Find Ancestors

I would like to say a big thank you to all of the people who have helped me find my elusive ancestors. I really appreciate it and hope that they realise that. I have also helped others, I love helping, although I don't have much at hand (poor student here). Not naming names but there is one person on this board who has thoroughly annoyed me with posting several posts on the board for the same person, not acknowledging the other post in which other people have responded to and try to help. It seems almost as if the work that some people have put in is not good enough for them. Anyway, I will keep on helping those I can. I love it! When I can't find my own ancestors, I'm happy to look for others! Chloe

Jennifer et al As Christa said - save the thread on favourites or simply make a note of the message number. I am grateful for all the lookups that have been done for me and always thank the person, even if the result was negative. If I have been guilty of a duplicate request (not on same day -more like months apart) it is because I have been remiss in recording where has been searched with negative results and may come back to it several months later. So as someone else said it is important to record negative results. So as well as recording it on each person's notes - I'm going to create documents called BVRI, NBI etc to record in.

Just an observation on duplication. I did a look up a couple of days ago and when posted found that two others had also replied. All threeof us seem to have looked at different sources which gave partial information but put together the output was amazing.

Hi I must admit that I am guilty of asking duplicate requests and am sorry if I have offended anyone.The reason I have have done it is verification I am unable to look them up myself as I am in Cornwall and do split shift work.The more different sources you get your info from the more likely it is to be reliable,which is what we all want an accurate family tree.I know that the census are difficult to read and it does take time.There's nothing worse than spending time trying to find members of your family only to find out there not.Once again sorry for offending anyone Sandra

I am constantly amazed at the quickness a reply is given to me. I'm very happy to wait until the various ppl involved have the time. I have inherited a tree that was started in 1877 and it has been a very difficult one to fill in gaps and verify it's little tokens of info, especially where there is just a name Miss Ashwell no dates , no pob and no parents 'cept Miss Ashwell again lol. Without your help I would have gone ga ga!! I really don't mind if the help is a minute after a request or a month , I'm just so grateful and I'm not always looking for the answer, sometimes it's advice or encouragement or just the plain old fact that I'm in good company when I feel I've been beaten lol!! I have no idea if I am a culprit of duplication ( sincerely hope not ) however as I am human I may well have done. Thank you though for all your help, advice and encouragement. Much happiness Debi

Hi all I only noticed that you could ask for look ups on this site the other week, and am constantly amazed at how many of you lovely people are prepared to do it, acknowledging that people do have lives outside genealogy! I have asked for several so far, and have learded more in these couple of weeks about my family than I have learned for months. It is all down to the wonderful people on here. I have been asking different people different things, so as not to overload one person, I hope this is ok, and I make a note of who I have asked what to (if that makes sense!). Appologies if I have asked about the same thing twice, but I make every effort not to. I live in Holland, and when I do get back to England to visit rellies, I never seem to get to London to visit the records offices. I only have my computer, so being able to ask for look ups is an absolute boon for me. I am sure people living much further away than me think so too. I am considering buying a couple of cds myself though, as a lot of the info I need is in places that no one seems to have info for. When I do, I will certainly offer the same look ups for everyone, as I have been helped so much. Thankyou again everyone Lisa

Hi, I have listed my resources on George's long thread "What CDs....." but asked that people email me direct with requests. This seems to work quite well, but of course I never know how many other people have been asked for the same look up as I never read the thread! I'm also on a few look up exchanges and am amazed at how often people repeat requests for look ups (with no additional information since the last time they asked). If they weren't on the CD a year ago they won't have magically appeared since then. It's as important to record negative information as it is to record positive to avoid going over the same ground. I always try to get back to requests within 24 hours, which I think is reasonable. I have a job a life and a family which take up a lot of time. If I know it will take longer I email the person explaining why. A few days isn't long to wait for a look up that you would have to pay for elsewhere or travel a hundred miles to find out. I'm in total agreement with Max and Lynda on this. Most people do say thank you for the time and effort. I think some people, especially those new to the hobby, don't realise how much time it can take. They think they can post a message and the genealogy fairies can answer it within minutes. It's not that easy. Gwynne

Hi Crista, Thanks for the tip!!!!!!! At least now I can keep track and double check. Kind Regards Angie.

Here's a tip to save your thread.... Go to the appropriate message board and right click on the thread you want. Select "Add to Favourites" and it will be saved to your browser. Crista

Hi Lynda, And Max......... I have to hold my hands up to this one. I did duplicate the same look up to you and Max, ( I wasn't guilty of the 1837 0nline one though) and relised yesterday morning......... I sincerly apologise for this to you both, as you are right, you both spend alot of time trailing through these for us, and we do really appreciate it. I don't know how I done it, I think I meant to put one as Arthur and the other as William but duplicated one name instead as they were Father and Son. Once again my apologises to you both, hope I am forgiven..... Many many Thanks. Regards Angie.

Hi Lynda! Did you get my email the other day - I wrote to thank you for the census images that you kindly sent, and which arrived earlier this week. Your point regarding multiple lookup requests is very valid. Unfortunately the design of this message board makes it very hard to keep track of requests and replies. The way that the order of threads changes after each new response means that it's too easy to literally "lose the thread". Would be better if things stayed in one place, with inactive threads being removed after say a couple of weeks of inactivity. I'm sure that I speak for all of us who have made requests and received so much valuable assistance from you guys, that your time and effort is very much appreciated and the last thing that we wish to do is to make life harder for anyone!! Regards, Richard in Oz

I can only say that some wonderfully kind people have given me lots oh help in answer to my requests in the last couple of weeks and in one case helped to solve a mystery I have been looking into for 2 years! (Chilvers family). I believe I have thanked everyone as I am so grateful, but if I have missed any one out, my sincere apologies. However, due to health problems, I cannot always get back to the board before my requests disappear, so prefer people to respond directly to me by email (Saves space on the boards too! Dorothy (ANN) Griffin

Hi Lynda Thanks for your sound advice. I take on board the problem of single requests being looked up by 2 or 3 people costing extra time and money. I know a lot of 'long thread' offers are being replied by direct email, and guess there is no way to differentiate between those and the threads that are not being answered at all. Tut! at the rude person who didnt thank you for doing the look up for them...not very polite it is! And yes, I've only come across very helpful folk on here; wish I could more in return. Night all

Hi Jennifer Although a thread may be long, as long as you can see it's being answered, put it on there, another thing I do is after a while, take my answers off to shorten the thread. I also think it would be nice if people said they had read the reply. Once I found a family for someone that they said they had been looking for, for years, I found them and they never even bothered to say they had seen the answer, let alone a Thank you. Perhaps some people think we haven't anything else to do and we await there requests, I don't know. I just do this because I know how good it is when you find another link. MOST people are great though. Lynda

Hear hear! I have mentioned before on here about the fact messages drop off page 15 never to be seen again...lots of excellent advice and tips wasted. Would you say it was acceptable practice to ask again for a look up once message has dropped without anyone giving you an indication that they are "looking into it"?

Max how would you suggest is the most effective way to ask for a look up then? Through directly emailing someone? Joining the long thread of an offered look up or by posting a request look up on the board?

Oh Max! Nooooooo! Not suggesting that at all! I'm saying that folks give their time freely, something that always surprises me in this day and age and it should not be an expectation that a request is answered. Not a case of they `cant be bothered` at all. I was suggesting a reason why perhaps folk duplicate requests. It must at times, depend on whether someone with the right census is online etc. I've put a request look up before, waited a couple of hours for someone to reply and then had to go to work deal with families etc and when I get the time to come back on here my request has fallen off page 15. I am not in any way slurring the folk who offer look ups...as in previous post, I am so very grateful and appreciative of their efforts.

those of you who make open offers of lookups are very generous obviously you must get overwhelmed. Just a suggestion but wouldn't it be easier for all if you just responded to the individual requests that members put on the board? There's certainly plenty of them to keep you busy. Sue

It's a double edged sword. It is no guarantee that if someone has offered a look up that it will be carried out quickly, if at all, while the person asking for the look up is still logged in. Searchers do it out of the goodness of their heart and sometimes I'm sure they just get overwhelmed by requests. As someone who has asked for requests, its very difficult to keep eye on messages beyond the first few pages unless one is logged onto the site 24/7 which I cant do. I thank those folk who have helped me in the past and do try my best to be curtious and appreciated of their time, money and effort they have freely given

PLEASE If you ask for a look up on one thread and someone else is offering the same look up, PLEASE only ask one person. I have spent most of the afternoon doing look ups and have seen at least 2 other messages for the same look up to other members. It takes a while to to look through the censuses and that is precious time looking for the same request, which could be spent looking for someone else. Thanks Lynda