What Inspired you to start....

[shan42]

I just had a fascination with my great grandmother, who I never met as she'd long died before I was born, and wanted to find out more. I spent hours at a time in the library as a teenager looking through the Kelly's directories and electoral registers and found absolutely nothing about anyone, so gave up after searching intermittently for a few years.
Then I tried online a few years back with no joy until I found better sites a couple of months ago.... and *bingo*!! I was over the moon to say the least! I'm so happy to have found so many family members, it's so intersting - and now my brother's got the bug too!
This site and rootschatters have been invaluable, I can't thank you enough!

[Blondie1]

I started because I went to a Womens Meeting and the topic was 'Family History'.   The lady doing the talk showed all her certificates she had collected and I found it so interesting I began to do my own.

I started with my grandad who was born in Ireland in 1870 but unfortunately I have only got back to his parents marriage certificate and I hit a brick wall.   I have visited where he was from and have his birth certificate and one of his brothers but this has not detered me.

Nine  years on I  have  eight lever arch files of research on the rest of my families and have done my husbands tree too

I am totally hooked and one day I will climb through that Irish brick wall.

[LizzieW]

I started because someone was already researching one part of my family tree and contacted my mum, who was 91 at the time,  to see if she had any info, other than what can be gained from BMDs.

I met this distant relative and since then I've been hooked.  Now when I get fed up of with trying to find my elusive g.grandfather, I do research on the original part of the tree, filling in the gaps that had been missing.  My mum used to talk about lots of people from her childhood and it's been very interesting to find out how these people link together in the family.

[cathyaus]

My parents divorced when I was about 11 years old & I had no contact with my father or his family from then on. My mother was researching  her family history & I started wondering about my father's side & where his family had come from, so 35 years later I started on my father's side & put some details on Genes Reunited. I always knew where to find my father's family (country town in NSW) but didn't know how they would react to me contacting them & also being a bit "scared". So only after a few months of having my details on GR, a cousin contacted me & shortly after came & visited. After that an Aunt & Uncle came to see me & about a year later was invited to the country town as an uncle was having a 70th birthday. I went & got reintroduced after 35 years to 8 aunt's & uncles & 16 cousins & their families. My father has made contact once (won't dwell on that) but I have been more than welcomed by the rest of the family & have made several visits back.

A theme that seem to be running through this thread is "if only I'd asked". To all of those who still have older relatives around I'd say ask, ask and then ask some more

Jan

After researching my father's side I have the "bug" for research & have been researching my husband's side for the last 2 years as we have 2 sons to carry on the name & hopefully they will eventually be interested in everything that I have found out.

I have asked the mother in law questions (as husband's father is dead) & all I get is very terse replies of NO when I ask her does she know this or that. She has even said that I am just digging up dirt! I haven't found anything that I consider "dirt" just some interesting things, so I just keep on searching hoping to find my pot of dirt !!
Cathy

[adrian7886]

I started as I knew very little about my Fathers side of the family. He died in 1977 when I was quite young.

I along with my brother and sisters lived with him as my mother left us and remarried. Upon his death she took custody and from then on I lost any real contact with what few relations I had left on my fathers side of the family although I loved them all very much and remember them with great fondness.  My mother then went through the process of having our surnames changed to match hers from her second marriage.

Even at that young age I resented what was happening but was in no position to disagree or discuss.

As I got older I'm afraid this resentment turned to anger towards my mother and I was determined to get in touch with my "old family" again which I managed to do but by then many had died.

For me it was important that I discovered more about my own identity and to ensure that the memory of my father and his family live on.


 

[Lilym]

Having a little spare time after a major op I decided to find out where my 'rogue' gene had come from (I had had to pay additional premiums on life insurance).  My mother and her younger sister proved very helpful, especially if they were together    Sadly my father had died when I was in my teens - and you may guess where that gene was inherited from. 
Over the past 30 years I have pursued this, overcoming several brick walls - and surprisingly the internet has NOT proved particularly helpful - it has been hard slog in the record office - in part because of Presbyterianism on the Scottish border with records are still being deposited.
The good news is that medical treatments have advanced and I am well past the age of most of my paternal grandmother's forebears.  It has been a fascinating journey and it is still continuing.
Lilym

[Ronbucks]

I had no option but to investigate my paternal side of the family tree through GROS records as none of my relatives would take it upon themselves to discuss/divulge what they knew. If the subject was raised it was always met with the same answer That was in the past.

On my first attempt at the visiting the GROS approximately 6/7 years ago I made no headway. However, later through the internet research I became more aware of what records Scotlands People held & four months ago I made a breakthrough.

I have had the most satisfaction in providing my father in his later years with my grandfathers details etc. This has brought him and myself a large degree of contentment.

Further to this in the past four months my family tree research was for me addictive and I have been able to take all lines fairly easily back to the early 1800's. I find it fascinating to find out where my ancestors lived and what their employment was, military service etc bringing history alive. I even discovered I was a direct descendant of a scottish martyr, who has a monument build to him in my home city of Edinburgh. PS. I recall a number of years ago a tourist asking me on the Royal Mile what the monument was when at the time I was oblivious.

I may start my wife's side of the family in the New Year but this will prove more daunting as I  have no knowledge of Irish records which I will come across after a couple of generations.

Keep searching.