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Researching your family tree

174 replies

VoluptuaGoodshag · 14/09/2006 13:51

Anyone done this and what juice did you find out? Also, how do you go about finding out the more interesting stuff? I've done quite well at getting names, dates of birth, marriages and deaths but there is nothing to tell you what the person was actually like.

OP posts:
zephyrcat · 14/09/2006 18:04

Hiya - it's quite easy to get started up on genesreunited. It allows you to put in a search for names or to see if anyone else has identical information in their tree to yours - you can then send them a message and they can invite you to view their whole tree and see if anything matches up. That's pretty much all I've done and am getting a few results and leads. Have never gone to study the census or anything though... good luck it's great fun once you get into it!!

southeastastra · 14/09/2006 19:24

i got someone contacting me from the US on genes reunited, trying to contact someone with my nan's name. she sent a childhood photo but my dad didn't think it was her (i don't know how he didn't know!)

petunia · 14/09/2006 20:26

Use GenesReunited but for 2 years had a subscription to an ancestry site (www.ancestry.co.uk) Quite expensive (about £68 for a year) but it has (from memory parts of the) 1841 and 1851 census's, not sure about the 1861, definitely the 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 UK and US census's, and it includes occupations. You can look at the actual census forms that were filled in although some of it's difficult to read. There's also www.familysearch.org which has the 1881 UK census free. Also www.freebmd.rootsweb.com. They've been gradually putting birth, marriages and deaths on line and it's free to look at.
Using all these managed to add lots to my Mum's family tree. Best bit was finding my 2 Aunts 1/2 brother last year. Sadly one of my Aunts who lived in Australia, died in June and they weren't able to meet. But at least they exchanged letters.

mummyhill · 15/09/2006 08:54

I am trying to do ours but have fairly limited information but have definatly been bitten by the bug.

mummyhill · 15/09/2006 08:58

So what areas/surnames are we all researching? Can we try to help each other?

multitasker · 15/09/2006 09:15

For anyone in N Ireland I would suggest the General Regigter Office in Chichestor St in Belfast. You do need to ring and make an appointment to view files, talk to an archivist and use the computers, but it is where you will get the most information under one roof. I was able to view death certificates for my great grandparents and fill in alot of gaps in my tree.
You do need to have buckets of patience and plenty of time when doing a tree - its not going to come together in a few days.

petunia · 15/09/2006 10:12

I'm looking at the surnames Heming and Wakefield from villages near Evesham, Worcestershire. I'm especially trying to find the daughter (think her name's Ruth) of my Mum's uncle. She might be living in the London area.

Tawny75 · 15/09/2006 10:16

I am doing mine at the moment, I have traced my Dads Dad's line back to 1612. We are very boring and have moved 2 miles in 400 years.

On Dad's mum's side it gets difficult because they are Smiths and there are millions of them, have got back to the mid 1800's on that one.

On Mum's side I have only just started so I am only back 3 generations.

I have been using Ancestry.co.uk and The free BMD register also the Familysearch.com by the LDS

I am hoping to get into the local library soon and start on the Parish records and then look at the records held by the church to flesh out a few more details.

Go careful when you start thoug, its addictive/

Mercy · 15/09/2006 13:15

Can also recommend FreeCen, FreeBMD and Genuki.

British Origins is another good one, but you have to pay to access some things. There is also a site called something like History Online, will see if I can find it (not a genealogy site btw).

Janbo, print off a family history sheet, start with your parents and work backwards.

imaginaryfriend · 15/09/2006 13:34

petunia - what was your mum's name? I'm leaping at a chance of a coincidence here but miracles do happen sometimes!

imaginaryfriend · 15/09/2006 13:35

Just in case you think I'm nutty - was there a prominent Margery involved anywhere in your search?

Mercy · 15/09/2006 13:45

Here it British History Online

petunia · 15/09/2006 13:52

My Mum's name is Linda (she's known as Lyn) Heming (Heming being her maiden name). Not sure about a Margery being in the tree. I'll give Mum a ring though!

imaginaryfriend · 15/09/2006 14:20

Ah, that's a shame. For a moment I thought you might belong to a branch of family I'm trying to trace - with the surnames you listed and the London person. But there would be a Margery and I'm guessing the uncle you'd be looking for would be David or John David. It was a bit of a long-shot but somehow doing these family tree searches does make it all seem somehow close to hand!

petunia · 15/09/2006 14:35

I've just checked with Mum and there are no "Margerys" in the tree. All this family tree business, not only addictive but it can get your hopes up sometimes!

imaginaryfriend · 15/09/2006 15:23

I know. I'm sorry about that petunia. I just saw your post and nearly hyperventilated with similarities!

notagrannyyet · 15/09/2006 17:06

I've managed to trace some branches of mine and DH line to the early 1700s.It's very addictive once you get into it.
My family were all poor factory workers or agricultural labourers. Some very large families 6, 7 or 8 children were normal. One poor woman had 20 kids! Sometimes shed a few tears when finding the daeth record enteries for the babies.

DH comes from much more interesting line. One distant uncle transported to Norfolk Island, another was sent to the gallows for murder!

I've not found any famous or royal connection....Have found 3 'shotgun marriages' and several 'base borns' in the local parish records.

petunia · 15/09/2006 17:34

Just had a thought that might help others. Sometimes I've just put the surname and town or village in to Google and often that helps with finding people. E.g with my Mum's family from Worcestershire, I've put in "Heming from North Littleton". It's surprising what comes back because quite often other people have posted on websites that they're looking for people with that surname too.

zephyrcat · 16/09/2006 09:09

Thank you for pointing out the 'scotlandspeople' website to me - Last night I found loads of info where I had previously come to a dead end. It's quite expensive though - had to pay £6 for credits and they didn't last long at all!!!

bubblerock · 16/09/2006 09:23

I have an ancestry subcription (UK/Wales) so if anyone wants anything looked up just email me - [email protected] - I'd be happy to help

zephyrcat · 16/09/2006 09:24

Meant to add, I found the regiter entry for the illigitimate(sp) child from the Laird of Aboyne but some of the writing is really hard to read - so frustrating!!!!!

Does anyone understand the use of Surnames as a middle name? I'm not sure if it's just a Scottish thing. As an example, My Nan's name was Georgina Adams Thain. Thain is her married name, Adams was her Great Grandmother's maiden name which carried through the family.
What's confusing me is that generations of my famiy were firemen. My great great grandfather was high up in the fire brigade and worked alongside Firemaster Inkster - who there is a whole book about on Amazon. My GG Grandfather had a daughter called Jeanie Inkster Booth so I'm wondering if it was a common thing to adopt someone else's surname as a middle name?

Are you as confused as me??!!

mummyhill · 16/09/2006 09:41

Bubblerock -May take you up on that offer once I have finished inputting the stuff I have so far and work out where I need to go next.

bubblerock · 16/09/2006 09:53

No probs - just give me a shout, I've gone as far back as I can with mine and DH's and I love researching stuff so I'd be happy to help anyone.

zephyrcat · 16/09/2006 09:59

Bubblerock do you have access to marriage certificates? Since I have started my tree, dp has found out that his Mum was married before she married his Dad but it's been hushed up and he's desperate to kow more but we don't know how to go about it.....any help would be really great

bubblerock · 16/09/2006 10:02

I can find the info you need to send off for the certificate - £7 online from GRO. It may take a while to find if it's a common name and you're not sure of the year but if you email me what you know I can take a look.