Family tree

Hello there.
Yes it's one of My 2 hobbies..its been a great help...I really enjoy it.I'm researching Butlers,Thackers,Wright,Reardon,Cope,Wilcox..generally starting out in Hackney/Islington London areas .
Its also helping to take off My mind that My Daughter may give birth to My first Grandchild tonight yaaaaa
Who r you researching? ♡

I have been doing my family history for over 50 years, on and off, amid raising my own four twigs! At the start of lockdown I decided to do my DNA with ancestry in the hope of finding a father for my illegitimate grandmother. With the help of a very kind lady in America I have found him, and managed to fill a big gap in my tree.

I did not start researching until after my parents had died. My mum had given me some snippets of information which helped start me off in search of my great grandparents. Several brick walls later, I cracked it, with the last pieces of that particular jigsaw falling into place when I bought my great grandmother’s death certificate. She had changed her name when she co-habited with someone and he has registered her death as her husband under her false name. The certificate showed that her brother had intervened and had it corrected, but not till after the burial had taken place, so the church burial entry is in the false name! What a mystery! I am rather glad my mother never knew all this, but sad when I found she had first cousins she never knew, living near her.

Just to confirm what others have said regarding transcription. If you use Ancestry and their ‘hints’ always look at the original census. There is more info on them than Ancestry gives you plus you can see the original writing and others who live in the house, if any. I’ve also found family next door. You can also look at the relationship to the head. This might give a sister in law and give more clues about the family of the wife etc. Grandchildren also can appear on the census living with relatives.

If in any doubt you can order certs from the General Records Office (GRO). This is by far the best way to get certificates of births, marriages and deaths and can give extra family info, witnesses etc.

Shandy57 you may find these maps useful for finding exact locations in Wales (or any county really). This one is Denbighshire for example:
www.genuki.org.uk/node/26718/countymap
If you zoom in the map shows the parishes within the county, right down to the exact spot. Some of my ancestors lived close to borders of parishes and counties and this really helped. Search for your county and then county map.

You will find Ancestry uses Google mapping. For places always put the town and county, even for London. The mapping won't recognise London! It wants 'Bethnal Green, Middlesex' or 'Putney, Surrey' and then it locates it.
For London:
North of the Thames is Middlesex or Essex
South of the Thames is Surrey or Kent.

I did this for years, getting back to the 1500s and 1600s but all my research boils down to hundreds of names and dates on rolls of paper and nobody else is interested.
Can I warn people that memory is very faulty? You hear stories from family which turn out to be wildly inaccurate. Also, the Americans’ records are often wrong, adding on anything with the same name whether relevant or not.

Thanks Chesnut, my mother's side was Welsh.

I started in 1996, just after my parents died. As with lots of us, we start just after we have lost the very people who could have answered lots of our questions. The advice I was given was, 'just be very nosey'. I guess that is me! I have used software but prefer paper so I type it all out and file it, also saved to computer.
I am currently trying to identify a child in a photo sent to me by a distant cousin in Australia. She has been told this girl is on our side of the family and I have found a cousin of my mother's who married into a family with the same surname so I feel as if I am nearly there but she is very elusive. We know the name of the child but no dates and the dress she is wearing could put her in 1930s, 40s, 50s or even 60s so no help from censuses and I can't find her on the birth register index. I really enjoy the time (lots of it) I spend on family history. I just hope future generations will hang on to all my information.

Not everything on Ancestry or Find my Past have been correctly transcribed. The original documents are the only ones you can believe and put in your tree.
Very true, but I'm finding lots of the original parish records are now online for marriages and burials which is fantastic as it saves you buying the certificate. Birth certificates still have to be purchased but are only £7 now by PDF instead of by post.
By the way, if you're researching Welsh ancestors go through Find My Past. Lots of original records on there. Ancestry doesn't seem to think Welsh records are important.

Esspee
Hi I have just gone on Scotland’s People and it’s asking me to pay for credits.
I thought you said it was free [I was researching my Scottish ancestors],but it’s not I initially thought it was a different site from the one I had used a long time ago but couldn’t afford the fees,but it’s the same one.
I am confused are you referring to a different site with a similar name.
I would happily pay for a years subscription but they way they do it’s just too much as in the past my credits have run out before I could use them up.

My paternal grandfather was a “son of the manse”......or so I was led to believe.
In reality my dad was last of a whole line of plumbers.?

I haven't read further down the thread than your first comment, but recommend that you should join FIBIS Families in British India Society. They have an immense amount of information, it's not expensive and they are incredibly helpful and always friendly.

Its great fun.
I am wondering where my mothers airs and graces came from - her ancestors seem to have been labourers and coal miners.

I have spent years researching my family history and I have spent hours wishing I had asked a lot more questions when those family members were alive. Apart from the well-known websites, you can strike lucky with an individual who has complied lots of information on a small site of their own. One of my Great-Uncles' piloted Avro Lancaster bombers. One evening a few of them were waiting to take off from Lincolnshire for a bombing raid on Munchen. My Great-Uncle's plane crashed 3 minutes after take off. 5 of the 7 crew were killed but my GU and another crew member survived. I found a site dedicated to Bomber Command and found the typed report on my GU's crash from the pilot in the following bomber. The big sites are good but smaller ones put some meat on the bones.

Hi Madwoman11. I see you have signed up for Scotland’s people. (Free for those who are thinking of researching Scottish records). May I suggest you always use the “search option” drop down menus next to names and put it onto “fuzzy options”. So many searches fail when you try to find the exact name. Fuzzy options will pick up more potential matches. Using wildcards is helpful if you know how to use them. Easy to read up on.
I did a free Strathclyde University course online which was a great help. You sign up on the site Future Learn.
You can PM me if you have a specific question.

Hi Shandy57, I started doing my family tree about 15 years ago and found some of my grandmother's siblings had been born in India in the mid 1800's, which was something I never ever knew. Her father was in the Army so I guess that accounts for it. Good Luck.

Ah thank you Sugarpufffairy I have just signed up to that and found it quite useful

As others have said don’t take what ever you see in others trees on Ancestry, as a lot of the time it’s nonsense.
I have been researching my family tree for 40 years and it still annoys me to see people copying my ancestors from other trees all who are incorrect.
Years ago I found a tree on Ancestry saying my gt grandfather’s uncle was his father etc.
I contacted this person and sent him the correct details as I had all the proper evidence to prove it BC,MC.DC etc.
He contacted me back and it turned out his wife was the granddaughter of my Gt Uncle.
We are both gt grandchildren of the same ancestor.
We were both thrilled and have met up on many occasions and collaborated on our trees.
So if you see someone has got the wrong information contact them,you could find they had just made a mistake and you end up with delightful extra relatives.
But also you might just come up against an idiot who has just put you ancestors on his tree without any evidence at all.
When things get back to normal it’s worth going to the local records office for where you folk lived,they have the original documents which are worth seeing if allowed.
Not everything on Ancestry or Find my Past have been correctly transcribed.The original documents are they only ones you can believe and put in your tree.
The Family History society’s in the areas where your people lived will have loads of information and people are very helpful and kind in these societies.
To the lady who was worried about others seeing her information,the answer is don’t put your tree on Ancestry
you don’t need to it’s your family if you are researching for your own pleasure and for your own family there is no need.
I haven’t put my own family on Ancestry because I saw early on that people stole info then they meddled with it.
Good luck it’s a great hobby.

fuseta

I signed up to Ancestry, but found it a bit difficult, because on my fathers side the eldest sons were all named John Sutcliffe, going back hundreds of years and on my mothers side, my Grandmother married her cousin. I found it quite confusing and gave up but I would like to have another go!

You will find in most families the son always had the same name as the father down the generations. I then add their year of birth to their name, so John Smith 1838 is the father of John Smith 1864 for instance. It helps.

Don't give up! Research a family with a more unusual name first, which should be easier, and save the more difficult ones for later when you are more experienced. Every problem you solve adds to your knowledge and helps you next time.

Collect the census returns and study them because they give you a timeline for the family and also the names of siblings which can be important. The lives of family members are often interwoven with each other. Your filing system is critical! Name everything carefully i.e. '1881 Census John Smith' comes before '1891 Census John Smith'. I always name my documents with the year first then everything sits in the right time order.

Familytreeforum is a great free help website where you can post any queries or ask others to look things up if you cannot, especially on other genealogy pay websites. The people on it are very friendly and will help smash your ‘brick walls’ when you get stuck.

Ancestry dna tracked down my first husband’s family via dna. He knew very little about his father because of illegitimacy.

My DD found her half uncles and their families. She wrote and explained the situation. Family photos were exchanged and I was lucky enough to visit them with my daughter before COVID-19. One uncle was so like my ex in his mannerisms and face. It’s very addictive

I haven’t done any during lockdown as I’ve been helping looking after GCs.

Bijou those were the social norms of the day, no need to feel that it is any reflection on you. Why not plan a trip to the Caribbean to see where your ancestors lived?

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I signed up to Ancestry, but found it a bit difficult, because on my fathers side the eldest sons were all named John Sutcliffe, going back hundreds of years and on my mothers side, my Grandmother married her cousin. I found it quite confusing and gave up but I would like to have another go!

Hi Hejira , thanks for that link , I found it interesting as I started my family tree a few months ago and came up against a lot of brick walls as my family are Irish so it makes sense to me now .

I have been researching my family tree for 10 years, mainly using Ancestry as its records are very comprehensive. It is expensive but probably no more than other hobbies. Lots of good advice has been given here on Gransnet. If you make your tree public you will get a lot of useful links from others, but do not rely on their trees, they are often wrong. Living people can only be seen by you and those to whom you give permission. I have found local newspapers of the time useful for additional and often colourful information. I think some of my ancestors may be turning in their graves at what can be discovered about them on line. I’m researching for my children as when I’m gone, so will the knowledge I hold about our family, but they can read all about it on Ancestry as if you close your account your tree remains on the site and you can still see it. They aren’t all that interested at the moment but they maybe later in life they will be. Doing your DNA will open many doors and put you in touch with cousins you never knew you had but you can ignore them if you wish. It’s a fascinating hobby and one you can do from the comfort of your home but you can still augment your research with trips to graveyards and churches if you wish.