researching the female line

[juju9999uk]

I started with my mother and listened to anything she had to tell me. She remembers  my aunty when she was a young girl routing through her mothers papers, and came across the birth certificate of her mothers grand mother's birth certificate, because it showed she was illegitimate my nan promptly burned it !!
I have managed to get as far as,
My mother (Hope)
Grandmother (Lockett)
Gt Grandmother (Galley)
Gt Gt Grandmother (Taylor (Illegitimate))
Gt Gt Gt Grandmother (Taylor)
I was very lucky that in the 1891 census Gt Gt Grandmother was staying at her uncles house two doors away and one of his sons in her mothers, which helped to tie the two families together and give me her mothers maiden name.  So it is always helpful when a family stayed in the same area for years to look at the neighbouring families as well. Now I have to find Gt Gt Gt Grandmother's birth to find her mother.
Happy Hunting
Juju

[MrsLizzy]

I'm lucky because my 3 x great grandmother left some rather pointed clues:  she had at least four illegitimate children, maybe more.  Now her own name was Fanny Layton Culling.  Her children were called Josiah Green Culling, James Green Culling, Charles Winchester Green Culling and Ada Anne Green Culling.

Charles was adopted by Mr and Mrs William H Giesen.  Mrs Giesen's twin brother was Walter J Green Esq, a civil servant living in Croydon.  Their mother was Mrs Ann Green, who ended up bringing up little Ada Anne Green Culling.

To me, this seems to point the finger at Walter Green being the father, although of course there's no way to prove it, other than DNA testing of myself and one of Walter's legitimate descendants!!   

[kevan]

Hi all,
        I started just tracing my fathers side, then came across the most beautiful photograph of my grandmother, probably in her early twenties, and was so enthralled, I started to research her side avidly. The picture was in  photo frame, behind a picture of my grandfather, she is much prettier! She was a Littlechild, and then a Professor Littlechild popped up and answered all the questions about this family going back another 100 + years.
        Since then, I trace any ancestors, and in particular if I find a marriage ging back the first four or five generations, I then research everyone in that tree too - it is a lot more interesting, and forever gets me looking in new areas, where suddenly one of my original ancestors pops up.
        Lastly, I try to add as many marriages in the local area, mainly Essex (Not Wales, unfortunately), that gives me a clue to the spouse original surname.
       My claim to Wales fame (probably), is my mothers maiden name is Evans, and one day I will concentrate more in this area, but for now, I will stick with this beautiful image of my grandmother - if you type ethel littlechild in google and select images, she is there for ever! God bless her!
Best
Kevan

[Fitty]

if you type ethel littlechild in google and select images, she is there for ever! God bless her!

She certainly is 

[wendymay]

I started family history when I realised too late that I had never heard my mother mention her mother's name! So I started with mother's birth certificate and then traced her mother's family name [Shipley] back to 1780.
I have also been struck by the fact that the 2 names I am most interested in are Shipley and Nethercott, which is my mother-in-law's mother's name i.e. both maternal lines.
Within 2 generations these names are lost. This should not be so. Let the maternal lines live on!
My roots are in "Shipley" and my husband's are in "Nethercott"!
Wendy