Genealogy Chat

Just read a comment by Lou on the 21st in which she moaned about folk asking if she had finished her tree yet. I was asked this only today, and people seem really surprized when you state that you will never be finished. There is so much more than just finding who gave birth to who and who married who. I like to build as big a picture as possible and I am sure most of us who use this site are the same. Pauline

Yes, they regularly named a younger child after an older sibling who died. Back in the 1800s when the infant mortality rate was high & they had no photos to remember a child by, it was a way of honouring them. I also cried, when I received the death certificate of my great-uncle, who died at the age of 3 in 1894. Carole

Hello Margaret What about the siblings with the same name! I've only just started my family tree a few months ago and found my Grandmother had a brother named Harvey Holden Denyer. died aged 20 in WW1. He should have been 38 if he was born in 1879! (His elder brother died aged 5 in 1884.) The second Harvey's middle name is really James, so the details on the CWGC site are wrong... Confusion for a beginner! Merry Christmas Angela

Yes ,incredibly important especially when your parent as a young child were told all living relatives were dead. I've found a few siblings of direct ancestors that no one knoew existed because of looking for siblings and some are definitely alive. Merry Xmas Kim

If I didn't have sibling families to find, I would have nothing to do, because I can't find any more information on my direct line, especially those from Ireland!!

I could not find my wife's GGrandfather on 1901 census, but found his brother. On closer inspection of the original image, I found him living next door, surname mis-transcribed, Curlis instead of Curtis!

Lou I am always being asked whether or not I have finished my tree and I just laugh because I doubt I will ever finish after at least 40 years of Family History and with so much info to still uncover and write up but one more point about following siblings. If I had not been following siblings I would never have come across the fairly unique situation of 3 siblings from one family marrying 3 siblings from another family. Janet

I'm so glad to read that other people follow the siblings to. I've always made a point of looking up the siblings and then trying to find out when they married and whether they had any children. My other half thinks this is a totally pointless exercise and keeps asking why I'm bothering with people who aren't my direct line. Sometimes it ties me in knots even more, on other occasions it's provided some really useful info and helped me to find members of the family that I thought were 'lost'. And if anyone asks me one more time whether I've 'finished the tree' yet, I'll hit them...Christmas spirit or not! How can you ever 'finish' a tree? There's always so much more to be discovered!!! Lou

Margaret How right you are. Without sibling information the "real" family history would be very difficult to do, and I have found many interesting siblings in all the generations I have researched. Even now, trying to "forward" my information in the 20 century, after 1901 census, I am doing this through a sibling because my main line is petering out. In many cases the researching of the siblings has led me to other villages and even counties so yes they should all be researched and no it is not a waste of time, it truly enriches your family tree. Janet

Siblings are great if you can find them! They've made my life much easier when trying to connect Fathers, Mother and children.

Hi, Have used this approach with much success given the ridiculous number of Johns from whom my husband (also a John) directly descends. Thank goodness for siblings with unusual names and particularly middle names from other family members!! Also, I have found numerous cases of siblings marrying siblings of their siblings partner (does that make sense??) brothers marrying sisters for example. Makes it all seem a bit incestuous really!! Merry Christmas

I have used the younger siblings of ancestors born pre-1837 to find their mother's maiden name. The parish registers (all that is available before civil registration began in 1837) don't usually show this info. However, for ancestors born in the 1820's and early 1830's, if you're lucky and their parents were still popping out kids by 1837, then the birth certs of the younger sibling will tell you the mother's maiden name. I've also obtained certs of siblings where the mother's maiden name was illegible on the direct ancestor's cert.

Marjorie Glad you feel better! Siblings are very useful indeed. I've often found info about direct relatives by tracing their siblings, and often siblings stay with direct relatives on the census. They can be why someone moves to a different area for example, and I found that two siblings of my great-grandmother married another brother and sister. nell

But first I would like to make sure that everyone understands the meaning of the word "SIBLING"- siblings are your brothers and sisters, not your children! I have lost count of the number of confusing messages (not on here) from people wanting to trace the siblings of someone, when its obvious by the dates given that they really mean the children of someone. It makes me want to SCCRRREEEAAAMMM!!! (Sorry about that, but I do feel a bit better now that's out)

nudge

Margaret, That is what I have done with my Mum's side, been fantastic info and found soo many living rellies now. But on my Buddell side, no chance! would love to know if my Gt grandad had siblings, but can't even find his parents, now that would be my dream Chrissie present ( didn't I say that last year, year before and the year before that! lol) Kim

keep telling my mum that 0 she just thinks i'm going off on one

Margaret thats what I have been trying to do. Have found a couple but am hindered by the dreaded Jones!! Rather difficult if one has no idea of the partners names. Its helped with one couple so I keep trying. Will keep on, Jean :-)

As a Genealogist of over 30 years standing (20 of those as a professional and tutor). I would like to emphasise the importance of tracing all possible SIBLINGS of ancestors and their children. Admittedly this can be time consuming to say the least, but on the plus side can lead to much relevent information which may have hitherto gone unnnoticed. It can be used as a time filler also when a seemingly "dead end" has been reached. This also has the advantage of discovering many different surnames of later relatives, any one of which might prove to be a distant cousin with whom to share information thus helping indirectly to further ones research. Try it, next time you hit a brick wall. from Margaret Thurston, email [email protected]