Which Family History Websites Do You Use?

I like Ancestry and it seems a lot of new data has been loaded on lately. Through Genes Reunited I have established a close relationship with a 2nd cousin in Canada, I didn't know I had, and we have visited each other in our respective countries. She has given me loads of information including wills and old photographs that I'm sure I wouldn't have found on my own. I was also lucky enough to re-introduce my mother to one of her first cousins who she had lost touch with before she died and she was very thrilled about that. However, on Genes I don't like how you can't remove people from the family tree when they have inadvertently been added more than once, that really bugs me.

I started research in my "local" family about 30 years ago - at a time when you could see the actual registers etc. I was very lucky in that my Grandmother gave me information about her maternal Grandparents , GG Grandmother was born in 1820 and Grandfather who was born in 1816, GG Grandmother was local to my home town, GG Grandfather's family were blacksmiths from about 20 miles away, but as my grandmother was able to tell me all about them I was able to trace them back to late 1500's as the village blacksmiths so did not move around to much. On my Grandmother's paternal side of the family is the name Britnell and, thus far, all the people with that surname can trace their ancestors back 5 centuries (sorry cannot remember the exact dates - have just moved and all the records are in storage for another month!) So if any of you have the surname Britnell in your family tree "hello cousin"

You can search the GRO indexes of births marriages and deaths from 1837 for free on FreeBMD, and view a scan of the actual page of the register. They have not finished transcribing all the entries, so if you have the patience to look at each page of the untranscribed parts, you can sometimes find information which is not yet online. A useful feature is that they list all the marriages ( two to four) on each page of the original, both parties, so you can often work out who belongs to whom without buying a certificate.

(The transcription is being done by volunteers so if you have some spare time and are accurate and meticulous, they will welcome you. Scans of pages are emailed to you to be transcribed into the software they issue you with)

I use Scotland's people as my family are all from Scotland as far as I know. Would love to spend time in the records office in Edinburgh although web search facilities are very good. Haven't got that far as yet but find it completely absorbing.

grannybug I use Scotland's People too. It's a great website, especially now they can go back as far as Parish Records. Just wish some of th handwriting was more legible.

Thanks everyone for all the useful information that I have just read,this winter I am going to spend the days that are too cold for outside venturing on researching my family history,I have been going to do it for a couple of years now but after reading all your helpful hints and tips will most certainly join a site to help with my enquiries.

Nana

I use Ancestry and findmypast. Each has its problems.
One thing I have found out lately is that the govt. is trying to scrap the 2021 census because the 2011 cost so much. We kept our paper one for the family tree and filled it in online. The only reason the 2011 census cost so much is because they wanted too much information. Much of the information was DWP stuff, about work and disability.
The 1911 census is fantastic, becuase it was the first one filled in and signed by the head of each household, so you can actually see your ancestor's handwriting.
However, not everyone filled it in. Many women suffragettes refused until they were given the vote!
I think it's appalling that the govt. is trying to scrap the census. It would be much cheaper if they didn't print 32 pages for each household.
Calls for an epetition, I think. They are obviously not concerned about future genealogists.

Now I am using Find my Past. I did a great deal of fam hist in about 1995 to 98. Before the stuff went on line.

This involved lots of time at local libraries and record offices. Between Liverpool, Cheshire and Leicester with a trip to Shrewsbury as well.
The LDS parish records were on microfiche and seemed easier to use than it is now on line. I am not sure if others find this.

The last two published census have helped me solve some puzzles about my fathers upbringing though.

In the end there is no real substitute for trawling relevant local record offices.
I am at the stage when hunting through them is the only real way of getting further back.

I started tracing my family on my fathers side, my maiden name was Downing and throughout my life I had been intrigued whether there was a link with the street of the same name.Imagine my delight when I linked directly to Baron George Downing 1st who built Downing Street ! My pride was short lived when he was described as a "rogue" ....the original rogue builder, the original building of No 10 was built using fake bricks....!!!

On FindmyPast you can search places which is very good.
One of the people I am looking for lived somewhere which keeps changing county, from Durham to Yorkshire and back again, depending on which year the census was, so it's easier to look at the village where she was born.

im on ancestry too,,,,,,its great,,,,,,,im a member of caithness family history society too,,,,,,great ideah about the little book,

After my mother died I was going through her papers and mementoes and found an autograph book of all the soldiers and airmen who had gone to her mother's house during the war. Her mother was a headmistress in a village school and lived in the school house. They had a piano, and my grandmother used to have singsongs for the forces in the evenings.
Another thing I found was a perpetual calendar in which my grandmother wrote all the births deaths and marriages of her family and friends.
I never met my grandmother - she died of breastcancer when I was 6 months old - but I wish I had known her. She sounds fun.
She also left a Daguerreotype which my mother thought must be of her grandmother, but it can't be because they went out in 1860, so it must be of my mother's great grandmother.
Does anyone know how to get a Daguerreotype dated?
I know I can sent it off to certain magazines, but it's the only one I have and do not want to risk it getting lost in the post.

I'm another one on Ancestry - and have found it really useful., though I don't have the Full Internation Version.

For anything related to the USA, I go to my local library and log into my own account and do my research through their Library Version. I've managed to find the Passenger Lists showing the names of two g-g-aunts who emigrated as young women - along with pictures of the ships that they both sailed on. That then lead onto various USA Census Records that helped to fill in further details which linked to the 'present-day family' that I've been in touch with since my childhood. I've even been able to tell them things that THEY didn't even know .

For anybody who's considering taking up Family History Research - I'd give one piece of advice - Beware It Can Take Over Your Life ;)!!!!!!!!

Sometimes when I've been on Ancestry for a while, I find that I need to 'come back forwards' before I can leave the people of the past behind - bit like 'regression' (rolleyes emoticon).

I have looked at Ancestry a few times recently and Findmypast, but I cannot get up any enthusiasm again since Ken died. I keep saying I'm going to do some, but then Gransnet appears.
One thing is that all the info on our family tree was stuff I would find out, but Ken would spend time putting it on the internet.
Anyone any ideas to help?

I have just been on Findmypast for a couple of hours.
They have the British Newspapers collection and it is very interesting and easy to use.

Is anyone by any chance on Ancestry24 for South Africa?

Re British Newspapers, I have used it a lot, but I get there free via my library card.
Amazing what I have got from the Dublin paper Freeman's Journal!

What a lot of useful stuff. I've been on Ancestry in the past and Genes for a short time but most of my research was whilst touring in a motorhome, and I have a lot of family papers death records etc going back three and four generations. It was hard to keep it all together and I finally stopped. Now we are back in bricks and mortor I'm thinking of starting up again. Apart from the good old computer, out of interest, how do others keep their records?

Jendurham There are websites about dating old photographs which are very interesting. You go by fashions, the style of the background scenery, the name of the photographer if it is shown, and so on. There are also sites just about old professional photographers - the addresses of their studios and when they were in business, whether sons followed on from their fathers, that kind of thing, with examples of their work.

I can't remember the names of the sites, but a bit of Googling should find them, or they may be in Cyndi's List.

nanos8 The computer is good for a lot of genealogy stuff, but it does not file all the hard copy documents and certificates and bits of paper that accumulate.

As well as the computer, I bought a box of thin plastic folders with cut-off corners in four different see-through colours (from Staples, but other places have them) They hold copies of documents and facts about each pair of my ancestors. One folder is for each couple, and the colours show which line of my four grandparents' ancestors they follow.

They are filed in the order of the generations - so they start with a blue for my parents, then another blue for my paternal grandparents, and a yellow for my maternal GPs. Then there is another blue (parents of paternal GF), a green (parents of paternal GGM) a yellow (parents of maternal GF) and a pink (parents of maternal GM) and so on.

Each folder is named with the people in it, and numbered after a system invented by a German genealogist (of course) which numbers yourself as 1, your father as 2 and your mother 3. then your father's parents are 4 and 5, your mother's 6 and 7. Then your father's father is 8 and so on. Each father has a number exactly twice that of the child, so you see at a glance where they fit into the pattern.

Jendurham - RootsChat date photographs and did one of my ggrandfather as 1889, which enabled me to say it was taken for his father's funeral, when my ggrandfather came from Ireland to Lancashire and must have given them out, because one copy ended up in New Zealand!
Try them.

Elegran I know about this system but I wish I could cope with it! My brain doesn't seem to take to it. Every time I meet it I have to work it out again.

Elegran, do not use plastic or card stationery bought from Sraples or WH Smiths or anybody like that for storing precious documents and old photographs. There are chemicals in both the paper and cardboard that can iretrievable fade or rot your documents and photographs. They should be stored in comservation grade paper and plastics, like those used in museums. I get my conservation grade materials from a company called Secol http://www.secol.co.uk/. They are the biggest supplier in the country, although there are others. Unfortunately they are expensive, but at least the survival of your documents and photographs is assured.

I don't put old documents or photos in them, only copies for reference and displaying them to other people.

That's OK then.