NFR Long lost family

[f321ffc]

Looking for recommendations for tracing back through my Family tree, anyone done this online and which site have you found best.
Thanks

[Holders]

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.

[sunburywhite]

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)

[Southcoastffc]

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)

[f321ffc]

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?

[Fulham Gentleman]

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.

[sunburywhite]

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

[Holders]

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.

[Peabody]

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.

[Logicalman]

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!

[Logicalman]

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:

[Holders]

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?

[sunburywhite]

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

[sunburywhite]

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

[Holders]

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.

[Fernhurst]

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.

[Holders]

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.

[FulhamKC]

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.

[f321ffc]

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 .

[YankeeJim]

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!