General Chat

It would be interesting to find out what motivated us to join this site.

I was given my gt grandfather's photo album which had photos of the 7 children from his first marriage in it as well as the 5 from his second marriage(inc. my grandmother). He was born in 1836 and died in 1929, born in Wandsworth moved north, as a master engineer, in the late 1850's and settled there until moving back south in 1903. Fascinating - how could I not be pulled into the Genealogy world!

I joined mainly because very little was known about my dads side of my family. His paternal Grandfather is still proving to be VERY elusive as no-one knows exactly when and where he was born, and his maternal GGrandfather was Danish!!! Hopefully I'll be able to find out more this year and knock a few more bricks out their walls Kay

I started about 20 years ago originally to trace family members with little success. What I didn't do was to ask the older relatives that were around for their memories etc. which would have been the sensible thing to do! I found this site through FR and hoped to just be able to piece together some of the information I had and have 'met' up with 4 second cousins - 3 share one set of great grandparents - from my father's side - having thought his father was an only child he turned out to be one of 11. One shares another. We have all been able to help supply information, correct information and supply tit bits! I have a lot of photos which I have passed on and received some as well - many dating back to mid to late 1800s. Now all I need to do is put together all the info into an understandable format. I have been disappointed not to have been able to go further with the Irish branch but at least I know I am not alone in this!

i started 40 years ago originally to trace my background. i was born in dublin ireland. to this day i am still trying. i am glad i found out about genesconnected, bridgett.

My father-in-law and brother-in-law started tracing the Seldon family history about 15 years ago after the death of my F-i-Ls brother, Bill. Bill had been adamant that we were not to attempt to trace the family history so it had to wait until his death. They didn't get very far - this was before the days of the WWW. I saw Genes Connected advertised on Friends Reunited site, joined and I was hooked! Within a couple of days I got further back than Dad had managed and within a couple of months had found a second cousin of my husband and his brother that neither side knew existed! Their grandfathers were full brothers. Was this the great mystery why Uncle Bill got so upset about trying to trace ancestors? We don't think so, but why were the brothers unknown to their descendants? The rest of the family were known to our side, including half brothers and sisters and stepmother and their ancestors. We have photos including one of a family wedding where we didn't know the groom, but thought he was related because of the strong family resemblance. The groom is the unknown brother. We met up with the cousin (the groom's granddaughter) in June and the family resemblance is so strong, she and my husband (the groom's great nephew) could be brother and sister! I have managed to trace back to the late 1600s, but still cannot solve the mystery! Ah well, lets hope 2004 will provide some answers! Sue

I think I joined like most people because of a death in the family(Death is also a family name!!) and hoped to find other relatives to help me solve the riddle of photos and certificates, I have found lots of friends and distant cousins and solved a few puzzles but I think it will take a long time, I see some have been searing 20 years or more. good luck to all and a happy new year sandra

I joined as i just got married and wanted to find out more about my Husbans family..... his father is one of 13, and his father before him 1 of 8 and with a very unusual surname I thought I'd track it for my grand-daughter....... yes I know I'm a fast worker..... It was that I heard Grandchildren were much more fun than children so I started with them first!! ;o) Nanna Dee

Why I’m i researching our family history and trying to produce a family tree. The reason I’m doing this came about when my daughter Heather (aged 12) asked me about my parents. (She only knew my Mother for a few months before she passed away and never knew my father as he passed away a few years before I met my wife) it was then I realised how little I knew about my parents past and even less about my grandparents (both my grandfathers and one of my grandmothers had died before I was born and my other grandmother died when I was about eight) anyway…. this started me on the way and I just intended to do my side of the family then I realised that Heather and later Owen (aged 2) would one day want to know about my wifes side of the family and so I started to research that as well. I used to love the stories that my parents told me about growing up in years gone byand the things they had done, but they were never written down and although I can remember parts of the stories and who was related to who etc that all vanished when my mother died and I don’t want that to happen for Heather and Owen or any member of my family come to that so to this end I have started to collect together any information photos etc that are relevent to there history in the hope that when there children ask who was your father they can say your grandfather was................

A friend put me onto FR and from there I joined GC.Looking for the elusive Honeybills has been a challenge.I did not know any thing about my family as I was adopted as a small child.Now through GC I have found my grandmothers family in Burton on Trent and cousins of my father in Lancashire .Found death records of Herbert Honeybill my father and some very kind person on GC sent me a photo of the house where he lived in Manchester. Thank you GC. Brenda in Australia

I joined Friends Reunited when it first started then all of a sudden one evening there was an advertisment for G/Connected on their web page god i was gone like a flash couldnt get there quick enough thats how i joined G/C

I was really bored!

I joined because of an unusual name in my husband's family and decided that this site may be of help. It was. I managed to contact a member of the family doing the same research and we were able to exchange information. Now I have found the family and a few people beyond that. Happy hunting everyone. Val.

I saw it advertised on friendsreunited and took a look. I saw an entry for my grandfather, so I joined, contacted the lady who had posted it and found a new 2nd cousin who had researched the name back to 1700. Since then I have been hooked.

Also got it as a link on friendsreunited. Thought seemed a good way of helping to research family history that I started to do 5 years ago.Thought might find others with same names as in my tree and be able to swap notes. Had some success am now in touch with my Dads cousins daughter.But still really struggling with my mothers side of the family.

I was looking at Friends Re-United and saw a link to this. I thought, oh, that would be fun, put the family tree on there and see if you can find any relatives. Since then I have been contacted by various folks and have got ancestors back to 1600's.

I joined almost a year ago but never really got stuck in till November last year when my Grandmother became terminally ill. Although 87 she is a fighter. So I set about trying to trace the roots of her tree. Pretty much most of it has been easy thanks to the kindness of the GC members willing to do look ups for which i am forever grateful for. It's put us in contact with distant rellies all over the world too and in some cases they have done some extensive family re search themselves( in one case to 1066 on Grans paternal side) and we've been able to add their tree to ours. Christmas was a wonderful time as I gave her her family tree ( which still keeps growing) and we poured over the contents which brought back memories of her childhood she had forgotten . For me it was the smile in her eyes that was my biggest Christmas gift and the fact that she was able to bring a few generations to life that would otherwise of been just names and dates on paper.

Russel, I joined because my doctor told me to find a hobby that was not stressful. lol Lindy

I got interested about 12 years ago when I was 18 and both my parents died. I had no Aunts, Uncles, cousins and only 1 brother I didn't get on with at the time. I never got very far and didn't really bother much. Then last summer I went through a very depressing time and it was suggested I needed a hobby. I remembered I already had some research on the history, saw this link in the Friends Reunited site and haven't looked back. Naomi

It seemed like a good idea at the time. LOL