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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: amandria on Thursday 04 February 21 14:14 GMT (UK)
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Hi everyone.. I feel so overwhelmed because I have got loads of names and dates And I am trying to get everything in order on my family tree.. And it seems never-ending.. suppose with everything we start at the beginning our parents and grandparents... And so on, but I think I am getting out of my depth with things.. I love doing family history research but it makes me feel so anxious, does anyone else feel this way? How many hours a day of the week do you set aside..? Maybe I should start by setting just a bit of time aside in order to really focus... I've done very well up to now... I have gone back to the 16th century with a few sides of my family's genealogy...
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Anyone who researches their ancestry want THEIR ancestors in their tree and not just a tree of names/dates....... yes you start with you/your parents and check out the records you already have at home, so if you, your own birth certificate which proves and enables you to cite that record, check to see if you were baptised and there is a baptism card if not ask your parents when and where you were baptised and then check out the parish records for proof again enabling you to cite and that is how you work back one generation at a time, proving and citing before you go back any further otherwise you will end up name collecting without any proof
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Do you have family tree software or are you keeping it all on paper?
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Obviously I don't know how you are building your tree -- but I think concentrating on only one line at a time helps. As you record a marriage just 'park' that wife on your pedigree chart until you have gone as far as you can with the line you are concentrating on. Then you can start on the wife of that first person and so on.
Try not to get side tracked! (So much easier said than done!)
I started with manual, paper pedigree charts and then copied them onto Software (Family Tree Maker in my case) when I had reached the end of a line. That is laborious, it's just the way I did it.
Always collect the names of siblings if you can -- you can write these on the back of a paper pedigree chart just with dates and places of birth - they can then be recorded as children on your on-line tree to give a full picture.
These are just suggestions and I am sure others may work in a completely different way. My manual pedigree chart became my 'bible' - as I always knew where I was up to.
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I started out from a drawn-out tree on paper that I was provided with by an older member of the family (I later found out that there were many errors in it, so be careful not to believe all family tales!)
I worked, obviously, back from myself to parents, grandparents, and then I went back as far as I could in the paternal line, mostly because of that tree I'd been given, but also because it was an unusual surname, and located in a very small area. As Pennines suggested, I noted wives maiden names, and names and birthdates of siblings to the marriages, but didn't worry much about them until I felt - a couple of years later - that I'd got as far as I reasonably could on the "main line".
I then started on my paternal grandmother, and did the same.
Then I took my mother's father's line, until I fell into the Irish sea.
So I started my mother's mother's line. It took me a little longer there to splash into the Irish sea, but stopped there.
And then I started "filling in", mostly with families and ancestors of wives married in.
There's no real right or wrong way to do it - at one point, on someone's advice I built up a large collection of library catalogue like cards, one on each ancestor, even colour coded, but I've calmed down since then!
As I'm a largely visual person, I prefer to build a diagrammatic tree, in the good old fashioned way, but that's just the main bone structure. I have an online tree (or twelve), for different lines, rather than one huge one.
Don't feel overwhelmed. Most of us, especially at the early stages, feel we have too little information. The key is to sort it out so that it makes sense to YOU. Don't panic. You sound to have got further back than many people manage accurately, but you need to impose YOUR order on it.
Oh, and just one more thing:
It never ends!!
Welcome to insanity.
TY
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As you have gone as far back as the 16 Century I think you have exceptionally well. I have always found the early years the most difficult and demanding. Maybe give yourself a bit of a break and pad out some of the more recent years and work back from there for a change, good luck
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How many hours a day of the week do you set aside..?
My rule is no more than 24 hours a day :)
Never felt anxious about doing research , it helps me relax and gives me a chance to forget about everyday problems(and housework) for a few hours.
Also knowing what my ancestors had to deal with puts my problems into context.
ev
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Also remember, there is no rush - they aren't going anywhere. Take it slowly and steadily.
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Amandria, I'm sorry to hear that this is making you anxious. Please remember that this is not a work task, you are doing it for enjoyment. You don't need to set a schedule for doing it, just pick it up as and when you want to, that way you might feel more relaxed about it. I'm not sure how long you've been researching your family history but those of us who have been doing it for years will say that you're right - it is never ending but that's the beauty of it, there are always more interesting things to find out about great aunts and uncles etc etc. Try not to focus on how far back you've got but instead on looking at the lives and occupations of your ancestors. In my own tree I found a 3 x gt grandfather who was a Mariner and have spent many happy hours at home and at the National Archives researching his voyages.
As for organising your research, there are many helpful tips here, do whatever works for you and above all enjoy it. :)
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Thank you so much, everyone... I will do my best to speak with you all individually cuz I loved reading all your feedback on this.. and I appreciate your help... I think I am ADHD because I rush through everything and find to so hard to focus on just one thing at a time.. Something I battle with each day.. I absolutely love researching Fam history... I just get annoyed cuz I want it all done NOW hahahaha and that is impossible as all things take time.. I have brought up all of my 9 kids and now I have so much time on my hands and I find it hard to sit still and really focus hahah but I am working on it.
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How many hours a day of the week do you set aside..?
My rule is no more than 24 hours a day :)
Never felt anxious about doing research , it helps me relax and gives me a chance to forget about everyday problems(and housework) for a few hours.
Also knowing what my ancestors had to deal with puts my problems into context.
I'm firmly in ev's camp.
It's been one of the few things which has totally absorbed my mind during the past 15 months since I was diagnosed with a serious health problem. Puzzle solving is recommended as a way of coping with Covid-related stress. Family history is like doing puzzles and jigsaws.
My English grandma caught "Spanish Flu" and survived. While looking at the family of one of my Irish GGMs in my grandad's townland this week, I noticed that an elderly man, who may have been GGM's brother, died in an earlier flu epidemic. The previous death registration on the page was a little girl in the townland who had diphtheria. GGM & GGF lived through several famines, including the Great Hunger + a typhus epidemic, both surviving until around age 90.
Last week I followed a maternal English line back to 1697 (2 female ancestors had a rare, local 1st name, they lived in hamlets + moved only a few miles in 150 years) and was pleased to add another octogenarian to my tree.