Genealogy Chat

So excited when I finally after all these years solved the mystery of my own paternal grandmother. My last personal direct line problem.

Long winded process after finding an unexpected half sister livng with a lady I always suspected was nans sister. A big thanks has to go to the Manchester records office helping me with who was living at the various address over 20 years.

Sis and cuz jumping up and down with excitement waiting for the certs to prove my research all within a month - cost a bomb.

With the greatgrandparents now comfirmed I put their names on my GR tree. Wonders my great grans name(very unusual) came up on one persons tree - then I found a couple of nans siblings, not all, on the same tree.

Who was it - dare not mention - he is one of the regulars on the boards - some days he is has arrows thrown at him, other times he is so very funny. Couldn't believe it - a board buddy.

His records mirrored mine with loads of additions but mostly with dates. Just knew there was somebody out there, old school, who had methodically one by one, verified the research as I do with certs and records.

Such a kind man - What has deeply touched my heart is that he has contacted his personal family who contacted me and are sending me certs - one package is on the way.

Over the years I've developed some very close research' buddies' but I never expected such kindness from a member as a result of beng involved with GR boards.

Shows it pays to be nice to others.

<3

Just out of curiosity - would you not have found them earlier using "Search Trees"?

MarieCeleste - wish it had been that easy - case of father dying, siblings spilt up. Older daughters moving away to Manchester using different names - mother remarrying and sister marrying 3 times. So very complicated.

Least I now know the historical family significance of my middle name which I've always disliked - I can follow the direct ancestor name trail back now over 250 years.

:-D :-D

Edited - last para to make sense - read ErrolSheep's joke below

Didn't you know your middle name before?

NanaSue - what I meant was that if you had reason to suspect what your great gran's name was then you could have searched for that name before you'd added her to you tree and made that contact some time before you did.

Surely anyone who is taking their family history research seriously will be methodical and verify their research with certs and records.

So I must be old school then !!

GB

me too .... thought that was what "genealogical research" was all about


What do "new school" do then ?

Copy names "en masse" without verifying anything themselves.

I have one contact who has copied chunks of my tree and somehow got it all mixed up!! Both OH and I are born in the wrong places and some relatives are married to the wrong people.

We decided not to bother telling them.

Yes, I would consider most good helpers on the boards as being 'old school'.
Hats off to them - they know their stuff even if they do go about it in different ways.

Andys mum has understood clearly what I mean.

MarieCeleste to answer your last point. Search trees is part of the norm on a regular basis. I had no idea who my great gran was until last month. My nan and the her sister both claimed in some docs they came from London and changed the spelling of their names. My nan was obviously ashamed of her fathers occupation or maybe didn't know.

A pot luck gamble paid off. It was just all the certs I bought for the different people living with nan's sister, seeing that they had the same mother and fathers name that finally helped me unlock the mystery. Even then it was only because my grgran's name was very unusual that clinched it. If she had had a common name I'd still be going round in circles.

<3

A quick update - received an envelope today with about 20 certs. Am so choked with emotion - would have taken me months if I'd have had to buy them all. <3

How generous of him to send you his original records. When I share I only send copies and usually via email.

I'm sure your contact will be equally as grateful when he receives a similar package from you

Edited to correct grammatical error

TootyFruity - some older people are not comfortable with attachments - they are not originals but colour copies which makes them almost like originals.

My preferred choice is also sending via email - I rotate the Jpeg image vertical so they can be print out in full

I'm still glowing...................

How very exciting for you, NanaSue. I am a member of new school who hardly ever has a certificate or proof to back up anything. But I have researched and personally cross-checked every individual on my tree and usually know somebody who has any back-up documentation.

It is often important to have all sorts of researchers working together as a team to get best results imo. And to share paperwork and word of mouth and to trust. I may have been very lucky - but ALL my relatives have been fantastically nice people so far and I have yet to meet a relative (even a very distant one) that I have not been comfortable with immediately.

Some nowty comments here to NanaSue. I am sure it is water off a duck's back, so why do it? You may have forgotten it is a hobby and some of us enjoy it without getting totally serious. Nobody knows their own father - fact! Whatever certificate says. We are probably all related if we go back a few hundred years - not fact, but mathematical probability which is close to absolute fact.

Just been watching John Hurt on WDYTYA. He and his brother found that almost all the records of his great grandfather Lord Browne were fictitious. He and his wife Emma Stafford had created an amazing web of deceit. They were first cousins who were well educated and developed together a very successful school - and needed to fabricate their background to appear to have solid aristocratic links.