Genealogy Chat

Think I have just knocked down one of my brick walls !!!!!!!! G Grandfather SMITH. Pretty sure I have just found his marriage. This is the first ancestor I tried to find but after months I gave up and started on the other side. Feel i'm getting somewhere now. Will go to bed!!! Jean

I should be in bed!! I've just ordered my first two certificates. They wont be despatched untill 9th dec, I cant wait ! Did you find your soldier and sailor Valerie? I found my grandads brother on the wargraves sight. Sadly my grandad is not alive, im sure he would have liked to have known, I dont think he did.

I'm another one. Not only the ironing but the washing, the dusting the vaccing etc. Its got to the stage where I can't think of anything else and my tree is spreading wider and wider! Tell myself not to switch the 'puter on and 'MUST go to bed early tonight' but here I am still looking for links. Of course we will never finish the tree! Good hunting, Jean

and what about the dreams I dreamt the other night I was surrounded by Soldiers in every room, it was so weird, this was after I had been on the War Graves site looking for a Soldier and Sailor that had been killed . I am going to Bed later and later and as for doing the Ironing what Ironing???????????

Kerry, I know exactly how you feel. I too feel closer to my late mum through doing this. I cant explain how warm and secure I felt looking at the headstones of my GGPx4, her GGPx3. It just felt that there is this continuity, real people and we are thinking about them now after all this time. The strangest thing was when I met my distant cousin last week for the first time, he had my mums eyes. I couldnt believe it. I mean we share GGPx4 and yet he looked like my mum and he said I looked like his neice and had same laugh. Isnt that weird but how very comforting!

Strange, my 15yr old son is into wargamimg too, perhaps the anorak thing is in the blood!

I suppose it is like any hobby, those of us interested in what we love will never understand why everyone else should not be as interested. Lou, my son and my three grandsons (my daughter's boys) all share youyr husbands hobby of 'toy soldiers', or to give it its official title 'wargaming'. every Christmas sees me throwing myself at the mercy of the poor fellow in the shop that sells these 'toy soldiers' as yet more sets of the things are requested. And aren't they expensive too??!! And i can't understand their obsesion with this hobby either. Ann Glos

Hi, i'm really new to this and wow! it is so exciting and obsessive. It has also been a bit of a healer for me as I lost my mum earlier this year. Searching for long gone relatives is making me feel more connected to her, I dont know why. All those 'dead people' were very much loved by someone and it would make me very happy if I knew someone was going to think about my mum in a hundred years or so from now! Long live the anoraks of this world!

Can I put my name down for one now. I will wear my anorak with pride. Mind you it will keep us warm when we crawl around graveyards. Oh dear I sound like my mum...

Yes, its great being an anorak, isnt it. Ive waited all my life to be one instead of the rebel! I get glazed looks from nearly everyone. I did hubby's tree back to Ireland to placate him about the time I spend on here looking up stuff. He just looked, nodded and said, it means nothing to me! I cant understand it. I am absolutely fascinated by it all. The great thing was this week when a distant cousin I had contacted through this site actually came up to do some research. We met up and it was like meeting an old friend, no uneasiness, just mates immediately. We sat there with about a Norwegian forest of paperwork between us and not one glazed look from either of us!! Hubby walked in, looked at us with papers all over the floor and just walked out again. PS, I wonder if GR will think about producing an anorak with the GR symbol on it for us to buy!!! (Bit like their efforts with the school reunion cd).

I'm doing husband's tree which is fascinating as he was orphaned as a small boy and he has nothing but memories. Although he isn't into doing the researching he's definitely interested in the results.

I've always wanted to be an anorak but could get never get excited about trains and planes. So I'm officially one now...BRILLIANT! Lou

Like Lou, I've been met with indifference about this hobby, also "polite smalltalk", but it's interesting in that every so often one of my family will sneakily ask my parents if I've found out anything recently! They're always interested then! We seem to be thought of as anoraks! :-) Glenys.

People ask me if I`m finished my tree yet-I don`t think I`ll ever finish as there`s always a new branch to go down or wills to find -I`m waiting for 2 just now. It`s a fascinating hobby and I love it! Rosalyn

It's when you wake up at 3am and suddenly get the urge to carry on and end up sitting there till the milkman comes that you know you're now officially mad! My hubbie can't understand my fascination with 'the dead people' as he calls it. This coming from a guy who paints miniature figures and has battles with them for a hobby! My parents were only mildly interested when i started this and began pumping them for info. Now they're on the phone every couple of days wanting to know the latest and Mum even crawled around her attic a couple of weeks ago to locate boxes she knew had certificates it. It's definitely infectious! Lou

I agree with alot of what you say, but I still get used to the glazed look when I tell someone in the family a "really interesting" piece of information and know I am just going to have to tell them all over again just who it is I am talking about. Others, like my husband and daughter have caught the bug to a lesser extent. There is one thing that I really hate, that is the question posed by people who know my hobby and think they really should mention it - they all do it - "how far back have you got now?", as if it is some kind of race to the finish - or should I say start! Keep at it, have fun, Regards, Yvonne

When I started "doing my family tree" I didnt know what a Pandora's box I opened. All these people, I never knew, were like wraiths floating in my head desperate to be recognised. Even when I am doing my job threads of ideas to research creep in, trails to follow and dead ends to bang your head against. This must be the most frustrating hobby in the world. Because once you let them out they will NEVER be put back without a fight. But when you do find a trail and can follow for a while its well worth the time. When I started my family thought I was a bit of an nerd, they even pass on info they find now. Catching isn't it.......? Julie