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Hi all,
Does anybody or has anybody ever done any research into their family tree and ancestors?
Its something I've fancied trying for a while and having just started to properly look into it the first few websites I've come across are quite expensive.
Does anybody know of any cheaper/free ones or if the more expensive ones are worth the money? I know you get what you pay for but don't want to part with the cash if it's something I give up on in 2 weeks or the website ends up being useless!!
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Originally Posted by Viking
I have - for the Scottish part of the family it was easy...as it is nearly all completely digitised and searchable online Not sure that is the case for England and other places. It can be found using Scotlands People website. It is a little bit pricey..but was a fascinating journey, and it's a great service - that you can use from the comfort of your own home. I found out loads of interesting stories along the way. Managed to get back to the last 1700's.
Ive just been looking i to it today with my oldest son. After watching Warwick Davis on who do you think you are last night we got chatting and decided we'd like to search one particular side of the family.
Im in the same boat - no idea where to start and some of them are quite pricey. Dont mind the cost if its worth it,
Ancestry.co.uk has a number of free weekends through the year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Viking
You can try them out and see what you find, see if you enjoy it.
They are doing a 14 day free trial just now, have to put your bank details in though so need to remember to cancel.Quote:
Originally Posted by grunt
I started that earlier but then came out of it when I seen that you still had to put your bank details in. I might try it and see how it goes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs. S
I got told about that one earlier and told it was free but when I tried it earlier discovered I still need to buy credits to actually view anything. That would be fine for my dads side but my mums side I would need England and the US so think I just need to bite the bullet and invest the money.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigwheel
My mums cousin done one years ago so would only need updated with new additions to the family over the past 10/15 years so it's my dads side I'd want to concentrate on first anyway
My Wife done both her & my family trees, although the deeper you go the more expensive it became with regards purchasing the credits. In saying that she absolutley loved it, a slight snag though was some of the registry became almost unreadable.Quote:
Originally Posted by Viking
She along with my Daughter went to register house to dig a bit deeper, that also was better for reading birth/marriage & death registry. Some fascinating stuff was uncovered but all came to a sudden halt. My Dads side, we got as far as 1700s & relatives from Castlebar, Southern Ireland. To delve deeper we would have to travel to registry in Ireland.
My Grans stopped in Montreal Canada (where she was born) we got her marriage certificate but again, couldnt get her birth as we would have to go to Canada. All fascinating stuff though.
I have done a little bit of reviewing online and think I'm going to try the free trial with the Find My Past website.
Same idea as Ancestry, you need to put your bank details in to start the free trial but the reviews I could find were slightly better.
lets see how it goes..!
I researched my Dad's side of the family a couple of years back and it was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Most of my research was done using Scotland's People and I managed to get as far back as the 1700's. I managed to research the Irish side of things using a combination of census records and burial records, both of which were online. I also checked out any local forums where memories and local history were shared. I posted on the Belfast Forum and got several very helpful replies. As a result of my research I managed to track down a cousin of my Dad's in Belfast he hadn't seen since he was a child and they were re-united in 2015, both past their 80th birthdays.
I did try the Ancestry site on a free trial hoping to trace a branch of the family in America. My excitement at finding a Nevada marriage record for somebody with the exact same name as myself was short lived after Mrs M59 pointed out it was our own marriage.
I tried that about a year ago ...... I thought I would keep it simple and put in my dads name and date of birth, he was born in Edinburgh and we have a pretty uncommon surname, I found nowt, cant say I was impressed. Perhaps I was doing it wrong :dunno:Quote:
Originally Posted by grunt
A set number of years have to elapse until records are available online. Best to start with a Grandparent.Quote:
Originally Posted by NAE NOOKIE
My dad was born in 1918 or 19 ( family records are a bit sketchy ) I would have thought that was far enough back :greengrinQuote:
Originally Posted by marinello59
Ah. In that case you must be doing something else wrong. :greengrinQuote:
Originally Posted by NAE NOOKIE
It may be worth trying different spellings, things weren't always recorded with 100% accuracy back then.
If I recall Ancestry does not have access to the full Scottish records ...it's only scotlands people website that has that ...also at the time Scotland was way ahead of England etc on digitising their deaths, marriages, births and census info. - that may have changed in more recent yearsQuote:
Originally Posted by NAE NOOKIE
I did a wee bit on this and it is quite addictive, though its also very easy to get lost in the mire.
My Dad's side was easier and I got reasonably far back and found a far off cousin who had also researched that line so comparing and cross checking was interesting.
My Mums side was almost impossible as they came from rural Ireland to Greenock, then Edinburgh with name changes along the way. Having umpteen children in tow didn't help either!
Just started this on holiday. It really is addictive. I'm now back into the 1700's and until now all my family from my father's side who carry my family name have their roots in Leith.
My mother's side are even easier to find as they all lived in and about East Lothian with the main focus point being Gladsmuir.
Turns out my great great great grandmother on my father's side was a convict who was shipped off to Tasmania after persistently getting into trouble with the law. Weirdly enough according to the court reports it was my great great great grandfather who was the main victim of her crime spree and didn't join her on her voyage. She ended up being buried there at the age of 81 and after remarrying a fellow convict whilst probably still being married to my great great great grandfather. Would really love to know the nitty gritty on that particular story.
It's such an interesting thing to do.
I like the quirky wee things it can throw up. My daughter's middle name is Helen, named for my Granny, and her first name is Grace because it was just a name both my wife and I liked. My Granny's maternal side were all Shetlanders and I knew nothing about them at all. I came into possession of some family history after my aunt passed away and in among it was a newspaper clipping about 2 women who were honoured for risking their own lives to save the crew of a fishing boat that had capsized off the coast near their home. Their names were Grace and Helen. Digging further back the earliest family records dated to the early 1700s, a marriage certificate of a Helen, who later had a daughter called Grace.
I'd assume my Granny was named as part of a family tradition but it was something I was totally unaware about. Thinking back now I can vaguely remember hearing occasional mention of a 'Grace Tulloch' when I was a young boy but if it played a part in my choice of name for my daughter then it was entirely subconscious. I quite like that I have honoured two very brave women and a family tradition dating back at least 300 years, even if it was totally unintentional and I look forward to showing my daughter the story about the sea rescue when she is a bit older.
My Grandad's paternal side is a total mystery. His Dad was English and my Grandad has no real idea how he ended up in Scotland, his Dad was never forthcoming about it and he never had any relationship with his grandparents on that side. My Mum and I are hoping to dig into sometime soon and try to get to the bottom of it.
That's quite poignant but uplifting too, I discovered something similar also, at first I thought it was a coincidence but the further I look back the more I find that it appears to be a tradition for the maiden name of the women married into the Urquhart line, to have that maiden nome used as a middle name for some of the children. For example my great grandmother was called McGowan and my grandfather's name is Andrew McGowan Urquhart. This pattern repeats itself with middle names for both male and female children such as "Turner, Robertson and Yule". Maybe this used to be normal to do but it's the first I've heard of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
It's challenging to bridge the gap when ancestors have moved location. I've always suspected that my paternal side of the family came from the Highlands but have yet to find a definitive link. It appears they moved to Leith in the 1750's from Kirkcaldy but I've yet to find another link before that. That kind of backs my Highlands theory as about the same time the link is fuzzy, is the time of the Highland clearances, meaning vast swathes of people would have been on the move looking for work elsewhere in Scotland and wider afield.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
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Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
I know in my family on my dad’s side, it was common for sons to be named after their grandfathers, first born son named after paternal grandfather, second born to be named after their maternal grandfather. As such, my dad and uncle are both named after their respective grandfathers. There’s also the name Dorcas which recurs across several generations as well.
I have a bit of family tree mapped out, done by a professional that my Dad’s cousin contacted, as well as some bits and pieces a friend of mine has done on ancestry.com. I can trace relatives in Midlothian back to the 1620s iirc, which amazes me.
It is amazing what is all stored in the archives. I'll try and remember that next time I'm filling out official forms. :greengrinQuote:
Originally Posted by McD
Yes, have come across this. Not sure how it would work if the maiden name was, say, Grace and your first four children were all boys. When the fifth boy arrived, would you chance it and hope the sixth child was a girl, or just give the fifth boy a middle name of Grace to preserve the tradition? :dunno:Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
I think that was the case with my grandmother on my dads side, her middle name was Scott.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
I always find it a bit sad when a name dies out. My maternal grandad was an only child, as is my mum so the name goes with my grandad. My wife is the same, she is an only child and took my name when we married so her dads name goes with him. We had kids before we were married and considered double barrelling to preserve her family name but we both have long surnames so it was just an aesthetic and practical decision not to.
My son's middle name is William and that seems to occur in every generation of my wife's family going back at least a couple of hundred years hence why we chose it. It's her dad's middle name, her cousin's name, was her grandad's middle name and her great grandad's name and a whole lot more before that.
Glad I came across this thread, I see some of it is quite old ( :greengrin ) .... what's the recommended site to use? I might be starting a new hobby !
I'm not sure if it was thought of as a problem back then :dunno:Quote:
Originally Posted by lapsedhibee
My mother had the middle name Bell, I'd always thought it was meaning "Beautiful" until I recently saw it was given to boys in previous generations too. I've still to find a link to Bell as a family name in my family tree though.
It's exactly the same on my mother's side. The name William goes back generations without skipping any. Even if a directly descended grandfather doesn't have the name, one of his brothers will. The names James and George alternative frequency on my father's side, I'm guessing they couldn't decide whose side they were on. :greengrinQuote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
I'm using "Ancestry". I started with the free test version on holiday but I've extended a month because the hits keep coming thick and fast.Quote:
Originally Posted by Just Alf
Brilliant, I bet he was chuffed to bits.Quote:
Originally Posted by marinello59
I made contact to the grandson of my great aunt through my research. He's sent me lot's of photos of my family that I didn't know existed. I have next to no photos of my family so actually got quite emotional when I saw people I grew up who are now long gone.
I have the same name as my Grandfather, middle name as well. I’d never really thought about where the middle name came from. My Dad didn’t know. Turned out it went back three generations and was the surname of an obviously much loved step- father who had stepped up to the plate when needed. I really like that .Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
Perfect, thanks for the pointer :agree:Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
Most of my direct ancestors were born and brought up in Scotland so have also found Scotland's People site very good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Just Alf
Do these sites cost money?Quote:
Originally Posted by w pilton hibby
There a monthly charge for Ancestry UK. Gives you the ability to research your ancestors and build a family tree. I think it's about £10 a month.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimBHibees
You can search Scotland's People free of charge but if you want to see copies of documents then there's a charge.
IIRC both sites are free to join so you can have a look around without having to pay.
Ta for that, will have a lookQuote:
Originally Posted by w pilton hibby
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Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
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Originally Posted by marinello59
Both of these are really brilliant to read, the positive impact on both of you
I used Ancestry a while back, and made contact with someone in Salford whose gran, it turned out, would have been my great great aunt. They got back in touch with me because my great grandad was a missing link in their own family research. They were really experienced and skillful researchers, and with the info I shared with them they were able to fill me in with lots of information about my branch of the family that I didn't have the skills to unearth. And I had - accidentally! - stumbled on some records of their branch of the family in Belfast that they had been looking for.
An experienced Irish family researcher that I met at an Edinburgh council genealogy class took me to the Mormons'* family research room on the Colinton Road, and was able to find me some records in Cork that I wouldn't have known how to find without her.
If you're looking for Scottish records and you can get to Edinburgh, booking a session at the Scotland's People Centre at Register House is really worth it. You get full access (and it isn't isn't date limited) for £15/day with a small additional fee for print-outs.
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/visit-us
* Ancestry was set up by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints using info from their database, Family Search (access is free, I think?) Ancestry.com is currently owned by an equity company but uses the Mormons' material, which is pretty much essential if you're doing family research.
ThanksQuote:
Originally Posted by w pilton hibby
Managed to get to this relative who was from County Mayo, Bridget Royan was married at Ball parish County Mayo in 1857 (Ballycastle ?)
Cant get any further back, to be honest Ive never heard of the name Royan, is that a common surname in Southern Ireland ?
Sure it's not just Ryan and it's due to pronunciation. 😁Quote:
Originally Posted by Bridge hibs
It very well could be JC but there was Royans in that parish but they could have moved in from somewhere elseQuote:
Originally Posted by J-C
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Originally Posted by J-C
I know you’re saying that tongue in cheek, but a guy I know has the surname McGuckin, which he told me is actually due to heavy accents/pronunciation of McGuigan 😄
There is a Bridget Royan, see Im not going daft 😃 Attachment 28281Quote:
Originally Posted by McD
We discovered my grandfather (who died in 2016) had been a cheating ******* in his earlier years (he was a general ******* tbh) and that my family had a half-sister we’d never known about via one of those DNA/ancestor sites! She’s lovely and i like her better than most of my other aunts and uncles :greengrin
Which one did you use?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylar
Thinking of trying it :agree: