Complete Newbie - Only basic info any helpers?

[Janbo25]

I would love to know anything really about my family history although very limited with time and not got much info to start with at all, wondered if the majority of it can be done online or is there anyone on here who would be willing to help for a fee?

there is nothing much online that can help until you get back to the census period - so back to 1901.

Before that you need to work it out - get as much family knowledge as you can - get dates and places as much as you can.

Make sure you have dates of eldest siblings - that gives you an idea of when a preceeding marriage might have been.

Then you need to get the BMD indexes - either in the mail library or via ancestry.co.uk - but you have to subscribe to that - I think you can get to it in most libraries now - so worth doing that first.

Then work through each quarter (Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun etc) for each year until you find the right one in the index - then you have to order them (about £7 each, www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/). Go for marriages because it gives fathers names, and baptisms for maiden names.

I hope you have unusual surnames.

Once you get back to about 1920 freebmd is useful.

Once you get back to 1901 then ancestry is brilliant (you can subscribe free for a 14 day trial, and also for a month I think).

main library not mail library

I used the Genes Reunited website to trace my family back to the 1830s. I don't do it very often just a little every now and again. It has lead me to find a distant relative and we were able to link our family trees.

www.genereunited.co.uk

Good luck.

if anyone is interested in helping I would be willing to pay if reasonable??

I have ancestry membership and would be happy to do some lookups for you, but as others have said this is not much good for more recent family history.

Presumably you know your parents and gps? Would be their parents or gps you could start with.

I think before you think about paying anyone you need to try and get as far back as you can.

Work out dates for grandparents and great grandparents if you can.

Take up catweazle's offer - she can check the BMD indexes for you on ancestry - at least then you can get to the nearest month, and you can order the certificates if you get stuck.

You really can do a lot online yourself now (much more than a few years ago) once you get back to about 1900 - and the fun is finding it yourself.

Also - try subscribing to genesreunited - it is only something like £10 for a year - and you may well find some people who are looking for the same families.

Janbo where are your family from - as far as you know (I mean which county) what imformation do you have to start with?

If you dont want to write on here email me at whitehorses 1970 at yahoo dot co dot uk and I will let you know what I think