Genealogy Chat

I have - and he was great- not only was he able to tell me, he was able to confirm what already knew. guess it depends on the person doing the study jess x

Oh Lou :( I think you were very unlucky. GOONS are expected to have done alot of research on the name in general and not just their line (backed up by sources) before they are accepted as a one name study. Perhaps this lady started to do a one name study and fulfilled the criteria but is now only interested in researching her own line. Personally I can't thank my GOON, Sue, enough for sharing info. Strangely it is not a surname in her direct line....Just a sideline she became fascinated by :) Chris

Thanks to everyone for their input I'm currently feeling a little deflated about the whole thing. I contacted the woman from the GOONS site and gave her the minimal amount of information I have. Granted, she replied the following day but her reply was to thank me for my email but unfortunately she has checked the names I have given her against her direct line and none of them appear in her tree. I thought the whole point of a one name study was to collate data about every occurence of the name that appears anywhere, not just the names that appear in your own tree. Ah well, back to the drawing board...it was worth a shot! Lou

Debby/Gwynne Thank you, you've made me feel sooooooo much better that my minimal amount of information will be enough for me to be taken seriously. Pointing in the right direction is the right way to sum it up. I've exhausted every avenue available to me in London so am beginning to think that Thomas and Harriet weren't originally from there. Fingers crossed that something comes of it but if not, at least I have some information to add to the lady's study which may, in the future, assist someone else Lou

Hi Lou I talk almost daily with someone doing a one name study. We have become friends through our mutual interest. Before being accepted as a registered member of the Guild they have to have alot of research and indexing behind them. One of the conditions of acceptance is a willingness to be contacted and share information. They can't know it all but my friend has been researching for many years and has literally hundreds and hundreds of certificates.This enables her to share documented information. If you write with the information that you have, I'm sure your letter/mail will be welcome and you will be helped as much as possible. My friend finds that some people ask for confirmation of what they have found in their own research, others want to fill a gap, and others want pointing in the right direction to complete their own research. All the added information that you are able to give is useful to the researcher to enable them to learn more about their surname.

Lou I googled my maiden name and found a lady in France who is doing a one name study although she doesn't appear on the GOONS site. I contacted her but at that point I only had my grandad, dad and me so she never replied! Once I started my tree seriously and found my g grandfather and a lot more, I went on her website and found my g grandfathers siblings but not my g grandfather. I emailed her again and it's the best thing I've ever done! I filled in the gaps for he and she more than helped me and I was delighted to find that a lot of my tree that I had researched myself matched what she had. You have nothing to lose - go for it! Debby

Thanks Jeanie All I have on this couple is that Thomas's name appears on my 3xgrandmother's marriage cert along with his occupation (doesn't say deceased although I suspect that he was). Through that I've managed to locate the baptisms of 6 siblings for Sarah Ann. And that's it....literally! I have Sarah Ann through to her death and a possible sighting for a sister Emily as a Domestic Serv on the 51 but the rest of them seem to have been abducted by aliens. No marriage for Thomas and Harriet and nothing that fits on the 41 London name index so far. To date I've had 4 death certs reference checked for Thomas and 2 for Harriet and none are the right ones! Not even found any 'possible' deaths or marriages for the other siblings. Anyway, I've emailed the lady with my measly offerings and I'm hoping that she replies, once she's stopped laughing! Lou

Hi Lou, I found 2 names on the study. One, Watkiss truned out to be related to the person I was searching for. It was a first wife. She managed to send me a marriage cert which cleared up a great mystery. The other is searching the name Wilkes. He did not have e-mail contact, its a common name, so I sent him a letter along with a copy of my register of my Wilkes. He sent me a lovely letter with helpful hints. He also gave me his e-mail add. Whilst not having 'my Wilkes' on file it was still very helpful This has inspired me to start a mini study of my name BREWERTON. Though when you contact some people explaining what your doing, I'm sure they think its a scam since they do not reply!!! The message I got from both of them is to be as specific as you can.

That's made me feel a lot better! I have so little on this couple that when you set it out in an email and say 'This is what I have on them', it's really doesn't look like I've spent half an hour trying to locate them, never mind over 3yrs! I'm not hopeful of a positive result cos it's a fairly common name but I'll give it a go! Thanks both of you! Lou

I contacted a very nice lady doing the name study on Bessant. She was amazingly helpful. This was a while ago, but I think I just first emailed her the basic info that I had, and gave more info when she asked for it.

Hi Lou I've been in contact with a couple of people doing one name studies and it seems that they welcome input from anyone researching the name as it helps to add or confirm the information that they have. Start by asking if they have any information on the people you are stuck with and add what you know about them, date and place of birth or marriage or whatever. Heather

Has anyone any experience of contacting a member of this? I've a 3yr brick wall with one set of 4xgrandparents and it appears from the site that someone is undertaking researching the surname. I'd like to contact them as I'm at the 'anything is worth a try' stage but I've no idea what to say, what questions to ask or how much information I should give in my initial email. Any advice appreciated. Thanks Lou