Genealogy Chat

Can I come on here and hide, please? I've just been sarcastic on the Records Office Board to someone who has rejected one of Nell's sensible suggestions. Should I delete my comment?

Lou LOL your mentioning me not being a walking atlas. It is amazing how many towns in this country have the same name in different counties. Something you forgot in your last comment!! 12 generation tree with no effort and at no cost at all, to themselves anyway. Margaret

Blimey, I only popped out for a couple of hours! Its good to know that so many people feel the same way though and it wasn't just me being ultra crabby this morning! Several people raise a few very valid points in their replies as well. Margaret is NOT (as she calls it) 'a walking atlas' and this seems to be a common problem when some requests are posted. Often the TOWN is not enough. And I agree that there are certain people on the boards who seem to be unable or unwilling to do any actual look ups for themselves. You see the same names night after night asking for look ups, both on census and BMD's, without a thought to how much work and cost goes into what they are asking for. I blame the BBC....this has got MUCH worse since they screened those programmes which should have been entitled 'How to obtain a 12 generation tree in a weekend with no effort involved'! Lou

Elaine Good idea, but the people without the manners perhaps wouldnt read it in the first place. LOL Margaret

Hi Lou, Moan away,and rightly so too,without wonderful kind people like you a vast majority of people would never move on with their trees. Surely its only good manners to ask politely (and not often) to give as much info as possible and NEVER to ask how the research went. I've never been to a records office but having read these replies I think you kind people that offer searches are wonderful,ploughing through all that time consuming stuff. So bless you all,you are appreciated. Perhaps on this tips board we should add a list of good old fashioned manners. Elaine

Susan I can guarantee it wont be you who has offended people because you recognise that a bit of thought and thanking people goes a long way. Its the ones who would perhaps read this thread and completely miss the point who are the culprits as they would not see themselves in any of this. Margaret

Hi Lou Well said!! I haven't come across the same problem yet, probably as there aren't that many people requiring Cambridge look ups. My problem is that I feel so guilty when I can't find what they're looking for, no matter how many hours I've spent looking for the information! lol I'm hoping that my reward for all those hours searching is going to be my lot turning up fairly quickly when I start the long trawl through the London 1841 census! Any news on Adelaide? Daisy

I no longer respond to lookups like 1837 now because of the unthinking attitude of some people. Some of the blanket requests are unbelievable. If you post a reply informing them of the cost involved they dont bat an eyelid. I know this for certain as someone (no names) had my reply removed last week when I told him he had a cheek asking for a 40 odd years span lookup on 1837. If its just one credit because you are certain of the quarter etc then that is different. If I needed a lookup that cost quite a bit of money then I would either wait until I had the money to pay for it myself or go without. If I see a request from someone who has helped me in the past, then yes I will look it up. Margaret

I just wanted to add, I am totally indebted to people like Lou and dear people like Joan, Chloe, Crista, Peter, Tina and so many more, who have helped me in my quest. I too am in total awe of the people offering to do archives searches. When I go it takes me so long that on the occasion I offered to look up for just three people, I ended up coming home without any of my stuff after I had managed to find theres! This is a brilliant site with unbelievably generous people and it is also amazing how people offer to spend their own credits for others benefit. I am sure a lot of people have no idea just how much this can cost. Its gobsmacking when you get someone asking for 1837 look up with a span of about 10 very vague years and details. I have to say it is a bit choking when you have used up credits for someone then you receive no response, you contact them to see if they have seen the references and you get back an 'Oh yes, thanks, but now mum said it was 20 years later than that' THANK YOU ALL YOU FANTASTIC GUYS WHO HELP OTHERS SO SELFLESSLY.

I totally agree Lou - but could I add an extra little moan? I have Durham and like everyone else who offers their help I am happy to do look ups for people but it is very time consuming and what isdifficult is being asked to look in an area when the information you are given indicates that the family were unlikely ever to have been there! (Hope I made that clear!) Then if you do the look up, can't find the family and suggest from the information that they have given that they may be elsewhere you are ignored! No thanks for the time already spent or the suggestion. THEN, that thread with your results disappears and an identical one is posted asking for the same information!! GRRRR On the whole though most people, as I do, really appreciate the help that they are given. Andrea

Lou, I am only sorry that so far this thread has only been answered by mainly people who are committed and who understand all the work that goes into looking and researching work at whatever Record Office. The trouble is that whenever these threads are started it is always the 'committed' that answer. As I run a Family History Group whereby I already help a group of people living within my own area with their family history, I cannot also do people's research on Genes Reunited, so I admire those that do so much for others on here. What I have always tried to do is to answer people's queries on here and in that capacity, only about half ever write and say thanks for the help/info that I have offered. There are times when I wonder what some people think they can expect from this site. Do people really think that those that help them on here are paid by Genes Reunited?? I have seen people on here ask for others to do some work fior them at the National Archives, and as Brenda has said above, just to sign in, find and load the microfilm will take time. I take groups of people to these archives and I show them how to use the facilities and that will include learning how to load the film but I cannot and will not do their family history for them. If they do not want the bother of research, then they should consider paying a researcher to do the work at £20/40 per hour. Yes we have all had families and yes we do not all live near the CRO's but that is the same for us all and we all have to work around those problems. I may live near London but Edinburgh and Dublin are a long way from London! Those who are disabled have a problem and the ones who are in real difficulty are the ones who do not live in this country but I do not often find that it is those people who are the worst offenders. The worst offenders seem to be the ones living in the UK who are able to travel around. Slightly off topic but similar, when you get a message from someone stating: 'How are you connected to the t.......t familymy father was born in Kettering Northamptonshire 1901' and unsigned. What do they want from me?? All my Family Tree?? I do wonder whether this sort of person has any idea what Family history is all about. Not sure how anybody can help people like this. I did answer very shortly though I felt like not bothering. Janet

hi lou as a 'newbie' i would like to thank you and all the folks out there who have helped me, not just with look ups (I'AM TRING TO DO IT MYSELF, THATS THE FUN OF IT ) but with related info ,such as where to look and how. i make a point of getting back to people with a thankyou,its only good manners ! so if people are being rude and impatient moan on maryclare

Lou Hope you feel better after your moan. I too get some irritating messages from people who think I am on 24-hour call-out. They are of course a minority and many people who contact me are polite, appreciative and patient. Perhaps you should politely point out that they could always PAY a professional to do their research for them! Anyway I am sending you a big smile as you are always very helpful to me :-))) nell

Lou I couldn't agree more. I do think that the problem is the lack of knowledge of how the lookups are done is a major problem. They have probably seen how the LDS 1881 census is indexed and assume they are all like that. Also, the complete lack of information given to enable the search in the first place. With my NBI lookups, I have sometimes had to keep asking for more info. Its like pulling teeth, as though they are afraid to give out too much of what they already know. Also I have sometimes been told where and when a person was born and no indication at all as to where they may have died. I have even, when I looked at the county of birth for the possible death, then been told that they were miles away when last seen on a census. Well!!! I'm not a mind reader. Also, not reading the original posting that explains what is on offer. I have been asked for births and marriages, when it clearly states National Burial Index. OK, my moan over too. Margaret

I am sure you feel better for that one!! I have trawled through microfilmed censuses myself and know how timeconsuming, tiring and frustrating it can be, especially if you are not given very much information to start with. Even looking stuff up on Ancestry can be a long process. I have been looking at the 1871 on there this morning. I found one that I have been looking for for a long time, but the mistranscriptions are horrendous. Some folks must think that you are just sitting there at home with a wonderfully indexed census on a disc and can find things instantly. If only it were that simple!!!

I want to say thank you again to Lou! She looked up some information for me when we had that really bad weather, I was really grateful! People like Lou are invaluable to the likes of me - I live a long way from Lancashire but 99% of my tree are from there. (Due to financial constraints I haven't been able to visit there yet, but hope to later in the year.) I was happy to wait as long as it was necessary for Lou to get the information, because at the end of the day Lou is offering her services free of charge and she will get the information a lot quicker than I can, how ever long it takes!! Cate :))

My Lancashire rellies generally live in a nice small town with between 4 (!) and 26 pages per census. Not too bad! Thanks to everyone that's helped me do this - only another 3 months then I can chill out with it!

Thank you for this thread Lou. I am sure many people who are relatively new to Genealogy do not realise what is involved in doing a lookup on a Census. Not only do they have to find the Area on the Index on several CDs, but often there may be umpteen books within that Area if they are looking at a large town. Add to that the faintness of many pages and the crabby handwriting, and it can take hours to go through a Census on someone's behalf. Not so bad if it is a Area in which you may have a personal interest, but how seldom does that happen. Praise and respect to those who do spend the time doing it, for no reward except the knowledge that they are helping someone. And a Thank You doesn't hurt. Jim

Lou, I'm astonished that anybody volunteers to do look ups from census cds, let alone visiting records offices to look up censuses. Even in the best organised, self service record offices it probably takes a minimum of twenty minutes to get a film, load it, find the reference, check it's the right one, rewind the film, find a working, unoccupied photocopier and take a print. With some of the vague requests that are posted, it would take considerably longer. Looking for strays in Norwich in 1851 before an index was available took two solid days. I think you can only make the point again and again that searches in the early censuses are difficult, because many newcomers to the boards will not know this. Brenda

And Im still waiting for info re Uncle Jack who had the Raleigh bike in Brighton Lou!