Family Tree Research

[dippingmytoeinagain]

Hello there
As the nights draw in, I'm thinking of picking up my family tree research, which I've dabbled with in the past but kept putting down as I found I got quickly overwhelmed with deciding who to research and how to record all of the information, which resources to use etc.

Is there anyone on here who does family tree research as a hobby who can offer me a few simple starting points and would be able to share what has worked/not worked for you. Organisation tips and so on.

I don't have a paid memberships yet, but will get one once I'm a bit clearer in my own mind as to where I want to go with this one.

I'm usually quite an organised person but I find that this just makes my head spin.

Thanks so much

Oke doke thank you I had only looked on ancestry and census

Have any of you guys had siblings born 1872 and 1900?

We are trying to work out the connection between me and my cousins, we know we have the right people as the addresses are same and the people are known rather than off records

As the lady who was born in 1872 didn't die until 1962

All the names etc are accurate but the dates might have a year out iyswim

Ah thanks, ivykaty - that explains it.

there's a lot of resources online, too many to list really. One great place that's tried to pull lots together is www.cyndislist.com/uk/ however its been around so long that some of the links don't work & some of the more recent websites may not be listed. It has world wide coverage.

This is a very useful site for general info & to find out what records might be available in any place (UK) www.genuki.org.uk/

You need to join a couple of family tree forums & ask specific questions once you get into your research and you know what areas to concentrate on. Some areas are better covered by free sources than others. I'd recommend www.rootschat.com/ and also www.familytreeforum.com/

There is also a free futurelearn course - one has just finished but I think they will be running it again early next year. Its not for absolute beginners but it should prove very useful, and its full of resources you might not be able to locate elsewhere. www.futurelearn.com/courses/genealogy

I certainly don't have any siblings born before 1900, my parent would have had to be in there 80s

As for people's ages or DOB bring out by a year, it will depend what record you are looking at

The calendar year went from jan- Jan ( opposed to march -april for much earlier records before we changed calendars )

Census was taken in around April -june

So if you were born in February you would be correct for the year, but a birthday in august would put you a year out.

Though people weren't to bothered about their age as it wasn't important like it is now. It wasn't like you could get a pension until 1911

Ivykaty

This is all great stuff, I'm going to copy all of these links so they don't disappear. Is there a family history area on MN? I haven't been able to spot one, but if there is I guess some of you will know!

I've enlisted the help of my mum, who has spoken to a cousin who is now digging out some of the documents that she inherited from her mother which will be useful evidence in documenting birth, death and marriage dates for my great grandparents.

I have census records going back to 1841 for one family member but I need to go over it again as I need to be able to prove it's the right people. There's one bit of information in there that I have my doubts about but whenever I try to fathom it, my brain just freezes and I can't work through in my mind exactly what I am trying to prove/disprove.

It's often worth googling names, dates and possibly place names as this occasionally throws up very interesting results which you can then sometimes go on to research through other means.
For instance I googled one family name with the date of his criminal conviction and the ship he was transported in to Australia and came up with a whole story of his life and death there from an Australian site that recorded the lives and histories of early transported convicts.
Sometimes very dedicated people have whole cemeteries photographed and headstones listed by surname and make the information and a photo available for free. Thank you Norrie!

one problem I had with certain ancestors is that there were several variant spellings of their surnames - and not just on the census forms. You can excuse this when you realise that mostly people used phonetic spellings until the advent of compulsory schooling increased literacy. So keep an open mind if you are looking for a name that can be spelled in different ways.
However I think one particular vicar in Kent must have been very hard of hearing as he consistently makes the same sort of errors - eg recording "t" as a "d" or "k" etc! One baptism recorded as Harlock has been helpfully cross-referenced in the margin to a death listed as Arlett (he's Arlett on the censuses)

Some people were also pretty vague about their birth places too, and this hasn't been helped by the quality of the transcribers who seem to be woefully ignorant about UK geography too. (I'm talking Ancestry or FMP here, not the unpaid volunteers from various FH societies who do a great job)

This thread has inspired me to pick up my family tree again and to go and check on new resources.

I joined ancestry.com for a year many years ago and found it very useful. I haven't renewed my subscription since then but they have offered occasional free months and also you can access and update your trees even without a subscription.

I agree with checking and double checking. Also remember census returns were taken down verbatim and not checked for spellings. E.g. I followed back an ancestor who was on the 1861 census as Shanesey not realising for years that it was actually Shaughnessy and was probably the result of my GG grandma's Irish accent.

OP there is a family history board but it's quiet. Roots Chat is a great forum though, so many helpful people there.

You mention you're starting with a Somerset / Devon based line, a lot of the Somerset parish registers are on Ancestry.

I have an ancestor named variously Caufield, Caulfield, Coffield, Cofield and amazingly I then found them in several Catholic Church baptism records as Coffin.
I love the search and the deep satisfaction when you find that missing part of the puzzle.

I'd say, to add the warnings about using information straight from other trees, beware of users from the USA who often seem madly keen to link ancestors to the USA in any way possible. (Sorry, any rational American family treeers) So if there is a family member who dies in Birmingham UK in 1895 you may possibly get someone claiming they died in Birmingham Alabama in 1906. This may be partly because sites like ancestry will auto fill as you type names and places.

anyone mentioned www.freereg.org.uk/ yet? Quite a lot of Somerset records on there

However I think one particular vicar in Kent must have been very hard of hearing as he consistently makes the same sort of errors - eg recording "t" as a "d" or "k" etc!

'd' for 't' or 'th' was a common pronunciation in parts of Kent. Worth would often be written as Word, for example. I've seen mother written as moder in 16th century records. The vicar was probably just recording what his parishioners actually said, rather than mishearing.

At the other end of the county, I've seen Erith written as Erife; that's how the locals pronounce it.

V & b are misheard in Somerset Devon area due to local accent.

On the whole though even vicars and people who were literate where not obsessed with spelling, spelling is a new fornominum place names. People's names where written down and could be read out loud and understood.

Another website to check is discovery on TNA website, great podcasts on their website to about research

HarrietVane99 are you from Kent? I'm oop norf wer we carnt tork propper.

I've seen a name written as Cuphis (Medway area, 1785) & I'm having a devil of a time trying to work out what other spellings the family might have be recorded under. One I am pretty confident about is Cuppis, but there have to be others; it seems to change with every new vicar.
Copas/Copus? Coves/Couvis/Cuvis?

^been

can't write properly either

It really helps to decide what you want to research - do you just want direct ancestors, their siblings, spouses and children? Because that is a lot. I do direct ancestors siblings and spouses, but not children. Back and forwards.

Work systematically. Get a record of birth, death and marriage for each person. Do a generation of a branch
branch at a time.

Talk to relatives to get as much info ad you can. Names, approx dates, but dont take it as fact.

If you can get back to the 1911 census then it gets easier. Lots of info on that.

If you have londo based family then its quiteeasy as the have lotsof records with lots of detail.

You can sometimes find siblings christening records by searching for just the surname with the parents' names.

I have Family Tree Maker on my PC, and around 12 years ago was actively researching all lines of my family tree.
At the time I was using microfiche and hard copy records, but then subscribed to Ancestry and Find My Past.

Now I can't afford it, but I know my local library has access to the latter.

I made sure I took copies of documents/logged source of information wherever I could. I too have ancestors from a little Somerset village with a suspected connection to Devon which I have yet to prove

It's a fascinating hobby and I'm hoping at some time to pick it up again.

Vixster, will pm you.

I record brothers & sisters, and their spouses, and their new families, for at least 1 generation if I can. Its amazing how often cousins or in-laws meet up elsewhere. (In some circles they intermarry too)

Sometimes it helps when you are trying to sort out different families with the same surname. One chap I was looking for with the surname SMITH went to the USA on the same ship as his brother-in-law (the names were next to each other on the ship's passenger list). I'd not have known it was the right person if I hadn't known his sister's married name.

and some widowed women seem to spend their twilight years moving between the homes of their various married daughters. saves a lot of time if you know where they are to start with.
...especially when you are battling with poor transcriptions or just plain inaccurate information. How else could I ever have hoped to find my gt grandmother who should have been AGNES aged 66, shown as EMMA a boarder aged 49 (she was in the house of her 39 year old daughter!)

Another tip for researching is to remember that people were quite fluid with their names. For example I'd recorded somebody's father as Thomas Smith because that's how it appeared on the marriage certificate. I finally found the father in a census as Tom Smith and finally linked up his birth as Thomas Arthur Smith. Lots of cross referencing with other family members across different records.

Fortunately the surname was less common than Smith! But some people swap between first and middle names, abbreviate them, change the order etc.

OP you could report the thread and ask MNHQ to move it to the Family History section, to stop it going poof.

Long-time MN lurker, first time poster due to subject!

I'm a Family History addict having spent the past 17+years on and off looking into both my own & DH family trees, thankfully when research on one line dries up there is always another one to follow plus I've enjoyed helping lots of friends along the way.
It is a wonderful hobby I would recommend to anyone, easy to pick up & put down when other commitments get in the way although as others have advised I would definitely ensure you contact as many older family members soon rather than later. I have found out information I may never have known this way and obtained copies of family photos that have been passed down other lines to distant cousins (2nd/3rd cousins etc).

Some lines I've been lucky to get back to mid-1700's sadly some lines I'm struggling to move back beyond late 1900's (trust me it does not help when your gt grandparents did not marry!)
Graveyards have been an invaluable source of information, I may never have found out what happened to a distant uncle had it not been mentioned on a family gravestone that he was buried at sea.
I agree with earlier poster that Findmypast is not always the easiest site to use but the online newspapers they hold if you have a more unusual surname have been the source of many a fascinating story and add meat to the bones so to speak.

When funds were tight I would make a list of things I wanted to look up on the paid for sites then pay for one week/month and go without sleep to get my monies worth.

In my area we can access Ancestry & Findmypast for free at our local libraries so maybe worth people checking this if you are on a tight budget.

People don't seem to worry so much about buying birth/death/marriage certificates for research these days but consider ordering ancestors death certificates if funds allow, unexpected causes of death can lead you onto further research.
Sorry I'll shut up now.........

Welcome welcome, Blue.

Time to break out the and I feel - those essential research aids.

Good thinking MrFeynman I will certainly do that once the initial flurry of responses has dried up.

So much useful stuff here, I'm feeling very enthused now and it's great that there's a MN knowledge bank out there in addition to all of the other forums.

The only probem I have with all of this research is that it makes me really miss my grandparents and I also feel really sad for the young lives that were lost during the war years. It makes you realise how fleeting life is and how quickly people are forgotten. I'm getting all morose now and that's even before the wine is open!