Research before records were available online

[sami]

For me in western Canada in the 1970's and 80's it was all done at local FH centres with film and fiche orders placed to Salt Lake City. Used to wait weeks for the records to arrive and then spent hours scrolling through them. Of course they weren't always the right ones so the process would be repeated again and again.

Its faster now and I'm constantly amazed by the amount of resources that are online, but I do miss the camaraderie of those old research days.

sami

[lizdb]

Yes, the family record centre in Angel Islington.

I remember it well. And before that - St Catherines House. Did you ever go there?

[Familysearch]

I started my researching at Somerset House.  I think that was  before St Catherine's House.  It was, however, only the births, marriages and deaths records. We didn't have computers in those days!  I must admit that having had that experience - which was truly hard work - it does make me very careful and methodical when I use the internet for all the other amazing records that we can now access.

My original interest was sparked by a handwritten copy made in 1955 of a document which started in 1625 and ran until 1825. I was assured by my late father (we are talking early1970's here) that it was connected to my grandmother's family. It took me years to find the missing link, by patiently getting the binders down off the shelf and making a note of the record, before applying for a certificate.

....BUT only recently, certain Parish records have become available on-line, and I have been able to see scanned copies of documents dated from the 1700's. It is so amazing to see the record of the births, marriages and deaths of these people.  Also now available on-line are wills, censuses and apprentice records and a host of other documents. It makes everything so much easier. (But I do think people are careless these days, and just add things to their trees because they seem to fit.)

Sorry, that this is such a long posting - and I am not sure whether I have answered the original question or not!

[Annette7]

Happy to take part but until you have made 3 postings unable to PM you my e-mail address.

Started my research in 1981 and well remember looking up details on microfilm.   Lots remember it quite fondly but I absolutely hated it.   My research area was Suffolk and lived in London at the time - would come 'home' for a weekend and spend all day Saturday in Ipswich Record Office.   One could spend all day there searching for what you wanted (very tiring too) and end up coming away with nothing either because records hard to read or family had moved to another area - so frustrating.

So I, personally, bless the details now on the internet.

Annette

[lizdb]

Yes, Somerset House was before St Catherines. When BMD's moved to St Catherines, Wills remained at Somerset House. I remember going there to look at Wills. They are now at the Probate Registry in Holborn.

[lizdb]

   One could spend all day there searching for what you wanted (very tiring too) and end up coming away with nothing either because records hard to read or family had moved to another area - so frustrating.

I still can do that! Not all PR's are on the net. So visits to record offices to plough through PRs on microfiche are still very much part of my research.  As well as the host of other records that Local Record Offices hold, which can reveal all sorts of interesting and useful information about our ancestors.

But for post 1837 BMD's and Censuses, and some PRs (if you are sure the one that has been transcribed on to the internet is the right person) , having it easily accessible and indexed is fantastic.

[Jane Masri]

I started my research in the early 70's.  Parish records were held in the churches rather than in county records offices.  So there was a lot of letter writing & visits to churches back then.  Quite an experience sitting in a church vestry going through these huge books!
There is so much online these days that puts flesh on the bones of our ancestors that would have been missed back then.  Things like wills, newspaper articles, criminal records etc.  Before computers you had to rely on books to tell you what was available & where, now we have forums like RootsChat that we can utilise when we get stuck 

Jane

[Designer Jeans]

Hi

Ah, I remember it well.  My history teacher got my class started on our family history after GCE exams in 1967.  I remember my first visit to look at census records somewhere in London either late 1960's or early 1970's.  I can't remember where it was except that it was their first day in a new building and they were a bit at sixes and sevens. 
I must have had a lot of help as I didn't have a clue what I was doing.  What I do remember very clearly is that my nanna Hopkinson had told me that she had aunties Jemima and Annie Benedicta, and the electrifying excitement when I found them.

I would be very happy to help.

Valerie

[Richard Knott]

I started my research in the early 70's. 

As did I (as a teenager). The bmd indexes were in two buildings either side of the entrance to Somerset House, where there wasn't nearly enough room to put down the indices (or even move past people); the Society of Genealogists was in a large old house in Kensington; but worst was the censuses. Before the move to the luxury of Chancery Lane, they were in Portugal Street where you had to fill in a slip for each microfilm and then wait twenty minutes for it to turn up (only one allowed at a time). If that turned out to be the wrong one, it was then another twenty minute wait...

Looking through parish registers in the churches could be bizarre. In one church I was locked into the vestry (the vicar probably didn't trust a sixteen year old) and in another I looked through the registers behind a pillar, on the other side of which two people were getting married in front of a full congregation.

Beginning to sound a bit like the four Monty Python Yorkshiremen.

Richard