"Family History Centers"

[Guy Etchells]

following that useful advice I have discovered that FamilySearch appears to have hundreds of pages of documents pertaining to land/property transactions in the Bahama Islands - an ancestor of mine acquired land on New Providence Island sometime in the 1850's, so his name may well be somewhere in there, though it would be a heck of a task to trawl through potentially 1000+ pages.

Welcome to the world of real research!
This is how many of us have been researching for decades and will continue for decades to come as we have progress way beyond the popular BMDs and Census and even past Parish Registers now becoming available online.

The truth of the matter is only a small percentage of archived records are available online the vast bulk have not been digitised and probably will not be digitised for many years if ever.

If you have not been faced with reams of papers to search through the task may seem daunting but as you become used to the different styles of handwriting it soon becomes easier and you will find you can quickly scan pages looking for familiar names which will jump out at you as your “eye gets in”.

Be very careful though as you may also pick up the scourge of researchers the deadly distraction disease where your eye is attracted to a snippet of information totally unconnected with anything you are researching which you are moved to read, before you know it you have “ wasted” most of the day following up that snippet of that information instead of searching for the information you intended looking for.

Cheers
Guy

[Peter Goodey]

FamilySearch appears to have hundreds of pages of documents pertaining to land/property transactions in the Bahama Islands

Some of these seem to be available online from home (without having to go to a FHC). Have you checked?

[janbooth]

I so agree with what Guy says in post 11 and what's more I still fall into this trap when searching through parish registers at home - you think I would have become more disciplined by now! However, in my defence, so many of my wealthy paternal ancestors - the fact that I have any coming as a complete shock to myself - married within related families, no doubt to keep the land and money within a select few, so going off at a tangent and following surnames that I recognise, has linked them back into my existing lines and in some cases the research has led to finding direct ancestors.

I used to use my local FHC regularly when I first started my research and never found them anything other than very welcoming and helpful - my husband was even given a complete tour of the church by the Bishop no less - and there was never any attempt to persuade us to become members of the church. So I would say see what is available that interests you and, if you cannot find it via Ancestry or FMP, give it a go.

Janet

[geneius]

This is part of the out and about and could be a social side of researching family history ( it can be lonely sitting researching in your own home) , a trip to the graveyard, to the Record Office, joining Family history society attending their meetings, visiting your library where you may access ancestry or Findmypast and meeting like minded people and if you get lucky a relative sitting next to you, as I did in 1983 ( he was a 14 student on school holidays transcribing Thwaites PR) in Barrow in Furness, turned out his gran was a bridesmaid at my Gran's wedding.....they were 1st cousins.

It is how I met 2 wonderful ladies ( now deceased) who were passionate about FH Margaret Russell ( Cumbria FHS) & Joan Bower ( N Ches FHS) both lived into their mid 90's and I am sure it was their hobby of FH that kept their minds active, they taught me a lot......

Jean

[janbooth]

I agree with you, Jean. I have met some wonderfully helpful people during my research, in churches, graveyards, record offices, family history societies and the like, who were prepared to help a total novice such as myself and give of their time unsparingly and from whom I learned so much. I was in touch with a lady in Australia who was researching the same line of ancestors in Oxfordshire and was a fantastic help to me, even sending me some of her research via post - such a lovely lady and so kind. And various people in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, which is where I first started my research, really too numerous to mention, all of whom gave of their time to point me in the right direction. So from me, a big thank you to all those people prepared to help novice family history researchers and give of their expertise.

Janet