Tracing my family history

[Rivelin6]

If you have a lot of overseas family you will need the worldwide package and I'm afraid that's the most expensive one.However if you're canny you can use the pay as you go credits and do a bit at a time so you don't pay out loads.

[e barker]

I can recommend Ancestry.co.uk.

I tried them all when i first started 7 years ago and found Ancestry to be the best, I pay by direct debit Monthly.

[Annie Bynnol]

I would suggest that you do not need to buy Ancestry or Find my Past yet.

Steps up to 6 are Free.

Get Software:

Straightfoward, simple, exportable and free- use Personal Ancestral File from LDS but do not use LDS data without triple checking.

Search:

1 oldest family members- this cannot wait -free.

2 amateur researchers like yourself on Name or Locality Rootsweb board-free

3 England and Wales info on Freebmd -free

4 Regional free bmd eg Lancashire -free, some free census data.

5 CWGC free, British Newspapers, National Archives. Surname distribution maps, Google books free.

Immigration, Ellis Island, Australian, Canadian, Shipping all have free searches

6 1881 census free and complete- free searches for other dates.

Assess what you have collected and decide your next steps.

Remember so far everything you have researched is (should be) genuine and verifyable from now on you are relying more on others. Spend your money on Birth, Death and Marriage certs if in doubt.

7 Ancestry is probably more global than Find My Past- both do free introductory offers and sometimes free days. Census now on both but they still have different sets of data eg passenger lists on ships inward and outward.

 

Be wary of big collections of family data- the errors can be problematic.

There are still people who claim to be decendents of Willian Shakespere or James Cook.

[rothschild]

I signed up to genes re-united a few months back. I posted on their community boards and I got a reply from a lady who's husband was the relation of one of my Gt Gt Grandfathers siblings.

She sent me some really useful stuff which enabled me to go back to about 1600-ish.

I allready knew a fair bit but some of it had got confused over the years. I have managed to find many gravestones in Derbyshire though and also a stained glass window in a church dedicated to the son of my Gt Gt Grandfather. He was 3 when he was killed by a horse and carriage outside of the familie's business. How horrible. The window is beautiful but quite high up so I had to rely on the zoom on my camera to see it properly. Got some good pics though.

 

Edited to add........we lost quite a few relations in the great plague of Eyam which I had no idea of. I even found a plaque on a wall in commemoration of my relies. Fascinating stuff.

 

I had to put it all on the back burner though due to close family bereavement and shortly after that the husband (my newly found distant relative) of the lady that contacted me also passed away.

Now the hard drive on my laptop has died but luckily I also keep handwritten notes etc so most of my research is recorded but there were some things in my favourites which will probably be lost forever now........unless my son can breathe life back into my lappy.

Ahhhhhhhh............some of the potential "lost" stuff includes my photo's!! All family stuff but also heritage pictures. At least we can go back and take more photo's because it's only down in derbyshire.

 

I can't remember what I paid for my membership but I did think that was it for the year. It isn't though because you only get 50 credits and if you need to search a document it can cost 5 credits. If you run out of credits you have to buy more.

There are free ways of finding things out though and google really is quite handy there.

Edited January 11, 2013 by rothschild
adding

[Minimo]

CWGC is Commonwealth War Graves Commission for anybody who was wondering.

[davyboy]

 

I had to put it all on the back burner though due to close family bereavement and shortly after that the husband (my newly found distant relative) of the lady that contacted me also passed away.

Now the hard drive on my laptop has died but luckily I also keep handwritten notes etc so most of my research is recorded but there were some things in my favourites which will probably be lost forever now........unless my son can breathe life back into my lappy.

Ahhhhhhhh............some of the potential "lost" stuff includes my photo's!! All family stuff but also heritage pictures. At least we can go back and take more photo's because it's only down in derbyshire.

 

I can't remember what I paid for my membership but I did think that was it for the year. It isn't though because you only get 50 credits and if you need to search a document it can cost 5 credits. If you run out of credits you have to buy more.

There are free ways of finding things out though and google really is quite handy there.

 

Please folks BACK UP ALL YOUR INFO before your HD dies.

Years of hard work could be lost.

[iansheff]

If you get the Family Tree maker and the 6 months free Ancestry you can then get another 6 months for half the annual membership or pay for a full year. If you do not want it after the 6 months though, make sure you cancel as they will take the money out as you have to give card details.

[Gleadly]

Please, please, please do use a Cloud service to backup your data.

If you only have a few files then some of these services are free.

I use Zuucloud and they check my files 3 times a day.

[Shogun]

Sheffield family's are very interesting to trace back as most of us seem to come from different parts of the country,a lot of family's moved hear looking for work in the Iron works from the country villages,I always thought I was a Yorkshire man through and through till I traced the family back just three generations to a little village called Nessington in Northampton and the other side of the family came from West Brom.

[Rushup]

Thank you everyone, I'll have a think about it some more.