Essex is one of the historic counties of England and in fact has a claim to being the oldest, as its borders are close to those of the ancient Kingdom of Essex which dates from Saxon times before England was unified.

It also lays claim to the oldest recorded town in the country: Colchester, which pre-dates Roman times and even once had its own mint.

Family historians may need to know of a few boundary changes, though: from the county reforms of 1889 and subsequently, small areas have been transformed to Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. Various parts of the county also became part of Greater London in 1965, in the present boroughs of Barking, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest.

Traditionally the county has been dominated by agriculture, both arable and sheep farming, with the wool trade, making the area between Braintree and Colchester particularly prosperous –many of painter John Constable’s most famous scenes come from this area.

Analysis from the team at data website TheGenealogist reveals that in the 1841 census 14% of people in the county were agricultural labourers. Traditional rural trades such as farmer, blacksmith and miller were also common – as were bricklayers, reflecting the importance of the brickmaking industry in the area.

The coast was important, too: Tilbury was a major port for London, Barking once had the world’s largest fishing fleet, and of course places such as Southend, Frinton and Clacton became popular resorts. The 1841 census lists more than 1000 mariners in the county.

TheGenealogist has also analysed the1841 census to list the 20 most common surnames in the county: Smith, Clark, Brown, Wright, Turner, Green, King, Taylor, Cook, Wood, Carter, White, Barker, Baker, Perry, Johnson, Chapman, Harvey, Webb and Newman.

For researching your ancestors in the region, Essex Record Office is in Chelmsford and has an online catalogue – see our feature starting on page 5); Essex Society for Family History has branches in five towns; and esfh.org.uk offers a wide variety of historical information about Essex.

For a list of the county’s many museums, see here .