OT - Family Trees

[Richard Bruvofetc]

Do any of you research your family trees? If so, how do you get started? I know many years ago the starting place used to be St. Catherine's House but I believe they've moved the records from there now. The places I've looked on the internet all seem to want money for each individual record.

 

[Netty]

Hi Richard,
my son has being doing our family tree, he got information obviously from relatives and books on the subject. He's at uni at the moment so when i speak to him next i will find out where else he got the info from.

 

[Dimplenose]

Hi Richard, Libby's husband here. I've been doing family history for several years, though I wouldn't classify myself as an expert.

You should start off by asking relatives for information. Don't expect 100% accuracy and don't be surprised if they suddenly remeber something when you come up with some new information. Expressions such as "oh yes I remember him!" will ring through the air.

Records since September 1837 are now held at the Family Records Centre,1 Myddelton Street, London EC1R 1UW (http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/frc/). Certificates cost £7 each, but you need the reference number. They have books that you can search through or there are partial transcripts on the internet that you can seach through.

If you want some useful web pages I can provide those. Just ask via Libby. There are also mail list, magazines books, pay per view web sites and message boards like these.

It's not a cheap hobby but it will keep you occupied for years.

 

[Queenie]

My best suggestion would be ancestry.co.uk. It's a paid subscription site but they do have the birth, marriage and death registers for free. I've got so much info from there. Many counties also have searchable BMD records, just search for your county and free bmd on google.

 

[Chilly]

Here's the BBC Family History link which should help get you started.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/

 

[Pawpaws]

www.genesreunited.co.uk is also a good website - I met a relation who plays in the BBC Cardiff Orchestra, who has over 3000 names in his family tree, all linked to me! I've also met a girl in Northern Ireland related to my husband - her great-grandmother was my husband's aunt (or something like that, can't remember offhand). Ancestry.co.uk is also good. It's best to try and get the certificate references before ordering online as it will cost more if the researchers have to do more work to identify the name you're looking at.

Cheers and happy family-treeing

Paula