Genealogy Chat

Liz Sorry to rain on your parade but you cannot access the 1911 by citing the Freedom of Information Act! The FoIA does not apply where a date has already been set for the release of given information - in this case, Jan 1st, 2012. You CAN, in theory, access it, if it may contain vital information which you cannot get in any other way. In practice, this means that only applications from Solicitors, etc, will be admitted, usually in pursuit of a family fortune, or a disputed will. The fact that you deperately want to know who Auntie Ethel was shacked up with in 1911 is not considered an important enough reason! I am sorry you have problems with A2A - it is a difficult site to search, I find, but has always been well worth the effort - a lot depends on which County, of course. OC

Thank goodness Im not the only one who couldnt work out how to use A2A!! I dont feel as dim now, lol. Am sure theres a wealth of info on there, that makes it so annoying that some of us cant get to it!!

From 1800, I find it intresting that all the male members of my mother's paternal line died before the age of 60, some well before. My ggf died aged 27. The only one I have traced who has lived longer is my cousin, and he would not have made it without modern heart surgery. His younger brother died in an epileptic fit aged about 40. david

OC I am actually trying to find my Mother's Father. All record of him seems to have vanished after 1950. I did come across somewhere in my searches a site that provides an application thing for it. A family fortune may well be involved (y' never know he might have gone off and made a million lol), but I'm actually more interested in the genetics of breast cancer being passed down. Liz

Do you know, I am going to be really pedantic here. As soon as I mention family history, people ask 'how far back have you gone?'. My answer is that I am not concerned about going very far back, only as far as I can definitely PROVE. My aim is to tell their story, not just list names and dates. As far as I am concerned, we are lucky to find actual proof of an ancestor b.c. 1780. We can actually learn something of their lives. Before that, unless you are very lucky, it's just names and dates. Family history to me is just that--- a history of the family---their story, as distinct from genealogy which is just a family tree. Nothing wrong with that, it's just different. Sorry for the rant!

Liz In that case, your GP or specialist could possibly make an application on your behalf. As I understand it, though, you have to ask a specific question about a named individual - they won't give you the rest of the people in the household - and you have to know where they lived - a non-starter for virtually everybody. Think I was very lucky with A2A, I am so computer thick that I don't ever expect anything on any site to be easy, so just plodded through all the hits one at a time, took me months. Worth it though. Do remember - it is not an archive, or a repository, it is just an index of loads of different documents and where to find them - bit like a phone book I suppose. I agree there is no point in collecting names and dates, I too want to know about the people and their lives - mostly I have got this, that is if I can find them at all. I have said this before, but will say it again - Genealogy is 90% LOOK and 10% LUCK. OC

I regard A2A as my magic lucky dip or treasure trove. You just don't know what you might unearth. It might be dross, it might be gold, but please let there be something! Jay