Genealogy Chat

Isnt it a shame when people are just intent on getting as many names for their tree as possible, but dont want to know anything about their ancestry. I know thats their business, but I was over the moon recently to receive a message from someone who shares my ancestors. After giving tree access, I messaged them offering lots of family stories, photos, etc etc, and also asking one or two questions about someone in the tree. I received a curt reply saying, 'Thanks, Ive copied your info so got a bigger tree now'. Well Im actually pleased they have more names, its their family too after all. But how sad they aren't remotely interested in research. I was hoping we could join forces to solve a little mystery in the tree, or at least discuss our ancestors! I know for a fact I wont hear from them again.

That seems like a shame but unfortunately thats the way some people, I have been lucky that the people that I have been in contact with through here have only been too happy to share information and stories.

I have also spent a lot of time looking at articles online and in magazines relating to occupations, living conditions etc of my ancestors hoping to get a better idea of them as people and not just as another name in my tree.

I know what you mean I had someone not long ago who took lots of my information they did say thankyou. I asked them a question about one relation which I have details for but know little about they didnot reply but then asked for more information about more distant relations. Is all very well having the facts but its so nice to have information about them that you cant find out from researching records. I'd love nothing ore that to make contact with someone who can tell me little details about my relatives or even send me a photo or 2

I don't understand that mentality at all. At the moment I'm concentrating on putting "flesh to the bones" (so to speak) on the ancestors I already have. The social history fascinates me and this line of research has thrown up a few mysteries!

Carole

I think it is sad, yes. One of the things I most enjoy about this is trawling graveyards for graves to find out dates of death, or visiting home towns and villages to see where great-grandad's farm was, or tracing through parish records to find out if the occupation of a father changed as his family got bigger. As covlass says, how can you beat getting in touch with the descendent of a great-great aunt who knows that, as a teenager, she used to spit in bottles of sauce in the factory she worked at?

We once went on a trip to Leicestershire and ended up standing outside the very house my great-grandparents lived in at the time of the 1901 census. No amount of copying information can give you that.

I have been stuck on my mum's line backwards and have been contacted by someone the other day who has got the family back to c.1600. I'm thrilled to bits that I can be almost 100% sure my furthest back ancestor to date is the right one listed in their data, but at the same time I am checking it for myself.

This particular line has been such a struggle to locate the right family (and they were wanderers, to say the least) that I want to check and check again against their notes. It isn't that I don't believe this contact's information - I just want to confirm it myself.

but thats where the fun lies - I've been trawling away on ancestry and the national archives this afternoon. Have ordered Court papers and prosecution papers for a trial that an ancestor had . Its the fun of finding things out for yourself!

Carole

That's brilliant Kate, wish I was back to c1600!! We often visit a tiny, remote cemetery near my father in law in Warwickshire where many of my husbands ancestors are buried. They were ag labs, but their employers owned the cemetery. It has a rickety path down the middle, and many of the graves are just marked with crosses. Its a very rural area, and I always imagine the grim funeral procession walking down the path, having lost, among others, tiny children, and a mum of 5 who was only 32 years old. (Her husband remarried months later!). Its really sad.

I agree its all very well tracing your tree back to God. As in 'Who do you think you are? ' Lol .I have enjoyed finding out about my ancestors. I have also stood outside houses and thought GG grandfather stood here. Nothing beats that. I have also unearthed a few family skeletons. Much to my Aunts dismay.!! All my ancestors live quite a way from where I live but I try to visit their towns. My husband does not really mind being dragged around graveyards. I can usually bribe him with lunch. I have also been in regular contact with a second cousin through Genes..
I wish I had started all this years ago.

Tracing your tree back to God, LOL Elaine!! :-))))

I dont think youre a name collector MGH! As you say, youre interested in history. I cant spend a fortune on certs now, so I pick and choose carefully which ones I really need.

I hated history at school but this has made it far more personal, Ive got murder, incest bigamy,shipwreck, little snippets that make the bigger picture. I get cheesed off with hot matches that are luke warm and name harvesters, what's that about ? I get annoyed at the variation in prices, especially when I find I could have info for free somewhere else. I get cross with printouts that don't look anything like what's on screen etc. I've found some nice rellies and some horrors, but I came on with no great expectations . I'm painting a picture of the ship 2 of mine went down in, so its part of the bigger picture-literally. Of course I would like to find my living rellies along the way, so just for now I'm enjoying the ride.

I agree with you Romany. I am actually writing a book about my ancestors, which is more about what life was like in their times rather than just the tree. I think it's more interesting than just having names on a list

Elaine

I did start over 30 years ago and I am still chasing ancestors with the same thrill. I have decided my family history will never be finished, but the bug has well and truly bitten me and I am hooked. Some of them are giving me a hard time in finding them but you do find an afinity with many of them.

Kal how right you are. I have just discovered a 1 W War Grt Uncle soldier and in reading his 14 pages of history I have discovered a light weight of 7 stone at age 14, same as I was and a gym instructor which I also went in for at the same sort of age. Weird and uncanny. Another one was interested in writing letters to a newspaper in the sort of poetic vein which I could relate to, and you suddenly realise that these people are your flesh and blood. and there is nothing like the feeling that you can get from getting so close, Family Historian and genealogist that's me!

Janet North London Borders

Hi Romany
I used to be a name collector when I first started but I think it was because I was new and inexperienced thinking the more names the merrier it wasn't untill later that quality rather than quantity makes a better more interesting tree.
Now I get a better buzz when I get a certificate back and find a new relative or ancestor my tree was over 2500 I now have about 270 definate members of my family and the others deleted I now get more satisfaction from my reserch.
I must admit though in the begining it was exciting to have all those names in my tree even though they were relations of relations of relations.

How sad I was then.

Paul

MGH

Once you get back to 1700's you cannot get certs?

Can't agree with that. I have one marriage licence of 1699 and possibility of about 5 more in the earlier 1600's and one in the late 1500's when I get around to doing more research in CRO. I have a Commonwealth marriage of 1655 and Buried in wool affidavits of the 1670's as well as other bits and pieces found in the CRO. I have a bailiff''s cert signed by the Earl of Thomond from 1715. I also have wills, naming my ancestors and Apprenticeship records as well as Settlement Certs all in the 1700's. You would be very surprised at what "Certs" you can find when you really start to look into and research the history of your forebears. They are all fascinating documents.

Janet North London Borders

I would love some help on my tree and i am willing to give any information i have on the ones i have helped with / found .However whenever i seem to have found a link, they say Sorry no connection.So how can they not be related when there was ony one person of that name born that quarter and that year ? Then they have the same names i have for siblings and years etc. Then you get some who don't even bother contacting you ,is the same person under another name i wonder ?
Hot matches should be banned , lol or at least renamed not sure what to.

I am also amazed that people can get back so far and i'll admit to be envious of their knowledge in being able to do it .

Suppose some people might consider me a name collector as I've hundreds of names without any information about them. But then I've hundreds of other names with stuff on them.

I love finding out about my ancestors and what happened to thier offspring so my tree goes in lots of different directions. But as far as lets say my uncle's wife goes, I will record her parents names and thats it. Otherwise it won't really be my tree at all.

I tend to only get certificates for direct ancestors due to the cost but have always shared these with folk, and have passed on wills etc that I have got.

Recently I have been corresponding with someone in New Zealand, we share the same 3 x great grandparents, anycase her great grandmothers brother died in the town where I live, and she had an address for him in an old address book, but was told no such number ever existed, stange as it was a number 3, I've been down the local library for her to see what I can find out and found there was a number 3 for about 2 years, then the road was renumbered, odd as it then started with high numbers and there were no low numbers. It was really interesting finding out about all this and going to see the road, obviously when the road was being developed the plans were changed and even stranger is that the middle section of the road is missing, just a path. Even just recording something like that will help other folk in years to come.

I am probably one of those name collectors but not through choice.

Most of my ancestors were shepherds/agr labs. They had no money, left no wills, didn't own any land.....nothing!

The only thing they were good at and left as a legacy were their children...hundreds of them!

I try and find out about the "individuals" but sometimes, I don't know what to try next or where to look.

I have researched into my own cousin. He danced with the Royal Ballet and when I was growing up, my late aunt was so proud of him. Photos everywhere in the house of him performing, she would keep newspaper cuttings of any reports on the shows.

I was able to find old royal ballet programes on ebay where he would be listed either in the chorus line, or later in the main rolls. I also got a book about the royal ballet which had articles about individual dancers...my cousin included.

I know he isn't really an ancestor, but I had such a frill out of collecting the memorabilia, and hope in future years, my descendants will find them of interest!

Thanks to the help of another GR member, I discovered a distant relation as surviving the Titanic which had a lovely little story behind it.

I keep looking for other info to create the "person" behind the name, but have so far been unlucky with the rest of my tree. I would like to thank everyone who have forwarded photographs so that I can have a face to the names now too!

I've been doing my tree for 2.1/2 years now, visited the villages & churchyards where my ancestors were baptised, married and buried in Norfolk. I loved it. Unfortunately, my OH doesn't share my interest so I don't get to do it as often as I would like to.

I have photocopies of the parish records (pre certificate registrations) to back up the connections in my tree and love looking throught the endless films and fiches...very time consuming but wonderful when you find another relation!

Currently, I am trying to locate other descendants to these names, which is keeping me busy.

All I can say is, it is a hobby, and like most hobbies, you can take them as seriously as you would like, or just enjoy them for now. My biggest worry is that after I have collated all this information, noone will take an interest in all my hard work and keep the records going!

Dee

Lol Paul, you weren't sad. I feel guilty about starting this post now! It IS exciting to get names so quick when you first start, especially when you discover IGI. Im only a novice, I started 5 yrs ago, then went online with it all 4 years ago. Im so impressed by people who've been resarching for 20+ years; thats some commitment!!

I'm probably a bit of both as I'm still new to this so have a lot of sites to learn to go to for information as I'm still on the basics sites for searching, but I love having info on relatives and what's behind their name.

I have found a relative on here that has a load of names on my dad's side that link with our line at my 3 or 4th x great granddad so it's interesting on what all the greats were upto and which ways they ended up and why they all split and went different ways. I found out through him that one of the greats (as far as he can tell) never married each other but had 13 kids together and she did a bunk with the kids down to London way... so it still happened back in the day lol.

I'm stuck at the mo on one of my greats on my mums side as I found out only a month or 2 ago that he was in jail for something and his kids were shipped to a workhouse... so now I'm really intriged on what was all going on at that time and am trying to figure out how I go about finding out his details of why he went to jail.