Before doing so, however, our pedigree-hunter should carefully consider the _surname_ of the individual in question. If he boasts of an uncommon one, as say, for instance, _Vandeleur_, the chances are that all the Vandeleurs mentioned in the same parish books will belong to his family. If, however, he is a _Smith_--well, the Smiths are not a very small tribe, and several of the name unrelated to each other might appear in the same parish. To obviate the difficulties which this would entail, our pedigree-hunter should be clear as to the district in the parish or name of the house in which his ancestor lived. But, if he does not know this, how is he to ascertain it? Well, he probably _will_ know it in the case of the latest of his ancestors, say, his father or grandfather, and let him work from that point. Failing this, a study of the family names in each district should reveal the secret. The _surname_ itself, especially if the searcher has been able to trace the ancestry some way back, should be carefully noted with regard to the different forms in which it may appear, for in early days there was a quite delightful variation in the spelling of names; so a somewhat similar sounding name, if spelt differently, should not be ruled out of court as having necessarily nothing to do with the matter, the _odds_ being generally on the other side. Even if parochial registers supply no additional details to those which friends have been able to give, their testimony may be of great importance, for the recollections of old friends are more or less traditional, and the golden rule to be most carefully observed by genealogists, is _Verify your Information._ An honest searcher would never appreciate a “faked” pedigree; but it is fatally easy to assume a certain point, and, working from that assumption, to have all future details more or less incorrect. No time should be considered wasted which is spent on verifying information. The searchers should not even take it for granted that all Peerages or similar works are always correct; as a matter of fact, this is far from being the case. Even in the mystic circle of the Baronetage it is said that some sixty claimants have appeared, whose titles, though received for long unchallenged, cannot be fully verified. Our late king recently ordered an _official_ roll of the Baronetage to be registered and kept. This does not preclude, however, the pedigree-hunter from consulting Peerages and works of Family History at libraries; indeed, this might well be the next stage in his search. Let him look through his Library Index, under the heading “Genealogy,” and consult works in it which he thinks might bear on the matter in hand.