Ancestors - anyone any advice please?

[Guest sjs]

Since watching the show Who Do You Think You Are I have become really interested in doing a family tree. I have joined Ancestry.com and have a 14 day Free Trial but am struggling to get any good info at the minute. I have limited information to provide currently so thats probably not helping - but I did wonder about other peoples usage of this site. I am struggling to find my way round at the minute and if I dont get any break throughs in the next 14 days while it is a free service I might be slighty more reluctant to pay the subscription fee - anyone any advice?

 

Thanks in advance

[Moosh]

There are various websites to use for tracing your FT. The best one is www.ancestry.com, then there is www.familysearch.org, www.rootsweb.com, www.genesreunited.co.uk, www.freebmd.org.uk - these should help to get you started. You need to know details of one of your ancestors that was alive in 1901 and you should be able to follow it back from each census return (every 10 years) from there. The 1911 census is available to view at a cost.

 

If you are still stuck at a brickwall, send me as much detail as possible and I will have a look for you. I have been researching genealogy for over 10 years now.

 

Michelle

[lorluc]

There are various websites to use for tracing your FT. The best one is www.ancestry.com, then there is www.familysearch.org, www.rootsweb.com, www.genesreunited.co.uk, www.freebmd.org.uk - these should help to get you started. You need to know details of one of your ancestors that was alive in 1901 and you should be able to follow it back from each census return (every 10 years) from there. The 1911 census is available to view at a cost.

 

If you are still stuck at a brickwall, send me as much detail as possible and I will have a look for you. I have been researching genealogy for over 10 years now.

 

Michelle

 

 

Yeah...try those websites...I dont do as much now...just dont get the time...so have cancelled my subscriptions to ancestry and genes reunited...but its a fascinating thing to do...be careful, because once you start and get going on it...it will be become highly addictive!

[Pesty650]

Since watching the show Who Do You Think You Are I have become really interested in doing a family tree. I have joined Ancestry.com and have a 14 day Free Trial but am struggling to get any good info at the minute. I have limited information to provide currently so thats probably not helping - but I did wonder about other peoples usage of this site. I am struggling to find my way round at the minute and if I dont get any break throughs in the next 14 days while it is a free service I might be slighty more reluctant to pay the subscription fee - anyone any advice?

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

Hi, I have been researching my family tree for years, and it's very addictive. The best thing to do is write down everything that you know at the moment, and get as much information as you can from living elderly relatives. The first census to look at is the 1901 census if you can get information for relatives around that time.

Be careful with looking at censuses as you can easily go off down the wrong track and start researching the wrong people. Ancestry.com is a good website to use, but it can take a while to get used to it.

I also recommend using genesreunited.com as other people can contact you and they might have useful information about your relatives. I have got some really great information such as photos, and wills etc from people I have contacted on this site.

 

Another useful tip is to make sure you know your relatives full names as lots of people go by other names. An example of this is my great grandmother who was always known as Phyliss, but her full name is Olga Madonna Phyliss. Being told that up front would have saved me a lot of time and hassle!

 

Another good (free) useful site is freebmd.com as you can find marriage records on there. You will also need to purchase copies of birth, death, or marriage certificates, and you can get those from General Register Office (GRO) - Official information on births, marriages and deaths They cost about £7 each.

 

Please feel free to PM me if you would like some help, as I love researching family trees. I have done quite a few for friends and family.

 

Marianne

[Rachiegarlo]

also freereg has baptisms and burials and marriages that can't be found anywhere else. Also on Ancestry if anyone else has similar rellies it will highlight it and you may get some clues from there. Good luck, it is addictive, bit like doing a jigsaw, you only need that piece and then you can do a whole lot more

[Diane]

Also check at your local library - I know ours at Tea Tree Gully runs regular "family tree research" groups - it's one of those things that you can quite happily get on with on your own, but it's also nice to have other people doing similar stuff to bounce ideas off, and celebrate findings with! When I did my research, I was working in Fleet Street just down the road from what was then the record office in London - had some very long lunch hours I can tell you - but that was before the internet was so good!!

 

Have fun, it's an absorbing pastime!

[Guest Martin and Val]

The Church of Jesus Christ Later Day saints is a great site to look through as stated above: FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records and FreeBMD Home Page is very good.

I've been doing genealogy now for many years although since coming to Oz I've found I don't have much time for it.

As has already been said it can become very time consuming and also expensive. Good thing though if I hadn't taken it up I probably wouldn't have been here in Adelaide as we first came to meet long distant relations and loved it here so much.

A few sites I've used in the past are:

www.a2a.org.uk

www.1914-1918.net

www.list.jaunay.com/ausnzpassengers

You may like to view my site which will give yu some idea how it can take over your life if you're not careful. www.thedarlings.net

 

Good luck with your search.

 

Martin

[Guest Fly Away]

I did a lot research about 10 years ago and haven't done much since but I'm thinking of taking up where I left off . It sounds like it has become very easy to access information on line which is a blessing. I have the LDS microfiche for 3 counties - WAR,STS and WOR if you need anything looked up. (I also have a fiche reader LOL)

 

I was wondering if an AdelaideBrits famhist group might be useful - share resources and experiences and have other slightly mad people to talk to about this as no one else is interested!

[Diane]

I was wondering if an AdelaideBrits famhist group might be useful - share resources and experiences and have other slightly mad people to talk to about this as no one else is interested!

 

Of course you mean a Poms in Adelaide famhist group!!!!

[Guest Fly Away]

Of course you mean a Poms in Adelaide famhist group!!!!

 

Of course I do!!!

[Moosh]

LOL that's funny! I have a great brickwall if anyone wants to help me???

[Guest rachinadelaide]

Also check at your local library - I know ours at Tea Tree Gully runs regular "family tree research" groups - it's one of those things that you can quite happily get on with on your own, but it's also nice to have other people doing similar stuff to bounce ideas off, and celebrate findings with! When I did my research, I was working in Fleet Street just down the road from what was then the record office in London - had some very long lunch hours I can tell you - but that was before the internet was so good!!

 

Have fun, it's an absorbing pastime!

 

Absolutely! Go to your local library. Port Adelaide Enfield library service subscribes to an ancestry database. Not sure how many other public libraries have it but it's certainly worth asking!

[Guest sjs]

I was wondering if an AdelaideBrits famhist group might be useful - share resources and experiences and have other slightly mad people to talk to about this as no one else is interested!

 

:biglaugh:

 

I am hooked already! Have been to the library today to stock up on Geneolgy Reference material and have the family working fast and furious to get as much history as possible before my free subscription runs out LOL! That is going to be the next difficult thing as I know I want to subscribe but how much do I want to pay for it? There seems to be so many options with the different sites

[Rachiegarlo]

I did as much as I could with ancestry before my free time ran out. Then I gleaned as much off other peoples trees as poss, but I think they have tightened up on this, you used to be able to see much more without paying. Also remember that the 1881 census is free to access. I then used to buy 10 credits for about $15, now I have full membership because I needed to access the London stuff they loaded on plus Canada and the US. Before this it used to cost me about $25 a month just for the UK stuff. You can downscale or upscale your level of membership at anytime, if you hit a brickwall or take a break.

[Pesty650]

Another thing to point out is that a lot of counties have their own websites with links to Parish Records that have been transcribed and put online, and are free to access. This is really useful, but is very dependent upon the county you are looking at. It's amazing the amount of material you can find online, but start off slowly and just build up from the basics.

 

The other thing I did was buy a some family tree software to install on my computer. That way I could build the tree in that and then export it to a website like genesreunited when I was ready, and if I wanted to share it. There are some really good software packages out there for family trees.

[Pesty650]

LOL that's funny! I have a great brickwall if anyone wants to help me???

 

always willing to help, and love a challenge!

[Rachiegarlo]

yep Lancashire online parish clerk is a good resource

[Guest Fly Away]

Wow sounds like there is so much more online now. 10 years is a long time to be out of the game.

[Guest sjs]

I am not getting a wink of sleep these days - and its nothing to do with our new puppy! She is sleeping soundly now

 

I am doing reasonably well with our family tree but I cannot see the 1911 cencus on ancestry.com? Is this because I am on the 14 day free subscription? I can view it - it seems - on genes reunited, but it only looks like the English cencus whereas I need access to the the Scottish and Irish? Need this one just to clarify I have the correct people from the 1901 cencus then I can take things forward.

 

Officially a geneAlogy geek :GEEK: !! And my family love me for it - I really hope to have a fantastic tree for my parents visit to Australia in September - I would recommend it to anyone.

[Guest moneypenny]

A bit of an experience looking back into our family history but daren't open the cupboard anymore as the skeletons keep falling out.

Back in the 1860's great grandfather left a wife with 4 young children to go with another woman and have three more, just like his father before him, 3 wives and heaven knows how many fatherless children.

[duncan-clan]

never done a family tree but i used to go on friendsreunited.com and added a note about my family...well i was contacted but someone asking some questions regarding my family which was really wierd anyway it turned out that my ansesters on my mothers side come from france dating back to 1700ad and pretty much my great great grandfather did a runner from frog land (france) and shacked up with a english lass...well i was given a copy of my family tree and it turned out i was the missing link to most of my family details they couldnt answer...so my family tree was completed but i would love to do my own family tree on my fathers side but being from east london and essex it want take long hahahaha

 

alex

[Diane]

A bit of an experience looking back into our family history but daren't open the cupboard anymore as the skeletons keep falling out.

Back in the 1860's great grandfather left a wife with 4 young children to go with another woman and have three more, just like his father before him, 3 wives and heaven knows how many fatherless children.

 

LOL Know what you mean about the skeletons! My Mum's grandmother apparently left her husband and three kids and went off with another man, and her grandfather then apparently did a bunk to Australia, leaving the kids to go into a children's home. I often wonder when I see the shoe shop "Fairley's" (there's one in Mount Barker) if the grandfather ever made it here and went into the shoe trade!! I have checked passenger lists at the migration museum here though, but couldn't find anyone listed. Not sure if those are just the ones for SA though...

[Guest sjs]

Just this minute found it - the Scottish 1911 cencus will not be made available till 27 March 2011 - how frustrating - needed a missing link to verify I have the right family from the 1901 cencus

 

Never mind will keep searching