I can't find the information I want

Everyone, even professsional genealogists get stuck in tracing family history so don't worry if it happens to you.

Tracing family history still finds lots of gaps in records which can cause problems.

If you check the Census and BMD records but can't find you ancestor then consider some of the below possibilities.

The Priest/Minister forgot to make an entry in the Parish Records for the event.

Your ancestor belonged to a non conformist religious group

Your ancestor either evaded, missed, lied to or misled the Census official

As spelling standards were generally poor there was a miss spelling of your ancestors name in the records

As numeracy was even lower than literacy a mistake was make in the date of birth.

Your ancestor forgot where or when they were born.

Your ancestor married bigamously or had an illegitimate child.

Your ancestor may have died.

Your ancestors may have given two children born closely together the same name.

Your ancestor may have been in the armed services, a merchant seaman, working in the empire or colonies, in prison, In a mental institution or in a workhouse.

The list could go on much further as there are many reasons why your ancestor may not appear.

There are three options

1. Look at census material for the years before and after
2. Look at BMD information for other events in their lives
3. Look at sideways information after an educated guess ie workhouse or army records.

If you don't succeed leave it for a while and come back to it.

Be prepared to think laterally and make educated guesses where to look next.

Hunches are unscientific but they often unlock the doors.

The last advice is don't be too proud to admit that you need help and visit a suitable mailing list or message board like rootsweb to post a request for help or contact your local  Family History Society and ask them for advice.