roadkill Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 How many have done or thought about doing a family tree and how far back have you gone? I quite fancy tracing back my family but reading a few sites it looks quite daunting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheasant Feeder Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Guy at work has done mine for me. He's made a hobby of it but is now innundated with research. Used Ancestry and a site by the Mormon church which does alot of cross matching with other family trees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun4860 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 i fancied it as well but was told its not cheap as you have to pay to use the sites... shaun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 i fancied it as well but was told its not cheap as you have to pay to use the sites... shaun I'm very into mine, easy to go back about 100 years or so but it gets harder after that. Yes you have to pay, its not free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Sarakun Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Years ago I too was curious, but put off by the cost. So I googled my sir name, then e mailed the people who came up. A few e mails later, and I have blood relations in Russia, Japan and the U.S. of A. The process was VERY interesting. Try it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddan Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I have done mine back to 1735 and am now stuck. If you are a local family you should be able to access census info from your local libary or family history centre for free. Getting back to around 1800 isn't too difficult with census information after that you are into local church registers which becomes more tricky especially if your family moved around a bit. Ancestry.com is amazing and if you out your tree on there (even private) you will soon find other peoples trees that cross reference yours and you can get a fair bit of info from them, treat them with caution though and check back the facts they give as not everyone is bothered on the source of their infomation. It is quite pricy though, they were billing me about £20 a month for full membership. As already said Church of Later Day Saints is also a great source of infomation and free. I also beleive before you start you should decide what your aim is, you can follow the male line back only or do both male and female which quickly becomes massive. . Once you start you will be hooked Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XD2 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I did think about doing this even recently after securing some domains for my surname, but I was put off by the monthly subscription as I proably wouldn't get much done. It would end up like my Sky subscription, something I pay for and don't really Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceman Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 My mum has done loads of work on ours and never had to pay for any internet sourced info, but she has travelled a fair bit around the country and done some hard slog in libraries etc. It helps that we have a fairly unusual name, but she has done very well and we are now in touch with relatives in Canada that we didn't know anything about before. Most annoying part is that on both mum & dad's sides we only have to go back 3 /4 generations and they are all living in stately homes, so the next job for her is to find out where all my rightful land and vast wealth disappeared to. One of the houses is now a hotel, we went there a few years ago and asked for it back but the receptionist was rather snotty about it so we are going to have to find a legal route. Mungler, I'll cut you in if you're interested, no win no fee mind you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 My grandfather's brother did our family tree many years ago, and it was discovered that my ancestor was responsible (with others) for executing Charles 1st! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Harry Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Mine goes back to the 1660's. Another relative did quite a bit then my dad added to it. I have some relatives from Jersey so that was very easy to research as all the Information is in one place. I think it's more interesting learning about the people. I found out about 3 relatives who died in WW1 on the commonwealth war graves commission website. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpkiller Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 you should be able to find your whole history for free by rights, from official records. My family name is bissell, for those who dont know thats the name of the equivalent american version of the dyson hoover company. half went to the USA some stayed in uk. my grandfarther was born in 1914, we are a long lived family. if people think they might get some enheritance from following this stuff, you have another thing coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddan Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) you should be able to find your whole history for free by rights, from official records. My family name is bissell, for those who dont know thats the name of the equivalent american version of the dyson hoover company. half went to the USA some stayed in uk. my grandfarther was born in 1914, we are a long lived family. if people think they might get some enheritance from following this stuff, you have another thing coming You can if you know where you need to look it. For me it was some of the interesting stuff and family myth you stumble upon. one of my relatives was a tin beater and was rumoured to have beaten the engine cowlings on the vivtor vimy the first plane to fly across the atlantic non stop, which in itself is quite cool, of course completely unprovable (we did try and couldn't disprove) but that led me to look the story up and the tale of the crossing is great. Typical USA throwing everything at the challange vs good old fasioned british courage and determination. Guess who won. Look it up if you get a chance. <link> My favorite bit The flight nearly ended in disaster several times owing to engine trouble, fog, snow and ice. It was only saved by Brown's continual climbing out on the wings to remove ice from the engine air intakes and by Alcock's excellent piloting despite extremely poor visibility at times and even snow filling the open cockpit. The aircraft was badly damaged upon arrival due to the attempt to land in what appeared from the air to be a suitable green field but which turned out to be the bog on Derrygimlagh Moor, but neither of the airmen was hurt. Their first interview was given to Tom 'Cork' Kenny of the Connacht Tribune. Alcock and Brown were treated as heroes on the completion of their flight.[11] In addition to the Daily Mail award of £10,000, the crew received 2,000 guineas from the Ardath Tobacco Company and £1,000 from Lawrence R. Phillips for being the first British subjects to fly the Atlantic Ocean.[12] Both men were knighted a few days later by King George V.[ There is also sad moments of family history, lots of children used to die young and it wasn't uncommon for 3 or 4 to die in each family unit. Together with calling each one the same name until one survived it is quite humbling. Also looking through church records where events weren't seperated out they were recorded on a daily basis like a diary, you see just how hard life was with pages of pages of death due to outbreaks of one thing or another. Dan Edited January 30, 2011 by reddan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azzurri Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I had a good look into my family history a few years ago. It was quite difficult to get started as my family originated from outside the UK and were forced to Anglicise the family name in order to become British Subjects,and the fact no shipping records were kept at that time for the Mediterranean made for slow progress,but with the help of members of a Geneaolgy Forum and being able to order microfilm through the Mormon Church I soon got on the right path. If you have a thought to find out more about your family,do it.You never know where it will take you or what you'll find out. GOOD LUCK !!!!! Azzurri. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattslaptop247 Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 I've been doing mine for the last 5 years or so using ancestry and genes reunited. I'm back to the 1500's on one branch of it. If you use ancestry you can pay by the month. I just pay my £10 or so for a month, do what i can then cancel my subscription when I've hit a dead end, then go back and re-subscribe a few months later and do a bit more. They seem to be adding more records all the time. You get 14 days free trial, then you can change package, get another 14 days then change on to the third package and get another 14 days free! It doesn't work out expensive like that! with the top package you get the parish record like you get in the local church for baptisms, burials etc, these are the things that get you really far back. Good luck, it's addictive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gloker Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 My uncle is a headmaster of a school in Mansfield and they did some school project on genealogy (is that how you spell it?) he traced the male line of our family (my surname) back to the 1600's . We are pretty much related to everyone with the same surname in England. Threw up some great family secrets. My grandfather was raised by his aunt after his mother died soon after childbirth. His real dad (the blood line uncle was tracing) abandoned him and did a bunk, so we could have stopped there really! His 'new' parents never formally adopted him and he was raised knowing nothing about it until enlisting at the outbreak of ww2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Geordie Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 (edited) Ours is a Family PALM as were all Banana's :lol: Seriously though my Old man has been tracing our Family history now for a few years and has got back as far as the 17th century IIRC it's quite an interesting read! It also transpired an old girlfriend I had was actually RELATED through my mothers side of the family Also were possibly related to my friends Girlfriends family also Small world Edited January 31, 2011 by Lord Geordie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigrob Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 It's not daunting at all - online websites such as free BMD's and Family search IGI are free. Look out any old Marriage certificates and start from there . Bigrob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren m Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 guys -- are there any family tree websites that are free to use ie no fees i,d like to have a go but with a surname of smith i dont want to waste my money thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XD2 Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 guys -- are there any family tree websites that are free to use ie no fees i,d like to have a go but with a surname of smith i dont want to waste my money thanks There are a few free research sites mentioned above but I also got the software from myheritage.com to put all the info into. It is great for free and you can upgrade if you want for more advance matching features (I haven't though). This thread actually made me bite the bullet and make a start before I have no family left to ask for details Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddan Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 (edited) guys -- are there any family tree websites that are free to use ie no fees i,d like to have a go but with a surname of smith i dont want to waste my money thanks The best way to do that is asking relatives, family bible ?? and family photos. Get to you oldest known relative no matter when that is and look up the marriage and birth info, from that you should be able to tell the parents of that individual and then start on that one. Births Deaths and Marriages and family knowledge is the best way to get past the hundred year closed census period then once you have a relative that was born before 1901 you can use the census info. If you don't find the parent in census info by searching for them try the child no matter how young at the time. Strangley that is how I found most of the family units via the kids. This thread has prompted me to have another look at mine, last night i rejoined ancestry.com and found my great grandads WW1 service record, so thanks all. You can search the records for free on ancestry, it won't show you all the info but you can pay as you go to see them. Dan Edited February 1, 2011 by reddan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 My cousin did ours a few years back, got so far by herself then had professional help, our family (on my dads side) came over from Ireland in the early 1700's, bought a couple of farms and a pub around cilcain and there they stayed and my grandfather from my mums side also came from Ireland might have something to do with potato's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GW80 Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 My sister has taken an interest in this sort of thing lately, the rest of the family is more of the thought of leaving sleeping dogs lie, i think there may be a few skeletons in closets that they reckon would better be left alone. Personally i couldn't give a toss about my family tree i knew my parents and my granparents and that is enough for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutieb Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 it aint to bad to use the web sites it costs the money sending off for the birth ,marrage , death certificates,which you do need to prove the dates the wifes done mine but hers goes back to 800 ad sofar,!!!!!!..... the highlight of mine was my granddads brother was a tramp !!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruff Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 did my mother side of the family as it is very rare name...manage to get back to around 1066 and found out i'm part french Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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