Tracing living descendents

They are all in a box under the computer desk. Really handy and ready to use!

Buying the files is the important part, rosequartz, after that you can relax.

This winter I was going to sort out all the information I have gathered so far
I bought some files ready .....

Thanks for the information Tresco

You can register and enter your relatives for free, and search for matches,, but if you want to contact people through it I think there is a charge. I don't know what the current fee is.

Hi Tresco you mentioned Lost Cousins just wondering is it a free site or do you have to pay if so how much many thanks Lilian1

I agree Bellasnana its very time consuming thanks .....

Hi lilian1. The difficulty I have is that my father's Mum died young and he and his two sisters emigrated from Glasgow to Canada when he was 7 years old. I can't seem to find his mother's birth or death certificates but must admit I haven't really had the time to work on it properly. We have a lot going on in the family at present, but I hope to get some tips from a friend who has been researching her ancestry with some success, and hopefully she can point me in the right direction!

Good luck with your quest to trace your family

Hi Bellasnana That was lovely receiving the photas as you say you joined Ancestry Im surprised you would have difficulties re your fathers line do they not add family trees ? I have joined two findmypast and myheritage just for 1 year to see if its successful in tracing family

I put our details on Ancestry.com and was contacted by a very pleasant lady who was trying to trace my late father. It turned out my father had a half-brother and this lady is married to my half cousin. They live in Canada and as they had some friends visiting Malta, they kindly sent over a whole packet of old family photographs with them. I had never in my life seen a picture of my paternal grandfather so it really made my day to have some more background into the family.

I would like to trace my father's line but am not sure how to do it, even though I have joined Ancestry.com.

My cousin traced my mother's side of the family back as far as he could and there were some fascinating revelations, and a few skeletons in the closet

There are probably thousands of second cousins in some families.

A third cousin accosted the Very Famous Quiz Show Host to inform him that they could be related. It was a very short conversation.

DH has a Very Famous 2nd cousin and we would quite like to meet him.
However, the strange one I mentioned was on my side (of course!)

But if I went back far enough (to early 17C) I would have a common ancestor with a Very Famous Sportsman of the early 1900s (C B Fry) and possibly a Very Famous TV Quizmaster and Actor (but I think his ancestors came from Germany or thereabouts, mine were from the Weald)

Third cousins are even worse.

Be very careful if you are tracing lost 2nd cousins though ....
You may find them rather odd!
(I speak from experience)

Thanks rosequartz think I will try Lost Cousins might help ..

Thanks Eelegran I am awaiting my grandparents marriage certificate so it would help trouble is Im very impatient

I agree PRINTMISS you do go round in circles can be very frustrating it must be great when someone adds their name to your tree fingers crossed that will happen (smile)

durhamjen I found a few of shared ancestors 'born or buried in America' in other people's public trees, and I noticed that on Ancestry, for instance, if you start to type the name of a place an auto-suggestion will come up; the town or city name is the same but the country is America as so many place names over there are the same as the UK. I think people pick up the wrong place name and insert it in their tree without checking properly.

Lost Cousins is very good and informative, although I don't think any of my cousins are on there as yet! However, the emails are interesting and full of tips and information.

Do you have the approximate ages for the people who would be in the 1911 census? You can enter that in the search boxes and it whittles them down a bit.

If you search separately for people you believe could be living in the same house, putting in an approximate date of birth, and then compare the areas they are in, you can sometimes tell from the indexes (before spending any money on the actual detailed entries) that a family may possible be at a certain address.

First names which have been handed down are often the same for several generations ( for instance lots of Rodericks and Marmadukes and Agathas!) which can be a clue, too.

Once you have splashed out on an entry, the occupation can tell you whether you have the right ancestor.

It is true that you do not necessarily get all the correct information from these sites. I was very interested in someone who had added us to his family tree, and so looked into his, only to find that I was a lot younger than I am and my husband was my father! I of course told him of this, and gave him as much information as I could to put him right, but I am not sure how far back he was going to have to go to get to the bottom of his mistake. Unfortunately I have given up on this project for the time being, I seemed at one time to be going round in circles, and I do think that it is a good idea just to sit back occasionally and have break.

Hello I have started searching records for my family and its proving very difficult hmm I saw someone mention 1911 census but I only have name and county they want an address have not got a clue !

If you are on Ancestry or findmypast you can put messages on to ask people to get in touch with you about various names. But beware; they are not all true.

Someone told me that one of my relatives who died in 1860 is buried in America even though I know her grave is ten minutes away from here.

This is something I'm determined to do in the New Year. Whenever I've met the few members of my family the my parents kept in touch with over the years it's amazed me how similar we are [even down to silly things like having the same ornaments in our houses]. I'd love to meet more of them [there are loads out there if only I could trace them].