Hi everyone, i need help!

[small76]

Hi, A few years ago i was given a family tree to continue with. Since then i have never felt so addicted but so helpless and the same time!
I really do not know where i can get info from. How much can i do on-line and is it necessary to travel to the places you are looking into?
I really need spoon feeding with this.

My ancestors (TONG) come from welshpool (from 1882)further back from lincolnshire (1770s).
I dont have any certificates and although a good bit of the tree is done, i actually want to trace them from scratch too, so i know it is correct.
Any help appreciated.
thanks, Emma

[David Wilkins]

Hi Emma,

Greetings from New Zealand and welcome to the addictive world of genealogy. Sounds like you needs some basic information to get you started. Try these websites:

1. Genuki: http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/faq.html

2. Roy Stockdill's Newbies guide: http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

3. Barry Rucks page: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/barry.ruck

You will find lots of information on these sites including other links etc.

Remember also that Google searching is very helpful at times.

Regards

[tony vines]

Hi Emma

I'm fairly new to this hobby too but at the beginning it is well worth trawling through the various interest group threads in B-G com. There are some very experienced and helpful family historians who regularly provide useful guidance to us rookies. I'll spare their blushes but you'll soon see the same names cropping up.

The best advice is to start with your own generation and work backwards. Grab all the grannies in your family, turn them upside down and shake them until they tell you all the family secrets. Look for treasures like Family Bibles, pictures and of course certificates (births, marriages and deaths).

You can do a lot online depending on how much you are prepared to invest. The LDS church site http://www.familysearch.org/ is a free one with the entire UK 1881 census and its own database of parish records called IGI. The 1881 census is complete and pretty reliable, the IGI less so.

Pay sites like Ancestry have much more and you can try it out for nothing before signing up. Start looking round the web and you'll quickly find loads of sites. I could go on (and frequently do) - the subject is endless.

[Mary Young]

The LDS church site http://www.familysearch.org/ is a free one with the entire UK 1881 census ... The 1881 census is complete .... Hi, Tony and Emma
Alas, the LDS on-line 1881 "UK" census is not complete, Scotland is not included! For on-line access, you must ppv at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk).
The LDS 1881 UK CD set does include Scotland. If your family were in Scotland 1881, you may find SKS to do lookups for you.:)

[LynA]

Hello Emma,

David and Tony have both given you very good advice.

When I started on my family tree (over thirty years ago !!:eek: ) I didn't have all the help from the internet. Once I'd gathered everything I could from the family I went to a beginners' evening class. We had an excellent teacher and it really helped me focus on different ways of finding information; and it was good to talk to others just starting out.

Since then I have used books, magazines and the net to keep up to date, but still enjoy getting together with other groups of searchers. Very often someone else can give you that vital clue.

If you bring your specific problems with your ancestors to these B-G Forums, hopefully you will find someone here who knows just where to point you.

Good luck with your searches.

Best wishes,
Lynda

[small76]

Thank you all for your replies. I have checked out the websites and they are very useful. A gold mine.
Some specific problems i have, and being new at this overwhelms me.
My g g granddad wa born in lincoln, moved and got married in welshpool. (He was left out of his very wealthy fathers will for some reason.) He was born in 01 may 1858 but we cant find out anything about his death. I dont know where to start with that. i presume he was too old at the time to be in the war?

[Peter Goodey]

You said in the first message in this thread "i actually want to trace them from scratch too, so i know it is correct".

And so you would be well advised to do. Particularly since it sounds as if the documentation you inherited doesn't cite any sources.

Now you say "My g g granddad wa born in lincoln, moved and got married in welshpool. (He was left out of his very wealthy fathers will for some reason.)". Now that statement may well be perfectly true but in view of what you said before, I have to say that it rings some alarm bells with me.

Have you actually verified for yourself that this is accurate? What did the birth and marriage certs say? What did the father's will say? Until you've done that, I don't really think there's any point in worrying about how, when and why he died.

[tony vines]

I suppose it depends on whether it is the will thing that interests you or compiling a list of dates i.e. births and deaths. As Peter rightly says the death record will not solve your will issue but if it is just the dates you are after and you'd like to try the web first you could try two other sites
.
The first is http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ As the title suggests this is a free site but it is still being built off the back of loads of volunteers' efforts. I suggest that you read what the site says about itself and particularly its progress charts. You will see that it does not have many 20th century records and your grandfather may have died later than their records.

Another site is a pay-to-view site called http//www.1837online.com/ This claims to have all the BMD records from 1837 but unless you know roughly when he died it would be very expensive finding out from that site.

You really need to do some basic research to narrow down the date otherwise whatever method you use will prove to be very dispiriting. The Family Record Centre in Islington and the Public Records Office at Kew are the Holy Grail for records and if you are to take the obsession up seriously you are bound to go to these places at some stage. However here again the message is to go with a plan of action in mind otherwise you will be overwhelmed with information

[Annie]

My g g granddad wa born in lincoln, moved and got married in welshpool. (He was left out of his very wealthy fathers will for some reason.) He was born in 01 may 1858 but we cant find out anything about his death. I dont know where to start with that.
Hi Emma
If you post your query about your g g grandfather on the Linconshire and Montgomery forum with all the info you have on him eg. full names, date, place of birth, marriage, date last child was born and whether you have checked the 1901 census someone could possibly do a look-up for you and try and give you a last siting from which you could start the search for his death.

Annie

[small76]

Hi Peter, I know it sounds suspect, but all the certificates i have tally up completely.
When i say i want to do it from scratch so i know its correct, that was a bad choice of words.
I do not doubt the research already done, its just if i cover old ground then i will be familiar with the process when i come to new unchartered grounds.

What exactly can you find at kew and Islington?
It is both dates and lifestyle etc im interested in.
So if the lds site has free access to 1881, do you have to pay on-line for any other census?