Genealogy Chat

I do all the above at different times, except the choccie as I don't eat the stuff....And yes I am female! I have a file box which I throw in single sheets of paper with interesting finds from searching BMDs, censuses ect, stuff that may be relevant. When I'm stuck I go through the box and amazingly will often find myself on a new search that brings new results...Not necessarily for my brick walls but for other lines. And there is, of course, the dreaded filing :) lol Chris

I have hit a serious brickwall with one of my main branches but intend to keep hacking away at it. I believe that our ancestors will be found when they want to be found. This has certainly applied to others and I was rather stunned by the result!!! Oh, and you need to drink lots of wine as well.

Thirty yrs ago, I hit a brickwall with my GGGrandfather and gave up all hope of ever finding info on him but thanks to Gail Cochrane who is a member of 'genes' I was able to establish his marriage and thru that, find several more children. I now have a brickwall re his birth, but who knows what can happen with these good people here? Alan

When I started doing my tree about a year and a half ago I thought certain lines were going to be easy and other's difficult. It turned out the ones I thought would be easy are the most duffucult and the difficult ones the easist. (Hope that makes sense) I had my g-grandfather's name and details since he got married in 1895 on the very first week I started (he was one of the easy ones, lol) yet until this week I couldn't get any further back. Only this week I had another lead from a contact on Hot Matches, I still couldn't find him, but with help from wonderful people on this site who found him mistranscribed I have found his birth cert details and sent for cert (despatch date 26th June). Also I find that by reading other peoples messages, and the replies it gives you ideas of other ways to search for your own missing rellies. Fortunately, we don't all think the same :-0 There are lots of stone's left unturned it's finding them that makes it fun. Yvonne

Take a break. Trawling through records, either online or at a RO, for hours on end, does an extremely effective job (at least in my experience) of turning your brain to mush. Have a drink, come back in an hour and it's amazing what can suddenly occur to you that didn't before. If it's a rather bigger brick wall than that, just extend the timescale and come back in a month or two, and if you're too badly addicted to stay away that long, concentrate on other lines for a bit. I am hoping to be able to tackle some pf my own brick walls shortly, having finally found a day when I can get down to Cardiff. I hereby issue the following warning to all my elusive Joneses, Hugheses and Evanses: I'm coming to get you, and I know where you lived. In most cases, anyway...

Carole, I have to agree with Merry. I've broken one brickwall by going sideways to a sister, then down. At least I found the fellow I was looking for died as a baby so that ditched him as my great grandfather. But I have had luck with a couple of others. One was a real long shot and turned out all the children had the same family name as a second name so that made them a distinct possibilty. I found another by 'googling' the name and place and found someone in an old directory. Good luck, Libby.

lots of Choccie

Go to another branch - its amazing how you can get totally enthralled with a twig you hardly glanced at before. Im brickwalled and I thought Id look at siblings of my direct line, picked an unusual name and now Im obsessively checking this lot out. Brilliant. Things will turn up later on - they always do. For example someone contacted me through my family home page last week. That lady had been brickwalled for 12 years with her line - I was able to give her another contact who is actually her 2nd cousin - I bet she never thought that could happen. So the same may happen for me tomorrow - who knows? Meanwhile back to the fascinating Edroffs.

just gotta think positive - something, somewhere will hold the answer. I was at a complete loss on one of my lines, and had tried to find her 100 times in the 1841 census with no luck, (Caroline Walker), and I just thought I'd click on some random Walkers and see if that brought anything up. First thing I clicked on was a Matilda Walker - with a Caroline, and whats better the fathers name and job matched up to Carolines marriage cert. Since then, I have worked out his middle name (Zouch) not readable on the cert, and found my Carolines birth and baptism in 1828. If they want to be found they will. tom.

Much the same as has been said above. Have a break from that line. Look at history of the area. Check back on sites not visited for a while. And best of all if you think you have exhausted all other avenues on line, off line etc talk to folks on here. They are a wonderful bunch and my 20 year old brick wall may I say may be crumbling thanks to my discussions with them all during the last week. Good time to say thanks again to those who joined in.

I go looking for background info too, eg. the town/village where someone lived [Genuki]. I look for old photos on the web of the churches where they married, or the neighbourhoods [Glasgow Story is good]. Info about the occupations, places of work and possibly the schools they attended. What did they wear? What important historical events took place in their lifetime? [Obviously the wars, also votes for women, general strike, etc.] In fact I find this the most fascinating, trying to travel back in time and walking next to an ancestor during their daily life.

Keep doing the 'search' system on GR, as new people are coming on all the time, and members are adding new ancestors as they find them. All it takes is for you to contact any potential matches, them to reply, and you could have broken thru your brick wall. Id also recommend putting your surnames list on curious fox, cousins connect, and rootschat.

I have been doing local research for other people and have found more local resouces and several new contacts who are researching in the area. After being stuck for ages I have answered several of my own problems in the last few weeks including tonight proving one set of grandparents were second cousins (thanks BathBMD) If you really are stuck take a holiday for a few weeks and then come back when you get a new lead.

Go on to something else or ask the nice peeps on this site for any suggestions, lots of input sometimes help you find what you are looking for. I was looking for ages for a death of my G.grand father John Garrett, I actually looked in the right year and quarter but missed him. I asked on here for help he was registered as John Garret, with only one ' T ' and I had not thought to look for that, so it is also good to explore all options. Gwen

I'm mad. Not only that, I've found insane ancestors to prove its genetic!!!! Seriously, no point in having your soul 'broken' over a dead end in your family tree. Far more important things to get worked up over. Yes, its frustrating, but you have to decide whether your brick wall can be broken or not. For example, I don't have a father for my illegitimate gt grandmother and the bastardy records have been destroyed. This might mean I will never know. On the other hand, if I ever get the time and energy I could go and search quarter sessions records in the hope that her mother took her father to court. I may find out or I may not. Sometimes, not being able to find something immediately is just nature's way of asking 'how badly do you want this?' If your response is 'I can't pay that much/go there and find out' then the answer is 'I don't want it that badly'. In which case, let it go. BUT to answer your question generally - I am searching all the branches in my tree. When I'm stuck on mum's dad's side, I do mum's mum. Stuck on that, I go to dad's mum and dad's dad. When I reached a point in my tree where I was dependent on when I could get out to archives, I started my husband's lot. A useful tip is not to look at what you don't know, but at what you do. I am sometimes staggered at the sheer amount of information I have managed to find out. I have nearly all my and my husband's great X 3 grandparents, and some gt X 4 and 5, not to mention siblings of these direct ancestors and all sorts of interesting facts about their lives.

I just come forwards instead of backwards, or spend more time trying to find out more about the people! All my backward lines are brick walls of one sort or another and have been so for at least a couple of years. In those two years my tree at home has more than doubled in size, from about 2,000 people to 5,800 people and without going back any further at all!!! Merry

I agree - go on to someone else, and the first lot will get fed up of hiding. This has happened to me several times. OC

I just go off down another branch and come back to my brickwall later! Saying that, lots of my brickwalls have been knocked down by the lovely people on this site! Sam x

how do you all keep looking for you family tree when you start hitting brick walls its so soul breaking when you find a lead and it just goes no where whats your secret!!!