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  • help with starting a family tree

    hi all im sorry i know im very new to the forum but i would appreciate anyone who could help me and advise me on how i begin with my family tree i have to go this one complelt alone as i have no contact with other family members my grandparents are deceased and it is a very touchy subject with my mum so pls any advice would be greatfully recieved how do i start my family tree oh also althought i know my fathers name and one of his sisters names i have no other information than that were do i begin

  • #2
    Please keep in mind that FTF does not allow the names of living persons to be posted.

    You don't mention where you are from, or where your ancestors lived. Obtaining a death certificate for your grandparents could be a great step forward - most will list the deceased's parents' names, and the deceased's place of birth. You don't mention your father's status. The same may apply to him.

    Best wishes in your search

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    • #3
      sorry as far as i know my dad is still alive and we are all from the cheshire area except my gran

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      • #4
        Hi sassy and welcome to FTF.

        You will need to get a copy of your Father's birth certificate. This will tell you his Father's name and his Mother's maiden name. If you have an idea how old your Father is, it will help in the search for his BMD index reference. You can search the indexes for free on:
        Ancestry® helps you understand your genealogy. A family tree takes you back generations—the world's largest collection of online family history records makes it easy to trace your lineage.


        These are not indexed up to current dates but I was born in 1946 and I am on there. If your Dad is a lot younger then you will need to search the indexes using a site like Ancestry.co.uk They have the BMD indexes up to about 2005 but there is a subscription charge. You can usually get free access at a local library though. You will need to enter his details and see what comes up. If his name is unusual, this will be easier than if it's a name that is fairly common. When you have found what you think may be his entry, then try searching for his Sister. You will notice that the Mother's maiden name is also shown on the index entry. His Sister's index entry will have the same Mother's maiden name. This should enable you to find the correct entry for your Father.

        Using the information given on the index entry, you can order his birth certificate from the GRO. Do NOT order it from the Ancestry page where you find the index. They cost far more if you order from that site. From the GRO it is currently £9.50. Here is alink to the GRO:


        When you know his Mother and Father's names, you can then do a search for their marriage certificate and get that. This will show the names of both their Fathers.

        You work backwards from there building up your tree. There is a lot of information in the yellow link at the top of this page "Starting Out on Your Research". This will tell you how to proceed. Let us know how you get on with your first searches.

        Good luck.

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        • #5
          Another thought: If you know where & when your grandparents died and were buried, you may be able to find obituaries for them in their local newspapers. Your local library should be able to help you find them, probably without charging any fees.

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          • #6
            Hello Sassy and welcome to FTF
            If the family is from cheshire then try cheshire bmds thats cheshire births marriages and deaths site which is really good and free and also www.familysearch.org as that has a lot of cheshire records on there too.
            No one has said it yet but doing your family tree can be very addictive - you will have days wondering where fred bloggs got to and friends will think you are plain weird!!!!!
            still its great fun and very satisfying and totally legal!!!!!
            Angelina

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            • #7
              If you want help with getting started on the living names then you can send a private message to any member with the details by clicking on their name on your thread and selecting private message, you can then send the message via this site and the person is notified that a message is waiting for them.

              You will also need to have a means of recording what you find in a systematic way and a family tree programme is the best way. Ancestry and Find My past both have facilities for doing this on line but you have to subscribe, otherwise you can download a programme for free - all the information to get you started is on the link suggested above which is free on this site.

              Perhaps you could put up some information about your grandparents and we might be able to help at least with that. There may even be another relative doing the same research that we could find online and help you make contact so you can pool your time and money to produce a tree between you.
              Margaret

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              • #8
                I would say start with yourself and your birth certificate - I presume you have yours and it's a full one which gives details of both your parents. Then both their births/marriage certificates. As your mother is a bit off it maybe things aren't as they seem and she doesn't want you finding out or broadcasting!!! It maybe just that she doesn't want you to make contact with anyone on your father's side of the family. So tread carefully.

                I made the mistake of presuming I knew something and followed a line back to 1800 only to find when I got a marriage certificate (when tidying up tree) that I'd wasted a lot of time, effort and money following the wrong line. I'd rushed to assume so don't get caught out check each stage.



                Researching Irish families: FARMER, McBRIDE McQUADE, McQUAID, KIRK, SANDS/SANAHAN (Cork), BARR,

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                • #9
                  I can't think of much to add to what's already been said - except to say that if you find your tree is wandering into areas that are sensitive, we can move the whole thread to (or you could start a new one in) http://www.familytreeforum.com/forum...option-Reunion

                  That's a part of the site which doesn't get picked up by search engines. ... You don't want to wind people up by running the risk that they find personal info about themselves up on the site for all to see!

                  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)...

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                  • #10
                    ok well ty so much for all the help so far already im dying to get started as it is somethink i have wanted to do for a long time i have only started very recently and my best friend thinks i have lost the plot and hopefully it somethink the children will be intrested in as my son was asked to do a family tree for school and he will be doing research about family trees in school

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by sassy05 View Post
                      ok well ty so much for all the help so far already im dying to get started as it is somethink i have wanted to do for a long time i have only started very recently and my best friend thinks i have lost the plot and hopefully it somethink the children will be intrested in as my son was asked to do a family tree for school and he will be doing research about family trees in school
                      A couple of things you'll need to bear ni mind as you work your way through the tree...
                      Family stories can be accurate but are often based only loosely on fact: people's jobs get promoted and achievements get enhanced. It's best not to rely too heavily on the confident assertion that, say, great uncle Fred drove the Flying Scotsman, or whatever.
                      You need to be prepared to find that people didn't keep to the rules: the number of trees with no "skeletons" must be vanishingly small.

                      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)...

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