I started one on Genes Reunited some time ago but I haven't had the time to develop it to any great extent. You do get a lot of good messages from them providing links to possible names and other family trees that may be linked.
I can trace my family tree back to 1540. Dream scenario - found someone via the internet who had already done most of it!
The www.ancestry.co.uk website is a good resource for births, marriages and deaths etc but you have to pay. The census records on the PRO website are useful. Top tip - don't just believe what you are told: record and document where the information comes from and how reliable it is. Very easy to end up confused or mislead.
You do need to decide what you want to achieve - the number of families doubles each generation back, so for me it was important to trace my surname line and to find a little about the grandparent generation. You come accross people with thousands of contacts.
1st you should start with what you ,your parents and extended family know... asking the g parents for what they know would be great but if you want to keep it a secret from them that might not be an option. Get all the old birth, marraige and death certs that your family already have, they all provide different information. Once you have got this all down on paper and you have the rough outline of a tree you will need to get the birth marraige and death certs which you dont have to proceed backwards, to order old certificates you will need to get the GRO reference number which you can obtain by going to the family records centre near Farringdon or you can get online through Ancestry.co.uk (subscription needed for access), once you get far enough back you can start to use the census' from 1841-1901 in your search as well. The following websites will be of use to you.1) Ancestry.co.uk 2) nationalarchives.gov.uk 3) gro.gov.uk. If you have relatives that died in the 2 ww's then the following website may help cwgc.org Each cert costs £7 which you can order online and they take about 2 weeks to come through. The geneconnected website is helpfull to put you intouch with people that may be connected to your family in some way and researching the same areas, although dont take what everyone has in their tree as gospel. If you need any more detailed help then send me a wisper and i'll help you out
[cite]Posted By: Sco[/cite]Here's a well known lifer's tree:[div class=Attachments id=Attachments_108290 noWrap=false][ul compact=false][div noWrap=false]MCS_family.GIF[/div][/ul][/div]
[cite]Posted By: Stu of SE7[/cite]Where does this guy come in Sco?
He is rumoured to be the illegitimate child of Mad McBeard III but is more likely to be WestSide in disguise hiding from his hordes of female admirers.
This site gives you free access to the IGI (International Genealogical Index) which is a list of parish records prior to about 1875 although not all parishes appear. You can also access the 1881 Census from here.
As others have said you need to start with something you are 100% sure of and then METHODICALLY work back purchasing documentary evidence in the form of certificates for each birth, marriage and death where you can. Civil Registration started in 1837. The reason it is advisable to get certificates is that on indexes like the IGI somebody has copied from original sources and may have made a mistake. If you want to do a proper history then you need documentary proof.
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
This site is useful to enable you to find out Registration details about Births Marriages and Deaths to enable you to purchase a certificate. Not all Births, Marriages and Deaths are listed yet but it can be useful.
Bromley Reference Library has full indexes from 1837 through to about 1984 for locals.
I don't want to get into an argument about the rights and wrongs of getting married but family history will become very difficult for those whose parents are not married.
Finding a marriage certificate is often the best way of ensuring you have the right people because you can match up the reference numbers.
Traced mine back to 1780's on line. It helps if you know you great grandparents names and roughly where they lived. Census' on line go back in some cases to mid 19th Century. The Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon's to you and I) have some fairly large collections of record.
What was interesting for me was I found that one of my distant cousins (great great grandson of my great great Grandfather) is called David Bingham - same as me.
To go back any further I need access to parish records for the Ashford Kent area and those are all kept at Canterbury Cathedral. One day I'll get to check them out.
Comments
The www.ancestry.co.uk website is a good resource for births, marriages and deaths etc but you have to pay. The census records on the PRO website are useful. Top tip - don't just believe what you are told: record and document where the information comes from and how reliable it is. Very easy to end up confused or mislead.
You do need to decide what you want to achieve - the number of families doubles each generation back, so for me it was important to trace my surname line and to find a little about the grandparent generation. You come accross people with thousands of contacts.
Each cert costs £7 which you can order online and they take about 2 weeks to come through. The geneconnected website is helpfull to put you intouch with people that may be connected to your family in some way and researching the same areas, although dont take what everyone has in their tree as gospel. If you need any more detailed help then send me a wisper and i'll help you out
Quality!!!
He is rumoured to be the illegitimate child of Mad McBeard III but is more likely to be WestSide in disguise hiding from his hordes of female admirers.
This site gives you free access to the IGI (International Genealogical Index) which is a list of parish records prior to about 1875 although not all parishes appear. You can also access the 1881 Census from here.
As others have said you need to start with something you are 100% sure of and then METHODICALLY work back purchasing documentary evidence in the form of certificates for each birth, marriage and death where you can. Civil Registration started in 1837. The reason it is advisable to get certificates is that on indexes like the IGI somebody has copied from original sources and may have made a mistake. If you want to do a proper history then you need documentary proof.
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
This site is useful to enable you to find out Registration details about Births Marriages and Deaths to enable you to purchase a certificate. Not all Births, Marriages and Deaths are listed yet but it can be useful.
Bromley Reference Library has full indexes from 1837 through to about 1984 for locals.
Good luck! Once you start it becomes compulsive!
Finding a marriage certificate is often the best way of ensuring you have the right people because you can match up the reference numbers.
What was interesting for me was I found that one of my distant cousins (great great grandson of my great great Grandfather) is called David Bingham - same as me.
To go back any further I need access to parish records for the Ashford Kent area and those are all kept at Canterbury Cathedral. One day I'll get to check them out.