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  • Finding other people researching your lines

    I have spent a large part of the past week trying to find other people researching the same lines as me - it's all 20th century things I am stuck with.

    Have tried Ancestry, GR, Rootsweb, the Guild of one name Studies and Googled and Yahooed until my eyes have nearly popped out! :(

    Do other people find it easier, or is it just me?

    Is it because what I am looking for is relatively recent?

    Just wondered

    Thanks
    Joan died in July 2020.

  • #2
    I have never found anyone who is researching who is a close relation (ie say 2nd cousin or closer).

    Those I have found tend to have mutual ancestors in the mid-Victorian period or before (sometimes a long way before). This may be because my tree as at it's widest through the census period!

    Comment


    • #3
      Thanks Merry - that probably explains it as my tree (twig LOL) is never more than about 5 people wide - if that makes sense :D

      I often read lovely stories of people discovering 2nd cousins, for example and having huge amounts of information to share - and had visions of everyone else researching the same names as I am going into hiding when they saw me coming!! :D:D

      You have reassured me - thanks
      Joan died in July 2020.

      Comment


      • #4
        I always seem to link (on the rare occassions i do link anywhere) about four or five generations back, i have found living rellies but that isn't suprising when you consider i have 15 or so half sibs and six uncles/aunts on my mothers side. Mind you, they are either not into family history or not interested in meeting their adopted out half sibling.
        http://www.flickr.com/photos/50125734@N06/

        Joseph Goulson 1701-1780
        My sledging hammer lies declined, my bellows too have lost their wind
        My fire's extinct, my forge decay'd, and in the dust my vice is laid

        Comment


        • #5
          Another problem (sorry!) is that people often don't have very accurate info about people born this side of 1901 and that makes it harder to sort out if they have the same person as you are looking for, on their tree (on GR for instance)

          eg My dad had 13 siblings, most of whom lived to adulthood, married and had children etc. I have not bothered looking for all their marriages as they are all in the untranscribed era, post about 1930. So, I have limited info on their spouses....don't know the maiden names or ages of the women, nor the ages of the men or what children they had, though I might know that Uncle Jim and Auntie Flo had David, Shelia and Maureen and that Maureen married Fred Bloggs and had Patricia and Susan, but I don't know when or where! This might not matter if the surname is really rare, but if they were Smith then you would be completely stuck!

          Comment


          • #6
            I've come across various folk who are researching my ex's Jewish branch.

            My own family - only person to have done any research is my mother's 2nd cousin, who wasn't very interested when I contacted him, though he did write back and promise me a photo - which hasn't materialised.

            I am sure I have droves of cousins I know nothing about on both sides of family (Mum's Dad lost contact with his 6 siblings; Dad's Dad had 8 siblings whose later life I know nowt about). But I don't know who they are, where they are and chances that they are tracing their tree seem remote indeed.

            I hope the 1911 census will give me some starting points.
            ~ with love from Little Nell~
            Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

            Comment


            • #7
              When I was on GR I had several contacts from 1st Cousins who were descended from my Paternal Grandfather's siblings. Same with my OH's family. They were all very helpful in giving me details of their branch, plus confirming that my research was the same as theirs. I never even knew about these people until I started researching.

              I also have my tree online and have had several contacts from people connected to some of the twigs that I have on there. Unfortunately, as several people have taken a lot of the information without even contacting me, I have had to lock the tree down to just surname searches.
              Wendy



              PLEASE SCAN AT 300-600 DPI FOR RESTORATION PURPOSES. THANK YOU!

              Comment


              • #8
                I tend to agree there Merry, most of my uncles/aunts were getting married during the 1940's and the multiple entries for their names makes it almost impractical to go down the cert route. Without even thinking about re-marriages and the ones who went abroad with their serviceman sweetearts!

                Allied to the fact that i believe (from limited info) that the three half sibs i through my b/m i have 14 cousins and heaven knows how many through my fathers side (if they are as fertile as my b/f then probably 100 or so!!) it would take years or bmd trawls and the finances of a small country to sort out.
                http://www.flickr.com/photos/50125734@N06/

                Joseph Goulson 1701-1780
                My sledging hammer lies declined, my bellows too have lost their wind
                My fire's extinct, my forge decay'd, and in the dust my vice is laid

                Comment


                • #9
                  That makes sense Merry - thanks - fortunately most of my surnames are not very common, but I still remain firmly rooted in the 20th century - anything else is sort of provisional - LOL

                  I did actually track down a first cousin once (nothing to do with my other thread, but on the other side of the family) - he was so pleased to hear from me and we chatted on the phone and exchanged photos and letters - it was lovely - then suddenly it all stopped and he didn't respond any more. OH just said "Oh well, I expect he has died" - but it seemed very strange - he was only 60 - ( don't think it would be easy to check this as he was living abroad)

                  But it was sooooo dissappointing.

                  So I think I'll just stop looking - although I do find it strange sometimes that (apart from my own children and my sisters, there is only one relative on my side of the family with whom I am in contact).

                  Sorry - don't mean to sound maudlin' - just thinking aloud
                  Joan died in July 2020.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I was going to join in and have a moan too.

                    Then I realised that I have been contacted by a first cousin through GR. We have met up, but this side of the family is very cagey with information, so I still only have "Auntie Sue married Uncle Bill and they had Ann, Brian and Carol" type of info.

                    I also had contact from a third cousin, who IS into family history and has sent me loads of information and photos. Considering I didn't even know he existed - and took some convincing that he was indeed an unknown relative - I reckon that is a bonus.

                    We have not shared information about living people though - he doesn't know the names of my husbands (!) and my children etc, and I don't know his living relatives. That is out of a mutual, unspoken, respect, I think.

                    All the rest though, are twiglets connecting through 5 x GGPs or whatever, and they rarely have much to tell me that I didn't already know.

                    I am always more interested in going backwards than coming forwards and none of these contacts can ever take me any further back.

                    OC

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Thanks OC - I understand what you are saying

                      But as I only know for certain who one of my grandparents was, I am largely unable to drag myself further back than the 20th century.

                      I think I was just feeling desparate!
                      Joan died in July 2020.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Muggins in Sussex View Post

                        Sorry - don't mean to sound maudlin' - just thinking aloud
                        Sounds just like me sometimes.

                        I joined GR the day i learn't the name of my birth mother and found a half bro within 10 minutes of joining.

                        Over two or three weeks we established we were related and he mentioned the other two sibs, asked a question about a death in the family (he knew the scenario but not who it related to), after that absolutely nothing, unanswered e-mails became the norm and i haven't heard from him for two years.
                        The half sister did phone a few times, once she announced she was moving house and would be in touch afterwards (she hinted she would possibly like to meet me) but not a peep since.

                        I always tried to keep the conversation away from the circumstances of my adoption and ask for general info about the family but they either don't know or don't want to divulge info.
                        http://www.flickr.com/photos/50125734@N06/

                        Joseph Goulson 1701-1780
                        My sledging hammer lies declined, my bellows too have lost their wind
                        My fire's extinct, my forge decay'd, and in the dust my vice is laid

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Perhaps I have been lucky but I found a first cousin in the USA, whose father had lived in Florida. I had an address which was about 35 years old when I checked it out in 2001 against addresses in Florida. To my surprise my cousin had taken over his father's house, so I wrote a letter and inside the week I had a phone call to say that he had let the house and lived elsewhere and that started off a few precious years of catching up. I had more info than him and showed him how to do Family History. Sadly he died 2004 but not before he had come to visit and tell me that I was just one week away from missing him altogether, as he had sold the house a year before and the year's subscription to post office was within a week of running out, when I wrote! How lucky was that!

                          Another cousin found me from the USA when I had left some information on a Rootsweb site.

                          Yet another descendant of the same Great Grandparents root found me because I had my name in the interest section of the Northants Family history society.

                          One other descendent fof the same great Grandparents root found me through a village website where I had left my name.

                          All contacts I have have been very productive

                          I think to get contacts you have to think about joining Family History Societies, leaving messages that whet the appetite on rootsweb, without giving all away and leaving your calling card at various villages. You need to go after possible links without giving too much away.

                          GR was the worst one for me for contacts as one person had my people of interest in his tree and when I wrote to him, he took all my tree and put it on GR. Then I discovered he had made the fundamental error of not checking a Marriage Cert and when I checked it out he had the wrong family. Idid write and he did take the tree off GR. Another person had my family on GR but after exchanging a few E mails, in which I gave a fair amount of information, I realised all he wanted was my tree to latch on to his own, so he got no more from me. Yet another on GR gained all my family tree from one of my other non GR contacts, back to the late 1500's and put the whole lot on to GR!! I was not happy and wrote to my original contact who was mortified but he did succeed in getting her to take it off.

                          What is it with GR. I have had more grief there than anywhere!

                          Janet

                          PS I will add that my contacts took a few years to materialise. I think that just doing this for one week is expecting rather a lot. Rome was not built in a day and family history contacts are slow to grow unless you are extremely lucky.
                          Last edited by Janet; 20-09-08, 17:49.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I have also been lucky. I knew my grandmother was illegitimate but didn't know that her mother had gone on to marry and have 4 more girls. A granddaughter of one of these girls contacted me and we exchanged photos and its amazing to see the likeness between our families.

                            By the way, I have a John Dowsett from East Ham who married into our family!
                            Jean



                            To forget your ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root....

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              When I first joined GR I was contacted by a 1st cousin who I had not seen since she was very young. I gave her some information and I have not heard from her since!

                              Three years ago I was contacted by a 2nd cousin born and still living in Australia who I previously did not know existed. Her OH had to visit Manchester (business) and she came over with him. We met up and spent a couple of days together and I took her to the areas our ggrandparents families lived. We have kept in touch and exchanged lots of information.
                              Lynne

                              Searching for Ford, Duffy, (Manchester and Ireland) Cree (Manchester, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire), Owen (Manchester), Humphreys (Manchester and Ireland), Egerton (Manchester and Cheshire), Cresswell (Manchester).

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                Some of my first cousins who have never been lost to me have my address and I have theirs but don't keep in touch in spite of my annual Christmas cards, while a third cousin and I are in regular contact. I can't explain it.

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  I realise - even more, now - that I have been very fortunate.

                                  I knew that my 1st cousin had picked up her father's research, and that he - and another uncle - had done a lot of research into my mother's tree - and then, when I joined GR, and started contacting people, I was contacted by a more remote cousin who generously gave me a copy of a family tree drafted (beautifully) in the 1970s, and that got me a long way along the route! Since then another cousin has materialised on GR - one I knew quite well already, but hadn't realised was tree-building. I now have a whole list of researchers for that bit of the tree (including other names on that side), related to a greater or lesser extent.

                                  Then another GR cousin gave me a chunk of direct-line ancestry for my father's tree - which I have, since, been able to expand upon. Again, I have made contact with others who are related to a greater or lesser extent. Some have been givers, and some receivers (mostly not straight "takers").

                                  In OH's tree I had a huge breakthrough because my late (sweet) MiL had kept some correspondence which allowed me to contact a remote cousin in the USA. I was very relieved to hear from her, recently, after I had heard that Ike was making landfall at Galveston, where lots of her family live. And I've had other common ground to share in that side of the tree, too.

                                  I have been fortunate that, so far as I know, there haven't been any gross tree-swipings, but quite a lot of people willing to share research. It probably helped that I caught the correspondence about this problem early enough to be able to order my contacts in such a way that there isn't usually too much opportunity to take large swathes of tree, because it simply isn't available.

                                  Christine
                                  Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

                                  Comment


                                  • #18
                                    My best info has come by googling. I found my Dad's cousin was a uni professor. He had retired but the staff bio had enough info to know the general area he lived in. There were about 20 J Bloggs in the phone book (international call) but luckily he was the first one Dad called. From there I have contacted another 5 of the family. One lady I am quite close to. They don't have a lot of info but what they have is valuable. However they have been able to give me photos which I treasure.

                                    The only thing is that I knew they existed so I could look for them.

                                    Any other contacts I've had are way further up the tree and have more info than those closer to me. But I feel closer to my second cousins than the others though.
                                    Kit

                                    Comment


                                    • #19
                                      can i also sugest facebook,bebo and friends reunited.

                                      i joined facebook using my maiden name and a second cousin contact me and and i seach every so offen and found 2 1st cousin who i was desperated to find and we email now and then.
                                      wye surrey/london/birmingham
                                      lawrence/laurence berkshire/london/norfolk
                                      hall harrison cook/e pratt surrey
                                      ebbage maltby pratt norfolk
                                      herbert pratt yorkshire/hampshire
                                      armstrong/rickinson/harrison/beddington yorkshire

                                      Comment


                                      • #20
                                        I am convinced that there is a family history gene. I inherited this from my mother's side of the family. I trace both sides impartially, but I am only in regular contact with two cousins (I use the term loosely) on my father's side. One through a family history society, the other because his sister bumped into my aunt.

                                        Including spouses, I had nearly 60 great aunts and uncles but I've only made contact for research with the descendant of one of them.
                                        Phoenix - with charred feathers
                                        Researching Skillings from Norfolk, Sworn from Salisbury and Adams in Malborough, Devon.

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