Is anyone on Ancestry I need some help

Devorgilla, there's a site ...Emerald ancestors, I found a couple of my ancestors on it....depending on which part of Ireland your family are from,mine are from County Down and Antrim there,s a website called Belfast forum, if you add the name of your ancestor, someone gets back to you with information,,,if any...I found out about my Irish grandfather, there was an article in a newspaper from 1907,

Grammaretto

It's an excellent way of researching your own family history. Devorgilla
As long as you don't copy other people's trees without checking them first.

Not all Irish records were destroyed in the Four Courts Fire. Plenty of parish records are available. It was mainly census records which went up in smoke.

You need to work at it and not expect it all to be easy!

I have found cousins online and also through having tested my DNA.

I had never heard of the Four Courts Fire, Grammatetto.

I am now wondering if it might explain why I can find hardly any records for my Irish relatives in the first part of the 20th century - no official records at all of when they might have died.

Allira

Also - wills are online. They can prove to be extremely interesting!

Indeed ... and sometimes they give quite a few details about family members, which can confirm information from parish records.

Also - wills are online. They can prove to be extremely interesting!

www.family-tree.co.uk/how-to-guides/could-you-find-your-shopkeeper-ancestor-in-newspaper-records/

Some of DH's paternal side were shopkeepers, listed in trade pages.

I have found an article and a photograph in a newspaper of others on that side of the family when they emigrated.

I can happily trawl old newspapers growstuff, surprising what/who you can come across.
I once found an old inquest report where my nan had been a witness, a chap she had been seeing drowned.

Thank you for your helpful comments. I will try both Ancestry and the freebie weekends on Findmypast. I used to get to PRONI and Dublin quite ofter when my mother was alive so I can go back at least to my great grandparents, with ideas before that. I think I must be using parish items incorrectly as I never seem to call up anything useful. Good ideas from you all to kickstart me again. Thank you.

jusnoneed

If any of you would like to try Find my Past they are having free weekends for the next 4. Access to different records.

18-21 October: First World War records, the 1911 census, and birth, marriage and death records.
25-28 October: Findmypast's newspaper archives.
1-4 November: The 1939 Register.
8-11 November: ALL Findmypast records, including the 1921 census.

You may have to make an account if you don't have one.

Thanks for that. I'm interested in the newspaper archives and the 1921 census, so I'll make a note of the dates.

If any of you would like to try Find my Past they are having free weekends for the next 4. Access to different records.

18-21 October: First World War records, the 1911 census, and birth, marriage and death records.
25-28 October: Findmypast's newspaper archives.
1-4 November: The 1939 Register.
8-11 November: ALL Findmypast records, including the 1921 census.

You may have to make an account if you don't have one.

Yes I have. They update it regularly as more and more people join.

My great grandfather was Jonathan Smith and I found him on a huge Smith tree (over 16k entries) which had his death as 1930 which meant he died before I was born. He actually died in 1960 and I remember him well. I even have a photograph of myself with him. I contacted the owner of the tree and pointed out the error and gave him the correct information. He did reply and eventually accepted that he was wrong but he hasn't bothered to correct it.

Is this site any good for Irish family history?

www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/

Allira

Devorgilla

I was thinking of getting my kids to buy me membership of world wide Ancestry for Christmas for a year. Having read the comments here I wonder if it is worth it. How accurate is it? I need a site that does Irish ancestry which isn't easy as the records were blown up. Anyone else Irish/Northern Irish/Ulster Scots out there who can advise? I tried Roots Ireland for a year and learned absolutely nothing new.

Do your own research and use other, free, sources too.
Don't believe what is in someone else's tree, always re-check their sources.

There is some information which just isn't available for free, especially if one can't travel thousands of miles to the relevant records office.

As others have said, ignore other people's family trees (or, at least, use them for ideas but check everything carefully) and stick to the actual records, such as censuses, parish records, directories, wills, etc.

Ps I can't advise on Irish ancestry. Is FindmyPast better?

Devorgilla

I was thinking of getting my kids to buy me membership of world wide Ancestry for Christmas for a year. Having read the comments here I wonder if it is worth it. How accurate is it? I need a site that does Irish ancestry which isn't easy as the records were blown up. Anyone else Irish/Northern Irish/Ulster Scots out there who can advise? I tried Roots Ireland for a year and learned absolutely nothing new.

Do your own research and use other, free, sources too.
Don't believe what is in someone else's tree, always re-check their sources.

BlueBelle

Growstuff I don’t think they are worth it for the records I did much better finding my relations the old fashioned way and I m still annoyed that my Nan is on trees with completely wrong information

Bluebelle
It is annoying. Not such a close link, but my Great-great-Grandmother is in someone else's tree erroneously and the information has been copied by several others. Not only that, but he has published his tree online. I did advise him but he didn't respond.

I am meticulous in checking, double-checking and cross-checking and it is very annoying.

Nanna8
If , as you say, your tree on ancestry “ is not particularly accurate” perhaps you should consider making it private and unsearchable so that others can’t see and copy from your
“ erroneous tree”?

I keep several trees on Ancestry, one is my basic tree which is “private and searchable”.
It contains correct information about my direct lines, with sources which I’ve researched and checked. If other researchers want to know more then they can contact me.
My “ work in progress” trees are private and not searchable - those are where I keep my “theories and possibilities” and I wouldn’t want anyone to take the information as truth. I also keep all the correct information on a family tree program on my PC.

Unfortunately the advertising from the big genealogy sites gives the impression that they have all the answers , which of course they don’t. People new to family history research could easily believe from the TV adverts that if they put in an ancestor’s name they will, for example, be given a complete family tree and also discover that she was head girl at her school ….and she did something noteworthy in the war. They might be lucky enough to find so much detail … but it’s not very likely, especially for those of us with quite humble origins!

I have gained so much from using the big sites but it is frustrating to find so much incorrect information being copied. I don’t blame Ancestry and the other sites for this though, it’s our responsibility as researchers to ensure that what we put into the public domain is as accurate as possible.

My personal family tree is about as complete as it's ever going to get. I have a one-name study website because my birth surname is very unusual. Occasionally, I am contacted by people with information. I must admit I'm not really that interested in fifth or sixth cousins, although I add them to my database if they give permission.

Over the last few years I've become more interested in local history and what family history can show about the change in populations in general. As a result, I've researched the history of iron working and blacksmiths, textiles/lacemaking and the 'yeomen' class, which I find fascinating.

BlueBelle

Growstuff I don’t think they are worth it for the records I did much better finding my relations the old fashioned way and I m still annoyed that my Nan is on trees with completely wrong information

It depends how far you want to go. I started off thirty years ago the old-fashioned way and trawled through paper (or microfiche) records, but I couldn't have got as far as I have without online records. It's important to distinguish between actual records such as censuses or parish records and other people's trees, which I generally ignore or at least check out for myself.

Thank you for all your stories on changes of areas etc, it is alarming. I also have roots in Norfolk, Grammaretto. All my Scandinavian has disappeared and been replaced with Cornwall! The mind boggles, though Ancestry do admit they can get it wrong, but doesn't fill you with confidence does it. The journeys and regions are also confusing.

I've had so much pleasure from finding and meeting relations who had also been searching for my family on Ancestry, that it's been one of the best things I've ever invested time and money in.

Late one night after years of searching I just thought I need to pay for access to the World Wide version and there they all were! The people from the UK censuses on someone else's tree. We've met several times both in the UK and in the US.

Perhaps I was just lucky that the relatives I found not only had identical documents to mine, but photographs which supported our claims. I became a cousin for the first time in my life and it was true!

I too have found trees with my family members linked to Kings and Queens of France, English royals and Scottish Bairds. Someone claims that my grandfather had an affair and fathered two children. I know beyond doubt that the dates don't fit and it wasn't him, but the other poster refuses to accept that.

With reference to the difference in the American records, I've found quite a lot of 'snobbery' from descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers towards my poverty stricken agricultural workers from Norfolk! One person was quite rude.

It's a fantastic hobby for me.

I had a slightly different problem when I was contacted by somebody on behalf of their mum, I suspect they were quite young and wanted me to join other sites and provide photos. I just didn’t want to get into spending more money and felt guilty for not helping them more.

There are a lot of errors. Names were so common eg. If you yelled Alfred in some streets half of the boys would come running. Often children had the same name as a parent. All you can do is contact them and tell them what you know as a fact.

Growstuff I don’t think they are worth it for the records I did much better finding my relations the old fashioned way and I m still annoyed that my Nan is on trees with completely wrong information

I use the ancestry site to do my research etc but the tree I have on there is not particularly accurate as I use something different for my ‘real’ tree and don’t always correct my errors on ancestry. Needless to say loads of people have copied my erroneous tree as fact. So do check everything !