RootsChat.Com
Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: crazymasie on Sunday 09 September 12 01:23 BST (UK)
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Hi there,
I was wondering what exactly people look for when researching their family trees. I have 2 questions which seem to be holding me back from getting really stuck in to this, basically they are.....
Do you follow one branch or flesh out all branches?
When you have a substantial amount of people on a branch do you go back and follow histories of the particular area, occupation etc, or do you just follow someone whose life piques your curiosity?
I have a lot of people on 3 branches and finding a lot of sucess going backwards, but I have a nagging doubt that perhaps this is all a bit too easy and I am doing something wrong.
I hope someone can give me a virtual prod in the right direction and set my mind at ease.
Thanks
Tricia xxx
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Hi Tricia
I think that it is a very personal thing this family history stuff. People start it for so many different reasons and then keep going for entirely different reasons.
Honestly I think it's entirely up to you as to how you continue. I personally tend to find out as much as possible about as many people on my tree as I can, not simply follow the main link. Researching occupations and living conditions, going over maps of the area and seeing what is there now, learning what they died from, where they were buried......... and on it goes.
Do your searching the way you want. Build up your tree in the way that satisfies you.
As for it being too easy, do you have evidence that you have the right people? Certificates etc? If so, then no problems. Be happy that you don't have brickwalls to smash down.... ;)
Good luck
Karenlee
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Hi! I would echo what karenlee has said. In addition, you never know where this road will lead you...... sometimes you will find a piece of information that will enable you to go back 2 or 3 generations instantly (with verification, of course!) Some of your family lines will be incredibly easy and others will be very challenging! I might add that by researching all siblings in a particular family MAY lead to your finding cousins who married cousins.... It's all very addictive! ;D Happy hunting! Pat
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I also agree with Karenlee and patrexjax - the way we all do it is entirely personal to us. I remember when my sister and I started almost two years ago (our Dad had done some in the 90s)- I said we only look at direct ancestors, why would we want to look at siblings and unrelated people? Well, guess what - we've researched everybody!! And we're still going strong....
The thrill of the chase is addictive, and nothing beats that feeling of satisfaction when you discover something new about someone in your tree, or you finally break down the wall that has held you back for ages.
I think many of us have a special feeling when we do pin down our direct ancestors, I remember breaking down a brick wall that my Dad couldn't while he was still alive. It was a very special feeling and I know that he was looking down and smiling!!
I'll also add here that finding Rootschat has been great - there is so much information here and I realise now that although I have lots of names on my tree, it's the 'fleshing out' that is really interesting, and knowing that I've really only just scratched the surface I look forward to learning a lot more!
Hope you enjoy your research as much as I do. ;D
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I would agree with everyone...it is entirely personal but I think there are basically four choices
1 Trace a particular name
2 Trace only direct line ancestors i.e. 4 grandparents, 8 g grandparents, 16 gg grandparents etc.
3 Trace a particular generation i.e. great grandparents
4 Trace everyone with a connection to any of your families
If you choose any theme I think you would have to be very single minded not to stray into one of the other choices. This hobby is a bit like gambling, you see a line of research that will take you back another hundred years and you just have to follow it to see where it leads.
One thing I would urge, is to keep detailed notes and keep the notes in some sort of order. At first you can keep all the names in an ordered manner in your brain but two or three months along the line you will be saying to yourself "I came across that name a month ago but where did I find it?" Jotting down names is fine but always add the source such as Baptism Reg, Holy Trinity, Anytown: Wessex Archives.
Always, always go back to the original source i.e. local certificate, parish register (not bishop's transcript), original will etc. Do not accept other people research or transcriptions, you will usually find it riddled with inaccuracies and errors. Just have a look at the threads running on Rootschat to see the number of errors that have crept in to people's research. Every day I see people saying things like "it must be him, he's the only one of that name in the parish." Months or years down the line, they find someone with the same name in the nextdoor parish and realise that they have wasted hours of research.
Finally, never be afraid to ask for help. You will find no better site than Rootschat for this.
Best of Luck! :) :) :)
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And of course, you can always do a little bit of everything! I have one tree that's just direct line ancestors, another where I arbitrarily assigned a cut off point going backwards and then looked for everyone going forwards, another one where I'm heavily researching just one family... and then a one name study in the background!
Then no matter what bunny trail I follow on any given day, I can always tell myself that whatever I find will fit in somewhere!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it ::)
Just have fun!
Pamela
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I tend to go over my different branches again and again.Its marvellous what you miss the first time around perhaps!Of course it may well be that more and more records are becoming available all the time!
Regards
William Russell Jones.
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I tend to go over my different branches again and again.Its marvellous what you miss the first time around perhaps!Of course it may well be that more and more records are becoming available all the time!
Regards
William Russell Jones.
And of course as time goes on there comes the revelations from visits to archives as well as the ever increasing amount of online material such as newspapers etc. I have just discovered something about a chap in my tree who has been nothing more than a dob for five years via archived newspaper articles.
Most archives have a huge backlog of uncatalogued and indexed material so there is always scope to discover new details.
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I should have said in my earlier post that if you get back to you 4g grandparents, you will have 64 names to play with. If I get stumped on one, then I just switch to another. Getting side-tracked is the biggest problem.
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Wow, thanks for all the replies, it has certainly given my some inspiration. I haven't looked at my family tree for over 2 years since my nan died and I am getting the pull to jump back in.
I think I will stick to the branch that intrigues me the most, which is my maternal grandfathers branch, and see where I go from there.
Many thanks again, and I am sure I will be posting more questions on here again.
Thanks Tricia xxxx
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Another good thing to ember is that more and more records are becoming available every month. If you get stuck on one branch make a note of why you are stuck. Return to this bank 6 months or a year later and you could be surprised what records have become available for you to use.
Enjoy your research you never know where it will take you.
Regards panda