Family history

[Liz, Harrogate]

Wondered if anyone had been researching their family history? It's a fascinating topic but very time consuming. The internet is a fantastic resource for it. I can go back to 1725 on my Irish side but not sure how to go further back than that.
Liz

[Barrowman, Bedford]

Started to do this several times but never seem to get very far. do you use 'Genes Reunited' or have you found a better site.

Problem with them is that you have to pay for it and use it in a certain amount of time.

Reserching, as you say Liz takes time, and I'm the sort that once started I have to keep going, and if I have not got 6 or 7 hours to spare I wont start.

[Liz, Harrogate]

Hi Barrowman,
I've used a variety of websites including ancestry.co.uk. There are a lot of people, particularly in Ireland, who are uploading content from Victorian newspapers and those can be very useful if you have Irish ancestors. Also if you type in "relative name" and then perhaps the name of the town where they lived into Google you could find out all sorts of things. I looked up my great uncle in that way and about five years ago there were a couple of references to him commanding a regiment but now there are lots more references including his gravestone. I've found my great grandmother's gravestone in Toronto in the same way.
There are also some good websites with census details on them too, I've found those very useful and if you know the name of a cemetery where people are buried you can often look things up on council websites.
Liz
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[Liz, Harrogate]

Problem with them is that you have to pay for it and use it in a certain amount of time.

Forgot to say that I also have little time so instead of joining a site for a year I often just join for a month and then do as much research as I can in that time. It's a lot cheaper for one thing!
Liz
x

[Aplmac, Barbados]

Need any help, out here?

If there are any Barbados connections to be rooted out
Yours Truly does private search work at our local Barbados Dept. of Archives
for a small fee, per hour!

BDA holds an astonishing array
of Births,Marriages,Death, Wills and Deeds documentation for a small island
-not to mention other stuff as well.

That's wot a British heritage does for you,I guess.
.

[Barrowman, Bedford]

Forgot to say that I also have little time so instead of joining a site for a year I often just join for a month and then do as much research as I can in that time. It's a lot cheaper for one thing!
Liz
x

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Thanks for that info Liz, I dont know why I had not thought of Googling it myself, will also look on other website you suggested.
David
.

[stanandmaydupp, doncaster]

If there are any Barbados connections to be rooted out
Yours Truly does private search work at our local Barbados Dept. of Archives
for a small fee, per hour!

BDA holds an astonishing array
of Births,Marriages,Death, Wills and Deeds documentation for a small island
-not to mention other stuff as well.

That's wot a British heritage does for you,I guess.
.

Istarted to research my ancestors afew years ago as I have a most unusual surname(not Dupp obviously).One day I received an alert that I had about 30 "relatives". in various Carribean islands .Imagine my joy at the thought of my relatives insisting that we visit them during winter months!!Anyway it was not to be.Apparently many freed slaves were given or took names with a "Biblical connection".My name also has a place in the bible e.g.Stan Leviticus(not) so my euphoria was short lived..Story of my life!!Stan.

[Grant, West Sussex]

Hi Barrowman,
I've used a variety of websites including ancestry.co.uk. There are a lot of people, particularly in Ireland, who are uploading content from Victorian newspapers and those can be very useful if you have Irish ancestors. Also if you type in "relative name" and then perhaps the name of the town where they lived into Google you could find out all sorts of things. I looked up my great uncle in that way and about five years ago there were a couple of references to him commanding a regiment but now there are lots more references including his gravestone. I've found my great grandmother's gravestone in Toronto in the same way.
There are also some good websites with census details on them too, I've found those very useful and if you know the name of a cemetery where people are buried you can often look things up on council websites.
Liz
x

Thanks for the info Liz, I have used Genes renuited and due to one of my grandparents having 8 siblings I have a tree that is very wide but have not gone back more than 4 generations. will take a look at ancestry and maybe see if I can head further back....

By the way, has anyone found a good place to print a family a tree so that it could hung on a wall..... A4 and sellotape just never looks that 'mounted'!

[Aplmac, Barbados]

Skeleton, anyone?

Apparently many freed slaves were given or took names
with a "Biblical connection".

Either that or the names of their ex-masters.

Today we find both black(ex-slave) and white families
with the same surnames but no real connection.


And then there are the cases where babies were born
on the wrong side of the blanket,etc.
.

[courgette, Llanrwst]

Try www.lostcousins.co.uk They offer a down load of a free family tree form, worth looking at.
Ancestry also offers to 'do' a tree at a cost!

[liauq, w mids]

husband's cousin is doing a family tree ; let's put it this way,we're not getting crested notepaper yet.i think the expression "salt of the earth" would be the best way to put it!

[oceancreek, Oldbury]

I'm lucky enough to live within reasonable travelling distance to local and county archives for many of my and husbands ancestors. Getting access to old wills and documents is fascinating although difficult to read. Most church records will be available at the archives in their area, usually in microfilm or microfiche format. Many areas have published records in book format. I managed to trace my husbands ancestors to the 1500's using a combination of family history search online, shropshire printed parish registers (almost a full set of them in the central library in Birmingham) and visits to Shropshire archives where they had handwritten copies of some of the very early church records. Type genuki Ireland into google. It helps if you've a more unusual name, ancestors who didn't move around much and the parish records haven't been destroyed.

[History Addict, Alfreton]

I've been researching mine on and off for years. In the male line I am back to 1690 but unfortunately although my ancestors had an unusual surname and lived in a small village there were 3 Johns around at the same time who could potentially be my ancestor and I can't see me ever finding out which is the right one.

There is a big branch of my family who moved to the US in the 1630s and are part of an association of people with the same surname - they are very proud of this as this gives some status in the US if you can prove you came over in the early days. They've never been able to prove via documents where they came from but my father has had his DNA tested and it is a perfect match with several of theirs which gives a high probability of a link within (I think from memory) 12 generations. It has been a very interesting exercise. We have trawled through so many passenger indexes to try and find when they went over. We think they were probably avoiding religious persecution as there are loads of records of my ancestors being fined for not attending church!

It is such an interesting exercise. So far I have done it all through county archives, the Society for Geneology and the National Archive at Kew. Luckily my family has always hoarded paperwork too so I got back to the mid 19th century before I even had to leave the house!

I haven't touched the research for a few years now but I keep meaning to sign up to one of these on-line sources and have another fresh look at it.

[Wansbrough, North Somerset]

It is such an interesting exercise. So far I have done it all through county archives, the Society for Geneology and the National Archive at Kew. Luckily my family has always hoarded paperwork too so I got back to the mid 19th century before I even had to leave the house!

I haven't touched the research for a few years now but I keep meaning to sign up to one of these on-line sources and have another fresh look at it.

I too have researched the family history, History Addict has it spot on with regard to methods. People seem to think that they just sit at their PC and find everything they need. I spent hours searching the BMD index's, parish records, and cross referencing and speaking to older relatives. Every little area gleaned its own little resource.
I also haven't touched mine for years, there is a limit to how far you can go back unless you are extremely lucky with parish records.
I ended up building a website after finding many other people with the same surname interested in their own particular branch but have sadly let it fall into neglect.

[Liz, Harrogate]

Very interesting replies. It's compulsive isn't it? You find out one thing and then it leads on to many more.

As a result of my great grandmother moving to Toronto in 1912 I've found records of her voyages back and forth to Belfast until she died in 1928 and also my great uncle's trans Atlantic trips.

The internet is just great because there are so many records on line, censuses, war records, Freemasonry, just wish I had more time!

Very interested in the DNA aspect, did look into it once but it was very expensive and at that time it only went through the mother's side of the family, might look into that again.
Liz
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