To ask if you’ve researched your family tree...

[ethelfleda]

Did you find it relatively easy or not?

I appear to have reached a stumbling block... my maiden name isnt that common and managed to go back to the 1700s
My parental grandmother is German and I have no idea how to trace that branch
My maternal grandmother was welsh and surname was Jones... my maternal grandfather (also welsh) was an Evans!

Just interested to see how well others have done and did you uncover any interesting stories or anecdotes from your research?

Another Rheinlander here! I found the Landesarchiv in Brühl helpful and was very lucky when a friend posted on a forum for me and a 3rd cousin turned up and we could link trees together so am back to 1734 over there, linen weavers and farmers.

On British side am back quite a way and link up with some people who I think ended up in Salem and were involved with the witch trials. Also found my GGGG Grandmother on census as a guest at her nephew’s farm. Looked up where the farm was and found it was across the road from where I grew up and the dairy I remember there had the family surname about 20 years before we moved there. Our house was built on fields they sold off, had no idea at the time so I was literally walking in her footsteps.

Mine was MUCH more interesting than I thought. Discovered that a branch I assumed was French because of their name was actually Jewish and had emigrated here to Australia from Jamaica. They had lived for many, many generations in Jamaica but prior to that had escaped the Spanish Inquisition (had lived only one generation in Spain, but had originally been minor nobility in Portugal. They kept fabulous records and go back to the mid 1500's.). The first generation in Jamaica was officially listed as a "Merchant" who made his fortune selling silks, spices, weapons and gold, etc to the Dutch East India Company. Coincidentally, there are records of a Jewish Pirate with the same name who only took aim at Spanish ships. (Might have something to do with his mother being burnt at the stake for heresy and his father being tortured before escaping to Jamaica.... He may have had a bit of a vendetta!!!) So much cooler than the dour, Presbytarian arm of the family that they produced!!! Meanwhile, it explains the extreme variety of colouring in my family!!! My brother has the black hair and eyes, and deep, olive skin, while I am blonde and blue eyed, with scandivian-style skin that tans easily. (Although - like most Aussies, I'm photophobic!!!) Many mysteries on my mother's side as well. I'm still digging!!!

Yes, back to Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, call me lady...OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES

Quizshowaddict

That’s fascinating to read, I’m inspired. Have always wanted a sense of place, some regional identity- or I don’t know if I’ve wanted it but I’ve felt the absence of it. The only areas I’ve ever strongly experienced that unexpected sense of connection, and please excuse the metaphysical woo stuff, have been a couple of parts of Sicily and the Sonora desert. But they’re just intensely beautiful. It was wonderful to combine the dna results with the paper trail back to those very towns in Sicily.

I'd love to do one myself but my cousin traced our family back to the Domesday book. I think he used general sites like Ancestory etc..and paid for them (which is why I haven't researched). He also has a history degree which helps.

Part of our family come from a line of aristocratic Huguenots, but we're mostly Scottish highland farmers so records are sparse. We know what clans we're from as with tradition many of our middle names are our family names.

@WhyDidIEatThat

I moved to England as a child, but visit Scotland frequently. I know where my father's family farm was but haven't been since we moved south. My one granny's family are from Dunoon and we supposedly had family involved in the massacre. Dunoon is stunning, we love it so much myself and DH intend to move closer once DC are grown. I can't quite describe the attachment I have to the area, it immediately feels like home, we have no where of specific significance to visit though aside from a few clan castles/graveyards. DH's family are from Kilkenny and he goes to SI occasionally, loves it and feels a connection but doesn't know anything about his ancestry past 2 generations.

I’m so excited to plan my trip to Scotland, I’ve been to the west coast before and loved it (how could anyone not). I was telling people for ages I was Scottish before the dna results were in and not only are my paternal ancestors early settlers from Scotland but my maternal grandma, who I always thought was English (English accent) had Scottish parents. She lied so much about who she was and where she was from I feel disrespectful digging into her line, we all have our secrets?

OP have you tried the Anglo-German Family History Society?

Your ancestor's German surname doesn't begin with L does it? If it does, please let me know, it might be the same as the one I'm researching

I started on mine a couple of years ago. I can do my mum's side but i have no idea where to start with my dad's Asian side and he is not in a position to help.

What i found out...
Several short pregnancies & unmarried mothers
My maternal great grandfather died 18 months before his last child was born!
There was a child given up for adoption who her half siblings knew nothing about. Possibly still alive?
That it's impossible to find a birth/death certificate for a stillborn baby born in the 70s

I also have a big gap (20+ years) for my own grandfather and am resigned to waiting until the 1921 census is published to see where he was living.

Checking in to read through later.

I have but find it time consuming and expensive.
I have one rare surname I am stuck with in particular in the 1700s.

My problem being it is a rare spelling that the family (so far) always spell it a certain way - not so much by the clergy/record keepers!
meaning the net must be widened considerably and that is expensive when visiting primary sources.

Lots of family scandal though!

I'd also like to do DNA to find out more about my female line - but not sure how useful it would be?
They are Scottish - so again travel costs put an end to my curiosity for now.

Yes done a lot in the last year.

My main advice is

Use both ancestry and find my past as both websites have different resources.

Don't accept other people's trees as fact, lots of people on ancestry guess at stuff and it's easy to think they have it right and make the same mistakes.

Everytjme I sit down I choose one thing to look into for example maybe where a certain relative is buried.

Ask any relation you know for photos and questions about family stories, they fill in more gaps than you think.

Marriage certificates are great as have maiden name on which helps lots in researching female lines.

Marriage certificates have former names for females and if she has been married and widowed then it might not be her maiden name - some vicars/registering official will put all but not always - never assume 😃

I haven't done it personally, but my mum had to investigate due a very complex land issue so we've found out a few new things, including the fact my gran hid one marriage!

Unrelated, but our ancestors on mum's side are some of the founding fathers of a region/ country and we've got some of the papers proving this.

I have uncles I've never met on my mum's side and I know someone on dad's side was forcefully deported to Russia for some reason, but haven't found anything more.

Really interesting thread. Bought DH and DB an Ancestry DNA kit for Christmas (!!!), so will be interested to see the results.

One of the things I plan to do when I cut down on work - any pointers for a novice? Is it literally a case of paying subscriptions to a couple of sites - and then digging?

I like the real research, graveyards, record offices for original records. Ancestry and the like have there place and are great tools

yamadori no - it begins with a K

How do people find these fascinating stories?? All I’ve found are names and dates really. And one ggg aunt who died of alcohol poisoning

I’ve just ordered the ancestry DNA kit. I’m beyond excited!

I have done a little work, mainly cleaning up work done by a cousin of mine, so I guess you could call it a collaboration of sorts.

I have ancestors (or their siblings)on my paternal grandmother's side who owned plantations in Jamaica and Bermuda and made a fortune when slave owners were compensated upon abolition. I have a lot of questions for them. I do judge them by today's standards because obviously there were people campaigning for abolition while they carried on with the evil.

These ancestors were English and I have traced records to Lincolnshire and Bath. There is another strand on my grandmother's side from Norfolk, near Scunthorpe. Not sure how much affinity I might feel for Scunthorpe, but maybe one day I will go and see if the hair on the back of my neck stands up.

On the Irish side of my grandmother's family were Normans, the barons of two south eastern Ireland baronies. The history of this side in Ireland is known from about 1100. I have seen the ruins of one castle they owned and another was owned by a singer back in the 80s and still lived in.

Granny was herself born in South America and I have seen census records of her family. Funny to see people I knew of as 'Joseph' or 'Mary' recorded as Jose or Maria. Granny and two sisters were sent to Ireland at a young age after their oldest sister eloped with someone unsuitable. The wife of either a brother or an uncle of Granny's wrote a book about her life that is part fiction, part autobiography. She comes across as unhinged and completely lacking in insight into her emotions and motivations but it's an interesting read with details of estancia life at the end of the 19th century thrown in (it's out of print but available from the Library of Congress). I have tracked (stalked?) many descendants of Granny's brothers all over South and Central America via Facebook friend lists but have not made contact. Their surname is not Spanish, obv, and is unusual in England too.

I have a third cousin who has devoted a few decades to all the strands of this family's history but he is very weird about sharing it.

I am going to do a DNA test because on my mum's side there are many relatives with very south east Asian features.

Op, aside from the illegitimacy most the scandalous info I have found has been in newspapers (searchable online now thankfully)

It really helps flesh things out, neighbourly disputes, run ins with the law, testimonies in court cases, adverts searching for out of contact relatives.

It is surprising how far news was reported, little snippets add up :)

Twisted did you search using local newspaper websites? And did you just search the surname or whatever? Do you have to pay for that?

I used our local archives a few times but none of my family are from the same town I’m from!

No,
The British newspaper archive, Ancestry and the Old Bailey website mainly.
Local papers are there (mostly) or its microfiche in the library.

Your local library (as well as your local family history centre) is probably paid up with Ancestry - so do your searches there.

Family history centres are wonderful and have a lot of searchable resources!

I've just looked in the newspaper archive, searched my Dad's name and home town, and an article came up about my grandfather (same name) diving in to a canal to try and find a child who had fallen in. He had walked by a few minutes earlier, and told a group of children - including this girl - to be careful. Unfortunately she fell in, and despite him organising a 'human chain' to try and find her (I suppose the canals were filthy), she sadly died.

I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time in that newspaper archive! Thanks OP for starting this thread, and for the tips from other posters.