Waste? Tracing your family tree

[old.user4556]

Anyone done it? Any recommendations on how to go about it?

I've tried a couple of sites (Find My Past and Ancestry) using their free search to locate grandparents based on name, place of birth and date of birth but it comes up with "no result", so I tried putting my own name, PoB and DoB and it still came up with no results....

I must be doing it wrong, but wondered if anyone else has tried it before I try a "free" trial.

 

[TdC]

You're a Scot, right? if you know your clan and it has such a thing get in touch with it's secretary. if you're in a sept, try the secretary of the clan you're septed in.

Me, you could basically say I'm a MacPhadraig. If my uncle ever makes up his mind if we're high- or lowland (it kindof depends, given how far back you go and on which side of the clan tree we fall), because in my case it, for want of a better term, could be either-or really.

 

[old.user4556]

Not really, my dad is from London and my mother's side becomes partially Irish.

 

[Gwadien]

@Zenith.UK helped me with mine, I found all the links that I knew, then he helped me fill the gaps, and go further (He subscribed, I didn't.)

Went back to 1700s iirc, and found out which battles my great uncles died at during ww1.

 

[TdC]

Not really, my dad is from London and my mother's side becomes partially Irish.

my bad chumbacon, in that case...what Gwad said

 

[Mabs]

you got anyone famous anywhere ? if so easy to track them and their relatives to get a framework

there is a good website for graves, forgot url but google should find it , photos of graves in UK and commonwealth so if u got a name / place you can find the DOB/D easily

 

[Tom]

Local parish records are your friends. In there, you'll find registered births and marriages. If you know where your parents were born and if each parish has the records, you can find your grandparents' details. And if you know where they were born, you can do the same. Parish records go back a long way, for instance, Dick Turpin's birth was recorded thusly.

You can also look into things like Kellys Directory. Also check workhouse records, you'd be surprised how many people had a spell in the local spike.

 

[throdgrain]

My wife did all that a few years ago, and she is not computer friendly, so it can't be that hard.

 

[DaGaffer]

Did my Dad's side a few years back. Kicked off with contacting family members where possible, then Ancestry.com and my brother spent a bit of time in Somerset House and looking through army records as well (some of the earlier army records have been released now). Keep meaning to do my Mum's side (which is probably a bit more exotic - Huguenot etc.) but stuck for time these days.

 

[Gwadien]

Ancestry is useful for cross referencing with other families family trees, My Mums Mums Dads family or something had like 10 siblings, half of which changed their surename from Salt to Sault for some bizarre reason

 

[Job]

Did ours and found out my great great grandfather started and owned the Edinburgh woollen mill..went to my parents and they allready knew and had told me..even got some pictures of me with him...I sorta forgot
We didnt get a penny by the way..it was sold off years ago.

 

[old.user4556]

I got it sorted.

I'm actually really amazed at how easy it was to trace back since a lot of it was already mapped out by other people. My dad's previous generations are all in London, but were originally from Oxfordshire where they lived for about 300 years between 1500s and 1800s prior to moving to London. My mum's side is rather odd - she's definitely of Irish descent, but when you trace the paternal side back to the 1700s, then there's a sudden branch of her family that died in New York State. One of the names is rather distinctive and he was a Captain. Googling for the name has brought up a load of stuff to do with colonial America, fighting Indians, land ownership and various family bits in and around Pennsylvania.

It's all really interesting .

 

[TdC]

go to Pennsylvania and claim your birthright G-bacon!

 

[Gwadien]

go to Pennsylvania and claim your birthright G-bacon!

Yeah, go there!

Your ancestors had land there, so therefore some sort of group that unites nations will support you in taking that land back for yourself!

Surely?

 

[Lakih]

I'd vote for its independence.
If you call it Gland...

 

[Edmond]

This has got me interested in my family now, but Ancestory.com is about £25 pm. Is this recurring and how easy is it to cancel it once you have the info you need?

Is there another one that any of you have used?

edit - Just found the uk version at £12.95 pm

 

[Edmond]

This is really good, even the slightest bit of info you add, it finds links and suggests dates and locations. I have a feeling i'm going to be on the site for a while, I can imagine it gets addictive

 

[Edmond]

I just changed a few bit of info on my grandmother (mothers side) as I wasn't sure of her maiden name, although I had a few options. It has now linked me to her 2 brothers and 1 sister and her parents and grandparents.

Need to speak to my dad later and quiz for stuff

 

[old.Tohtori]

I usually put it on a large sheet of paper, or use a light behind it and then draw the shadow.

 

[old.user4556]

I've been digging deeper into this, I think there is some dispute or doubt over some of the records, i'll need to do more detailed research - the bloke that was born in Scotland and died in New York (the Captain...) may have actually not been born in Scotland, but his father was born in Scotland and it is presumed (sources get very loose at this point) that he was possibly taken to the states as a slave. At the time, Scots were banned from trading with America, so it is unlikely that his father went there on a trade mission and was either a servant or a slave on some other ship that left from Scotland. A lot of the records I need to see are American, and that's when these ancestry sites gets expensive.

Fuck me though, people in Scotland didn't live long in those days .

 

[Edmond]

I've been on it for 3 hours now, its amazing how quickly it builds, I'm back to around 1800

My dad was surprised with some of the info, as in dates of births and deaths, and I had to correct him on his mothers name as he gave me the wrong spelling, ha ha

I thought he would be a bit funny with me talking about stuff, but once he started telling me bits and bobs, I couldn't shut him up, bless him

 

[Hawkwind]

I gave up tracing my fathers side, Russian Jews in 1800's. Mothers side was London based and got back to 1600's. My wife's family is way more interesting, Miskin. Family Manor house in Wales with history back to the 10th century. Includes one relative who fought in the failed 2nd Crusade. After that he traveled to Oman. There is even a Miskin village in northern Oman with a christian church.

Very interesting stuff but I do not have the time these days to do any of the research.

 

[Shagrat]

my family seem to have spent from some time in 1600 to about 1850 in a couple of villages in warwickshire. Mostly blacksmiths and farm labourer types. pretty mundane so far, apart from one who was shipped off to Australia for doing something dodgy.....

 

[Mabs]

Local parish records are your friends. In there, you'll find registered births and marriages. If you know where your parents were born and if each parish has the records, you can find your grandparents' details. And if you know where they were born, you can do the same. Parish records go back a long way, for instance, Dick Turpin's birth was recorded thusly.

true except where they are gone, some places have had records vanish/melt/flood/burn over the years sadly

 

[old.Tohtori]

From what i've been told, my lineage comes from(outsife finland ofcourse)germany and russia.

Getting drunk, but being really efficient about it.

 

[Raven]

My Granddad did ours back as far as it will go but I would love to know more about the people on there, some he has notes on but he got all the information without the internet and used local and church records etc. Where possible he noted the profession and cause of death.

 

[ECA]

From what i've been told, my lineage comes from(outsife finland ofcourse)germany and russia.

Getting drunk, but being really efficient about it.

I thought it would've been mostly Swedish, from somewhere under a bridge.

 

[old.Tohtori]

I thought it would've been mostly Swedish, from somewhere under a bridge.

I'd say norwegian