From watching the show 'Who do you think you are' would like to research the past. Anybody done it and where do you start.? Are there people who would do it for a price ? I was always told my Great Great Grandads brother was Prime Minister of New Zealand be nice to find out.
It is fairly easy, especially if you have any old relatives living who can remember the past I have got back to the early 1700's in very quick time. Online census, family sites and then the local archives Good luck it is fun, fasinating and also can be infuriating....bit like watching the reds
Start by talking to living family. Then birth death & marriage certificates in the family, then join something like Genes Re United or Ancestry.com
Could be time for a new poll... how far does your family go back living in Barnsley? lol. No jus kiddin I hate those darn polls ppl do!
I've enjoyed tracing back and have got to late 1700s on one side. Some areas of the country seem to have better records than others. Ancestry is good and is about 9 quid a month. Census stuff will give you good leads and then confirm it with certificates. Use this link if you order certificates: http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/ I've seen some sites which charge more than the Register Office. It's useful to get certificates even though they are £7 a time. Somebody had done part of my family from census info and ended up tracing back the wrong people. There are genealogy researchers who do it for a fee but I don't know how much, and when you get back to the 1700s local research is likely to be more useful than the internet
The hardest part was filling in the gaps between the 1911 census and the 1950s. </p> I have my family records from the 1841,1851,1861,1871,1881,1891 and 1901 UK census. You can also use Birth, Marriage and Death records. These are useful to pick up the Children, and there are usually lots of them who were born and died between the census dates. </p> Barnsley Library archives is a good place for checking Cemetery records. I located the graves of my Grand Parents in Hemingfiied Cemetery and found that Grandmother had two children, buried with her, who died in infancy who my Dad never mentioned. I got back to Cheshire in the 1700s on my Dads side. A single male married a Wombwell lass at Darfield Church in 1839. I also found out my family name really should be Tomlinson.</p> My tree stops with a Woman called Elizabeth who had an illigitimate child, my gggg Grandad. The father had to pay £20 to Elizabeth to pay for his up bringing. One of my cousins has done my Mums side of the family who came from Lincolnshire and is getting back to the 1600s.</p> Every time you find an answer it usually generates two or three questions. Like when you find Aunties who are really your cousin, and Aunties you never knew about, ect. </p> Theres loads of free info on the net but if you want certificates it can be a bit costly.</p> This site was useful</p> http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp</p>
