Searching Family Tree - Any Advice Please

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Yesterday we signed up with Ancestry and have started creating my Wife's Family Tree.

Good fun actually! We have worked out how to work the website and are already back to Grandparents and possibly Great Grandparents.

All cross checking is being done to make sure we aren't going down a blind alley and we are saving all documents etc we are locating such as births, deaths and marriages plus the Census.

I know not to buy certificates through them thanks to EricsMum as they are expensive but are there any tips or hints I should be aware of please.

What shocked me was I found what my Sister has done for my side of the Family. Hells teeth she has gone back centuries! Bunch of rogues.

[DisneyExplorer]

That’s the only thing about Ancestry as they are quite expensive to purchase certificates and the subscription is really pricey.

[Mqt]

My father in law did his and went back centuries! I know he somehow got lots of info from the Mormon Society. The family weren’t religious but apparently the Mormon Society hold a lot of ancestry info.

[Twiggy1953]

Best to go straight to GRO for certificates. They are cheapest and for some certs they are trialling PDFs which are even cheaper. 1939 register is good if you’re doing recent history as it has dates of birth on, although they are not always correct. Usually it’s the year that can be wrong but day and month correct. Beware it is very addictive. I started mine in 1990, back when you had to visit register offices and graveyards/churches. If you ask my daughter what she remembers from her childhood she says she spent a lot of time in graveyards! Anyway point being I still haven’t finished as new information is always being released.

[MrsBC]

Check all the hints that come up (the green leaves) as you can access other's trees that way. I really enjoy doing this - I have got back to 32 gr,gr,gr grandparents for most of my branches, and much further back for many of them, and its so easy to get sidelined by looking at people who 'married in' and children. Earliest is 1300s, luckily there is a huge family tree online for that particular family.
Beware - it's addictive

[kateh134]

Following with interest!

I’ve been tinkering with mine for a while and yesterday started to collate the notes I’d made while going through various documents. I knew it was going to be time consuming and spent three hours on it yesterday without achieving a huge amount. A website I came across is ‘find a grave’ which may help for older generations. I’m not signing up to any of the main sites until I’ve collated information I already know one side of the family spent many years in India and the previous generation was Canadian. Also doesn’t help the surname was Smith!

[Mr Tom Morrow]

A tip I picked up off somebody was to sign up for the 14 day free trial and cancel on day 13. Then wait for free offers around Bank Holidays etc.

We have already found a bit of scandal in 1904. God love the Housekeeper with a baby.

[RachaelC]

I have no idea about family history research but you may also find a free trial with Find My Past too, so you may be able to bounce between the two without paying

[Amazing-Grace]

FreeBMD is worth noting and try varying spellings of names.

I love certificates because you can pick up extra info like informants & witnesses.

Check inquests where possible in local newspapers.

I love all this and you’ve whet my appetite to get involved again 😍

[MrsBC]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

A tip I picked up off somebody was to sign up for the 14 day free trial and cancel on day 13. Then wait for free offers around Bank Holidays etc.

We have already found a bit of scandal in 1904. God love the Housekeeper with a baby.

See more...

I've found a few 'other side of the blanket' type tales and then I got a shock when I found a murderer - still alive in Broadmoor when I was a child! My gran and her sisters all knew about it but never said a word.
Also managed to confirm a family story of living next door to Mary Ann Cotton the child murderer when she was arrested.