Family Tree Research (merged)

Shez

I too started recently on my family tree and managed to find out names of grandparents that I didnt know before, probably because my dad was quite old when I was born.

Anyway, I would like to "trace forward to the present" to see if anyone of my dads brothers/sisters and their children are around, as my dad died 20 yrs ago, its a long shot that one of his brothers would still be alive and if so would like to trace them to talk about their side of the family -

so my question: is the only way of coming forward mean I have to go all through the records at the familyrecords centre by hand, cos I dont think there are any recent records online after 1920's - am I correct??

Also if you have found peoples occupation on their certificates, how do you go about finding where they worked?

StockportGerbil

Hi!
I've been tracing my tree on and off for 15 years and there's still lots to do! :-) In terms of doing it cheaply...

As recommended first get as much info from your family, talk to them and take notes, borrow old photos, documents, letters whatever. This shouldn't cost you anything except phone bills and gym membership to work off the cakes and biscuits you were given while being told this stuff. Scan the photos and old documentation in so it's recorded for posterity.

Also get a genealogy program. Family Tree Maker as recommended here is OK, but PAF (Personal Ancestry File?) is free from https://www.familysearch.org. I personally use Family Historian, which like Family Tree Maker is not free.

Once you've collated the info you've collected in your genealogy program (remember to record your sources - you will come across info that is misleading or just plain wrong, so when you've got conflicting info, if you know where it came from you may be able to work out which is the good.)

More and more info is appearing online.

Free and useful sites are :-

https://www.freebmd.org.uk - most birth, marriage and death indexes
https://www.familysearch.org - 1881 census and the IGI
https://www.genuki.org.uk - details of sources and their locations

Assuming your family originate from where you live now your main library (failing that the county record office) should have census entries on microfilm and with a bit of luck indexes for the period 1841 to 1901. Otherwise if you live in London this is all in the Family Records centre.

Another place to go is your local mormon church, (details from family search above), which have local resources on microfilm and can order microfilms nationally for a nominal fee (£3 or so).

Ancestry is busy making the census available, which is dead useful - but it's a pay site. Depending upon what your ancestors got up to then there may be some info in the public recods office at Kew. Free to use and visiting the place really is an experience. :-)

Regards

Kevin

Sheel

There is another thread on tracing your family history HERE where I posted a few links my sister gave me that she found useful in her search for our family history. Some may already have been mentioned , but I believe some have not so hope they are of use

pavlovs_dog

thank you very, very much to all who have taken the time to respond.

it is something i have long ben interested in, but have been discouraged from by certain members of the family who are worried about skeletons, dark secrets emerging etc. my family is very small, and no one gets on at the best of times. also, as my parents divorced when i was small, i have never really known my fathers side of the family. therefore i see this as the opportunity to get to know my relatives as it were, both past and present.

thank you all very much for your help and encouragement, im looking forward to making the time to sit down and get started!

andykolo

My partner and I have just had our second baby. Shes French and hasnt seen most of my family i downloaded a family tree program to show her my extended family and how they are linked but its very hard to use and as it was a trial program after a certain numbers of entries wont let me input any more.

So money savers any good programs to recommend i dont mind paying for it but off course any free programs would be great, but preferrably good quality programs.

StockportGerbil

Hi!
Personal Ancestry File (PAF) is free from the https://www.familysearch.org web site and it is well thought of. If you're feeling flush Family Tree Maker is very good if you're starting out.
Regards
Kevin

iwanttosave_2

hello all, didn't have a clue where to put this one, but OH is interested in researching his family tree, and anything that keeps him quiet is great with me. Only problem is, all the website we have been on are subject to subscription fees.

Does anyone out there know of any free websites which can help him.

Thanks!!

stellagypsy

Hi there, this is an obsession of mine also.

Free sites are a bit hit and miss, it depends how far you are into your research project / where you live v where you are researching / how far back you have got. EG - I discovered ancestors in Wirksworth, Derbyshire and found a brilliant totally free site crammed with parish record transcripts and other stuff - fantastic, I got all the family in one night going back several generations. On the other hand, OH has Irish ancestors on 3 lines, plus a mysterious scandinavian on another which is a complete dead loss. I also have 5 generations of canal boatmen who have "disappeared" for 20 years between 1861 and 1881 and I can't find them - they will turn up, but where????????

I am now at the stage with some lines where I am having to pay for info but this is only where I have exhausted the obvious lines of enquiry and it is necessary to do this to get further back.

If you can give me a bit more info, I will try and help you out.

Stella

iwanttosave_2

we've only just tried and can't even find any records for my grandparents. We only just wanted to do it out of intrest to see what we could turn up

stellagypsy

OK, have you yet interrogated your oldest living relative on that side of the family? Get to this person before it is too late, I regret not grilling my grandparents more about stuff (I even had a great grandmother alive at one point, oh how I wish I could have spent an hour with her), or if it is already too late, try and recall all the family anecdotes about "great uncle-this with the wooden leg" and "auntie-that who was married three times", it is all relevant and no matter how far fetched it seems, there will be an element of truth in it.

Do you have a birth cert for the relevant parent who was born to these grandparents? This will be your best bet to track them down. Look at that person's birth cert - it gives father's name and mother's name with her maiden name, plus the child's place and date of birth. You can work out roughly when the parents married by taking in to account any siblings ages and working backwards. If you know the area they lived in, you should be able to get the registry office to conduct a limited search for you if you can be fairly precise with the details (some are more helpful than others in this respect).

The latest census you can look at is 1901 so if grandparents were alive then they will be on there (all 4 of mine were all babies in 1901!). If you can get back to someone living in 1881, I have a full census set of CD's for the UK and I will look them up for you if you PM me the details.

You may not find records online for your GP's as they could theroetically still be living. The assumption is that 100 years is the time that people could still be alive so the unwritten rule is you don't put stuff on websites about potentially "live" relaltives.

Let me know how you get on. I know loads of sites, I just need to know a bit more to direct you to the best ones. I am researching the East Midlands area, Northumberland, Durham, Cumbria and Middlesex plus Canal Boatmen and Irish and Norwegan people so if you have any interests in these areas, I will certainly have some good sites for you.

Stella xx