My mom's husband is into genealogy and has been doing it for who knows how long, he spends every waking hour (he is retired) working on something for someone.

He has more pages for my mom's family then I can read, so I just did the highlights.

He has gotten back to 1721 apparently the family was in Scotland back then, and in 1841 a couple married.

That couple then came to Canada (Ontario) in the 1840's. Who then had kids, and one of those kids ended up in Texas where my mom's family (except her dad and siblings) lives today.

This is the easy understanding, and no idea how accurate the info he sends me is, but if true interesting.

If I have kids, maybe they will do the reverse and go to Scotland where it apparently all started...lol


My dad's family is the mystery, nothing much to be found prior to a marriage between a petty theft in the 1800's to a Native American women, that point on info is found, but nothing prior to that.

My guess is the petty theft wasn't using a real name, and for lack of record keeping on the Native American side, but that is just my theory.


Anyone enjoy genealogy? I like the results, just don't have the patience for the research bit.

My wife want's to do her family, but her mom is uncooperative at providing the information we need.

My family did it until about 1820 then they disappear into the peat bogs of Ireland

Nothing as exciting as Who Do You Think You Are ? Just labourers and smiths

I've only managed to trace back 4 million years, and in fact I'm related to the chap in my avatar.

I too spend much of my time doing genealogy

I've got my father's family name back to a marriage in 1740 in Buckinghamshire. The groom seemingly sprung out of the earth, or was dropped from an alien space ship, because he appears fully grown, no parents, baptisms etc ever been found. That family has been really interesting ............ in the 1840s and 1850s 3 separate but related families sailed to Australia, then one of them moved on to California, travelling on a Mormon ship. That just seems to have been a convenience, as they stayed in CA, and used the Anglican church after that.

That family name is now spread around the world ........... they were mainly agricultural labourers and lace makers, but most had large families that began to move around after about 1850/1860

A great-aunt left the UK with her husband 3 days after their marriage in 1902, and lived in Newark, NJ for the rest of her life.

I've got one of my husband's family lines back to 1740 definitely, possibly to 1725 ....... and, if I can only find it, there may be a connection to someone who sailed on the Second Fleet to Pennsylvania in ca 1680. I only wish they liked to use names other than William, Gilbert and Cuthbert, and liked to marry women named other than Jane and Elizabeth. That would make tracing them much easier!


Another of his family lines have been tenant farmers on the same farm in England since at least 1870. The house was built in about 1620, on the foundations of a manor that originally belonged to an abbey. Every owner seems to be happy to keep this family as tenants. OH's grandfather was one of the co-tenants early last century, and his father was born there.

It's a beautiful house!

I spend a lot of time on online sites helping others solve problems .......

.... but I don't have much access to US or Canadian records 'cos I've never needed them.

I'm into it

So far I've got back to the 1840's from my direct family line all lived and moved around in East London from generation to generation. Plenty of history surrounding where they lived, real Oliver Twist setting! The thing for me is I have a very common family name and there are millions of them everywhere.
War records have now been unearthed which make good reading, also relatives we new nothing about and have now been in touch with.

I suppose all the records are available on the internet these days? Which websites do you find useful?

I have done any tracing back myself but my mum did and traced back her side of the family to one of the gun powder plotters

It appears that my family tree traces back to blue-green algae living in a small pond 4.5 billion years ago.

Are we related?

1. I couldn't do without my subscription to Ancestry.co.uk, even though it is expensive .............. I'm just about to renew for £119 for the UK records

a subscription to Ancestry World is currently about £179, although it is possible to find cheaper deals sometimes

2. Other friends prefer FindMyPast, an English-run site ............. I find that one difficult to use, others find it easy. It costs about the same as ancestry

FindMyPast is owned by a company called BrightSolid, based in Scotland, which used to (maybe still does) publish comics such as Beano

3. If you are looking for Scottish records you basically have to use Scotland's People, which is pay per view site .... and is also owned by BrightSolid

4. I also subscribe to an English site called Genes Reunited .............. but I pay only the lowest subscription rate, because the value of that site is the help you get from other members on the Boards. The records they carry are the same as on other sites but not as good, and many are available for free eg, on freebmd (see below). Another one owned by BrightSolid.


5. There are several free sites that are very useful .......

a) for births, marriage and death records from July 1 1837 to about 1970 use .......

FreeBMD Home Page


b) There is a group called OnLine Parish Clerks Project that are trying to get Parish Register entries online, county by county

To check whether your county of interest is included go to ......

Online Parish Clerks Links UKBMD - Births, Marriages, Deaths Indexes & Census Transcriptions Online for UK Family History and Genealogy

The Lancashire OPC site is particularly good, luckily for me

Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Project -

c) The Mormon-owned and run site Family Search is really good for old Parish Register records, but treat their Member submitted records with caution .... too many of those records have the facts bent (or even imagined) to fit with what the member wants

www.familysearch.org

d) Another free site run by members that is very good is Family Tree Forum ............

Family Tree Forum - Home Page


e) If you have family members who moved to the US, you need to join the Ellis Island site, free but you have to register ..........

The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island


there are many more that I use


6. Finally, you will invariably have to buy bmd certificates at some point in order to prove that so-and-so assumption is correct. Buy ONLY from the following England and Wales government-owned site. It is by far the cheapest at (currently) £9.25 including postage to anywhere in the world. Other sites say "buy through us" ........... don't. You will pay as much as £25 or £30 for the same service. Get your information from freebmd, and order through GRO (General Register Office) .......

General Register Office (GRO) - Official information on births, marriages and deaths


I hope this is of some help

I should warn anyone thinking of tracing their family that it does become almost an obsession ............. especially when you start getting results


and some people will laugh at you

others will just shake their heads!

Possibly

The likeness is incredible.

I did ours as Mum wanted to find the link between two women with the same unusual names. Didn't find that but were distressed to find southerners in the tree. My fathers side of the family had. Not only a southerner but a illegimate child of gentry. A couple of generations leads to titles and various assorted lords, ladies, and royals. Oh the shame of it.

do we need to bow and scrape to you?

Only because of my inate wonderfulness and links to Jarrow marchers