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Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs / Re: Lydia Symonds Possible Daguerreo type - help with date please
« on: Thursday 27 September 18 06:38 BST (UK) »
She looks 14 - 16 at the very oldest.
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The Common Room / Re: Do all roads lead to one pay site?
« on: Sunday 08 January 17 00:40 GMT (UK) »Does your local library have free access to Ancestry Library Edition?
Mine does - and I can get 2 hours computer access every day, free!
Can be very useful
I also take a USB stick, and download any screenshots onto that.
Then I have the pages I want at home.
There's a LDS library in the area, but so far I havent been able to marry up their limited hours with mine. I may take a vacation day to spend an afternoon there. I guess it would be a good idea to gather up all of the documents I'd like to search for there before I do that. Thanks for the USB tip - I'll find out prior to going if that's something I can do there - I wouldnt have thought of that until it was too late!
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The Common Room / Re: Do all roads lead to one pay site?
« on: Sunday 08 January 17 00:34 GMT (UK) »I suspect that searching with google will be more likely to take you to pay-to-view sites and the free ones may be further down the list.
One tip with the Ancestry library edition is that, rather than downloading to a USB stick, its possible to email yourself a copy of what you find.
Good advice - I'll start looking at page 2 and 3 of results to see if I can find the none-pay. I happy that most search engines now identify AD Results, I skip over those. Not a fan of Google
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The Common Room / Re: Do all roads lead to one pay site?
« on: Sunday 08 January 17 00:32 GMT (UK) »... some of it I searched and found (and foolishly made myself bookmarks that no longer work, rather than printing out reams of paper) and now want to return to, only to find, I can't.
I take screenshots rather than bookmarking or printing ... they stay on my computer, and only I can lose them
This is a wonderful idea! I'm going to start doing this!
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The Common Room / Re: Do all roads lead to one pay site?
« on: Saturday 07 January 17 09:55 GMT (UK) »
Thanks - FamilySearch is one of my favorite sites and I've found a wealth of basic information there. I must admit, though, that the search engine on FamilySearch can be a little limiting. But years ago, I went straight to the SSDI site and got a wealth of info. It's how I was able to start my search, by being able to identify all of my mother's aunts and uncles and their dates of death. I've started to play with LostCousins, but so far, it's just "play".
Find A Grave - great when it's there, but the frustration lies in the fact that there are advert sites showing birth/death/marriage results for that particular name linked to pay sites. I can't figure out where to get them on my own. I've watched a coworker go to a pay site, punch in her name and a few particulars and bam - she's got a ton of relatives that match her names, and she's happy, even though she can't verify a single one of these relatives. I dont want to have to weed through the chaff (especially with a common last name like Robinson) to find my family when I already feel like I've got a good solid foundation to build on.
Everyone's been super helpful here - I've had some great assists when I was at wits end, and maybe this is just me blowing off some steam after a particularly frustrating night, when I've found out that my grandmother was previously married but no one can read her last name and searches have been unproductive.
Find A Grave - great when it's there, but the frustration lies in the fact that there are advert sites showing birth/death/marriage results for that particular name linked to pay sites. I can't figure out where to get them on my own. I've watched a coworker go to a pay site, punch in her name and a few particulars and bam - she's got a ton of relatives that match her names, and she's happy, even though she can't verify a single one of these relatives. I dont want to have to weed through the chaff (especially with a common last name like Robinson) to find my family when I already feel like I've got a good solid foundation to build on.
Everyone's been super helpful here - I've had some great assists when I was at wits end, and maybe this is just me blowing off some steam after a particularly frustrating night, when I've found out that my grandmother was previously married but no one can read her last name and searches have been unproductive.
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The Common Room / Do all roads lead to one pay site?
« on: Saturday 07 January 17 07:45 GMT (UK) »
I hope this is allowed. I'm just at a frustration point. I'm a casual family-mapper. By that I mean I've been searching for my father and mother's family trees off and on for about 8 or more years. I get stumped, so I quit for awhile and then come back months later and find something new and exciting. I've met cousins and 2nd cousins I never knew existed, thanks to it all. But my frustration has reached the boiling point - everything I once was able to find for myself now seems to be hidden on a pay site. I used to go straight to the US Social Security death site and get all sorts of info - names and dates of great uncles, etc...now I can't. Findagrave - I've just spent the better part of an hour trying to find a grave and all I get are links to a pay site. Want to search for a marriage license...nope...I can't seem to find much that isnt....linked to a pay site. Seriously, most of this stuff is public information, some of it I searched and found (and foolishly made myself bookmarks that no longer work, rather than printing out reams of paper) and now want to return to, only to find, I can't.
So now I've got a great-aunt who I can find up to the 1920 census and bam! she's vanished. No grave, no marriage license, no obit, - I'm hoping that she's with my 3 great uncles who seem to have vanished, too.
The one thing I've liked about doing this myself, as well as doing it myself, is that I am certain all of my research was valid. I'm not bogged down by other searchers who think they may be related because they have a grandfather named Bob who was married to a Sally in some other country than my Bob, who was married to an Ann, not a Sally and the time difference is 35 years. *sigh*
Okay, so this is a bit of a rant. But I do want some guidance. Can someone to tell me how to get to the information I used to be able to get and not have to rely on a pay site?
So now I've got a great-aunt who I can find up to the 1920 census and bam! she's vanished. No grave, no marriage license, no obit, - I'm hoping that she's with my 3 great uncles who seem to have vanished, too.
The one thing I've liked about doing this myself, as well as doing it myself, is that I am certain all of my research was valid. I'm not bogged down by other searchers who think they may be related because they have a grandfather named Bob who was married to a Sally in some other country than my Bob, who was married to an Ann, not a Sally and the time difference is 35 years. *sigh*
Okay, so this is a bit of a rant. But I do want some guidance. Can someone to tell me how to get to the information I used to be able to get and not have to rely on a pay site?
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Family History Beginners Board / Re: Richard Robinson born 1851 Scotland
« on: Tuesday 08 March 16 18:28 GMT (UK) »
Thank you, Shelly - I'll do that! I also found out that there's an LDS library nearby.
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Family History Beginners Board / Re: Richard Robinson born 1851 Scotland
« on: Monday 07 March 16 21:03 GMT (UK) »
I can't begin to tell you all how grateful I am for all of the work you all went through to find this for me. It's so gratifying to find out about family. I appreciate all of the help and the links. I did a little research into my dad's family a few years ago and was told by someone to stay away from the ancestry site until I had some good solid information, because there's so much information there and could be overwhelming and sometimes erroneous. I guess it's time for a subscription, though I will continue to be absolutely picky about facts that I can double check. I'm anxious to see the picture of Dorinda.
The family resemblance, 3 and 4 generations later is remarkable. My mother looked like a darker haired Lizzie, my sister, my son and grandsons all bear resemblance.
I can see why this is addictive, and why it gives people such pleasure. I know I'm not done yet!
Are there sites to get ship manifests? Or were there so many people immigrating to the states that it was haphazard?
Oh! One other question - do any of you visually lay out the family through generations? I think this might be helpful to me; like a road map. Any tips? Excel?
Again, many, many thanks!
The family resemblance, 3 and 4 generations later is remarkable. My mother looked like a darker haired Lizzie, my sister, my son and grandsons all bear resemblance.
I can see why this is addictive, and why it gives people such pleasure. I know I'm not done yet!
Are there sites to get ship manifests? Or were there so many people immigrating to the states that it was haphazard?
Oh! One other question - do any of you visually lay out the family through generations? I think this might be helpful to me; like a road map. Any tips? Excel?
Again, many, many thanks!
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Family History Beginners Board / Re: Richard Robinson born 1851 Scotland
« on: Sunday 06 March 16 05:07 GMT (UK) »
The stories of my great grandfather are happy ones - he must have been quite a character. I've heard that into his 70's he'd do handstands and cartwheels. He died of cancer, having kept a small vial of uranium or plutonium (I forget which, something cancerous, anyway) on his waist for years. He said he could get the phosphorus out of the bricks in Pittsburgh, and a load of bricks were dumped at his home. He boiled them in the kitchen, but nothing happened. When my grandmother, Bessie, got up in the middle of the night to use the outhouse, she thought the house was on fire. It was the phosphorus glowing on the ceiling. I wish I'd have met him, or heard more stories about him!