Find Ancestors

I was trying to find the death of one of my own rellies a while back - my grandfather's grandfather. I have a photo of them together when my grandad was about 2. He was born in 1909, so I started searching in 1911. I eventually found gr-gr-grandad in 1930! He was nearly 90yrs old. You can't do that for others though. I will look on the Familyrelatives site before 1920, cos I usually end up losing my credits on there because of the expiry. Helen

well jess i have just paid for a years subscription on ancestry and its great to be able to look up things for yourself & help other people if you can - but sometimes you still have to ask for some help if you get stuck, and some people like myself, do very much appreciate the help this site & people on it give you - dont tie everybody with the same brush because i myself, and i'm sure alot of others do appreciate that this kind of hobby DOES cost.

Nicola, From the sound of you as a person, I very much doubt that anyone had you or anyone like you in mind when they wrote all these assorted disparaging comments. Some people LOVE this hobby and they enjoy helping others. Some people need a push and a bit of help in the right direction. They may need help reading census sheets etc. These are NOT the people that I was talking about. I'm talking about the people who come on here because they are too crafty and mean to pay for their own genealogy. As another poster said, when I CAN'T afford to pay for my own genealogy, I would wait until I COULD afford it. I wouldn't dream of asking anyone to subsidise ME. As they so rightly said - your ancestors aren't going anywhere - what's the rush? Lookups on Ancestry are fine because if you have a subscription it doesn't really cost anything to help others - only a bit of time. I enjoy doing this myself; but I prefer to pick and choose whom I help. When people take it upon themselves to PM me asking me to do their research for them, that is quite another matter! 1837 online credits aren't cheap, but I have never had one of my credits expire because when I purchase them, I need each and every one of them. You get far more thrill doing your own research than getting others to do it for you. No I am not talking about the genuine people who love sharing and enjoying this hobby with others. I am talking about a few parasites on these boards who will take the p**s if you let them. It's an expensive hobby. If you can't afford it - wait until you can, but don't expect kind-hearted others to pay for your pleasure. Cheers, Horatia

with regard to 1837 credits, when i first started doing my tree, over a period of months i have downloaded every quarter of every year, Birth, Death and Marriage form 1837 to 1982 for the name BETTS, cost a fortune, but it still keeps throwing up new family.

I think this needs nudging up again for somebody who keeps making this kind of request. Kate.

I joined GR some 5 weeks ago, a total novice but very interested in building my family tree. I am now on a pension and live in Australia so all my research has to be on the net. Whilst browsing through GR in my early days I noticed lots of lovely people offering to do lookups. I took advantage of these offers, not for the free ride but because I really did not know where to go. I received a lot of help from Mary and Jess and to these two guys in particular I would like to say a very special thankyou, I love you both. However I now have browsed and read a lot of the messages and gleaned a lot of info on where to go to find the information myself, and might I say with some success. My point I suppose is to show that there are probably a lot of members in this early predicament and rely (possibly too much sometimes) on the generosity of others when it is offered. Being on the pension I can't afford to join too many of the other sites but I tried a couple. So if I get stuck, with your blessing (and in the words of Arnie) I'LL BE BACK..................................... MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY FROM DOWNUNDER.............. and thanks for winning the Ashes at last, life has been intolerable in the past few years for us ex Pats when the Oz/Poms matches were on. Norm