Genealogy Chat

I am a new member to this site.im 16 an intrested in researching my family history.the only problem is am not sure wer 2start.can any one give me any help?

Hi Emma and welcome! There are quite a few younger people on this site (but not me I'm afraid!!). If you go back to your Homepage then scroll down a bit, you will see over on the right hand side two links - one called 'getting started in genealogy' and the other one is 'new to GR'. These have got lots of information and useful websites in getting you started. And don't worry, we were all new once! You will find people on this site very helpful so don't be afraid to ask questions. Good luck and happy hunting, Mandy :)

Hi Once you've run through Mandy's suggestions, if (when!) you hit a problem, you can always come back to these Tips threads - or to the "Records Office" threads - and you'll find people are generally very willing to share info & ideas about how to get further along with your project. Some will even look up info for you from their membership of websites elsewhere, or from their CDs and Microfiches with copies of historical records. As you put names up into your tree here, you'll find that people will contact you if they recognise likely links with their family trees. I've been given an enormous amount through these various routes, apart from what I've found elsewhere. Welcome, indeed, and good hunting! Christine

Hi Emma Welcome! I'm sure there will be plenty of advice from people here about pre-1901 family tree info (as there's loads of stuff on the internet). Of course, you first have to get there. The best way to get going is to speak to your relatives - your mum, dad, grandparents, aunties, uncles - anyone related. You need names, maiden names (especially important), dates, locations and ask them to tell you how each person relates to one another. A large pad of paper required at this point! This is fairly common advice on here. However, one thing that really helped me get going was asking them to show you old photographs. Wedding photos are especially good as they tend to have the whole family on. Your relatives will only be too delighted to tell you about each person in the picture. You can then begin to draw it up on here or some free family tree software (or both as I do) I'm a new starter myself (January) but got hooked by the passion for going further and further back. I'll let the experts on here tell you what to do next! Jonathan