Genealogy

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Manxman;

I didn't want to hijack the Cold thread, so I started a new topic. I have similiar problem that MWS had. My family members rarely talked about the past, and I have very little oral history to go by.

I've been using Ancestry.Com a lot. I got a free 9 month subscription when I purchased Family Tree Deluxe software. For the U.S. they have different levels of memberships, and you have to pay a lot more to access certain information. I've been mainly searching the U.S. census, and Social Security Death Indexes. If your relatives were in the U.S. prior to 1930, you may find them in one of the federal census. You also may want to try www.FamilySearch.org . That is the site maintained the Latter Day Saints; Mormons. They have a lot of useful information on how to do research, and you can search there data base online for information about your family. They travel around the world collecting genealogy information, so you might find something useful on their site, and it's all free.

I've learned a few things since November about the online census. I have found at times there were mistakes made by the persons indexing the data; and I believe there are a lot of omissions. On more than one occasion I have found a family by searching for a child rather than the parent, because of misspelling by the person inputting the data. Fortunately I live 40 miles from a National Archive Center that has the Federal Records on microfilm, so I am planning a trip there. Not only the census, but I will have access to military pension records from the Revolutionary War up to the Philippine Insurrection. They also have the immigration records for all port entries in the U.S.

Good luck with your research. I've learned it is not easy, it doesn't take long to hit a brick wall, and it seems there is no way beyond it.

[manxman]

Hi HS,

I have an uncle who is 93 and an aunt of 87 who have been a good source of information but I have already hit a couple of brick walls!! However it is quite good fun trying to find a way around them but certainly in one instance there appears to be no way round!!

It also appears that a lot of the census information was put online by companies in India and given that we have a lot of peculiar Manx language placenames and surnames there are a lot of errors.

Complete novice at this, only a few weeks into it so I have a lot to learn. Thanks for the advice and encouragement. :)

[Dalby Spook]

I had a go at this myself once. Started with my paternal grandpa whom i was told was killed in WW2. Turned out he was an alchohlic ex jailbird who died in Blackpool in a bigamous marriage in 1965! So I called it quits at that in case I found anymore "colourful" ancesters.

[coolguy]

 Did my genealogy three years ago seems my family landed in virgina back in 1780's and setteled in kentucky then proceed west coming to california in 1847 and has been in the same area that i am in since then. Was a lot of fun trying to get all the history and getting it straight, have fun with it.
coolguy

[Habanero Smoker]

I had a go at this myself once. Started with my paternal grandpa whom i was told was killed in WW2. Turned out he was an alchohlic ex jailbird who died in Blackpool in a bigamous marriage in 1965! So I called it quits at that in case I found anymore "colourful" ancesters.

;D ;D ;D ;D
Sometimes you get surprised when you either confirm or disprove family folklore.

Manxman;
I'm a novice at this also. It makes sense about how the online data is compiled. More than once the information was indexed incorrectly, if you go to the actual form it is often very obvious that the information was entered wrong. Another place to go is Cyndi's List http://www.cyndislist.com/ It has 265,500 links to other genealogy sites. At first you get overwhelmed, but the links are very well organized in categories.

Coolguy;
Glad to hear of your success.

[Thunder Fish]

Dalby Spook,my father inlaw recieved the same surprise 5 years ago when his 1/2 brother found him in Canada from England.There dad did the same story and moved over here to start again  ???