Family trees

[Jason]

Has anyone on here ever created a family tree using the online sites ? I am trying to create one for my wife and her family but I don't know which site is the best ( I know they all charge ) . Can you create one from start to finish off one site alone or will it be necessary to register on a few sites that hold different info ?

Very grateful in advance !

[GUT]

G'day Jason

A lot will depend on your family situation, including names and where you are. Together with how far back you wish to go.

We [my wife and I] took out Tree back 7 generations [almost complete I think 1 name missing] without spending a cent.

I am very wary of the sites that rely on other peoples Family Trees for information, because so often that information is simply wrong as I have found while looking at my own family.

Some of the errors that I have found are wrong name for my GGG grandmother, claims that her husband died in Australia when there are abundant reports that he died in Dorset UK. My Great Grandfather being reported as being born in Queensland, when he was born in New South Wales, and that is really just the start, so be very careful.

Start with the known.

So you have your wife, I suspect you have the details of her parents [names DoB etc] if they are still alive it is probable that they can give you details of their parents and possible their Grandparents.

Then when you have that information turn to google and newspaper archives. If you have locations of marriages and births search to see if the local Church has Online Parish Records, many now do, if you can find a baptism record it may well have the parents names, from there you may be able to find a marriage record giving parents details. Family notices in newspapers also give a wealth of information.

Keep every piece of information you find, even the ones you are not sure of, often they turn into the key of confirming a suspicion. As an example I found a Death notice in a newspaper for my GGGgm that included details of her brother who had also recently died, but for a long period of time couldn't find her parents [I has a suspicion but couldn't confirm it] it was only when total frustration hit that I tried his details, found them almost immediately.

When searching always search on every variation you can think of I invariably search with terms in inverted commas to limit the results, at least until frustration makes do an open search and wade through 1,000,000 results.

for Example
"Thomas James Wells"
"Tom Wells"
"T J Wells"
"T.J. Wells"
"Wells Thomas"
"Wells Tom"
"Wells T J"
as well as all the other permutations will bring different results.

Now when you get to the common names like "Charles Cook" or the names of famous persons "James Cook" [a real relative of mine but not the one who came to Australia] it becomes very frustrating.

If you want to do it thoroughly it takes real perseverance, but again how far back do you want to go, if maybe when, you come across someone famous or at least well connected you will often fill in 6 or 8 generation almost with the stroke of a pen, I discovered one relative who was descended from Henry II so once that was confirmed that line was pretty easy.

Good luck.

[Livia]

Hello Jason,

I haven't created an online family tree, a distant cousin
had already done it, but I've been researching family
histories since the 1980s, so I can give you some
advise there.

There are two very good online sites for records research,
ancestry.com (or co.uk if you're in the UK) and familysearch.org.
The first is a subscription site, the second is free.

Census records, city directories, electoral registers, and
birth, marriage and death records are all essential to
tracking a family. If you know where your family is buried,
visit the cemetery, bring a camera and take notes, and also
visit the office and ask who else may be buried in the lot
that does not appear on the headstone and also if there are
any other family lots under your surname.

Message boards can sometimes provide information or
put you in contact with distant relations or people researching
your surname.

Google books may also prove helpful, if some distant
ancestor in the past has published a family history.

It's ok to check family trees submitted by other users, you
can sometimes find other relatives there, but you have to check
as GUT says to make sure the information is correct.

Be careful in visiting personal online family history pages,
make sure your anti-virus and anti-malware software is
up to date. For some reason, it's common for these sites to
be infected, maybe because the owners don't know how
to secure their sites.

Good luck and if you get stuck don't hesitate to ask for help.

Liv

[Barnaby]

I used Ancestry.com but be sure to cancel it otherwise they bill you $40 a month. Great service, however.

[miss marple]

Genes Reunited is very good. You can create your tree and contact others who may be part of your tree or connected.

Miss Marple

[Robert]

A word of warning about Genes Reunited : yes it is a good site but if you end up corresponding with people, copy and paste their messages so as to save them. Amazingly, although a message may be in your inbox and may have lain there for some time, if the person who sent the message then ceases to be a member, the message disappears from your inbox! It is then too late to re-read the message to remind yourself what it said.

[Jason]

Thanks to all for your responses .....I am on the way with it

[GUT]

Thanks to all for your responses .....I am on the way with it

Beware though It can be adictive.