org because a large proportion of the Dorset Toop records were obtained from this website. Since about 2013 www.ancestry.com has become the "go to" place for genealogical records and we have used information from there to fill in gaps. www.familysearch.org and www.rootsweb.com have also been useful for reference material.
Over the years, various people have provided information about their family group and we would like to specifically acknowledge contributions by (alphabetical order) Maureen Berry, Karen Blanchette, Ian Bush, Mary Coles, Jeremy Geoffrey, Lorraine Grover, Olive Horridge, Jo Jesty, Tom Lawrence, Jill Lewis, Barrie Mackay, Christine Mattner, Roy Messenger, Peter Morgan (British Columbia with roots in Devon), Bernard Osment, David Pearce, Clive Roper, Peter Smith, Andy Toop, Bill Toop, Carol Toop, Caroline Toop, Chris Toop, David Toop, Eugene Toope (Ireland’s Eye of Newfoundland), Gloria Toope, Jane Toop, John Toop, Josephine Toop, Lew Toop, Marcus Toop, Mark Toop, Michael Toop, Pauline Toop, Peter Toop, Roger Toop, Sadie Toop, Stephen Toop, Steven Toop & Mike Wright. We would also like to thank many others with whom we have corresponded.
If you are interested in the Toop family and would like to know more, we welcome your correspondence so please contact us via the "Contact Us" tab.