I'm so excited!

[sharonr]

Hope it work out.

[selfraising]

thanks, I'll have fun trying anyways!

[Hilary B]

My OH has been doing family tree research, he spends hours 'up the tree' (my term) both my tree and his. He was adopted as a baby, and knowns absolutely nothing about his biological family, but he just isn't interested. He researches the family he grew up with!

He has found out all sorts of details about various ancestors. Some were in the navy, and he got info on the ships on which they served.

I am interested in the final result, but I can't be bothered with the searching!

[selfraising]

My OH has been doing family tree research, he spends hours 'up the tree' (my term) both my tree and his. He was adopted as a baby, and knowns absolutely nothing about his biological family, but he just isn't interested. He researches the family he grew up with!

He has found out all sorts of details about various ancestors. Some were in the navy, and he got info on the ships on which they served.

I am interested in the final result, but I can't be bothered with the searching!

Hi Hilary, I have to say, I feel much the same. No doubt I will look at the German side at some point but still too many not so good memories there. Also having been bullied as a child, being called Nazi and so on, made me back off from the German link for a long time.

[SlugLobber]

I keep thinking about having a go at this genealogy thingy, as I don't feel I belong in my family, so am wondering where on earth I get my traits from!

I know as far as my Great-Grandfather on my Mother's side, and have the letter sent by his Captain to his Widow, after he was killed in the Somme.

How did you guys begin? Just by doing searches on the internet?

[selfraising]

I keep thinking about having a go at this genealogy thingy, as I don't feel I belong in my family, so am wondering where on earth I get my traits from!

I know as far as my Great-Grandfather on my Mother's side, and have the letter sent by his Captain to his Widow, after he was killed in the Somme.

How did you guys begin? Just by doing searches on the internet?

I started by doing searches on the internet. There's an awful lot out there. Census records are good. You do pay to actually view the page once you think you've found the right person. Also lots of people do researches on their family name, so if you typed that into google plus family history, someone may have already done some of it for you !! My hubbie collects military medals and does quite a bit that way. If you want to pm me with your great grandfathers details, he may be able to get more info for you.

[bluemoon]

You're right about recycling the Christian names! There are more Josephs and Thomases in our family tree than we can keep count of. I can't decide if it's because there were no baby name dictionaries back then or if it was just to make embroidering the monogrammed hankies easier.

[Hilary B]

We started with Genes Reunited (an offshoot from Friends Reunited). Some bits are free (including basic information on how to use it), other parts require a modest subscription. It is actually a bit limited, but a great place to do the first bit because they make it easy.

[selfraising]

We started with Genes Reunited (an offshoot from Friends Reunited). Some bits are free (including basic information on how to use it), other parts require a modest subscription. It is actually a bit limited, but a great place to do the first bit because they make it easy.

Ooh not come across that one, will check it out!

[SlugLobber]

Trouble with searching my family name is the common-ness of it. Mostly in the Chinese fraternity!!!! Will have a go, though! Maybe I'm related to Bruce Lee?!?

[faerieprincess]

Family tree research can be really interesting. My MIL has been doing a lot, and wanted to find out more about her father who fought in WWI (he refused to talk about it while alive). His surname was Smith, so she was finding it really difficult, even with a professional researcher. We managed to get it down to about 6 possibles - but couldn't go further than that for awhile.

Then one day when I was at some archives getting a copy of his school registration documents (it's fun what you can find!) I picked up a book about researching family trees, and there was a section about WWI soldiers. Apparently if they were over 21 (which he was) during the war, they would have been enrolled to postal vote, and the electoral roll gave their battallion etc details. We had narrowed down the area we thought he lived in at the time to 3 different neighbouring council areas, and the records for 2 of those areas were lost. Going through the 3rd page by page (it is listed under address, not name!) I found someone who I thought might be him, and verified it by finding his parents also enrolled at the same address.

It was so exciting, and as a result we were able to get so much more information about him. Sadly his was one of the military files which was destroyed in the WWII bombings.