How long have most people been researching?

[Deirdre784]

As others have said, with the internet (freeBMD, GRO), paid sites (Ancestry, FindMyPast etc), and if you are looking at England and Wales only, you could probably get a basic tree going back several generations in a matter of weeks if you spend quite a few hours each day on what will likely become a passionate hobby. But certificates to prove the right family are essential. And then flesh out the bones, with siblings too. Your research will probably slow down when you reach the late 1700s and then it gets tough. Good luck, and ask if you get stuck 😀

[ThrelfallYorky]

How long have you got?
I got a "starter tree" from my grandfather, many many years back ( He died when I was 7!) as a find in a book of his, when I was in my own teens. Gave us an outline on paternal line back to early 1800s
Some 30 years later, coming on it again, my father and I started checking it out .... not all was correct, we found, and some information we got from a male cousin of his was helpful, but some very misleading...
Many years later, came upon the basic tree and our notes yet again, father also long gone, started to find out more....
Another cousin of my father, who lived locally to where most of family located historically, provided me generously with her own research to study, and copy. A wonderful boost, including tithe records etc.
A friend helped me, and allowed me to sample his chosen online site, to see how online sources could save footslogging ... that determined me to subscribe to at least one....
Discovered "Lancs Parish Clerks" online!! Wonderful help!
Got "readers card" to various County archives. Splendid source and fascinating.
At last had time ... did loads on that Paternal line, met some lovely people, then branched out onto rather frustrating Maternal line, where I had to get past a lot of "but I know they were all scots" and "Of course they weren't possibly irish"  ....
Firmly bitten and infected with the bug, following every family byway up and down the tree...
Don't think I'll ever stop willingly.  There's always someone else to explore, lurking on some branch or twig....

[a-l]

About 45 years now and still ongoing 

[Greensleeves]

I started about 20 years ago when my uncle - who was the family genealogist at the time - gave me copies of all his research (computer print-outs of trees/pedigrees etc plus photocopies of birth/marriage/death certificates etc).  The tree he passed to me was created in the days before the internet, when he travelled to churches having made an appointment to view the parish records.  And he spent an awful lot of time in records offices.  He had taken our Suffolk Pearle family line back to 1540, and I checked it out and even with the internet, I've not managed to get that particular tree back any further, although it has gone sideways rather considerably.

My other trees produced some rather lovely surprises:  my father had always claimed that he had viking blood.  We assumed it was because his family came from County Durham, but the amazing thing - for me at least - was that my 2x great grandparents were Norwegian.  How on earth could the family have forgotten their Norwegian connections so quickly?

[PVMLaneFox]

I think one of the most brilliant things is that your family tree, as you know it, unfolds gradually over time the more and more work you do and the more and more research you manage to fit in. Greater skills and especially experience, lead to better results. It's all cumulative! You can probably spend a rainy afternoon getting some bare bones back a few generations - some friends of mine have done that and are content with having 'done their family tree'. Others of course, as some above have mentioned, and myself included, have spent many decades and continue to gain huge amounts of fulfilment from it!

Best of luck !!! 

[HughC]

SwissGill,
Pfisterer is Württembergisch for baker!  Did somebody think it came from piscator?

I've been at this game for over 50 years: it's a life sentence!
Things are a lot easier now with the tangled web, but anything I read on the Ancestry site is guilty until proved innocent.  I tear my hair every time I look.

[Jool]

Researching your family history is a journey, not a destination.  Take your time, check everything and enjoy it 

As has already been mentioned, the first 100 years or so are more challenging.  Ask the older members of your family to tell you what they know of the family, but check their information is correct as sometimes memories can get muddled over time.

I have been at it for about 12 years now and still discovering new things.

[iluleah]

Hi ans welcome to Rootchat NorthSouth72 

I started before the internet so 4 decades and I am so pleased I did as I learned about how to research properly, what records exist and learned about how records changed over time  and how to prove/cite from real records.
So once I had exhausted all the real records I could get my hands on at home which was very few as my mother didn't want me to research the family history.... so I knew she was hiding something....and she was and I found out within 6 months and she still doesn't know I know!
It was a case of visiting records offices, churches, FH societies and TNA, to find each and every record for each and every person to prove/cite my family history, I also learned about  transcriptions and the IGI both only a clue about where to look for a record and not to trust as real, so the 'tree' I have is backed up with research and I am as sure as I can be that the people in my tree are MY ancestors.

The internet has changed things for newbies who use online commercial websites and tend to copy and paste whatever they 'find' as if it is online in a tree it must be true. The old IGI is now renamed as 'collections' and thought of as real (it is not) For people who have researched they tend to use the internet only as one tool, which is exactly what it is as there are many tools that can be used.

I have been searching for 2 decades for just one record I knew had been generated at the time but didn't know where it could be held and had visited the likely records office and TNA twice, also written to them both and I have just found it within the last couple of weeks.... so 20 years work for one record and it is all and more I hoped for