What to do now??

[hols83]

Hello all,

I have been working on my family tree for around five years now and have made some very interesting discoveries. All the work I have done has been on ancestry website. At the moment it's really just a collection of names, dates place names, with a few exceptions. I'm really interested in padding out the tree with some more personal information. I've tried working backwards but I feel like I have slowed down a lot as I don't really know where else to go with it all now?
What have other people down with their trees??
Any ideas welcome
Hols 83

[mofid42]

One of the best places to seek more personal details is newspapers.

Some libraries do offer access to the Gale Group historical newspaper collection. Also the British Library have recently started a website with historical newspapers. It is an on going project which has new images added regularly. It is pay to view but you can search the index for free.

In many cases finding anything personal about your ancestors will prove fruitless but you can still add a bit of 'colour' to their lives.
 I like to find pictures/photo's of the town/street/village where they lived. A Google search is always very helpful there. Plus the church's where they were baptised/married/buried. Even stories about what went on in their street or village can add interest. What kind of conditions they lived in...was it poor or wealthy and so on.

If I find someone with an interesting occupation I like to do a bit of research in to the subject. Or if you have ancestors in the army or navy find out about where they served or the ships they served on.

Finally its always worth putting their name in to Google or Google books, you never know you might get lucky and find something fascinating.

[MaxD]

For what its worth - I take a subject and weave a potted history around the facts, using sources such as mofid42 describes. In addition - do they show up in historical directories, can you find their house on old maps, can you (or some kind soul on Rootschat - works for me) find and photograph their grave, can you identify who they worked for and does the firm have a story.  Put their name into as many search engines as you can find, including the National Archives (my totally undistinguished great aunt's divorce papers are there - who'd have thought it?).  You may be doing it already but read Rootschat unread messages regularly, someone else's story often prompts a thought.

Trouble is, I never seem to be able to put the final full stop to any of the stories, something always seems to  come up that sends me down another avenue.  Good luck!  MaxD

[Shropshire Lass]

Although it's the opposite of personal, I like to make a note of major events that were happening in the country at the time as well.  How did it impact on their lives when postal services began, what did they feel about the discussions leading to the ending of slavery, how did their lives change when street lighting came to their town, and so on.

[silvery]

you could have a look at the jobs they did, and where they worked.    Find out about the sorts of houses there were, the amenities (or not), food of the time, domestic chores, how the washing was done for example, and the cooking, recreation eg cinema, or music hall, clothes - find some pictures to illustrate if you can for some of these, local trains and impact of them or other sorts of transport, or how they travelled anywhere. 

There's lots of social history, which won't be specific to your family, but will tell you what sort of world they lived in.   Try your local library for books or look online.

The other posters have given you some really good ideas. 

And keep your tree on your computer on a programme of your own, and just upload to ancestry, if you don't already do this.
If you put pictures, notes etc on ancestry, and you lapse your sub, you won't be able to transfer them.  You'll only get the gedcom.

[Rishile]

Hols83 - I was in an identical situation about 6 months ago.  Thanks to the lovely people on here I was given the idea of creating a website (off-line at the moment).  I am creating a page for each person in my direct line and a page for any other interesting siblings I find.  I have done a lot of what has been mentioned already and just putting bits of information together as I find it.  It's amazing how much you can find about them when you start looking.  I have added photos of churches where they married, newspaper articles, wartime exeriences etc.

According to another thread here today you can get 30 credits free by registering with British Newspaper Archives (about 5 - 6 pages).

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Rishile

[Ringrose]

A few years ago I put my interests intothesearch boxoftheNational Archives .This came up with a sentence that mentioned mt ggggrandmotherl of Prinkle Farm Dallington Sussex had died by cutting her throat.The coroners record was held at Lewes Record Office.A visit there revealed quite a lot of information about her and the reasons she did this.
Another time I found a link on the National Archives with another family member at   record office.
I'm now waitingtogotoKew as Ihave they have some records of my 4 and5 times ggrandfathers sea exploits.
Some village sites may also hold a clue with their write ups.On an Essex site I found out how my ggggrandparents met
.Also some of the Victorian history or British History reveal historyofvillages.
Contact with others too to share information........
You would be amazed at what you can find by Googling a name plus area.Google a name of house or cottage etc.
Hope some of these ideas help.It takes time but there is a lot out there.
Ringrose

[clayton bradley]

Just to add my twopennorth, cotton workers, already starving, dying of cholera in the 1820s and later, children dying of measles in the 1850s, volcanoes at various times having a serious effect on the climate and causing famine, eg 1816, members of the family moving great distances to look for work, including emigration, claytonbradley

[Ringrose]

Another thought.......I was lucky to find a reference in a book by using Google Books.I was lucky in that my person was connected with privateers in the Channel Isles.
Ringrose