General Chat

No arguments please, I am really interested. I only started this quest to find info on my mothers line, but have been sucked into trawling the recoeds for all my kin. Why do you think we are so interested ?????

Little bit like the child with his fingers in the cookie jar........one was nice, i'll have another one......

translated........once you find out one " skeleton," so to speak, you just HAVE to find another, and another.........

Bob

Pure unadulterated nosiness, lolol!!

I love history to have personal meaning.... and it doesn't come any more personal than how our ancestors lived, who they were etc etc.

Oh, and I sooooo love the odd skeleton, lol...

I mean... every generation moans about the one before it... but when you look at our history, well, it sort of stabilises things, doesn't it?

Everything changes but people basically stay the same!

Very comforting, is that.

Love

Daff xxxx

Hi Annina, l started because l wanted to surprise my OH in the quest to find his mother, still haven't but have traced my Paternal side quite a way back but.................silly me didn't do my homework when l first started and did all my research on here at the cost of £240 +.. One day l will join Ancestry and maybe might find her.

When I first started this hobby(obsession) there had always been a legend in Dads family, that we hail from the Plague victims from Eyam, but never thought much about it.

Then I got my gt grandads marriage cert, stating his wife as Hannah Blackwell from Eyam. Lights lit up in my head, and from then on, the search was easy, as the records for that event are well recorded.

I am indeed, descended from Francis Blackwell, brother of Margaret, who survived catching the Plague.

So, big wow, that one proved, but what I really want to know is, what if any were their daily lives like,any dreams, or did they just accept their lot, and get on with life/

Hello everyone,

I think why we do this is to discover who we are, and not just about our parents, what makes us have brown eyes fair skin dark hair tall , short, etc

Also why do we choose certain roles in life, why out of the blue do we have a genious who leaves us behind by the age of 5 or 6 and why are their siblings not th same.

Who do I look like, why did I want to be an actress but became a nurse, why do i want to live by the sea, what cultural life did our people have, how many were gamblers, hoarders, what made them tick.

Were they really more honest, devoted, god fearing etc..In my family it is definetly the case that some were married for many many years, others seemed to have mistresses all over the country, some didn,t bother to get married and were all christened on the same day!

Everything stays the same and everthing changes..that is the great conundrum,

Even now after about 7 years of doing this there are days when I am saying WOWEE and others when I cry, children born every 12 month and dead within weeks in Austrailia in the early day of emigration, where did those peole go who left never to be found again..and finally

What Makes me Tick differently to my two sisters, same parents, same uo bringing, very similar schooling but all OH SO Different.

Bridget

Hello All
Have been doing this family research for a couple of years, I started because my husband wanted to know about his grandfathers participation in WW1.

My husband & I have lived in a few different places in this world and one of them I enjoyed the most was living in the Essex/Kent area. I never really understood this because I was born in Northumberland and my husband is a Yorkshireman.

When I came to my family history it became obvious that both sides of my family came from Essex/Devon/London area, and I'm sure that there must be something in my genes that made me feel so at home in that area.

To this day is still fell an outsider in my home area.

There's little point in genealogy beyond showing who you are related to but family history is an entirely different matter.

I'd always wanted to find out how long ago my Fathers paternal side (Tocqueville) had been in England and ten years ago I began my quest.

I started out by going to the Family Records Centre in Islington and wading through their BMD indexes. Once I'd found my Grandfather's marriage I picked up that my Grandmother had an unusual name too (Horsup) Of course at this point I was still doing pure genealogy. The family history started once I'd tracked down various other records. I started to wonder what their lives were like, were they rich or poor, were they educated etc. From there it snowballed and I love it.

Now I find myself walking down the road, wondering who lived in such and such house, what adversities did they overcome.

It makes you realise how insignificant we all are but each and every one of us has a story to tell about those who made us who we are..

I wanted to say all the things that Bossy and Janet said, but can't for the life of me, work out how to make a longer thread.

Hi everyone,
I have always loved history, and when I was at my uncles funeral three years I was talking to my cousins and just happened to say that I would love to do a family tree, I only wanted to do the Irish side, I got myself a laptop and away I went. But its the english side that I have been sucked into.
All I knew about grandads parents where that his mother was born in Canada but my dad never spoke about them, it was only when I got g grandmothers death cert. that I found out that she only died four years before I was born. There is other things has well that I cannot explain, unless I find living cousins of my fathers. Have not touched the Irish side yet.

HRH bet he's year 8 blimey just had a thought will pm you x

like HRH's son we did family trees today too with out breaking confidentiality I teacher fetched up his tree .................... on genes

I sometimes wonder " what is the point " . I sometimes wish I didn't spend so much of my time thinking about the ancestors . But once you get hooked there is no going back .
When my Nan passed away in 1983 , amongst her belongings was a rough "tree" that my Granddad had scribbled down in about 1913 . No dates , just names . It interested me a little . We got a computer many years later ( that being a technophobe ) I wouldn't go near for several months..........then...........I realised I could find stuff out . I found other people decended from my Granddads rough tree............I've "proved " his tree and expanded it and found tons of stuff on my Dads side ( of which I knew barely anything )...........each " piece " we find is another bit of our own personal "puzzles "...........that I think in essence is what keeps us all hooked .

Amanda : ))

Having emigrated to Australia as a child with my parents I felt the need to find my heritage. We left everyone behind and I never saw my grandparents again. Also no family ever followed us here. I was lucky in that my parents knew their parents full names including maiden names and that my father knew the name of his paternal grandfather. Once I learned my way around the computer it became relatively easy to find some people although I did need help.

Sue x

I started because my father's mother had been fostered out as a child and a few years after she died, two of her brothers contacted my aunt and told her there had been 7 brothers, so I wanted to find out what I could, mainly for my Dad. I got all of their names and a fair bit of their history. It turns out one of the brothers won the Melbourne Cup + Caulfield Cup and a few other races. My father was tickled pink and I was so pleased to be able to give him the info - Dad died earlier this year.

I thought that I would pop on here again to see what other reasons people have for starting to find their family history.

Now someone, I thnk it is Annina has said that she would like to know what her families everyday life would have been like years ago. Annina this is such fun and informative to do, from the local history of a place someone has lived in, to the type of home they may have lived, the politics of the day, who was King or Queen, what skirmishes were happening across the world, or locally..it is all there for you to find and everyday is something knew.....Just Google or ask for help on the threads.

I am going to start a book for each branch of family surnames next year.

I will decide what info I want to enter and then at Xmas when asked what I want I shall be asking for good quality books to write in, something that will last., Some social history books, maybe even a some money towards joining a club etc where like minded people can discuss these things. Maybe there is one on the net???? just thought of that.

Look at the clothes people wore, did anyone live in a work house, or go to prison, etc

Then I will really begin to feel that I know my family.


Anyone else doing this, any tips,???


Thanks


Bridget

Bridget, what a lovely idea. You've set me thinking now!

I started family history to find out what happened to my mother's father, who left home when she was 11 and never returned and never saw her again. I did discover this although sadly she had died by then. I think she would have liked to know that he kept a photo of her as a little girl in his sitting room.

Mummo, I'm a full member of Ancestry and be glad to try and find any info for you.

I'm a novice at this game, but would do my best. Also. there are many better qualified people on here who would help.

If you know your in laws name and rough date of birth and where it would be a start.

On another note, I found out today, that someone had added all my rels, including my second husband's to her tree.

I don't see the point of this, none of his could be blood related to her,so, WHY.

Annina, thankyou, have PM'd you.