Genealogy Chat

Hi Rebekah I came from a mixed up beginning. Parents divorced when I was only a year old and I did'nt actually meet my father until I was 14.I won't go in to too much detail but joined G.R to find a half brother. Have'nt found him yet but have found some cousinsxremoved and have struck up a relationship with one who I am hopping to meet. So keep at it you are not alone. Lin.

I started a couple of months ago after hearing from friends who'd been doing their family trees & thought it sounded interesting. I didn't think i'd get very far as all I knew were my parents names & the name of one grandparent. Found this site & put on the little I knew & straight away got matches & lots of information from 2 distant cousins - one in Australia. Now I'm hooked.

Wow so many awesome stories! I guess for me it was just natural to want to know how my family lived in the past. A child of the 80's I grew up loving everything old especially the era of the 50's. But as I grew up my thirst for knowledge of the past kept going back furthur and further. At the ripe 'old' age of 26 I became a full time antique dealer handling mainly glassware from the mid 1800's to the present day. Every time I researched an old piece I'd wonder if my ancestors had ever owned one.(not likely as it's mainly american glass and I'm from england) One day after dabling on friends reunited I hit the link to GR. I signed up for the free account and put in what I knew of my family .... which really wasn't much back then!! In february my first niece was born and my brother in law started on his tree So I joined him and picked up where I left off. But not having much money couldn't afford Ancestry or certs :( A couple of months later I came into a small amount of money so I splurged on Ancestry and haven't looked back! The thing that's been the best though is that my mother/sister and I didn't talk as much as I'd have liked after I moved to the states. But my mum had started on her tree before so we all joined forces and talk every morning and evening on IM to update each other with new info. So it's not only brought me closer to my long dead ancestors but to my living family too :)

I started my family tree for a few reasons. The first being id never had grand parents. Nanna (mums mum) died 2 weeks after I was born grandad (mums dad) died 3 1/2 months later. Dad was adopted and his adopted dad died in 1949 his adopted mum a year before I was born. Dad always told me he was adopted and had on show always a photo of himself when he was around 4 1/2 yrs old with his real mum his brother Lloyd and his brother Frank. I also wanted to know where my dark colouring came from (when i was younger kids used to call me all sorts of nasty racial names ) I hated it and often wished I was milk bottle white like all the other kids instead of Olive skinned dark eyed (now of course I love it lol) I was also so very curious as to who my dads parents were. In 1999 I started my search and after succesfully obtaining dads birth and adoption certs (had to travel and search all day in London for them) I discovered I had cancer so the search had to be put on hold (plus I was taking my final exams doing my degree in computer applications then I had my car smashed up and was attacked by a man high on crack and heroin all within 3 weeks this happened lol) So in May this year I suddenly began searching again (now dont ask me why but something made me!!!!!!! ) Within a week I had found a match on genes for my Uncle Frank :)))) I checked and rechecked the BMD's (about 30 times) to make sure their really was only 1 Frank Webb born in Nottingham when he was so i messaged the lady who had his details on this site Nothing :((((( I left it 2 weeks messaged again (after searching the bmd's another 10 times) nothing again :((((( was now feeling so frustrated as I knew just knew that this lady held the key to my real family. I then searched again for uncle lloyds details on here nothing mmmmm so i searched for a marriage for him and found just 1 :) then I searched for any children he may have had and found 2 :))))) so on i came back to genes and searched for Lloyds wife bingo found her. Then i searched uncle Lloyd again nothing came back so i added + - 5 yrs and bingo found him and with the wife. Messaged this lady (who wasnt the same lady as before) and she messaged me back wihin 2 days I asked the usual was Lloyd born here were his parents called this etc etc she said thats correct who are you? I was squelling with excitement then bogger me 2 days later the lady I messaged first emailed me (my cousin) the reason she didnt message me back is cus she thought my dads name was Harry lmao (which he was and still is known as tho his names Fred and I forgot everyone calls him flipping harry lol) I also found out nanna died in 1998 as did my uncle frank :( I also found they had 4 sisters and a brother 3 sisters died as babies (just over or under a yr old) and that the last Sister had been adopted too in 1941. I owe a lot to people on this board for emotional support and help in locating certs census etc and I will be eternally gratefull to them all. Sorry for the long post. Luv Angie xxxxx

i think it was because my grandmother did it but she died in 1988 and her searches were a lot harder than sitting at your p.c so i have started from where she finished,

Hi Rebekah and Amigos. About 3 months after my grandson Elliot was born in 1994 a blue stain appeared on his back.So off goes mum to the Doctor who looked at her with some humour and pronounced it was a birth mark of a dark skinned baby,I had been told that there was a Spanish ancestry in my fathers family so I began on my past path.I have found my mothers side very easy to research but the Spanish link from dad has hit a brick wall.I have traced to Co: Longford in Ireland and they are Romany,no records and nobody now alive to ask.I think they travelled over to Lancashire to escape the famine.Have I returned to my roots as I emigrated to Spain 20 years ago and here my ancestors are called Gitanos Anne

I knew my maiden name was a name that came over with the Vikings - it's Norwegian in origin. I had never met anyone else, other than relatives, with that name. My father knew nothing about his family, and my mother knew nothing about her extended family either. So when the 1901 census went online I decided to investigate. The first person I looked for, my maternal grandmother, was totally mistranscribed would you believe!!! Only I didn't know that could happen as it was my very first foray into genealogy. I was discouraged to say the least, and didn't do anything for a year or two. One day, when I was on Friends reunited, I clicked on the link to this site and saw a way that I could maybe put a family tree together. The rest as they say is (family) history. It soon became apparent that you could only do so much for free, so having by then become totally hooked, I got a nice birthday subscription to Ancestry, and then it really took off. My dad was thrilled, as I discovered generation after generation of ag labs! And though I haven't got back to the Vikings, I did find a direct ancestor who was born in Gibraltar, the son of a soldier. On my mother's side, I discovered that while one branch is firmly rooted in the Midlands, there were adventurous individuals (framework knitters and silk weavers) who ended up there after leaving their homes in Suffolk and Gloucestershire. The end result has been that my son, who has spent only one year of his life in England, has a wonderful sense of where he came from. And I discovered that I wasn't from the North at all, but a Midlands girl through and through! And I'm still chasing that Viking gene...

After having our first baby i decided that it would be lovely to put in his room a small family tree, so i thought i would look on here and find somewhere where i could design it. I came on here and noticed how much information i could find out. Since the day i came on here about 4 months ago. I hope one day to make sure that Ryan gets a copy of his family roots and any other children we have have a copy just so that they know where they came from. I find it fasinating to find out some of the information i have and open those doors that people say should never be opened to find the family secrets. Jen

I'd toyed with the idea for ages when Dad did his memoirs, at the same time a friend was researching hers,Finally I decided to go for it, then last month my Dad died, his memoirs are sketchy but I'm more determined now. I've already located some of his cousins and there children. I know Dad had lost touch. In October there is a memorial service for him in Sheffield, (he died in France). so maybe his sister might meet some of her 'lost' relations.Unfortunately I've got stuck at the G. Grandparents but I will keep on.

Since starting on this never ending journey, I have squashed a lot of family 'stories'. They were obviously embelished every time they were told......2xG grandfather on mothers maternal side came from a 'wealthy' shipping family, he was a Russian, a Dane he rowed with his father who wanted him to come into the family shipping business, but to start at the top. He wanted to start at the bottom, so he left home, joined a sailing ship, ended up in Dundalk, Ireland, married Mary Ann Dawson, who was related to Peter Dawson the famous Irish singer, came to London and started the 'English' side of the family......What a load of cods wallop......He was a German, he was a labourer, his daughter- in-law was Mary Ann Dawson, she was not related to the singer.....oh and there were other stories that have no foundation at all, but they are too long to relate here.

Promise you won't snicker? I started after I'd watched 'Roots' on the TV back in the 70s - that story made me so sad (and I didn't know for ages that it was all made-up). Then my son was born and it somehow felt important to be able to find out his roots. So I started asking questions - my dad was not keen (found out later he was born 3 years before his parents' married - but hey). My mother thought her father (who died when she was 4) was an only child with a half-sister - turns out he was one of 7 descended from one of 12 and there are loads of them. I only dabbled until a few years ago when my Aunt Rose asked me to find her grandfather's details ... I did find them (see above) but too late for Aunt Rose (and mum & dad as well as it happens). Spent much of the past couple of years proving/disproving the stories from the family - most of them turned out to be true or reasonably close to the truth - so that has been really helpful. Once I invested in Ancestry that was it - try prising me away from the computer. Busy going down all sorts of branches, trying to write my 'narrative' - how and where I found info plus what I've learnt of their lives etc. And my son - 'Why do you do all this, Mum? They're all dead you know!' Never mind, maybe I'll be a grandma one day - to a grateful grand-daughter!! Jill

I started when 1901 came on line,as I knew my father would be on it. I also hoped my mother might be.........she was; aged 6 weeks. My mother died in 1948 (when I was 7) and my father in 1956, and I had very little info about them. I've found all I could have hoped for, plus contact through GR with cousins I hadn't seen or heard from since I was about 3 or 4 years old. So.........am I glad I started???? You bet your life I am............. Reg

I started doing mine as I wanted to go back a few generation's. I am stuck on my own line, but I am working on my DIL's now. must be mad. Marion

I started because I was intrigued by my mother's side of the family. She died when I was 8, and her mother died when she was in her teens. I had some contact with my mum's cousin's, but knew nothing about her family. Ironically, I now have two of mum's lines back to the 1600's, thanks in part to distant cousins on this site, but I can't get my dad's side back beyond his grandparents. Barbara

I started about 3 years ago, because I was looking for my birth mother, my father and her split up when I was about a year old, and when I was 3 they divorced. I have never had anything to do with my birth mother and was brought up by my aunt and uncle and am still in contact with my dad. I found her but unfortunately after saying that she did want to be in my life decided that she didn't want any contact with me at all. I've always know that I have 3 brothers and a sister but she never told them anything about me. I Know exactly where they live and one day I will have my chance to get in contact with them. In the mean time I will just have to wait, I promised that I wouldn't get in contact again all the while she was still alive and I won't. But its still upsetting that know that you have been brushed under the carpet as if you never exsisted. On the other hand have had a good life and I wouldn't of changed that for anything. Nicola

Nice thread! I remember Grandma going threough the family photos, telling me about all those sepia-tinted heroes who died in WWI. I remember Grandad telling me how there was an accident at the colliery his Grandad owned, and how the guilt drove him mad and he died in an asylum*. And how Great-grandad went to America and was supposed to send for the rest of the family, but never did. And I drew my first little family trees... And thirty years later when my niece and nephew were doing family tree projects at school, I was the 'family expert', as I'd listened to all those stories, and I got a phone call from my sister... and I realised, for all I was able to help, that I'd forgotten much of what my grandparents had told me. And the ninetieth anniversary of the outbreak of the great war came along, and there were all these stories on the television... and I thought, 'right. Time to do something.' So, it's partly in rememberence of those past, and partly for the future generations. Gordon *He never owned the mine, but he did die in an asylum...

everyone has really nice stories. mine is a bit dull really. I don't actually remember when i starting getting into the family tree. You see my Dad was researching his side of the family and I think he started around the time I was born. I've always asked far to many questions for my own good, and so naturally I was curious as to what dad was doing, so he slowing explained it to me and got me helping him out etc. I love History and especially social history so this was a fab hobby for me. Now I've moved away from home and it's just kind of stuck. I have started looking into my mums side of the family and it's been so much fun and so exciting doing a whole tree on my own without dad there. I am compleatly hooked now and the great thing is that it's pratically never ending. I'm only in my early 20's and i get a few odd looks when people as me what my hobbies are, or what am i doing at the weekend, but i don't care. I'm just thankful that I started this early so that I have been able to speak to the maxium number of living relatives.

Started my family tree as I knew quite a way back on my adopted family, but nothing on my birth family. Now I am hooked and want to give a blood relative family tree to my children so they know exactly where we come from. Along with this they will have an adopted family tree too as this is also relevant history to me. Pity more people don't leave more information on their history for future generations. Donna

My dad never knew his grandfather and wanted to know who he was, poor dad use to go searching the records office, I told dad wait until I get the computer and Ill help you. Dad only had a couple of clues and one was that his grandfather came from Cornwall and his mother was spanish, turned out his grandfather never even stepped a foot in Cornwall and came from Durham where all the Harrisons were born and dads mum wasnt spanish either she came from Durham also LOL. Dad now has more than he bargained for. Mum wasnt really interested but she helped me and she is also suprised as too how many ancestors she has.

I started mine before my mum passed away 2 years ago she would sit down and talk about not knowing much of her dads side of the family as he left when my mum was just a kid, and she was an only child, so when mum passed away me & my sister set out to find out what we could and on asking my dad questions abouthis family he didnt know any thing so that was another task for us we have managed to go back with both sides a fair way turns out dads side are from kent about 15 miles away. Dawn now drag my children around the churches they enjoy looking around with me