Genealogy Chat

I've just started researching my family tree, and am looking up both parents' ancestors. As far as I'm concerned, my mother's relatives are just as much a part of my history as my father's. Pam

Margaret, what utter rubbish, as I think everyone else on the thread has said already. You do what you want with your tree. I have a lot of enjoyment contacting people who turn out to be distant or remote relatives, which is usually because we have a common interest at some point along the way. Mostly we end up swapping note which ends up helping us both with our quest in different ways and makes our research all the richer for it. What are 'Blood Relations' anyway? Most of us, if we are honest have several skeltons in the cupboard that we know about and many more that we haven't got to finding. So what?

Margaret,the way i look at it is if someone married my great great uncle they would be my great great auntie and any children would be rellies too, so nobody has the right to tell me to take their name off, and if the person was a relative that said it i would make sure they weren't included in my tree, MOE!

Thanks Again everyone Sorry i did not come back to you sooner as my connection failed and I have had to contact NTL premuim number twice to get conected again. These things are sent to try us but we will overcome. I love all you helpfull people and I am glad your resposes where to my way of thinking. Happy hunting everyone Margaret

Margaret, An ancestor of my husband had four wives (not all at the same time). He is descended from the first wife and a few years ago we had contact with a descendant of the third wife. I don't know how much 'blood' my husband and his 'cousin' shared, but we visited her when we went to Scotland in 2001, shared information, photos and happy times. As far as we are concerned, she is 'family' and I am very glad a shared interest in genealogy brought us together. Stick to your guns, gal, and build your tree the way you want. Regards, Beverley

I think the point is, when you add a marriage to a person in your family, then their children ARE related to you. If you don't add the other parent, because they have no blood line to you, then you are going to end up with what looks like loads of one parent familes. I have never heard such a load of utter rubbish in my life. You carry on adding who you like. I think that some people get frustrated when they see a name on the search that looks like it is in their tree and when they contact you and then you say that this person is only related by marriage and you have no further details on them. This happens to me a lot. BUT, the person needs to be on the tree or the trees wont link up properly. Margaret

Thanks again everyone. I feel much better now I have removed this person from my contacts and will carry on doing what I think best. As an OAP this hobby fills my day and I enjoy every moment of it. Margaret

Margaret, It has all been said before on this thread but it is your tree. People follow different aspects of our hobby, no two trees are the same. For instance some people following the bloodline are just concerned with going as far back as they can get. I don't like that way of researching, but I can't say it is incorrect. That is how they want to do it so be it. You do your tree your way and enjoy it. it is meant to be fun and it is a shame that some people take it so seriously that they become censorious over the way others do it. good luck with your tree and future contacts. Ann Glos

Hi Margaret Your tree is your tree and you reasearch who you want. My feelings on this topic are :If you want to find out about say your ggranfather and you dont look into his siblings that is alot out of his life that your missing out on .His siblings children would of been his nephew and nieces and he could of been god father to some of them. Or he might have been a witness at there marriage.If you didnt research these you wouldnt get to know that info. Also if you only do the male side you will never know for sure if they are your real family. Affairs etc. went on back then as well, hence in my opinion the female line is probably going to be the more accurate regards bloodline. Different people do this sort of reseach for different reasons , I feel that it is up to the individual as to how much they want to find out and about whom. Some people dont even do there own family they might decide to do there favourite pop stars etc. Thats up to them. Enjoy your research and I bet you will have more fun getting to know distant relatives that are still alive as well as knowing the whole family better. Its family history you are interested in. Same as me. Julie

Oh Margaret , These people are whats called 'ONE LINERS,'if they only want to keep to the straight line,,bet I know who will have the more intresting tree !!!!! how are they ever going to get more connections if they dont expand??? You are your own boss do as you like;;.if you want to include 8x gt granpa 20 times removed you put him down,,,

Thanks everyone you have made my day after recieving that horride e-mail . I have helped her in the past and after sending her something I thought was of help she sent me this repremand. I love this site and the people that all help each other. She is now deleted totally from my mind and from my contacts. I have found a 2 name link in 1840 and now find them linked in 1950 so it proves we are all one great family. Thanks family. Margaret

Hello Margaret You keep on adding all those names - some of my most interesting information about my blood relatives has come from branches of the family that I have made contact with that I am only related to distantly. Also by following up all the clues I find, for example siblings on census I have found elderley parents etc and been able to go back another generation. Carry on just as you were. Best Wishes Helen

For goodness sake, Margaret. Family history is a broad church. There is no such thing as the 'right people' to trace or to put on your tree. Your contact is obviously feeling sour as they are not likely to get as much information out of you as they'd hoped. I know I have stray spouses on my GR tree that I sometimes feel like removing as it makes my names summary unwieldy, but that is my choice, not anybody else's. The whole joy about family history is that my friends are all doing very different things with the hobby. Some concentrate on a single name, some on a single person, others research every ancestor, or those of a certain religion, or of a certain occupation, or in a certain place. This brings a huge richness to the subject. YOU do what YOU want, and enjoy yourself.

How dare your contact make any comments on the way you conduct YOUR research. Strictly 'genealogy' is a study of your family lineage, but how boring it would get if we just kept to the blood line. Its your hobby, its your family ( or not as the case may be :-) ), do what you will. Part of my tree is a One Name Study, lots of people many totally unrelated, so your contact wouldn't just give me a slap, he/she would put on a hoodie and give me a fashionable good kicking. My reaction on receiving a message like this would be to withdraw permission for the contact to view my tree and delete all further messages from him/her without reading them. happy hunting dave

I personally believe you should include other families related by marriage, it opens up the whole tree, it also at times shows why families moved to other areas. You can also find that the lines occasionally link up again. I have also found that many of the children from these marriages have been staying with their extended family on census nights. I cannot understand why people only research the male line.

Claptrap! you include who you want, and for what ever reason you want! Include the neighbours if you like!! jess

That is ridiculous. I have loads of people in my tree who are only related by marriage because I am hoping that if somebody from that person's family gets in contact they may be able to tell me something about that couple's descendants. Kate.

That sounds total nonsense to me Margaret. As long as they are related to you in some way I see no reason why you should not enjoy including them in your tree. From what I recently read it seems that we are all related anyway. So you can have one damn great big tree as far as I'm concerned G

Hi Margaret I think it is up you who you put in YOUR tree and not anyone else. As long as they are not living and if they are, you have their permission. It's up to you. Good Luck in your research. Tammy

I have just had a slap on the wrist from a contact so your advice is sought.here is the slap. 'I dont think you should include any people in your tree who are not linked to you through bloodline-because after all that is what we are tracing when we are studing genealogy' I am having fun doing my tree and making contact with other family members That I did not know I had,as well as other people we are linked with. If I do research via census and ancestry I find information that may help my contacts and visa versa. If my family member marries I will research that line . Please let me have your veiws? Margaret