General Chat

Hi all ,

Have just started looking into my family history and there the question is ...

how far into the family history do i need to go ... i know this is subject to personal choice .... but do i need to research my granmother's 2nd cousins daughter 's son?

Is there a rough guide to what to look for .... ie just follow the name or the male / female line of the family . ?

How did everyone start out with their tree ?

any help would be great as i am rather confused as to what i really need to look into.

Cheers

Jon

Try and gather as much info from living relatives as possible and start working from there. Some people just do direct descent t o start with ie , parent s, grandparents etc and add on their siblings information later. Be prepared for false starts, debunking family stories and perhaps some things you may not want to know. Keep good record sotherwise you keep looking up the same thing,

You will need to check info with certificates to confirm. Other sites free sites may be Family Search or freebdm.

People on this sight are really helpful so ask. Good luck, once you start you will be hooked.

Hi forgot to mention the 14 day free trials on Ancestry and find my past, they can be good and if you know some info try Parish records.

Cheers doryth ,

I thought that might be the case .... its already started mass confusion once people knew i was looking into this ( everyone has now taken an interest as long as it doesn't involve them actually doing anything ) ... no one can even agree on the spelling of their own surnames and we have brothers and sisters with different spellings on their Birth Certificates !!

i feel a headache heading my way !!

Start with what you know (grandparents... perhaps) and work from there. It is easy at this point Jon.
The difficulties come when others give you conflicting advice, as you have found to your cost...
Just enjoy yourself, and remember that you don't HAVE to do anything unless YOU want to.
This is your hobby and you can do it at your own pace.

People are very helpful on here so do ask for help.
Good luck, and above all enjoy yourself.... and if you find my elusive great, great grandfather... tell him I'm looking for him please. ;-0-)

Deanna X

I wouldn't worry about doing siblings too much. They're useful in helping to make contact with others on sites such as this but unless their info can help track elusive parents/grandparents I wouldn't worry too much about their details and who their children were.

Concentrate on your main direct line(s). You will get sidetracked by some of the siblings as they will be easier to find than the direct lines and some of them seem more interesting ... but focus! Add their basic details to your online tree for contact purposes and let them be. You will have enough expense and paperwork with just the directs!

Jill