Thinking of starting my family tree any advice welcome

maria09

Hi
Now all the cuffuffle (if I've spelt that right) has settled down
I thought I'd start looking into mŷ family tree on my dads side as a cousin has done my mums side
My dad has started it already but that all stopped when my mum had her stroke and he became a full time carer
I don't want to start spending money on these genealogy site and wondered if its worth getting a genealogist to do or try on my own
Any advice would be most welcome
Maria

Airwave!

I have traced family back 200 years, it takes time and is quite fulfilling. I asked my parents to write everything they remembered about their families, they didn't do it straight away and alas they are unable to do it now, too late. On one side my ancestors were all officers fighting in wars around the world taking their families with them on the other side they were farming folk.

Larger families of times past can mean a lot of time spent on the computer! Make a start, see where it takes you?

stickywicket

My husband started his when one of our sons bought him the 'kit' from the BBC programme. I used it to starr mine but found it too time-consuming.

I don't understand why you are willing to spend money on a genealogist but not on genealogy websites as I'd have thought the former would run out much more expensive.

Do be warned, though, that if you have a fairly common surname, it will be difficult. I had an unusual maoden name and I couldn't believe how many people shared it

maria09

Thanks SW
I don't want to spend money on either but I know the genealogy sites cost so much a month and just wondered in the long run would it be cheaper getting a genealogist to do it
My dad started it when I looked through his notes it seemed to get so confusing one part showed my grandfather had lots of brothers and sisters when another showed he was the only child and lived with his grandmother
So thought I'd spend a lot of time and money sorting it out
I might just get all my dads stuff and sort through it
A cousin from my mums side started hers and did a bit of digging abt his side but hers got confusing too as it stated my grandfathers parents were in America which was not true
You can see why I'm confused already
So thought a genealogist would find the truth quicker
Maria

bubbadog

Hi Maria, my late Dad-in-law did family tree's as a hobby, the one he did on his family was massive it filled a whole wall! He loved doing it and it was very interesting. He was very serious about them and did the neighbours there's as well sadly he passed away before he could finish doing some of the neighbours. We kept the family tree he did on his family he found photo's going back to the early 1900's and had so much information. What I can suggest from what I remember he did is:-

Join up with www.ansestry.co.uk
You can find genealogy details on your computer like birth & death records.
Some larger library's have records you can look through.

Hope this is some help to you, good luck!

Megrose489

I've done mine, Maria. Well, the English side as far back at the 1700s. The Irish side is extremely difficult and it didn't help that my dad never really talked about his family.

Anyway, for ancestors born in England and Wales, I don't think you can beat Ancestry.co.uk. You can pay an annual subscription which gives you access to just about everything you need, birth, marriage and death certificates, as well as census rolls. I think a genealogist would be much more expensive than that. If you've got Scottish ancestry, then the best is Scotland's People. Again, I think you can pay a sub, or just pay for credits as you go along. It's great fun and you can find all sorts of skeletons in family cupboards. :shock: Good luck with it.

Just had a thought. Our local library has free access to all the information on Ancestry, but I don't know if this is nationwide. Might be worth checking out.

daffy2

I would second Megrose in suggesting going to a public library. They will have books on the subject, may run sessions to get you started(my local library did a while back), and should also have info about evening classes and suchlike on the subject.

maria09

Very good advice
Think I will check out my library
Maria

tkachev

I googled my Great grandfathers name and a whole load of info and a photograph came up!



Elizabeth

maria09

Hi
Just Googled my grandfather and got not a lot
Maria

Megrose489

On Ancestry, there are public family trees and sometimes - as in the case of my husband - another branch of the family has already done all the hard work and you'll find loads of information. I hope you'll be as lucky, Maria. I also love collecting birth, marriage and death certificates, which I buy from the General Record Office, and which can give additional information about the family. Be warned - genealogy is rather addictive!

Meg

maria09

Thank you Meg
I will definitely look into that I know my dad had my grandparents death certificates will have to see if he has still got them
We do have an old bible from my grandmothers side and it has all the births marriages and deaths but on my grandfathers there is zilch
Now I've got a bit of time and no more appeal stuff I can take over the dining room table and give it ago
All this encouragement really spurs me on
Maria

barbara12

Hi Maria
I have done one side of the family and gone back to 1780....ancestry ..was brilliant yes you pay for it but it would take 3 times longer without..a free one is the Mormon site...they keep records from the 1600 or earlier..not all complete but you can understand that....just a warning save anything that you think is connected to your family...and get all the info there is off your family.must say its the most enjoyable time I have had since I got my comp in 2000 ...good luck xx
PS I also paid for the births deaths and marriage records in England..even found out my dad had a brother that dies before he was born..

tkachev

maria09 wrote:

Hi
Just Googled my grandfather and got not a lot
Maria

Thats a shame but worth a try. you never know.
we've managed to get back to mid 1700's but a lot was hand-me-down by word of mouth.
In fact my brother is currently in Durham looking for birth, death records.

Elizabeth

tkachev

Just been speaking to my brother who's had a great time searching our family tree in the Durham area. He says ancestry is a good place to start and they have a 14 day free trial. I don't know if you'd have to put your payment details in first and then remember to stop once the 14 days are up though.

There is a rootschat.com but I'm not sure if they are still active as i'm looking through old threads from a few years back.

Elizabeth

pot80

Our daughter traced our tree and its branches using many sources.One branch she got back to 1589. She was surprised to find that the Mormons have a wealth of info. on their site covering all and sundry not just Mormons. Census details also proved useful. Parish records tracing births,deaths and marriages. The further back you go the trickier things become as fathers and sons often had the same christian name and sometimes it was difficult to work out which one had died since many fathers did not live all that long. I spent an interesting day with her going around two graveyards checking information on headstones. Her searches to her to Wales and the Yorkshire Dales.On another occasion she posed a question on the internet asking for details of The Royal Flying Corps. She had a reply from some guy in Australia who gave her details of my uncle's last flight ,his navigator's name,where he took off from,the length of his flight,and the name of the German who shot him down. The info is all out there somewhere but it takes patience to find it.Leave no stone unturned.Best of luck.

[Deleted User]

Do you know how many DIRECT ancestors all of us have accumulated in 30 generations? Beginning with two parents and four grandparents? 30 generations would roughly represent 1000 years. Not very much. Just calculate the number. It's easy! And stunning!

[Deleted User]

Ok. It's more than half a billion!