Where would I start? What info do I need?

[Janice]

My husband has just started using the PC and Internet, and he is showing an interest in tracing his family tree.

What sort of information would we need to make a start - where do we begin?

[lemon]

omg janice...you will never get on the computer now:o

try here (http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=50174) in this thread as there is a lot of good advice.

then look at the sticky threads in this forum for usefull sites

[Janice]

Thanks Lemon :D

I didnt make the silly mistake of letting DH onto my computer - I didnt let him near mine and the internet till he got his own one made :D :D :D He is now 'learning' to surf!! Bless!

thanks for the pointers - I'll go and have a read :D

[Lucille]

Hi Janice

I am going round to someones house tomorrow to get them set up and started. Would you like me to pop round for a couple of hours and get Chris up and running?

Genealogy is like scrapping very very addictive and we just love sharing what we know, I don't mind honestly :D :D It will be a good chance to pay back for all the knowledge you have shared with me.

I got my scissor by the way, Kate's service was excellent. I ordered on Saturday evening and they arrive Tuesday, my rubber stamps look a lot neater than they did when you last saw them and my blister has almost healed.

[Janice]

Oh that is kind of you Lucille :D

I'll maybe take you up on your offer in the New Year? I think it'll take us that long to get Chris a bit more 'fluent' with using the net!

Glad you got your scissors - we missed you Saturday! I have your acrylic blocks for you.

:D

[Lucille]

The new year will be fine, he will get plenty of practise surfing when he starts Genealogy there are thousands of sites out there to help him. We have got a couple of fiche readers booked at the local Record Office this afternoon. I love going down there.

Kirsty and I did think about you all on Saturday, but unfortunately what we had to do together could only be done then, I will tell you more when I next see you.

[SunDrop]

Gosh, I can relate to this! I made the mistake of showing my Dad, who's not net-shy by any stretch of the imagination, the searches I doing into my family tree and he then commandeered the computer for HOURS crawling through pages and page and reems of pages looking up the LEEs of the world on Ancestry.com . He wasn't having it being shown how to narrow his searches and distinguish one x LEE from another (hmmm, the ones in Canada aren't going to be your ancestor if your ancestor was the same age and definately in Lincolnshire, Dad :D)

Men and genealogy, scary thing! lol.. They refuse to ask for directions! hehe..

[mfkirke]

The very first thing to do is to talk to all older members of the family and record carefully what they say. Some of it will probably not be true (they are not lying - they were not told the truth either!) but it is a great help.

[mfkirke]

and always work backwards from facts. Never start from some known ancestor because he might not be the right one and you can waste many hours on the wrong family.

[jqp]

And yes, people did lie about their ages, didn't know where they were born so different places are declared on the census...names were changed....or repeated several times....they certainly didn't all stay in one place.....and its great great fun.

Like a massive 5000 piece jigsaw all over the tablel and suddenly you find several peices that fit together to get a little bit of the picture, and there are so many people that will offer you advice and guidance if you ask.

Oh, and get little note books (A6 size from Woolies is great) with nothing that can be torn out, and only write on the right hand page (the left hand then becomes an area for adding thoughts, notes or additional information later on. And I use the front for one thing, the back for another, and the middle for other info.....so that nothing gets lumped together. I still have mine from 20 years ago and refer and add to them regularly...because they are small I know what is in each little book....

[humbug]

as far as the internet goes try http://www.freebmd.org.uk/, it can sometimes take a long time to do a search and not everyone is listed but basically it the index numbers you would need to order any certificates if you find an ancsestor - it's FREE which is always good in my vocabulary. Also try http://www.familysearch.org/ again it's free but you do have to pay to see a specific page but you can gain some info. Also try http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ to search the 1901 census.

There are lots of other sites around, most you have to pay for but as a starter I would recommend these, I've found quite a lot about my tree so far just using these. When hubby gets a bit better at it all (cos it is a minefield) he may want to consider paying to view other sites.

Finally, if you get a cold trail on the frist site which I have found the most helpful, leave it and try again after a while. As the indices are being transcribed all the time you may get better info sometime in the future. Good luck with thsi fascinating search.