Genealogy Chat

Have you tried www.gencircles(.)com? I was contacted by the g.g.granddaughter of my g.grandparents as the result of putting my tree on this site. It's perfectly safe - all living persons details are automatically withheld. Easy to upload your gedcom. The more of us who share our trees on this site, then the more useful it will become.

Hi Linda, Like you, I am too trying to find information on rellies from St.Mary Cray. I have looked at and put my name on various sites but it seems that anyone searching for the same names is looking in America. If you find a useful source for that area, please let me know!! Many thanks, Jacky

Many thanks everyone! I've had a look at the british-genealogy.com site and have linked up with the Wilsthire mailing list - so will await the results with interest... Will also investigate some Family History Societies. I have to admit that, like others, I've found GC the most useful and helpful site to be linked with!!

I gave ancestry .com my e-mail address (no bank details) once. At that time, I looked up 4 different ancestors, all in England, Jarret Baker, Gifford Johnson, William Nicholas and George Prior. They keep sending me lists of ancestors in my tree that they have found - unfortunately all are in America and none have the right name. they've sent me William Johnsons, Nicholas Bakers anf George Jarrets! Try as I might I can't unsubscribe!!!

you could try www(.)british-genealogy(.)com, which is an attempt at a British-centred version of rootsweb. Fairly new, not many surname lists yet, but you can always start some

Linda, Have you tried the North West Kent FHS? I think there are some St Mary Cray records in Bromley Library. You could try phoning them to see what they hold for that area. They have the BMD indexes on fiche, the IGI and 1881 census, 1901 census online (you have to pay) and 1891 London census, as well as local censuses, parish records and electoral registers. Phone number is 020 8460 9955 ask for Local History. Janice

Linda - You can add to the Ancestry message boards without being a subscriber although I think you need to register your email address and a password. I've found several distant connections through their surname lists, and also several through the genealogy(.)com's genforums. I don't pay to access either of them. As far as the Rootsweb lists are concerned I subscribe to each one I'm interested in for a while until the number of emails gets too ridiculous. However you can just as easily browse or search the lists you're interested in - why not browse them at the end of each month. It doesn't take long to scroll through a month's worth of messages and you never know when something might be useful. Why not subscribe long enough to post your own message and then unsubscribe. If anyone has information for you they can always email you, or you can check later even if you have unsubscribed. It's always worth posting your own message on any of these sites - last year 4 distant cousins contacted me from the Devon surnames list and a few weeks ago I found two 2nd cousins for my husband - one on Genealogy Genforum and the other on the Ancestry message board from a message posted in 2000. Sue

Linda, I think you'd have more luck by joining the relevant Family History Society! The same deluge of irrelevant info hit me when I subscribed to some Rootsweb lists in the early days of my research ... like you, I deregistered VERY quickly! The local FH Societys are a bit of a 'slow burn' - until your contact details get published in the next month's magazine, not a lot happens! But they have proved useful. The most productive vehicle for me has, however, been Genesconnected! Happy hunting - and happy new year. Regs Jane

Has anyone found it helpful to link up with the various online Surname and Family Lists? I joined the Kent list in the hope of locating people who might have had some interest in the St Mary Cray area of Kent and perhaps even some of my more elusive ancestors. Each day I was swamped with messages from the Kent list, the majority of which appeared to focus on the Gillingham area and the various outside conveniences that people had grown up with... After a few weeks of these lavatorial memoirs, I unsubscribed from that list and have since linked up with several of the Rootsweb surname lists. Each day I receive a dozen or so messages from each – but nearly all of them relate only to people researching American ancestors. I think you have to be registered with Ancestry in order to make submissions to these lists (and that’s something I’ve tried to avoid) however I think Ancestry is probably more popular on the other side of the pond than it is here in the UK. So, I’m feeling a bit disillusioned… Are they worth joining???

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