Researching your family tree

[WhereIBelong]

A lot of ours came from the parish bibles - Dad's side was from a small island in Scotland...

The sad thing that got me was that my great great grandparents there had 16 children, but only 4 made it to adulthood.

Most died from scarlet fever - on a tiny island once it got on there there was no chance - a sobering thought in pandemic times... The names were reused - so 6 of those who had died had Christian names William James ...

[EssexSue]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

One of my Wife's ancestors was widowed aged 45. She got remarried some 5 years later in 1876 and knocked 20 years off her age! Carried that through until her death in the 1900's Little tinker.

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She obviously looked good for her age.

[Fairysparkled]

What is the best site to use for beginners.

[Floridadreams]

Is it possible to do without using Ancestry or do you need to pay the subscription so you can access records?

[kateh134]

It’s very addictive!

I joined Find My Past and that’s been helpful for my family. I started with the mid level subscription and then upgraded so I can look at newspaper records which has been really helpful. I managed to find an article detailing my great grandfathers life story who ran away from home and became is missionary in India. Another article solved the riddle of my uncle’s father which was a taboo subject for as long as I can remember.

My tips are:
- try to stick to one person at a time so you can keep your train of thought
- keep notes on paper and try to use the same page for the same person to cross check information
- be prepared for varying dates of birth and spellings for the same person

My bugbears are the same as others; using the same names for generations is not helpful and neither is reusing names after children die in infancy. My family is also particularly good at not using the name registered at birth and referring to people by a completely unrelated alternative!

[Melvin Pearce]

I am really lucky, my dad's cousin has done my family tree for me, we share great grandfathers.

My maiden name is Aylward and the most Aylward's live in Prince Albert Island Canada and wandered whether I had any relative there. Also there is Glady Aylward the missionary which the film "Inn of the sixth Happiness" is based on.

I haven't any relative in Canada or related to Glady. But our family goes back to being farmers in Essex/Suffolk

We wish everyone luck with their Family history.

Lesley

[Mpet]

Originally Posted by Floridadreams

Is it possible to do without using Ancestry or do you need to pay the subscription so you can access records?

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If you don’t use a site like Ancestry or Find My Past, all you will get is top level basic info from the free searches. In order to verify the free search details you will then need to buy copies of certificates. For example you may find a marriage record, but if it is a common surname you can’t be sure you have the right one unless you see the certificate with the bride and grooms fathers name/occupation/address. Ancestry has some (not all) scans of the marriage registers.

Ancestry does a free 14 day trial (not sure about find my past). It would be worth giving the free trial a go before committing.

[EssexSue]

Originally Posted by Melvin Pearce

I am really lucky, my dad's cousin has done my family tree for me, we share great grandfathers.

My maiden name is Aylward and the most Aylward's live in Prince Albert Island Canada and wandered whether I had any relative there. Also there is Glady Aylward the missionary which the film "Inn of the sixth Happiness" is based on.

I haven't any relative in Canada or related to Glady. But our family goes back to being farmers in Essex/Suffolk

We wish everyone luck with their Family history.

Lesley

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One of our local schools was called Gladys Aylward I'm sure we were told she came from Edmonton/Enfield area. We had an assembly about it but
it was a long time ago and I probably wasn't listening anyway.

[Libby]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

Stop using the same name for generations for each eldest Child! Having 8 people called John Robert Smith is confusing.

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DH has been researching his family for years. One problem he has had is names of babies that have died very young being reused for a younger child. Therefore all data matches but two different dates of birth.

Also handwriting on old documents is often mis-transcribe. Just recently he found that one of his ancestors was a "boob folder". Turns out they were a book folder working for a printer!

[EssexSue]

To be fair I suppose with very little communication outside of areas it's not surprising there are just less names to choose from. My family definitely favoured Plantagenet kings.