Genealogy Chat

Thank you all for your replies. My research started because I was given a newspaper cutting from WW1, so far it has been most interesting. Jane

Hi Jane, I started my research last september and decided to just look at direct family as in Grandparents, G grandparents etc. Now I have a huge family tree on my wall. I f you don't look for extended family I think you are less likely to find what you want and you can find some great stories and history. I have found a great uncle who was awarded the Victoria Cross and his history, an auntie who was supposed to be my dads aunt but was his sister, twins in the family etc. Well worth looking at the wider family, so interesting.

Agree - once you start, you can't stop! But, as you are new and feeling a bit overwhelmed, why not just concentrate, for now, on getting your direct ancestors into place? When you have done that, you will find yourself researching their siblings anyway! Good luck and don't forget to ask for help if you get stuck. OC

Hi Jane think once you have really started it's very hard to stop and eventually you find yourself going outwards and upwards - well at least I do. By the way where are you Mason's from? I have some in Perthshire and OH has his in E. Lothian Norah

Hi Jane The others are right, its your tree to go where you like. ALso the more siblings you know about in each generation, the more likely to find a GR match. I have ended up following up siblings and 'little twigs', especially where the surname is unusual, so I have a collection of vaguely related people who I know lots about, because they were easy to find (eg ROWOHL and WHITTINGHAM). But I also found that several people married their own cousin or second cousin, so following up the various branches all led back to the same place. (That's tricky when their surnames are the same but, the evidence becomes obvious) Diane

It's your tree and you can do it any way you like. I started looking at one name in particular which was not from the area originally. I found what looked like unconnected groups and I used to study those when I had time. Several years later I found out how they were related to my own branch and I've been able to help distant relations trace the various complicated links. Sue

Hi Jane Believe me, it will get bigger still. My mother thought her father was practically an only child, with one half-sister. Huh! One of 8 - his father having married 3 times - and father was one of 12!! I have even started a One Name Study of that lot as I had to unravel them all and ended up with so much paperwork ... This 'hobby' will take over your life! Love it though Jill

Hi Jane This varies from person to person. I've noticed that some men just research their own surname and go backwards - some women seem to research just the female line. I look for everyone. I made a decision that I would get all my lines back to 1800-1840 ish before embarking on the pre-1800s. I add twigs and bits all over the place. Siblings are really useful to keep track of as sometimes an elusive parent is living with one of the siblings - I had one classic case where my gr gr grandmother was with her married daughter - but she showed as head of the next household and badly mistranscribed. I would never have found her if I did not know who the daughter had married! Plus, if you add siblings etc you are more likely to meet up with another connection. I think most of my connections on GR are with cousins of one degree or another - we may not be that closely related but share gr gr grandparents, or whatever. If there are several people looking that far back it can help - you don't feel so alone and you have someone to help verify info with. I warn you though, adding them all creates a huge amount of paperwork. Buy lots of files and prepare to be swamped in a sea of names and papers!! Jill

Thanks Jill, it all seems so huge at the moment even though I think we have a relatively small family now I know we have been part of a much larger family in the past.

I have just started researching my family tree and would like some advice on how far to go. Should I research cousins and their kin or should I stay focussed on the main family line? What is relevant to my tree and what isn't? Thanks Jane