After all this time! Isn't that the strangest thing. Did he sign an X because he was too unwell to write his name?

I think that pic is great.  The lady in it was his Mothers sister.  The gentleman is a man called Thomas Byrne and my grandfather took on that name by the time he joined the army to fight in the first world war. 

 

But Thomas Byrne, when doing the ancestry lived in the same street AND at the same time this woman was murdering http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Cotton

Not sure to be honest.  Quite a few of the marriage certificates I have , have the same thing. Probably more because they couldn't write.

Very interesting  I must start mine again 

Yes, you must!  It's very time consuming though and you'll be murderous at times until you find what you're looking for.  But it's worth it in the end.

 

Cinds, that's a fab breakthrough you've made there 

The X would most certainly have indicated poor literacy (ALL mine signed with an X too) but apparently it could also be due to the registrar.  If they didn't think the signature was legible enough then they'd insist on a cross instead   Likewise, if they decided to spell a name incorrectly no one dared argue with them.

 

How have you managed with the transcriptions?  Some of the ones I've come across beggar belief!  'Widow', for instance, was transcribed as 'hunar'  and 'Widower' was windower...

 

Whoever types them up should be shot!

I started mine years ago... just by word of mouth from older family members, I got so enthralled by it all that I started in earnest not long after. My mums side was pretty easy going as they were all mostly Scottish/Irish and German. My dads has been a lot harder, he was Norwegian, and his father was married twice. it's taking most of my time these days trying to sort out my paternal side. Fascinating work though and I love the thought that I can pass it on to my kids.... and they'll know exactly 'Who they are and what they come from'.

Cosi, the transcriptions have been hilarious at times. I think I've already mentioned this one, but on one of the census records a name was down as Ivrattan, but when looking at the original it was very obviously Jonathon. 

 

I would love to know who the people are who transcribed them.

Ooo you've got me so interested in this   I'd love to trace my family but don't think Irish records are that good - when I asked for a copy of my mother's birth certificate they said they couldn't find it and that she must have been born abroad  luckily I had her baptism certificate and they eventually found her 

 

I have a feeling my family are all just farmers nothing very interesting but it would be good to trace some rellies - I've only been able to go back to my great grandfather on my mother's father's side  

 

how expensive is expensive?  are these sites very dear?

A very good friend is doing our family tree...handy that she is the chairperson of the Buckingham genealogical society & has written a book on how to find stuff on the internet for free!
So far our tree goes back to 1592..

 

1 little tale....

I wondered why Julie's Alexander Shapcott suddenly upped and left Bristol
for Exeter. Now I know  (newspaper indexes Western Times.).
  As a small loy, he was a one boy crime wave. Starting at 9, and being
particularly well known to the police in his early teens, he was in all the
trouble there was. The crimes were mostly minor (including stealing a pair
of boots when in 1861, he was 'a barefoot urchin , who has been convicted on
several occasions ' a year before' a young lad of wretched appearance, with
no shirt on and his other clothes mere rags'. 'a night and day prowler, a
tiny object though said  to be 16 years of age (he was barely 15 at the
time).
was caught sleeping rough at the age of 13 on Guinea St Bridge, - I wonder
if his father , the pib butcher, threw him out?
   By 1866 he was on the move  to Bristol, where he married in December.
  But in 1896, guess who was the respectable witness for the prosecution
when a drill instructor went on a thieving spree in Exeter market? Alexander
Shapcott, general dealer of Rack St.  He saw the man and thought his actions
looked suspicious ... takes one to know one.
EVE

Unfortunately Pengy a lot of Irish records got lost in fire...

Pengy, Irish records are really difficult.  My great great grandparents on my Mothers side came from Ireland and unfortunately for now that is as far back as I can get.

I have been thinking about doing my tree for ages, I have two: my natural family and my adoptive family. I have no idea were to start, especially as it's in Germany. Any advice greatly appreciated.

RootsIreland.ie is one of the leading sites in Ireland.

https://rootsireland.ie/ifhf/register.php

It seems you get 100 free searches but have to pay for additional ones.

 

But it is done on a county by county basis and the completeness of the databases will vary from county to county. There will be gaps in the data they hold and there will be errors in spelling particularly with older data.

 

It seems that most Irish census records prior to 1901 were destroyed in a fire in 1922 which makes research a lot harder.

 

A few years ago someone asked me to assist an American guy who had settled in Germany. I suppose it doesn't matter if I drop names now. Curtis was a first cousin of Motörhead Sherwood, a member of the Mothers of Invention. He knew that the Sherwood family had originally emigrated to the USA from this area and he wanted to do a bit of research. By coincidence Jimmy Carl Black, another original member was playing down the road. That was a great night! Otherwise we spent a lot of time going round graveyards and libraries. Sadly JCB died a few years back, Motörhead died a couple of years ago, and Curtis died last summer well before his time. I've kept this brief, but it was a very exciting period for us!

@Frau Köln I'm off again in October and hoffentlich will find out something about the system. More success than the last quest?

I'm having a bash at researching my family tree at the moment, too.  I've traced some back as far as the 17th Century and am stuck now.

 

I've unearthed a felon or two and discovered that a couple of my ancestors had been saddled with the title of 'lunatic' in some old registers.  Apparently it was quite common for people with various forms of mental illness to be described thus.  Poor blighters

thanks for the link El Loro I shall give it a go 

 

thanks everyone else - I shall try giving it a go as I know one of my Aussie cousins was tracing my father's family tree so I might ask how far they got - I shall persevere with my mother's side 

I can see why this gets very expensive - I can search for someone on that site but have to pay for what I've searched for - will have to wait until I've a few more spare pennies but thanks for the link 

The record I found mistranscribed as Ivrattan instead of Jonathon had him listed as an imbecile.

 

I've also uncovered a couple of bigamous marriages too.

 

That's how I found it too  it's only my grandfather's siblings I want to find out about so I really should have another go at it, goes to buy a lotto ticket 

Oh dear!

 

The mis-transcribing thing can be a bit of a bugger and you can waste hours hunting down the wrong person because their name's been entered incorrectly.

 

I was quite lucky with my research as a lot of it had been done by someone in Australia.  He was descended from a chap who had 'emigrated' there.  I often wonder what crime(s) my ancestors had committed; probably the heinous and unforgivable sin of swiping a loaf of bread

Did you see Gary Lineker on who do you think you are, his great grandfather kept nicking chickens and when the police went round 2 chickens were in the pot and 2 hidden up the chimney 

I piddle myself laughing so much with that - made worse by his infectious laughing 

Me too, the historian bloke kept trying to press how bad a crime it was in those day's but Gary kept on laughing and then when he saw a drawing of him he looked like Gary 

I know   I know obviously in those days it would have been a serious crime and the fact the police knew exactly who to go to made me laugh even more as he was a persistent offender.  But the two chickens up the chimney and the rest in the pot had me in stitches - how anyone could keep a straight face is beyond me 

There is a free ancestry search site that is run by the Mormons.  I think it's called searchforancestors.com or something like that.

 

I haven't used it but a chum has and said they got quite a lot of useful information from it.

It's called http://familysearch.org

 

I've used it a lot and it is MASSIVELY helpful, but you have to be careful about how you approach some of the info on it as it might just be unverified stuff uploaded by other users of the site.

I agree, I had always been led to believe that my great-great-great grandfather was from Greenock in Scotland.... but when I found his marriage certificate I discovered he was born in Rostrevor, Ireland. The rest of the maternal side of the family fell into place easily but I can't get past dear old Multi-Great-G'Pappy. The odd thing is, I moved to N. Ireland nearly 18yrs ago and Rostrevor is just along the road! I had no idea I had any ties to the area until 4 yrs ago

Same here the side of the family I'm trying to trace is my dad's grandparents and the grandmother was killed by lightning two streets away from where I leave now  she's actually buried in the local church yard, my dad knows where it is but it's unmarked 

It's weird Aimee  

We moved here because we love the area and have great friends here but I had no idea my ancestors came here.

Another weird thing that's happened since I started my family tree was.... My hubby and I love Perthshire, Dunkeld in particular, we used to escape there for weekends when ever possible, one day, after visiting for a few yrs, we decided to explore the cathedral and while my hubby went walk-about, I found the big ledger with parish names, there in front of me was my fathers father's name. An unusual name, as they were Norwegian. So I asked the minister about it and he took me to the local manse.... further records showed he lived near there for many yrs and joined the Scottish Horse, married a local girl (my dad's mum) and whats more the local military museum, just next to the cathedral, had a big mounted picture on the wall of a soldier on horseback just prior to being deployed in the first world war.... it was my granddad! We didn't even know he had been in the country at that time.

Danke.

I've been lucky like that too for my fathers side of the family.  Have been in touch with a gentleman in USA, a lady in Canada and another lady in Australia who are all researching that side of the tree too, so they've all been a gold mine of information.

 

My favourite has to be the lady in Canada whose great great Uncle went there from Edinburgh and became a well known watch maker.  (My grandfather was an avid watch maker too, we didn't know it ran in the family).  Plus she sent me this picture. I can really see my dad and my grandfather.

 

Here are some links for those of you wanting to have a taster of researching for free.

 

https://familysearch.org/ (I think it's already been posted here, but this is a brilliant site)

 

http://www.ukcensusonline.com  This one is also useful.

 

As well as Ancestry.co.uk, I also have subscriptions to these:

 

http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/

 

http://uk.archives.com

 

If anyone wants anything looking up, just let me know.

I know you did it for me before but I never saw it don't know why  I'd be ever so grateful if you could look one thing for me, I'll in box you the details tomorrow,I know it's on the 1911 census but you had to join to view it, I'll just check we have a dialogue started 

Aimee, the one I did for you I marked as Private but if you PM me your email address I can add you as an editor to the tree and then you should be able to view it and add to it.

I've found this court document attached to one of my ancestors, I'm not sure whether I'm reading it right, but are they arguing over who is the parents of a child? Or am I reading it all wrong?

 

 

 

In the County Court of Cambrigeshire holden at Wisbech

Between John Seba and Mary his wife, Plaintiffs and Mary Ann Mettler, Jane Amelia Jackson and Lilla Adelaide Graves, Defendants

Take notice ? intend to apply to the Judge of this Court on the 16th day of July instant. for an Order for Directions which have become necessary by reason of the following circumstances--

In tracing the pedigree of the Testator John Balding it has been discovered that the Testator's father (John Balding senior) had issue by his wife Catherine, four sons and one daughter.  The four sons were respectively named William, John, Matthew and William.  The first named William died and infant aged about two years.  John is the Testator named in the particulars in these proceedings.  The last named William was the youngest son of the said John Balding Senior and Catherine his wife.  He was born in the year 1770 and he is the person through whom the Plaintiffs and the Defendants claim to be entitled.

Up to a few months ago it was believed that the said John Balding seniro and Catherine his wife had no children other than the said William (the said Infant) John (the testator) and William.  But on searching the Registers at Sutton in the Isle where the parents for sometime resided it was ascertained that a Matthew son of John and Catherine Balding had been baptized there on the 2nd day of October 1768!  Careful searches have been duly made at Sutton in the Isle and at several other places for an entry of the burialof the said Matthew Balding but no such entry has been found.  Advertisements have also been inserted in Newspapers circulating in the countries of Cambridge Suffolk Norfolk and Lincoln offering rewards to Paris Clerks and others for the Certificat of the death or burial of the said Matthew Balding but no response of any kind has been made to such advertisement.  It is believed that the said Matthew Baldingdied unmarried and without issue as none of the family ever heard any mention made of his having children.  It is intend to apply to the Judge for directionsrelative to the insertion of an advertisement for the heirs (if any) of the said Matthew Balding to claim and in default that it shall be presumed that he died prior to 1863 a bachelor and intestate.

Application will also be made for a direction relative to the marriage of the said John and Catherine Balding

Dated this 8th day of July 1897

Welchman Carrick and Jackson

Solicitors for the Plaintiffs

To Mrs. Mary Ann Mettler and to Mr James Webber, her Solicitor

I read it more as if they are arguing over a will, I will read it again in a minute and see if I see it differently

 

I'm off to the pick up my great grandmothers death certificate next week so bad of me to be excited about it

Nothing wrong with getting excited over a death certificate, I almost click my heels with joy when another GRO envelope arrives.

Hopefully we will get some answers i've come to the conclusion that my grandad was lying about certain parts of his family for some reason and hopefully this will clear a few things up