Looking for recommendations for tracing back through my Family tree, anyone done this online and which site have you found best.
Thanks
There are several but I find Ancestry suits me, it's the biggest and best-resourced. It's American but, apart from the need to be critical of other people's trees, I've had no problems with it. If you do it you'll soon see what I mean but that applies to any of the systems, it's just that more transatlantics use Ancestry.
I started in the '80s using the paper method and arduously managed about 3 generations. Online you can do that in minutes and I've got back to several in the 16th century and over 1500 people in all.
I use Ancestry as well, its very easy to use
Biggest think to look out for is not to get too sidetracked into branches that are not on the blood line unless you want to follow a particular faamily line
Learnt a load of things along the way like Thankful Villages (Google it)
My wife has used Ancestry, and tried others too, finds Ancestry by far the best. Echo others' comments re getting sidetracked, especially if you have a relatively common name as her maiden name was (Stevens, Cornish, gazillions of them, that's seafarers and miners for you). One word of caution, if you have an Irish surname it can be very difficult - I do not think Irish records go very far back. (Stand to be corrected)
Right I have signed up to ancestry entered all information I have and seem to be going round in circles, only information I get is what I put in.
Where am I going wrong?
I have used familysearch.com. I believe it is run by the Mormon Church, but you do not have to be Morman to use the free services. I have found it easy to use and have found a few surprises in my family tree.
Quote from: f321ffc on May 10, 2020, 05:10:50 PM
Right I have signed up to ancestry entered all information I have and seem to be going round in circles, only information I get is what I put in.
Where am I going wrong?
Put in as much information as you can about parents and grandparents then click on them and hit search in the top right hand corner when their name is displayed
You will get various hits on information and the job is then to sift through what is correct
Dont be afriad of looking at members trees that come up in the hints but be wary as they are not always correct and you can end up going off course
It will be easier as you go on
Quote from: sunburywhite on May 10, 2020, 06:01:57 PM
Quote from: f321ffc on May 10, 2020, 05:10:50 PM
Right I have signed up to ancestry entered all information I have and seem to be going round in circles, only information I get is what I put in.
Where am I going wrong?
Put in as much information as you can about pearens and grandparents then click on them and hit search in the top right hand corner when their name is displayed
You will get various hits on information and the job is then to sift through what is correct
Dont be afriad of looking at members trees that come up in the hints but be wary as they are not always correct and you can end up going off cours
It will be easier as you go on
Agree with that. You should also get little green leaf "hints". You just need to work methodically, as per the old paper method. A birth record will give you the names of both parents, then search for their wedding which should give you their ages, then search for their own births etc. That's putting it simply to get you started. Censuses are helpful to confirm information where two people have the same name (happens more often than convenient) also gives domicile and occupations. Be wary of other people's trees who were not as critical as you hopefully are and often optimistically trace themselves back to knights of the garter, peers of the realm etc. For example, if I were to believe that my ancestor Mary, who came from Burstow, was in fact Mary of the de Burstow family I could trace back to Aethelred's sister, Eric Bloodaxe, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Woden Himself. Not that gentry didn't knock off village wenches (William the Bastard's father did, of course, our own QE2's ancestor) but ...
And be wary of going too far off course. They had big families and you (probably) don't want to bother with kids of your direct ancestors' siblings for example. But it is useful to record the actual siblings to confirm via the censuses, I find.
I too use Family Search, after mostly using Ancestry ( make sure you use the UK version). I did get my wife's family back to 1150's on Ancestry. However, FamilYSearch is free and easy to use.
Be mindful that census only started in 1841 in the UK. Before that, Parish Records are useful.
Quote from: Holders on May 10, 2020, 04:08:22 PM
There are several but I find Ancestry suits me, it's the biggest and best-resourced. It's American but, apart from the need to be critical of other people's trees, I've had no problems with it. If you do it you'll soon see what I mean but that applies to any of the systems, it's just that more transatlantics use Ancestry.
I started in the '80s using the paper method and arduously managed about 3 generations. Online you can do that in minutes and I've got back to several in the 16th century and over 1500 people in all.
I concur perfectly with those sentiments stated here.
I, too, have traced my family tree back into the early 18th Century, and my wife's (Dutch) family back to the early 1800's, including the emigration documents through Ellis Island!
Worth the money. I've been on Ancestry for quite a few years, and can assist if required. I'm also using it for a current project I'm working on, so it's not just restricted to one's own family tree!
Quote from: Holders on May 10, 2020, 07:06:42 PM
Quote from: sunburywhite on May 10, 2020, 06:01:57 PM
Quote from: f321ffc on May 10, 2020, 05:10:50 PM
Right I have signed up to ancestry entered all information I have and seem to be going round in circles, only information I get is what I put in.
Where am I going wrong?
Put in as much information as you can about pearens and grandparents then click on them and hit search in the top right hand corner when their name is displayed
You will get various hits on information and the job is then to sift through what is correct
Dont be afriad of looking at members trees that come up in the hints but be wary as they are not always correct and you can end up going off cours
It will be easier as you go on
Agree with that. You should also get little green leaf "hints". You just need to work methodically, as per the old paper method. A birth record will give you the names of both parents, then search for their wedding which should give you their ages, then search for their own births etc. That's putting it simply to get you started. Censuses are helpful to confirm information where two people have the same name (happens more often than convenient) also gives domicile and occupations. Be wary of other people's trees who were not as critical as you hopefully are and often optimistically trace themselves back to knights of the garter, peers of the realm etc. For example, if I were to believe that my ancestor Mary, who came from Burstow, was in fact Mary of the de Burstow family I could trace back to Aethelred's sister, Eric Bloodaxe, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Woden Himself. Not that gentry didn't knock off village wenches (William the Bastard's father did, of course, our own QE2's ancestor) but ...
And be wary of going too far off course. They had big families and you (probably) don't want to bother with kids of your direct ancestors' siblings for example. But it is useful to record the actual siblings to confirm via the censuses, I find.
Remember, especially when starting out, some of the best sources of information are other family members, it's amazing what little titbits of information they may have heard as youngsters comes in handy when you find a document, or a leaf, that needs verification.
Write everything down, or keep it in notepad form for each person individually, and never be afraid to admit you're off track and remove the 'offending' persons from the tree, or, if in doubt, use the 'Maybe' button (I recall when I started out in this there wasn't such useful features and so that's where notepad came in handy, so I could get back to the leaf/hint again some time later).
Oh, and never be wary of asking for help on places like this! :54:
Logicalman's last post is right on the nail.
There really is no substitute for first-hand information so tap into all your older relatives as soon as you can and write everything down, however seemingly trivial. When I started out in the 80s, I only had my father to ask and he's gone as well now. Since I've been using the Ancestry system, so many more questions have arisen that I'd have liked to have asked so my strong advice to you is to do them both in parallel.
I'm doing my partner's tree as well and she doesn't seem to grasp the urgency of talking to older relatives while she can. For example, a box of photos that will never get names put to once her mother is gone, and she's 90. You see the point?
Another good site with 274,000,000 births,
marriages and deaths
37,000,000 individuals from
census data, from 1841 to 1891
46,000,000 records
from parish registers
https://www.freeukgenealogy.org.uk/?scan=1&r=57573687&d=bmd_1300745953
If you are searching for ancestors in Dorset then this is a good website as it has lots of parish records from Dorset Churches
http://www.opcdorset.org/index.htm
Quote from: sunburywhite on May 11, 2020, 01:21:11 PM
Another good site with 274,000,000 births,
marriages and deaths
37,000,000 individuals from
census data, from 1841 to 1891
46,000,000 records
from parish registers
https://www.freeukgenealogy.org.uk/?scan=1&r=57573687&d=bmd_1300745953
Thank you, sounds useful.
One tip - start your search when you are young or encourage others to do so. I started far too late and realised quite quickly all the people who could have assisted ( even with small details) had died.
Quote from: Fernhurst on May 11, 2020, 02:48:21 PM
One tip - start your search when you are young or encourage others to do so. I started far too late and realised quite quickly all the people who could have assisted ( even with small details) had died.
Indeed. What may be matter-of-fact to elders will be interesting and revealing to future generations.
All good advice above. When talking to relatives, remember that their recollections might not actually be correct. Memories and family lore are not infallible. Best to validate all information with another source as much as possible.
Quote from: Fernhurst on May 11, 2020, 02:48:21 PM
One tip - start your search when you are young or encourage others to do so. I started far too late and realised quite quickly all the people who could have assisted ( even with small details) had died.
Thanks but a bit too late for that as I'm the oldest living member, I have taken onboard all the tips and am slowly getting to grips with it although I'm not that good with technology , it's quite addictive but a bloody headache too.
Thanks again all .
You've pushed the button on my passion.
As others have said, Ancestry seems to be the most user friendly. It has a quickly growing DNA section and has a lot of free how to videos plus they post videos from their yearly convention. I find Family Search, which is sponsored by the Morman Church to be useful at times. They have a relationship with Ancestry and they sometimes have data that Ancestry doesn't. Their library in Salt Lake City is massive.
To save yourself enormous amounts of time, limit your tree to first cousins. If you don't, you soon have thousands (literally) of distant cousins and in-laws. When I started, my tree grew to over 8000 people and barely into the fourth generation. I've since limited it to second cousins which is still too much, hence my recommendation.
Next, not sure what is available on the far side of the pond but two very valuable resources are a source for newspapers and one for grave sites. I use newspapers.com and Find a Grave. The latter is associated with Ancestry. There is another called Billion Graves. I haven't any idea as to what their resources are in England but I've found quite a bit of info on my father's people who came from your fair land. They are worth looking into.
Almost all genealogical sites will offer free trials. Try several before you put your money down. You will be overwhelmed with data so do one at a time.
Another sometimes excellent source are local genealogical societies. Nor just in your home city but any city where an ancestor may have lived. They can offer help with translations, reading the god awful handwriting you'll encounter and the never ending changing of names & spellings of localities, churches and the like. The winning army generally wasn't kind to the different religions, nationalities (ask the Germans from Russia, my mothers people) and traditions of the losers.
It is an addictive vocation but you'll run across many great and helpful people.
BTW, if any of you have info on the Scarboroughs from London and before that North Walsham, Norfolk, lets talk!
Quote from: YankeeJim on May 11, 2020, 10:47:14 PM
You've pushed the button on my passion.
As others have said, Ancestry seems to be the most user friendly. It has a quickly growing DNA section and has a lot of free how to videos plus they post videos from their yearly convention. I find Family Search, which is sponsored by the Morman Church to be useful at times. They have a relationship with Ancestry and they sometimes have data that Ancestry doesn't. Their library in Salt Lake City is massive.
To save yourself enormous amounts of time, limit your tree to first cousins. If you don't, you soon have thousands (literally) of distant cousins and in-laws. When I started, my tree grew to over 8000 people and barely into the fourth generation. I've since limited it to second cousins which is still too much, hence my recommendation.
Next, not sure what is available on the far side of the pond but two very valuable resources are a source for newspapers and one for grave sites. I use newspapers.com and Find a Grave. The latter is associated with Ancestry. There is another called Billion Graves. I haven't any idea as to what their resources are in England but I've found quite a bit of info on my father's people who came from your fair land. They are worth looking into.
Almost all genealogical sites will offer free trials. Try several before you put your money down. You will be overwhelmed with data so do one at a time.
Another sometimes excellent source are local genealogical societies. Nor just in your home city but any city where an ancestor may have lived. They can offer help with translations, reading the god awful handwriting you'll encounter and the never ending changing of names & spellings of localities, churches and the like. The winning army generally wasn't kind to the different religions, nationalities (ask the Germans from Russia, my mothers people) and traditions of the losers.
It is an addictive vocation but you'll run across many great and helpful people.
BTW, if any of you have info on the Scarboroughs from London and before that North Walsham, Norfolk, lets talk!
Thanks👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
I've just signed up to ancestry and and doing mine and my wife's trees. In a matter of days I've got back to late 18th century and a few little stories on the way. Its utterly addictive. I'm stuck about how to go back further. Records seem to have dried up as far as ancestry is concerned - any hints on how you push on once you reach a generational roadblock?
Quote from: flyingfish on May 12, 2020, 08:07:39 AM
I've just signed up to ancestry and and doing mine and my wife's trees. In a matter of days I've got back to late 18th century and a few little stories on the way. Its utterly addictive. I'm stuck about how to go back further. Records seem to have dried up as far as ancestry is concerned - any hints on how you push on once you reach a generational roadblock?
It depends on the parish - some started keeping records earlier than others whilst some records have been lost even since that became compulsory. You may well find that it you wait a while Ancestry might offer some more green leaves, which is the easy way, or try their search, varying the terms if nothing pops up initially. It's also not unusual to find something on the search that doesn't pop up as a leaf.
Have you come across anyone else's tree that coincides yet? You'll soon see which are worth following and which are fanciful.
Quote from: Holders on May 12, 2020, 08:27:28 AM
Quote from: flyingfish on May 12, 2020, 08:07:39 AM
I've just signed up to ancestry and and doing mine and my wife's trees. In a matter of days I've got back to late 18th century and a few little stories on the way. Its utterly addictive. I'm stuck about how to go back further. Records seem to have dried up as far as ancestry is concerned - any hints on how you push on once you reach a generational roadblock?
It depends on the parish - some started keeping records earlier than others whilst some records have been lost even since that became compulsory. You may well find that it you wait a while Ancestry might offer some more green leaves, which is the easy way, or try their search, varying the terms if nothing pops up initially. It's also not unusual to find something on the search that doesn't pop up as a leaf.
Have you come across anyone else's tree that coincides yet? You'll soon see which are worth following and which are fanciful.
Hi yes, some of the other trees are of shall we say 'mixed' quality where people have obvious just added every hint in even if it doesn't make sense. So it sounds like the key then would be to identify the parish and search for that with appropriate names etc? Or at this point, do i need to start looking outside ancestry?
One tip that may help is back around 1700-1900 some mebers of the family often had their mothers maiden name as their middle name
Example
Mother Emma Weston
Son John Weston Smith
Quote from: flyingfish on May 12, 2020, 08:07:39 AM
I've just signed up to ancestry and and doing mine and my wife's trees. In a matter of days I've got back to late 18th century and a few little stories on the way. Its utterly addictive. I'm stuck about how to go back further. Records seem to have dried up as far as ancestry is concerned - any hints on how you push on once you reach a generational roadblock?
Are you using the hints? Click on the little leaf on the upper right.
Also, select extras on the tool bar and than go to the Academy. Sort through the videos to see what might be helpful. There are several that deal with road blocks.
If you have any people that you have added that you didn't know the surname of, be sure to leave it blank. If you don't, the computer will be searching for"Mary Unknown". Play with the search engine. Start with a broad search such as just the name. Than add locations, dates and nicknames that you are SURE of until the number of hints shrinks down to a manageable size. Don't rely on Ancestry's transcriptions. Look over the document yourself.
As an example, I had a roadblock at my great grandfather and just last week discovered that I had accepted the wrong woman as his wife. I found the name on a daughters census listing and had scanned quickly and inadvertently listed her husbands mother as hers. Once corrected, Ancestry found the right woman, four more children (great uncles and aunts) and by the time I had recorded it all, I added almost 40 people to my tree. I had lived with that blockage for something like ten years. Errors are common, go slow.
Also, if you can't find someone in Ancestry look in Find a Grave or other sites. People are often buried where they were born rather than where they died. Woman might be buried with a second husband. Its all detective work. Vary you searches as I mentioned above.
Quote from: YankeeJim on May 12, 2020, 07:41:35 PM
Quote from: flyingfish on May 12, 2020, 08:07:39 AM
I've just signed up to ancestry and and doing mine and my wife's trees. In a matter of days I've got back to late 18th century and a few little stories on the way. Its utterly addictive. I'm stuck about how to go back further. Records seem to have dried up as far as ancestry is concerned - any hints on how you push on once you reach a generational roadblock?
Are you using the hints? Click on the little leaf on the upper right.
Also, select extras on the tool bar and than go to the Academy. Sort through the videos to see what might be helpful. There are several that deal with road blocks.
If you have any people that you have added that you didn't know the surname of, be sure to leave it blank. If you don't, the computer will be searching for"Mary Unknown". Play with the search engine. Start with a broad search such as just the name. Than add locations, dates and nicknames that you are SURE of until the number of hints shrinks down to a manageable size. Don't rely on Ancestry's transcriptions. Look over the document yourself.
As an example, I had a roadblock at my great grandfather and just last week discovered that I had accepted the wrong woman as his wife. I found the name on a daughters census listing and had scanned quickly and inadvertently listed her husbands mother as hers. Once corrected, Ancestry found the right woman, four more children (great uncles and aunts) and by the time I had recorded it all, I added almost 40 people to my tree. I had lived with that blockage for something like ten years. Errors are common, go slow.
Also, if you can't find someone in Ancestry look in Find a Grave or other sites. People are often buried where they were born rather than where they died. Woman might be buried with a second husband. Its all detective work. Vary you searches as I mentioned above.
Good stuff from YJ.
The transposing of records is excellent on the whole, especially the old Tudor writing that I'd stand absolutely no chance with. They obviously used experts on that.
More recent records may not be quite so well done, so spelling mistakes arise through amateurish-mis-reading and if that's on the first letter of a surname that's seriously unhelpful - but with a little imagination you can sometimes get those breaks through that are so satisfying. Also note that spelling was pretty inconsistent until recently as many/most people were illiterate and on censuses they gave the information in their local accents to the census-taker who wrote down what he heard. From these mis-spellings you can imagine how the people spoke.
Yea, the language wasn't standardized until you lot gave it to us 'mericans. LOL
Spelling is a major issue. I find if you enlarge it as much as you can I've found it becomes more readable. Do a Google search and you can find sites that can help with it. They often exaggerated the first letter of a line/paragraph as if they were King James. LOL If you look for the letters of the word after the initial letter (?etter) you can often decode it.
Quote from: YankeeJim on May 13, 2020, 08:40:07 PM
Yea, the language wasn't standardized until you lot gave it to us 'mericans. LOL
Spelling is a major issue. I find if you enlarge it as much as you can I've found it becomes more readable. Do a Google search and you can find sites that can help with it. They often exaggerated the first letter of a line/paragraph as if they were King James. LOL If you look for the letters of the word after the initial letter (?etter) you can often decode it.
*standardised* LOL
I can't remember exact examples but if you can't find something that you think you should, try being a bit imaginative about how it could have been misread and you may be surprised at your success. A broad Ancestry search can work. Then, when looking at the document, you wonder how someone could have misread it.
Quite often happens with place-names when transcribed by someone (a mormon?) unfamiliar with UK geography.
My biggest regret is that the mormon records on the system, useful as they are, are just transcripts and it's not possible to view the originals which would have so much to give.
Quote from: YankeeJim on May 12, 2020, 07:41:35 PM
Quote from: flyingfish on May 12, 2020, 08:07:39 AM
I've just signed up to ancestry and and doing mine and my wife's trees. In a matter of days I've got back to late 18th century and a few little stories on the way. Its utterly addictive. I'm stuck about how to go back further. Records seem to have dried up as far as ancestry is concerned - any hints on how you push on once you reach a generational roadblock?
Are you using the hints? Click on the little leaf on the upper right.
Also, select extras on the tool bar and than go to the Academy. Sort through the videos to see what might be helpful. There are several that deal with road blocks.
If you have any people that you have added that you didn't know the surname of, be sure to leave it blank. If you don't, the computer will be searching for"Mary Unknown". Play with the search engine. Start with a broad search such as just the name. Than add locations, dates and nicknames that you are SURE of until the number of hints shrinks down to a manageable size. Don't rely on Ancestry's transcriptions. Look over the document yourself.
As an example, I had a roadblock at my great grandfather and just last week discovered that I had accepted the wrong woman as his wife. I found the name on a daughters census listing and had scanned quickly and inadvertently listed her husbands mother as hers. Once corrected, Ancestry found the right woman, four more children (great uncles and aunts) and by the time I had recorded it all, I added almost 40 people to my tree. I had lived with that blockage for something like ten years. Errors are common, go slow.
Also, if you can't find someone in Ancestry look in Find a Grave or other sites. People are often buried where they were born rather than where they died. Woman might be buried with a second husband. Its all detective work. Vary you searches as I mentioned above.
Very helpful, thanks. I've also got access to thegenealogist through work (don't ask) so I've found stuff there that I didn't on ancestry and vice versa.
The more you find, the more ancestry joins the dots for you. I've found some incredible material, photos, stories and all sorts.
for those wanting to see if they have any wrong 'uns in the family then take a search of the entire old bailey transcript at oldbaileyonline.org. It's absolutely incredible. There was no compunction in hanging someone for the theft of a silk hankerchief.
And if you've picked up any addresses through the census, you can look them up on Booth's poverty maps which is a fascinating exercise, some of my family lived in addresses coloured black :'lowest class, vicious, semi criminal'. https://booth.lse.ac.uk/map/14/-0.1174/51.5064/100/0 Some of those areas now have houses selling for millions!
Interesting suggestions for sources, FF, thank you.
I had quite a few hauled up before the beak for poaching and another one was a smuggler who got banged up in Newgate. There was even a book written about it: "The Nightingale Scandal".
Thanks for starting this. I , like many here, am not young and recently started but got a bit frustrated with regards how to proceed. Some good posters offering advice. Thanks again.
I have 5 first cousins (not young) still living in Scotland but none have signed up for ancestry so does that mean there will be no information about them?
I did find on a tree, the name Robert Barclay, could be my mother's cousin but there are many of this name in Scotland. When confronted by this I was unsure how to proceed. Not knowing names doesn't help. Great grandmother (Wright), great grandfather (Jarvis), grandmother (McQueen) but no idea what their first names are. Any thoughts anyone.
I will use the many comments, advice on here to try again. Thanks again to all.
Quote from: jarv on May 14, 2020, 03:24:37 PM
Thanks for starting this. I , like many here, am not young and recently started but got a bit frustrated with regards how to proceed. Some good posters offering advice. Thanks again.
I have 5 first cousins (not young) still living in Scotland but none have signed up for ancestry so does that mean there will be no information about them?
I did find on a tree, the name Robert Barclay, could be my mother's cousin but there are many of this name in Scotland. When confronted by this I was unsure how to proceed. Not knowing names doesn't help. Great grandmother (Wright), great grandfather (Jarvis), grandmother (McQueen) but no idea what their first names are. Any thoughts anyone.
I will use the many comments, advice on here to try again. Thanks again to all.
Essentially it becomes a process of cross referencing birth and death dates with names and in particular maiden names contained on the various documents. The more dates you find the more presents itself. Start by adding what you do know and try piecing it together
Eg you should find a wright and jarvis marriage certificate and then a birth certificate for their daughter revealing first name. Then find the daughter's spouse via another birth certificate. It all becomes quite intuitive. Good luck.
If you wanted I could have a look and try and kick things off for you if you want to dm me
Quote from: flyingfish on May 12, 2020, 08:07:39 AM
I've just signed up to ancestry and and doing mine and my wife's trees. In a matter of days I've got back to late 18th century and a few little stories on the way. Its utterly addictive. I'm stuck about how to go back further. Records seem to have dried up as far as ancestry is concerned - any hints on how you push on once you reach a generational roadblock?
All great advice given already, so do take note and try the suggestions out.
One further trick I have used is to take a sideways route to where I want to get to.
For example, the direct route is to go from child to mother/father to grandparents, but that can sometimes reach a roadblock. That can happen where names are anglicized (or for those in the US Americanized :005:), either during a census or simply poor spelling, so I then look sideways, at siblings. Sometimes reviewing the sibling stories can give you information, indirectly, regarding your real target person, either by other family trees or personal stories. Make a note of anything you feel might be relevant and keep those for each person/branch, and you sometimes find two items match up enough to provide you a good hint to go forwards on. Remember, you can often add information to that person in the tree itself, or even attach an item to someone in your tree, for later review.
Additionally, as you have seen on this thread, do not hesitate to contact the admins of any tree, most of them will be relatives in some way, and apart from likely being pleased to hear from a related person they perhaps didn't know of, most are willing to share what they know to help others.
Quote from: jarv on May 14, 2020, 03:24:37 PM
Thanks for starting this. I , like many here, am not young and recently started but got a bit frustrated with regards how to proceed. Some good posters offering advice. Thanks again.
I have 5 first cousins (not young) still living in Scotland but none have signed up for ancestry so does that mean there will be no information about them?
I did find on a tree, the name Robert Barclay, could be my mother's cousin but there are many of this name in Scotland. When confronted by this I was unsure how to proceed. Not knowing names doesn't help. Great grandmother (Wright), great grandfather (Jarvis), grandmother (McQueen) but no idea what their first names are. Any thoughts anyone.
I will use the many comments, advice on here to try again. Thanks again to all.
Not all mate. Their information will be contained in other trees, either being a direct ancestor of the tree owner, or by marriage, etc.
I often use a back door. If you can't get past say your great grandfather. Search his wife and look for connections. Usually they all went to the same church and lived in the same area. Look at the church cemetery. Census data shows neighbors so search the neighbors and see who their neighbors were at the earlier date. Lots of times the transcription is wrong or the census taker used a nickname and that forever problem, the name may be spelled differently. Search different members of the same nuclear family. They might pop out where a sibling doesn't. In short, just keep digging.
Censuses are very revealing - they show children growing up doors away who'd later wed. Very commonly families were interlinked for generations or multiple brothers and sisters would wed across two families. Some would even get through a couple of sisters if the first one died in childbirth.
My partner has an ancestor who loved next door to William Dabinett who "discovered" the famous Somerset cider apple of that name. Sadly, there is no direct family link that we could find and he didn't have children.
There are so many interesting snippets to be unearthed.
Does anyone have guidance on how to search through Dutch records. I have found a branch of the family from the Groningen area. They appear out of nowhere (records wise) in 1814, and I have immigration records in 1880. I have found loads of documents from 1814-1880 with various people with that family name but none before or after in the Netherlands. I realise 1814 was a bit hectic in the Netherlands with everything going on the France, but does anyone have a suggestion on how navigate the Dutch records?
Quote from: Fulham Gentleman on May 20, 2020, 04:30:28 PM
Does anyone have guidance on how to search through Dutch records. I have found a branch of the family from the Groningen area. They appear out of nowhere (records wise) in 1814, and I have immigration records in 1880. I have found loads of documents from 1814-1880 with various people with that family name but none before or after in the Netherlands. I realise 1814 was a bit hectic in the Netherlands with everything going on the France, but does anyone have a suggestion on how navigate the Dutch records?
If you pay the full monty there are Dutch records available (as well as American, Australian etc)
My Missus bought me a DNA kit from ancestry which was a lovely gift for my 60th Birthday.She is from Denmark and as it turned out I was 15% Viking which was a surprise and was fun to tell everyone at our Wedding 6 months after.Haven't done the family tree yet in case were related lol.Will get round to it eventually hopefully. Got an email from Australia saying this lady was my first cousin but didn't recognise the name.She was using her married name but first cousins we were.The only problem I can see if someone gets in touch and tells you your their father.Hasn't happened yet.
Quote from: Fulham Gentleman on May 20, 2020, 04:30:28 PM
Does anyone have guidance on how to search through Dutch records. I have found a branch of the family from the Groningen area. They appear out of nowhere (records wise) in 1814, and I have immigration records in 1880. I have found loads of documents from 1814-1880 with various people with that family name but none before or after in the Netherlands. I realise 1814 was a bit hectic in the Netherlands with everything going on the France, but does anyone have a suggestion on how navigate the Dutch records?
Which site/service are you using?
I have traced my wife's family back from present day US through immigration in 1901-1910 back to the Netherlands. The hardest was the changing of names that occurred, but I have been fortunate that my wife's parents are both still alive together with a spattering of other relatives (first and second generation US) and they help me with translations. It's also useful to have some maps at hand, including aged ones from the time period you are tracing through.
