RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: pinefamily on Wednesday 07 May 08 08:12 BST (UK)
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I don't think I have seen this asked anywhere else.
Have you ever been asked, or asked yourself, why did you get into genealogy?
I know myself that I first started many years ago after watching the mini-series "Roots", by Alex Haley.
So what stirred the rest of you?
Darren
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I think it was a 'roots' thing ... just wanting to know where we originated, and the possible truth behind family stories
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My nana always wanted to know who her father was (she was illegitimate) - never found that out, sadly, but got to the root of A LOT of family myths!!!
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I began when a family member died and we received a condolence letter from relatives in Australia. They asked did anyone know anything about the family's early history. They really only wanted to know about grandparents and cousins at that time...........but, like Topsy 'it just growed' ;D
Suey
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Seeing our long waited for baby(after 13 yrs of marriage and waving good by to my 43rd birthday!) with his dad grand dad and gt grand dad. Then wanting to find something to keep Grampy interested he went on to tell us stories from his childhood until he died nearly 104.
I had always been interested in Geography and why places developed and declined, and an generally interested in anthropology and a nosey nature.
Trees
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I started out as a way to get closer to my mom, and learn about her family, which we didn't know much about. Boy, did it snowball.
Kath
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I began when my father died in 1996. My mother gave me various certificates from his family.
I asked my mother for similar items and all she had was her own birth cert.!
She did not know where her father was born for instance.
I decided to investigate when I retired in 2004, as a way of keeping busy ::)
I began slowly, and by the retirement I was already well on with things.
Now I have a room where there is very little other than family history. :)
I'm well and truly hooked!
Kooky
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Although only a new member of rootschat I've been reasearching for a number of years. The simple truth is that I can't stand not knowing things. My Dad's Mum died when he was only three so he knew nothing of her family, or indeed of his father's and that bothered me. I couldn't understand how someone could be content knowing only the very bare bones of their background.
Also, I grew up hearing stories of Scotland and having chats with my Grandmother and consequently have stories since proven to be correct about my GG/Grandmother.
I find it absorbing, obsessive and fascinating. After all I'm a part of them and they're all a part of me.
Joy
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I started when the 1901 Census became available on line, when I looked up my grandparents on both sides to see where they were living. My family are great ones for telling tales, so I knew a bit about the family.
Having discovered, to my amazement, that one grandmother was living with plenty of siblings and her parents in a tiny house very close to a part of London we had, without realising, visited regularly, I was intrigued to go further.
Then my cousin, who had been entrusted with documents relating to family history, as the eldest son of the eldest son of the family, somewhat reluctantly passed on the information to me. He only had a daughter and therefore couldn't maintain his proud position as senior in the family.
Imagine his distress when I subsequently discovered that, contrary to his understanding that he was the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son - our mutual greatx3 grandfather was illegitimate, and our mutual greatx2 grandfather WASN'T the eldest son, but the third! :-*
I don't think he's quite recovered, but I have an extensive tree, just in the 19th Century, of all the relatives. ;D
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I started about 5 years ago because I found some details of my great and great great grandparents in the old family bible in the loft of my grandparents house.
My gran had filled in the details of their names and deaths but no births or marriages and I wanted to fill in the gaps. However I couldn't just stop at filling in those gaps. ::)
Kerry
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after G.Gran died, nan [her daughter] gave me a family bible handed down from G'Grans Mother, and there were names and dates in it, and nan told me who was who, and i never forgot what she told me, by the way, i was about 11-12yrs old then [now 56] since then i've always wanted to do it, then 5yrs ago i got my PC, [never had one before!] and i got going! and never stopped!!!!
chris.
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by the way-----i still have that bible and would never part with it.
Chris.
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One of my aunts did a tree of all the descendants of her mother, in 2000, and sent it round to everyone.
It seemed to me that we should know who we descended from. so I started with that grandmother. Her father was the only one with the surname in the 1901 census. Actually there were a couple of others, but they were mistranscribed. They were of the same family though. Name is very rare and all the ones I can find are related to the one original family, and I can't get any further with it.
I can't quite remember what I did from there. I wish I could.
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A bit like Kooky, I started after my mother died. Unfortunately that was after my father, stepfather and all my aunts and uncles except one aunt, had died. I think it's quite a common thing to start researching when everyone has gone. I was prompted by a newspaper article which referred to the recently released 1901 census and it gave some other website addresses. And the rest, as they say, is family history!
(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Laughing/lol-022.gif)
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Why not, to me genealogy or family history was something you learned just like walking, or any other normal everyday activity.
It is something I have been involved in since infancy even to the extent of tracing parish registers whilst learning to write.
Of course those were the days when one could lightly paint a register which had faded entries with tannic acid to magically make the writing appear. ;)
Imagine trying to do that today!.
Cheers
Guy
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I thought about it years ago, in my teens - I'd always liked history, especially local history and social history. There was also an interesting
gentleman in my husbands's family, who was the first Sanitary Inspector in Nottingham - we had a copy of a report he presented which made really interesting reading.which made me curious to find out more. So, it was always at the back of my mind, but jobs, time, children, etc all put it on hold.
Then, when I got talking to a friend in my village he showed me his family tree folder (he was so enthusiastic) and asked me if I wanted to go to the next meeting of the local family history society with him and his wife. At this time I was generally just feeling bored from sitting watching, or escaping, sport on tv + repeats of various programmes I wasn't interested in, that I thought why not! Time to do something for me.
Love the quest for knowledge/information, mysteries, characters, etc , etc - not so sure about the brickwalls, though >:( ??? :-\ ;D
Well that was about two and a half years ago, and I've never looked back - love it!
Paulene :)
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I have always been interesting in history and can remember as a young girl listening to stories told by my grandmother and her sisters when the got together.. They told of things the did as young girls. Then we moved to Canada and then when I had my two children I realized that they were the first generation to be born in Canada and that is what got me started but I had been thinking about it.. I really did not get going till about 1994 when I went home to Yorkshire on holiday with a friend and we went to the record offices and I got my mum's cousins to look through the old pictues and we found lots of old pictures, which they let me make copies of. Since then I have been on a quest to find out as much as I can about my families. I am having a wonderful time doing I have met lots of wonderful people over the years and some have become very good friends.
Happy Hunting everyone.
Cheers
Anne
P.S I must say we now have a second generation born in Canada my little grandson Daniel.
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That's amazing, Guy - tannic acid! :o :o :o
For me, a cousin decided to find out something about a very little-known part of the family. She wanted help, and cajoled me into helping. I was quickly bitten by the bug, and now every twig of the family is fair game! ;D
Do wish I'd asked questions of some of the oldies before they passed on, though! :'( :'(
MarieC
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When I was a child my mother had a set of post cards from the time of the 1st world war. There were several hundred of them set out in a huge album. Each one had a verse of a current song or a hymn with a picture depicting a scene from the song and you built up sets to make up the whole song.
They had all been written on by a man called Adolphus and sent to his girlfriend, Dora. At the time I was fascinated by the picture side of the cards, they were mainly tragic or very sentimental and I would read them on rainy days.
A couple of years ago I was given the cards which by this time were loose.
I put them in order and read the love story of my gt uncle Adolphus and Dora. I had to know what had happened to them.
Sadly I found that they married, had a little boy and one year later Dora died of TB, followed quickly by the little boy and then not long after by Adolphus. :'(
I had always been going to research my family history but now I was hooked ::).
What a great question Darren! :)
Best wishes,
Elin
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Elin, what a wonderful story, with a sad ending, but at least its more or less a complete story. So many of us are left with big question marks.
Take care of that collection of cards; its a great treasure !
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Like Suey I received a condolence letter after a family death from a relative who was researcing our uncommon name. I had always been interested but hadn't done any actual researching myself, and like others regret now not asking more and making notes earlier, though had accumulated a box of interesting family history and had some good memories. Luckily we had a family reunion for one branch of OH family a couple of decades ago and we all got lots of photocopies of info and photos which I appreciated and put into a file book. The lady who did it had free use of an old copier or it would have cost heaps to pay for each sheet .. lots of black ink on some photos though.
I can see why people get hooked on genealogy .. I have many other distractions with full time work and other hobbies..but have enjoyed following another line of OH we knew nothing of. Learning a lot as I go .. including getting more familiar with this site whith all the shared knowledge. Now getting some more info from his dad while we can because I've still got his side to do in detail. OH getting a little involved when he can too, so something we can share.
Plenty of gaps to fill in on my side still too to keep me going for a while and I've a few more boxes of family history to store..
mare
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I had spent a number of years researching my village Parish History when my late sister suggested I do the family tree.
Got hooked so much that when some villagers started a Village History Group I handed over all my research for them to use as I have found all my spare time (apart from my 'battle' re-enactments) is taking up all my time.
All I need now is a Time Machine so I can visit all my new found ancestsors. ;D
Jean
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Elin, that's a wonderful story, I agree with Lydart - and you are so lucky to have all those cards! What a treasure!
Jean, if you ever find that time machine, give me a loan of it once you've finished with it, will you? ;D
MarieC
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Just as long as we could all take a turn in that time machine!
I'd love to meet the various ancestors who made the journey here to South Australia, to hear first hand what made them take such a huge step; especially my Swedish great-grandfather who jumped ship here, after apparently running away to sea to avoid an apprenticeship.
Fantastic postings everyone, it is so interesting to read people's motivations for family history.
Darren
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I think I have always known that I would do it one day. My parents started researching their families in the days of hand written letters and two weeks of waiting for an answer to a query. I have all of their findings, some of which have turned out to be inaccurate - what a shame to go to all the effort and then to have the wrong set of ancestors. My father would have been utterly hooked if the internet and resources like Rootschat, Ancestry etc had been available to him.
What I find hard to understand is not why we want to do it but why some people have no interest whatsoever in their family history.
Jen
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I was brought up with a sense of family history my grandmother and mother kept all the family documents to be passed on to the next generation. and I inherited these some 45 years ago.
As a small child I was also dragged around the area I lived in and told about all the places of interest and shown where the ancient barrows (burials) were, Roman roads etc.,
Was read to by great Uncle who was a historian and book dealer about the Romans and the Celts, and the Picts as well as our local history. loved his readings about the Brigantes and the other tribes of early Britain.
He also was responsible for my love of books. for which I could never thank him enough.
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First became interested when my granny died and my dad came home with ,among other things a black wooden box full of certificates, medals, photos, little cards announcing the death of someone,handcuffs(my grandfather was a policeman in Edinburgh) which my granny had kept. My dad used to say that most folk in the village he grew up in were related. Whenever I came home for a visit he would take me to the churchyard.
After that I tried to find things but bringing up family etc got in the way although I never lost the interest.
Three years ago I started again in earnest and it's been a brilliant journey - not always a happy one - but good all the same. Sadly my dad isn't here to see my results but I have more or less managed to prove that he was indeed correct about being related to most folk in his village!
Hopefully my kids might show an interest someday.
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What I find hard to understand is not why we want to do it but why some people have no interest whatsoever in their family history.
Jen
Hear, hear, Jen! I can't understand it. But then, unbelievably, I was one who had little interest, only a handful of years ago! ??? ???
airdlass, I so relate to what you say! My dad did some work on the family, and I know he would be stoked if he knew what I have found out! I have just downloaded some wills, which I have yet to decipher (!!!) and I was thinking about him today, and how interested he would be. I do think that where he is, he knows, and is glad that I am doing this.
MarieC
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The joy is in finding things like my grandma's clocking in card and token from the factory where she worked , my great grandad's faded and very delicate Master Mariner certificate from 1899, the photo of my other nan, looking young and beautiful, as opposed to the bent and wrinkled old woman I knew. I have a letter written by a great uncle, in an old man's shaky hand writing, in which he lists, for my father, all his aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins etc. He was a man born around the turn of the last century and I have this thing which was his. It makes genealogy so much more than just dates and names.
I think it's just magic!
Jen
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One thing I forgot to add in my previous post is that I am the very proud owner of a notebook written by my great grandfather, who was a Metropolitan Policeman from the 1880's to 1910.
He noted many things in his book, including family births, marriages and deaths with precise dates and locations (which are, of course, a godsend!), but also some details of the events which he attended in the course of his work.
To see an entry about where he stood at the funeral procession of Queen Victoria, and the visits of the Emperor of Japan and the Kaiser is beyond price.
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I have a photo of my grandfather on duty during a visit by Queen Mary and George V? to Edinburgh - also a certifcate/letter of thanks that they got at the time.
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What I find hard to understand is not why we want to do it but why some people have no interest whatsoever in their family history.
Jen
I couldn't agree more. I have relatives who have actually gotten mad at me when I have tried to show things. Well, one in particular. And some of the things I wanted to show her were pictures of her beloved great-grandmother when she was a teenager. I was dumbfounded.
I say mores the pity to them.
Kath
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You can see the glazed look in their eyes the minute anything remotely connected to ancestry comes into a conversation. I try to avoid bringing the subject up unless I know that whoever is with me is interested and even then, I try to keep it short.
It's one of the reasons why this is such a great site - we can all ramble on as much as we like on any aspect of our favourite hobby and know that there is someone out there who understands.
Jen
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You are so right Jen. I have tons of posts on here gushing about things I have found, and always interested ears and congrats all around. I can't understand why family members aren't at least a little interested. Although, I brought one of my binders to a wedding a couple weeks ago and one of my brothers was thrilled with things I had in it, so that was very exciting. I take every little scrap I can get.
Kath
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Cath and Jen,
I really relate to what you both say. I get very sad because it feels like I have nobody to tell when I find exciting things. Most of my relatives get that glazed look if I tell them even small details and my elderly aunt is positively offended. I just don't talk about it unless they bring it up,which is rare. :'(
Yet I am fascinated and touched by all the family stories that I hear about on here.
Elin
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Elin,
Feel free to send a PM any time you have something to share. I won't have glazed-over eyes. I love to hear stories. Shows my obsession: I get just as interested in others' families as I am in my own. ;D
Kath
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Oh, thank you Cath! That's very kind, I just hope you don't live to regret it. ;D
Elin
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Nope, cuz what's good for the goose... ;D ;D
Kath
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When I was a child my mother had a set of post cards from the time of the 1st world war. There were several hundred of them set out in a huge album. Each one had a verse of a current song or a hymn with a picture depicting a scene from the song and you built up sets to make up the whole song.
Elin,
That is so wonderful. (But sad about their early deaths.)
I collect that type of postcard when I can find them. (I don't have many.) It's unusual to find the set to make up a complete song. I recently found three of a series all written by a young man to his sister. He must have mailed them all together in an envelope because there was no address.
I have a "thing" for postcards from the First World War. I wish I had something like that from my family but no such luck.
Regards,
Josephine
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Elin,
Even better, post on here when you have something to share - then we can all join in the celebrations! ;D ;D
MarieC
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Hi Marie - I will, thank you. I can get very excited I warn you ::) I just love this site!
Josephine - Yes, I really treasure the post cards and am very pleased that I got hold of them. Sadly they weren't being looked after at all and some had even been sold to a dealer who cherry picked the most valuable :o I was horrified but powerless to do anything about it at the time. The remainder were just stuffed in a box for years and never even looked at.
I am so sad about the missing ones and just relieved that the dealer rejected them. I like to feel that Adolphus and Dora are remembered now.
Elin
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Cath and Jen,
I really relate to what you both say. I get very sad because it feels like I have nobody to tell when I find exciting things. Most of my relatives get that glazed look if I tell them even small details and my elderly aunt is positively offended. I just don't talk about it unless they bring it up,which is rare. :'(
Yet I am fascinated and touched by all the family stories that I hear about on here.
Elin
I'm the same - my kids aren't interested - although they usually humour me when I try and tell them something.
Nice to have a place to share things and know that it's not out of politeness etc
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I took have kids that are not too interested. Hubby is a little bit when I talk about his family. But I do have a nice group of friends who I got started on family history and we always tell each other our finds and we also help each other in finding information and we get excited when we find something for the other person.
Next year hubby's mother will be 90 and I am thinking of doing up a small book on her family to give to her as I knew she will really like it.
Cheers
Anne
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My nephew who is good at history at school and likes history is being encouraged by his history teacher to talk to me about the family tree. I rather think, that his view is if he gets into family history alongside me, next year he might pick history as a GCSE topic. ;D ::)
Kerry
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I remember our children having to do a bit of a family tree at primary school level, and our schools have grandparents day and pioneer day etc as part of the syllabis. I also remember being asked as a long term resident of our town to speak about the olden days ;D .. of course they were interested in recent changes too but also my mother's days and school.
I'm not totally on my own, have a couple of helpers in the family and everyone moderately interested.
mare
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You're lucky mare, my family always glaze over when I start talking about the family. If I can get my nephew on board I'll have a fan :D
Kerry
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I got into this as a result of a combination of things.
I think the hype of the 1901 census going online first got me thinking about all this. As a child, I remember talking to my mum's mother about her family, and the stories used to flood out; I was conscious that my mum would know all this, so resolved to get the most out of her while there was still an opportunity.
I was also conscious that my daughter was growing up away from family (both mine and OH's) and didn't have the same regularity of contact with the wider family as I did when I was young. Mobility may bring opportunity, but the nature of our communities change as a result of that - no great aunt bertha down the road to do a bit of babysitting and tell family stories.
So I got into all this for my daughter, and quickly to make the most of my mum's memories. I already knew quite a lot about my mum's family because they all talked about each other (nicely, mostly ;D).
My dad's family was a bit more of a closed book - he didn't open up much, and has now been dead almost thirty years. But I've found out stuff that is absolutely fascinating - like a great great grandfather who appears to have been an orphan, but became a succesful whitesmith and gunmaker - a cousin of my dad's (now in her late nineties) didn't even know that.
Where I have been fortunate is that about 40 years ago, my mum and dad sorted out all the family photographs they had, threw away the duplicates and put the remainder in a scrapbook with captions saying who they were. That was a stroke of luck - they are now scanned into the computer and many of them are on my FH website.
I'm also lucky in that my immediate family don't glaze over when I talk about what I've found out. My brother and his two (adult) children are occasional visitors to my FH site to catch up on the latest additions, and my mum often recalls something else when I tell her what I've found out (pencil and paper always to hand when I ring her!).
I even can get my daughter interested sometimes - the photos are a great opportunity to talk about how people lived in the 20th and 19th centuries - just to remind her how lucky she is ::)
JULIAN
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Keep working on that nephew, Kerry!
I fear I'm among those doomed to have to talk to Rootschatters about my finds. Though you never know - maybe one day, I will get through to a nephew or niece! I've pretty well given up on my brothers.
MarieC
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Marie, I'm hoping that one day my 3 year old grandson will take an interest. I look after him a lot and so I will start brainwashing him now!
Anyway for now I shall be very happy to talk to Rootschatters about my finds and my brick walls. It is lovely to have people to share the excitement with and to get pleasure from the stories of others.
Elin :)
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Now to gush a little: my cousin who gives me the hardest time called the other night. We were talking about a gift for our aunt's 80th bday party. Her daughters had suggested gift cards to restaurants, and my cousin said to me that I should give one of the great old photos I have in a nice frame. Wow, was that a compliment I heard. ;D I told her my true intention was a narrative, but the party is 2 months earlier than I thought it would be and don't have time to have it ready for her. but I was so happy my cousin was at least trying.
Kath
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My father in law has the same attitude"why are you spending so much time on the past?" So it was with trepidation we prepared a This is your Life type book for his 80th birthday Photos of his mum and dad as youngsters their family homes his childhood his schools,military service and so on what a pleasant surprise at the party surrounded by friends and family a cursory look and thank you but the next visit he was gushing and anxious at last to tell us about his childhood , What a difference now we don't feel so guilty when we go on a fact finding trip to a distant record office..still cant persuade him to come along for the ride though. get it ready for Christmas and give the framed photograph for her birthday
Trees
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I made a few cursory attempts years back when the 1901 census came online, but didn't get very far. I'm sad to say that the real reason I got back into it was the deaths of both my very much missed grandparents.
I just felt though I needed to be connected back to them and to know where I came from.
When we were clearing out their house we found a very old photograph of my Grandma's Grandparents - my mum knew who everyone on the photo was, and it all snowballed from there 2 years later and nearly 700 ancestors later I'm still going strong.
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Being rather bored at work today I have just read this message and all the replies and feel I have to say that I agree with everything that has been said.
I started my family tree about 7-8 years ago. Not only did I start mine but my husbands also, so I tend to dip in and out of both. I am totally absorbed and hooked. It is like a drug, a need a daily fix!
I too find that people glaze over when they ask what hobbies you have and you say genealogy and then they quickly change the subject. I now have a 1 year old grandson and a grand daughter of a couple of months old so I shall, on the quiet and as they get older, get them interested and then I shall have someone to talk to about it.
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Welcome Gilda, but beware - once you have found this site, you will find that little or nothing else in your life gets done!
Maybe you could talk to your grandchildren whilst they are sleeping, thus creating in them an unconscious desire to be in touch with their past. They will then ask you the questions rather than you having to risk the glazed eye reaction. Good luck.
Jen
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Hi Gilda you should have a lot of support here don't be shy dive in on any board or the chat room you are definitely among the most helpful Family Historians
Trees
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Absolutely. Have fun with it. Rootschat has the greatest people.
Kath
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Hear, hear! Gilda, if you don't want to be totally addicted, get out now! (Or maybe it is already too late! ;D )
MarieC
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I started about 9 years ago, I'd always wondered where my surname originated - McIlduff- my dad is Scottish but all he knew was his dad was born in Ireland and that started me off :) Absolutely hooked now and not on just my own family history but also the history of any one who expresses an interest, I'm ready to pounce and offer to help ;D
Fiona
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Fiona,
that's when you know it's a full-blown addiction. I love helping other people. I even volunteer on RAOGK to do cemetery lookups. Actually, now that winter is over, I have a list to get going on. ;D
Kath
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I have nine different family trees on the go at the moment - I think, though I may have forgotten one or two. It is great fun but it gets awfully confusing at times.
But, as I keep saying to those who look at me as if I am totally barmy when I tell them this, it keeps me off the streets!
Jen
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But, as I keep saying to those who look at me as if I am totally barmy when I tell them this, it keeps me off the streets!
Jen
Absolutely right. There are worse hobbies. ???
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My dad always had an interest in family history and I brought him a book to write the tree in years ago for his birthday. Unfortunately he didn't fill a lot in
When my Grandad died in 1989 we found a load of old photos which my mum kept and also the registration of her older brother who was stillborn.
After my dad died in 1998 I got her to tell me who the people were in the photos and put them in an album. Next I went up the archive office and did a bit more research
It got left a bit after that and then my mum died in 2004 and I ended up with a lot of stuff from the house including my paternal grandparents birth certificates. I decided to write to my uncles and pick their brains but only 3 bothered to reply
Then I got a computer and the Internet and now as they say 'the rest is history'
I just wish my dad was alive to tell him all I have found out
Willow x
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But, as I keep saying to those who look at me as if I am totally barmy when I tell them this, it keeps me off the streets!
Jen
Absolutely right. There are worse hobbies. ???
We're all barmy on here, Jen! But nine family trees - I think you take the prize for the moment! :o :o ::)
MarieC
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Barmy - absolutely. But I do try to keep them separate in my mind. Wouldn't it be fun if they started to link up. I have already discovered that in spite of my predominantly Scottish/North Yorkshire ancestry, my line from Westmorland almost certainly would have known the ancestors of the person who is now my best friend, even if it was just in passing. Farming communities around Brough, Kirkby Stephen, Shap etc in the 1600/1700s would have shared markets, hiring fairs etc. I am just waiting to find the bit where my friend and I share a common ancestor!
Jen
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Keep looking, Jen! If they knew each other, I'm sure you'll find a common ancestor eventually!
MarieC
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I now have a 1 year old grandson and a grand daughter of a couple of months old so I shall, on the quiet and as they get older, get them interested and then I shall have someone to talk to about it.
LOL, Gilda, good plan! ;D
Regards,
Josephine
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I've done that with my kids. :o They have some interest, and love to look at old pictures and the things I have inherited, and talk about their great-great-grandmas, and great-great-aunt Margaret, etc. Even if they don't have the same strong interest I have, I like to see my daughter's face light up as I tell her about people I remember.
Kath
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My dad migrated to Australia when he was 20. As a child he never really spoke about his childhood or youth or much about his family. I knew I had relatives in England and Ireland, but they were always 'his' relatives and not mine in my mind.
When I was posted for work to Europe and mentioned I'd like to see where he grew up he drew me maps and gave me family addresses, asking if I'd go to see them. Again I said they were 'his' family not mine. When I was visiting the hall where he had photos taken with all of his friends I spoke to a local lady, she asked who my local family were, at first she didn't know. She asked me who's your granny' I responded with her name and then she realised she did know them and her uncle was my dad's step father and he lived 3 doors up from where were standing. Before I knew it she dragged me up to meet him. Hearing he talk about my grandmother (who died years before I was born) made me want to know more. The stranger asking me about my granny was a first, before then I'd usually thought of her as my dad's mum and not my grandmother. I met my dad's aunts and uncles and cousins over the next few days, they heard I was there and sought me out. Suddenly I realised they were 'my' family. Some also gave me old photos and the door to this side opened. I started tracing family history from there, asking them for names and details.
My dad now talks about his family and his childhood to me, he is fascinated with Irish history and my obsession with the tree ties in. Now we are never short of something to talk about.
My mum's maiden name is unique and through online sites I've met family all over the world and with their help have her line going back 16 generations. She too is intrigued by what I've learnt. Reading this topic makes me realise I am lucky they are interested.
I just wish I'd been able to know my paternal grandparents, i also wish someone else on my dad's side was interested in our search, so far no luck. But the family are interested in meeting me when I've visited and in seeing photos and knowing how my dad is and through 'my' re-acquired family I have photos and stories of my grandparents.
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Megan,
What an amazing story and how lovely that it has given you an extra bond with your parents. I often wish that my dad had lived into this internet age as he would have been fascinated by all my finds and, having recently lost my mother, I know that it was one of the few things which held her interest towards the end of her life. Keep going and I'm sure you will find someone to share your dad's side with eventually. This is a pretty good place to start looking.
Jen
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What a great story, Megan! And how fantastic that you are able to share so much with your dad. Make the most of it! Like Jen, I grieve that my dad didn't live into this internet age - he was interested in family history, and we'd have had so much to talk about!
MarieC
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What a great story, Megan! And how fantastic that you are able to share so much with your dad. Make the most of it! Like Jen, I grieve that my dad didn't live into this internet age - he was interested in family history, and we'd have had so much to talk about!
MarieC
Seconded!
Willow x
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Thirded!
I wish I could share what I've found with my mother. She would have loved every bit of it.
I share with her sisters and cousins, though, and they're always happy to learn more.
Regards,
Josephine
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thanks for all of your kind words.
I am so pleased to have discovered rootschat. Whilst my family are pleased with what I can show them they don't quite understand my obsession or the eureka moments when you finally discover that key to discovering elusive relative. That is the other reason genealogy got me in. I love the chase, the analysis, the discovery. I'm so pleased that all of you are out there sharing my enthusiasm.
My search has meant I have got to know my aunty, she was only a baby when my dad left, she is closer to me in age, it is wonderful to know her too.
Megan :D
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I love the chase, the analysis, the discovery.
I totally agree. And the rummaging around historic volumes in dusty archives is just wonderful. Except that most archive offices aren't dusty anymore, of course. I am lucky because the Westmorland Records Offices, in Kendal, are properly housed in a basement ( albeit clean and dust free), whereas the wonderful, modern facilities of, say, Essex Offices in Chelmsford, are altogether too bright for the atmosphere which I need!
Jen
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I know what you're saying, Jen! The Queensland State Archives are wonderfully modern, clean, bright, dust-free - some things are even microfilmed so that you don't get to look at volumes! Mind you, with my allergies it is just as well, or I would be sneezing all the time I was reading!
MarieC
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I love it when a really old document or book is brought out and placed carefully on a little stand so that you don't break the spine or otherwise damage it. And if you find something of your own family in there it is truly magical. I can't think why these places aren't full of people cheering as they have their eureka moments.
Jen
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Or like me having to stifle a huge laugh when I found Great aunt Alicia was really christened Alice Fanny Minnie ;D But yes it is a thrill one of the ancestors was a parish clerk and the parish vestry minutes must have all been in his hand what a thrill to hold the book.
Trees
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For me it was because when looking at my ancestors, these seemingly English people were not English-looking as such. They were interesting people with acrobats, artists, comedians, actors, singers, beggars and murderers within my relatively close family.
My family have had their dna tested and it backs up the fact they were Romany gypsies especially when my grandmother tested as almost 1/4 Indian. ;D
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Sounds like an exciting family honey-roma. :) Mine is very dull in comparison.
Elin
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Mine too, but I still love them all.
Kath
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Yes and yes! I love mine, but I'd love to find a bigamist or murderer or something to give it a bit more colour!
Having said that, have just discovered that an uncle of my ggrandfather (who seems to have been quite a rough and tough rogue) was killed by a knife wound in a fight with a nephew (not my ggrandfather!) near Darwin when it was called Palmerston, and right on the edge of the Australian frontier!!! :o :o
MarieC
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Spent a very satisfying morning yesterday in a library looking at transcripts of parish registers. It is a beautiful 15th century timber framed building, I sat upstairs in the balcony surrounded by lovely stained glass windows, old paintings and timber, outside in the old garden I could hear a robin, swifts and swallows, the sun was pouring in the windows and it was so peaceful.
That's why genealogy! :D :D What a lovely way to spend a morning :)
Kerry
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When my dad was diagnosed terminally ill, I realised how little I knew about his past, as he never wanted to talk about his life before he met my mum. So I started secretly researching his side of the family, I think to start it was to know more about him. I'm glad I did, as not long before he died he did begin to talk about his past and wanted to visit the area he was born in Merthyr Tydfil, he was too ill to travel so as I had found the address I was able to show him the house and area on satellite image maps. It was the next best thing for him and he was really happy as he kept showing where he played and what he did.
My mum's family (I always thought was an open book) I've now discovered so much information.
It's just so addictive when you get started.
Tracey