General Chat

Hello Karen I think unless you have attempted to research your family tree people will never understand how umimportant numbers and earliest dates are.. Like you I like flesh on bones....I have researched army regiments prisoner of war camps.....trades and condations...

Hello TonyW you lovely man...hmmmm that has me thinking, when I started and would still like too, get as far back as possible, Whirley I have some going back on my mums side to 1600 but that was passed to me, now I find it very interesting and by all means its a good read but it doesnt feel conected to me as I have done the research if that makes any sense.

Mo..mine are all like that..lol

Joy I know and have fell for it a couple of times bout amth ago I was contacted via here by someone on so they said someones else account and wanted to share my tree....I didnt even rely...lol

Oh forgot to say, my aunt looked at her/my Mum's family history and she reckoned we had a Russian Princess thrown in. When I looked into it, I couldn't find any documentation to proove she was at all linked to our line so she got the boot. No point adding something just cos it looks all fluffy and fancy if it isn't real....I would hate to hand my trees over and they're all twoddle...

Like Muffy, I won't put anyone in my tree that can't be backed up with paperwork and documentation, and I always source it too. I certainly don't take the word of someone else as to whether this person or that person is an ancestor. I prove it to myself first.

If I added on that basis I would probably have several thousand in my tree, as I have access to two one-name studies that someone else has done.

I'm back to 1760 on one line, and I'm proud of that, an achievement in five years with just a few clues (at the time I thought they were lots of clues, not knowing just how big a job it actually is LOL)

I usually get asked how far back. They are impressed enough, until I tell them its taken me five years and piles of papers and documents to get that far. When asked why, I say, because I'm not collecting names and dates, I'm collecting the people, their lives, their surroundings jobs, from birth to death. Thats why it takes so long to track down one little piece of information on a person to 'flesh out the bones'

I have been asked the 'skeletons' question. My answer is, the Met police officer, as the rest of the family are rogues LOL

Mrs Grumpy absolutely, I am only interested in some and it doesn’t matter if you only 6 reallies on your tree that fact is you have researched them, like Muffy unless I am 100% they are correct and have been verified with certs they get no where near my FT.

BC…do you think he will do some of mine..lol mwahhhhhhhhhh


I wonder if it would have been cheaper if I had decided on collecting toenail clippings or even if anyone else is ???????

** ponders **

Now this is an interesting debate ...

There are a number of issues here. Are you a genealogist or a family historian?

A genealogist basically collects names. The aim is to get as many names and as far back as possible. We are all related to royalty, celebrity or infamy somewhere in our past, and the geneaologist's aim is to find it. The later it happened the greater the signifigance. All due to the six degress of separation and all that ...

On the other hand, a family historian collects names, but the real interest is in the story that goes with the names. For example, I'm intrigued as to how my Gt Gt Grandfather who lived in Essex met and married my Gt Gt Grandmother who lived in Co Durham. What was life really like for my forebears?

The really good thing about this hobby, and I've said this before, is that it can be unique to each one of us. We can all approach it in the way we want to.

if you dont have the evidence
its a waste of time adding the names

you might as well just pluck names out the air

i am sure some people (maybe not you) on gr
are just name collectors

afternoon Hayley, toe nail clippings.....mmh interesting thought....


well I've got back to 1764 and have about 160 odd at last count. I managed to trace my lot (with all the appropriate documentation/proof they all belonged in my family) via the internet, but now I've gotta start doing some real leg work to get back any further...

I dont mention my tree at home anymore
None are interested in it
My FIL is the only one that is and so have done a lot of work on his side
Dont talk about it at work

Not interested in anything being on my tree which isn't 100% provable or 100% accurate. If I can't prove the link using parish records or certs it does not go on my tree.

I'm very proud of the ancestors I have........none of them were aristocratic or high born..........and I couldn't care less. I'm comfortable with who I am and where I came from..........

So, no, neither of the questions you asked are important to me Hayley.......accuracy and the fact that I did it all by myself are what counts for me xx

Absolutely not.

I always think "How far back have you got?" is such a weird question anyway. It normally seems to be asked by men and I wonder whether they are just thinking that if they were researching it would just be the male line on their father's side. I am trying to do all lines going back - so I have a shortish but wide tree (with some bits going back to 1640 but that's more luck than anything else). I want to know how they lived and what they were like so I take my time.

The other question is a bit irrelevant as well - at least to me. I have no idea how many in my tree - on here there are about 800 but there are more that I could add. In my offline tree there are quite a few more but that includes my One Name Study people too. So to me it doesn't really matter. If they're on my tree they're related ...

But yes, it's odd the questions they ask ...

Jill

Well the two questions my son asked me last week (regarding my interest in genealogy) was a puzzled 'Why'? and 'For what purpose'? So I have promptly given him a grave clearing project to do in Ireland. That'll learn him! lol BC XX

Is it just me, when I reveal to friends or work colleagues that I love genealogy and am looking forward to spending time working on my tree or maybe a cemetery of interest and am off there armed with my camera next weekend. Do they look at your in surprise? This happened yesterday and the look on the 2 guys faces was just shock. I had to repeat the words in my head, had I just told them I am a member of a coven or collect and number and photograph toenail clippings? When they have recovered and realised I was serious they always pretend to be interested or an OLD AUNT who did their side and they were related to Joan of Arc or someone like that. Then you always get the same 2 questions.


So I tell them after I have made a point of saying “ that really is not that important to me, what is important is that I have managed to piece together a jigsaw that 4 years ago I knew naff all about”.Now sometimes if they are interested the next question is “ Have you found any skeletons? Depending on weather they are really interested or not they don’t walk away or start another conversation whilst you’re in mid sentence.

So this made me think.. is it me or are you only interested in the 2 always asked questions?



How far back have you got ? or how many do you have in your tree?