Find Ancestors

PLEASE CHECK DATE WHEN THREAD WAS ADDED. Private message the person if over 2 years old.

As Posted on other boards by Heatherposi.

The absolute basics for beginners.

When you first start, do read the information on the home page to help you.

Remember to work backwards from solid facts that you know.

People are very happy to help but please give ALL the details you have as kind souls can be a bit upset if they have spent time and sometimes money finding info only to be told, "yes I knew that".

Remember that the facts that are clear to you are unknown to those trying to help. Give names, dates, places and events - everything you can to help them help you. Make sure the ones you give are accurate.

Please post on one board only at a time.

If you are going to add extra info or reply to a query, click on your thread and then add reply and enter the new info in the box. Please dont send a reply by private message as some of us are answering several queries at the same time and just sending a note saying 'James was born in Yorkshire' will not mean anything to us. Add it to your thread and then everyone will see the update and be able to follow it up.

You will NOT receive notification of replies, CHECK back quickly

Dont trust family memories. Uncle Fred may have been baptised Joe and he was a foreman at the factory, not the factory owner!

If you are going to do a lot of research, get an ancestry.co.uk sub - it will give you all census info from 1901-1841, the full bmd index and lots more for one annual sub or monthly payment - you can even get a two weeks free trial. Finding the information yourself is such a buzz.

The 1881 census is free on both ancestry and familysearch.org

Remember that women did get pregnant before they married even in Victorian times and couples did live together without marrying.

Use freebmd.org for births, deaths and marriages but remember it isnt complete as its being transcribed for us by volunteers. If you dont find a bmd on there, look at ancestrys complete index. The entries will give the GRO ref - the quarter, year, registration district, volume and page number of the event. You need that reference to buy the certificate.

When you are searching for a marriage and dont find it when you expect, go several years after the birth of the kids (Ive had marriages 2 decades after the kids were born).

Order certificates only from the following site - a straightforward cert with the GRO ref given should cost £7 - do not use similar sounding sites which charge up to £50 for a certificate!!!!

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

Please say please. I have to say Im surprised how some people having been given some good info dont even thank the submitter and then ask a further question with no thought of saying please. Its rude and quite understandably it tends to put people off helping further or again.


Get a good family tree program to enter all your info on as you get it as 6 months later something that doesnt seem to fit now will be just the bit you need to finish one bit of the jigsaw. GRs tree is not a good one, get one on your computer that you can back up to cd and the internet so that you wont lose all your information if you have a puter crash.

Record the source of the information that you add to your tree program.

Remember that census info is often not strictly accurate - that years of birth may change or names be spelt differently - it depends on who gave the info, the enumerator hearing the info correctly and then the guys back at the office transcribing it on to further sheets - which are the census images we see. On top of that we have ancestry's staff doing their best with sometimes dreadful originals to work from. So if someone gives you info which doesnt seem absolutely right, dont dismiss it immediately.

GOOGLE for everything you want information on, locations, dates, areas, names, other genealogical sites, occupations etc. You can learn a lot from google, you may even find someone with a family tree that fits with yours.

And read EVERY thread on here and on the Tips and Records Boards, not just your own, because you learn from other peoples queries - you may have the same one in a months time.

Use the search box to find info on particular subjects that may have been discussed several times on here.

Use the quick search box at the top of the page to see if your family members are already on someone elses tree.

Happy Searching

I would pm people with a six month old thread!

Excellent advice though Ingrid

Christine

I put up a thread saying "Look at the date" a while back and got verbally abused by two members who asked me what business was it of mine if people chose to post on an old thread - in the end I had to delete the lot cos it got really nasty

Must say I have never noticed either of them advising people to pm the poster

Good advise for someone like me, just starting out and you're right about the pregnancies, found out my Uncle was born before my Nan and Grandad married, something even my Mum didn't know, oops!

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Today I have added to about fifteen old posts pointing out what to do and so it will continue cos nobody ever bothers to look - I give up and just carry on telling them to click on the posters name etc.

ditto Ann!!

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I am new to this method of communicating and intrigued by the conventions. I also find it fascinating how often the same people's names appear, you obviously find great satisfaction from contributing.
Please tell me what "n" indicates.
Stan

"n" means nudge - nudging a thread up by putting an "n' - or anything else for that matter, in the reply box to push the thread back to the front page - i.e. if you feel you are not getting enough feedback to your query, well just nudge it up again!!!

Ann X

"n" is used on a thread like this one, to keep it near the top of the board so that hopefully people will read it and take the advice offered!



we also get bored just putting "n" ............ so sometimes make other comments instead!



sylvia

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it'll never change - had added to many old threads today telling people to send a message via GR

there were lots in the very early morning.