Genealogy Chat

I am starting to write the family history - choosing the most interesting person in each generation to write about. Has anyone got any tips about how I can find some more interesting things about my ancestors - What do I look for in records offices? or other places ? Any help would be appreciated! Alice

With a name like MAD ALICE!!! lol What about someone who means a lot.Like I have my dad and because I remember and not relying on others can give the info first hand.My dad died in 1999,my mum is still living so can ask her..I would love to do one on my husbands mam cos she was a right character..Do it like a book..They always start at the beginning have a middle and an ending..Choose what comes from the heart.Doing my research I found myself drawn to one person and she is the only one I cant find prior 1911..Have sort ofs for her but no positives.Her life is spectacular but not in a rich way.Just lovely and poor and kind...Wanda.x ps..Put yourself in the year they were living and think about what you have today.Thats what I have done.No running water,electricity,disposable nappies,sanitary towels..Think about it..When was underwear thought dirty enough to change?..Look at the year.you dont need records..

Thanks for that ! Mad Alice was a childhood nickname (My maiden name was Allison ) - but amazingly it has turned out to be a very suitable one for my research - i have found 3 relies in the asylum at the same time and, rather worryingly all their illnesses were reported to be hereditary!! The casenotes for these rellies were amazing - so if anyone is reading this to pick up some tips - they are one excellent source - but be prepared to be moved by them too! I also found a rellie who was a founder member of an Independent church - his cross is there on the petition which was sent somewhere in protest about something!!! ( I found the original book and register last weekend about 15 mins before the records office closed) Wills are the other fantastic source of information if you can find them.... Anyone got anymore? Alice

Local newspapers, the more local the better. Full of gossip. OC

The trouble is until you've done the research how are you going to know who is the most interesting? I had a 'boring' farmer who I eventually found died in prison after trying to murder his wife! You need the framework of the family tree first and, as you research, find out about the places, their jobs and whatever you can about what was going on around them. Try the Records Offices, old newspapers, Trade Directories, Wills online and in the Records Offices if you can. If anyone in the family went to the US try the Ellis Island site where you can see the original ships' manifests with a lot of information about the passengers. If anyone was transported or did anything criminal then there are reports in newspapers or even online if you are lucky. When it was the Millenium a lot of places did books or booklets about their history. Sometimes ancestors may be mentioned in them. Was anyone in the Armed Services? You might find their records. Go to the places they lived and take photos if you can. Find the churches where they were baptised or married or buried. Look in local museums for old photos. Maybe someone was in a group photo for a factory or on a Sunday School outing. Not sure where to stop......it's endless. If the surname isn't too common then all sorts may turn up using a search engine. It's going to be very hard to restrict it to one per generation I would have thought! Good luck Sue

Hi dont want to be the only one replying but one of mine was in the workhouse and died there.So I ask myself why?? The others wernt so why her? I did update the first message so dont know if you read it before you replied but I went cold with your answer..Good luck my love..hope you do it how you want it and think about the feelings of your ancestors how they would like it written....Hard times..hard life..Wanda.x

If any of your ancestors have an interesting occupation that's a good one to expand on. I have some framework knitters from the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, glass manufacturers from the Black Country and someone who helped in the invention of the ribbed umbrella. Then there are the quarrymen from Sheffield who quarried the sandstone used to sharpen the cutlery for which the city is famous. I even found a pork pie maker from Melton Mowbray! Plenty of material there for good stories. I agree with OC, newspapers are great, especially for obituaries. Do you have any old photos which might be good to base a story on? Can you take photos of where people lived and worked or worshipped? I found one church in Lincoln which was moved, brick for brick, complete with organ and bells, to a new location, so I can take a photo of where it was and where it is now. There is lots of information available on the internet about these types of things, and it's great fun adding flesh to the bare bones. :-) Chris

Wanda - did not read your original answer but has me wondering ! Thanks for your repies.... You are right about restricting it to one per generation . i already have in one generation ... A man who died in what was probably the first fatal lift accident in 1865 - inquest notes were amazing . he had been in the indian mutiny - got married the year after anf then was crushed by the counterweight of the lift. Two of his brothers went to build the railroad in Canada - one of them lost his leg when he jumped from a boat and his leg got trapped between the boat and the quay... A sister of theirs had a illegitimate child, married and became a woman preacher ... But my direct ancestor in this line seems to have led a quiet life as a painter and decorator ....

Hi Crazy Person, what on earth do you mean? They were all interesting because they lived so differently to us. My favourite is my great-great grandfather Alfie Pegg who died after falling into a vat of boilng water whilst brewing beer in his pub. Seriously gruesome and it took him three days to die, according to his death certificate which I treasure. I am just plucking up the courage to find the coroner's report or whatever. It's horrific how a lot of the 'ordinary' people lived and we owe a lot to all of them for simply surviving their lot in life.

Oh, don't dismiss your boring ancestors! My boring old ag lab, so boring I couldnt be bothered to look for his death for ages, then got annoyed when I couldnt find it, and googled to find he had been left a fortune by an uncle including vast estates in the Turks and Caicos Islands. No wonder I couldnt find him and his family! OC

the 'old Bailey trials' are another good place to look. I found quite a few rellies in there. My gr,gr grandfather was a butcher in Bethnal green and had meat stolen from him a few times. I found my hubby's 4xgr grandfather too, who was a Lace wholesaler and victim of theft. You'll be surprised how a few details mentioned in a trial can often open up a wealth of information shellyx

I've recently discovered an ancestral aunt who doean't seem to have ever married but in 1904 at the age of 31 she went off to the USA. She was a confectioner but the ship's manifest says she was going to stay in with a County Judge in Ohio. Just a few years later another record has her down as a saloon keeper. At the moment that is about all I know about her but I am really intrigued about what she was up to. Her twin brother followed her out to the States the following year. Family legend says he was a gold miner but I have only found evidence of him as a dockworker. Just a few snippets of information and a fertile imagination could conjure up quite a novel! But the same generation includes so many other fascinating lives that I wouldn't want to choose one as a representative! Sue

Thank you everyone for your help -just need to take time off from the reseach to start work on it now!

Try this book, you'll probably get it from the library:-'The Times of Our Lives', the essential companion for writing your own life story (but really contains more than that) by Michael Oke ISBN : 1-85703-970-X www.howtobooks(.)co.uk Jennifer

Mad Alice, If only they could talk they'd all have had fascinating lives.... all of them.... not just the famous ones. Write of the times they lived in or the village s then and now. By the time your greta great grandchildren read it those same villages will be covered in concrete! OC! so you are here. I wondered where you were all day.... thought you must be gardening or some such!M

Mum has just brought me 2 dvds..Byegone Salford and Bygone Bolton.The very start of the first is where my dad was born,Greengate and its the celebrations in July 1930 when he was 5yrs old.His mum died the same year in October and to see how they dressed is lovely.Perhaps you can get hold of dvds for areas in question where your relatives lived..The next one for Bolton is really good..cos me and my brother and sister are on there playing in Leverhulme park during the holidays!.I am going to do copies of the carnivals that I have filmed here in Horwich and send them off so others can enjoy them in years to come.Good luck with your book and let us know when its finished..Wanda.x

For one thing - by researching the places where they lived, and the social history; the transport of the times in which they lived. Read as many books that you can find. Exchange information with others on mailing lists. And if you can, visit the places where they lived. There, that's another 10 years taken up ... :-)

I have yet to find anyone 'amazing' in my tree but I have always been drawn to one particular couple, my 3x Grt Grandparents. Probably because I always go back to them when I get stuck on other parts of the tree I know more about them than anyone else. After tracing where their house was (in small village in Wiltshire) using tithe maps and census returns. We went for a visit to the village and found the house, while standing in the road wondering if we dare take a photo or knock on the door the lady of the house came out! To cut a long story shortish, she invited us in for coffee. She had heard of the family (bearing in mind that the main man died in 1872). She showed us around the house, there were still remains of built in cot beds in the attick!! They had 12 children in that house and it only had 3 bedrooms. I saw the land, learned about the local Manor house that they obviously worked for (as coachbuilders). It really brought the names to life. I know that the church is almost next door so i can imagine the family all walking up to the church on Sundays. All very ordinary stuff nothing exciting but it makes them 'real' people rather than names and dates!

Thank you all for your answers again - all good ideas ..... I have it all planned in my mind now - just need a few years to write it!