Family Tree Research (merged)

iwanttosave_2

well i have a grandmother from ireland that has just recently passed away, but also have family from derby, england and also from salford, england. i have just been on genesreunited and started a family tree but can't get passed my grandparents. have a few leads that i will contact my grandad about, and will speak to my dad's side of the family when i get the chance.

StockportGerbil

Hi!
OK - if you're just starting out, the first priority is to collect as much information as you can from living relatives. Obviously start with the older ones first, make notes, borrow / acquire what paperwork you can (birth, marriage, death certificates, wills, older photos etc.) Then you're going to need to collate it on a computer. PAF downloadable from https://www.familysearch.org is OK and free and I think there are other free software genealogy programs available.

As for the sites; try the following...

https://www.freebmd.org.uk - national index for births marriages and deaths
https://www.familysearch.org - Access to IGI (good for some pre-1850 birth and marriage records) and 1881 census
https://www.genuki.org.uk - UK genealogical info
https://www.ukbmd.org - different national index for births marriages and deaths
https://www.cyndislist.com - the ultimate collection of sites!

Ultimately you will have to pay for some birth and marriages certs. The 1901, 1891, 1871 and 1861 indexed national census coverage at https://www.ancestry.co.uk helps alot.

Good luck!

Kevin

ginger_nuts

be prepared for some skeltons to come out . My two brothers did a family tree .It turned out my great grandmother wasnt married and had 2 children .she was also up in court for throwing stones .There was a newspaper article refering to her having been in court and having 2 illegitimate children .She went to Scotland and her children 8 & 2 where put into care .There is no further record of her . There is no record of who the childrens ( my grandmother ) father was .
My brother took great delight in telling my father( then aged 75 ) his mother was a b@stard .

cath-w

Go to your local library. Most Reference librarys have a local history section where you can view Parish Records, census returns, Poll Books, Felon Records, Army Lists etc. They will also be able to advise you on how to start searching.

The Library in which I work also has the local evening paper indexed from the day it started right through until today and this can yield a lot of information.

The main thing to do is look for any important facts in someones life, e.g. were they in the forces (if so you can look for medals, records etc) did they have a distinctive job (for example a silversmith will probably have a makers mark). Any information such as this can really help.

C.

stellagypsy

Quote -

well i have a grandmother from ireland that has just recently passed away, but also have family from derby, england and also from salford, england. i have just been on genesreunited and started a family tree but can't get passed my grandparents. have a few leads that i will contact my grandad about, and will speak to my dad's side of the family when i get the chance.

___end ---

Where abouts in Derby are they from? Do you live in one of the areas you are researching? If so you should head straight for your local library (the biggest one) or the local archive (there is one on Irongate, Derby which is pretty good). Pick one line to start with, the one you know most about - if your grandfather is still alive, that would be the one to go for, he would possibly be able to progress you back to HIS grandparents and then you are in to the late 1800's. I can get you back further with the 1881 census.

Kevin has given you some great sites, I like Cyndislist as a general one as you can look at individual counties and look for stuff there. There are a few others also which are locality specific. https://www.wirksworth.org.uk is the site I got a load of north Derbyshire stuff from, if that is any help. You can download Personal Ancestral File from the familysearch.org site to keep your records on if you do not already have a family tree programme.

Ginger - yes, thee skeltons are fascinating. Also family feuds are interesting - OH has 2 lines with huge family rifts because of inappropriate marriages, I have got them both now, one took some sorting as the name was a very common one and identifying the correct people was a nightmare.

I also hate the ancestors who appear to have been beamed down in a space ship - ie when you can't find where they came from or where they went - gggggggggrrrrrrrrr!!!

I also have 2 lines in the same small town who intermarried generation after generation. I don't think they even looked at anyone else, they just married their cousins. I use Family Tree Maker for my record keeping and did the relationship checker only to find I am my own cousin 4 times over! (OH says this explains a lot!).

This is a very absorbing and fascinating hobby and a very frustrating one at the same time. Let us know how you get on.

Stella

StockportGerbil

Hi!
I've had a few skeletons dropping out of cupboards, for the more recent ones you do need to be aware of the sensitivities involved. While talking to all family members is important as I mentioned last night, I've found a number of instances where their recollections are not entirely accurate (to put it mildly) so do try and double check.

Another free web site I should have mentioned last night is https://www.rootsweb.com. The mailing lists there are dead useful for specific advice and guidance.

Have fun!

Kevin

kipper_2-2

Hi

I too am tracing my family tree and I agree with all what has been said above.

Another site that you may find useful ( when you have some definnate names) is www.genesreunited.co.uk


I had a lot of info which I found out myself but I was getting into a rut with "missing relatives"

basically with genesreunited you put in a (definite) family name and see if there are any matches with other peoples family tree, I put a rellys name in (a rather unusual one mind!) and came up with a match! You do have to pay a £7.50 sub for a year which enables you to email the person with the matching relative,

Anyway, within a hour I had gained a new relative! It was really exciting, we have now found out so much about our respective sides of the family that we didn't know about.( the main link was a great great uncle that had moved to Scotland and the family had lost contact with)

mspig

Does anybody know any good but cheap sites that i can use to research my family tree as the ones which have come up in search engines seem to cost the earth.

Not genes reunited though thanks as ive been there already.

Wizwoo

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/
This is an excellent site and used to do free trials.

You could also try http://www.familysearch.org/

or http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

Then don't forget the bbc with http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/ that may have a few links to get you going.

OH has been researching his for years now and loves the ancestry web site.

Good luck.

madmoys

Have you tried this site;

http://www.rootsweb.com/

lot's of info, and if you follow the link to Mailing Lists
you could join a list for the area that your family came from