Ancestry.co.uk - Who do you think you are?

hethmar

lozza, have you joined Genes Reunited? There is also family tree forum, which is free - some of us old GR members set it up 2 and half years ago and it has a very helpful and immediate set of people to assist in your research.

I didnt realise this was the over 50s board, just responded to the post.

lozza77

Hi Hethmar, No I haven't but that sounds good. Is that one of thise sites where I can out in my surname and then find people who are researching in the same name? TIA

hethmar

Genes Reunited is the biggest one. Our site is no where as big but very friendly and active and some real super sleuths just waiting to help you with researching - you can enter name and what I like is, you can enter say just a village and see who your ancestors would have known who are ancestors of other members

sweety

Dont have the time to delve on my own - can anyone recommend a professional service to trace my tree, or have any comments which might be helpful?

Thanks very much

sweety

xxxx

hethmar

A professional service could cost you literally thousands. What do you want help with - "any comments which might be helpful"?

If you can do it yourself, its so much more rewarding than having someone else present you with info (and from my experience, possibly with incorrect info - knowing you arent going to check it out)

CIS

Its the sort of thing you can do in your spare time - an hr or two per week if you use ancestry.co.uk. I've done a few trees for people I know just becasue I like doing it and would love to do it as a job but I doubt it would be feasable these days with the likes of ancestry making it available to all but its still a good thing to do, even if it is someone else family tree.

hethmar

Ive done a few trees - I normally limit it to so many generations - for a donation to my dog rescue charity - but again, its really not what Id want someone to do for me. You need to have a passion for the subject, if you dont then its not worth having your tree as these people will be just names to you. Its the work that goes on once you get names, finding out their details, their occupations, wills, settlement certs, court cases and so on, that makes them into real people.

Grumpelstiltskin

In reply to Sweetie, a reasercher is a professional and they charge professional rates. Imagine saying to a solicitor find out about something it doesn't matter how long it takes you.

It is just not on unless you have bottomless pockets. Plus you miss out on the fun of doing it yourself.

How easy it will be depends on a number of things. Which country did you ancestors live in? England and Wales no problem, Scotland ...well the Scots know how to charge. Ireland.. don't even think about it if you are a beginner.

The best advice is to join a site like RootsChat or the BBC Family Trees message board. Both free and both with members who will help you.

A word of warning about Genes reunited. It is these days a haunt of name collectors. They are people who swoop on any unsuspecting person who has someone in their tree with a name they are interested in, it doesn't matter that your John Smith was born in London in 1832 and their John Smith was born in Glasgow in 1911 they ask if they can view your tree and then add the whole lot to their tree.

To get 2000 names in your tree when you have researched them yourself is hard work and yet some of these people claim to have trees many times the size of that.

A final word of warning the hobby is addictive so watch out.

LesD

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

A word of warning about Genes reunited. It is these days a haunt of name collectors. They are people who swoop on any unsuspecting person who has someone in their tree with a name they are interested in, it doesn't matter that your John Smith was born in London in 1832 and their John Smith was born in Glasgow in 1911 they ask if they can view your tree and then add the whole lot to their tree.

I agree wholeheartedly. I started off on GReU (a link from Friends ReU) but soon left it when I saw various comments.

Also, I would suggest this 'hobby' is a whole-life activity! I only started this year but have become so hooked I've even joined FreeBMD as a transcriber to put something back into the system.

For all those who don't want to pay the quite high subscriptions to places like Ancestry, can I say that you can do a lot for free on the various websites. After a while, the 14 day free trial on Ancestry will fill in many gaps and then the local library (most of which have a subscription to AncestryLibrary) will be enough for some time.

Only when you want to go back before 1837 will subscriptions be necessary.

The biggest gap in the free sites are the UK censuses. The index for 1881 is free, but even there you can't read the actual documents for free. One trick I've seen somewhere (may even have been on here!) is to use the AncestryLibrary access and then 'Share' the document with yourself (by email)! You can then print it at home.

Grumpelstiltskin

Les One free site that does get overlooked is FreeCen. Very patchy but if you are very lucky there are census returns on there. Also FreeREG The parish records site. I'm lucky in that one of the villages my ancestors lived in the on there.
Familysearch.org is another free site. 1881 census is on there and many parish records BUT and a big BUT be wary of any records that say 'submitted' without going into an expanation they are often well shall we say wishful thinking.