Family History

[Bob Maxey]

It's good to hear from you Bob, but with such a sad story.

As Hayles said, did you manage to trace and contact your half siblings?

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Thanks guys.

I feel myself drifting away from the IPF Nexus so I'll make my answer short. No!

Nobody would talk about these Mystery Siblings. It is almost like being in the Mob and discussing a recent murder. No one is talking. Just plenty of mystery.

I borrowed an iPhone and I asked Siri, but she is still trying to sue me for sexual harassment. Even virtual women find me irksome.

 

[Bob Maxey]

I am still trying to prove I am decended from sturdy Viking stock. As best as I can tell, I am an average, pedestrian mut. I do so want to pillage and chastize like my ancestors. Well, assuming that I can prove I am decended from Vikings, that is.

 

[Bob Maxey]

Hi Bob, it's great to see you here on this thread, which seems to be waking up after a long slumber. (The Viking has stirred?!<VBG>).

Yes, there are skeletons in some of our histories. I have one from the 1850s. I was contacted a couple of months ago by the friend of a family branch which I knew nothing of. The fact that this branch descended from a male living in the late 19thC knocked a family tale developed by my Canadian cousins. They believed that all the brothers of the family emigrated to canada leaving their sisters behind in Lincolnshire.

It's all most fascinating and you need to prove out stories etc.

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One of the great joys is learning where you originated. One of the great problems is learning there were killers in your family. Then again, that would explain why I so desperately want to vanquish my enemies and pillage the odd village here and there.

 

[Richard Brown]

I have been researching my family for a couple of years and have gone back to 1520 on my fathers side, i use ancestry.co and have been and am in touch with relatives here in the UK in the USA , it's really interesting and I think everyone should have a go it's so easy with the different sites you could use.

Linda

Yup, the hobby is fun and can be very challenging at times.

The Internet is of great benefit, making research and contact a lot easier. However, you need to verify finds as there is a lot of false information on line, and a number of "family historians" will pinch others' work which is incorrect, or make dubious finds which they publish in their family histories as fact.

I find discussion with others, socialising, and being able to verify information extremely satisfying. Then, better than that, actually communicating with and meeting relatives I have discovered.

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[lindy123]

Yup, the hobby is fun and can be very challenging at times.

The Internet is of great benefit, making research and contact a lot easier. However, you need to verify finds as there is a lot of false information on line, and a number of "family historians" will pinch others' work which is incorrect, or make dubious finds which they publish in their family histories as fact.

I find discussion with others, socialising, and being able to verify information extremely satisfying. Then, better than that, actually communicating with and meeting relatives I have discovered.

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Very true, I have found that I have to check everything carefully, especially if you have a common name in your family history, but it is easy to get into the habit of just copying ancestors to your tree from other trees.

Linda

 

[stranding]

Very true, I have found that I have to check everything carefully, especially if you have a common name in your family history, but it is easy to get into the habit of just copying ancestors to your tree from other trees.

Linda

I am interested in family history too but one of my sisters is the one who is really active & knowledgeable. Not so much online but she travels around the country visiting places & people. She has worked back to 1700s I think, though we haven't synced that info lately

Till recently we had a black sheep relative that we didn't need to uncover; he was outed by the establishment / press. He was what's called "top-drawer", worked for the Queen & died not long ago. His name (that we share) is now notorious & included in the small group of reviled national traitors though his crime wasn't in the same league & stemmed from youthful idealism, very common at the time. (Think this is recognised generally now, not just my rosy specs talking.)

My Dad was deeply ashamed & would never talk about him but, well, I think it's romantic. Sort of...

 

[lindy123]

I am interested in family history too but one of my sisters is the one who is really active & knowledgeable. Not so much online but she travels around the country visiting places & people. She has worked back to 1700s I think, though we haven't synced that info lately

Till recently we had a black sheep relative that we didn't need to uncover; he was outed by the establishment / press. He was what's called "top-drawer", worked for the Queen & died not long ago. His name (that we share) is now notorious & included in the small group of reviled national traitors though his crime wasn't in the same league & stemmed from youthful idealism, very common at the time. (Think this is recognised generally now, not just my rosy specs talking.)

My Dad was deeply ashamed & would never talk about him but, well, I think it's romantic. Sort of...

Unfortunately I have not had the time to travel for research, and it seems that my family on my fathers side were farmers, not very exciting, although I did go to Devon and found the family farm now owned by English Heritage - it was in the family for generations. Maybe when I can afford to retire I will get more involved.

Linda

 

[Richard Brown]

The latest comments are pretty typical of experiences etc of other family historians.

Like you Stranding, we have our smattering of black sheep, such as a murderer, a couple of bigamists, and another of questionable character from our dim and distant past. We also have heroes and pillars of the community, all of whom far outweigh the wrong uns.

Lindy, you are right, more time can be found for family history when you retire. However, my wife and I find we are getting increasingly busy as retirees. We don't know when we had time to work. .
The story of your ancestral farm sounds fascinating. BTW, have you tried the imagesofengland website for the statutory listed buildings descriptions, and the definitive photograph of each of the listed buildings and structures on the farm?

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[lindy123]

The latest comments are pretty typical of experiences etc of other family historians.

Like you Stranding, we have our smattering of black sheep, such as a murderer, a couple of bigamists, and another of questionable character from our dim and distant past. We also have heroes and pillars of the community, all of whom far outweigh the wrong uns.

Lundy, you are right, more time can be found for family history when you retire. However, my wife and I find we are getting increasingly busy as retirees. We don't know when we had time to work. .
The story of your ancestral farm sounds fascinating. BTW, have you tried the imagesofengland website for the statutory listed buildings descriptions, and the definitive photograph of each of the listed buildings and structures on the farm?

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Oh thanks that sounds like a great site to look at, so far I haven't found any axe murderes of felons in my family in fact the only dubious person was an unmarried mother, not very exciting, and by today's standards a personal choice of many. I envy you finding yourselves to busy now you are retired, but hope I can be in that position soon. Thanks again am going to check that site right now.

Linda

 

[Joyntechnology]

I've enjoyed genealogy for years. We use familysearch.org and have also used the LDS church's local genealogy library. My wife's family tree traces back into royalty, and her ancestors include Lady Godiva, Charlemane, and Joseph of Aramathea (my apologies if I misspelled any of those).
I am interested, joyntechnology, in what app, if any, you use in your family history research/work... Are there any apps of this sort available?

Sorry to be so late in responding. I have been frantically trying to find a missing great grandmother. I am sure she gave birth to my grandfather a then died within 1 to 4 years, but cannot find a record of her death. The reason for the frantic concentration? My mother died four years ago, one of the eldest of a family of 12. Only three remain, one who is deaf, one who has Alzheimer's and one in her late 80's who is very alert and active. They all live quite far from each other and communication has been difficult. No one in the family ever talked about their lineage, until I asked my 87 year old aunt a year ago if she knew anything. Out came a couple of old pictures and a list of names that had been passed from my mother to this aunt. Since then, I have found unbelievable family ties and she has been so excited. I am trying to complete a tree for her as a Christmas gift, but the missing great grandmother is threatening to halt the project. I am in another state right now to dig into some records in a library that has collected achieves that may not be on the Internet.

To answer your question, I use Ancestry.com, Archives.com, and Family Search. Ancestry has been growing so fast in the last couple of years that I have become "spoiled" in expecting it to have records for the years I need. I envy those who go to the actual sites of their linage and complete "authentic" searches.

I have also learned the value of knowing the history of the regions I am searching. For example, I finally hired a researcher to find my great grandfather and, much to my surprise, he had lied about his place of birth on his marriage application. The researcher told me she had found this type of occurrence before. The marriage was performed in the home of my great-grand mother who was the daughter of a prominent southern Civil War leader and was performed by the family's minister. The researcher explained that the marriage would have been forbidden because my great grandfather was considered a "Yankee", even though the war between the North and the South ( in America) had been over for a few years! Now that one was a splendid surprise !

 

[Joyntechnology]

Of you who use the Ancestry app on their iPad, has anyone overcome the problem of not being able to see the actual records because of the absence of Adobe Flash on the iPad?

 

[Richard Brown]

Of you who use the Ancestry app on their iPad, has anyone overcome the problem of not being able to see the actual records because of the absence of Adobe Flash on the iPad?

Hi Joyntechnology. I'm afraid not, I have to use the laptop or PC to deal with flash.

I'm not sure whether the users of jail broken iPads have solved the issue. That's a route I don't want to take!

Finally, good luck with your quest. You are very lucky to have an aunt who can help and is interested in the family history.
I was very lucky to be introduced to an elderly, but distant, relative who had loads of photos, a great memory and an interest in the history of my family. Joyce passed away 3 years ago.

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[Joyntechnology]

Hi Joyntechnology. I'm afraid not, I have to use the laptop or PC to deal with flash.

I'm not sure whether the users of jail broken iPads have solved the issue. That's a route I don't want to take!

Finally, good luck with your quest. You are very lucky to have an aunt who can help and is interested in the family history.
I was very lucky to be introduced to an elderly, but distant, relative who had loads of photos, a great memory and an interest in the history of my family. Joyce passed away 3 years ago.

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Thank you, I do feel lucky to have her to talk to. Although sometimes it gets frustrating because her memory fails and I don't really know who she is talking about. Genealogy is a satisfying pursuit. Even when the brick wall comes out of nowhere.

 

[Richard Brown]

There is a genealogy UTube video which may not play on an iPad, but it's funny

Google the following...

countrey genealogy 1

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[Richard Brown]

I hope readers of this thread are aware of the free offer of seeing 1911 UK Census records.

I posted on another thread.... Making maximum use of the offer of downloading free 1911 census records from Ancestry and Genes Reunited websites.


The offer ends in about 2 weeks' time.

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