My 16 year old nephew did a project at school not long ago and got quite far with information from the site without paying. Also try Genes Reunited (i think thats what it is called) he found it useful too, without paying. The only thing was he really needed specific dates of birth to get further, which is where the fee comes in.

OH has used it, with a lot of success.

I'm on genes reunited, but you can only get so far on that too before they want payment.. I have no idea which site would be better.. With the bank hols coming up tho I think I'll have some time to investigate! Demantoid- can you cancel the subscription easy enough?!

what sort of thing do you want sweet, my mum has done alot of her family tree. shes has access to ancestry. i will ask her what other sites she uses.

I've used it and got quite far but I use a 3V card so's I get my free trial but only pay for the one month, then they can't take anymore off you but download or print all your documents because once you cancel you can't access them in full....

Thank you justafriend & stonks that's really helpful My dad passed away when I was 14, and his parents passed long before I was born so I'm really looking to find out anything I can about them..

I thought about doing the 14 day free trial, paying for one month and then cancelling

Don't know about cancelling it, Sweet S. He's still using it, so he hasn't tried to.

You can buy pay as you go vouchers from the library, they don't last very long though, i got a £5 voucher and in went in minutes  i got quite far but you have too pay too look at the 1911 census and thats the one i want

sweet spoke to mum she said  on genes have you tried community and then records office theres always help available there you can ask for look ups and usually theres someone who will help you, mum also said try freebmd.org for birth marriages and deaths. if you do the 14 day trial on ancestry make sure you cancel in time because they soon take your money.

Its exciting and upsetting sometimes when you read into the censuses and see their circumstances change, my mothers side were very secretive thats why I started but I tried to research Mr stonks side and they apparently don't exist....

I used that and also genes reunited..... and had a fair amount of success with both...

Stonks that's mad! They must have called each other by names that weren't their real one's!! A cousin on my mums side gave us a family tree that goes back 9 generations! I did e mail her to ask how she did it but I never got a reply Baz- did you get different or the same results from genes reunited & ancestry?

Is he one of those blow-up husbands? 

I'm on Ancestry because I find it the easiest to use - full membership, and I think it's worth every penny.

I've gone back centuries and one of the family lines goes back to my 7th x great grandparents - 99% of the records were found on Ancestry.  Others, especially the Irish records, are a nightmare because they were all destroyed.

 

I've got back as far (with definite proof) to early 1020, but there's some records that are from 900 but are (supposedly) my direct descendants.  I'm still researching though.

 

One site that you may find helpful, Sweet Summer - especially if you know a bit of your family history or have a fair idea of dates, this:

 

http://freepages.genealogy.roo...s/CountryEngland.htm

 

And I've used this for the Scottish records: 

http://freepages.genealogy.roo.../CountryScotland.htm

 

 

Thank you very much cosmo, that's really helpful Did you have any trouble finding out exactly which descendants were the correct one's?! I don't know my grandparents dates of birth/death/marriage but I know their names & which cemetery they're buried in.. That should help shouldn't it!

You've got me thinking about trying too find my family again now, my grandad was one of 11 or 13 children and we know nothing about them, they would be my dads aunts and uncles and he doesn't even know their names (well 2 he does)  he's never met them though there's obviously some story there that my grandad didn't want us to know but it's got me intrigued

my mums always doing her tree, my great nanny had a italian surname, mum found a whole site dedicated to the name, shes got back to the 1600s and how the family came from italy to here its amazing what you can find out. those census things from the 1800s are interesting.

 

Oh I'm really motivated now! I'm going to compile a tree of what I do know then go from there! I hadn't seen or spoken to my aunt & cousin for almost 16 years, thank goodness they found me on Facebook

It is interesting Justa, all i need is a look at the 1911 census and i think i would got some answers but you have too pay and i haven't got a credit card  i really want to know their names

mum said just start simply sweet find your mum and dads  birth then it should  tell you their mothers  maiden name so you can then look for your nan and grandads marriages and then there births and work backwards that way, write it all down as you go.

 

Well it does help if you've got slighly less popular names - or if, as I said before, you know a bit of your family history already. 

You don't have to start with their births either.  If it's easiest to trace them from their death certificate records then you can do it that way.  They often give the date of birth on the death certificate anyway

 

Fact is, it becomes easier once you've started to fill in your tree.

Boundaries are bit iffy at times - for instance, London was divided up into Surrey, Middlesex, etc.  So it pays to have a map handy if you're not up to speed with certain localities.

Also, the census officials and/or the transcriptors can make mistakes.

Names are abbreviated, spelt wrongly - including surnames.

If you 'connect' with other researchers along the way it can often be a lot easier to find and compare records.

 

Oh, and it's really friendly - people message/pm and offer help or alternative possibilities and that can help a lot.

 

One last thing... keep your records open to the public rather than going private because you get more info that way.  You can always limit access to your tree at a later date.

 

 

 

are you a member of genes aimee?

 

How are these services with international stuff and tracing ancestors who may have emigrated to other countries?

Do you still live in the same area as them?  You could go to the local records office and see if they could help. 

They were born where i live but in 1911 they were in Wales (great grandad was a miner) but the great grandmother was back here when she died

Found my (deported ) rellies in Tasmania.

Found my migrating Scottish lot in the US and Canada.

And I found a whole heap of early Mormon-like sect who swanned off in the early 1800's from Somerset.

Got information on family who died on passenger ships as far as India

And one who joined the California Gold Rush and got murdered for his trouble.

 

And a bunch of cowboys who turned to holding up the US railroads.....

 

I use Ancestry, not sure if i'm a registered member or not, i'll have too check, how much does it cost your mum?

 

I want to find rellies who are from overseas and migrated to other overseas countries on one side of the family (nowt to do with the the UK at all).

 

The other side are from Ireland and Scotland so that'll probably be easier!

 

OK, well try the 1901 or even the 1891 census if you think they may have still been living in your area at that time.  The records could also show their young family too - so maybe your grandad or his siblings could be on there.

 

Do you want to pm me with details and I'll see if I can find anything?

Obviously you'd have to trust me with personal names and dates, but I can assure you I would deal with this in strict confidence.  

 

I'm sure there are international sites - my aunt lives in Aus and does all her research from their website with no problems.

The Scottish records are transcribed but not so many are open to view like the English ones.  The Irish ones are complicated - but not beyond research.  Go get noseying!

That would be great, can you send me a PM, i've tried finding you and i can't

she says its about £8 aimee theres always people there that will do look ups for you.

Thanks, like i said i only need one bit of information

hope cosi can help you aimee let us know if you get some answers cosi seems to be very good at this sort of thing.

I've pm'd you Aimee.  Hold back on spending any hard earned cash until I've had a look for you.  It costs me nothing (in that I've already paid and can view anything and everything that I want).  Worth a try.

 

As Justy says, if I can't find anything then you could try messaging those that have downloaded batches of records on any of the other forum/websites too.

I'll have a word with the old dear tomorrow and we'll  look into it - chars missus! x

 

Right now I'm looking into Bruce on Enter the Dragon. Fit as a butchers dog

This link might help.

http://www.free-genealogy.co.uk/1911census.html

i'm off too bed now, i'll let you know if cos get's me some results