FAMILY HISTORY

[Doris_Pinks]

Am pulling this to the fore again as I am yet again (being winter!!) searching for rellies!! Anyone have any other sites to offer?

[Doris_Pinks]

[Margaret]

Hi Doris,and all other mad people only interested in dead people!!I have had a fantastically successful few months at my research and reall do seem to have come to a full stop now.I have filled in all the gaps that were frustrating me so much.I have evn done really well on my dads side when I thought i had no chance.My 80 year old uncle came to my rescue there,so off i went again!!Through sheer determination i found the names i needed to keep going back and my best record so far is 13 generations,back to 1580.
Have you tried this one

http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/main.htm

I have found a lot out with this method.

[Doris_Pinks]

Thanks for that Margaret! I will have a delve next week when we have a wet day  ;D Wow amazing that you got back so far, was that mainly legwork? I am in sussex and I know my Grandad was from Birmingham, so i envision a trip in the near future! I am lucky in that I have a fair few photos, and a Mum that remembers most of what her Dad told her. (Bless him he only died a few years ago at 92)
My biggest challenge is going to be my Dads side as he was Swiss! I have no idea where to start, and when you look there is German speaking and french speaking.........so that will be an interesting search to say the least!
Thanks again Margaret  :) DP

[Roy Bham UK]

Hi gang, :D I've only just noticed this thread and wondered if anyone has tried this avenue offered by the BBC "Who Do You Think You Are" (BBC2) I have to admit I don't have the patience to wade through the complexities of this in-depth site but it does look intriguing. :)
I have watched a couple of the TV shows that follow the lives of chosen TV personalities and found them interesting. :)
Here’s the link… http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/index.shtml

[Mrs Ava]

Mum and I have been trying to do our family tree for years, but to be honest, it is a matter of time and money which hold us back....I have very little of either!  We are back in the 1700's with parts of the family, but down in Devon it is a touch complicated with one rellie being frisky with the lord of the manor she worked for and having an illigitimate child...then the London side all seemed to marry the people in the same building as them in the Eastend, often with the same surnames!  :o  I already knew about the various family secrets, but still, they make things even harder!  I have never managed to find much info on the net, and the remainder of my family are useless!  They don't like to talk about it, but mum and I potter on.

Did look at the beeb info, but had trauled through a lot of those sites before.  I will have to try again, and harder!

[Carol]

Gosh was it almost a year ago since this thread was started, my how time flies.

I have not done much Family History this year, cos I have none to do, pity.  But, if anyone in A4A wants some advice for research in Scotland just ask.

::) ::)

[Spurdie]

It's funny how some days you make huge progress and on others you just can't get a start. It's nice to know where you come from, but it's very sad to see how many of your ancestors never lived till their 2nd birthday.

[ken (69)]

Blimey Margaret..that's some way back...thought I did OK with 1697....had a stroke of luck in Huntingdon Record office once...found the village I was looking for and got 100 years worth of old stuff in one go, complete with photostats of original parish records.What was happening in 1580?

[Margaret]

What happened in 1580 Ken,is that my great x12  grandfather ,William Fennell, was born to  Henry and Elizabeth(their birth dates i do not have.) I guess they too stayed up half the night chatting on some allotment messageboard or other, with their like minded friends,so not too different from us,eh?  ;D ;D

[Plottie]

Interesting thread, and intriguing to discover that so many gardening nuts are also interested in family history!
I've been researching my family history for about 10 years, on and off (more off than on I must admit!) I have been interested in it all my life, as my grandmother always refused to divulge all but snippets which of course REALLY triggered my interest. It was only when so many records became available online that my research really took off and about 2 years ago I made significant progress.
As well as using the internet, I spoke to my dad and aunty to get their stories and follow up leads they gave me to other people in the family and have managed to identify why my grandmother was so reluctant to talk. Her history involved illegitimacy, death in childbirth (her mother), a wicked stepmother, being 'farmed out' to relatives throughout childhood, exclusion from her own father's funeral (by said stepmother) and much more.  Such a sad early life but one which I am so glad to have found out so much about.
Some of the things she was willing to divulge concerned her uncle and grandfather who were both well known locally as they held high profile positions in the local town. One of my greatest successes was to trace and visit a relative who was able to corroborate much of what I'd gathered and also add to my records.  She has photos and documents relating to these men and it was a very emotional moment to be able to finally 'see' the names I'd been researching. There was also a strong family resemblance between them and my grandmother who died many years ago and who hated to be photographed so you can imagine how that felt - it was as though I was reaching back and connecting with her and her family....a strange but immensely satisfying experience.
But of course there's always more that can be done and although I've achieved my initial objectives and have produced a tree so that my children  know the history of their family, there's a project waiting for me and many gaps to be filled.....
Plottie  :)

[Doris_Pinks]

Wow Plottie!! We are hoping for intrigue and such! Tis said in our family that we were very wealthy at one point, but the daughter ran off with the coachman and so was dis-inherited! (these people just don't think of their ancestors do they!! :D)
I am curious to know if there is any truth in it! I found my Grandparents 1916 marriage cert online last night and was very pleased! (THANK YOU Margaret for the address!)I know its not far back, but with none of their children now alive, we had no idea when or where they were married, (or even if they were!) so looking forward to receiving that! The biggest decision is which side of the family to head for, and which person do you track!
All good fun for rainy non gardening days though!

[Margaret]

Hi Doris,glad to hear it has come in useful.I have sent for three marriage certificates this way and they have proved extremely useful in tracing further back.Eventually you will be able to do all the lines,but yes it can take a tremendous amount of time.It has taken me about 18 months of work on the internet to complete all my records.Even now i still have gaps,but there are new sites and new details all the time being entered so who knows?

I am out of work in 2 weeks time and have even thought about setting up a small business tracing people's family history for them .But not sure where to start.i just enjoy it so much that it would be more like a hobby than a way of earning money!

[Doris_Pinks]

Good idea Margaret if you enjoy it so much! The hardest part would be to charge them for the hours you put into it! Hope it works out for you :) DP

[aquilegia]

My Uncle on my dad's side traced ours, but then threw all the stuff away.  ::) I've managed to go back to the 19th, possibly 18th Century on the internet. I think I found my great, great grandfather. But I'm not sure. John is a pretty common name, but the surname is rather unusual! We started in Norfolk, then went to Malta in 1870-something, so it's also a bit complicated.

[Mrs Ava]

Just out of interest DP, how much did it cost to buy the certificate??  Wondering if I can encourage the family to help out.  :-\

[Doris_Pinks]

£7.00 EJ, though have heard it said if you go to the dept that the records are held it is cheaper.

[Margaret]

Hi Emma.If you have all the information you need from that site i mentioned,it is indeed £7 but if they have to look up further details in order to send you the right one it would be £11.Still a lot cheaper in time and cost than running around the country looking it up in the various record offices.I spent a long time getting as much info as i could for free so that  i only ended up paying for what i had to in order to proceed further.

[Suey]

I can`t believe it`s almost three years since this particular thread was started, it`s one of the few where I could make a useful contribution  ;D
Is anyone researching their family and if so how are you getting on?  I was doing pretty well but got side-tracked and now seem to spend most of my time doing census look-ups for other people  :-\ ;D

[Carol]

Hello Sue, nice to see you back again.  I remember this thread, way back in 2003, good grief have I been in A4A all that time......

I am again involved in Family History but my enthusiasm has waned a bit.  I tried to do a family on the 'net' but didnt get much information despite asking Margaret what sites to use.  I got absolutely no where, well not far.  However, a woman in the village  has asked me to do her tree and I started last week.  Her family are Scottish so I am able to get better access to the Census and records etc.  I shall also go and look up the origianl Old Parish REcords.  My Family History Society have now brought out a lot of the Census in book form which makes things a lot easier as well.

Nice seeing you again Sue.  Enjoy your research.

;) ;) ;) ;)

[Suey]

It`s nice to be back Carol  ;D  My sister is doing our Mums side of the family and I found out recently that my great grandmother was born in the Orkneys, her name was Janet Muir before marriage.  It`s fascinating stuff this family history and I find other peoples history just as interesting as my own, I`m never happier than when I`m trawling through the UK census data  ;D