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  • Hello!

    Hello, first post. Bit about myself... Researching family after relatives have passed so bit harder. Have got some good leads on some branches but dead ends on others. My research is focusing around Middlesex (London) and Ely Cambridgshire.

    I have a few questions...
    1) Is there any good sites for searching census addresses? (I have bought some credits on findmypast but find it useless as you cant put a house number in and to view one page is 3 credits, so can add up quickly!)

    2) I have read so many how to's but all seem to give different ways and methods of research. But is there a "checklist" of things to search on new member first? As in when you discover someone you should search census, then marriages etc etc. I find my research goes off at tangants then I lose where I started!! ha

    3) Any advice for beginners that you experienced members would suggest reading? Maybe a sticky on the site somewhere?

    Lastly, thank you for all the advice I am sure I will recieve! :-)

  • #2
    Welcome Gavlar I am sure you will soon get as hooked on this forum as you are (or will be) in researching your family history. There are lots of really helpful people on here and I will be interested to see if there is a "beginners checklist" too as I have a friend about to start out on this adventure.

    Most local libraries have the Library version of Ancestry, where you can use it for free. They have the full version so have access to the London Metropolitan Records (LMA) which holds much awaited records for people who lived in London. They have only been online for several weeks and I know they have caused a lot of excitement for people with relatives in the area.

    Ancestry has cencus info too, but is not searchable by address. If you know the County and place, you can search the Enumerator's record at the start of each district and see where the street you want is included. It then means a trawl through each of the reurns, page by page until you find the address you want. I have just done this for one of mine who is hiding in the 1891 and it takes a while. If you try it at the library, you will see if you think it might be worth a subscription. I save everything I find onto a memory stick and load it to my computer at home.

    The 1881 census is searchable by address if you have the LDS CDs of it. There is also a free version of it online at Familysearch.org but as far as I know, is not searchable by address.

    Good luck and ask away if you have any more questions.

    By the way, "I find my research goes off at tangants then I lose where I started!! ha". I think we have all experienced this. I start off each day thinking I kow which family line I will work on and end up in a completely different place.

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    • #3
      hello and welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll get lots of help and advice from members here. Have you clicked yet on "Starting Out On Your Research" above this thread? Lots of good advice there.
      Good hunting
      Judith
      Judith passed away in October 2018

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      • #4
        Hallo and welcome

        I think most of us learn by trial and error. We all go off on tangents too! I'd say my main tip would be make a note of what you've found and where you found it - and also where you've looked. That saves a lot of repeat searches.
        ~ with love from Little Nell~
        Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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        • #5
          The key to good research is to start with what you know and confirm it with certificates, go back from that through censuses, then confirm what you find there with certificates. It can get a bit expensive but if you are shrewd you can pick out the right ones to get that give you the most information.
          It's very easy to go off on the wrong trail if you don't confirm things.
          We all go off on tangents at times and that's good sometimes because you can learn from it and maybe find something unexpected.
          Good luck and make sure you ask us all to help whenever you need it.
          Margaret

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          • #6
            Can't really add any more than has already been said.

            They are a great lot on here and very helpful.

            Good Hunting

            Linda

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            • #7
              Welcome to FTF!

              I think that most of what I'd have suggested is already here, but I would add one thing...

              Going off at a tangent - so long as you know that's what you're doing - can be fruitful.

              My main project is an ancestral chart, so siblings shouldn't be of over-much interest. However, on more than one occasion, checking up on siblings (e.g. in the census) has found them staying with Grandma (whose name I hadn't had), or may have helped to explain some name-choices.
              Sometimes, you find that your missing female ancestor is staying with a sibling, but you hadn't been able to find her because she'd been widowed and remarried.

              My best one was that a sibling had a middle name (Pafoot) which I realised just had to be a surname from further back. That name helped me get three generations further back by helping me identify the right route back using the IGI for the early C19th.

              Christine
              Last edited by Christine in Herts; 11-10-09, 21:12.
              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)...

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              • #8
                Wow if my first post is anything to go by I am going to have a whale of a time here! Ha

                I do have several start off questions, is it best I make a post for each question or just keep them going here? Dont want to swamp the forums with posts! lol

                I havent read the beginners link, I shall get reading that. Thank you to all the replies, some real encouragment!

                I had a forum a while back where you could ask a fellow member to use their membership to do some searches on another website that you werent a member on for example. Is that allowed here?

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                • #9
                  bother! just posted a message and lost it when I hit the wrong button! As I was saying, I would start a new thread with a clue in the heading "Seeking Mary Moss in 1901" rather than "help needed please". If you see what I mean. See what info comes in and follow up on the thread. Then when you are ready for a new search, start a new thread

                  You will need to subscribe to threads so you can find them again. Click on User Tools on the navbar and then User Control Panel. There will be a link in there to allow you to subscribe and then when you click on Forums on the navbar, then Subscribed Threads, your threads will be there. Also any threads you have posted on.

                  Hope that helps lol and good luck!
                  Rose

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by gavlar83 View Post
                    ...

                    I had a forum a while back where you could ask a fellow member to use their membership to do some searches on another website that you werent a member on for example. Is that allowed here?
                    This site is fairly strict about encouraging people to observe the terms & conditions (T&C) to which they've signed up on any site. Certainly, blanket look-up offers for subscription sites are strongly discouraged: that would take legitimate revenue away from them. If they don't get their income they can't function, long-term.

                    Having said that, people do say what gaps they're seeking to fill, and others may well use their access to help you fill the gaps. People have done things like that for me - but it's made me realise just how useful my own membership of such a site would be, so I've ended up with my own sub.

                    It's worth checking what access you can get from your local library service: a lot have Ancestry.com, for instance.

                    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


                    • #11
                      Cheers Christine. I have full access to Ancestry and am now paying pay per view for Find your past. Just adding up, but your suggestion is good!! ;-)

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