Genealogy Chat

Many thanks to all of you who have answered my thread. Of course I do wish my family history to be as accurate as possible (it would hardly be worthwhile if I was adding the wrong people to my family) I am therefore going to checkout all my information more thoroughly before I finally decide that what I have found is accurate. Thanks so much, there have been some very useful tips here. G xxx

Don't forget to google search your names too (and use as many other search engines as you can find) - I found letters held by Fife Council written by my great great grandmother listed, I wrote to the council asking about them and they sent me copies....and the information in the letters is amazing! (admittedly when I think of writing to a council official my letter would usually be about 3 lines long, and the copies I now have are 6 pages of A4 with a complete life story!! lol) The only thing to remember is search on variations of names so you pick up anything that has been mistranscribed.

Gee, We all wnat our Family Trees to be as accurate as possible. The problem with the IGI is that it includes Family Trees submitted by Church Members. I am afraid that some of them were more enthusiastic than accurate. It is always important to check information you get from sources other than the actual records. Also bear in mind, as many other GR Members will confirm, that even Official Transcribers can make some real Howlers when trying to read the old handwriting. Jim

Don't want to bore anyone or particularly repeat what is on here but a word of warning as most people seem to realise now that the LDS is very flawed. Having said everything I have found on there, apart from 2 discrepancies, has proved accurate. However, there is nothing to stop me or anyone putting any old rubbish on their records.

Feel I was a bit hard on the LDS- although I stand what I said about their AWT and also the IGI. One ancestor of mine on there had 42 children! No one seemed a bit amazed that she had the last child at the age of 72, that she married her own son, and that despite having no multiple births, she baptised five children in one year. Subsequent investigations showed seven couples with the same names, but different occupations etc, and therefore seven different families. I gave up in disgust and did it from scratch myself. However, if you go to one of the Family History Centres run by the LDS, you will find amazingly helpful staff with lots of knowledge (and an awareness of the shortcomings of their website!). And its absolutely free (they appreciate, but do not ask for, donations) and you can order films etc of Parish Records for a very small fee.

I'm going to have to agree with what everyone else has been saying about the LDS...ESPECIALLY with regards to the information that's been submitted by other researchers. I had a whole lot of info sent to me a few years ago, and this person had already submitted it to the LDS. When I checked this info against the original registers, I found a number of discrepancies, lots of things not adding up properly; plus....worst of all......I found a burial for one 'ancestor' who had died aged 12, but according to this person's tree he had gone on to marry and have 8 children! Much of his information had come from the IGI to start with, but burials are rarely recorded, so a lot of assumptions were made. Nothing beats seeing the original records and the IGI can only be used as a guide. You also have to take into account those families who were non-conformists; and many people did attend independent meeting houses, but unfortunately too few pre 19th century records have survived and the only indication that a meeting house existed will be the survival of the meeting house certificate, usually in diocesan records. It's not suprising the records didn't survive when you think of the history of persecution many of them faced in the early days, but they were all someone's ancestors. I've got back to before 1700 on a number of lines, but I've been searching for over 25 years and it hasn't been easy. Pre 18th century records can be sketchy to say the least, and I've had to fall back heavily on wills, manorial records and the like, instead of parish registers. Have to say, they are much more interesting! and there is such a diversity of records available, but you have to know what to look for. Also the further back you get the more likely it is that you are going to come across records in Latin, as English only became the official language for many legal documents in the 1730s. My advice for anyone new to this game, is read, read, and read some more. Learn about the kinds of records that were created in whatever time you are searching in, and learn about the social history of the times so you have some idea of what records your ancestors may have appeared in. In the end it generally comes down to class. Best of luck, Cass

I have to agree Marjorie I have found some dodgy info on the lds and IGI at the end of the day it os info that is submitted by everyday people. I have a Jude in my line who married a Lewis but according to the IGI she was an Inde and not a Jude, yet I have her marriage and death registration along with the birth registrations of some of her children and her name is definately Jude. And I'm sorry but I cant trust anyone who tells me that another of my ancestors was born in Edinburgh, ENGLAND?? Or who thinks that Fife is in Lanarkshire. I did admittedly get a lot of info from there but once I checked it against official documents I found that only 20% of the info I got from there was correct. ow I only use it if I am really stuck and I immediately check anything I find with official docs.

I would echo what everyone else has said, particularly about checking info from the LDS site - I will be polite and say that some of the info is dodgy! You should concentrate on backing everything up with certificates first - you may find some surprising information. My late father had written a very long history of our family from memory - most of it turned out to be innacurate or just plain wrong. A2A is a wonderful site, Im obsessed with it and can get my general family back to 1210 on there. And it does have the advantage that it is "proved" in as much as the information given actually exists on a document. Good luck anyway, but do CHECK CHECK CHECK!

OK I'm off to bed now - thanks and bye xxx G xxx

Thanks Brenda! That is really usefull it's given me loads of ideas where to look next..... it is addictive isn't it? ........ I only got started cos I had a couple of weeks off sick from work! I can't leave it alone now! :-))) G xxx

Hi June - where would I go for Wills? G x

Masses of information survives in England to help you flesh out your family history, but you will need to visit local record offices for much of it. If you have used familysearch, you have to be aware that entries for some parishes are not complete, that some are mistranscribed, and you really need to look at original records, sometimes on microfilm or fiche. These will provide all sorts of additional bits of information. You need to kill off all your ancestors, to prove that the people you've accepted as ancestors didn't die as babies. Wills can help prove relationships, so can manorial records, poor law records can show where people were born, land tax assessments can show who occupied a particular plot of land. This list just goes on and on, but survival rates decrease the further back you go, the records are handwritten and increasingly dirty. Look at the websites for the record offices for the counties you are interested to get an idea of what is available and A2A for all sorts of records that might mention your ancestors. It gets harder, but it also gets much more fun. Brenda

Thanks....... I think I just fell lucky, my Mum, June nr Preston, has been doing my Maternal line for a while so I haven't been really concentrating on that because the fun is in the finding out (if you know what I mean)....... but my Dad remembered alot about my grand and great grandparents, which amazed even himself. That was good grounding....... I have also been lucky in that alot of direct family father to son so to speak has been recorded on LDS IGI etc....... It's now that I seem to have run dry with them that I am stuck where to go...... I suppose I was spoiled with the information available so far....... Also I need to pack it out with brothers and sisters etc as I am sure I do not have all of them......I suppose its the grave yards etc now then....... Gxxx

I'm pretty sure what I have is correct because about 2 days ago I heard through a relative that another relative of mine was doing the tree in Australia.... how the web untangles - after hearing this I came across a a couple of names that coincided with mine these were actually submitted by him on lds. When I searched entering his submitter number this produced 6 pages of names when printed off (including what I have on my list ) But I'm hooked now and I'm hungry for more

Hello Ms Baby! You've done really well. A word of caution though. Have you checked the entries you have in the actual parish registers yet or with GRO for the later ones? Have fun.

Well, actually I am new to this I have been researching using LDS and a couple of Family history sites that I have found - but seriously, I am brand new to this and was actually looking for some constructive help and advice so that I could enjoy researching further to find out more about my family roots.

It would be easier to offer advice if you gave some idea of names and places. Personally I think you are very lucky - I have been doing this seriously for 2 years and have only just got back to the 1780s & 1790s with my relatives. Church records started properly in 1550 something, but not many of them survive - when you think about the upheaval of civil war, fire, flood etc etc its amazing any of them do. nell

I have only been researching my family tree for a couple of weeks but so far I have been quite lucky, however..... in several cases once I get back to the 1700's I seem to dry up Any ideas? G xxx