Genealogy Chat

It's a sad thing that most messages on the Trying To Find Board get lost. It's not threaded like this board, the Records Office board and the General board. By threaded I mean you can add replies to the message title and keep all the replies together. I wish the Trying to Find board were like the other boards. There are lots of people who could be helped. Rose

See below:

Hi do you think I would be better posting a message on here or records for people who might know of another person I am trying to get in touch with Paul

Portland Rose I think a lot of people also put their messages on the History Boards - far more sensible really, as they are sorted under surname. OC

I think that would be a good idea. Instead of having thread titles like on here, you could have surnames, and they could be listed in alphabetical order so you could scroll down and look for the name you wanted (like, if I wanted to look for Hurst, I would go down to the H names). I wish there was a way to make it easier to look for really common names like Brown or Smith. I have relatives called Smith and whatever I put in the box at the top always gets too many results. With really common names they could divide them up - a board called 'Smith - Worcestershire' or 'Brown - Yorkshire'. I never actually bother looking for my Smiths on here because the search engine doesn't seem to be able to cope. You used to be able to search by birthplace, but that could get complicated in the old format. (Now you can put the birthplace in, which is easier. Before, you might have 'Claines', 'claines', 'Claines, Worcestershire', 'Claines, Worcestershire, England' etc which are all the same place and it used to take forever.)

I never rarely look at the Trying to Find board but when I do there seem to be lots of people who could easily be helped. Many of the Trying to Finds are for dead relatives as well as living. It's easy to find them if you have the experience and access to the necessary tools. Trying to Finds are only likely to be spotted by someone researching the same surname if they know where to look. I just think so many of them could be solved in a few moments if they were posted on this board. Rose

Thanks Rose I think I'll try it Paul

Paul The Trying To Find Board was originally intended for trying to find LIVING people - although that isn't made clear. The History Boards were intended for dead people! Frankly, whichever board you put your request on, it will quickly get lost. If you put a trying to find message on any other board, GR say that they will remove it - sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. And really, you shouldnt put any details of living people on any board, without their permission. Confused? OC

You can search by surname...and reply directly to the person who has posted a message which interests you. As the board is for finding living people, it is much better that way..........my opinion, for what it's worth. Reg

Hi All I have been on trying to find boards for months and not had one reply seem no one looks at them I'v tried Main's , Crooks .Perry's Colbourne's and Taylor's and not one reply added note It looks like no joy finding a marriage on records tonight either LOL Paul

I apologise if this is a naive question but is there ever any point in posting a request for information about a specific ancestor on the Trying to Find Board or on a Who We Are Looking For In ....(some county) thread on this board? It would only work if someone interested in your line happened to trawl through the endless thread, and bothered to reply. Surely it is much more efficient to use the GR search facility and contact people who have the name in their tree?

Peter The whole point of the trying to find board is that it is NOT intended for tracing ancestors. It is meant to be used for looking for living people, whose names are not supposed to be in one's tree, unless they have given permission for their inclusion. Does that clarify it for you? Reg

Reg, I take your point but is my objection to using the Who We Are Looking For valid? Peter

Peter...I beg to differ... I like to take a rest of looking for my lot sometimes and love nothing more than a challenge of helping someone else out (if I can) Only last night me and another member helped someone find 12 of her 13 rellies that she couldn't find herself. The feeling was almost as good as finding one of our own! YES GR could make the 'Trying to find' board easier but Rome wasn't built ina day. GR is still in the making...I hope! Having said all that....YES I wish that the 'trying to find' board WAS threaded. I didn't know untill tonight that it was only for looking for the living! Gerri.

Gerri, Were you responding to a posting on a Who We Are Looking For thread or a specific request on this board? Peter

Hi everyone. I for one am glad I broke the rules tonight as I said earlier I have been on trying to find boards for months and after reading this thread decided to post a message and thanks to Portland Rose in a very short time not only found who I was looking for but gave me an E-Mail address and a Street name that I had totaly wrong once she jogged my memory I new my relative would be there running the shop like his dad did, I have now E-Mailed his son and hope for an answer tomorrow. So good on you Portland Rose you did a great job you have my gratitude Paul

Lesley, You can put a message on this or the Records Office Board. Rose