Have You Researched Your Family Tree

[Cian]

My great great grandfather (paternal all the way back - the one the surname came from) got redeployed by the police so often we've lost track of that line before him; plus the public records office in Dublin got burnt down in 1922 so its VERY hard to find anything we don't already know about the other sides (all back to the same or one further generation generally) without checking births/marraiges/deaths in every RC and Anglican church in the entire country.

However my mothers paternal side we can trace back to two brothers leaving Rochdale in the 1700s, again goes cold after that. I don't really want to go any further on a line named Chadwick unless I find I'm related to Luke

 

[Surf 'n' Turf]

It's a fascinating thing to do. I've traced all my ancestral lines back to the end of the eighteenth century / beginning of the nineteenth (and some further back than that). I'm a mix of framework knitters from Leicestershire, iron workers from Durham (and, before that, the west midlands), farm workers from the Scottish borders, Irish immigrants (off the land and into the iron industry), clockmakers from Northumberland, scavengers and fellmongers from Cumberland.

So have I, born in 1818 also from Leicestershire.... spooky!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Over the generations, my family have been incredibly mobile. Like everyone, I have 16 great great grandparents. This is where they were born:-

Hinckley, Leicestershire
Morebattle, Roxburghshire
Ladykirk, Berwickshire
Coldstream, Berwickshire
Hexham, Northumberland
Hexham, Northumberland
Crosby, Cumberland
Hexham, Northumberland
Sedgley, Staffordshire
Beechburn, Co Durham
Cavan, Ireland
Cavan, Ireland
Sligo, Ireland
Clare, Ireland
Woodhouse, Yorkshire
Wingate, Co Durham

I guess that makes me 56 per cent English, 25 per cent Irish and 19 per cent Scottish.

If I do the calculation based on my 8 great grandparents, I'm 75 per cent English and 25 per cent Scottish.

And my 4 grandparents (and 2 parents) suggest that I'm 100 per cent from Northumberland and Durham.

Like MYOB ... I'm stuck on filling in the details of my Irish ancestors.

 

[Don Quixote]

i did my family tree and it is massive! Goes all the way back to 1700. well it wasn't really hard to find since all my family were from the same village in italy... and they all married each other!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

i did my family tree and it is massive! Goes all the way back to 1700. well it wasn't really hard to find since all my family were from the same village in italy... and they all married each other!

A lot of families were like that ... until someone invented the bicycle. It saved the European gene pool.

 

[Don Quixote]

A lot of families were like that ... until someone invented the bicycle. It saved the European gene pool.

well mine was like that untill ermmm lets see... 1938?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

well mine was like that untill ermmm lets see... 1938?

I guess you have to blame either nonna's home made pasta or a flat tyre.

 

[SICKASAGULL]

Join a Family History group,Sussex has a good one,members can go on line to obtain details,amazingly many of those who come up with very useful information are from abroad, Canada,America and Australia in particular.

Google - SFHG

 

[Don Quixote]

I guess you have to blame either nonna's home made pasta or a flat tyre.

she does do some good pasta...

 

[blue'n'white]

A subscription to Genes Reunited might help you hit lucky. If a distant cousin has already done the research, you might track them down through the use of the search facility on that site. That can certainly kick-start the process of discovering lots of information about ancestors in the late 19th / early 20th centuries.

You have to pay an annual subscription, though, to get the most out of the site.
www.genesreunited.co.uk/

I second that -started to do all this genealogy thing after my parents died and I have found Genes Reunited to be an absolute godsend. I've found a lot of (fairly) distant relatives who've done a lot of the leg work prior to me getting involved. Somebody had actually got way back to the late 16th century and some of my relatives were at the first colonies in the USA. Other ancestors to another part fo my family were Mennonite Jews (ah - so that explains the fondness for Spurs) who were evicted from the Ukraine and settled in Canada just south of Winnipeg. However it all takes a hell of a lot of time !!
Another good site is gbnf.com (stands for gone but not forgotten)

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Just discovered doing some more research into the family history that an ancestor named Michael O'Loughlin was a co-conspirator with John Wilkes Booth in the plot to kidnap/assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

Which is kinda cool.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned MyHeritage.com

My wife used that and Ancestry.com (along with FindMyPast.com) and traced a couple of lines back as far as the early 1500's.

All the tools have a role, but these do the following:

MyHeritage.com - family trees. Has a neat tool where it tells you if your family tree crosses with another. This is how she got back so far so fast with a couple of lines. The Bolitho's for example were well researched.

Ancestry.com - online census and baptism data up to 1901. So if you can get that far back you're off and running. Free 14 day trial (as many times as you like if you re-register with a new email and clear your cookies - but of course we didn't do that).

FindMyPast.com - online Births Deaths and Marriages records. A few pence per screen. Easier than going to Kew. Basis for ordering certificates.

Hope that helped and wasn't just duplicating other posts.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

French Huguenot, fled over to blightly in the 16th centuary to Bristol after the massacres in Paris, a few familys with my name still around that area and into Somerset.

However some fled south and produce marvelous wine all with my name attached, a well regarded Tavel Rose although I find the Lirac the best.

Hurrah I'll drink to such a fine web

 

[Box of Frogs]

With help from an Auntie I have traced my family tree back to the late 1700s on my mothers side, mostly based on speaking to family members and her own memories/records. It transpires they owned a big farm in Storrington and the old man fathered six kids with his wife then another six with the housekeeper!!

Must speak to my Dad about his family - he had a Scottish Father and Spanish mother so that could get interesting!

 

[SICKASAGULL]

Join Genes Reunited and the Sussex Family History Group if you supply details of your ancestors other members will chip in with more details.If you are lucky you will receive helpful details from around the earth.
It costs £10 to join the Sussex Group, see their website, Genes Runited is free but you can obtain coupons later for certain information.
The Family History room at Brighton Museum is well worth visiting it has many reference books, access to census and free PC input to many Genealogy sites