I don't know where to start!

[plotch]

Hi,

I've recently become more interested in tracing my family tree. I have some basic info about parents and grandparents, but not much. My dad's side are all dead, and when I suggested tracing the family tree, my mum suggested I shouldn't do it, which got me a little intrigued.

I'm interested in the DNA tests that give you your origins, but not too fussed about being in touch with random strangers I might be related to. It's more the actual tree I want to do.

Happy to pay for subscriptions to things if it's worth it. Any recommendations of where to start?

Ancestry is very good to start out. They used to do a fortnights trial. Best if you know who was alive in census years so 1939 register before the war. Then that gives you potentially their parents etc. 1911, 1901 are the census years the back every 10 years til 1841.
1921 is out but that is on findmypast only. That's another option for a good site to start with.

Don't blindly follow other peoples trees though as they are often wrong. Always check, sense check and double check.

Freebmd is a good place to get basics of births, deaths, marriages. Births after 1910 show mothers maiden name. Census on fmp are up to 1921.

You start with writing down what you know. Names of grandparents, any siblings they had, places they lived, what they did for a job. Then you can look for your grandparents' marriage certificate, or their birth certificates, which will give the names of their parents. Then you work back from there.

I've used Ancestry for a number of years. Be aware that census enumeraters (!) may not always get names down correctly especially if names are unusual. Constructing a family tree is fascinating and will consume many hours but it is so rewarding. Strictly speaking you are only meant to do it through 1 male line, but you can miss so much that way (especially if you are looking at it through 'social history' eyes. I couldn't totally discard anything I found (no discipline) so in the end I had to use rolls of lining paper (for walls) . Also, links to other peoples' trees can be useful as long as facts can be authenticated. One researcher linked us to a tree going back to 927!!

I've just started to look at this too and wondering how you piece it together? I've sat with my Mum and written out what we know on numerous pieces of paper but is there a system / programme / website that is easier to fill in and follow?

It's easier to keep track using a software package or website which lets you click to add parents, siblings etc.

Ancestry gives you access to this sort of site when you take out a subscription or you can use software packages like Roots Magic (the free version is fine) or Family Tree Maker.

You're always advised to have a "research question" for focus to stop you getting distracted and going off on tangents. That might be something like - who were my maternal grandmother's parents? Or - what did Uncle Dave do in the War? Or - where were my grandfather's siblings on the 1921 census?

@KnittingNeedles thank you

Legacy is a good piece of software - it has an unlimited free trial, if you like it I think the deluxe version is £30 which unlocks some features. I was perfectly happy with the free version but ended up buying it because I used it daily for years and felt like I should pay!

I love Ancestry - you can build your tree on line and it gives "hints" that do have to be checked of course. Free BMD is useful for finding more recent information - e.g. you need to check your grandmothers maiden name etc.

I started with not much more info OP and now have a family tree with 20k plus people. Lucky with uncommon names and local genealogy sites though.

I’d start by ordering your grandparents marriage certificates (you can view these for free either at the church or archive if you know which church they married, but not register office marriages)

marriage certificates will give you a variety of information that can confirm households in the census if grandparents were born prior to 1921. 1939 register has various people refracted, so sometimes can be frustrating if you can’t find people

once though you have ordered a marriage certificate, you can use the fathers name and occupation to search again on the 1921, 1911 census and so on backwards each ten years

to find marriage certificates you can search the GRO indexes, which have been transcribed by volunteers and are on free bmd - the indexes don’t give all the information though, so sometimes it’s best to order the certificates

most libraries have a subscription for find my past or ancestry so it’s free to use

@plotch Hi OP, I think the best advice I could give would be to work backwards from the known to the unknown, and check and double-check everything against official records rather than trees uploaded by other researchers. A genuine mistake made by someone else can be perpetuated time after time that way.

Ordering marriage certificates is one of the best ways to find out a lot of information at once. The certificate will have their full names, ages, occupations, their address, where they married, whether they have been married before, their fathers' names and occupations, and there will also be the names of witnesses who are often family members as well. All of that will be useful in finding them on censuses, their birth certificates, their parents' marriage, and so on.

A word of caution though - there may be reasons why some family members don't want you to delve into the family tree.

and check and double-check everything against official records rather than trees uploaded by other researchers

This is absolutely KEY. There are so many Ancestry trees which are complete mince. Total nonsense. Barbara, born in Birmingham Alabama in 1856, married in Australia in 1860, having children in 1861 and 1930 in Birmingham, England. People just accept every "hint" Ancestry gives them and don't stop to think whether it is actually correct. Or copy other people's errors.

Ancestry trees which have tagged documents/records are sometimes worth looking at but ones which have added people with no census or BMD to back them up - just no.

There is also a whole industry of professional genealogy, most will charge between £20 and £50 an hour for their time, or you might find a student who wants to take on a project for free. It can be worth paying for a couple of hours to get you going - any pro genealogist will be happy to teach you the basics.

You could start by joining your local library, which should be free. Most of them have Ancestry or Find My Past now.

Free BMD, the GRO indexes and Find a Will are free to use online.

Get a hard back note book. This is important. It stops you writing things on odd pieces of paper and losing them!

Write down in your new notebook what you already know so you can see were the gaps are. Start with your 4 grandparents and then your 8 great grandparents. That'll keep you busy for a while.

Just be aware that this hobby can take over your life!

Thanks for all your replies, just going through them now. I'm going to start by writing down what I know for definite - names, dates, etc, and go from there.

Actually, I now know where to start. Looks like my local library has access to Ancestry and Find My Past. Off to investigate on my next day off.

Larger libraries will often have a member of staff who is fairly knowledgeable about family tree research, so ask for help if you need it.

Another website to try is familysearch.org which is run by the Mormons.

If you need to buy any certificates you can find the GRO (General Register Office) reference for it on FreeBMD and make sure to use the official GRO website when ordering.

Just to add ancestry have an offer at the moment of 4 months for £20.