Discussion
Blue62 said:
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.
Best of Luck, its enjoyable, I found out a lot of stuff about my family that was news to me and gives you a better understanding of the decisions made at the time.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.
Blue62 said:
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.
Ireland can be tricky.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.
https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/irish-reco...
My sister had a really detailed look at our family tree when she was at school in the 1980s. No online stuff then, we had older relatives who we could ask that were able to provide names and dates back to 1830s roughly. We even went as far as walking around graveyards looking for stones etc that could get us back another generation.
The difference now is that people can't hide a family secret as easily, much more recently my mum did a small amount of work on one of the family tree sites and was contacted by someone who told her that they believed she had another (previously unknown) uncle. Further checks revealed it to be correct, it was her dad's brother who was never mentioned - presumably for reasons that have now died with the people involved. My Granddad died before my sister did her research, Gran never mentioned anything at all.
The difference now is that people can't hide a family secret as easily, much more recently my mum did a small amount of work on one of the family tree sites and was contacted by someone who told her that they believed she had another (previously unknown) uncle. Further checks revealed it to be correct, it was her dad's brother who was never mentioned - presumably for reasons that have now died with the people involved. My Granddad died before my sister did her research, Gran never mentioned anything at all.
cobra kid said:
You can glean a lot just from talking to distant family members as well. Also, a rare surname helps. Mine is Brown. It doesn't help.
This is one of the most important starting points. Too many people leave it until they retire to start tracing the family tree, by then, most people who know stuff have passed away.I know that not everyone has a family but where you have, get the old photos out and start putting names to faces. The time spent with my dad, now passed, a few years ago made the big pile of photos in the loft decipherable and having pics of ancestors brings the whole thing to life!
Take it slow and check and double check would be my other advice. Oh, and visit places you find out about. That makes it all very real, for me anyway.
Treat it as a hobby.
It can become addictive, we have done the weekends trolling Devonshire villages, grave yards.
My wife started her family, haha..Jones, very hard, also fairly boring, so she switched to my family.
Turns out my not to distant family 1880s were mainly London solicitors, owning two houses in Regent street, with documents for servants, their names, ages, etc.
Farms in Hereford, Massive areas of farmland in Devon, houses in Devon, My great great grandfather was Mayor his portrait still hangs in the council building, and is a subject on BBC art program,
We are now waiting for the 1922 census, as the family seemed to suffer a huge financial fall after the death of my great great grandfather his wife had to survive on the Herefordshire farm for over twenty years with only 5 servants plus farm labour
My grandfather born 1912 ended up working down a Welsh pit at the age of fifteen, and as of yet, we cannot find how the distant family suffered such a huge fall in fortune, over such a short period of time.
This '' hobby'' can take up hours of time, but is fascinating..
It can become addictive, we have done the weekends trolling Devonshire villages, grave yards.
My wife started her family, haha..Jones, very hard, also fairly boring, so she switched to my family.
Turns out my not to distant family 1880s were mainly London solicitors, owning two houses in Regent street, with documents for servants, their names, ages, etc.
Farms in Hereford, Massive areas of farmland in Devon, houses in Devon, My great great grandfather was Mayor his portrait still hangs in the council building, and is a subject on BBC art program,
We are now waiting for the 1922 census, as the family seemed to suffer a huge financial fall after the death of my great great grandfather his wife had to survive on the Herefordshire farm for over twenty years with only 5 servants plus farm labour
My grandfather born 1912 ended up working down a Welsh pit at the age of fifteen, and as of yet, we cannot find how the distant family suffered such a huge fall in fortune, over such a short period of time.
This '' hobby'' can take up hours of time, but is fascinating..
If you're searching the Ancestry census records, be prepared to do a bit of lateral and/or creative thinking when entering names to search on. Ancestry used OCR software to transcribe the documents, and the results are variable to say the least.
Thr FreeCEN project is useful, and while not complete, it's all transcribed by volunteers so it's pretty accurate.
https://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
Double check everything, even information supplied by other people.
If your grandparents are still alive, ask them questions now! Same with elderly aunts and uncles.
Write down your sources, even for the smallest thing. Otherwise you come across it later and think "where did I get that from?"
Thr FreeCEN project is useful, and while not complete, it's all transcribed by volunteers so it's pretty accurate.
https://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
Double check everything, even information supplied by other people.
If your grandparents are still alive, ask them questions now! Same with elderly aunts and uncles.
Write down your sources, even for the smallest thing. Otherwise you come across it later and think "where did I get that from?"
TwigtheWonderkid said:
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. Efbe said:
DON'T TRUST OTHER PEOPLE'S FAMILY TREES!!!
that needed caps, it's incredibly important. most of the family trees you find on Ancestry seem to be complete guesswork. a 'leaf' comes up and they click ok.
And they are then convinced that they have traced their family to 3400bc. :-)that needed caps, it's incredibly important. most of the family trees you find on Ancestry seem to be complete guesswork. a 'leaf' comes up and they click ok.
RicksAlfas said:
I use ancestry.co.uk.
I think you get a few days free to try it before you subscribe, but it does make life very easy.
Ideally you need a relative alive in 1911 (or earlier) as that is the last census which is accessible.
I fancy a dabble with this. I put my details in and I don’t exist I think you get a few days free to try it before you subscribe, but it does make life very easy.
Ideally you need a relative alive in 1911 (or earlier) as that is the last census which is accessible.
. Neither does my wife .Are the searches better if you cough up?
Vaud said:
And they are then convinced that they have traced their family to 3400bc. :-)
haha yes, though I do have to admit I am going against this rule by using the family tree my uncle did, which takes us back quite a way, maybe not to 3400bc though.I might have to phone him up to get that bit worked on.
paul.deitch said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
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. 
I'm going to start mine in the summer when the football season finishes although I probably won't get very far as the World Cup starts then.... mind you, I'll restart it when England are knocked out, so it should only be a two week break... 
I'd love to find out about my Dad but it will be nearly impossible. I'm nearly 50 now, my Mum died in 1992 and my Dad wasn't named on my birth certificate, just says "father unknown". She gave me a name and burial place but that was false and there endeth the trail. Not sure where else I can go really... what is even more frustrating is that my Mum's sister, now in her 90's and dementia ridden, says my Mum gave up a son for adoption about two years before I was born. No names, just that it was a boy! Mum tried putting me up too but thankfully, my Gran said she'd help looking after me, and she did.
I have a very unusual name so hopefully creating my family tree will be easier than for most but sadly seems destined never to be completed at the first generation back!
I'd love to find out about my Dad but it will be nearly impossible. I'm nearly 50 now, my Mum died in 1992 and my Dad wasn't named on my birth certificate, just says "father unknown". She gave me a name and burial place but that was false and there endeth the trail. Not sure where else I can go really... what is even more frustrating is that my Mum's sister, now in her 90's and dementia ridden, says my Mum gave up a son for adoption about two years before I was born. No names, just that it was a boy! Mum tried putting me up too but thankfully, my Gran said she'd help looking after me, and she did.
I have a very unusual name so hopefully creating my family tree will be easier than for most but sadly seems destined never to be completed at the first generation back!
anonymous said:
[redacted]
It's worth reading up about the different types of DNA tests available. Ancestry is Autosomal, with a large and increasing user base. Given your circumstances you should also consider a Y-DNA test though. It will tell you your male lineage. Consider FTDNA - it's US based, but there are surname protects that might give you an indication of your father's line.Also bear in mind that this is all in it's early stages - as more people test, the databases get larger and the statistical chances of matching will get greater.
Truckosaurus said:
The old handwritten census records have just been OCRed so there are lots of typos.
Yes, there are a lot of people called Ditto 
I started researching my family tree in the late 1960s when you had to go to London to search for birth certificates, and census returns were a nightmare: queue outside the building until it opened, run to secure a microfilm reader then scroll through miles of film for the streets you think people lived in trying to decipher the Victorian scribble. Now you can do it all from your armchair.
As others have said, ancestry.co.uk is the way to go but do not trust the work of others. You need to be able to cite a reputable source for each piece of information. If the name is slightly unusual then Google can throw up some interesting results. My great great grandfather's middle name was Mainwaring and on the 20th page of a Google search I found a scanned copy of a programme for an 1890s terrier club show in London in which he had entered his dog.
Also, watch out for official copies of birth/marriage/death certificates that have been transcribed by hand from the original. I had one of these and the date didn't tally with any of my other records. I struggled with it for 10 years until I met a cousin who had the same certificate, but his was a photocopy of the original and showed a different date. When I complained I received an original copy but no apology
It's a fascinating hobby. When I started we had no living relatives and my father knew nothing of his family's history and now I have met cousins around the world I didn't know existed and, with their help, a family tree going back to 1599.
Good luck with yours!
My late father, bless him, claimed no knowledge of any cousins, however distant.
A small amount of research unearthed several of them - to which he would invariably respond with something along the lines of - "yes, but they were awful....."
As has been mentioned previously research can uncover sadness too, lots of child mortality and the occasional suicide.
But it has it's silver lining as well. I recently had dinner with a cousin in her 70's who had no knowledge of her father's line and where they came from. I was able to have printed a 5 metre long Family Tree for her with hundreds of cousins.
A small amount of research unearthed several of them - to which he would invariably respond with something along the lines of - "yes, but they were awful....."
As has been mentioned previously research can uncover sadness too, lots of child mortality and the occasional suicide.
But it has it's silver lining as well. I recently had dinner with a cousin in her 70's who had no knowledge of her father's line and where they came from. I was able to have printed a 5 metre long Family Tree for her with hundreds of cousins.
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