General Chat

Grave reading I agree...lol, I had to do that when I started, as I sent off for my Grandparents wedding cert, and Grandad,s age didn,t match as he had lied about his age on his wedd cert, It take ages to piece it all together, and what a love story orrrrrr...

Hayley lol - I get excited at the prospect of going back to where I came from and going round the local Cemetary! I think it's a Genealogist thing. lol Kaye x

Thankyou to everyone for your reasurance ... I feel a lot happier now! My GGrandad, died very young at 28 he left 2 children age 2 and 4, when I sent off for his dealth cert, (as I just had to know why he died so young,) my Mother called me morbid.... So its nice to know its acommon thing lol...... As for the help you get on here, its just brill,

My tree has spread out sideways quite a lot and I don't see anything wrong with that - they are all connected in some way. As a few people have mentioned it's nice to get a bigger picture of things - I added the family of someone who married a Man in my direct family back in the 1800's and found that her Sister married this Man's Brother - I may not have found the link had I not added the in-laws. It builds up a bigger picture and does indeed put flesh to the bones - you feel almost as if you know these people, it builds up a story. To me that is what Genealogy is about - not just a tree full of names - but a tree with a family story. Just keep doing what you enjoy - that's what hobby's are for. Kaye x

To me, name collectors are those who just add names that may or may not be connected, without any verification. There are one or two around who do this andmay have hundreds of names in their tree going back hundreds of year, but most of which will not have been researched, and possibly they don't intend doing so. Maybe they are looking for pedigree or lost fortunes etc, I dont know. Personally, though I have one or two unverified names in my tree, I am enjoying finding out about them all, and that includes spouses, cousins, siblings etc. I am also researching both of my parents branches, after all I am equally a descendent of both sides of the family. I have found out that my GGGuncle William gradually moved West with his job, he started off as a booking clerk in Hampshire, and each census took him further west until he died as a station master in Bodmin. I think the next stop would have been Truro if the cancer hadn't taken him at 56. Not bad for someone the family at the time never spoke about. T x

Hi Hayley.... Like the other messages you have had... I also have also searched for all siblings ect... if I hadn't done that then I wouldnt have found a child I thought must have died.. she hadn't she was being raised by one of her aunts & uncles family. Also found mothers living with in-laws ect.. As well as who signed at there siblings wedding (sometimes the witnesses occupation or address..''in scotland-anyway!'').. the same applies to death certs. You get far more insight about who they were, how they lived ect.. Plus you may find info where someone else is stuck.. and break down their wall...(it's lovely when you can help others!!) All the best in your searching Sui :-)

Hayley, do your own thing! I put everyone in mine - all the brothers, sisters, their spouses and children, even the in law's families if I can find them. Reason for that is that I want to know about their lives, it's fine to know that my great grandad was a crofter but if I hadn't looked at his sister's details I would never have known that he was the witness at her wedding, nor would I have known that he and his brother in law fought against the Clearances because it was that brother in law's name that gave me the vital clue. I do my husband's tree and there are so many with the same set of names that Tee or Bye names were used to identify the different families - they are in his tree so I can work out just exactly who is who, and if I know where they are they don't cause me any trouble! The other reason is that no-one else in the family is remotely interested in doing this so if I only enter the 'main players' the tree will be tall and spindly - I prefer all it's branches and offshoots. So don't worry about it, just be as accurate as you can. It's a hobby after all but one that will be appreciated by your descendants one day. Good luck, Christine x

Bev You have just hit the nail on the head DOG WITH BONE.. LOL

Ann when we started (my sister and I ) it was our name or blood line we was after our dads family ! My sister has kept to this... as I said I havn,t.. like you I like to see the whole picture,

hi Hayley i think we are all name collectors to some extent. how often have we come a cross a name/marriage/baptism and thought, that might be conected, so have made notes and filed it away 'just in case' i did this with a family who had the same surname in the same village that i was researching. then went merrily along trying to find my gtgt grandmothers marriage. turns out she married one of the men from this family!! further research into this family (i was like a dog with a bone at this point) revealed that she had married her first cousin!!! i of course have names of peeps that are only connected by marriage and those who are 10th cousins 15 times removed but i have also found that a lot of my peeps are further connected/interwined so rather than a tree, my lot are a bit like bindweed (thinks thats what it is called) all tangled up together lol Bev

I think there are 2 types of family history enthusuasts hayley. One sort are the people who only research the blood line, taking it back, sometimes even only the male line. Others diverse sideways as well and add other members of the family (I am the latter sort). Their is a difference of opinion about who is right. But as far as I am concerned it is your tree and you enjoy it how youw ant to. i do also try and put flesh on the bones, look at the area they lived in their houses, jobs etc as I am sure that you do. But it was maybe even more than that he was referring to. some people collect even more names by claiming very slight links to other peoples' trees and adding them to theirs, their aim being to see how many people they can claim to have on their tree. Ann Glos

Hi Hayley I think name collectors are the people who, when given access to a tree, pinch the whole lot not just the connecting branch. Heather

The other day I read on a thread , when someone was refered as a 'name collecter ' I am fairly new to genywhats its, so I don,t know what this chap meant. At times whilst waiting for certificates, I will begin to look up other branches of my family, as I enjoy the whole process of putting pieces of puzzels together.. When I began to search my family tree, my aim was to see how far back I could get . Now this is not my aim, Now it isn,t I just find it so intresting.... So am I a name collecter? I do not intend to offend with this thread, I will delete if so!!