Family Tree

[MistressMary]

Anyone ever done a spot of Geaneology?
Quite interested in plotting our own family tree for babs in the future?
How do I go about it, any good and is it time consuming? Thanks.

[MissusWoman]

try this site

[MistressMary]

Thanks for the link MissusWoman.

[joanneg]

My FIL has done his family tree and it is great. He used census (which you can find online) and would send off for birth and death certificates to find out details. He said there was easier ways of doing it (I think that if you look at the Mormons website here they help you because they have old records) but he wanted to do all of the research himself. good luck.

[albert]

I managed to find out a huge amount just by asking my granparents (sadly all dead now). Managed to get back to 1830's and found out lots of gossip about the family which I would never have know otherwise.

[Easy]

I started mine when I was housebound last year. There are quite a lot of records on-line (some sites in a minute), but it's most important to ask all your iving relatives about anything they can remember, esp where people lived/died, what occupations they followed etc.

Be prepared to get totally absorbed in it (dh complained that I only ever talked about dead people!), and sometimes frustrated. To be honest I was obsessed for about 3 months, then it waned a bit cos I got stuck, then I found out something else and picked it up again, on and off all year. Last month I was contacted out of the blue by a distant cousin in Canada, who'd seen my tree on Genes Reunited.

try these as well as the ones already mentioned

free BMD index
ancestry website
british origins
1901 Census

Be prepared to spend a bit of money registering with some of the sites, and buying a few birth / marriage certificates.

Cat me if you need any more help, I'm fascinated by it, and would be happy to help if I can.

I'm planning to visit a few local history libraries and places to try to fill in some gaps in the next few months.

[MistressMary]

ooh cheers for all that.
My partners Nan was an Indian and apparently rather well to do before marrying a British sodier and being cut off from her family and wealth.
So we got a good start from his family members.
Also remeber a few years back heard from people in N Zealand and America about possible links there too.
So looks good and interesting stuff to be going on with.
Thanks again amd may CAT you in the future if we struggle. Cheers.

[MistressMary]

Anyone visited the Fanily Records Centre in London?
Is is worth the visit and any tips?

[yoyo]

Brilliant info. Am looking forward to doing this as have just discovered that maternal grandfather was one of nine children and his mother died aged 35 so all the children were taken in by various wealthy folk in the area. Also my paternal grand parents both had 4 siblings so I have loads of work to do.

[Lonelymum]

Yes I have spent many a happy hour in the family records office in London, even when heavily pregnant and in the Births, Marriages and Deaths room there is nowhere to sit and each index weighs a ton. It is indeed very much worth it and if you don't have much to go on, a good place to start.

[Lonelymum]

Any question you have about the FRO that I could answer specifically?

[MistressMary]

Opening times, quieter times?
Cafe? Can you get copies of certificates and how much are they?
Sounds fun!

[Lonelymum]

Don't know about quieter times but obviously not Saturday.

Opening times used to be 9:00 - 5:00 but open until 7 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Saturday open 9:30 until 5:00.

Yes you can get copies of certificates - the whole point of going there IMO although you can also get copies if you go to local record offices too. Certificates used to cost £6.50 each but it is some time since I ordered one.

Yes there is a cafe there but I never used it.

[Lonelymum]

I can't do links but if you go to www.nationalarchives.gov.uk you should be able to find out a lot of details. Hope that helps.

[hunny]

I did this and got thoroughly absorbed. I used the FRC in Islington which was great and the Mormons website. I managed to trace my Dad's side of the family back to around 1800 then got stuck - need to visit a village in Cornwall to get any further. Also found a few family secrets along the way...

Agree that you should interrogate all older members of your family if you can - you'll be amazed at what they tell you - I've just started on my mum! We looked at the Commonwealth War Graves site this weekend and found one of my mum's mum's brothers who died aged 19 in WW1 - doesn't add anything to the family tree but gives a dimension to the story, my mum found it very moving.

[Lonelymum]

hunny, my fmaily on one side are nearlt all Cornish. Dare I ask which village you date back to or would you not like to say?

[hunny]

Also the last time I was at the FRC they had the 1851 cnesus on microfiche - really easy to use and an absolute wealth of info. once you're ready to use it

[Lonelymum]

I also love finding out the little things lke you mentioned about the War Graves. I found an ancestor who had died in WW2 and printed out his memorial from the War Graves Commission website. As you say, it adds nothing to the tree but it is all so fascinating when you know it is your own family.

[hunny]

Yes - Polperro and Talland as far as I can make out. They were all carpenters and then migrated to Plymouth by about 1830 (more work I guess) and some ended up as carpenters on ships (later found in Rochester, Kent).

There are a significant number of people with my surname in Cornwall before 1800 but I cannot just make that connection with any of them - it's so frustrating! If I could make the link I could trace back to the 16th Century.

[hunny]

Our posts keep crossing! Yes, my great grandfather is also listed as war dead even though he didn't die until 1920 - he was an army driver, but don't know what happened to him in the war. I think that is the key to getting hooked - it's really exciting to get a trail back a couple of hundred years, but then you want to fill in the gaps and find out what they were like as people. My GGGGgrandfather's brother rand a pub in Plymouth and gave all his kids really fancy italian names!

[Lonelymum]

My family were from St Breock (near Wadebridge) It is my mother's side of the family so I never had the Cornish surname but my mother did. I was once told, it was such a distinctive surname that anyone with the same name or a variation, must be a relative of some kind. I know what you mean about making the connections though. I can get back to 1800 no trouble but it all goes hazy before that.

Something my research has given me though is a familiarity with Cornish names especially those from the same area as my family. Occasionally I meet people with these surnames and I wonder if their ancestors knew mine.

Sorry, going on a bit here. I just find it so fascinating. Hope you get into it too MM.

[Lonelymum]

Couldn't agree more. I find myself boring people stupid when I get back from the FRC or a local record office with the details I have discovered. Actually, I haven't done any research for a couple of years now and I must get back to it.

[hunny]

I started on my mum's family last weekend - I live in Germany and she was visiting for a few days. Mum was interested until it all started becoming speculative. I think she thought I was completely barmy spending hours on the Mormons website searching every ramification of her grandfather's surname! I managed to get back to about 1850 though, but got stuck again - need a few days in the LRC to satisfy my addiction.

[Lonelymum]

I have kept my research secret from my family. I had a crazy idea that one day I would have all the knowledge about it and would present the family with my findings, but it never seems to work that way.

[MistressMary]

Huge thanks for your help there!

[MistressMary]

Already addicted! Using Genes reunited which is quite a good site to plot your tree and also find other people who share the same person in their tree too.Well maybe, fun finding that bit out.