Historical Past - Family Tree!

[Coinery 1,148]

If people don't share their family data, does that stop the 'web' of information from growing? Does it work like that?

1560 AC, THAT WOULD be a very exciting date for me to hit! That's pretty damn good!

I know you said you wouldn't share it, but do you typically find a horror story or two when you go back that far?

[Accumulator 52]

If people don't share their family data, does that stop the 'web' of information from growing? Does it work like that?

1560 AC, THAT WOULD be a very exciting date for me to hit! That's pretty damn good!

I know you said you wouldn't share it, but do you typically find a horror story or two when you go back that far?

Sorry, I should have clarified, I meant I don't share the information on the internet. I made copies of my research many years ago, which were freely distributed amongst the family, and I've corresponded with distant branches, from time to time, and shared the same information.

I've found a few stories, nothing too horrific though! Actually, putting together 'a tree' is one thing, but adding detail, which makes the whole thing interesting is a far larger job, and one I still need to return to (something to keep me busy in retirement I expect).

[DaveG38 405]

Sometimes it's not ancient information that comes as a surprise. I'm now 63 and my mother died 10 years ago now, but I've only in the past 5 years discovered that she was adopted and my entire life history of grandparents etc. has been thrown into disarray. Annoyingly neither she nor my father told me, even though a good many other family members on both sides appear to have known.

However, I have delved long and deep into the records, plus I have put 2 and 2 together from information at my dad's house and I am pretty confident that I have tracked down who her parents were and what actually happened. It's not positive evidence, more missing evidence that gives the game away. That and a bit of creative thinking around the records that do exist. I still have to carry out an actual visit to the Staffordshire Records Office to see if I can gain definitive proof - that'll come next year sometime. And assuming I last that long, the 1921 census will be very helpful. Despite the secrecy, I'm not so much annoyed about the deceit, but rather I'm determined to find out what this was all about and see if I can overcome the veil they thought they had put up. I like a challenge!

[Coinery 1,148]

Sometimes it's not ancient information that comes as a surprise. I'm now 63 and my mother died 10 years ago now, but I've only in the past 5 years discovered that she was adopted and my entire life history of grandparents etc. has been thrown into disarray. Annoyingly neither she nor my father told me, even though a good many other family members on both sides appear to have known.

However, I have delved long and deep into the records, plus I have put 2 and 2 together from information at my dad's house and I am pretty confident that I have tracked down who her parents were and what actually happened. It's not positive evidence, more missing evidence that gives the game away. That and a bit of creative thinking around the records that do exist. I still have to carry out an actual visit to the Staffordshire Records Office to see if I can gain definitive proof - that'll come next year sometime. And assuming I last that long, the 1921 census will be very helpful. Despite the secrecy, I'm not so much annoyed about the deceit, but rather I'm determined to find out what this was all about and see if I can overcome the veil they thought they had put up. I like a challenge!

Wow, that's a lot of years a secret! I'm really surprised to find out how many members have actually taken this whole thing on!

Good luck with that particular piece of research, I hope it all comes up roses!

[Peter 615]

Mrs Peter was the daughter of an English Officer's wife in the late 60's...local Irish lad

We only found this out when asking for her Birth Certificate.She was adopted and put through Public school.

We all have dodgy bits...don't we

[scottishmoney 29]

Few years ago I was going through some belongings that belonged to a relative of mine who passed away more than thirty years ago - found a box of lettres from the early 1940s on up through the 1960s that were from two people seeing each other outside of their long marriages - even that the purported child was actually the lover's child and not the reported father. Some secrets are meant to be kept - I felt that neither of the people wanted to have their secret shared - so I burned the lettres and have never shared with the living people involved.

[Nick 329]

Few years ago I was going through some belongings that belonged to a relative of mine who passed away more than thirty years ago - found a box of lettres from the early 1940s on up through the 1960s that were from two people seeing each other outside of their long marriages - even that the purported child was actually the lover's child and not the reported father. Some secrets are meant to be kept - I felt that neither of the people wanted to have their secret shared - so I burned the lettres and have never shared with the living people involved.

I'm sure it's a situation that is much more common than one might expect. It's rather selfish though not to allow a child to know their true parentage, when the only reason they are not told is to spare the shame of the conspirators.

[Colin G. 147]

Stuart it does not take too long before you get back to a tree with many branches. The odds are then stacked in your favour that you will find something out of the ordinary. It is also quite bizarre how some branches can be easily traced and others are a complete nightmare.

I am still chasing a John Smith from Chester le Street and as you can imagine it is a bit of a nightmare, but I am getting there!!

Nick I can understand and agree with the principles behind your statement, but would agree with SM that really it is for the directly involved parties to determine how and when that information is divulged.

[scottishmoney 29]

I'm sure it's a situation that is much more common than one might expect. It's rather selfish though not to allow a child to know their true parentage, when the only reason they are not told is to spare the shame of the conspirators.

I agree that on the surface it would appear pretty selfish, but when you factor in the instability of the "innocent" party - it is one of those grey areas where you leave well enough alone and not endeavour to stir a nests of angry bees.

[Fubar 80]

I had an Ancestry account for a long time and then found that I was no longer using it since I seem to have reached the end of the road as far as my family history was concerned.

There's a limit when you find that two paternal great grandparents were probably Irish and the family name changed in the 19th century because one of them couldn't spell. He was a foundling from London and apprenticed to be a fisherman in Grimsby. The other was in the British Army for 40 years and only just learned to write his name. Apart from that he was quite a naughty boy and in 1871 is listed as being banged up in Dover Castle for fighting.

The latter's records were acquired by a direct visit to Kew while researching some local aviation history of WWII PI (Pre Internet)

The other side are all Swedish farmers or Norwegian seamen which probably makes them distantly related to the Irish ones anyway. Family legend has it that one of them fought at Stamford Bridge in 1066 on the losing side but then Norway always had such a small population that everyone is descended from some Viking or other.

The Norwegian records are on line and easily accessible plus Humberside have a good site for research leading to copies of birth ceritifcates. Quite up to date so that I can even look up my own wedding details.

At least I had my Ancestry account long enough for the WWI burnt records to come on line and finally got my grandfather's records and details of family moves from the 1911 census. I didn't need the earlier records because I have his Boer War diary.

The most difficult thing is getting hold of ancestral photographs from other family members when "splits" have occurred in relationships as grandparents etc., have passed on.

Being a war baby of a war bride means I have a lot of history and the filing cabinet is overflowing.

My better half's family are just as bad with maternal grandfather running off to Australia and paternal grandmother being born on the wrong side of the blanket.

If you have parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc., talk to them and get them to identify folks in photographs. Otherwise they'll just get binned.

Cheers

Kris

[scottishmoney 29]

If you have parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc., talk to them and get them to identify folks in photographs. Otherwise they'll just get binned.

Cheers

Kris

I started doing my research back in the pre-internet era and was fortunate that one of my great grandmothers was still alive - she lived into her 90s but was the 11th child of her father who was born in 1835 - he was 70 when she was born!

[Nick 329]

Stuart it does not take too long before you get back to a tree with many branches. The odds are then stacked in your favour that you will find something out of the ordinary. It is also quite bizarre how some branches can be easily traced and others are a complete nightmare.

I am still chasing a John Smith from Chester le Street and as you can imagine it is a bit of a nightmare, but I am getting there!!

Nick I can understand and agree with the principles behind your statement, but would agree with SM that really it is for the directly involved parties to determine how and when that information is divulged.

I totally agree that the when and the how should be down to the parties directly involved, but just making sure that the information is divulged at some point.

[Nick 329]

I think most people will not be as fortunate as Accumulator to get back as far as 1560. I have traced all branches of my ancestry and all paths have run out of steam in the first half of the 18th century.

More work is definitely required and probably some lateral thinking as to where to try next.

[Accumulator 52]

I think most people will not be as fortunate as Accumulator to get back as far as 1560. I have traced all branches of my ancestry and all paths have run out of steam in the first half of the 18th century.

More work is definitely required and probably some lateral thinking as to where to try next.

You're right Nick, I was rather fortunate, especially as the survival of early parish records in many areas is perhaps only 50%. There are, of course, many other records, manorial rolls, hearth tax returns etc, etc. but linking these to specific ancestors is often very difficult indeed. It did help that I stuck to researching only the male line (i.e. followed my surname) rather than branching off down any maternal lines. One big tip is not to rely on indexes, but to check original records wherever possible. It's amazing what contemporary pencil notes and anecdotes you can find in the margins or parish registers that help to add context to the bare facts.

[Nick 329]

I am still chasing a John Smith from Chester le Street and as you can imagine it is a bit of a nightmare, but I am getting there!!

Good luck with that. I too have ancestors from the North-East, most of which have fairly uncommon surnames but my most troublesome line is named Robson.

[Nick 329]

I think most people will not be as fortunate as Accumulator to get back as far as 1560. I have traced all branches of my ancestry and all paths have run out of steam in the first half of the 18th century.

More work is definitely required and probably some lateral thinking as to where to try next.

You're right Nick, I was rather fortunate, especially as the survival of early parish records in many areas is perhaps only 50%. There are, of course, many other records, manorial rolls, hearth tax returns etc, etc. but linking these to specific ancestors is often very difficult indeed. It did help that I stuck to researching only the male line (i.e. followed my surname) rather than branching off down any maternal lines. One big tip is not to rely on indexes, but to check original records wherever possible. It's amazing what contemporary pencil notes and anecdotes you can find in the margins or parish registers that help to add context to the bare facts.

Indexes are valuable, in that they are more easily accessible, but any information gained from them must be confirmed in the original registers which, as you say, sometimes contain notes regarding the individuals concerned (often less than complimentary).

[Peckris 579]

My mother - looking for her own lines in Devon - found one of my dad's ancestor's marriages there, after they had scoured Lancashire which where all his ancestors came from. It turned out he'd got married in Devon on being demobbed after the Peninsula Wars. So never give up, but accept you may need to cast the net wider and also rely on lucky accidents in record offices.

[scottishmoney 29]

So far my earliest ancestry threads go back in to Scotland and England in the 1650s, my earliest German ancestry into the 1660s. I was rather surprised when I first travelled to Germany, Hamburg and Bavaria and found that records were still available and were not burned in WWII.

[josie 8]

DNA test for distant relative,i think their is one in GB and Planks in Germany for blood and organ compatibilty,DNA ancestry,Jvst a comment.

Edited December 20, 2013 by josie

[azda 979]

I have a different problem in searching. My mother died when i was 2 years old and basically her mother and i believe her stepfather and that side of the Family took nothing to do with my Brother and myself. I assume after she was cremated they just pissed off and left my father and grandmother to bring us up, i'm not to sure i want to search for that side anymore, although i do have a lot of questions and gaps that need filling. My father and my grandmother were both pretty vague about the whole subject but i do know that my mothers mum and dad had a farm in East Grinsted? Called boylies farm, thtat's about as far as in went

My father and grandmother are now both dead so a lot of info died with them

Edited December 21, 2013 by azda

[josie 8]

In scotland they held a parade several years back every clan in scotland i think,maybe it is one way of connecting the old and new generation as a nation i think,not heard or saw any in england seen one in Philippines in city of marikina,it is mostly the elder knows whos who once they gone the connection is lessen.

[TomGoodheart 400]

We tried to track my Uncle, mostly for my Dad. Dad was at university in Lvov and a few weeks short of his 21st birthday when Germany marched into Poland. His brother was 5 years older and doing post-graduate work away from home. Dad was sent to Siberia with all the other military age men when Russia annexed Eastern Poland.

None of them were keen on their families being linked to them so any correspondence was destroyed. All we've surmised is that his parents' apartment was taken for military accommodation, but in all the turmoil of the war years few records seem to remain.

Dad ended up in Anders army and eventually rebuilt his life here in England, but a lot of what happened is very patchy and we never did find any information about what happened to his family.

[Rob 3,152]

I'm fortunate in a way because most of the info on mother's side is recorded in the family bible back to the early 1800s and on father's side I have a good number of marriage cetificates going back to the 1850s. Coupled with a letter from a long lost relation in Canada who wrote to mother shortly before she died, a lot of the work has been done for me. I just need to find the time and inclination to fill in the gaps and push it back. Given most came from villages there is a fighting chance of finding parish records.

[Peckris 579]

My dad was a keen amateur genealogist, so we've got his side of the family fairly well sewn up back to the 18th Century. My mum's side is more difficult, more obscure, yet more interesting too - she's done some research but has hit quite a few bottlenecks. The trouble is, her mum died when she was a small child, so the person we called Granny was Grandad's second wife. We know more about that branch than our blood relatives!

[Red Riley 2]

Just picked up on this thread and it doesn't surprise me that so many of us are amateur genealogists - it's the history thing and it's actually fun to associate coin dates with dates of ancestors etc. One particular branch of the family I have been gnawing away at for 20 years and am finally just about there; I've had to cope with two successive illegitimate generations, my great grandmother and her mother who both changed their names (both first names and surnames) like other people change their socks, people who just disappear and a great great grandfather who was permanently banged up for debt despite moving in some fairly rarified circles.

My tree is now on Wikitree (http://www.wikitree.com/) where the thousand or so individuals mentioned can be used by others where our trees cross. Of the proprietory sites, I prefer Find My Past as it has a census address search facility which can be really useful at times.

Oh, and finally don't expect any of the genealogy companies' indexes to be that accurate as they were largely transcribed by people whose first language was other than English and some truly jaw-dropping typos can occur.

Best of luck!

Edited December 23, 2013 by Red Riley