Ventilation is key . Used to be because they were cheap and semidisposable when sweated through but now they cost like $ 30 <| sep |> In the end , if your ancestor was a peasant , there are only slim chances that anything was recorded . The following things might be helpful tax lists usually tithe lists by the Church or war tax lists , e . g . for the war against the Turks recruitment lists citizenship lists people usually had to pay something or contribute weapons in order to be allowed to settle down in a town court records only useful if the ancestor served in a court or was part of a lawsuitMind that these records are often all over the place , depending on who was reigning you need to consider townvillage , state and church archives .