Researching family history is always guided by the requests of the client. No request is too small. It may be the request is just to find that one elusive ancestor, or it may be to follow one family line or, a free reign to discover as much as possible about the extended family lines of an individual. It is initially advised to begin with a two hour search if the client is unsure which family line to follow.
Parish registers began in the mid sixteenth century. Some survivng registers do date back to this time and it is difficult though not impossible to trace an ancestor back to this date: the most common sticking points in time being the mid seventeenth century during the period of the Civil War and the eighteenth century when record keeping by the church was not consistent. However, other documents such a Wills and manorial records, if they have survived, can sometimes fill in these gaps.
The Victorians were more noted for consistently recording individuals on their life’s journey. Standardised parish register forms came in to existence in 1813 and civil registration (birth, marriage and death certification) in 1837, although it was not compulsory by law to register a life event until 1875.
I have World subscriptions to online databases Ancestry and Find My Past therefore all the Victorian census returns for England and Wales, and indexes to other sources, are just a finger tip search away.
The family history search is not just confined to parish registers, census returns, registration certificates and Wills. There are other parish records that can be searched, for example, the parish poor relief records, if they too have survived, that can further illuminate an ancestor’s past.