Genealogy Chat

I know my favorite is the branch where my surname stems from and it is also the branch where I have had the less success in tracing, which it makes it all the more interesting, cos I am really having to try and do everything to trace these roots. I suppose most people are interested in that branch of their tree as everybody is interested in where there name originally came from. I haven't traced back very far yet on this side, but would be interested to know how far back other people have got with their trees and if they have discovered any interesting ancestors, which have then made them move onto interests in another branch of their tree.

I think the branch which has most interested me is my mother's father's side. I knew nothing at all about them, and have traced them back through several generations, following the families of the different sons, watching how they moved from Bexley Heath where they originated to Plumstead to work at Woolwich Arsenal, and then further into the East End of London. And without knowing it, they were moving closer to where my grandmother's side of the family had settled, until she was living at 97 Blackthorne Street, and he was working in his brother's shop at 100 Blackthorne Street. I can just imagine this young girl in the late 1800s, catching the eye of the baker's young brother. My grandparents. Jan

hi i am tracing my grandmothers maiden name at the moment as they are the only family i have known,also on the track of granddads family and my husbands parents, i never really knew my father he ran off with my godmother when i was about 8 so at the moment not really interested in his side ,still you never know when all this is in the bag maybe marcie x

I love all the branches of my tree. Until I started doing this I did not realise how little I knew about my family, even just my grandparents! It doesn't help that my parents divorced when I was only eight. Now this whole world has opened up. No famous people, just a lot of hardworking souls but I am proud to have all of them in my tree. I think learning about my grandfathers family has been most satisfiying purely because they came from just down the road from where I live now. I can actually visit where they are buried which has brought it all close to me. I mean you walk down the road and think, hey this is where great grandad John walked etc its very exciting.

The one i am most interested in is my father's line. This is because its the one in which I have found people i never knew existed. I am researching the other 3 lines also but still to find living relatives from them. Fi

i am most interested in my great grandmothers side, i have a bible that was past down from her mother,which is very interesting, upto now i have traced back to great grans grandmother and father 1811, and have found who her brothers and sisters married and the children they had, great gran married a churchill, and there is supposed to be a connection to winston churchill somewere along the line,but i hav'nt found it yet!!

I started out with a wish to know all the history behind my maiden name which originates from Kerry in Ireland, but it is like hitting a brick wall and very difficult to research and i have only got back to 1876, and since my husband is taking me on a trip there next February i must really get a move on, but i seeem to have been waylaid by all of my precious relatives and my need to know where they all came from, how they lived there lives, i often sit and wonder how they met and fell in love, cos without them i wouldn't be me, but i have managed to trace some of my family back to around 1822, no famous ones yet, but i'm not finished yet and with a maiden name of Brosnan who knows there could be a 007 connection.

Thats a difficult question. In some ways I prefer my mums side because they lived mostly in villages in the countryside. So I like going back to my ancestral villages. Thats what I did for a holiday this year, we had a week in Alston. Then again I like my dads side because nobody else has researched that side, while my g uncle did my mums side. George

I discovered that my father lived in the street next to where I was brought up and his father lived in the next street again. As he died when I was four this was a very recent discovery. On my mother's side there is a lot of sadness and a lot of speculation. For instant - g.grandmother was born in Beer, Devon and was widowed after a short marriage. She married my g.grandfather in Scarborough in 1871 - what were the circumstances that made her move from Devon to Yorkshire? She died in 1883 leaving 4 very young children so where did they go? Her youngest - my grandfather was in France in 1915 when my grandmother diedleaving five children of which my mother was 13 and the eldest. He was given one week's leave to bury his wife and find homes for the children. The family was split up between the Aunts and never lived as a family again. I would dearly love to make contact with some of the descendants - see my message on this board. So much for "the good old days" Ruth

Like you, Siobhan, I'm having the most difficulty with my Dad's side and am therefore struggling to find out where my family name originated from. I never knew any of my grandparents as they were all long dead by the time I was born. My own father died when I was 11 and I'm an only child - so I grew up with the impression that I had quite a small family. When I started tracing my family tree I didn't even know the names of my grandparents, or what they did for a living, or where they were from... Now, just a few months later, I've traced four grandparents, eight great grandparents, fourteen great great grandparents, six great great great grandparents and two great great great great grandparents!!! My family now seems quite large because, of course, along with all those great greats there are a whole host of aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws! I'm back to c.1772 and it's been fascinating to find all my papermakers, shoemakers, cigar makers, policemen, carpenters, shepherds and pawnbrokers. Favourites? Not sure... but the Berretts from Wiltshire (my Mum's side) are the ones I've gained most information about. Famous? No... but who cares? Not me!

I like my mother's side. It's easier but I like it because they are nicer people (can I admit that?) than my dad's relatives. I absolutely hate doing any Irish research. There're barely any surviving records. Census records are searchable by address only - who's bright idea was that? I tried to order a Northern Irish birth cert online and couldn't. They wanted to know the 'Mother's usual residence' - it was a compulsory field! How am I supposed to know what her address was? Whe I try to order marriage certs, they want to know the bride's maiden name - also compulsory. The marriage was in the 1880s! I know the date, the husband's full name and the church - but somehow that just isn't enough information. It is ridiculous. Sorry to vent but when I find Irish relatives, I stop there.

Phew, for a moment there I thought you sounded bitter, Kathryn. ;-) My loyalties are somewhat divided on this. My mum's side of the family contain a lot more interesting characters - people who worked in all sorts of professions, and there's Scottish ancestry on both my grandfather and grandmother's side. Some ancestors moved to Australia and then hot-footed to Nyasaland (now Malawi) in Africa. So, there seem to be more diverse patterns. My dad's side of the family were either iron miners from Yorkshire (his father's side) or coal miners from Durham (mother's side), so not a lot of variety there! However, I've never really known very much about my dad's family, so it has been this side that I've spent more time working on, and it has reaped rewards along the way, e.g. finding distant cousins, as well as being able to trace back to the first half of the 1700s.

I've been concentrating on my mother's maiden name, mostly because I knew so little of and so few of , her family and also because, the name being Jones, it seemed to offer more of a challenge. Not quite such a challenge as I thought, it turns out. I had 6 little pieces of information, which were 2 surnames, 3 christian names, Mum's place of birth, Battersea and the destination, Wisconsin, of one branch of the family in the 1850's. And it all fell beautifully into place, and I'm now back in the 1700s. I even found the family in Wisconsin, some of whom moved on to Nesbraska and some to Salt Lake City where they obviously became mormons. So far I've only traced the ancestors, not met any new distant cousins yet. I still have loose ends to tie up and will attempt to find out where they all were in the 1600s, but I'm now ready to start to trace Dad's branch and see where that leads me.

The branch that most interests me is my mother's side., the Vickerys. I am very curious where her family originate from as they look quite French looking and photos going back 4 generations show how similiar all the generations are! Most Vickerys seem to stem from the Devon/Somerset area. To date I have come across 2 Vickery families who share this trait. Unfortuntely my mother died quite young but she always wondered about the origins of her family, whether they were originally from overseas. I know the Welsh can be very dark so maybe there is some welsh blood there. Who knows! Maybe one day I'll get some answers!

My father's paternal side had already been slightly researched when I embarked on this quest and perhaps rather strangely they don't seem so 'mine' as the ones I've struggled with over the last few months with no prior knowledge at all. What is so interesting to see is how they all gradually moved to Wandsworth from different parts of southern England...to produce me!

My Paternal Grandmother's my favourite because(& I may get confusing here) her father (G Grandfather- born 1855) & his father (GG Grandfather- born 1813) both were quite old (60's & 40') when they fathered their last children . This means my Great Uncle (who is in his 80's) has Great Aunt's & Uncles born in the 1790's. NOw that is something to get your head round. Also is a very unusual name - only 24 on this site & 22 are mine, so has been pretty easy to trace Caroline

I started just to try and trace information about great grandparents. Now back to mid 1700s with my dad's father and also his mother's line. Many more relatives than I ever realised and some of them I have contact with today (the live ones that is!!). On my mum's side.. well here we have that brick wall that anyone with Irish relatives must be hitting. So as for interest, I suppose that as I am seeing results, my paternal lines are favourite at present. But who knows, it only takes a little seed to start something so anything from the Irish side could set me off in that direction.

Has to be my Mother's maiden side, as that is where my interest in Genealogy started. Only yesterday discovered a new contact on here regarding that family - am anxiously waiting a reply ! On this side I have discovered that I have lots of American cousins descended from a Mormon who had 2 concurrent wives. Only have managed to contact a couple so far. But as you hit brickwalls , your interest turns to other families. Currently looking at my husband's genealogy as well. Should also get round to documenting my cypriot side.

I am most interested in my fathers side, mainly because I want to know where my surname has come from and also my grandfather died when I was only one, so I never really knew him. My interest in my family tree has sparked an interest in the whole family, firstly my grandfather was placed in a home when he was 2 and so he never really talked much about his past. So far I have discovered he had a twin, I don't know if he even knew he had one, and may of possible found the parents of his mother, so my whole family are very keen for me to continue searching. My mother side I haven't really started on, mainly because they are Irish and the resources available for tracing Irish ancester are not very good, but I am going to Ireland in January and hope to research that side of the family then. It is funny really how one little piece of exciting information you find, then makes your interests steer towards another branch of your tree.

My mother's side. I had great difficulty with my great grandmother who spelt her maiden name Raikes (on her marriage certificate & in her sons's middle name) & on 1881 & 1901 was born in Evercreech. Thanks to a brilliant lead on here when Marion found the family with a different spelling for me on 1851 Census, I obtained her father's death certificate & found his name on there as Raikes alias Reakes. Great granny was born in Pilton & lived in Evercreech as a child, hence the confusion. I was able to view the parish records at the local LDS which filled a lot of the gaps. What makes this all the more interesting is that no one in my family knew about this, so my mother is delighted to know it. I was born & raised in Plymouth & moved to the Bath area with my husband's work. I now live in Frome which is only a few miles from Evercreech, so I really feel I have "come home". Pat