That what I do..Go away from it for a bit. A break can help ypu.
Anyone want to start theirs? we could help point you to a few places to look.
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All those ancestory web-sites - I never get anywhere with them. I type in all my various relatives names or dates, or places, and have never yet got a result. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...ars/e20301.gif it's like none of us existed ! ha!
First thing you need to do is write down all that you know. Start with your parents and your grandparents. Ask older relatives if they can help or if they have any family stories. Anyone killed in ww1 or ww2 can be found. Then its checking births,Marriages, Census records. If you have common names its hard, but not impossible. My mum was a Johnson. Her mum was Hughes who married a Hughes...Nightmare.
Using a family tree chart ( loads on tinternet for free ) you can fill it in and it gets easier to understand.
Tribal Pages has a very good one for free. Or use Ancestry.com. You dont need to subscribe to build your tree.
people from Merseyside should start at the Merseyside Genealogy and History Forum http://genchatfriends.proboards.com/index.cgi Very good for help, and very friendly.
Dont expect too much too soon, Patience is the key to this...But when you find them its chuffing grand.
Plus you can ask for help along the way :PDT11
Be aware that you will probably uncover some sad things along the way, but its all your history.
My family come from Sweden on my mums side and It was great finding this out. explains where my stunning good looks come from :unibrow:
Just the opposite for me Lindy, me pc's clogged up with info and images.
...at the LDS web site. www.familysearch.org
An example of 3 minutes on the web site is shown here...
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...look-up-needed
...and, did I mention it's free?
even with relatives I know about, .. I look them up just to see if they are listed and I always, always get the same result ' not found'
I've tried all the sites listed and never get anywhere. There was a site featured in the Echo the other night, so I tried it. Guess what - 'not found' !!
I've looked in the Mormon sites too.
I'm back to 1811 at the moment with a James Dandy who funnily enough lived on Mason Street in Edge Hill haha.
Have been doing mine since 2001, gradually fitting it all together like a jigsaw.
Have come across a lot of interesting stuff in fact today I have just received an email from Ancestry.com who sent me my certificate of birth. It confirms that I was born at home in Springfield Place( four squares).
It's all taken a lot of time but well worth it ,when I first started some of the info was hard to get hold of but theres so much more information accsesible on the net now.
We got most of our info from the Public Records Office at Central Libary, the staff are very knowledge and helpful.
The Mormon site - Family Search - is mostly useful for earlier records (17th and 18th centuries), after that they start to get a bit patchy the more recent the records.
As you probably know it's only since 1837 that births, marriages and deaths have had to be registered by law - before that it was just the local churches that recorded them, and this is where the mormons (LDS) records are useful.
They have a vast collection of filmed church records that they and many volunteers transcribe. I do a bit myself and the advantage over official online records is the extra info you get from them.
The censuses records are a great source of info and good fun too
Here are a couple of useful sites for genealogical interest/research,some searchable!
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb....com/~hibernia/
http://www.parishregisteruklook-upex...o.uk/index.htm
http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index...ard,21.75.html
http://www.liverpool-genealogy.org.u...ys=0&start=600
http://www.tpcliverpool.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
my sister has been doing ours for years now, she's gone back to early 1700's on my mum's side, and is now back to the late 1800's on my dads. lots of intresting things you find out when researching family. we've had a strongman, music professor, captains of ships, football manager (i think) and a lord :D
she goes to a meeting every other week in wigan, were people gather to talk about research and offer advice and tips.
I am back to 1672 with my fathers side, I have a family website and have had 9226 hits from all over the world plus numerous emails.
I keep going back and doing a bit at a time as it can become very addictive.
Been trying to do mine for a while but before 1940 all family in southern ireland cant find hardly anything.....................any suggestions peeps?
Try this,the 1911 irish census!:nod:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/
Can go back to the early 1800s on my dads side, then hit a brick wall, what amazed me was family has always been settled in roughly the same area of Liverpool,I know where most lived and nice to know where you come from,ROOTS:)
My brothers began our research back in the late 1970's and we've all taken a turn over the years. Since I gave up work a few years ago I've been doing a lot of research and found relatives in various parts of Wales, England, Ireland, Denmark and Canada. It can be very addictive but also very tiring but once I get the bit between my teeth with a new lead then I'm off again! :034: :)
Family surnames: Reid, Roberts, Staines, Brawn, Turner, Hegarty, Harvey, Hardy, Birch, Griffiths, Lucas, Nolan, Jones, Smith and many more........................
I'd agree with you that it is very addictive !, and also add expensive with the cost of certificates etc !....just a thought I wonder how many of us are looking for "Jones" connections :rolleyes:, mine came from Llanfyllin !
I have a hughes married to a Johnson. tried for ages to trace the Johnson side, nightmare, until I got the marriage certificate and found the real spelling was Johansson, and was born in Sweden. Then by getting other certificates and census returns I discovered that John Peter Johnson was really Johan Petter Johansson. He had left Sweden as a young man looking for work. After settling in Liverpool he changed his name to English versions probably to fit in. Because of him I am here today, and because of him I have Blond Eyebrows.
Oh tell me about it! Those Jones/Evans/Edwards in Wales! and then the patronymics in Wales, Shetland and Norway!! Still love it though AND helping out so if you've any queries I will try to find out what I can for you all.
I have an Edward Edwards from Halkin b 1827ish, a David Jones (tanner) b1805 Llanrwst and a John Evans b 1805 ish living in Trefriw, possibly born there. All three are brick walls that I can't seem to get round, any help gratefully received, Best of luck, Flower
when I gain contact with a newfound 'distant rellie' I'm only too happy to e-swap all famhist documents/info/photos as it helps both side. I've done this with several cousins in Canada, Denmark, London, Essex, Cheshire and Liverpool (my birth city) and it saves a lot of money and time trawling various website, most of which charge the earth. I also, where possible, try to swap research in that if somebody wants something checking where I live and they can check something their end for me, we do so. It's a great way to save on the £'s and also make new friends. I was just trying to check something on the Irish BMD site and was appalled to find they wanted 5 euros to look at each of the many possible matches that showed up!
Same with the Scots....
But luckily they let the Mormons microfilm all of the Scottish church records in the 60's, and they are still available for free through the LDS web site.
I never knew what the Mormons I met did when they said they had been to Scotland on a one year "mission" - they must have spent the year just copying records - which ended up being good for us tracing family...:)
And this was all before computers and the internet was invented...:Smiliz_Kingz_PDT_13
I am researching Heron and I found her family all were baptised and married in the 1700's and 1800's at St. Peter's church, long gone but the same church had Herron also!!! Family , spelling mistake, who knows. Makes it harder
Like me trying to do my family tree, looking for my dad born in somerset as william john found his birth but after
that nothing. Eventualy found he switched his names round to john william and I found allsorts about him and
even found some living relatives, takesa longgggg time to find things