Family Tree's

[Wedgy]

Just started my family tree. Started with stuff from memory and talking to relatives. Want to move on to the more time consuming task of researching my family history for myself.
But before I do, I was wondering if any BBSers have done something similar in the past and know of any web resources that may be useful as a first port of call before I hit the books?

Any other advise would be most apreciated.

[sydney eagle]

http://www.ancestry.com is a good place to start. My girlfriend has been doing this for years and she traced her family back HUNDREDS of years.You'll find that once you start it gets quite addictive and you just keep wanting to know more and more.

good Luck

[sydney eagle]

another link that may be helpful http://www.genealogy.com/index_n.html

[Mike Douglas]

Wedgy,
Been doing this for a couple of years now and yes it is adictive.
The following should keep you out of trouble for a while:
Good general sites to get an understanding:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/
http:rootsweb.com (this site also has the best set of message boards relating to places and names.)

Finding people:
http://familysearch.org This is the Mormans (Latter Day Saints) file of all births and christenings input by their members. Excellent but watch it as there are many errors in it and you should ALWAYS check the original records)
All LDS records are input in batches and if you want to find which batches are there for a particular parish then use the following excellent site http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb....#PageTitle.htm

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl This is a volunteer site which is inputting all of the government records of births deaths and marriages. Some years are 100% some are 0% You can check which % as they have running totals on site.

http://freereg.rootsweb.com Similar to BMD but for records prior to government registration i.e 1837

http://www.pro.gov.uk This is the Public Records Office site and within the next week or so the Census for 1901 is due to be available online.

http://login.yahoo.com Yahoo runs a whole series of things called Yahoo Groups which are effectively message boards which can be useful for some names. For instance my wife's family is Irish (Carberry) and there is a very active group , admittedly with an American bias.

Lastly for now, http://www.cwgc.org is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site which lists all the war dead where they died and where they are remembered. If any of your family died in active service over the last 100 years or so look them up. It somehow brings them nearer!!

Feel free to contact me off list if you want any further advice or assistance.
Best of Luck Mike Douglas

[Men At Work]

Ancestry.com is *awful*. Most of it is an attempt to continually sell you their subscriptions and CDs. Also, a lot of the stuff produced on there, especially that added by other people, lacks any real source of verification. This tends to produce many cases where someone will try to find an ancestor, see someone with a possible surname match and then assume that it correct because it is on a subscription site. Three days later you have a family history going back 500 years. I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. And even though you're a regular royal guy, Wedgy, ignore ancestry.com's claims that you're descended from kings

I'd suggest you lurk in the soc.genealogy.britain newsgroup for a week which will give you a much better idea of how to go about things as there are quite a few helpful people in there.

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ contains a partial index of birth / marriage / death (BMD) index records and will be a good start for England.

http://www.familyrecords.co.uk/ provides links to loads of other sites.

If you want I can do look-ups on the 1881 census CDs which can help when trying to find possible people matches around that time. The 1891 census is only available on fiche. The 1901 census is available (for a price) at http://www.census.pro.gov.uk/ but was in a godawful mess a few months ago and I don't think it's improved since then. Be aware that relatively little stuff is computerised and most research involves sifting through books and, if you're lucky, microfiche. BMD certificates only became compulsory in 1837 so anything before then usually requires looking at the parish records. Fortunately the Mormons place great store in ancestors and produce a lot of fiches containing parish records.

It's a lot of fun, though and the thrill you get from finding someone and being able to slot them into the family tree is great. In the Family Records centre in the BMD index section you hear the occasional "yes!" as someone locates the person they are after.

Oh, and ignore all those places that try to sell you as family coat of arms. There's no such thing - coats of arms are specific to a person (although they may be transferred to one other person upon death). Just because you have the same surname you don't the right to own that coat of arms.

[Al From Bromley]

I am allegedly descended from the Murray of Atholl (thats Atholl, the author didnt have a spech impediment) clan. castle and all (Blair Atholl). I can't be arsed to look into it though

[CK]

I got named after Michael Collins maybe we should not look back

[ozeagle]

and what does this thread have to do with Palace ?
is it anymore relevant than asking about the george foreman ?
please.

[Men At Work]

Originally posted by ozeagle
and what does this thread have to do with Palace ?

This thread is in the 'General Chit Chat' forum. If you scroll to the top of the page you will see the forum name displayed in all its glory. Your George Foreman one was in 'General Palace Discussion'. If it had ended up here it wouldn't have beeen closed. Difficult concept I know but we make allowances because you're from Melbourne

[Men At Work]

Originally posted by Al from Bromley
clan. castle and all (Blair Atholl). I can't be arsed to look into it though

Blair Athol was near (within 400km) where my parents used to live. This one's a bit different from Scotland : http://www.queensland-holidays.com.a...01254/main.htm

[ozeagle]

ah, so you go for the foreman ?
just like a barby but less mess, more compact, and can be used inside !
thanks for the tip...when will rihilahti be axed ?

[Stavros 69]

None of them have worked for me. Maybe because my family's from the motherland

[Al From Bromley]

Surely Oz Eagle would like to know about Dennis Wise's family? i think they fell out of a tree.

[Wedgy]

Blimey! Thanks all - may keep me busy for a while

[Lords Eagle]

My Father-inlaw has done a huge amount of work on his family tree going back a number of generations, I can ask him the best and most useful places to look if you'd like.