Ooo nice surprise

[dothawkes31]

The wife of a second cousin just got in touch via ancestry, she's started the family tree and wonders if I have anything on her father-in-law (my Dad's Cousin). Lol, I've invited her to look at my Dad's tree, there is a picture of her husband's nan on there aged 4, I don't think I have anyone missing from the tree for 6 generations including every distaff side, I hope she isn't annoyed that it's all been done, computers are amazing things.

[askyourgran]

I'd really like to find out about my family but I've heard it works out quite expensive. You seem to have got a long way with yours. From what I've been told my family can be traced back to the 15c.

[craft1948]

That would be interesting gran..........the earliest in my tree are the late 1600's...

[dothawkes31]

That's usually about the limit with any certainty isn;t it craft, mainly cos that is when Parish Registers were no longer in latin, back to 1538 is possible IF registers survive and there was a Parish Church. It's not expensive now gran, comparatively it was back when I started but now so mch can be done for very little outlay.

[askyourgran]

I would like to look into my fathers' side of the family, our surname I imagined to be easier to follow but when I started looking there are loads of us (Litherland) mostly in Lancashire, and even abroad. I have a cousin who has done the search but I don;t know her that well to ask about it. She is a Mormon and been to the Mormon Church in America where I understand all family records are held there.

[dothawkes31]

The records held at the Salt lake City archive are records that have been created by the LDS chrch members doing their Family Tree to enable them to postumously baptise their proven ancestors into the LDS congregation. It also holds copies of records they have purchased from many sources all over the World. They don't exclsively hold anything that cannot be accessed elsewhere, including their own massive proect the IGI.

[Barmaid]

I bet she is not annoyed, I'll bet she is chuffed!!!!!

However Dot, with the exception with you (and I know you have HUGE experience in this, not to mention qualifications) and a few others who know their stuff on here (Craft stands out at this point) - when other researchers contact me, I do tend to take their research with a pinch of salt unless I can verify it for myself. I remember a lady contacting me some years ago and saying that our family was descended from xyz - unfortunately, she had not seen any original records and had relied on hearsay and an old newspaper cutting to make great leaps of faith to something that I have proved was completely incorrect.

I have been extraordinarily lucky with one branch of the tree and have traced that line through original parish registers back to 1538. In what was an amazing stroke of luck, my ancestors were also the parish clerks so I have a wealth of information. To see parish records which were signed by your own ancestors in the 1500s really is something else (but I need to get out more!).

[tinkerbell23]

i started this and then it tailed off...should really do it again as i was finding birth and marriage certificates and loved reading them...apparently my grandas side (mums dad) can only be done so far as a church was burned down with our records in over in ireland..and i came to a halt with dads mums side as i know her grandad came from ireland....so i hit a wall with that...so interesting. im sure grandas cousin in america has done a tree....wonder if i could get a copy...hmmmm xxx

[TheOtherHalf]

I agree Dot. Computers are amazing. I keep going back and updating all my trees with their little green leaves (hints). I have sometimes been a bit annoyed when someone copies all my tree and Ive done all the work. I never seem to get much new info off others. I find this happens more on GR.
We found someone on ancestry who lived on the same street as us whos husband was a distant relative. Our son even played with their children for years and we never knew. I think its fascinating and I dont care how much it costs me. I love it

[wolf63]

All Americans can trace their family back to royalty - amazing!

My brother has done a lot of work on our family tree - I don't really have the concentration span required for such work.

It must be a rewarding hobby.

[TheOtherHalf]

My OH hasnt any patience at all on the computer although hes always really interested when I find something new especially on his side. I can understand how some people find it a waste of time spending all that time on the computer, but once its done I`ll hand it over to various members of my family for their children to keep it updated in the future

[Barmaid]

TheOtherHalf - I get REALLY annoyed at people who copy my work without acknowledgement. There is a woman on ancestry at the moment who has a tenuous link through a great great great uncle who married one of her great great great aunts and she has copied the entirety of my tree and brags it is her own! Grrrrrr. She's got about 20,000 people in her tree now.