Family history

I was quite excited when some hints came up on other people’s trees ( all American) that led to one of my Grt Grt x ? appearing to be the 19th earl of **. My actual research was that yes we have the same name in our trees , but the likelihood of this Earl (brought up in Holland and only speaking Dutch) should somehow find himself on a farm deep in Dorset, then find my Grt Grt x? Granny , the daughter of an Ag.Lab and getting her pregnant is pretty far fetched.
Especially as he was married to a Countess and didn’t come to the UK apart from the one time to collect his title and settle the Estate, (he only inherited it because there was no other Male left. The title died out with him. )

Anyway I contacted a couple of the Americans and it turns out that they started with a famous person who has the same name and then twist the facts to make it fit their tree, they weren’t amused when I pointed out the errors.....can’t think why not? possibly because they are using the family Coat of Arms on their letter headings!
You couldn’t make it up really could you? Oh, wait.....

I should be Queen

Oh, wait a minute, that American woman should be Queen.
I'm just the poor relation

Callistemon the story of my life.

Almost , nearly but not quite...

Like mittenma, I was adopted in 1947 and no father was named on my original birth certificate. I found my half brother in 1998 - our mother had only mentioned me once when she was very ill - she said "if my daughter was here she would look after me!" Sadly he didn't follow it up although an aunt confirmed that his Mum had had an illegitimate daughter who was given up for adoption. (Birth mother died in 1997) Brother and I get on very well and are quite similar.
My parents told me that when they adopted me they were told that my father was a Canadian airmen who was based near Woking. I'd love to find out more. Can anyone recommend a suitable D NA test?
Thanks. Lyn

www.familysearch.org is another free to use site, along with www.freebmd.org.uk, as mentioned up thread. Try those first to get started, before paying a subscription to Ancestry, would be my recommendation.

People are often keen to prove a connection to aristocracy or royalty or whatever. I don't consider any of my ancestors 'boring' because I have huge respect for them. Life wasn't easy as an agricultural labourer, carpenter, farmer, factory worker or whatever. They had huge challenges. Researching their lives shows where they lived, worked and worshipped and brings them to life. I find them all fascinating.

found out the couple that live 8 doors down from me. we are related through great great grandparents. i did comment to my brother a few years ago that he looked like my late uncle, yes they got the same surname .and i knew of them many years ago .but didnt know we are actually related .though they deny it. oh well thats life .records show we are related ,maybe a copy of the records shoved through their letter box might do it.

I’ve enjoyed dipping into tracing family. However, it’s quite addictive and so many different options and links to follow. I would mention that I did come across several relations with their names mid-spelt - so be aware of that. Don’t automatically think you have wrong person. Good luck!

You can get some huge,mind blowing facts from researching your family tree.Someone decided to do this in Australia for his mum and I have ended up with a sister and two nephews,I was totally unaware of.I never knew my mum had a daughter born three years before me who was adopted.We have since Skyped and it's amazing how similar our lives have been.We were both brought up in a small village,both went to a Grammar school,both went to work in a chemist shop,left and went to work for a dentist,then worked in offices.We both had two boys but there the similarities end,as she and her husband emigrated to Australia and I was never so adventurous.She looks very similar to mum and myself,same eyes ,same mouth and we were both dark haired as youngsters.So,good luck to anyone researching their family tree,you never know who you will find!

As Lucy127 says, the enumerator who copied the names onto Ancestry may have misread the old handwriting and written Barker for Barter or anything else! You have to think of every possibility.
Also, back in the early 1800s they couldn't write, so surnames were often written down wrongly by someone. Later on the spelling was changed, so your current spelling may be different from the old spelling.

I have found Ancestry can be unreliable, they tend to try and 'match up' and you can so easily be misled into the wrong family. Consequently I do not trust them as I think proof and authenticating records is key and in my own family researching they have proved to be 'linking' up names that are not part of my family, so I really would beware.

When you apply to Ancestry to have your DNA tested, it comes with a warning that you may find something you don't want to hear,
My DH was a bit disappointed as he had done his family history for years and got right back to Robert the Bruce Adam and Eve with great reunions, loads of photos and exciting visits, however it turned out that in his branch, the person he thought was the father - wasn't. She was his second wife and 30 years younger so you can't really blame her. But now DH is a bit stuck.

I think even on original censuses, etc, records were misspelt because many people couldn't write so couldn't spell out family names for the recorder. Names were written down phonetically in many cases.

Added to that, some records have been transcribed overseas by people unfamiliar with some of our odder surnames.

And some people changed their names for reasons unknown.

My maternal family changed the surname slightly but I doubt we will ever find out why now.

Check with your local library.
Mine in Cheshire gives us free access on their computers to Ancestry and Find my Past.
They are currently allowing library card holders to log in to them free from home during lockdown ...

I've researched my family in Sweden. It is very easy because in Scandinavia you have free access to the National Archives; all you do is create an account and off you go.

There are census records every 10 years but also every year in the past a 'Household Examination' was carried out. Every household was visited. In these examinations you find all sorts of information relating to the members of a particular household. You can see if they could read, if they knew parts of the Bible, if they had attended church regularly etc. The people who carried out these examinations must have had quite a bit of licence because they often 'embroidered' the records. I have seen comments like ”family poor as church mice/husband drinks coffee but not beer/ mother owns a silk dress”. These examinations are historical and do no longer take place but they make fascinating reading.

At the moment our library in Scotland gives free access to Ancestry which you can use at home . I had done my family tree but will have a look at census records as well .

Genealogy has been my hobby for some years and I was found by a distant cousin who put me on to an amazing ancestor who came to England as a Protestant refugee around 1720 during a time of pandemics and world-wide famines due to global cooling in the 17th century; the after effects of which lasted for decades. I had an article printed about this ancestress in the Who Do You Think You Are mag and the whole line got researched and checked by a professional genealogist so I can be sure it is correct. A DNA test found me many cousins on many lines I have not had time to research yet but I think my dad was a very naughty boy or someone was! This is a fascinating hobby but you do have to be very open minded to have the DNA test done!

My cousins have done quite a lot of research on both sides of my family, but nothing at all exciting has come up.
I would love my adopted daughter to try to trace her mother, though. We were told that she was only 17, and engaged, when she fell pregnant. Her parents refused to accept the baby, somehow broke up the relationship, and forced her to part with her daughter.
I’m sure that her birth mother must have grieved for her, and longed for contact, but DD has no interest in finding her. It makes me sad.

I've been putting together my family tree for nearly 40 years. I still spend hours online finding out all I can about the lives of distant, long-dead cousins, and where their children ended up.
In 2018, inspired by centenary, my son wanted to know about what his relatives did in WW1. It's not just births, marriages, deaths of grandparents, gt grandparents etc

someone on my mothers side did all the donkey work and traced the family tree back to 1350, names and occupations. There was a loss of twin children to the plague and the ancestors were all farmers and then horticulturists, later bakers came into the line. Very interesting indeed. I have a huge modern extended family on her side

NannaLyn, we used 23 and Me for DNA research. It's very interesting with health information and lots of second cousins turned up (many in the US, simply because they do research family history and take DNA tests a lot over there). The results are updated frequently, too.

Yes I've gone back to 1751 using Ancestry on both mine and my husband's family. Ironically my great great grandma was a local lock keeper at the time when my husband's family were barge workers transporting goods in the same area. It's fascinating.

Haven't statisticians shown that we are all descended from Edward III? It's demonstrating the unbroken line that is the problem. On the same basis, I probably would be descended from Uther Pendragon, if he ever existed.

As to more recent history, I was able to find documentary evidence that a great uncle jumped ship, which seemed to confirm the family legend that he was involved in bootlegging during Prohibition.