RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: ScottishAncestry on Thursday 10 July 08 11:45 BST (UK)
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Hi everybody,
Just out of curiosity I am wondering how long everybody has been researching.
Emma
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Well, I started out helping my Mum when I was 16...... and I turn 43 in a few weeks....
Too late at night for me to add all that up. ;D ;D ;D ;D
Karenlee
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Ive been doing my tree for about 7 years now...got addicted very quickly and it just keeps on growing :)
Susan
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Hi
I have been researching My Family and Husbands Tree Since 1998 .. I started with My Husbands and got back to 1717 Liverpool.. My Mums Family have come to a stop at 1841 and My Dads Murray Family at 1875 Unable to Find Edward Murray Born 1875 on the 1881 Census Liverpool the ones i have found are Not mine ..
Still researching and coming up with New Finds ... :) :)
Regards
Iria
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20 years
My mother's side I am back to 1670 and probably to 1510
My father's side I am stuck at 1812 in London. Its a common name and who knows where they came from. Still looking though. It takes about 2 years to go through everyone on one side of the family and I still come up with new information.
Sylviaann
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About 20 years.
My own Cornish roots I've got back to the 1450s, it turned out that both my maternal & paternal lines originated in the same village.
With my husband's tree I've got back to the 1700s on his paernal line. I've not had as much success with his maternal line so far, just back to the early 1800s & that has been a struggle.
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Hi' i have been searching around for 2 years.Mark
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I put 2 to 4 years, although I was first interested in family history about 6 years ago when I was 16, but for the first two years only really found out about very recent ancestors.
Stephen :)
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I've only been doing my own research for about 7 years. Since I got my own computer. But I've been doing family history with my cousin for over thirty years. She never married so was able to travel all over England and Wales to do her research of my father's side in person. I did some paper work with her and kept her up to date with my Mum's side of our family.
Leonie.
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About a dozen years- and I thought I had a reasonable knowledge of it then... never underestmiate what you will dig up
charlotte
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Started in the '80s on my dad's family, when a distant cousin of his passed on a tree of his mother's family drawn up in the 1920s-30s.
It was hard going back then without the internet and databases, and there were quite a few mistakes made back then, which thankfully I've now corrected.
Didn't do anything in the '90s, but restarted a few years ago when a cousin emailed a link to ancestry announcing free trial access to US immigrations/shipping records. Not stopped since then.
With hindsight, I wish I'd done more while my mum was still alive, as it's her side where I've made the greatest discoveries and got the furthest back.
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About approx 10 yrs, I started after my dad died. It was always something he wanted to do, but never did, no comps in his day... After he died I decided I would try do it for him. My grandmother kept a family bible, that had been passed down from her father in law. My dad always wanted it to come to him, but after she died it went to his eldest brother.
Quite a few years, and a lot of research later, I tracked it down and asked to borrow it, for a while. After the eldest brother died it went to the youngest brother (my dad had gone then)
I sat there and held it and felt my dad with me...it was as if he knew... It was one of those huge Welsh family bibles, with history mostly written by my G Grandfather. There was a lot in it I had found, and also information after 1901 that helped. Could not keep the bible, but copied all the pages and now have the info next to my dad's records....so he got it somehow in the end, bit daft I suppose, but it felt like the right place.
Cas
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For me it is 27 years.
First did my maiden name (Grist) as we were the only ones in my home town and my line goes back to Lavenham, Suffolk (1600's) but the name can be found in various other parts of the country. Then 2 years later started on my maternal grandmothers family of SCOPES and ended up within 3 years with a one-name study. All Scopes today ultimately descend from Suffolk. Once Scottish records were on-line was able to work on my Scottish half too.
Annette
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My parents started doing their families about thirty years ago and I always kept up to date with what they were doing. I started researching for myself about six years ago, when we got our first computer. Found that some of what mum and dad found wasn't right, though mum would never accept that. I have almost come to a standstill now because I need to visit Records Offices, graveyards etc, all over the UK and I simply don't have the time or money for that. Luckily, there is Rootschat and a whole load of very helpful members.
If I get too frustrated with my own lack of progress, I work on my partner's family and some other friends' families too.
Addicted.
Jen
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I've been researching for 4 years now, and sometimes it feels like I've done very little else ::)
Its great to see those who have been doing it for years and years and I hope that one day I can say the same and will have got a bit further than I am now. ;D
Kerry
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Its been just over a year since I started, although I had often thought about it before then.
I was watching an episode of WDYTYA one day which I had seen before when I thought to myself stop watching them finding out about their family again and go and find out about yours! A quick phone call to my mum to get any names she knew, I went on the 1901 census and BINGO found a g grandma and her family, that was it, I was hooked ;D
A few months later discovered Rootschat and the rest as they say is history ;D
Zoe
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Thank you all for your replies; I have to say I thought more would have started recently. I thought a lot would have started after watching who do you think you are and other programs like that.
I started about 7 years ago just before I got married because my husband was already running his own business researching family trees. So now we work together.
What got me thinking though was that I came across my great uncles grandson on Ancestry the other day and he was researching the same line. It seems to be every family has somebody interested in genealogy and I wondered if it was because of TV programs but as this poll shows many of you have been researching much much longer!
Thanks again for all your input it’s really interesting hearing how you all got started.
Emma
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I'm probably about the same as a lot the others; on and off for about 28 years. Started after watching Roots on television, asked my mother a couple of questions, and the bug bit. Come on, admit it, this hobby of ours is very addictive!
Darren
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Our elder son emigrated to Canada in 1976 and immedately sent a message, "Send me my roots.". Easier said than done.
I did know quite a lot of FH from my maternal grandmother born 1875
I am not sure that the search will ever end but one does get rather stuck with some in the mid 1700s.
I took me until the year 2000 to find that six of my family bibles had been depositedwith a Presbyteria Church West of Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Norah
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I am not sure that the search will ever end but one does get rather stuck with some in the mid 1700s.
With some of mine I get rather stuck with the generations recorded on the 1841 census! Illiterates, with common names, moving around the county/country all the time. Had they no consideration of the grey hairs they cause me? ;D
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Blame the Industrial Revolution and the 1841 census for exact places of birth not being recorded.
I had some luck in finding that I had an Herefored Militia man married in Rochdale in 1809 and that led me back to 1704. in Herefordshire altho church registers did not have any extra info.
I am stuck in N. Wales c 1790 and also in Rochdale for the same date
Norah
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Hi,
I've been researching for about 9 months. The reason I started was that I went to visit my Nan's brother and he mentioned something to me about a bloke called "Will the milk" - the local milkman years ago. Apparently he was an uncle but noone could tell me quite how he was related.
In finding out about him I got the bug and have been researching frantically ever since. Not v far back yet but am pleased with my progress so far.
Clair.
xx
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I started about five years ago, my sister had always be interested in doing it but died before she could start re-searching, so I thought I would do it on her behalf.
The bug bit, and I became addicted, got one side back to 1841, two back to mid 1700's, the other one is stuck at 1871.
Ambers
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On and off for probably about 20 years. With any degree of real commitment, about three years. I was lucky enough to inherit a lot of information and a tree from my great uncle. Unfortunately there was not a lot of source information. Since then I have found other relatives who are also researching different branches and we have exchanged information.
Just don't ask my wife her answer would possibly contain * and $ and would be translated as too long. ;D
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Ive been researching for about 18 months now, I had an initial couple of months when I spent every spare moment on ancestry, then my interest waned as I hit brick wall after brick wall. I discovered the BBC family history history site last year and then was introduced to this one. Since then a few of my brick walls have been demolished thanks to the help of the wonderful members of both sites. Im now in contact with 5 distant cousins from both sides of my family, who a short time ago I had not even heard of. :)
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Hi Jensquest and all,
I got into family history researching when I picked up where one of my other sisters left off. She had acutally paid for an old chap that she knew to research for her. His copies of census were old photocopies and it's when you see all the oldfashioned writing that it fascinates.
A few years ago I asked if I could continue with it, and we found another sister who was born, fostered and adopted, she was looking for her birth mother & any family, that was in late 2004. Happy to say we're in touch and obviously interested in finding out what we can about our roots as such. We didn't have much to do with either our mother's or father's relatives, maybe because they knew about our adopted sister, we just don't know as apart from a couple of aunts most have all died.
Its taken a little while to get going, I think though I'm getting into it more. Especially finding out what a relation did for a living and where they lived. At the moment I'm quite excited because there seems to be a connection to the county of Norfolk, when all along we thought they were Londoners through and through.
I know Jen that you use the BBC message board and they're very helpful and friendly. I've also had some good help on HERE for the recent finding of some of my Tooley family in Norfolk, which looks very interesting though I need to get more certificates to check the details.
It beats sitting in front of the telly! Though sometimes I do spend to long on screen at times.
Anyway good searching to you all, it is addictive.
Gossip64 :)
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I have always been interested in History and when I retired I decided that the more personal history of my life would be a thing to do.
So it is with some amazement that I realize some nine years has passed whilst i have been trawling away digging up relatives and ancestors.
Although I have found this research to be more intense it has been fascinating to
see how my ancestors have spread throughout the world for a couple of centuries.
Happy Hunting
Alf
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Hi all,
This addiction has had me hooked for 23 years!!!
I have traced all the arrivals into Australia of my ancestors and all but one of my husband's ancestors.
Found a couple of convicts on the way. But one arrival still eludes me.
THOMAS HENRY EMMS c1826 aged 7!!!!!!! I feel sure that he is the son of JAMES EMMS of the the 39th Regiment of Foot, born in Dublin in 1819 which is when this regiment was posted there. It then travelled out on several ships accompanying convicts during 1825 and 1826. Sadly no childrens names listed in the sources I have acces to here in Australia. I have lots or sources mention James Emms and his wife and children, including a letter of his but no names at all.
regards
Robyn in Australia
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35 years. So I remember the old days going through the legers in the BMD office off the Strand trying to find births, marriages and deaths. It took ages. :-\
I started because my father had just died, and I hadn't a clue who his parents were - I knew they had died when he was young, but that was all. He had lost touch with his siblings, so no help there.
Eventually I traced my grandparents and his siblings, and I am now in touch with some of my cousins.
meles
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I'm a mere babe compared to others here - about eight years. I only have to do three grandparent lines, as a similarly addicted cousin has well and truly accounted for my maternal grandmother's line!! ;D
Though I grumble about brick walls, I really am very fortunate with the progress I've made. All my lines are back to at least the late eighteenth century, including Irish ones - some, some centuries earlier!! ;D ;D ;D
(But we're never satisfied, are we? ;D )
MarieC
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You are so right Marie,
I have one line back to the very early 1600s, with a highly probable birth in the late 1500s. I am so frustrated at coming to a dead end on that one, though I know it is very unlikely that I will ever find out any more.
And I keep thinking about what life must have been like for them and what was going on of major historical importance.
What we need is time travel.
Jen
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What we need is time travel.
Jen
;D ;D ;D You are spot on, Jen!
And if you ever find a Tardis or similar, do let me know. I want to borrow it when you've finished! Apart from seeing how they lived, I have a few questions I want to ask of a recalcitrant ancestor or two! >:( >:(
MarieC
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Things like "who was your dad?" or "why did you steal all those shirts"
Yeah, me too.
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Or, in two cases of mine, "Where the heck did you b....... well disappear to? I've searched for you high and low and you just weren't anywhere! >:( "
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" Go on then, great-grandfather John Smith, give me some help here, were you born in 1856 or 1862 - or any of the options in between? And was it in Sunderland or Middlesbrough? And why did your mates call you Matt and was your dad called William or John?"
My nos.1-4 questions.
Jen
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my mother started way back when... after she passed away i decided to finish it for her ...finish? there's a laugh. ;)her paternal line was quite easy ( gloucester landowners and well documented) i often wonder where the wealth went. :P
now i am on my side, my wife's side etc etc. hope one of my son's will complete it one day
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And if you ever find a Tardis or similar, do let me know. I want to borrow it when you've finished! Apart from seeing how they lived, I have a few questions I want to ask of a recalcitrant ancestor or two! >:( >:(
MarieC
You and me too.
There are some things I want to ask the best documented people too.
So, Charles, I've got this box file full of stuff on you from your birth and baptism in 1770 right through to your will and death certificate in 1855. But just who on earth is this Lavinia, whom you called your eldest daughter in the piece printed in the Bury & Norwich post? ???
Oh, and you Frederick William. Yes, you! How come you died in 1892 but you carried on paying your membership dues to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society until the 1920s? :-\
Ah, yes. Grandma. If you don't tell me just what was the problem with Great Aunt Florence, I'm going to tell the Mother's Union the secret of why they liked your scones so much. :o ;D
Ok then. Grandpa. If you don't tell me just what was the problem with Great Aunt Florence, I'm going to tell grandma about that nice lady who lived on the way to your allotment, whom you called on regularly when you should have been at the allotment.
Martha! come here, Martha! Stop hiding behind that nice Mr Jepson! Why weren't you baptised anywhere? Your parents. Who were they? Are you really the daughter of Samuel Crompton, or is that a myth?
Henry. Your turn now, Henry. I think you were about the first Wild in Darwen. Darwen tried to send you back to Saddleworth, but you weren't baptised there. So where did you come from?
John Henry! Elizabeth! Yes, the pair of you. Why on earth did you go all the way to some back end of nowhere village near Maldon to get married?
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;D ;D ;D Aulus! You certainly have a lot of questions to ask your ancestors! Tricky people, obviously! ;D
Let me know if you have any luck with the threats and blackmail, Aulus! I've tried entreaties and blandishments, but they don't seem to be working. Trouble is, I don't seem to have anything to use as blackmail with my recalcitrants! :'( :'(
MarieC
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Those are just the obvious ones!
Some, even if I could talk to her, I know I'd never get answers to from my grandma. Like "just what happened on that charabanc outing that ended up in fisticuffs between grandpa and Billy Waddicar over you?"
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Those are just the obvious ones!
Some, even if I could talk to her, I know I'd never get answers to from my grandma. Like "just what happened on that charabanc outing that ended up in fisticuffs between grandpa and Billy Waddicar over you?"
Oh but if you do find out, you will tell us, won't you?
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Well, if there's anyone reading this with a Billy Waddicar (sp?) in their tree and knows anything about a relationship with Janey Wild, later Stevenson, please do get in touch! ;D
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There's a great story there, Aulus! Perhaps you could write a fictionalised account of what may have happened? That's what I'm tempted to do with my missing miscreants. ;D
MarieC
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delightful conversation..permit a comment from a new guy..
the question was asked yesterday in the chat room and all i could think was.."decades"...
i've written essays to myself..when no one else is listening.. about the attention deficit disorder caused by all that mulling about in multidimensional time travel..about the obsessive compulsive disorder and cultural autism of seeking the roots of genetic and cultural programming in the family bones.
1947, when the teacher asked us to think about where we each came from, I scooted down the dirt road back to the farm and posed the question to my Dad standing beside the wood stove.." are we English or Irish..?" cause that's all I had ever heard my mother talk about.. to which he responded, looking directly into my eyes.."You're a mongrel..wear it proudly.."
explaining to 89 yr old Mom today some of the details unfolding in this most recent exploration of her roots..
following threads back through Indian wars, religious wars, civil wars, dislocations, removals, very large world wars and depressions..all the variations of our silly human pathologies spawned in conflicts over religion and real estate.. just looking for bloodlines, ancestors in the clues.. the inlaws and outlaws alike..i came to one final conclusion..history is a big friggin lawnmower and we're the village lawn..
On the other side of it..Granmas from the Mohawk were right after all..all earthlings are mongrels.."one blood, one spirit.." (a matriarchal society might have done it with a gentler hand..)
thank you all for your entertaining discussion..
apologetic mongrel, colonial son..
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Great post, mongrel-diaries,
And welcome to Rootschat!
You are right, we ARE all mongrels - the pure Aryan theory of Hitler was a tragic delusion. But doesn't that make us interesting? ;D I wouldn't give up any of my differing bloodlines for all the rice in China!
Enjoy Rootschat! You've come to a great place! ;D
MarieC
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explaining to 89 yr old Mom today some of the details unfolding in this most recent exploration of her roots..
Hello and welcome. Is your mother still interested and able to follow it all? My partner's ma looks totally bewildered the minute we go beyond her parents' generation. It was one of the few things my own mother was interested in until very shortly before her death but only if it was what she wanted to hear. She would never accept things like illegitimacy, criminal activity or Roman Catholics in the family, in spite of my having found hard evidence of all three!
Enjoy Rootschat,
Jen
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Yes Mom's interested..Her family history has always been hung up on the 1800's and I've undertaken to fill in some blanks..I have fleshed out a long detailed history on my Dad's side..that part that he referred to in the 1940's as the "abdicated mennonites and mongrel mohawks.." Indian wars and pilgrims caught up in real estate struggles..
I just inherited two large boxes of papers and photos from the Belfast side of Mom's family..this all came out of nowhere..came to the mongrel they did because no one else was interested..which brought me to explore this group..she sparkled when i told her about the folks here and on the Belfast Family forum and how much had been gathered in just the last week.
She has slid further away since losing her eyesight but when I enter her dreamworld with stories about her grandparents in Belfast or Newburgh Scotland she comes back at least momentarily to talk about things with clarity.
She corrected me on the pronunciation of the Irish village and of her grandmothers Gaelic name yesterday. If the question confuses her she goes off topic. But there are ways to trigger her attention and bring her back.
Exploring her family history seems a small but important part of her "medicine".
I'm sure the veterans of this science would agree that individuals as much as institutions have difficulty absorbing and processing all the hard as well as inspiring truths about their past. I have found that most difficult with my generation of Veterans of the Cold War and Vietnam so I really can't judge the older ones.
The uplifting moments..I call them firefly moments..when I look into the eyes in a photo of some ancestor caught in some adventure of life..or discover a reference, like 20 years ago when reading on a history of the 1600's Rogerene pilgrims of an ancestors name in a study .
oops..better get towork..
Ron, Mongrel son of the Empire...
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What you have said about family history being part of the medicine is, I am sure, absolutely right. I sometimes used to feel guilty because I didn't do as much in terms of housework and practical stuff as my sister did for mum but I know that I was able to give her a bit of quality to her life, just by being willing to talk about her family history and her own past. A day or two before she died, she was telling me ( rambling in a morphine haze) about her childhood neighbours in Middlesbrough and asking if I could find them for her - they were older than her and will be long dead - so I said I'd have a look to see what had happened to them. Am I being partcularly daft in knowing that I fully intend to do exactly that because although they were in no way related to me, they were nevertheless important enough in her life for mum to remember them seventy-odd years later.
Jen ( sentimental old thing!)
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history is a big friggin lawnmower and we're the village lawn..
What a brilliant one-liner!
And I speak as a historian! I'm going to use that, if I may, as a signature on other forums.
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No genjen, that's not daft..it's the best part of gathering memories of our elders, and more importantly, with our elders while they still walk with us.. walking down memory lanes with old folks, having them describe their "firefly moments".... I've gained so much from elders .. we who weigh these things are "different"..perhaps it's a vestigial cultural thing..Druids, Medicine Woman, the tribal story teller ..the one with the memories of the tribe..if that's daft..well what the heck..I'll drink a pint of ale to that..
and Aulua:
I'm touched..it's a token confessional point of view from the dysfunctional and voluntarily disenfranchised ..we have fun with it..
from what I remember of the Latin,.."insane" or "in sane" means to be within ones own mind..and i've found that weighing the essence of our blood and soul across the centuries will certainly bring that on in spades..
cheers from
the mongrel puppy of the second litter..
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Aulus my apologies..just realized in a seniors moment that I mispelled your moniker..
I was distracted by that Newcastle Ale I poured for a toast to Genjen and her Mom's memory lane..
..
mongrel
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Am I being partcularly daft in knowing that I fully intend to do exactly that because although they were in no way related to me, they were nevertheless important enough in her life for mum to remember them seventy-odd years later.
(wiping away a tear! :'( ) No Jen, you're not being daft. Where she is now, your mother will know and be very happy that you are honouring her request!
I wish desperately that I'd been able to tell my mum and dad of my discoveries. But one has been dead for nearly 40 years, the other for nearly 20. I do feel that they are very pleased that I am doing this, even though I can't tell them about it! (Wish Dad would speak to some of his elusive ancestors and get them to show themselves!! ::) ::) )
MarieC
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I keep thinking how much I wish I had asked just that one extra question. Which, of course, mounts up and is now how much I wish I had asked ten thousand extra questions, both of my mum and my dad. ( And my grandparents, aunts uncles etc) I have only the one uncle left on mum's side and he was only about ten when his own mother died so not much hope there. I know more than he does about the family! And my dad's younger sister lives in Australia and has only been back once in recent years. She did bring a load of old photos, which was fantastic because I now know that her ma wasn't always a little shrivelled old woman but was once a very lovely young woman.
What we failed to ask is now soooooooooooooooo frustrating isn't it?
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You are NOT WRONG, Jen, it's b***** frustrating!
I have no-one left to question - one aunt who is still mentally OK, but she doesn't know anything really. Can you still question your aunt in Australia?
MarieC
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I can still ask her questions and I am hoping that she is coming to the UK later in the year, so will make a long list! She is just eighty but more like sixty-five in energy and outlook, so hopefully will be able ask questions for a while yet.
Jen
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Just thought I would add my post here, :o I have been researching almost solidly for over three years now, I realise that is not all that long compared to some.
I have at times been amazed, frustrated, confused, delighted, disheartened ......and so on.
But, I have found out so much........ and still have so much to find out ::)
I have researched World Wars, India and the British in the Indian Army, Cheshire salt mines, Photography, Bakeries, Tea Dealing, Ag Labs.......the list is endless.
I have roots in Scotland, Ireland, Cheshire, Surrey, Sussex, Essex, London and Middlesex to name a few.
I have filled my spare time very easily and met (or 'spoken to') some lovely people on the journey, so I will be continuing my search - I wonder if anyone ever finishes ???
Crystal :D
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I wonder if anyone ever finishes ???
Crystal :D
Crystal
Only when you leave this earthly realm and go to where you can ask all those unanswered questions of the people concerned!! ;D ::)
I suppose you get to a stage where you can write a book, but you are still going to keep finding out things which will make the book to some extent incomplete!
Unless you draw a line in the sand and say - that's it, I know enough, I am satisfied with what I have!
MarieC
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Only when you leave this earthly realm and go to where you can ask all those unanswered questions of the people concerned!! ;D ::)
I suppose you get to a stage where you can write a book, but you are still going to keep finding out things which will make the book to some extent incomplete!
Unless you draw a line in the sand and say - that's it, I know enough, I am satisfied with what I have!
MarieC
Marie,
I wonder, ::) when we reach that place and are able to ask all the questions of the people concerned.............How much of the tree we will have missed out ??? and if we will be satisfied with the explanation of some of the more complicated issues ???
As you say even if you were to write a book, new facts come to light - then you would have to start all over again to correct it ::)
I don't think I would be able to say that's it, I know enough.
Crystal :D
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I don't think I would be able to say that's it, I know enough.
Crystal :D
No, not me either, Crystal. I'll be searching till I die - and then watch out, a couple of ancestors, you are in real trouble when I catch up with you! :o >:(
MarieC
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Can I take a printed questionnaire with me when I go to that place?? ::) ::) ;D ;D
Kerry
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Aren't all the questions burned into your brain, Kerry?? :o ;D
They are in mine! ;D
MarieC
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I'm going to have to start practicing Marie so that I remember them ALL better than my pin numbers ;D ;D
But there are so many.
Kerry ::)
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I started when I was 14 with my nana, so almost 12 years now!
Emma
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dabbled on and off for about 18 months, but seriously looking fro about 2 years so nearly 4 so far. I think i've got about another 20 years worth opf research at least to do with my family and my hubby's. There's always something to send you off in another direction!!