Genealogy Chat

Thanks everyone for all your views! I have a lot to organise now!! Could be a while lol Kaz :o)))

I have an unusual surname so I started off with that as its easier to trace than say looking for Jones or Davies, I then worked on one branch of the family until I got to a dead end then I started on another and then another, the research is endless because of all the new branches but I've got most brancehs back to the late 1700s I'm thinking of doing a bit of looking at the off shoot branches of the siblings of my ancestors now.

Hi Kaz I have all of my family on one spreadsheet - several pages now - and keep my partner's tree on a separate sheet so when I show his mum she doesn't get too confused! I sort them alphabetically and cross-ref by spouse but you could cross-ref by parent as well. PAF site is really useful as they print out in family sheets and if you add notes they are printed out as well - v. handy. Then I keep one family record per plastic envelope in a file - sorted alphabetically - again, I keep my family and his family separate. Apart from that I have my 'narrative' where I write up family stories - and whether I have managed to prove them or not. I also keep a record of how I found particular people as some of them took a while and a lot of detective work so if anyone else wants to add that person to their tree they don't have to go through the same process. It's in the 'narrative' that I add bits that fill out the stories - pictures of ships that my grandad was on - pictures of the churches where rellies were baptised or married etc. Jill

I got so excited lol, that I started about ten lines all at the same time. No, to be honest I wouldnt recommend it. BUT if youre organised, it works out ok. A written copy of your tree as well as on here, plus a file for certs, newspaper cuttings and photos etc. Ive hit a complete brick wall with two main lines, so have followed practically every other line possible now. Yes, my heads spinning, and I even dream about surnames occasionally, much to my husbands bemusement.

Hi Kaz My tree on GR is my birth tree,and i have pushed back all my mothers lines to around 1800 or a little earlier,as things slow down with those direct lines i started to run with the families of the cousins i had found. The odd name here and there in conversations seemed to jog long forgotten memories,and i have found out a lot of the 'everyday' things that happened. Silly things like an uncle who snorted like a pig when he laughed and things like that,silly really but they do make for 'real life' Glen

I start with one name, get sidetracked half way down, then get stuck and start again. I'm currently stuck on all my names, so may have to resort to side lines lol

Thanks Karen, I think i will just have to focus on one bit at a time and just to paternal or maternal - Jill your excel sheet sounds good - do you just keep the main line on there - Is alphabetically better than family groups do you think? Thanks everyone for your ideas I am beginning to feel a bit more focussed - am off out now but will be back! Kaz :o))

I do mine all at once and end up with heaps of papers. I have one useful tip - I have an Excel spreadsheet with everyone listed alphabetically - I add their number from the PAF tree (FamilySearch one that I downloaded) and a column to tick that they are on GR and PAF - otherwise I forget. Then I have a series of columns with all CR results from 1841 to 1911 (well I'm an optimist and hope 1911 is released early) and I tick each box when I find them on the censuses - and there are always gaps to spend happy hours hunting down. Then there are a series of columns to make a note of year of birth/marriage/death - plus a column for spouse plus a bit of space for notes (GR refs etc) - plus columns to tick BMDs on IGI. Sounds complicated but once it's set up it's really helpful! Jill

Bet it isn't as unique as 'tinsel knickers' tho Glen!! Thanks for your reply! I think that is what happened when I first started and have so much on certain lines with brothers and sisters and their offspring that i lose the sense of my main line - I think maybe a trim of the tree might make me see more clearly or should I not do that? Kaz

Hi Kaz, i decided in my wisdom to do my dads paternal and maternal side and the same for my mum, started ok but there was just to much info and i was getting confused so i decided on the maternal sides of mum and dad got so far with dads hit a brickwall, so started my mums side, then MIL was talking about her family one day and not knowing what happened to her grandmother so i started hers, ive got on more with her tree than my own

The problem is when you link to another tree and see some unusual name,get a hook on it then follow that family. I did that after finding a first cousin in my birth family tree,i thought the name was wrong (it is a complete one off),now that surname is one of the dominant ones in my tree. Still at least the new cousin knows some more of his line now!! Glen

Hi Sounds a good idea Mo, do you do both couples in a marriage or just male line cos thats where I seem to go off balance doing it all! Kaz :o))

Kaz What I did was take the family (main line) back as far as I could go with the Census.. doing it with all 8 lines... Now working on one line at a time.. see other names and ignore them making a note of where I saw them... and carrying on with the family I am researching.. trying to get as big a picture of the family that I possibly can... sometimes an understanding of the brother's sister's etc... can help... Trying not to get sidetracked into another family... .. by doing this you can take a family as far as you want to go.. my next big challenge will be my Wilson's... who I have 3 main lines for and you cannot help but research all Wilson's that you come across... Mo

Christine, I like the sound of your research form ! How did you set it out?? Kaz :o)

Hi Betty I was going to try and be more methodical !! Hmmmmm not sure it's ever going to be like that! It just feels that my research is too chaotic and needs order lol - bit like real life lol Kaz :o))

Hi Kaz, I think everyone is the same, you find a marriage, then you decide to start with the husbands side of the family, then maybe the wife's family, then they have children and so on it's never ending, you go onto census, find more children ohhhh!! then deaths ohhhhh!!! Everyone is the same I just put all my information in a Big Large Notebook in pencil so I can change thing if I have to, then later when I know I have everything correct I put it onto the computer. I think everyone has their own way, what suits them!! Betty

actually Susan is right that is what happens, so it isnt a waste of time as you never know who you will find, Then of course there are the funny threads on here which take up most of your time, and leaves you none for your research.

Glad its not just me then Valerie ans Sue! it all seems a big gloopy mess at the mo! Kaz :o)

I'm all over the place, I keep going with one until I get stuck, then move on to another. Sometimes when you come back to the first one you have more luck.

Exactly like you start off intending to hunt down one person, find myself tracking another , end up going back and forth .