There must have been something and perhaps it was easier to make something up than face the real facts.  We found out for definite about things we thought had happened after the deaths of family members, and it was just because it was too painful for them to face and have people know about when they were still alive.

Yes, they are arguing over the will of John Balding, who is the 'testator' referred to. A testator is a person who has died LEAVING a will. That is why a person who dies WITHOUT leaving a will is said to have died intestate.

Get me being right 

Thank you. 

Well done Aims.

Last convicts transported to Australia were in 1868, at the same time there was a gold rush in Australia (1851 - 1871) and the volume of immigrants this brought, almost quadrupled the population - so someone 'going to Australia' needn't necessarily be because of criminal tendencies!

I've found criminals, larceny being the main, and one possible charge of manslaughter.  Plus I have found at least two bigamists (in the same thread of the tree) and numerous imbeciles 

Explains a lot really. 

I am actually sitting at this moment, hand drawing trees for both Mam & Dad, only including on this parents of parents etc.  Then I intend to do them both a book which will show the children of all of their ancestors, where they lived with copies of census records and anything else I can include about them.

The 1911 census is brilliant for finding out how many children a couple actually had, because it asks how many children born in that marriage and how many are still alive.

I've found no criminals yet, I feel quite cheated  I've got some that went to Australia 

I noticed that too Cinds about the 1911 census, that's how I found out mine had lost 4 children

I am wondering if any of our Irish forum members might be able to recommend any sites for tracing Irish records, banging my head on a brick wall at the moment with my Irish ancestors.

Any help will be very gratefully accepted.

www.rootsireland.ie

www.irishgenealogy.ie

http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/

The 1901 and 1911 census site – www.census.nationalarchives.ie – is by far the best place to dip a toe in the water: it’s free, intuitive and has images of all the original census forms. Find your great-grandparents here, and you’re hooked.

I've located this little nugget and a picture.  My Great great grandfather was an Engine driver and so moved around the country quite a bit.  But I have found the last home they lived in for over 10 years..............10 years 

They weren't well off you understand, they only accommodated one part of it, another family lived in the other half. 

Oh gosh, Cinds. That's a garden shed!

Thank you for the links.

Hey, it's not a garden shed..... its a Railway Hut 

But seriously, could you imagine living in that for a month, never mind over 10 years?

Apparently it's a Fish & Chip now.

Fluffs, unfortunately, the names I have for my Irish ancestors were in Wigan by 1851. 

I don't know how you find so much out  has it cost you a lot?

Aimee, I've been signed up with ancestry for almost 5 years.  This year I signed up to thegenealogist.com & the national archives.

A lot of the time I sit with loads of windows open looking at maps to see if places mentioned in records look close.

At the minute I am focusing on my great great grandmother, and for ages I kept getting thrown off because the eldest son in the census which I knew was definitely them, kept saying he was born in Ireland, but I could find my great great grandmother living in Wigan as a single woman and I could find a marriage record that related to her and my great great grandfather in Wigan.  So I bought the certificate, and it turned out he was a widower.  So then I fund him on the census in Wigan, and he lived around the corner from my gg grandmother while he was married and also had the child I always thought was their eldest.

But even then, not all of the records are brilliant, there are so many variants of spellings.  On my fathers side, I have the wedding certificate of another gg grandfather who married a lady called Margaret Elizabeth Nixon, yet on the marriage certificate she is Nixon, but her father is Dixon?? And I know it was definitely Nixon, because back then they had a habit of giving a son the mothers maiden name as a middle name.

Tomorrow, when my eyes aren't as boggled by all of the records I have looked at today, I am going to throw some records in to here, to ask what you lot might think.

It does send your eyes  I love finding clues that prove your on the right track  and I'm chatting to my new family member everyday on FB 

Really??? The guy I know about?  That's brilliant.  

Awwww man I feel like Cilla

 He's lovely  Sarah is my gg grandmother his ggg grandmother, you are known as Cilla 

Aimee, I'm chuffed to bits for you. How cool is it that you have found long lost family, is you're Dad pleased? 

Ta Fluffy I must try those. A few years back our uncle Jack traced the family tree, but couldn't get much info from the records office in Dublin. Apparently the records were burned during The War of Independence

No  he's pleased for me but he's still sticking by they left his dad alone, I don't blame him but I'm determined to find out what went wrong, me and Jake are meeting up though 

Oh!

Well maybe the church records are the place to start, for you.

Yeah, that's true. Doesn't make it easier for any of us. But there are still bits and pieces here and there and if you're lucky, some of those bits and pieces will be pertinent to you.

 Ta.

Yes, it's definitely a case of perseverance when it comes to trying to track relatives back to Ireland.  Ancestry made this big thing about Lord Viscount Morpeths Testimonial Roll being a break through in Irish records.  

My dad's great aunt was born in this country, but from her birth certificate we know that her parents were married in Donegal.

Then there's another family who had 7 children. From the census (can't remember off-hand which one) we find that 5 children were born here, but the eldest 2 were born in Ireland....and from the birth certificates of the younger children we know where in Ireland the parents were married and so possibly where the eldest 2 were born. But if memory serves, I looked them up on the Family Search site and it suggested the eldest 2 were born in different places!

However I have such an extensive amount of Scottish ancestry to research that I haven't pursued the Irish connections to any great extent. Also my paternal grandmother's siblings (all 8 of them) emigrated to America in the early part of the 20th century and I'm trying to delve into that too.

By the way...I think I am related to everybody in Fife and half of the rest of the country too! Not forgetting a bit of English, Irish and possibly French thrown in for good measure!

Sorry Welsh people, but I haven't found any suggestion of a relationship to you....as yet!

Have you ever been there Fluffy? Its beautiful. Quite rugged with beautiful beaches and lovely people. Glad you're Oirish  

The rest sounds fascinating too - lots to follow up! You probably have US cousins who'd be only too delighted to hear from you!

I wrote to my NY second and third cousins thinking nothing would happen. Ended up staying with them 3 times. We went with my great- uncle Mick [who'd emigrated in the 30's] and saw his name inscribed among thousands of others in a big brass plaque at Ellis Island.

Good luck in your search!

One thing I REALLY would like to know is, What made my Great- Great- Uncle Walter go to Australia.

Hi Rog. No, I've never been to Ireland. Not sure why, as I remember my dad saying that when he was a boy, the family often went to Ireland and had holidays with the Irish relatives.

You should visit it sometime Fluffy. We spent many childhood holidays in Dunfanaghy in Donegal - its so scenic. I still remember the smell of the turf fires. Hopefully its not too built up now.  

I have heard that my family on one side, came to England as part of the Norman Conquest, but have never checked that far back. However I do know quite a bit about one of my great grandparents from this: http://www.burbage-wiltshire.c.../WestcourtBraime.htm

Was he the Herbert Braime mentioned Kimota ? That's a fascinating ancestor to have, wow  Loved seeing those old photos too.

On the genealogist web site they have loads of stuff that I cannot get on ancestry.  But one of them made me chuckle.  One of the things I read recently was an obituary which read along these lines.

***, son of ***.  Married to ***** with who he had no issue (which means they have no children).  

The obituary went on with a few other details but ended with the line.

He had a bastard. 

 I was reading some of the stories in old newspapers that had the same surname as me and one was about a drunk gardener and they wanted to know who had given him the booze, he was fined the poor sod 

Can I put my sensible 'mother' head on for a moment. I really am pleased for you, but don't go alone when you go to meet. 

I know it's all brilliant meeting a long lost cousin over the internet, but! 

Sorry i I don't want to put a dampers on it, but if something awful happened to you I would feel responsible in a way. 

I hate it when I am being all motherly