Family tree

I've been researching my family history for over 20 years. It's a hobby that you can start and stop but it is very addictive too! I can be lost for hours tracing them all and can picture the people and their lives. I've done both sides of my husband and both paternal and maternal on my side. Eventually I will write a book for my grandchildren and have started it during lockdown. I wish you well on your road to discovery

I waste a lot of hours on various sites without getting very far. My family are Irish and they were poor, there aren’t a lot of records.

Another family historian both my own family and for others on an amateur basis. I have also been surprised by the things I have discovered about the family members I knew and those I didn't.

I'm inclined to use family history as a hook to read more about local and social history.

Sharing photos on Ancestry has lead to very interesting discussions with distant and previously unknown cousins. In one case, I was able to solve a long-standing mystery in another branch of the family. I had no idea that a box file of old photos which came to me from my late father-in-law and had sat untouched for decades, held the key to a mystery that had perplexed someone else for decades.

I started a couple of months ago and am finding it completely engrossing and very addictive. I managed to get back to the early 1800s with every line in about a month and am now fleshing out their lives through research.
It helps greatly that most of my ancestors are Scottish, such marvellous records and reasonably priced access to them.
Don’t order certificates from Ancestry. It is such a rip off.

I think you’ll find lots of things that you weren’t told about! But I usually find something then vaguely remember my Mum saying about it.
I’ve been doing it for 16 years and it’s fascinating.