RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Jo New on Thursday 23 September 04 19:05 BST (UK)
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what made you decide you wanted to trace your family tree?
mine was that my in laws handed me a family tree that someone unknown to them had sent them through the post, that was the day i got the bug and decided to research on my side ( and a bit more of theres)
joanne ;D
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I think the fact that I like mysteries and puzzles and am a bit nosy might have had soemthing to do with it!!
I liked doing the standard "family tree" drawings when I was little, and curiosity just got the better of me I suppose...
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Hi Joanne,
Years ago my then nine year old daughter had a lot of information given to her by my Mother-in-law. The interest in the "family" died a death (excuse the pun) until my Daughter-in-law asked me to trace the family as it is"my boys inheritance". So I can only blame my daughter & daughter-in-law. Now I bore people to death on the subject. :)
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Hi
Mine started with my daughters (age 10) school homework which lead me to contact my uncle to get copies of the tree he had started, when the homework got handed in I carried on with my own 'little' project.
I also wanted to be able to get something off the internet that was of some use, its ok downloading silly games but I actually wanted to get something that was more meaningful. It also gave me a good excuse to get the internet at home rather that borrow others.
'Doing' my tree on pc also means that my pc is more than just a expensive games console, much to my daughters annoyance, although she did say the other day that the more dead people I find the less she'll have to look for later when she's old, I think detected a hint of relief in her voice when she said it.
Patches
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My Interest started when I discovered , after having been married for more than several years, that my wife's Grandmother had been born in New York .USA.
and that her biological (Political correct) Grandfather was an Australian Soldier over in UK for WW1. They did not marry . So again my Mother in law is ...no I am not going to go there.
The urge to research seriously came when Sister in Law ( the favourite daughter) said " We dont talk about them and anyway you will never find out anything anyway"
We all know about family dynamics and she gets most upset when I drop the fact that "cousin" Jane in NSW has just written again....and.. A very kind lady in New York has just sent the full report on Great grandads death in a fire at work... the reason family came back to UK,including the reports in NY Times. Oh and we have grannies birth cert from New York.
I find it all so fascinating ,the research a challenge , and I am glad I decided to start.
Now all I want are some 72 hour days.... ;D
Gj
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Good question Joanne.
For me it started when I looked at Friends Reunited and saw the link to Genes Connected/Reunited. Had a look and thought, it's not much money, It might be a grin ::)
Within a few hours had found a cousin in New Zealand!
I really knew so little about my family. Just my parents names, brothers and sister's names and an Uncle. Found out grandparents names and that was it! Mum died when I was little so never knew much about her side and my Dad's Dad died when he was little and his Mum died before I was born so memories were stretched a lot. Now got a brother and my sister interested and they've added a few leaves to the tree. The cousin in NZ had done a fair bit and I found out about Aunties and Uncles I never had a clue about before. Hit the 400 name mark the other night and only been (disorganisedly) at it since this spring. Met two cousins for the first time this week and the buzz of that is what is gonna keep me going through the 'Walls'. There must be so many of them out there with stories to tell and I wanna find them, even just for a cuppa. Sorry to ramble, back to normal again now ;D
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Grandmother on one side had been doing hers and grandads, and said something about how we should find out all the information from the grandparents on the other side because they no a lot and it would be a shame to waste it. So that got me to research mums side of the family,
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My cousin had researched my mother's side of the family and told me about his progress on a regular basis. That got me interested. Having an uncommon name (Tymon) and having ancestors who've lived in the same place as I do now (Scarborough) since 1840 meant I made quite quick progress initially which kept my enthusiasm going. Having said that it took me nearly 15 years to get back from 1840 to 1790!
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Hi All,
My interest in my family started with a trip to Tasmania.
I spent 2 days at the penal settlement of Port Arthur & after hearing all the stories about the plight of the convicts in this hell hole,
I was struck with, how did my family come to be in a new country, what were the circumstances that brought them halfway around the world.
A cousin gave me a bit of info for a starting point & it's been a daily hobby ever since.
It has given me contact with rellies all over the world, and thanks to the internet we are in touch constantly.
I know I bore everyone to tears with my findings, but in years to come someone will say, thank you for your persistance.
When I started I also decided to keep a yearly journal. In this I write my observations & thoughts for each day.
I now have 12 of those as well as a tree that contains not only dates & places, but stories of the persons listed.
It is a disease, isn't it!
Cheers
Geoff
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In 1996 my Great Aunty gave me this very old box and told me to "do what you want with it". It got put in my attic until my husband and I bought our computer about 4 years ago then I decided to have a look!!!
Inside the box were old family certificates, communion books, photos etc. that my Great Aunty had been collecting for several years - it was absolutely fascinating to see. :o
That was my starting point - my Dad's maternal family tree. Since then I have started on my parent's both Trees and am just enjoying every minute. I have had lots of help of this site (of course!!!), made a couple of contacts on GR, and discovered lots more just by chatting to some of my rellies. Oh yes, and I've made contact with distant cousins in New Zealand. With the wonders of email we are in contact regularly.
It's very very addictive :D :D
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My step-mother. She started doing my father's family history and then hers..and the ball just landed in my court. Never thought I'd catch the genealogy bug, but it's bitten me hard.
Now my mother-in-law wants me to start working on hers when I can get the chance. LOL!!! ;)
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My sister in New Zealand, sent me a tree of one branch of the family done by someone else. My horoscope said I would hear news from abroad. My horoscope also said I would have news about the past.
My husband had just died and I saw there was a night class on tracing your family history. I went for one term and was hooked. That was 15 years ago.
I went every week for 5 years to the local LDS before grinding to a halt I invested in the internet and found more branches and distant relatives BUT I am still stuck on my fathers side in 1821 in South London. James Middleton where were you born?
Sylviaann
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My dad was fostered as a baby and never knew his real parents. My brother said he would like to find what he could about his grandmother. Dad had his birth certificate giving her name but that is really as much as he knew. Sadly, he died a few weeks after giving my brother his birth certificate. He gave it to me and asked if I could help. That was five years ago, my brother gave up on the search and left it entirely to me.
Unfortunately,I am no further forward in finding my real grandmother. My Uncle who lives in America sent me details of my mothers family tree, probably to take my mind offf not finding my dads family. Of course ever since then I have been hooked and together with my Uncle I have traced my maternal grandparents back to 1560.
It seems very ironic when I can't get further back than 1923 with my dads side.
dinkey(http://fool.exler.ru/sm/daz.gif)
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My cousin did my father's side and showed the printout to me at about the same time I got a computer. The two just seemed to go together - learning about one would teach me about the other, so I asked for some software for Christmas. Three years down the road and I can't leave either alone!
But it is not just the pleasure of achievement; you get to meet and chat to so many people from all over the world, and they are ALL so very helpful - it counts for a lot!
Jill
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My Son and last remaining heir to the non-existant family fortune recently joined the Merchant Navy which to me means that he has now gone from being my future to being my history so I thought it was time to find out what exactly my history was.
Little did I realise how much time, expence, travel and sheer frustration there would be involved and little did I realise how many wonderful people there are out there gagging to help me.
My research is like a drug, having taken it up I now need regular fixes.
Bill
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hi
i started 15 years ago tracing the family tree,as i was 28 when my father died and we never spoke much about his side of the family,infact we never seen his side that much as children,most of my childhood was spent around my mothers side of the family.........
when ever his family was asked about it was a bit of a blank wall hush hush,so to speak................
all I really knew was they had a big house in wales, and i had an uncle of which i seen 4-5 times as a child....
so i think i grew up feeling a sence of not feeling whole..
as i had no ideas about my fathers side of the family...
not long after he passed away i started on the road to finding my roots on his side and its been a few shockers i can tell you..
i was lucky to have been able to traced the family Bible of which is now in safe hands were it should be....
now im on the seach for some family photos that i know were kepted with the family Bible,i do have copys of them but thats not the same..
tracing the family tree becomes addictive i am now tracing all sides of my family ........H ;D
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Complete and utter madness and after researching the family I now know it runs in the family ;D sandie
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After the death of my nanna and 9 months later mum passed away age 55 from breast cancer my 2 brothers and myself were in a void as we were such a close family. So I decided another way of keeping them alive is to do the family tree. It may sound and seem weird but being so very tight knit family then lose 2 within 9 months really hit us kids so this way we have our memories in more ways than one
:)
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Shanko,
I wish you and your brothers all the best with your family tree research.
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Shanko,
I wish you well with your project.
When my grandmother died, I was devistated. We were very close and my way of dealing with the events were to write in my journal. Things she told me and things we did together. It all helps the process of dealing with what life throws at us.
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I had been told as a small boy that my Great Grandfather had been a Headmaster at "Newport Grammar School". In 1967, I was in the Royal Air Force, at Sharjah (Trucial Oman) and with nothing better to do one night, penned a letter to The Principal, Newport Grammar School, Monmouthshire.
Result.. nothing ... until 3 months later, I received a detailed letter from a retired gentleman who had been Principal of the Newport Technical Institute. He had done some research on the history of education in South Wales and came across a lot of information about my forebear. There was even a booklet published when the school re-organised, which had a picture and a write-up on Great Grandfather. He was a very clever man it seems. He bred white blackbirds as a hobby!! We're all mad, I tell you!
I was hooked - but only returned to it last year. Now it takes over my life!
Les
Bedford
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Mine was done out of love (well that's what I say anyway)
My hubby's parents died when he was 4 (his dad) and 10 (his mum) and all he knew were his brothers and sisters.
He knewof no Grandparents, Aunties or Uncles or cousins. My dad was doing our side and as i was interested in doing it as well I decided to do Pete's
10 years later I have his Ancestors on both sides going back to the 1700's and early 1800's. One side goes back to 1478.
He now has 1st cousins who are in regular contact, 2nd cousins and 3rd cousins in touch by email and phone, Aunties and Uncles on his Mum's side that he never knew about and had never met until 3 years ago and we still visit them once a month. He never got to meet his Grandparents but we have photos of them on the "Family Wall"
He now cannot keep up with all the names and often has to ask me who they are and how they are related.
He now has "Family". He knows where he comes from and what his ancestors did and how they came to be in certain places such as India and Burma. He knows of his Dad's Army Service and his medals etc.
But yet again it hasn't been done just for him. In the end it is a story for our children and all our nephews and nieces who now know where they come from.
Carol
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My grandfather's comment that "my dad came from Leningrad" when I was showing him photos of my school trip to Russia in 1966. As a 16 year old I wasn't too interested but the seed had been sown.
Now many years later I have found lots of people to add to my tree but as for the "Russian"........nothing! It has not helped that he did not marry my gtgrandma so no details on a certificate to help me.
Nanny Jan
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Always had an interest in the stories that my gran would tell me about her childhood and growing up. Was back at my parents at the time that Scotlandspeople launched a couple of years ago and signed up. Looked at the dates on the website and thought can't start at my grandparents as they were out of the year range and the thought of credits scared me. Did nothing with it. The 2 WDYTYA series sort of passed me by- wish I had watched them.
Got an email from ScotlandsPeople in March to say a new census online. Revisted the site (after retrieving the login details!!) and thought i could do with a challenge and a new hobby therefore reasoned that it didn't matter if couldn't look at my grandparents details on line:
I know the names of some of my great grandparents
when they had their oldest children were born
so can guess their marriage date
can get information from that to push it back
and can ask my parents when I don't know.
Also I'm not going to add to the line so if I don't do it then was worried that noone else would!
Gordon
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Finding some details of my gran's family in the family bible, I got nosy and decided to try and find out who these people were.
She had started her family tree on the inside cover, her parents details, and her grandparents with dates of death.
It's amazing how much has come from so little. :)
Kerry
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When Gran Sarah died there was a big ding dong over who should have the family papers. My Aunt was the oldest of Sarah's children, but my Father was the oldest son. Now Aunt Win was not a person to be crossed. She had kept those boys under controll for a good few years, and she wasn't giving way. Dad was always a little(can I emphasize that) little rebel.
Dad won. Great surprise. He brought the 'little black box' home and went through the papers inside. One was my Gran Sarah's marriage certificate, yer actual thing, folks, not a copy. It was dated 1891.
Dad showed it to me because there were some 'funny names' on it. His Grandfathers had been DENCHFIELD Baker and QUINIOUS Bartlett. As a small child I found them very amusing, but I think that was when I realized that I wanted to know more about Denchfield and Quinious.
Well, the papers were locked away, and it was only on my Father's death, when everything came into my hands, that I saw that certificate again.
Unable to do anything towards solving the mystery then I put it aside, but it niggled.
Retired at last, and with a COMPUTER, (new fangled gadget) and the INTERNET (even more new fangled gadgetry) I decided to wade in.
You know what I'm going to say. I didn't stand a chance, did I.
I now know all about Denchfield Baker, and how he came by the name. He was descended from some of the John Denchfields of North Marston, (if your name was Denchfield, you were either John or Richard) and I can go right back to Gefferie Deanchfield who died in 1603. Odd that, my cousin is Geoffry. No one knew it was a 'family' name.
Oh, and as for Quinious Bartlett, well.....When I looked hard enough, and compared it with a few census forms, and things, I found it was Francis Bartlett. I'm pretty good with old writing, when I had fingers, not bunches of bananas, I used to do a lot of the calligraphy stuff, but that name really had me going!
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Amazing how one little thing can grow to be so big with a little bit of searching isn't it?
Lucky you to have the original marriage cert
Carol
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I started it for my son. He is an only (son, nephew and grandson) but has LOTS of cousins (only one first cousin but plenty of seconds, thirds and removeds!) and I have always tried to make sure we met up with the various ones on my side whenever possible. A little difficult when some of them are in Canada and others in New Zealand but he has met them all at least once! -I did a VERY basic version when he was tiny so he would know where he came from and have some idea who all the various cousins were. Then, when he was about 10, he decided he wanted to know where the Grocotts came from so we visited the Family Records Office and I have been hooked ever since! - He takes an occasional interest but only in the Grocotts - all the other bits I have collected are ignored but never mind.
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It was when I was 8 and discovered I had Scottish ancestors. Finding the Family Bible and my Mum and her sisters' stories then got me even more interested.
Didn't do very much after about 12/13 (just the odd dabble - too busy with career) until about 10 years ago. Then when I became semi-retired, I started off again. The internet has been a really boon but I still like the original records and documents best. It's something about the age and look of the material and seeing ancestors signatures and crosses. This proved that they lived ;)
Gadget
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Little things do mean such a lot.
Not only do I have Gran Sarah's wedding certificate, but also her passport.
She travelled a lot in Belgium just before WW1 and made quite a few friends over there. I can't imagine what it must have been like when war broke out. What ever, once she could get back she got out this new passport and was over there again. I have lots of brochures, restaurant bills and hotel cards from her trips. The prize of the collection is just a torn off piece of paper. You know the sort, ladies, the kind that is 'always at the bottom of your handbag.'
I can just imagine her, having a rummage, bringing out this piece of paper, and scribbling down a copy of the 'Notice from Lord French, at the Cloth Hall, Ypres.' A moment in time, brought to me in an old lady's handwriting.
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Fantastic stuff
That alone would fill a whole section in one of my files
I have my In law's passports (ran out in the 50's) and the visa passes are great complete with dates so we know where they were and when. Have the odd shopping list as well - one on the back of a "loan payment card"
Carol
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when I was about 12 I had a "what was it like when you were young ?" conversation with my nan (she must have been about 58 (she died a year or two after). I got interested in her memories of her nan etc, and my mum helped me find out a few bits and pieces - we went to London to St Catherine's house etc.
That was over 25 years ago and it is a hobby that I have picked up and put down over the years. I have followed back on every line I can and reached many dead ends. The farthest back I have got it a Frenchman born in approx 1599 who emigrated to Amsterdam.
I wonder if my kids will be annoyed that I have got there before them and deprived them of all the fun of discovering it for themselves. Although is still much flesh to add to the bones I have found - maybe that can be their job :)
Julie
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ps - my mum still thinks "we" have found out so much about the family history - I bite my lip and try not to yell "it was ME that found it all out - not you, you gave up years ago (and never contributed to the cost either !" :)
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I started searching after my mother's death. Prior to then, I had no interest in family history, and I think the search started as a knee jerk reaction to wanting to hang onto family. I would dearly like to have shared some of the things I've discovered about my mother's father with her such as his father was a regular soldier and travelled all over the country and even perhaps to South Africa during the first Boer war - she knew very little of his side of the family. However it is a double edged sword - if mum was still alive, I doubt I would have got the bug.
Sallysmum
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Might sound strange, but I don't really remember what got me started. I was at university at the time and reading history, so I suppose it seemed like a very good idea at the time to flex my grey matter in the field I was studying...and still does, of course.
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I started after hearing about a beautiful wooden chair in a church. The chair was dedicated to my great uncle who died in WW1.
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I started after watching the Stephen Poliakoff drama 'Perfect Strangers' a few summers ago on BBC 1. It had Matthew Mcfayden (from spooks/new Mr Darcy) in it and was about a family reunion and all the family stories that were revealed there. Compelling watching and it got me hooked!
acceber
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As a kid i was always facinated with the old photos and asked my mum who was who years later i asked her is i could write on the backs of the photes for future reference. then i got my pc and joined friends renuited and then genes at first i just added the family as it was then siblins etc. also being a bit nosey i dicided i wanted to know where my grand parents were born. my mum by this time has passed away and had a load of BDM certs which was a great help. then my neice got the bug and as is always the case every one in the family wants a print up of the tree and has a story to tell. then i discovered roots chat and its been more of an obsession than a hobby rootschat is addictive.
:D Bell ;D
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I have to admit that mine did start as just a hobby but now it is an addiction.
Everyday is spent looking for one person or another though only for about an hour or so. It all depends on whether we are busy or not. During the summer my time is limited to one hour a day or a couple of hours at night. During the winter when we are quiet i spend a lot more time travelling back and forth to Anglesey and York.
Mind you I would rather be addicted to this than anything else such as online gambling or drinking or shopping or some such thing - Hubby prefers it as well
Carol
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Carol
It may be an expensive addiction but at least it's good for your health!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ::) ::) ::) ::)
Kerry
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I first became interested when I was a school girl and jotted down a rough family tree with the help of my maternal grandmother. At the same time one of my first cousins once removed started researching our maternal family history. It wasn't until some years later that we met up and she shared her information with me. Sadly she passed away in 2004. She was my inspiration, and I have continued what she started and more.
Dolly
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Originally I started it on behalf of my sister because I know this is the one thing she would dearly have loved to have done before she died three years ago.
Now I am sure she sits beside me at the Computer saying, 'yes that's the one' because I only had my dad's Birth Certificate to work from, and I am almost sure the family I have found is the right one..... hopefully the next Certificate will prove it!
There is something about knowing your past that makes you feel complete...and I know my Sis would be so happy but just wish we could have done it together.
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I've loved reading your fascinating accounts. My preoccupation started about 5 years ago after my husband died and our daughter stopped her car in front of an unknown house and said "I know you don't believe in this sort of thing but I've made an appointment with a clairvoyant". I sat with a po face silently reciting nursery rhymes. the reading was taped and except for one or two common names I knew I had to check with older relatives about the rest. What got me started was her saying "His pals called him Harry but he preferred his real name Henry. He's wearing an army uniform, now he's changed into a flying uniform and waggling his arms about, he didn't come home from. ...., unfortunately the tape had run out. An aunt said she had an uncle Henry who died when she was about 3 yrs old. I collected over 500 names but no sign of 'Henry' then I realised he was William H. Fleming, a late conscript in WWI and he died in France August 1918 aged 41. His mother was English and his father was a German and as with German customs at the time his middle name was his given name. Through genesR I discovered the descendants of the man who brought my g.grandfather b1854 to England. The 'pop music' of the time was Hannovarian and there were many wandering bands of musicians travelling to such places as Turkey, India, etc. and Henry's father belonged to such a band travelling with them from the age of 8 playing his violin (they got more work if the band had a child or two in tow!). I'm enjoying the challenge and I heard another one this spring when daughter had a tarot reading evening. My reading didn't say anything about meeting a millionaire. I pricked my ears up as I was shuffling the cards when she started telling me about a smuggler - I'm following one at the moment born 1845 in Filey :-) Turns out my hubby's 'brook no nonsense' grandmother was wearing a smuggled ruby in her ring!!!! If anyone knows of a smuggler imprisoned 1904 (the year she gave me) I'd like to hear about him :-))
Cheers,
Rena
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My father, when he was shown a copy of a family tree that someone had put together for my mothers side of the family, said " I hope no one does that on my side of the family". That was years ago and dad is no longer here so no one can complain, now that I have started.
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Those are usually the wrong words to say - there's always someone who loves a challenge and it looks like it is you Shugh
Welcome to Rootschat as well
Carol
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Deleted
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My father one day started to tell me about his school days and some of the trouble he got into (and expelled once.....he didn't tell me why?) and then I realised that I knew absolutely nothing about where he went to school or for that matter anything about his parents.
So I asked him did he remember his grandparents and he replied that yes he was a teenager before they passed away. "What was their names?" asked I....................he thought for a moment then replied.................grandmother & grandfather!!!!!!!!!. He never knew their names!
So I got interested, and then proceeded to bombard him with information until he sadly passed away a few years ago..........still waiting for him to contact me with some answers from a couple of brick walls!!!
Still waiting Dad!!.
Webby
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Interesting story Webby - my father didn't know his grandparents names either but then they died fifteen years before he was born. He had 9 aunts and uncles - some he never met. So sad - he has said many times since I have started searching 'how I wish I had taken notice of mother when she talked about the family' - I guess we have all been guilty of that when we were young :)
I also have a 90 year old uncle [my dad's brother] who when I tell him what I have found 'oh I knew that' - so annoying and then I find out that he has a family bible and hasn't said anything to me about it >:( I am just waiting for the 'right' moment - after all my dad is the eldest in the family and I think he should have it :) :) My dad thinks I have found out much more than is in the bible as he doesn't think it goes back very far.
Hope you brickwalls start to crumble ;D ;D
Cheers
Skipworth
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I started researching after my husbands Gran showed me a photo of her Gran and i found myself looking at the spit of my own Gran who is still alive.
My Gran and my husbands Gran have now met and husbands Gran admits that they are identical.
So i thought there must be a link here somewhere, am still looking, though to be fair Husbands tree has sort of been brushed aside as i got carried away with my own.
Debbie
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mine started with the release of the 1901 census online as i had read about it in some newspaper and i had just recently bought a computer but then that website crashed and it was months before we could view it again.So i asked for a lookup in the 1881 census and the reply amazed me so much i had to find out more and it seems to have become a never ending quest!
Steve
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Steve
I remember the first time I got an answer from someone on Rootschat, to a lookup I requested. The answer was so quick I nearly fell off my chair!!!!
Kerry
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I started because apart from my immediate family, I didn't know any relatives with the name Carver. Now I am in contact with several distant cousins, but still haven't found a picture of my grandad who apparently looked just like me.
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I always wondered if my maiden name McKenzie was Scotch or Irish
How ever I am Scotch
We had been on a tour to New Zealand two years ago and enjoyed it very much I was always told my granda McKenzie was born on a ship one mile out of New Zealand (as his mother liked to travel ) being little I never thought about people travelling in those days
After New Zealand we flew to Australia to my mums cousins where I was shown the marriage certificate of my grt grt grandparents (mums side )
I found out a genealogy class had started in the village so I went along and have done so well
Alas when we were in New zealand at Dunedin we had a day to ourselves we just wondered the streets and looked in the shops
It wasn't until I sent for my grandas birth certificate that I found out he was born in Alva Street Dunedin and his brother was buried there
Some day hope to go back and find these places
Elizabeth
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Reading through a genealogy magazine I saw that the reason one lady was hooked was because as a small child she used to fill in the the forms required to keep track of her grandfather's pedigree cows. Finding out which cows were related to each other !
From then on she was hooked into finding out about her own generations......
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Some years before my grandfather died, he gave me a package containing three items ...
1) a cloth map of Yorkshire dated 1824
2) a maths book dated 1863, and
3) a marriage certificate between a Thomas Dodsworth and a Jane Ruddock, dated 1839
The map of Yorkshire was lovely, and it's now framed and hanging above my fireplace.
The maths book obviously belonged to one of his relatives as it bore his surname, but the certificate really foxed my father and I! The problem was that my father's middle name is Dodsworth, but we didn't know any Dodsworth's or Ruddocks.
So that's what started us off; we were determined to find out how this marriage certificate came into my grandfather's - and ultimately my - possession.
Turns out that Thomas Dodsworth (of the Dodsworth/Ruddock marriage) sired Sarah Dodsworth, who married my gt-gt-grandfather.
Obvious, wasn't it? ;)
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My wife started to research her family when the children were all at school and she had time to kill. Another mum from the school got her interested and showed her the ropes. She got stuck with her family, so started on mine, which got me interested.
In those days there was no internet to log on to and ask for help - we had to spend hours trawling through the indexes at St Catherine's House, reading wills at Somerset House and sitting in a darkened room peering at census films that had to be ordered up from the reception desk in (I think) Chancery Lane.
There was the IGI of course - on microfiche (almost unreadable in some cases) - for guidance, but not much use to me researching in East Kent, because coverage for this area was very thin.
When we had found what we could there, it became a long slog through the parish registers - the real thing, not microfilm - at the Canterbury Cathedral Archives. They used to charge a fee in those days - about 50p an hour if memory serves me right.
By the time the registers were filmed, I had more or less completed my direct line research as far as I could go.
Now I make full use of every means I can find to expand my knowledge of the family, but I still enjoy going back to the primary sources to make my own decisions about what is actually written there!
Regards, Bill
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I started over 30 years ago when my father died, and I realised I did not know anything about his parents, who had also died when he was young. It took me ages going into London to plough through books with birth, marriage and death info. A year to find his parents' names. Eventually, I found out that his mother died when he was 5 and his father committed suicide a couple of years later. No wonder he never mentioned them - I wonder if he ever knew...?
Nowadays, it's so easy, and I've gone back to the 1700's. Which means I have to plough through Parish Registers!
meles
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Hello all !
I started this pursuit after clearing my mothers house when she went into a nursing home, aged 91. Apart from finding love letters from my father to her (she said "Throw then away, too sugary !" - I've kept them !) ... I also found a cutting dated 40 years previously - 1960, reporting the death of her aunt in Canada. I had known about Great Aunt Lizzie from my childhood ... she sent parcels in the war, and there was always something for me ... a huge red apple, a book ... and had often wondered what had happened to her, and if there was any way I could find out. To me, she was a magical, exciting person, who had 'run away' to Canada as a young girl; I too, wanted to travel and see new places, but for me, it was Africa (and I did, for 11 years !)
So I asked my mother if she had contacted this apparently huge Canadian family listed on the obit. "No", she said, "I didnt know how to". I said "I'll find them !" and did, by dint of writing to the mayor of the town mentioned in the obit; he put my letter in the local paper ... and bingo ! Letters in reply from all over Canada ! One cousin even came to visit her in the home (she was actually 'doing Europe' but mother thought she had come specially ... it made her day !)
So a few years later, when Mother had died and left me some money, I used some of it and went to Canada to seek out the relatives; that started a whole flood of photos of 'the old country', pictures of me as a child, but they didnt know who it was, and so on ... A second cousin is coming from Canada in a couple of weeks to see her English roots.
And that obit ? How did my mother have it ? You won't believe this ... but its true ! A friend of Mothers was going on a 3 month trip to Canada in 1960; Mother told her she had relatives there, and the town they lived in. About four months later there was a knock at the door, and Mothers friend called round for tea, bearing a piece of paper ... "Is this your relative" she said ? You've guessed it, more or less ! Mothers friend was visiting a relative of hers in BC, and idley picked up a local paper ... and there was the obit ... if she hadnt been in that town on that day, she's never have seen it ! And if my mother hadn't been the sort who never threw ANYTHING away in her 93 years, the paper, too would have been binned. Who says there isn't a God ??!!
So my start into family history was not in the UK, but via Canada ... I've been hooked on it, and Canada, ever since !!
Lydart