How/why did you start researching your family tree?

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How/why did you start researching your family tree?

Postby Oddquine » Sat Mar 25, 2006 6:53 pm

My interest was sparked off by a tree given to a cousin of mine by a double cousin(Macdonald/Sinclair) of my mother's, which was only of my Sinclair line. I got a copy of the tree, but, at that time, did not have a computer.

Once I had the computer, I decided to research my MacDonald line, then my paternal ancestry, and, from there, am currently up to 5000+ connections. Some are very distant at the moment, but I live in hopes that eventually they will connect at a more direct level. as my son, who has lived and worked in Caithness, says "I think Adam and Eve originated here, and their descenadants are still inter-marrying away. Everybody in the world has their origins in Caithness!" :mrgreen:

It has become an addiction!
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Postby DaisyB » Sat Mar 25, 2006 7:11 pm

My father started his years ago, so I don't have to do the searching, he's done it for me. He travelled up to Derbyshire where his ancestors came from. His great, great, great grandfather came to Brighton and claimed land overnight. This was a dairy farm, orchards and nurseries. In fact that part of Brighton is now the Bates Estate (Bates being my maiden name, oh how my brother suffered). one of the ancestors also owned a large pub on the main Brighton/Lewes Road which recently changed names to the Lecturn and caters only for students of the nearby Sussex University, all the old locals are no longer allowed to drink there.

On Dave's side of the family, we were lucky because due to lots of 'skeletons in cupboards' we couldn't get anywhere. Then I was contacted by a lady via Genesreunited who discovered that her late husband was really a Churchill. His mother has remarried and had more children and brought all her children up with her new husband's name. He never knew he was originally a Churchill. The clue was the family name of Finlay, which was Dave's dad's second name and a name that was used for all the firstborn males. She has managed to trace the family right back to 1775, a William Finlay Churchill from Wigtown in Stranraer. It's amazing how all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
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Postby widget » Sat Mar 25, 2006 7:50 pm

I have a family tree, my Fathers side, the first one on it was born 1647, it was printed in 1894,
my Grandfather is on the bottom line with 10 brothers and sisters all of then unmarried in 1894,
my wish has been to bring it up to date and perhaps find some lost Cousins,
there is no one left in on my Father sides so it is a matter of trying to find when they all got married and then perhaps had children, long job with 2 world wars as well,
still one day I might get a lead :dunno:
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Postby Rowan » Sat Mar 25, 2006 10:04 pm

For me it was just wondering where came from and what places my grandparents came from. Mostly I am too busy to do much but I will be passing all my info on to my niece as well so that she can carry on where I leave off.
Avoid the evil, and it will avoid thee.
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Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit.
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Postby Shutterfrog » Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:04 am

A cousin started me off about 30 years ago. She had me doing research for her. When I started with computers, I began putting her information in a program and haven't stopped. Good thing I had her information and documents too...... she died about 2 years ago and no one knows what happened to her work. <sigh>
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Postby Daff » Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:06 am

My father died 13years ago and whilst chatting to my Aunt it suddenly dawned on me that though she was only 5 years younger than my father she always called him Uncle. So for the first time I asked why, well he was her uncle and we were really cousins. Ill health stopped me finding out more then but 3 years ago I started in ernest and now have the male line back to 1741
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Postby Rowan » Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:23 am

And were they Daff? We had weird things in our family which was another reason to go digging. Ours was that a lady whom my father thought was his cousin, was really his half sister but they had never even met until he was 18.
Avoid the evil, and it will avoid thee.
Gaelic Proverb

Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit.
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Postby Daff » Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:10 pm

Rowan wrote:And were they Daff?


yes they are the children of my dad's eldest sister, she was 18 years older than him. Her first child was only 16 months younger than him so they went to school together
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Postby Pam » Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:17 pm

You have all got much further than me!! My interest was sparked after my mother died and I was going through some paperwork. I found 2 receipts for burials both dated 1894 and costing two pounds and two shillings! There was also a baptism record from 1866. I am only working on my mother's side of the family at the moment, much easier due to the uncommon surname.
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Postby DaisyB » Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:25 pm

Having an uncommon surname certainly does make the job a lot easier. One of my grandmothers is a Smith and we wouldn't know where to begin.
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Postby Lacemaker » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:33 pm

Daisy, one of my great grandmother's was a Smith so I know what sort of problems you are having with that name !

Several of my friends had started researching their family tree but the main reason for starting my research was that when I bought my first computer my father wanted to know if we could find out if his eldest brother (a black sheep if ever there was one) was still alive. Considering Dad was 85 at the time and his brother a good 4 years older there really was not much chance of finding him but it stimulated my interest in finding out more about the family.

I have got back to 1793 at the moment. I do hold hopes of going back even further since one of my great grandmothers came from a small village and I have traced people with her maiden name in that village back to Elizabethan times. I am just trying to find the direct line back now.

If anyone knows of any one of the name of Stutting (or any of its variations) of Scotter in Lincolnshire, I would love to hear from them.
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Postby dita » Sun Apr 09, 2006 10:39 am

Hi! I sent you PM, just wondered if it was any importance Lacemaker. Will help anyway I can.
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Postby dejavou » Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:45 pm

I've never bothered ..... I'm not too impressed with the few living relatives I have, so the gene pool may be rather murky :sad:
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Postby Rowan » Sun Apr 09, 2006 6:18 pm

:mrgreen: :rolleye11:
Avoid the evil, and it will avoid thee.
Gaelic Proverb

Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit.
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Postby mazzy » Mon Apr 10, 2006 2:56 pm

I'm with you on that one dej....and I was born a Jones!
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