Genealogy Chat

As tracing your ancestors is now one of the fastest growing hobbies, i wondered what gets us interested in the first place? I became interested at 11 when my nan gave me a bible that had belonged to her nan, it's got death dates of some family members, along with this nan gave me her fathers birth & marriage certificates. If only she knew now what she started.

The death of my dad I wanted to find out about his family as he knew very very little about them but instead I've found out more about my mums side, funny that. Sue

The main thing that started me off was wanting to see a member of my family on the 1901 census. When my mother gave me family names that were old enough I remembered a conversation with my Grandmother when I was about 10 - she told me her father was 20 years older than her mother and had been married before and had 4 children. I wanted to know what had happened to these children and was basically brushed off. I guess at the heart of it was nosiness. Funnily enough my Gt Grandfather although I found him on the 1901 census first try is the one who I'm stuck on!!!

Being left in the dark and brought up as an only child with no cousins either. I knew I just had to be related to someone else out there. Well I was right and haven't got round yet to counting the living relatives I've found and contacts related to my family by marriage who have been able to fill in some missing bits of family stories. I'm still looking - any Hunslet Woodmans out there?

Asking my Mum why she had been bought up by her Auntie, and my having to live with her as well, but never getting a proper reply. Then when my Mum died, had to find answers, but that led me to asking more, and more, and more........... Well in 1758.............!!!! Kim

I wanted to leave something worthwhile to my children, something that can be continued when im no longer around.

I had always wanted to attempt my family history but never got round to it until I saw GC a month ago. I recognised a couple of names when I did a search, wrote to a lovely lady who happened to be a distant cousin and is living in the US and after establishing the connection, she sent me a 'tree' from my father's side going back to my gt granddadx3! Now I'm pretty hooked and working my way through the rellies! Aileenx

With me it was my son's homework!! One of those Junior School things where they have a topic for the term - it was trees. Homework was to draw up the family tree. I told him what I knew, made a few phone calls and was hooked! That was 14 years ago. Thank you Mrs Manners!!

I like lists. Give me something I can put in chronological/alphabetical/any sort of order and I'm happy. It's not what got me started but it's why I kept with it.

same as you michele,my nan gave me a bible when i was very young,it has births and deaths in it and she told who was who and i've never forgotten what she told me. it belonged to her nan.ever since then i've wanted to trace my family tree.nan died when i was 18,she would be so proud at what i have found so far,i just wish she was here to see it all. chris.

My mum always talked about doing it but never got round to it. Then I saw GC advertised on Friends Reunited and decided to give it a go. I had some information already from my mum and was surprised how easy it was to find my great grandparents on the 1881 census. I have found it more difficult since then to get additional information but also really interesting. Mel

Same as you Mel. I always wanted to do my family tree, but didn't know how to go about it. I heard that one of my old school friends had registered with Friendsreunited, saw the link for GC and was soon hooked. So far I have got back to about 1750 on a couple of branches and have also found 2 second cousins on GC. Not bad for someone who didn't know much about her family! I have also had plenty of help from people on this site, thanks to everyone who has helped me and are still helping me. Maggy, West Yorkshire

Think I've secretly always wanted to be a detective.............. This hobby fulfills my ambition without me getting into any bother.

I became hooked after my Dad mentioned one afternoon a note he had in his diary about a marriage in 1825 between a John Kightley and a Sophie (the same name as my daughter). That same evening I did a search on Google for my surname....and I found details of the couple Dad had mentioned in someone else's family. Now I have a one-name database with over 2000 entries, most of which are accessible on the web.

It was something I always thought about doing, but never got round to doing. Even when the wife bought me the Generations Grandsuite Delux Edition 20 disc box set for Christmas, it just sat on the shelf gathering dust for a year and a half. What got me really started was Genesconnected. I put in a few details going up to my grandparents, then I made a few phone calls, did a quick check on the 1881 Census and found three Generations all living in the same house only 15 minutes away from where I lived. I could not resist a drive up the road to see what the place looked like. And here I am six months later - with a 1000 names in my tree. I've met up with relatives I never knew I had. I now have photos that are 140 years old. I know more about the history of where I live and appreciate family more than ever. It's been quite a journey. Mind you, I am sure it will grind to a halt 20 weeks time when my first descendant arrives! Paul (son of Shaun, son of Frank, son of William, son of William, son of John son of Samuel Baker)

When I was in college I enrolled in a Black History class, as I was tired of hearing about Christopher Columbus, and wanted to learn something new. The movie "Roots" had recently been released, and we spent class time watching the film and writing about it. I started researching my own family after watching Roots and (off and on) have done so every since.

Finding an obituary at my grans house for a man who was allegedley the fattest man in England. I didn't recognise the surname, so started tracing the tree backwards. I had moved around a lot as a child, and never really knew where I came from. Researching this man, I realised I had strong 'roots' in Hampshire, so I started doing the rest of my tree. Now I realise I also have strong roots in Suffolk, Norfolk, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall etc etc... Still can't say exactly where I came from!!!!

I was bored when I was 16 (1993) so I decided to do a family tree. It was very basic and just had immediate family on - no maiden names or anything technical like that and the only information I had was what I got from sitting on the floor in front of my Mum whilst I was drawing my tree, asking questions as I got to each next bit!! I was bored again in 2001 so I was going through my drawers and found the tree drawing rolled up in a kitchen paper tube. I took it out and updated it with all the new marriages, divorces, new babies etc then ran out of information so gave it up again. And then 5th of November last year I was on Friends Reunited and saw the link for the new sister site - and that has been me ever since! I have still only managed just over 260 people though so... I guess I have got a few more years work ahead of me!!

I got started on this because I decided I wanted to know who my dad was. He left before I was born and has only visited once when I was 13 months old. Have spoken to Joan Allan and Unfortunatly I just don't know enough about him to be able to trace him. But the tree is growing nicely and so is my circle of freinds Shelli

I started because of a family history of cancer in my mums side and had to get 2 death certs to qualify me for medical screening. I have been having this for 6 years now and am fine. After finding the certs I got really interested in finding out more about my ancestors. Through this site I have been in touch with 2 distant cousins who have helped a lot with their sides of the families.