Discussion
You can also access Ancetry from Public Liabraries without cost.
The biggest help is from the census records, and the latest available is 1911, I would start there and work your way back.
Research is a lot easier if you have a less common last name and ideally the family stayed in one area and owned property.
I did my family tree two years ago and found it interesting although be prepared from some truths that you may not have expected.
Get yourself a good quality notebook and record what you discover for future generations, and best of luck.
The biggest help is from the census records, and the latest available is 1911, I would start there and work your way back.
Research is a lot easier if you have a less common last name and ideally the family stayed in one area and owned property.
I did my family tree two years ago and found it interesting although be prepared from some truths that you may not have expected.
Get yourself a good quality notebook and record what you discover for future generations, and best of luck.
As others have said, it is easy to use the Ancestry website to build the basics of a tree.
It will give you suggestions and some will be correct and others not. The old handwritten census records have just been OCRed so there are lots of typos.
I only had the details of my 4 grandparents as the starting point and only needed to order one birth certificate, that of my grandmother who although born in 1911 it was after the census was taken.
Building the tree is easy, finding biographical information (ie. what you see on TV's "who do you think you are") is the hard part.
It will give you suggestions and some will be correct and others not. The old handwritten census records have just been OCRed so there are lots of typos.
I only had the details of my 4 grandparents as the starting point and only needed to order one birth certificate, that of my grandmother who although born in 1911 it was after the census was taken.
Building the tree is easy, finding biographical information (ie. what you see on TV's "who do you think you are") is the hard part.
Me and my ma used Ancestry a couple of years back - got a fairly comprehensive tree of the family on her side going back to the late 1700's, and on one distant branch piggybacked someone elses tree who had traced a line back to the 1300's, complete with family coat of arms etc! The rest of our lot were agricultural workers and clerks around London so I'm from very average stock...
The temptation is to just copy someones data (in ancestry) that seems to share elements of your tree, but you must double and triple check their assumptions, and back things up with data that supports the dates, otherwise you can copy their mistakes.
Note also that ages/years sometime are out by a year, depending on when Census' were done. Or several years when you are researching female ancestors who mysteriously have become younger when it comes to filling in their marriage certificate...
The Ancestry online tree is good, but i'd advise keeping an offline copy mirroring the data, as when you leave ancestry you lose full access to your research. I found a fairly good excel file that is full of hyperlinks back to the main page (the overall tree) from individual pages showing couples and their children. Also means you can embed photos/documents into excel.
Oh, another thing, while you have access to ancestry, download all the documents you want as jpeg/pdf onto your PC, as again, you'll lose them if your membership expires.
The temptation is to just copy someones data (in ancestry) that seems to share elements of your tree, but you must double and triple check their assumptions, and back things up with data that supports the dates, otherwise you can copy their mistakes.
Note also that ages/years sometime are out by a year, depending on when Census' were done. Or several years when you are researching female ancestors who mysteriously have become younger when it comes to filling in their marriage certificate...
The Ancestry online tree is good, but i'd advise keeping an offline copy mirroring the data, as when you leave ancestry you lose full access to your research. I found a fairly good excel file that is full of hyperlinks back to the main page (the overall tree) from individual pages showing couples and their children. Also means you can embed photos/documents into excel.
Oh, another thing, while you have access to ancestry, download all the documents you want as jpeg/pdf onto your PC, as again, you'll lose them if your membership expires.
daddy cool said:
The temptation is to just copy someones data (in ancestry) that seems to share elements of your tree, but you must double and triple check their assumptions, and back things up with data that supports the dates, otherwise you can copy their mistakes.
This is key. The earlier you go, the weaker the data. Vast amounts of records are missing/destroyed or were not kept. Literacy levels were low. Lots of names evolved. Towns/villages had families with the same/similar names and were not related.
Interestingly, looking ahead, the 1931 census which would have been released in 2032 was completely destroyed in 1942,
Vaud said:
daddy cool said:
The temptation is to just copy someones data (in ancestry) that seems to share elements of your tree, but you must double and triple check their assumptions, and back things up with data that supports the dates, otherwise you can copy their mistakes.
This is key. The earlier you go, the weaker the data. Vast amounts of records are missing/destroyed or were not kept. Literacy levels were low. Lots of names evolved. Towns/villages had families with the same/similar names and were not related.
Interestingly, looking ahead, the 1931 census which would have been released in 2032 was completely destroyed in 1942,
For a glimpse into the complexity, taking Wales as an example:
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Wales_Church_...
There is a lot of data out there, but a varying quality of information and context. And large chunks missing, or were never kept.
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Wales_Church_...
There is a lot of data out there, but a varying quality of information and context. And large chunks missing, or were never kept.
Talk to the oldest surviving members of your family to find out what they can remember being told in the past, but take some of it with a large pinch of salt.
Be prepared for huge spelling variation and changes in years of birth when looking up census records. I've got one man who was thirty on three different censuses before he suddenly jumped in age to 70! Suspect his wife went "there's no way you'll get away with that this year you daft sod". Mostly you'll be looking at variations of between a year to four years, depending on how literate your ancestors were.
Also be prepared for unpleasant surprises that other family members may not want to hear. We've got multiple illegitimate births in my line, and discovered that my great-grandfather had a whole other family before he met my great-grandmother and had my Nan and her siblings. My Nan died long before I discovered this, but we think she didn't know about it as she never mentioned it.
It is hugely fun and extremely frustrating in equal measure. Good luck!
Be prepared for huge spelling variation and changes in years of birth when looking up census records. I've got one man who was thirty on three different censuses before he suddenly jumped in age to 70! Suspect his wife went "there's no way you'll get away with that this year you daft sod". Mostly you'll be looking at variations of between a year to four years, depending on how literate your ancestors were.
Also be prepared for unpleasant surprises that other family members may not want to hear. We've got multiple illegitimate births in my line, and discovered that my great-grandfather had a whole other family before he met my great-grandmother and had my Nan and her siblings. My Nan died long before I discovered this, but we think she didn't know about it as she never mentioned it.
It is hugely fun and extremely frustrating in equal measure. Good luck!
Fascinating hobby. In 2 weeks time I have relatives arriving from the USA that I found and it will be the first time that the 2 sides of the family have met up in Europe since leaving Latvia in 1905. I have hundreds, no thousands of family photos going back a long way, a lot of old documents, about 40 hours of audio interviews and about 40 hours of digitised 8mm film and video. I use Ancestry, my own website and the original data is stored in Family Historian (only because it is one of the few programs which does a great job of all in one charts) on my pc as inevitably you will hear things about certain individuals which probably ought to be documented but do nobody any good to be made public. Now I need to find some in the family who will keep it up to date for the next generation! Good luck with your research.
paul.deitch said:
Fascinating hobby. In 2 weeks time I have relatives arriving from the USA that I found and it will be the first time that the 2 sides of the family have met up in Europe since leaving Latvia in 1905.
My family left Latvia also, at least my branch of the family did. A few years before 1905 though. The branch of the family that didn't ended up in Rumbula Forest. Vaud said:
One of my all time favourite comedy clips. Brilliant.OP - I did a bit on mine. Fortunately I have an odd surname - actually on both sides of my family.
I started with looking up my grandparent's birth certificates, and then their parents and so on. The 1911 census, as already mentioned, is a good place to start.
A relative of mine has been doing this for some years and started by tracing back through parishes etc. There is more to the story doing it that way than using online though not saying online is not the way to go. Finding grave stones from direct relations many generations and all that. Speaking to people who knew some of the more recent ones.
Now I have more time it is something I want to crack on with.
Now I have more time it is something I want to crack on with.
If you have any Scottish ancestry, Scotlands People is the public portal into National Records.
Almost everything has been digitised. It does cost, so do your initial research in Ancestry.co.uk, then verify through Scotlands People (Birth, Marriage, Death, Census, Wills).
Almost everything has been digitised. It does cost, so do your initial research in Ancestry.co.uk, then verify through Scotlands People (Birth, Marriage, Death, Census, Wills).
Someone on my mum's side of the family has done a lot of this, tracing their mum's side of the family back up.
You find some interesting people along the way. Go back a few generations in my family and we have a relationship to Abraham Lincoln. And go across a few on today and we are related to Tom Hanks.
You find some interesting people along the way. Go back a few generations in my family and we have a relationship to Abraham Lincoln. And go across a few on today and we are related to Tom Hanks.
I appreciate all the responses and I can see that it is going to be difficult especially as my mothers side all emigrated from West of Ireland during the famine, some settled in the North West of England and others went to the US, it's the Irish connection that I'm more interested in because I know less about them but it's obviously going to be a challenge.
I'm going to start with a book on the subject to see what tips I can pick up, from there I will register with Ancestry and if I make progress a trip to Galway will be on the cards. I will update if I discover anything others may find useful.
I'm going to start with a book on the subject to see what tips I can pick up, from there I will register with Ancestry and if I make progress a trip to Galway will be on the cards. I will update if I discover anything others may find useful.
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