Scary!

Yes, everything is backed up in several ways so the world would not have come to an end but it was a knee jerk reaction that it had!

Whist you're all busy writing about your past...the present is slipping away.
My children are too busy with today to wonder about whose great- grandma married the bakers' son in 1872 or some such. I joined Ancestry on a free trial last year and realised just how much I was living in the past whilst making the trees.
Not for me.

*Whilst

The acute obsession phase only lasts a short time, Gabriella, then like all hobbies it becomes more of a chronic interest. There is no need to neglect the present while also finding out things about how your ancestors lived, and comparing the past to the present can stop you in your tracks if you are about to whinge about some minor inconvenience.

Telling your grandchildren about how things were when you were a child is another aspect of that. The stories of children being puzzled on hearing of a search for a phone box to contact parents about some emergency and asking, "But why didn't you use your mobile?" is an example.

I think that is at the heart of genealogy - the social history side. I already knew that my grandmother had spent some time in the workhouse orphanage and then in the workhouse itself, but it was only when I had found details of her mother's death in childbirth, her crippled father's admittance to the workhouse infirmary and then her own admittance at the age of 12, with her little brothers, after she had tried to look after them herself, that I had a true picture of life in the 19th Century for the destitute.

My motto is ... never trust technology when you have a pencil in your hand!

Point taken GabriellaG but some of us are curious about the past because it explains such a lot. I’ve always liked history and have a history degree. If you never look back you can’t see how far you’ve come...

Totally agree quizqueen - give me pen and paper and I’m a happy bunny

Nothing to do with this thread, but Mollie, have everything put onto I Cloud, if anything happens to the comuter then everything is " in space" easily recovered when needed.

Some of my DGC are interested - and yes, they have extremely busy and interesting lives. They just want it written down in an easy to understand and interesting way as someone in SIL's family has done and someone in DH's family has done for their branch of the family which they sent to me. Then she came to visit from Canada, so yes, still living in the present.

What should we be doing that you think we ought to be doing on a cold wet January day?
I suppose we could go to Tenerife for a few weeks

Perhaps in February.

I’ve always liked history and have a history degree.
DH gives history lectures too - just not on our family

I'm jealous. I can't find anything on my Mum and Dad's side. They were born in Ireland and lots of records in Dublin were destroyed

That’s a pain although it’s not all plainsailing here either thanks to German bombing and the ravages of time on archives. At least digitalisation will help preserve what’s left.

There are a lot of dodgy additions to your family tree info if you do not keep your Ancestry tree private.

You soon find out doing family history that an awful lot of people have the same name as you.

especially if one of the names is Jones

I’m very interested in tracing my ancestors please could you lovely ladies advice how is the best way to get started as I have no idea. I’ve seen sites advertised but how much information do you first need to start the search. Any information and advise would be appreciated.

Tessa As long as you know yourself and your parents your'e up and running.
I started with a free trial on Ancestry. uk many years ago. They give much support and advice.
Like others have already said "Trust no one". Don't copy from other trees, only record what you can prove.
I have had many hours of pleasure.That moment when you find someone you've been searching years for is indescribable
Happy hunting!

I agree CW and when you find living relatives and meet them it's awesome. I knew my DM had a cousin in the USA and via Ancestry I found living family in California. My DM always told me to watch the credits at the end of films for her cousin's name and that's how I found a large family living in the US. We're in touch regularly and I have met them all. It was amazing to be introduced to people as 'my English cousin', as I'd never had cousins before. So you see Gabriela, the past sometimes brings great joy in the present.

I get cross when people have my very close relatives in their tree, e.g. my father, and he was very distantly related to someone who married into their tree. Then they record all my family, including me, as 'theirs'. AIBU?

No Ginny you are not.
That's the reason I now keep my tree private.

I am with Gabriella on this one, cant think of anything more boring than family trees, more interested in whats happening today and tomorrow.

Each to their own BB and when people derive great pleasure from something it's unkind to call it boring and imply that we're somehow not interested in what's happening in the here and now. Surprised you spent valuable time telling us that.

Other people's family trees can be very boring, particularly those which aim to get a record number of people on it so they add in the whole tree of anyone who married into theirs.

When I was on Genes Reunited I kept getting messages that there were links to some woman in Australia. I had a look at her tree, and found it so big it was impossible even to find the person we allegedly had in common.

Eventually I found that someone who had married a cousin of an ancestor of mine several generations ago was a cousin of someone who had married a cousin of an ancestor of hers long ago too. It was as though she was trying to make a master chart linking everyone in the world who had ever existed - and a lot of it was wrong.

why join in a thread which comes under the heading Genealogy/Memories then Billybob?
I expect I'd find your tree extremely boring too.
I won't mention the t word as it's not allowed.

I found a photo of my great-granny online courtesy of someone who'd put their tree on the web; as we don't have many family photos I was very pleased to find it.

Tessa you might find a local evening or weekend class that covers the basics. I found the one I did helped a lot.

Some people like doing puzzles, solving mysteries - and there are certainly plenty of those when researching family history.