Genealogy Chat

I regard A2A as my magic lucky dip or treasure trove. You just don't know what you might unearth. It might be dross, it might be gold, but please let there be something! Jay

Liz In that case, your GP or specialist could possibly make an application on your behalf. As I understand it, though, you have to ask a specific question about a named individual - they won't give you the rest of the people in the household - and you have to know where they lived - a non-starter for virtually everybody. Think I was very lucky with A2A, I am so computer thick that I don't ever expect anything on any site to be easy, so just plodded through all the hits one at a time, took me months. Worth it though. Do remember - it is not an archive, or a repository, it is just an index of loads of different documents and where to find them - bit like a phone book I suppose. I agree there is no point in collecting names and dates, I too want to know about the people and their lives - mostly I have got this, that is if I can find them at all. I have said this before, but will say it again - Genealogy is 90% LOOK and 10% LUCK. OC

Do you know, I am going to be really pedantic here. As soon as I mention family history, people ask 'how far back have you gone?'. My answer is that I am not concerned about going very far back, only as far as I can definitely PROVE. My aim is to tell their story, not just list names and dates. As far as I am concerned, we are lucky to find actual proof of an ancestor b.c. 1780. We can actually learn something of their lives. Before that, unless you are very lucky, it's just names and dates. Family history to me is just that--- a history of the family---their story, as distinct from genealogy which is just a family tree. Nothing wrong with that, it's just different. Sorry for the rant!

OC I am actually trying to find my Mother's Father. All record of him seems to have vanished after 1950. I did come across somewhere in my searches a site that provides an application thing for it. A family fortune may well be involved (y' never know he might have gone off and made a million lol), but I'm actually more interested in the genetics of breast cancer being passed down. Liz

From 1800, I find it intresting that all the male members of my mother's paternal line died before the age of 60, some well before. My ggf died aged 27. The only one I have traced who has lived longer is my cousin, and he would not have made it without modern heart surgery. His younger brother died in an epileptic fit aged about 40. david

Thank goodness Im not the only one who couldnt work out how to use A2A!! I dont feel as dim now, lol. Am sure theres a wealth of info on there, that makes it so annoying that some of us cant get to it!!

Liz Sorry to rain on your parade but you cannot access the 1911 by citing the Freedom of Information Act! The FoIA does not apply where a date has already been set for the release of given information - in this case, Jan 1st, 2012. You CAN, in theory, access it, if it may contain vital information which you cannot get in any other way. In practice, this means that only applications from Solicitors, etc, will be admitted, usually in pursuit of a family fortune, or a disputed will. The fact that you deperately want to know who Auntie Ethel was shacked up with in 1911 is not considered an important enough reason! I am sorry you have problems with A2A - it is a difficult site to search, I find, but has always been well worth the effort - a lot depends on which County, of course. OC

I looked at A2A recently and couldn't make head nor tail of it. I'll have to have another bash it would seem. I wish my lot had stayed around one area instead of being so far flung. I'm tempted to road trip all these places *grins* At least they were all mostly considerate enough to have stayed in one place for around the last 100 years since they all converged (with the exception of one or two siblings who've taken off abroad). I'm doing this now so that the younger members of the family, and those still to come, don't have to go through it. All the stuff I've used is sourced through BMD and/or Census, it's when you step out of the census zone that the problems start to arise. I'm seriously considering writing to request info from the 1911 census under the freedom of information act. I just can't find a way to tie my maternal grandfather to the suspected family without it. All the stuff I have is just on my maternal grandmother's side. I haven't even started on my Father's side yet and I'm not looking forward to researching the name Thatcher lol. Liz.

Allan I have not, so far, been to my Ancestral village (lol) as it is some 400 miles from where I live. For Parish Registers, I order the ones I need from my LDS Family History Centre. Without these, I could not have got back before 1950! I also use A2A a lot, to give me a kick start - a Will here, a land deed there, a marriage settlement, a bastardy order, all help to flesh things out. Incidentally, Parish Registers asre a goldmine of information, not just for births, marriages and deaths - read the thing from start to finish. Often they begin with a history of the Church and the Parish and mention local bigwigs through the ages, so you get a sort of potted history of the area. Some of the best stuff comes at the end of the register - how about a list of all the children who went to the local village school from 1702, what their fathers did for a living - and what happened to the child on leaving school.I hadn't even known they HAD a school that early. A list of everyone who had been confirmed - and where they lived, from 1656 - 1823. Minutes of the Parish Council Meetings, at which such subjects were discussed as 'the ruinous price of grain' 'the poor harvest' 'an outbreak of smallpox' - and a bit of a scandal involving the curate and the housekeeper. A list of every adult man in the village who swore the Oath of Allegiance - and those who didn't. The Muster Rolls. The information that the local church was closed for repairs for 5 years (meaning that everyone got baptised, married, buried at another, nearby church) Lists of donations to the Church, and a seating plan of the pews. Not every PR has this, and not all have been filmed as thoroughly as this one. Even if yours hasn't, the Vicar's rude remarks in the margin are worth a look alone. Enjoy! OC

re liz thatcher....i seem to have hit the same brick wall as liz...1760-1800 seems to be a problem for me...1 relation born 1760 in backford,cheshire.(by chester)....i went to backford cheshire whitsunday...couldn`t find no evidence of any ancestors in churchyard....last week ,i was informed he wasn`t babtised in backford as its not on record in chester register...so the info i was given on gru by another member could well be false...it seems oc is correct on her point ...don`t take what other people forward you as gospel......one question...without travelling to these churches in little tiny villages, how do you obtain your proof....instead of going back to1760 ,,i`m now stuck at `1818 with definite proof(family address for 120 years)..regards..allan

I think I can go a bit better than OCs 4year old. I've been told my researched and sourced facts are incorrect and I have the wrong William for my great grandfather. It's really funny because the William I've been given as certainly correct, died before his 1st birthday. But I have found some wills very helpful in getting back further. Some mention 'daughter,Mary, now wife of.....' That can really help.

Back to the 1670's with one line - earlier refs to the name quite nearby, but no specific links as such. 1709 with my other main line - tenant farmers who moved into a village, AFTER their marriage and birth of the children Stuck at 1860 with the Irish contingent. They just 'appeared' in Newcastle as a married couple. Can find no English marriage, so perhaps they married in Ireland. I was stuck at 1870 until I joined GR and made 2 contacts. It doesn't sound much progress, does it, but we have now managed to unearth all the children, by sharing our info. Jay

On my own I have managed to go back via parish records to a group of people born around 1605. I was lucky that one family stayed in one place for ages in a well documented parish. I then found a will dated some 50 years earlier and the names in that really seem to fit but for that bit I have a probable tree rather than proven. I have had access to research done by others but the bits I have done myself have been the most satisfying. Until earlier this year I was pleased to have been able to get that far. Finding a link about as far back as parish records go is not possible for many places so I had no expectations of any more. Then a GR contact via a Hot Match showed me a most unexpected line. A 2x great grandmother's family was (via younger sons) directly linked back to the Earls of Lincoln in Tudor times. I spent some time double checking this. That family in those earlier times was very well connected and their lineage is well researched by professionals. There are a lot of fantasies buzzing round the internet but (if you look at respectable and well documented sites) then a noble and royal link into medieval times is a great find. After the initial excitement you realise that we are all related to the people we've heard of in history but not many of us can exactly say how. So in answer to your question...........and I really hope this isn't a thread killer because millions of people share the same ancestry so I'm not boasting!.........my earliest known ancestor is Afranius Syragius who was a Gallo-Roman Consul living in Italy and alive and documented in 380 AD.

its truly amazing isnt it. I make a note of any info someone may give me but then double check at the archives before adding anything to my tree. I havnt had any help on my Binch side :( as I only just found people whom are doing them too and not till after id already got back to 1674 lol Not sure where to go next but think ill head off back to the Archives and check out another village a bit further away to see if I can find my Thomas baptised there. Im also lucky in that the ones ive found so far have all lived within 10 miles of where I live. Wondeful family xxx lol

On the line I really want to research, I can get back to 1789 but am well and truly STUCK. Back to 1700s with 2 other lines, and back to 1600s on another line BUT this is from IGI info, so unsure how accurate. Old Crone never ceases to amaze me!

i'm with you on that oc i have also been given info that sounded ok but i just had this funny feeling to check it out and there was a whole 50 years missing !! i think most was speculation and putting 2 + 2 together to make 5 love linda x

Michael You are right to be suspicious, if things don't add up. There are nine people (at least) on this Site who claim to be descended from a sibling of my 10 x GGF. They cannot possibly be descended from her, because she died aged 4. When challenged, a few said they got the information from X on this site. X didnt do his homework properly it seems - and what's more, cannot produce the crucial marriage that this dead 4 year old girl supposedly made. Trust your instincts - if it doesn't pan out, then its wrong! OC

OC, that's incredibly lucky, wish my lot would do that. I haven't even started on my father's side yet... now that I am dreading, I think they came from all over the place too. They all have been in the same area as I am since 1890 on my mother's mother's side. My mother's father must have been an alien lol.

I've had more luck on my maternal side than my paternal lines, but even so, can't claim to have got this far back on my ownsome - people who have been here before me have got back to the 1500s on two seperate lines using the parish records. One line I am very happy with, having seen the records myself, but the other line seems somewhat dodgy and I'm not sure how these conclusions have been reached. About ten different researchers say it is so, but I still can't figure out how they have made the connection and jumped in parishes halfway across the county with what is a pretty common surname in that part of the world. It just seems a very dangerous assumption. I hope the first guy who did the tree knew what he was doing, because it looks like everybody else has just took his word for it without checking for themselves!! The earliest I have got back so far all by myself into the parish records is a marriage in 1767. A few other lines peter out round about this period as well in the mid 1700s, but in most cases I am back to the 1841 census, both north and south of the Scottish border, though no such luck on my Irish ancestry yet before they turned up in Manchester from god-knows-where in the 1860s with an extremely common first name and a very common surname!!

Back to c1700 (cant find his baptism) used PR's and found will and marriage licence for this ancestors second marriage 5 Jan 1728/9. Have copies of other wills that are earlier but as yet cannot link them!