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  • How it Started, How it's Going.......


    Inspired by a recent post by a friend, what first got you started with genealogy and researching your family tree and what continues to inspire you to carry on with your research? Here's how I started.......

    https://chiddicksfamilytree.com/2022...how-its-going/
    Last edited by Paulc; 18-01-22, 02:58.
    My Family History Blog Site:

    https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

  • #2
    great story, I have no idea why I started really, age, time of life maybe. Fortunate to have both parents alive was able to make in roads very quickly, on the actual tree, with the census available and their memories.
    Carolyn
    Family Tree site

    Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
    Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

    Comment


    • #3
      My Dad prompted me originally. He did a little bit of research on his own family and found a will in The National Archives which showed his wealthy grandfather had only left his father one thing in his will - a horse whip!

      Also, my Mum died when I was 8 and her mother died when she was 11. I was always intrigued to know more about them. I have been fortunate enough to be able to talk to one of Mum's cousins who remembered my grandmother and great grandmother well. She has passed on various titbit over the years.
      Barbara

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by cbcarolyn View Post
        great story, I have no idea why I started really, age, time of life maybe. Fortunate to have both parents alive was able to make in roads very quickly, on the actual tree, with the census available and their memories.
        Thanks Carolyn, how many years have you been researching or have you lost count?
        My Family History Blog Site:

        https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Barbara Dodds View Post
          My Dad prompted me originally. He did a little bit of research on his own family and found a will in The National Archives which showed his wealthy grandfather had only left his father one thing in his will - a horse whip!

          Also, my Mum died when I was 8 and her mother died when she was 11. I was always intrigued to know more about them. I have been fortunate enough to be able to talk to one of Mum's cousins who remembered my grandmother and great grandmother well. She has passed on various titbit over the years.
          Thanks Barbara, although tragic that you lost you mum so young and never met your grandma, at least through your extended family, you were able to fill in some of the gaps and find out a little bit more about their lives.

          My Family History Blog Site:

          https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

          Comment


          • #6
            I was married firstly to a man of the same surname as me. His family were from Fife via the Western Isles but I got my surname from a Lancashire lad. So I set out to find out if Daddy’s family had originally come from Scotland and were the two families related in the distant past.
            No relationship has ever been found and I have Daddy’s line back to a man born within a year or so of 1786 in Staffordshire. That man moved across the border to Cheshire and his descendants into Shropshire. Daddy’s generation were the first of my direct line to move to Lancashire.
            I started 40 years ago in the days of steam power (it certainly felt like it anyway )

            I forgot to add - the day I first got married, there were two weddings in the church that afternoon. The second one was also a couple who each had the same surname. The co-incidence was the talk of the village for a while. I don’t suppose the chances of one couple with the same surname getting married (who are unrelated) is very high but having two couples in the same day at the same church must be quite unusual. The other couple were not related either. I am happy to report that they stayed the course and are still hale and happy.
            Last edited by GallowayLass; 19-01-22, 12:59.

            Comment


            • #7
              I started researching about 2003/4. My friend had started doing her tree and I had just changed from working full time to part time so had time on my hands.

              I suddenly realised Dad would be 80 and would do a tree towards his birthday present. We spent hours at the various Archive/libraries as not a lot on line then.

              Really proud of myself for getting back a few generations but the first thing Dad said to me was 'where's Gladys?'. Who is Gladys!! Apparently his sister who died before he was born and he knew where she was buried. Took him to the archives and let him look her burial up and he was thrilled with it. Back then freebmd only went up to 1900.

              Realised then how much I Didn't know and am still learning.

              Yours is a lovely story Paul.
              Lin

              Searching Lowe, Everitt, Hurt and Dunns in Nottingham

              Comment


              • #8
                My mum was my reason for starting out on my journey into the world of family history. She was told that her grandad was a grenadier guard and that they came from London and her grandmother was a fiery redhead from Ireland....

                Back in the day parents never spoke about their pasts, this was especially true of my mothers parents. All of my mothers grandparents were already dead before she was born.

                The grenadier guard and the lady from Ireland was totally right though it wasn't her grandparents it was her great grandparents. I had dabbled in and out of family history since around 1986, but didn't start in earnest until just after 2000 when I did a short course in family history, from then I have gone on to finding quite a bit of info on my Grenadier Guard grt grt grandfather and his family that didn't actually come from London at all. They actually came from a town very close to where I was born. As for the Irish lady, she is still an enigma, I have no idea where in Ireland she came from and no idea who her father was. I can only find her on 2 censi 1871/1881 where she just gives 'ireland' as her POB.

                I research side lines too so not just directly back on grandparents/grt grandparents etc.. I find that sometimes the sides are more interesting.

                Through lockdown I have smashed a wall to bits and discovered that my friend is actually in a relationship with my x5 cousin!.. I joked that he might be related as same name/same area as my relatives.. and he is!

                I have also had another wall start to crumble with an unknown sister to my great grandmother!.. sometimes you have to be in it for the long run!
                Julie
                They're coming to take me away haha hee hee..........

                .......I find dead people

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Paulc View Post

                  Thanks Carolyn, how many years have you been researching or have you lost count?
                  I started really when records came on line, so about 21 years ago, I remember spending a weekend completely engrossed when my son had gone away at cub camp and was at home all weekend! I then took the plunge and bought rootsmagic, as straightaway, pieces of paper and word documents just weren't methodical enough. Cornish records were excellent in the beginning, and they had a website of their own, I paid a small fee to get access, and made good in roads just in that weekend.
                  Carolyn
                  Family Tree site

                  Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
                  Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    My mother-in-law got me interested in family history in the mid 1980s when I was back living in England for a couple of years. She was retired and had been researching for a while, travelling to various locations around the country and in Ireland looking for information. My father was also very interested as his mother had an unusual surname (Philbrook) and he wanted to find out more. We visited local records offices and the cottage where she grew up in Capel, Surrey. I've managed to trace her family back to the 1600s in Coggeshall, Essex and followed various branches of the family forward.

                    I eventually returned to Canada, ending up in Vancouver, and I was able to connect with my grandmother’s brother’s descendants on Vancouver Island. When he visited in 1994, it was a great thrill for both my father and his surviving first cousin to meet for the first time and I was able to share my research with the family.

                    Jenny

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by GallowayLass View Post
                      I was married firstly to a man of the same surname as me. His family were from Fife via the Western Isles but I got my surname from a Lancashire lad. So I set out to find out if Daddy’s family had originally come from Scotland and were the two families related in the distant past.
                      No relationship has ever been found and I have Daddy’s line back to a man born within a year or so of 1786 in Staffordshire. That man moved across the border to Cheshire and his descendants into Shropshire. Daddy’s generation were the first of my direct line to move to Lancashire.
                      I started 40 years ago in the days of steam power (it certainly felt like it anyway )

                      I forgot to add - the day I first got married, there were two weddings in the church that afternoon. The second one was also a couple who each had the same surname. The co-incidence was the talk of the village for a while. I don’t suppose the chances of one couple with the same surname getting married (who are unrelated) is very high but having two couples in the same day at the same church must be quite unusual. The other couple were not related either. I am happy to report that they stayed the course and are still hale and happy.

                      What a coincidence Galloway Lass, I have sent you a dm about the marriages.
                      My Family History Blog Site:

                      https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Lin Fisher View Post
                        I started researching about 2003/4. My friend had started doing her tree and I had just changed from working full time to part time so had time on my hands.

                        I suddenly realised Dad would be 80 and would do a tree towards his birthday present. We spent hours at the various Archive/libraries as not a lot on line then.

                        Really proud of myself for getting back a few generations but the first thing Dad said to me was 'where's Gladys?'. Who is Gladys!! Apparently his sister who died before he was born and he knew where she was buried. Took him to the archives and let him look her burial up and he was thrilled with it. Back then freebmd only went up to 1900.

                        Realised then how much I Didn't know and am still learning.

                        Yours is a lovely story Paul.
                        Thanks Lin, that's very kind of you to say. Your story about Gladys was very similar to my grandads youngest sister, I had been searching my tree for around ten years before I found her! We are always learning, however old we are, there's always something new to learn.

                        My Family History Blog Site:

                        https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Darksecretz View Post
                          My mum was my reason for starting out on my journey into the world of family history. She was told that her grandad was a grenadier guard and that they came from London and her grandmother was a fiery redhead from Ireland....

                          Back in the day parents never spoke about their pasts, this was especially true of my mothers parents. All of my mothers grandparents were already dead before she was born.

                          The grenadier guard and the lady from Ireland was totally right though it wasn't her grandparents it was her great grandparents. I had dabbled in and out of family history since around 1986, but didn't start in earnest until just after 2000 when I did a short course in family history, from then I have gone on to finding quite a bit of info on my Grenadier Guard grt grt grandfather and his family that didn't actually come from London at all. They actually came from a town very close to where I was born. As for the Irish lady, she is still an enigma, I have no idea where in Ireland she came from and no idea who her father was. I can only find her on 2 censi 1871/1881 where she just gives 'ireland' as her POB.

                          I research side lines too so not just directly back on grandparents/grt grandparents etc.. I find that sometimes the sides are more interesting.

                          Through lockdown I have smashed a wall to bits and discovered that my friend is actually in a relationship with my x5 cousin!.. I joked that he might be related as same name/same area as my relatives.. and he is!

                          I have also had another wall start to crumble with an unknown sister to my great grandmother!.. sometimes you have to be in it for the long run!

                          i always say that there is an element of truth in these family folklore tales, in fact, I have been trying to unpick a story about cotton mills based on a family legend. i think what happens is the lines get blurred over the years and it either slips a generation, as in your case, or its a brother or cousin, rather than your direct cousin, but there is always a thread of truth there somewhere.

                          I often wonder when I am walking down a street or at a new location and walk past people I wonder if we are related? You might have passed this guy on the street lots of times without even realising he was a relative!

                          My Family History Blog Site:

                          https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by cbcarolyn View Post

                            I started really when records came on line, so about 21 years ago, I remember spending a weekend completely engrossed when my son had gone away at cub camp and was at home all weekend! I then took the plunge and bought rootsmagic, as straightaway, pieces of paper and word documents just weren't methodical enough. Cornish records were excellent in the beginning, and they had a website of their own, I paid a small fee to get access, and made good in roads just in that weekend.
                            Some areas are really well covered with the records that they kept whereas others are not so good. Like you, I raced through my Chiddicks line in record quick time and have been stuck there for over 20 years now! I have obviously gone sideways and forwards again but the original brick wall that I had is still firmly in place.
                            My Family History Blog Site:

                            https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by jenoco View Post
                              My mother-in-law got me interested in family history in the mid 1980s when I was back living in England for a couple of years. She was retired and had been researching for a while, travelling to various locations around the country and in Ireland looking for information. My father was also very interested as his mother had an unusual surname (Philbrook) and he wanted to find out more. We visited local records offices and the cottage where she grew up in Capel, Surrey. I've managed to trace her family back to the 1600s in Coggeshall, Essex and followed various branches of the family forward.

                              I eventually returned to Canada, ending up in Vancouver, and I was able to connect with my grandmother’s brother’s descendants on Vancouver Island. When he visited in 1994, it was a great thrill for both my father and his surviving first cousin to meet for the first time and I was able to share my research with the family.
                              Thanks jenoco, meeting cousins and distant cousins for the first time is one of the biggest thrill about this wonderful hobby of ours, records, papers and documents are fine, but meeting flesh and blood for the first time, you can't beat it.
                              My Family History Blog Site:

                              https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                I was an only child, brought up in a small village, where everyone knew of and talked about the exploits of the extended families of other residents. My grandmother took me with her when she visited other old biddies in the afternoons (all domestic chores had been dealt with during mornings and so she was "free") - I took a book and was assigned to sitting quietly in the corner, although I only pretended to read because the ladies' conversations about their prior experiences and current village gossip was rivetting!! My friend's Mum was the church cleaner and when she went to clean the church, my friend and I went too but were left to our own devices in the graveyard - gradually we got to "know" all the "residents" and their family members. "He poisoned himself, she was his daughter and she hanged herself from the curtain pole in the dining room, his wife was Mrs Mxxxx's mother" (all commemorated in the same plot) Another "he" was gt-aunt Harriet's husband, "his brother" was your grandad; that's their father over there etc - I'm sure you've got the drift! So, the fascination in people, their relatives and family interconnections was there from a very early age.
                                In 1986 my father was very ill and I spent a week with my parents, supporting my Mum who was caring for him. His "Aunt Bec" was mentioned in conversation (my Mum had been pally with Aunt Bec's daughter many years previously) and purely by chance I asked if Aunt Bec had been the only sister of Grandad. No! There had been Aunt Lina who lived in London, Aunt Rose who thought she was posh and lived in Newcastle, Aunt May who'd been a bit queer and had got religion and so they had had nothing to do with her and Aunt Laura, who'd lived in Tynemouth. Mum had never heard of any of them, although we had met the son and two daughters of Aunt Rose at a family funeral.
                                A week later we were making funeral arrangements and aunt Rose's son T phoned to say he had been about to write to Dad, telling him that their dear cousin Dorothy had died in tragic circumstances some months ago and that he (T) was the executor of her affairs. Dad was one of the surviving cousins and was entitled to a share of the estate and so a cheque would come to Mum (Dad's widow) instead. We looked at each other - who on earth was dear cousin Dorothy??

                                Finding out became my mission; that was the start of the journey - half-term breaks spent staying with my friend in Surrey and whilst he was at work, I spent my days in London at St Catherine's house, the census room round the corner, and Somerset house a brisk walk away. Holidays were spent in Norfolk so that I could visit the archives in Norwich or on my home turf in East Yorkshire, exploring graveyards and the contents of The Borthwick Institute, the search room at Beverley CRO and local libraries.
                                I have never lost my passion for investigating the lives of those who passed on their genes and created what I am - my friend constantly laments that he sometimes thinks I care more for what he calls my "dead People" than I do for living acquaintances. He might well have a point!!
                                Last edited by Janet in Yorkshire; 24-01-22, 11:16.
                                Janet in Yorkshire



                                Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  What a fascinating story Janet thank you so much for sharing that with us. I love the term “biddies”, not heard that in years! Did you find out who Dorothy was and untangle all the other mysteries along the way?
                                  Last edited by Paulc; 25-01-22, 07:06.
                                  My Family History Blog Site:

                                  https://chiddicksfamilytree.com

                                  Comment


                                  • #18
                                    Originally posted by Paulc View Post
                                    What a fascinating story Janet thank you so much for sharing that with us. I love the term “buddies”, not heard that in years! Did you find out who Dorothy was and untangle all the other mysteries along the way?
                                    Yes. Cousin Dorothy turned out to be the only child of Aunt May. She never married, lived alone and sadly fell down the stairs. By the time she was discovered, she was beyond help. I eventually managed to sort out all the cousins of my father.
                                    Janet in Yorkshire



                                    Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

                                    Comment


                                    • #19
                                      Lots of old family photos and my great uncle's postcard collection came my way when my dad remarried and moved house in 1996, six years after my mother died. I went through all the photos, mum had written who they were on the back as she had asked her own mother and her uncle who everyone was back in the 1970s (thanks mum!). Many of the postcards were from or to my great aunts and great grandmother so I set about transcribing them, the address and postmark in a notebook and cross referencing so I was able to track them in their various jobs "in service".

                                      The big change happened when my elder son started work, paid for the internet and let me borrow his laptop, then when the other started work I bought my own laptop and a proper family history program, joined Ancestry in 2006 and came to FTF in 2007 but was too shy to post for a while, but began on General where dear Uncle Jim (Jim Weatherall sadly no longer with us) gave me a cheery welcome - and we later found we were distant cousins.

                                      My research has slowed somewhat, I'm often looking at local or social history now in an effort to understand the setting of my ancestors' lives.

                                      Comment


                                      • #20
                                        Originally posted by Jill on the A272 View Post
                                        Lots of old family photos and my great uncle's postcard collection came my way when my dad remarried and moved house in 1996, six years after my mother died. I went through all the photos, mum had written who they were on the back as she had asked her own mother and her uncle who everyone was back in the 1970s (thanks mum!). Many of the postcards were from or to my great aunts and great grandmother so I set about transcribing them, the address and postmark in a notebook and cross referencing so I was able to track them in their various jobs "in service".

                                        The big change happened when my elder son started work, paid for the internet and let me borrow his laptop, then when the other started work I bought my own laptop and a proper family history program, joined Ancestry in 2006 and came to FTF in 2007 but was too shy to post for a while, but began on General where dear Uncle Jim (Jim Weatherall sadly no longer with us) gave me a cheery welcome - and we later found we were distant cousins.

                                        My research has slowed somewhat, I'm often looking at local or social history now in an effort to understand the setting of my ancestors' lives.
                                        I perceive that as the difference between a historian and a family historian. IMO, a historian looks firstly at events, laws etc and then at the consequences and their effects upon the lives of people. A family historian starts with the lives of people and then looks to see how historical events have changed and shaped their lives. I see it as flipping the coin and viewing things from the opposite perspective.
                                        Janet in Yorkshire



                                        Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

                                        Comment

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