Genealogy Chat

I am nudging a tip for Newbie's thread.

Thank you Wade, that is all very helpful to me! I was going to prick out my seedlings this afternoon, but I can hear Ancestry calling..... And I can see the dust on the TV from here, but... You are a very friendly lot! Thanks. regards Linda

People say nudge when they add a reply just to move the message up to the top of the pile again. The good news is that you can probably get a good family tree back till about 1800 for free if you want (and assuming you already have a broadband internet connnection). The most useful and cost effective tool is probably a subscription to Ancestry. which allows you most importantly to lookups for 1851-1901 censuses. You can get a freee 2 week trail and if you phone up o day 14 and say you are sill unsure they may be nice and extend it another 2 weeks. if you do opt for a subscription its best to go to lost Cousins first and sign on from there for a 20% discount making it cost around £55 for a year. (If you can find a partner you could always share a subscription and halve the cost (you cannot log on the same time though) If you can live without it, then people on this board are extraordinarily helpful in doing lookups for you which togther with a 1 month free trial would get you along way. however if you take it up as a serious hobby you can probably justify the £55 for a year. Obtaining certs is an expensive business, though can yield vital results. So far I've got along way without ordering any certs so its not absolutely necessary unless you hit a brick wall. The other thing you realy need is a good Family Tree Maker program. There are some relatively limited programs available for free. If you use P2P software, you can also get Family Tree Maker by copying it form someone else - though the people who uploaded the sofware were tecnically breaking copywrite rules.

What does nudge mean in this context? I keep seeing that term used. Linda X

Linda Just don't ask Gerri how to organise!!!!!! That involves shipping hubby out,so you have the floor and walls to lay out all the notes you find yourself making!! If we can find the thread it needs a nudge for a good laugh again. Glen

You made me laugh out loud Gerri! I have visions of me, a spiral bound note-book and a sharpened pencil hovering around the oldies in the family like a buzzard! Great advice though - thanks. Linda

Welcom to the nuthouse Linda...:-))) Best tip of all time is.... Take a note pad and pen to a family funeral ;-) See what I mean about 'nuthouse'? lol Welcom and have fun.... Gerri x ps...if you come accross my flippin matilda born 1837ish! .....gissa shout! ;-) (I warn you, dont ask!)

Gosh! I didn't think anyone would respond, but I only left for a few minutes and got three, very helpful replies. Thank you so much Jess, Helen and Glen for taking the time. It seems that Ancestry might be a good idea for a subscription site - but I will certainly try the freebies first. I feel encouraged now, so I will organise my scruffy notes over the w/e and come back to ask for some much needed help in the week. Linda x

Hi Linda The look ups are usually looking up census information,but they can also be birth,marriage or death references.(bmd references) You can check bmd refs yourself for free via the ancestry website,the census images you can access after you subscribe,they run from 1901 back(ie up to 1901 and no later) Ancestry is probably the best value for money overall,but until you need the census returns stick to the bmd index that you can access for free. You can also check bmd refs for free at other sites(freebmd.org) but they are not complete. Your best bet is to find out what you can from living relatives,but always try to verify what they say,it's suprising how often someone can lop a couple of years from their age or think something happened in 1950 when it was really 1947 or something similiar. Keep a note of everything you find out and above all don't just rely on Genes as the site to keep your tree on,you can download programs for free from various sources,the 'backup' information will be invaluable should Genes ever suffer technical problems. If you are unsure at any time just ask via the tips board,but be warned the answers can come very very quickly. Glen

Bung 'websites' into the search box at the top of this message board and you will find threads with lots of websites. Basically there's www.familysearch.org which is free. It has lots of baptisms and marriages, and is very good for pre-certificate times (ie before 1st July 1837) It also has transcription of the 1881 census. Best subscription site would be Ancestry which has censuses including the images from 1851-1901 (and is due to get 1841 soon), plus birth, marriage and death indexes from the GRO, plus Pallot's marriage and baptism indexes and various other bits and pieces. nell

OK, well, give us some idea of how much you know about your ancestors, as of now. people who do looks ups , will look up census, births death and marriages for you, mostly pre 1910 stuff ( which is easie to locate) ( and we enoy it , so dont be afraid to ask)

Can anyone please advise a complete newie? This is great, addictive and not cheap, so what would be the best and most economical investment that I can make in order to access the maximum amount of information, proofs, certs (anything really)? That is, what web-site, organisation or the like would be the very best value for a long term investment? (And I think this is going to be long!) I keep seeing generous people offering to do 'look-ups' - what are they looking up? I am too poor to buy cheap, so need to be advised of the best way to spend my cash. Thanks in advance. Kind regards Linda X