Early foreign trade brought the need for increased passenger travel and gradually ships were built to meet the demand of accommodating their precious ‘human cargo’ on crossings to all four corners of the globe. Conditions varied depending upon the historical period in which the journey was undertaken and the social status of the passenger; the traveller’s personal circumstances and reason for the voyage could greatly affect their experiences onboard.

Throughout the centuries, the seas around Britain have become a bustling highway and a means of entering, or escaping, our island nation. It is these migrational patterns that have had a huge impact on our genealogical roots. Perhaps you’ve been research ing your family history only to discover that individuals, or even whole family groups, have disappeared from certain decades of the census? Maybe you’ve found anomalies in surname spellings, or that stated birthplaces are far beyond British shores? Is there talk of a budding explorer within the branches of your tree, of a great aunt with exotic features, or of a criminal cousin who fled his homeland to escape punishment?

As family historians, migration from one’s country of origin is likely to have affected the majority of us in one form or another. Just like today, money was at the forefront of everyone’s minds when planning any trip, move or venture, but prior to World War One there were far fewer legal restrictions upon our ancestors’ move ments. No thought had to be given to getting a photo ID prepared, visas did not have to be requested, and passports were not compulsory.

Some left permanently to set up home in another country, while others travelled to distant lands temporarily in search of work, fame, fortune, or simply for the good of their health. The hand of fate was not always kind, with some never really recovering from the enforced trauma and upheaval. Others, especially the younger generations, made a success of the opportunities – however small – that came their way, and the branches of our trees took a new direction as they flourished overseas. By comparison, those of foreign origin may have arrived from far-flung destinations to start a new life in Britain.

There are myriad reasons that may have prompted individuals to seek a life beyond their place of birth. Questions may have arisen which have prompted you to want to investigate further. Starting points to consider include:

• Did your forebear commit a crime and were they transported for their pun ishment?
• Did they return home once they had served their sentence?
• Did they take advantage of one of the many government incentive schemes?
• Maybe they were given free passage to an expanding British colony and the opportunity to acquire cheap land once they arrived?
• What level of society did they originate from? Did they come from an already wealthy family and were taking up a business opportunity abroad? Were they plan tation owners with interests in the West Indies? Or perhaps they were merchants seeking out products to transport to the British Isles?
• You may come from a military background.Was your forebear stationed at some far-flung outpost, or did he join a colonial unit? Perhaps he fought for a cause and enlisted as a soldier in a foreign campaign?
• Or was your ancestor simply an avid traveller, eager to see the world either under his own steam or by working his passage to pay for his fare?

All journeys before the invention of air travel would have been made by sea and then over land. By discovering more about why and how our ancestors travelled we can begin to dig deeper. There are many websites, libraries and societies that can point you to the records most likely to reveal more about your forebears’ activities. In order to expand upon what you can learn about their lives from ‘official resources’, some of the collectables and memo rabilia you may have been lucky enough to inherit, or can acquire, can also help to illustrate your family story.

Understandably, for the majority affected by forced migration – prompted by war, conflict, religious persecution, poverty and famine – items later handed down as evi dence of their previous lives and experiences are going to be scarce.Any possessions that may have survived are likely to be small – something that could have been car - ried upon their person or taken within their belongings at a moment’s notice. It is also worth considering that anything of value may have been sold to enable them to pay for their passage. But not everyone travelled or emigrated under such dire circumstances and any memorabilia that you discover relating to past adventures will be priceless to you and future generations.Whatever the circumstances, it is essential to think ‘outside of the box’ if you wish visually to portray your family tale. There is a whole array of paper-based ephemera that can really add interest – and new informa tion – to your research.

Many of you will discover intriguing items that are unique and personal to your own ancestry, so simply use these ideas as a starting point to track down and expand upon the physical objects within your genealogical archive.

With a little thought and creativity you can preserve and chronicle your forebear’s lives in a very appealing way. For example, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that once you have one newspaper report of an event that you shouldn’t try to seek out another. Each will vary, perhaps written from a different perspective, and may include con trasting versions of facts and information. One may focus on an eyewitness account, whereas another could be written from a political point of view.

Postcards may show scenes from different angles or include a variety of shots of a similar landscape, giving you greater detail of an area where an ancestor lived, trav elled to, or settled in.

Prints, engravings, journals, personal letters and diaries can all provide new clues to follow, raising questions you had, perhaps, previously not thought of. Published books written about specific events in history, in which your ancestor may have been involved, are fantastic for enabling us to understand the bigger picture, but primary sources often shed new light on how individuals were affected.

Ticket stubs and printed passenger lists give us an exact date of travel; advertise ments tell us the route along which a voyage was taken, while logbooks describe the weather conditions faced on the journey.

From my own experiences I have found that handwritten notes can show us what was important to, or what fascinated our forebears. A letter to relatives back home in Britain from a family member who had settled in the United States during the early 1900s describes how there are oranges and lemons growing on the trees – sights they had never seen before. Another note mentions a train journey across America, the distance covered, and how long the trip would take during that era, while a selection of postcards – again sent to loved ones back home – provides views of the nearest US city to where the family made their new life, each one with a simple message on the back describing the shops and department stores they now frequented. It is often the minutiae that add ‘flesh to the bones’ of a good story and these morsels of information – experienced by the ‘ordinary man or woman’ – can easily be related to your own ancestor’s encounters in similar situations.

By combining these details with what we know was actually happening in the world at a particular time, we can begin to understand the decisions our ancestors made and why they chose to uproot.This then becomes a captivating journey – not only experienced by your forebears – but also by you as a family historian as you piece together the important incidents and adventures in their lives.

Research tip: international records including trade directories from Australia and New Zealand and early passenger lists to America can be found online at www.TheGenealogist.co.uk