Can anyone advise (or help?) me do a basic family tree please?

[pinkingshears]

I know the name of my Father, Grandmother & Great Grandmother. I'd like to find out more details (I'm wary of using Ancestry etc as I was illegitimate & I don't want any difficulties via unexpected connections)

You can set your Ancestry tree to private so other people can't view it. You don't have to do the DNA test part of it.

@MissScarletInTheBallroom I didn't know that so thank you for info.
I think I'd still rather do it a more old fashioned way? I don't suppose there are any free resources though so I may have to go with Ancestry after all.

I don't want a lot of info, I have the names of my Father and Grandmother and GreatGrandmother but I'd like to find out where she was born and who parents were and that is, probably, in Malta so not sure how to do that?

I use findmypast alot of these sites have free trials before buying subscription x

It’s fairly easy to do it without Ancestry etc in the UK, it just takes much longer and you might have to travel to local record offices. I don’t know about Malta though. I would have a google and see if there is Maltese family history society. I imagine you will either have to instruct someone to search on your behalf or go there.

But as Scarlett says, you can just use the online sites to search, you don’t have to link your tree publicly or test DNA.

I find that Ancestry is the best one. You can do the free trial and get as far as you can before the trial runs out. After that your tree is preserved and you can continue to look at it, you just can't view the sources without an active subscription. There's nothing to stop you from making copies of the sources during your free trial.

FamilySearch is free but it's all public. The concept is that you don't create your own family tree but that you are adding to one big family tree. So I wouldn't use that one if you are concerned about linking yourself to people you would rather didn't know about you.

You could use FamilySearch to look for free sources and use the information you find to complete your private tree on Ancestry without having an active Ancestry subscription.

I would use Ancestry and look for your grandmother and great grandmother on census returns as that might give you clues about their places of birth.

If you have your father’s birth certificate (or request it), you’ll get your grandmother’s maiden name. Then if she was born in the U.K., you can get her birth certificate and her parents’ names (including mother’s maiden name).

If there is a line through the box for father’s name on either birth certificate, it means the child was illegitimate and the father didn’t attend with the mother to register the birth. Not unusual at all, I have quite a few of these in my family tree!

@MissScarletInTheBallroom
@ThisCatCanHop

OK Have signed up for free 14 days on Ancestry.
I've found Father. Grandmother.
But can't find Great Grandmother (despite 1st & two of surnames)
what am I doing wrong please?

Do you know when your great grandmother came to the UK, if she was born in Malta as you think? Try to find her in the census if she was here in 1939 (one off census) or 1921 (latest routine one available).

What dates are we talking?

@harriettenightingale - oh thank you - can I just Google the Census for free or is it lurking in Ancestry please? I don't think I'm very good at this - I am searching for my Grandmother's marriage details - her first names are very distinct (Maria-Concetta Josephine Patricia) and I have maiden and married names and I'm getting 60,000 results to search? I am clearly not doing this right!

Do you know where she married?

It’s in Ancestry.

@harriettenightingale just found it (sorry!)

Dates: between WW1 & WW2 I think? My Grandmother was born in 1943.
I have Great Grandmother's maiden name, 1st and 2nd married names.

This website is good for basic searches but it’s England and Wales only. https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

For Malta, try this one https://certifikati.identita.gov.mt/

Ah!!! I think I've found GreatGrandmother and Father living in London on 1930 electorol roll. This is very exciting (I am 58 and have been 'excluded' all my life)

@paranoiaofpufflings - THANK you x

I sometimes do this for people and I find that if you know both names you can google XYZ married ABC and quite a lot will come up which might take you back or forward a generation and maybe sideways - then you can add those to the tree and see if they have any further leads.

@Londonmummy66 would you mind if I sent you a pm please?

bumping for any more hints or tips? I have 10 days left on my free trial and am not finding it the easiest site to use (possibly just dopey but also Ds unwell)

I'm back to a 1930's London address for the Great-Grandparents I am interested in but can't seem to find any birth/marriage certs so far. I'm especially interested whether GreatGrandmother was born UK or Malta and if her parents ditto.

Yes that's fine

I know this is tangential to your question but I was struck by your use of the term illegitimate about yourself and subsequently you said you had been excluded for your whole life.

I just wanted to respond to that to say I would really recommend some therapy around all of this because you’re clearly at a stage of life where you’re considering your family and your place in the family and so on, so you may find this triggers old pain. The word illegitimate is an out dated term now, with all kinds of negative connotations. So the fact you’re still using this to refer to yourself is hurtful in itself.

I know this isn’t the reason you posted, so forgive me mentioning it, but as soon as you used the word, you spoke to me.

If you find your great-grandparents on the 1939 register it will list their places of birth.

If you want any help feel free to PM me

@MagicalMystical Thank you. To me it is simply a factual word. My Mother left her husband - & toddler - to 'run off' with my Father - also married - & I was the result. After my natural Father died in an accident she returned to her husband (her parents wouldn't have much to do with her & refuge was 'not an option', late 1960's) in a 'Coronation St' type area. She was gossiped about all my childhood & I was referred to, in community, as 'her bastard'. Sins of the Fathers and all.

So, doing this tree is an odd thing really, but you only have to watch TV programmes like 'Long Lost Family' to see how it can be a lifelong pain.
I spoke to an old gent in a charity shop last week. He was proudly telling me he is about to have his 8oth Birthday party. He was an orphan & 3 years ago he found a brother & 2 sisters. They are travelling 250m to help him celebrate. He said 'you can't imagine'. I may have had something in my eye.

I did have some counselling 30 years ago (re CSA I experienced) It helped.
Thank you for your kind thoughts x