Geneology..........not the Stag.

[Jeff]

Been dabbling with family history for some years now but got nowhere.

Can anybody recommend a good 'site' without being ripped off?

Jeff.

[staginhiding]

I thinks Friends Reunited had a spin off from the original site..

Sam

[GDPR]

I'm using findmypast.co.uk - surprisingly good but Scottish records are not part of any package, so if you need to head north of the border you need an alternative resource.

I have the 6 month £70 package, has unlimited access and has thrown a few surprises already including my fathers older brother who died at 0 years in 1915, and he had a sister I never knew about - you have to be careful with skeletons in cupboards

[therat04]

Been dabbling with family history for some years now but got nowhere.

Can anybody recommend a good 'site' without being ripped off?

Jeff.

Hello Jeff i have completed 6 Family trees now all with Ancestry.com. a mammoth task, i am still tinkering now with odds and ends, your right they know how to charge but the site is excellent.
Jeff in my opinion you cant do this on the cheap properly,you will need a site like this. its about £10 pounds a month and you can come and go as you please, when you leave you still have access to your tree and when you want to carry out more research just join up for another month.
p.m me for more info if you wish.... Steve

[therat04]

I'm using findmypast.co.uk - surprisingly good but Scottish records are not part of any package, so if you need to head north of the border you need an alternative resource.

I have the 6 month £70 package, has unlimited access and has thrown a few surprises already including my fathers older brother who died at 0 years in 1915, and he had a sister I never knew about - you have to be careful with skeletons in cupboards

Found a few of them Russ, ancestor of Royalty i am not...Sir Steve

[MandM]

Been dabbling with family history for some years now but got nowhere.

Can anybody recommend a good 'site' without being ripped off?

Jeff.

We found the best way to do it is buy the "Who do think you are book and Cd", which will give a years membership of Ancestry and the soft ware to build your trees, got ours from Smiths when it was on offer, save us a lot.
Hope this helps

[DJT]

Hi Jeff,

I spent a lot of time with Ancestry.com after discovering some intriguing documents among my mother's papers. Findmypast.co.uk was also helpful, but it all got a bit expensive as I needed to do a lot of research using Australia and New Zealand records. You should have a local records office that is very helpful. I found out that my mother had a younger brother who died at 4 months by searching our local church cemetery records. A few other 'skeletons' fell out of the cupboard when the door to the past was opened. As a word of caution, you may not like everything you discover...........

[Tdm]

In 1996 my Father (since deceased) had a letter from a G B Hooper & Son (Genealogists & Probate Researches) regarding an old relative who had died aged 105 in Toronto, Canada and whose relatives they were trying to trace in order to process the "unsettled" Estate. G B Hooper have offices in London & Toronto and they supplied us with a part family tree that went back to the 1800's. Things got rather complicated though and they were never able to complete their research, so whatever inheritance was involved probably went to the Canadian Government . It got confusing because a former descendent of ours was called Smith and married twice (that we knowe of) and had lots of children some of whom Emigrated to Canada. The Family Tree my Father was sent was supplied free of charge. I don't know if G B Hooper & Son do normal Genealogy research, or only if Probate is involved, but I have their address if anyone is interested.

[Guest]

The two sites mentioned have been used for English tracing by lots of people, but it ain't cheap. If you have Scottish ancestry, use ScotlandsPeople. It is the site of the General Register of Scotland and all certificates can be accessed directly on line and cheaply too. No need to send away for certs (at about £15 each) only to find out that it is not the one you thought. Much better than the English system. I have put my tree on GenesReunited.com.

[jleyton]

There was an article in The Economist about this a few weeks ago. Apparently, most of the main sites don't show illegitimate children ? however there is one (sorry, don't recollect the name) that shows them all.

I must admit that tracing my ancestors has never really interested me. My sister in law is convinced that she is related to royalty. I reply twofold: 1) If every couple had just two kids, there would be something like 40 million relatives of King Henry V111 alive today ! And 2) 'So what if you are related to royalty ? It isn't going to change anything' !

Cheers

Julian

[milothedog]

There was an article in The Economist about this a few weeks ago. Apparently, most of the main sites don't show illegitimate children ? however there is one (sorry, don't recollect the name) that shows them all.

I must admit that tracing my ancestors has never really interested me. My sister in law is convinced that she is related to royalty. I reply twofold: 1)

If every couple had just two kids, there would be something like 40 million relatives of King Henry V111 alive today !

And 2) 'So what if you are related to royalty ? It isn't going to change anything' !

Cheers

Julian

That's similar to the class sizes in East London in the 60's, there must have been about 5000 kids in each class according to the amount of people who claim to have gone to school with the Kray Twins

Ian

[Stag therapy]

Another recommendation for ancestry.com, although I find some of the 20th C BMD records are patchy.
I use an annual subscription. A least you can revisit records without charge. Used findmypast but it got too expensive. and with ancestry you can choose your level of subscription depending upon whether you want UK or world.
A bonus I found was you can see if others have looked at the same records as you. With this facility I came across an unknown distant relative in the US, who provided a lot of information about an 19th C emigree I would never have discovered.
And the records database seem to be updated periodically with less common records. For example a record of divorces which explained to me why one of the wives of my maternal grandfather disappeared and another appeared.
Genuki is also a useful source of information.
Some years ago my wife bought me Ancestral Trails by Mark Herber. Not cheap, but I have found it a valuable reference book.

[GDPR]

The two sites mentioned have been used for English tracing by lots of people, but it ain't cheap. If you have Scottish ancestry, use ScotlandsPeople. It is the site of the General Register of Scotland and all certificates can be accessed directly on line and cheaply too. No need to send away for certs (at about £15 each) only to find out that it is not the one you thought. Much better than the English system. I have put my tree on GenesReunited.com.

Just registered and bought credits for this site - it gives virtually no information to verify if the person you have found is the right one, but trying to view a cetificate to verify will cost £12 a pop - no wonder the Scots have a reputation for being tight

[Motorcycle mad]

Hi Jeff, try this one, I have managed to find more info from this site than on others, and I seem to be able to access a lot of their site for free, you have to try their different search routes.

https://familysearch.org/

Good luck with your search
Ken

[therat04]

Just registered and bought credits for this site - it gives virtually no information to verify if the person you have found is the right one, but trying to view a cetificate to verify will cost £12 a pop - no wonder the Scots have a reputation for being tight

oooops be careful dont upset anyone Russ....Sir Steve