Scary!

That’s a nice idea. Glad it was well received. I’d love one of those, hopefully containing all the answers to my many questions. Good luck with your father’s story. Bet that will be a hit too!

I started in 1995 when there was not much info available on the internet. I was visting Chester and Leicestershire record offices a lot.
The cost of that sort of transport was quite signifcant. A proper subscription is probably well worth it .

Re passing on info from your family tree, a few years ago I produced a book for my children and for their cousins. I included sections of the tree, 'memoirs' written by relatives of previous generations, interesting entries from the diaries of my grandfather, postcards sent from one relative to another in the last century, ancient photographs, stories I have heard over the years and so on. I loved putting it all together and when I'd printed it all out off my lap top I took it to a local printer who produced seven spiral bound copies for me which I gave as gifts the following Christmas. I think this cost about £70. I called the book 'Leaves from the Family Tree, It was well received and I now feel I have done my bit in passing on the knowledge I have gained over many years of family research. I'm now planning the next book which will be about my father as I have a diary of his for nearly every year of his life - and he was a very interesting character.

That’s a clever trick!

I appear on a family tree as deceased before my children were born!

Today is tomorrows yesterday. We cant explore the future but can learn an awful lot from the past.

Some U3As have a family history group - it could be a good way to get started without spending what could be a lot of money on subscribing to an online site Tessa.

There are some records which are free online which is how I got started. I think some of the censuses and some bmd records are free.
www.freecen.org.uk/ I haven't used that link myself but it could be useful

I think some of the records on FindmyPast and Ancestry are free to access, such as the 1881 census.

If you know the names of your grandparents and whereabouts they lived then start there.

There’s a free online course starting on FutureLearn soon that explains the basics (sorry, haven’t got a link but google...)

Isn’t it funny how people read a thread then sneer...why not just ignore it?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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?

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’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.

especially if one of the names is Jones

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.

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.

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

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

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.