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By: - 23rd March 2017 at 00:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
If your family are all local to you then you can readily access records,if there is a distance problem as I had then I had to pay a researcher who was very good.Eventually I could get no further without visiting a locality many miles from so this will be done in the near future.Oh yes,talk to the oldest family people and get all the info they can remember before its to late!!
By: - 23rd March 2017 at 07:31 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Birth certificates and marriage certificates can be the key. When Dad retired, he took our family back to 1540 or so, having not known much before 1890 prior to that. Turned out we had no connection to Scotland whatever, which had been my late grandfathers dream, and that in fact the family name originated in Exeter.
There is a lot of stuff on line, and it's reasonably easy to access.
By: - 23rd March 2017 at 07:43 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I was on FB, and one of the adds on the page was for an ancestry website.
I followed the link and found the form which showed when my grandfather joined up in WWI. I didn't go any further.
By: - 23rd March 2017 at 14:13 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Free BMD is a good place to start, but if Scottish then one might need to employ a researcher, unless you go there. Scotlands People can though get you started. Ancestry can give you contacts & leads once on your way. Census lists also a good way to go too. I used M$ Excel to create the family tree - found the commercial ones a bit difficult, but that was nearly 10 years ago.
Hope thats of use.
Keith
By: - 23rd March 2017 at 16:41 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Ancestry.co.uk and Scotlands People are my regular haunts (after Flypast Forum!). But a serious warning, it can become a serious addiction. Do not go for the mistake of collecting every name that you come across, best restrict it to about 1000 names of immediate family. PM if you need any help or advice. Repeat, it can become a serious addiction !!
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By: 91Regal - 22nd March 2017 at 21:17
Having recently come into possession of some family papers, I'm considering doing some basic research, possibly going back to Grandfather's grandfather. Any of you nice forumites ever undertaken a similar task ? if so, any tips you can pass on ? I will probably be using one of the commercial on-line 'ancestry' type web sites.