working down a tree

[sbaily]

Hi

I have done quite a lot on my family tree but I now want to work back down the branches looking for cousins etc to find any that may be living today. Any recommendations on how to do this and not have to pay for loads of certificates?

Thanks

Ste

[Ringrose]

Use the censuses to give an idea of when and where they were born. Look at possible marriages on BMD and with the female side again look for them under married name. Using Genes Reunited might put you in touch with ancestors giving details of BMDs if you are lucky. Use any parish registers which may be on line for free and there are quite a lot depending upon the county. Look at the county boards on roots chat and see if any of your areas are covered or Google the village/town plus parish registers.
I have done a lot of research of cousins etc and have managed to share information with people . It may mean paying a sub but for me it has been worth while
Hope this helps
Ringrose

[seank]

I agree GenesReunited are useful. I came across one or two family lines from distant relatives I met on GR. But I think these days there is quite some competition for the loyalty of genealogists and you may need to pay the sub and proactively look for connections, rather than waiting for people to find you.

All the same, at least two of my 'leads' on GR turned out to be false - they had jumped to incorrect conclusions or copied incorrect information from someone else. You really need to check the information yourself if you want to be sure you have the correct facts.

In reality, distant connections can come from all sorts of unexpected directions. I bumped into a distant cousin in a local history museum by chance and she subsequently sent me 8 pages of family trees from the C17th to the present day!

[perth tiger]

try and follow the lines of the family with bmd's etc. then i use facebook to look for them. if you find someone check their friends. they will usually have their family on there and you can check through cousins etc that you are on the right track

[Kaybron]

I sent a letter to one of the local history groups asking them to publish a request in their quarterly magazine for information from anyone connected to a branch of the family.  Very recently I was contacted and have received a wealth of information plus many photographs.  I have also passed on my material.  It is so good to have someone that can varify what you have gathered.

Kaybron

[Ringrose]

Of course put your name interests on the  surname interests on this site.put your surnames  /village interests on the county boards on this site. You may be surprised that there are Roos chatters reseachingthe sMe family.
Ringrose

[polly88]

Lost Cousins is brilliant, one of a kind.  Try them, the more people use it the more likely we are to find our "lost cousins".

http://www.lostcousins.com/pages/members/index.mhtml