Male or female lines...or both?

[Kazza]

I started trying to follow advice given to the beginner,  of decide your objective and follow it.  I was advised not to go off in all directions or it becomes too big.

So,  I thought I would look at my father's male line.  Trace the history of my name,  so to speak.  I quickly came unstuck. 

My dad knows next to nothing about his family,  and his grandfather is currently my most annoying brick-wall in 1901.

My mum had loads of interesting information,  that has proved very helpful in confirming I am on the right track.  And I have made very satisfying progress all over the place. 

My dad's mother's line has been fun,  and fairly straightforward,  so I have been all over the place there too. 

So,  I have gone off in all directions,  and had great fun doing it.  If I had stuck to my original plan,  the paternal line,  I would still be stuck in 1901.

I research those that begin to intrigue me,  until I get stuck,  and come back to them when I can.  They are all my ancestors,  all equally important to me,  I am still a relative beginner,  and I will find out as much as I can about as many of them as I can.

Not very scientific I suppose,  but I am not a scientist.  I am having fun with my hobby. 

Kazza.

[Anjo]

I research all my family lines especially as mine tended to move around a bit  and they tended to move where another ancestor was already living and its hard to ignore them. I sometimes have better success with the female lines than the male. One warning though I recently tried to contact a researcher of one of my family lines it was about my 4x grandmother only to be told the family was none of my business as I am not a direct decendent and I must only want the information to exploit them!!!!!!!!!!!! What was that all about I wonder.  The research I have done on this family is no different from any other family of that era and they were just ordinary Ag labs. Not like I was going to put a claim on the family fortunes. I can only think that they were strictly researching the Male line of this family and nothing else mattered.
I think this is sad. You get a much better "feel" of a family if you know as much about them as is humanly possible. She was a woman researcher herself How would she feel to be left out of a tree just because she was a meer female?  It knocked me back at first but it didn't stop me. Anjo

[Minn]

I started off following only the male line, but when I'd gone as far as I thought I could I started on their spouses, & found among other things, that (one of) my 13xggrandfathers sentenced to death Sir Walter Raleigh, Guy Fawkes & Mary Queen of Scots! You never know who's lurking in your tree...

Minn

[JillJ]

When I started my research I decided that mostly I was doing it for my kids.   On the basis that a cousin was already doing my father's side, I opted for my husband's line it still being the direct line for my children.   I should think that probably lasted for about 3 weeks, then I was off in every possible direction!

One thing is for sure, if I had not followed a female line, i.e. my husband's maternal g. grandmother, I would not have one branch of my tree going back to 1314, even though I didn't do the work for it.   That one link and all that it has revealed has made the difference between the boring bmd's and the stories behind the people - fascinating!

Jill

[lindagene]

I cannot imagine only following one direct line, it seems awfully boring...obviously not a purist I hear the voices say! Very true.  My other half keeps on looking at my files (dont they build up quickly) and saying, look how many names you have got here, you cannot pòssibly remember them all.  But I DO, they are all 'mine' and I wouldn't part with any one of them.
For once in my life I think that Bigger Is Better.   Lindy 

[Geoff]

When I started I thought that to only follow my Paternal line was in insult to my mother.
After all, she is as much to blame as my father for bringing me to where I am now.

As it turns out, so far, my matenal line has thrown up some very interesting characters.
I often read back through their potted histories and have a giggle.
That in turn makes me want to know more about the rest of my family and I just love the hunt so I'll be looking for all of them.

My wife's family has also been very interesting, and because she is my wife, they are family too.

Cheers
Geoff

[booger]

What about 'mixed race'?

I think both lines are qually as important, but I am concentrating on my mother's ancestry, at the moment, simply because my father is of Indian origin and records don't appear to have survived. Besides I consider myself English and I can relate to and understand my English ancestors. Although my father's ancestry is interesting and tragic I find Hindu culture and religion completely alien. I've never been to India (born in Essex) and I've never been a Hindu (LDS).

The names are thoroughly confusing as well. I still don't understand how names are passed down through the generations. Ask me what one of my maternal g.g.g.g.g.g.g.g.g grand father's name was and I can tell you it was Samuel Lingley. Ask me who my paternal grandfather was and I'll have to look at my notes!

Maybe, some day, the Asian West Indian records will surface and I will be able to go back further than just my great-grand parents. The most I got from the Trinidadian equivalent of the records office is that my grand parents were married in June 1914 - their Hindu marriage and my father's birth weren't recognized by the gocernment until 1957!

Is anyone else of part Indian origin? How did you start your research?

Kris.

[Berlin-Bob]

I also research male and female lines.  My father's line goes back 4 generations and then stops, because my GGF came from Germany. He changed his name and I don't know when, and what he changed it from.

Besides,  (dare I say this), the womens' lines are definitely more interesting (e.g. the Hessies, going back 6 generations; the rabbis, going back to to 1550s, with a possible links to the Habsburgs, and even to King David !)

Kris,
I feel for you !  I have lots of mixed races English, Irish, Scottish and  Eastern European ...

E. European records are also very hard to find, what with record-destroying wars, boundary changes ever 50 years or so; a non-genealogical attitude to sharing info and placing it online; etc.

The english side of my wife's line is in every census from 1861 to 1901 !
The english side of my Dad's family is in every census (bar 1871) from 1841 to 1901 !
 
But the Scots, the Irish and the E. Europeans  ?
The Scots and Irish usually manage ONE census, the rest ....   Zilch !!

All part of the fun, I suppose !

[Lloydy]

I am doing both the male & female lines in my tree as I think it makes my hobby far more interesting. 

I agree with some of the other replies on this thread that all our ancestors are important, it's because of all of them that I am sitting here today typing this message!! 

Just another point to raise - us ladies are known to be "hoarders" of absolutely anything, useful or not.  Well, all my documents, bibles, certificates etc were passed on to me by my great aunty.  She had collected everything over the years together with help from her sisters, and they in turn had it given to them by their mother.  Men, in general, don't keep anything!!!!!  so following female lines has uncovered loads of goodies!!!