Getting started - help appreciated

Yes but what kind of life Callistemon? My first thread, in which I apologised to anyone who might have been offended (just 1 judging from the PMs in my inbox) lasted less than half an hour before GNHQ pulled it.

There is life beyond the norty step, Esspee

Hi everyone on the Genealogy forum.
Quick update.
I have just finished the Strathclyde University Genealogy course which is free from Future Learn. Thank you so much for putting me onto it Treebee it has been excellent.
I can thoroughly recommend it. The people on the course ranged from those who were just intending to make a start to members who were clearly highly experienced.
All of us learned a lot and everyone was friendly and helpful to each other.
It certainly helped pass the time during my recent exclusion from Gransnet and has become rather addictive as you warned me Oopsadaisy.

And Pittcity

We are probably all cousins somewhere along the line.

The best discovery so far is that my great, great grandmother turns out to be called Frances in one census and Fanny in the next so I officially have a *Granny Fanny* ?
So is mine, well, she was my 3 x grandmother. Are we related Esspee?

My great great grandmother was Fanny Creasey!

This is what we all want

Thank you everyone, just back to give a quick update. I signed up to a free genealogy class with Futurelearn which Treebee gave a link to upthread.
I am enjoying it very much and I was motivated to make a start on my family tree.
The best discovery so far is that my great, great grandmother turns out to be called Frances in one census and Fanny in the next so I officially have a *Granny Fanny*?

www.gransnet.com/forums/genealogy_memories/1256942-genealogy-where-do-I-start

Our local library gives free access to Ancestry.co and Find my Past using your own computer at home. I only just found this and had been paying out myself for many years -so it is worth checking. I have been doing family research for many years and I use Tribal Pages which I think is brilliant for online records. You can buy CDs etc. of your tree containing all your pictures, research etc.I also have an ancestry.co tree as a 'working tree' but not as up to date as Tribal.

I would go for Ancestry for research I have done it and Findmypast and the latter was not a patch on Ancestry. However Familysearch is free . I have has such joy finding people having had my DNA done by Ancestry . I am in touch with lots of long lost relations and we are sharing information like mad.

Futurelearn are running a course on ancestry which might be of help to you. I've not looked at it myself, but they advertised it in an email that came today. I can recommend their courses which are very good. There's no charge if you just want to do them for the duration of the run of the course, but there is an option to purchase if you want to. (Sorry if I'm repeating what someone else might have already mentioned, but I've not read all the other posts).

Thank you Shrub.

Rootschat forum is a mine of information, very useful, www.rootschat.com/

Thank you Alegrias2 and ayse for all that useful information.
Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon trawling through the genealogy posts on here noting sources of information. I have also registered for a free online course.
I now feel confident enough to make a proper start and feel I have something to look forward to instead of an interminable winter ahead.
Thanks all.

I have my own family tree programme so I can keep my research private but I’m very happy to share info privately. I have a basic tree on Ancestry

I’ve generally used Ancestry, FreeBMD, FreeCen(sus) with other sites thrown in. Family Tree Forum is great for getting help when you get stuck. I can’t recommend it highly enough. The folk on there helped me in filling in gaps and solving family mysteries.

FamilySearch run by The Church of Latter Day Saints if free and has huge numbers of births, marriages and deaths from parish records. These are donated by members but if possible check the info elsewhere.

Keep a record of where you find information as you may need to look back.

Good luck, it’s addictive like a never ending detective story.

Good luck

Hello Esspee, there are a number of free online courses for beginners from the University of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde. There's also a company called Pharos that does online courses, and they are not too expensive. They have some for absolute beginners, including one on how to organise your research.
Scotland's People is definitely the best place to start, we're lucky in Scotland to have so much online.
Also, try books by Bruce Durie.

Mamissimo. I have been avoiding being indoors where other people congregate so will avoid the library for the moment but thanks for making me aware that is possible. I don’t use Facebook and would need lessons on that.
I don’t mind paying for a service once I know how to use it and would get value for money. With a long winter ahead I need something to engross me. Thanks for the tips.

Hello Esspee you can use Ancestry for free in public libraries. You can also use it on an iPad or other tablet at your own cost. Facebook has lots of genealogy pages and there are free birth, marriage and death (BMD) sites and census sites. Search for free bmd on google.

Family search also has a huge collection of records and is free to use - again you can use it on a tablet.

Fascinating way to spend time ?

I am definitely going to sign up for that course Treebee and have just registered on tribalpages Pittcity.
After the free trial is over Sar53 can you continue to use the Ancestry tree?
Callistemon I’ll look into Familysearch tomorrow. It will keep me off Gransnet. ?
I’m guessing that I will have to get at least a laptop. I use an iPad at the moment since my laptop died on me and my printer probably needs replacing too.
As it looks like being a very long winter I hope I get absorbed in the research.
Thank you everyone who has responded.

I did find some very useful information about DH's family on tribal pages a long while ago and, on double checking, found it was accurate.
Some of that was Scottish ancestry.

I use tribalpages.com to record my tree and photos/notes.
A basic tree is free.

Thanks Treebee

tidyskatemum

It was me and, even after pointing out nicely that my Great-Grandmother does not belong in their tree, she is still there.
It's another Hannah!

I found this free genealogy course on FutureLearn extremely useful.
Helpful and clear teaching and supportive community.
www.futurelearn.com/courses/genealogy