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[honeybun]

Has any one done a family tree. Did you use Ancestory sites or independent research. Are the sites that charge worth the money.

I have a very tangled family tree on my dad's side. I have an English father who had a Welsh mother and French father. There were 13 children in the family and its all very complicated.
I would like to find out more but I'm not sure where to start.
In the little I have found out through free searches has made me want to know more.


Honeyb
x

[babyjane]

Honeybun I had to jump straight in here even though I seem to have been on here all day today! 
I adored doing my mother's family tree but it was 12 years ago and I had to do it the old fashioned way, using the microfiches at the library, writing letters, making phone calls and sending off for certificates but it was so rewarding, time consuming and expensive. But to cut a long and waffly story short I found my mum her birth mother for her 80th birthday, plus some relatives on her birth mother's side. I will never forget it.
My husband has just started researching his absent and errant grandfather using Ancestry UK. Although he is enjoying it I don't think I would have got the same satisfaction from clicking a mouse. I enjoyed the hard work to find mum her mother.
Either way there is a real buzz each time you unearth a new bit of information or identify a new member of the family. Good luck with this but I warn you, it can get addictive and consuming 

[CLKD]

My Husband's brother is doing their Tree.  I think the best way is to write down as much as you know about all the members.  Talk to older members of the family. 

Getting hold of Census records is a big help.  Your Library may have books on searching?  As might your local Council Offices.  Where did they go to School?  Were they part of the local community, i.e. Mayor, teacher, dustman ………

Some copies of Birth/Marriage/Death Certs. have to be paid for.  But finding where we come from can be fascinating.  It's 1 think that I decided yesterday: should I win the Lottery, I would pay someone to look for me as I don't have the energy 

[honeybun]

The thing is CLKD...my dad would be 101 if he was still alive so all siblings are now dead. I was 19 when he died and although I'm sure my mother did know things she now has no memory of them.
Dad was from Manchester so local records are useless. It will have to be the internet.

Babyjane, what a wonderful thing for you to do for your mum. Hard work but so very rewarding.

I know I have a half brother ( if he is still alive) out there somewhere, and I would love to find him or his family.

It's just where to start.


Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

Photographs?  Names, dates, put into context.  Cousins who are older than you, they might have tales that have been handed down?  You can apply to the various record offices for copies of documentation. 

[Rowan]

We use this one HB http://www.ancestry.co.uk/'s_kwcid=ancestry&o_xid=59285&o_lid=59285&o_sch=Search we have subscribed. I found acousin we didn't know about, she posted a pic of our mutual grandfather and I had the same pic, it turned out that our grandfather had been married twice and she was the grand daughter of his first family.

I have traced both sides back to the 1700s and found out such interesting things such as having Baptist Minister grand father whose church was in London and great grandfather, headmaster and church deacon,  we had a black sheep too.

Think I told you that I took part in the geno projects and now know where I originated 20,000years ago in the French Alps region. I also know I Have a percentage of Neanderthal blood so there must have been some Entente Cordiale going on some 200,000 years ago too

I think Ancestry UK is well worth the money HB you have access to so much, you can get hooked though.

[CLKD]

 

[bramble]

I used ancestry.uk as well, plus the registrars of Scotland plus the Mormon church group. Start with only one side at a time or you will get  very confused. Make a start with your mum's or dad's birth certificates. That will give you details of your grandparents. It is just all logical - you follow one thread back and forth until you fill all the blanks. Plus the census records will give you siblings.......... Fascinating to do. You can get software that will help you organise it.
Bramble

[honeybun]

The cousins that I kind of knew have emigrated....Spain I think. After that nothing. I am starting from scratch.
I know my dad was married before and had a son who perhaps would have had children. It's the French side i suspect I may struggle with.

I will look just into Ancestry to ser how much it costs. My mother's side has been done by a cousin who sent me all the details. Bit basic but would be a place to start.



Honeyb
x

[babyjane]

Honeybun Ancestry UK costs £12.95 a month but if you pay yearly it works out cheaper. You can also hire an expert through them.
My husband already has some information so he is paying monthly for a couple of months as he thinks that will be enough. If you take a look at the website you can have a 14 day free trial and if you don't like it you can cancel the subscription before it kicks in. Hope that helps 

[oldsheep]

I was put off by the cost and just how much info might be available. But by chance (google, thank you google) I found an article uploaded by someone, based on family research on my father's side. From the language, written early part of 20th C.
Seems my family history goes back to someone Norman who came over with William the Conqueror.
My mum's side would need ancestry.co.uk. But they were so secretive, I have little to go on.

[babyjane]

I didn't take mum's tree back further than the early 1800s, to her 3x great grandfather on her father's side and her  gt gt grandparents on her birth mother's side. Her birth mother died when she was a baby and all her life she had lived with the fear that her mother had died having her and no one told her the truth  . My original quest was to find out how her mother died to put her mind at rest and I did, she died of TB. But then I wanted to find out more about her mother and relatives on her mother's side. After several months of searching I found where her mother was buried and also found a second cousin on her mother's side still living. For her 80th birthday I arranged a visit back to the village where she was born, to the church to see where her mother was buried and a visit to the 2nd cousin who looked so much like my mother it was surreal.

[babyjane]

I have come back to this because my husband is driving me mad. He has got the bug and is surgically attached to his laptop and I have become invisible. If I speak to him I get no reply, if I tell him something he doesn't absorb or remember it and his conversation recently is great great uncle whatever or third cousin ten times removed that he has found. I think I might scream soon 

Am I being really selfish and mean and a little needy 

[Joyce]

My brother is into it in a big way, almost anal if I'm honest. Apparently his garage wall is covered with results so far.  I got a copy a while back, but it's not like Who Do You Think You Are?  Just a list of names from years gone by, but no history.

[CLKD]

One can find out trades etc. from the appropriate Union/Trade directories, census forms etc..

If mine gets fixed onto looking up stuff on the computer I use the lap top  ……….. Babyjane - if you don't feed him, supply him with drinks etc., does he come up for air? and no you aren't being needy!