Genealogy Chat

I must admit I thought they should have some sort of warning on the film reels. If you sit there staring at the screen with your finger firmly pressed on the fast forward, you wonder if you are going to start hallucinating!

Sue - yeah ok :)

They are really awful! I've just had to get new glasses... maybe that will help!

Yes, I guess we all think people are much more comptetent than ourselves. I am old enough to be your mum Sarah, but I still feel about 15! When I look around the Records Office everyone seems a lot more grown up and wiser than me! A very nice gentleman did offer me his magnifying glass last time though, I think he got fed up with hearing me tutting. Some of these old records are just a haze of grey, arent they.

Helen - Yes I think I have to admit to being one of those shy people! Thats why I like helping out on here. You can't see people's annoyed faces when they think you're patronising them. You also don't know the age of people... which can be a good thing! I'm especially shy trying to help out people older than myself because sometimes they don't take being helped by a youngster very well!

It's a mistake to think everyone else in a record office is deeply serious and competant. If they have a concentrated look on their face, they're probably trying to remember which way the microfilm fits on the spool, or plucking up courage to ask for help. I have had reels of film fly off too, and a very nice unknown researcher next to me calmly sorted me out. Generally people are willing to help, but shy to put themselves forward as they don't want to appear patronising. nell

I find it scary when I visit record offices because often I'm the only person under 35/40! Makes me feel like I must be a complete novice because I don't have the wisdom of age. I don't feel so bad when I visit the FRC in London though because I do see a handful of people who look closer to my age researching. I do admit I have a tendancy to make notes about anything that might seem vaguely relevant. My Mum and I spent a productive afternoon looking at the parish registers for a church in Worsbrough, nr. Barnsley and just wrote down every entry with a surname we were looking at for that area (one of them is Smith... so it did take a while!). When we got back to my Grandma's we spent the evening piecing together the records and managed to break a brickwall or two as well as finding a whole web of related families! We ought to do it again as we only looked at a small time frame for christenings and deaths.

I do go to the Records Office quite a bit, but dont get a lot of luck there. Dont know if its me, but I sit squinting at those fiches and end up with a terrible headache after a few hours! I did spend out a very worthwhile tenner asking a records office to check a birth for me - Im not sure if I would have found it, those micro fiche machines seem to have a mind of their own when I sit down in front of them, same with the film rolls! I look round the records office and there are dozens of intently serious people making notes with their pencils and I am sitting there thinking have I done all the little blocks or have I missed the important one out! Ihave found a few ancestors I didnt know existed but not had luck with the most desperate info. Still, the staff at these places are always sympathetic arent they? I said to the archivist last time, as she adjusted my film viewer for the umpteenth time, why is it I sit here giggling when my film spins off the wheel and everyone else looks so efficient and serious. She said to me "dont worry, they probably all go out clubbing when they leave here"

I'm a penniless graduate whos saving up for their Masters degree :) I too am sticking to bloodlines only, and have recently decided to try and stick to one line only to really fill it out and make a bit of a project out of it. Family History can be a bit of an expensive hobby at times, but if you have the patience (I've been doing this for about 4 yrs now!) you find you can try and cut down on costs by making the most of record office vists, online resources, etc. etc. by working out exactly what you want!

Very many thanks, thats lateral thinking for you. Thanks guys, it is brilliant how people are so willing to help on this site. I know what you mean Sarah, I do only voluntary work and my husband's secretarial stuff, so I feel very guilty at spending hard earned dosh. But then, its not like I have any other vices. I am sticking to blood line anyway, which cuts down the costs. And to be honest, I cant see the point of having droves of names on my tree that are only related by marriage. Got enough as it is!

In theory yes! It's one of the ways around finding out about people born around that awkward 1837 era :) One of the many certificates on my very very long list (am limiting myself to one a month if I'm working and have money coming in!) is one of a younger sibling of my g,g,g grandfather as he was born about 1838 and I have yet to find anything that could be his birth cert!

Sarah, you clever girl! I just looked up on ancestry uk and found the youngest daughter listed in the births for 1850! Tried all the other kids no sign of them at all. SO, if I send off for her cert, in theory, I should get the mother's name?

Ive tried 1837 on line, no joy there either. Assuming they did marry, would there be parish records available do you think? The wife's birthplace is shown as St George in the East. Any ideas how to check that out? Ive tried Pallots - no joy there either. Thanks for your replies - the youngest child was born 1851. Would that include the maiden name of the mother, assuming I can find a birth record.

In the early days of registration not everyone registered their births. You may be unlucky and find that yours is one of those not registered. The marriage may have occurred before the registration of marriages. Registration doesn't start until part way through 1837, so it may have just been missed. All I can suggest regarding the marriage is to try and find it in the parish records. A way of trying to find out for certain what the mother's maiden name might be to order the birth certificate of one of the younger children (if they have any).

The marriage may have been before civil registration started in late 1837. The first index is September quarter 1837. The birth index for 1840 would not show mothers maiden name, that came later, not sure about the year though.

Hi, I have been unable to find the marriage of my GGPx2, James Horstead and Mary Anne ? They are listed in the 1851 Ratcliffe, Stepney census with the children so they should have been married about 1837'ish according to the kids' ages. No sign of them anywhere. I have found death records on BMD for them both. On there the mother is recorded as just Ann Horstead. Now, I have the year of birth for my GGF, Edward John Horstead, but would there be a birth record for 1840? Cant find it anywhere on BMD or ancestry/familysearch. If there is a record, will it show the mother's maiden name? Any ideas guys? Many thanks.