Author Topic: "Oh! Have you finished it yet?"  (Read 5610 times)

Offline Jill Eaton

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"Oh! Have you finished it yet?"
« on: Thursday 29 August 19 13:41 BST (UK) »
"Oh! Have you finished it yet?"

This is a question I get asked fairly frequently from people who don't partake.
I can't imagine how I'll know when I'm "finished" and I can't picture a time where there won't be more to learn.
I've given myself a break now and then, usually during a house move or ill health but I've always come back to it. I think it might be something of a drug.

Anyone else given any thought to when, or even if you can complete your family tree?
Davis - Berkshire & London
Sutcliffe - Yorkshire & London
Harrington - Ireland and London
Fuller - Cambridgeshire and Essex
Waldron/Waldren - Devon & London
Frisby and Lee - Leicestershire
Hollingsworth - Essex
Williams - Ireland? and London
Ellis, Reed & Temple - London
Lane - ?
Surplice/Surplus - Cambridgeshire
Elwood - Cambridgeshire

Offline Spidermonkey

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Re: "Oh! Have you finished it yet?"
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 29 August 19 13:48 BST (UK) »
Considering it seems that most of my forebears seem to have sprung up fully-formed, without the need for parents/childhood/any form of documentation, into existence in the 1840s then I fully expect that I shall still be here in 50 years time trying to chip away at my tree!

Offline IgorStrav

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Re: "Oh! Have you finished it yet?"
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 29 August 19 14:06 BST (UK) »
If you're me, you think after some concentrated work that you've "done" a part of a family.

Then you go back and find that in fact more information is now available, or you cross check things (such as GRO MMN) and look at what you did, and then it's not quite as "done" as you once thought. 

Sometimes just additional info (leading to more research required, eg new children, marriages etc) or that in fact your inspirational guess was wholly incorrect and you need to change things.....

never-ending.......
Pay, Kent. 
Barham, Kent. 
Cork(e), Kent. 
Cooley, Kent.
Barwell, Rutland/Northants/Greenwich.
Cotterill, Derbys.
Van Steenhoven/Steenhoven/Hoven, Nord Brabant/Belgium/East London.
Kesneer Belgium/East London
Burton, East London.
Barlow, East London
Wayling, East London
Wade, Greenwich/Brightlingsea, Essex.
Thorpe, Brightlingsea, Essex

Offline Rattus

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Re: "Oh! Have you finished it yet?"
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 29 August 19 17:15 BST (UK) »
I've certainly completed the thing that I began in 2007, which was an Excel-based pedigree chart for myself, going back five generations (i.e. to 3xgt-grandparents). Yes, it began as pure name collection (with BMD dates), but my preference is always to get a structural framework in place before filling in the detail.

Then life got in the way and I put it to one side. Didn't really get back into it again till late 2016. Since when I've gone back a further generation (64 4xgts), mostly now complete.

My ancestors generally lived uncomplicated lives They were diligent when it came to baptisms, registration, and so on. Overwhelmingly English. It has been easier than I expected, though the online resources are more numerous and plentiful these days. I'm always open to feedback, but generally I think I'm quite a careful researcher and I'm at least 90% confident (maybe 95) in what I've put together.

One of the key things I think that many people learn as they get older is the extent of how little they know. Certainly true for me with family history. So much more to be done. But any endless hobby (e.g. gardening) needs milestones to mark the progress/process of the ebbs and flows. So I have finished what I started.

And then I've started again  ;D

Further back, further sideways, more detail, further forward to living relatives, further into the social history surrounding the trades, the faiths, the political events that were the backdrops to their lives, the disease epidemics that claimed so many of them, emigration and American history. Then when my nieces/nephews show any interest I start looking at families-in-law and then in-laws of in-laws. It just goes on and on.

This aspect will never finish, but I do think it's helpful to set yourself specific objectives so you can 'complete' something every so often.
BARTRAM - Nottingham, Derby, originally Beds (Stagsden)
PERFETT - St Pancras & Marylebone, Rugby, Nottingham
RADFORD - Nottinghamshire, also back & forth to Bury
RUDD - Durham, Margate, Bermondsey, Newcastle, Nottingham


Offline Chilternbirder

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Re: "Oh! Have you finished it yet?"
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 29 August 19 17:40 BST (UK) »
Considering it seems that most of my forebears seem to have sprung up fully-formed, without the need for parents/childhood/any form of documentation, into existence in the 1840s then I fully expect that I shall still be here in 50 years time trying to chip away at my tree!
I am luckier, the spontaneous generation of most of my ancestral lines was as early as the 1820s!

As more documents get digitised and available through Ancestry or FindMyPast I can fill in details about known ancestors but it seldom gives me another generation.
Crabb from Laurencekirk / Fordoun and Scurry from mid Essex

Offline Wendy2305

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Re: "Oh! Have you finished it yet?"
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 29 August 19 17:49 BST (UK) »
My family tree will never be finished as there is always the next generation to add people don't stop having babies

Offline BillyF

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Re: "Oh! Have you finished it yet?"
« Reply #6 on: Thursday 29 August 19 19:45 BST (UK) »
I posted somewhere else about doing a review of my research and someone remarked it`s like the Forth Bridge !!

It`s true, just when you think you`ve "finished " an ancestor something else pops up !

Offline snooziflooze

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Re: "Oh! Have you finished it yet?"
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 29 August 19 20:00 BST (UK) »
I agree with all the above... ;D

Offline Sloe Gin

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Re: "Oh! Have you finished it yet?"
« Reply #8 on: Thursday 29 August 19 23:33 BST (UK) »
My family tree will never be finished as there is always the next generation to add people don't stop having babies

It's a shame they can't find out what causes it.  :)
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