General Chat

I know a lot of things are now available on the internet but how many actually do what I call real research? You know go to record offices, archives, libraries and my favourate grave yards?

Me Jane. I'm hopefully going to my local RO on Thursday Jeanette x

I've only been a few times, would love to go more, but most of my research is in different counties and it's not feasible at the moment, one day though...

Hi Jane Well i spend lots more time at the local archives and library than i do online for my local research, as its far more satisfying and effective. I have travelled a little bit to find stuff not available locally, but when travel is not an option then i rely on help from the good people on here or online. I have yet to do the graveyard bit as again it involves travelling quite a distance, but i am hoping to do so later in the year. Yvette

We have researched in records offices in Plymouth and in Winchester and in Worcester, and still do, in the Family Records Centre in London; in the main library in Portsmouth, and in Plymouth, in the LDS in Poole; visited churches, churchyards, other cemeteries - Suffolk, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and taken photographs; "trodden in ancestors' footsteps"; and we use CDs that have census etc on them. On the internet we subscribe to rootsweb mailing lists, 1914-1918.net, and other genealogical websites. I "play" on this board, and try to help on the tips board. Yes, we do "proper" research and started that way. Also, we borrowed from the library a book by George Pelling, then bought it, then bought Family Tree Detective, and have bought other family history books since. I love reading books about places where my family have lived too. Our house is *full* of books! Christopher will be an online OPC soon, doing his bit to help others. :) Happy hunting! Joy

I cannot go anywhere unless my son takes me in the car, so I have to depend on the computer and letters to libraries. I have in the past done research for an author, and loved it! That was in my fit days. Deanna

Me I have been to the Borthwick Inst every week since it re-opened. Go to local FHS resource room Been to Wakefield archives , hoping to get to East Yorks archives soon. Also go to Library And have been to loads of graveyards,but not always a headstone there Jan

Might see you there Jan ;-) If there's owt you want me to look for for you in the meantime, just let me know. Jeanette x

Jane I wish I could go and visit these places and my dearest wish is one day I will get there to see the graves of my Ancesters, the streets where they lived , etc, but for now I have to rely on the internet and my dear friends and fellow searchers on genesreunited for the help they so willingly give and hope in some small way we can repay the favours like I did in finding somebodys lost relative in Australia, so bless the internet and all of you with many thanks to all who have and will I hope keep on helping me , love Laraine

I have managed to go to Matlock and Huntingdonshire so far, but when your other half isn't really interested it doesn't seem fair to drag them to places too often. Chrissie x

So far i have managed to get my 4 main lines (and two of my partners) back to early 1800 in each case, just by using the internet, websites and the kindness of people here. I haven't yet needed to visit anywhere yet for comformation although he wants to go grave hunting as soon as the weather improves. Jess x

Hi, I go to the LDS to views films I've "hired" once a week. I went to Birmingham Archives 2 weeks ago and will go again soon. I was at Shropshire record office in December. Since I started researching I've had day trips (on the train) to records offices a hundred or so miles away and spent a few days visiting Suffolk and Norfolk ROs. I've been to Kew as well, I love that place. I am utterly and totally addicted and if I had the money would spend even more time in record offices. Nothing beats seeing and touching documents hundreds of years old (even with cotton gloves on). To see the name of an ancestor from the 16th C on the original Manor Rolls is amazing. I have a thing about maps as well and love the tithe maps. It's wondeful to identify the strip of land owned by one of your ancestors. It is incredibly moving to stand at the alters of churches where your ancestors stood and to touch the font where they were baptised. I shed a few tears in the graveyards as well when I saw the stones on their graves. I have loads of photos I've taken of gravestones and churches, homes where they lived, land they once owned or rented from the Manor and the sites of buildings long vanished. I spend more than I can really afford on this all-absorbing hobby. If I'd realiised 6 years ago how much it costs to do family history "properly" I would probably not have started. But I'm really glad I did. Gwynne

We have taken short holiday breaks in the areas where ancestors lived. I've used the internet to find a nearby B&B then we go to the Record Office and to the churches where they married and had the babies Christened. We plod around damp graveyards with mixed results but what joy when you come across a headstone that gives another lead.

Jeanette We will have to arrange to meet there :-) I have loads to look up that is where my brickwall must be hiding LOL Jan xx

Jane, I regard my Internet research as 'real'. There's no way I could afford the time or money to go travelling to the other end of the country or abroad to look for my ancestors and living relatives. With few living family members in contact with me due to long-standing separations that occurred when I was a child, it would have been virtually impossible for me to have discovered my father's family history. Thanks to contacts made with 'real' people over the Internet, I am now in touch with cousins who have been very willing to help with valuable info and leads, and some of them have already done research that I am grateful that I do not need to repeat. I've also been able to help others, which would not have been possible without Internet contacts. If you enjoy what you do, good luck to you, but I don't see it's necessary for everyone to do the same - for whatever reason. CB >|<

I've loved reading about everyone's experiances. I suppose I'm lucky that my local library has the GRO indexes and loads of other resources including very helpful staff. I too live many miles from where my ancestors lived but when I go 'home' to Lincoln always make time to go to the library or record office. About 5 years ago I managed a trip to Wolverhampton and met up with a cousin from Lincoln and a distant cousin who we had never met before. I had found her on the internet. The first night we stayed at a place we had found on the net but wouldn't reccomend. Must say it did break the ice though. I have also had a picnic in the cemetery! Well what do you do when it's out of town and there's nowhere near to eat? Take sandwiches and a flask. No wonder my family think I'm strange. Oh and I love helping others so if ever you want something looking up in the GRO indexes or Southport just ask me!

I've been to Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies where I found a lovely lether-bound book with metal clasps detailing a dispute between Aston Rowant and Stoke Poges as to which of them should be responsible for my great-great-grandfather and family. I've also been to the FRC a lot, and to Kew once, as well as Cambridge Records Office. This weekend I am going to the Richmond Local Studies Centre and Chelmsford Records Office to research my elusive gt gt grandfather, the beadle! nell