genealogy, where do I start?

FreeBMD will help with finding details of grandparents (find their marriage date, then their birth dates, then their parents marriage), and so onto their parents' details etc. And as its name says, it's free.

How interesting that this came up today, this morning I decided to get myself in gear and write a family history from my grandmothers 1910 - to my daughters for my granddaughters. It’s to show them not only our family history but how much has changed for women during that period. Wish me luck!

When famous people are involved you can be pretty certain a lot of groundwork has already been done.

On Ancestry, I can see that several people have already posted very large family trees for the Stephensons which includes George (1781- 1848) and his son Robert (1803-1859) and includes George's siblings, his father and his siblings.

You would still need to do the work to establish the link between your grandmother and this tree.

One of the things I like about Ancestry is that one can contact other people researching the same families which can be very helpful.

Look up Hornblower...my DC's ancestor Jonathan was an inventor who was in a legal battle with Stevenson. A lot of letters to and fro in archives at Truro museum.

Ancestry is free at most libraries with access to the worldwide version too! You can email your finds home too, so you can decide whether to sign up and subscribe. Happy hunting!

I have said this before but Ancestry is not good for Scottish records. If you need them Scotlands People site is what you need but it is pay by record so can mount up . Some years ago I used genes reunited . If you put your family tree on there they match you up with any records from other people with the same ancestors. Through this I met someone who had gone the same route back as I had with my mother's family and we could exchange notes. It compleyely verified what I had and also comfirmed I was at the end of the line as far as records go . I told this lady lots of information about my branch of the family . Sadly after you year is up you have to pay again and I have never done so but will some day . If you are able and need Scottish Records you can spend a day at the Records Office in Edinburgh. Beware this becomes addictive tracing your family and some of the stories are really sad when you see all ther babies who have died and the people who ended up in the workhouse.

I use www.freebmd.org.uk (births, marriages, deaths) a lot.

Yes, false leads are a trap that is easy to fall into, particularly if you have a possible famous ancestor you want to link with. Make sure you establish each step before you move on (that should be move backwards!) If you leave something possible in your notes without marking it clearly as a maybe then when you look back at it months or even years from now you are likely to believe that it has been proved.

I use Ancestry also - it's good and reliable. The whole exercise is hard work and takes years to do properly. Be careful about false leads.

There is also the Federtaion of Family History Societies. www.ffhs.org.uk/members2/contacting.php

Every county usually has its own Family History society, which usually has a library and group membership of the geneaology sites making them much cheaper to use. They will also run courses and have members who can help and advise you.

If you live near a Latter Day Saints (Mormon) church, ask them where their nearest family centre is.

They are endlessly helpful, don't charge (or didn't when I started doing it) have all the information on microfiche and will guide you through. And should you be worried about it - not once did they preach at me or proselytize.

My DS bought me a subscription to Ancestry a few years ago as a gift. I found out lots of information but then it became expensive and I stopped subscribing. Though I could use it for free, information was harder to find. However they had a special offer after Christmas and I am back to being able to find out more and more details. This time I am being careful to write notes and say where I got the information eg Census, Birth Records etc as sometimes I couldn't find them when I went back! I particularly love finding out occupations.

As Grannybags says start with yourself and relatives you know well and work back. (You will find yourself drawn along some interesting lines though and sometimes move further away from close family!)

I like Ancestry too. Don’t give up if at first you find it confusing.

I think in your shoes I would start with a free search facility; www.familysearch.org/. If you get stuck and/or get the bug and decide you want to subscribe to a genealogy site then I agree with Grannybags that Ancestry would be a good idea. I also subscribe to Findmypast, but then this is my hobby and I use both sites a lot.

I used Ancestry. Start with yourself and work backwards! Have fun