Genealogy?

BritMumInCanada

Gold Member
Just wondered if any other slimming worlders research their family history.

It is quite a big hobby of mine. I first started in 2003 and finally broke down a very high brick wall at the end of last year. I find love it, after all history is more interesting when it is your own.

I don't get much time at the moment, with a bump to look after ;). But generally still have a dabble every now and then.
 
I have relatives who have done our family history on both sides of my family.

It has been extremely interesting, particularly on my dad's side. My grandad was very private about his childhood and relatives because he suffered a great deal as a child, and as a result my dad knew very little about his family from his paternal side. We have discovered a great deal about my grandad's family history, lots of it have been quite shocking, including his mother giving birth to him at 14 amongst other things.

It's really interesting to see your ancestors' occupations and things like that, one of my relatives even had a lodger living with them according to the census so then we started looking for information about him!
 
My son did ours. It was fascinating.

On dads side, he was Russian/Polish and we go back to the Cossaks. Could answer the great love for horses that we all have. We were 5 siblings and we all have or had horses right into our adult lives.

Mums side was harder .
 
Yep I'm slowly building mine together. What I find interesting is as far back as I've gone they have lived in this area.

My great,great grandmother came over from Ireland & researching that was interesting.

I'm quite excited about seeing the 1911 census as a lot of women at the time were trying to get the vote and as a protest made sure they weren't in the house to be counted.
 
Another geni here. I've done my hubby's family and got back to 1700's. I've done my maternal side and got back to 1600 but with my paternal I'm completely stumped. My maiden name was Dunne and my dad is Irish. It's really hard to research the Irish history so bot really progressed.

It has been really interesting and I loved connecting all the dots together lol
 
Hi - I haven't posted for a while, but have been trying to pluck up the courage to do so and this seems a good way:D.

I have been doing my family tree and some lines go back to 1500s. The majority of whom are in Cornwall.

Just today, I discovered a member of my family (who we weren't close to) had died and that I had a cousin I didn't know I had. If I hadn't been signed up for an online research site, I would never have known.

Can be quite rewarding, and heart-breaking at the same time.
 
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Another geni here. I've done my hubby's family and got back to 1700's. I've done my maternal side and got back to 1600 but with my paternal I'm completely stumped. My maiden name was Dunne and my dad is Irish. It's really hard to research the Irish history so bot really progressed.

It has been really interesting and I loved connecting all the dots together lol

If they were catholic and you know the approx area they were living, is worth looking to see the local parishes to that area and contacting them.

I did so with one of my lines and they were really helpful, sending me details of baptisms, marriages and burials.

With Catholic records they are all still held by the parishes.

Familysearch is another good site to look at, they have the gro index for Ireland on there.

and of course the 1901 and 1911 census for Ireland is now available for free on the national archives of Ireland website.
 
When I started (many many moons ago) I was training with a professional genealogist and he told me that you should always start with yourself. The reason being - some people have found out that things weren't what they thought.

Then check out the details for your parents, birth marriage and if necessary death and their siblings and carry on back through the generations.

There are family history groups in most counties I think, but there are some good online sites. I am on ancestry.co.uk and they have the census (up to 1911) birth, death marriage indexes, and lots and lots of other records to check out, for a monthly fee of course, but personally I think it is well worth it.

Good luck if you go ahead - there will be many surprises, a lot will be good and some will be heart-breaking. Chances are you will find living relatives you never knew you had.
 
How do you go about starting this?

best thing is to start at what you know, parents full names, date of births, marriage etc

and then work backwards to their parents and then their grandparents.

this site has a step by step guide to getting started

Family Tree - Step by Step Guide to Tracing Your Family Tree

there are various records available online both free and on a subscription basis, but you really need to get back to at least 1911 (which is the latest census available) for them to be any use to you.

You will need to order certificates to confirm information too, especially with common surnames. Some of the general records office index is available online the full one on a subscription basis on various sites and a not yet complete one on www.freebmd.org.uk. However that just gives you the reference to order the cert it doesnt give you details from the certificate. If it is an uncommon name, you can sometimes work back without certificate ordering, but I dont recommend doing this, because you can easily follow the wrong family. Especially when working from the present back to 1911.
 
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I've been doing my OH side. His mum and aunt started to do it, but they don't have a clue really!! :D

I've got back to my OH's great, great, great Grandfather/mother. On his mums side, I have just found out that his mum's Grandmother was born in the village that his sister moved to 20 years ago and which his mum moved to 1 year ago. She was born in the same street where his sister lives. His mum said that she felt like she had 'come home'. :D:D
 
I've been doing mine since 2000, just after my nan died. Wish I'd started before as i could have picked her brains about a million things.

I started out trying to prove a family story about my gt grandad being a footballer and it just went from there. On and on and on.... I'm addicted now, I can't stop.

I've found some fascinating relatives doing mine: politicians, actresses, comedians, composers, singers.

It's a great hobby because you're never really finished with it. There's always a little bit more you can do and anothe rplace you can look for information.

I set up a forum with some friends to help others do their research too which is also great because if I ever get bored with my own tree there are always people looking to solve their own little mysteries that you can help out on.

Zoe
 
I would absolutely love to do something like this but it's really very difficult when other countries are involved!
 
I'd love to be able ti research my family tree but my mum was adopted which makes that side difficult and my dad never knew who his dad was ( big family scandal i've never had the guts to ask for details on) . My OH has traced his family back about 5 generations so far.
 
Very interesting thread! I'm from N.Ireland and have found out quite a bit from the two census details posted online.

I had also found out about my great-grandmother's brother who was killed in WW1 and got the exact plot in Normandy where he is buried.

My father's side of the family are originally from France, and this is something I wanted to look into.

Will have a look at the link you posted and see what I can come up with.
 
hi, i love doing this, have spent at least 15years, and, last year made a big break through, now, only one part left, but, that's proving hard as it's prussian/usa. good luck on finishing yours:D
 
I got in touch with my cousin (who I've never met) on facebook, and he had researched my mothers side of the family back to 1730. I only got the details yesterday, but my grandfather was married 5 times!!!!!!!
My father's side may be more difficult. On the 1910 census I found that he was born a year later than he said he was. His brother died before I was born. It fascinates me.
 
Remembered this thread after visting my Grandad's grave yesterday - I hadn't realised until yesterday (I wasn't very old when he died) that there were so many of the family name in the same graveyard...really has made me want to start researching our family tree - think it will be quite a big task though! xxx
 
I had also found out about my great-grandmother's brother who was killed in WW1 and got the exact plot in Normandy where he is buried.

My father's side of the family are originally from France, and this is something I wanted to look into.

Will have a look at the link you posted and see what I can come up with.
Lolacola, I live in Normandy so if I can help at all, give me a shout.
 
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