Anyone else into seeking their ancestors?

[darksideofthemoon]

I have become adicted to Ancestry.com and am lucky enough that one side of my family can be researched way back into the dim times.

The other side has hit a brick wall and I have to wait until someone else in the world may have more information.

How is everyone else going?

[kitty-kat1234]

Gee its interesting stuff.
Family in Holland have traced us back to very early 1700's atm & a name change?,other family has been traced back to Ireland & the McClean Clan with a name change as well.

Seems that name changes happened quite a lot,could do with writting that was hard to read,moving or dark secrets,makes it interesting.

Also i found i was able to understand alittle better as to why my Nana disliked 1 part of the family,it had to do with her father running off & starting another family & her mother dying young,she was left to care for the children.

Its abit like collecting,once you have started it sortta takes over,thankfully other family members have already done the hard work.

I try when time permits to have a look through the web to see what i can find,a lot of villages in England etc have places that for a sml fee they will go through the records to find that missing link,be it death/birth etc info,if you can provide abit of info too.

Good luck to all,kat

[kitty-kat1234]

Our local shire also has a group that meet every month?
Anyone is welcome to go along,other shires may have this also.

[katymatey*]

I have done quite a bit for my fathers side. He never knew what part of Denmark his paternal grandfather came from, or any details of the family left behind. I was able to tell him the village, and names and occupations of some of the family in Denmark. Dad's maternal grandfather was a convict from Nottingham, who escaped imprisonment in Tasmania, and settled eventually on the Victorian goldfields. He changed his name, and lead others to believe he was Irish. Now that makes research a little difficult. He married an Irish girl who was one of the Irish Famine Orphan girls sent to Australia mid 1800's. She was 16 and her sister 14 when they were sent from Dublin to Adelaide. Their parents had both died during the famine.

[flashie*]

For Scottish reasearch the best site is Scotlands People......but it is a pay per view site.

But if you a clever you can narrow down you options on there.....Scottish certificates in my opinion are some of the best in the world for the information they provide.

A good and firendly forum for help is family tree forum.....all vounteers....and very good at helping.

[lind9650]

I started with Ancestry a few years ago when it was free. I have some papers going back to 1768 for my family, but can not go any further as my ancestors came from Eastern Europe and most records were destroyed during the war.

OH had a rolled up document with his family tree, that one of his cousins did a few years ago. He always believed and was told that his ancesters came from Holland.
I made his Family tree in Face Book about four years ago, but had no response from anyone until last year. I had a surprise e-mail from Denmark. A distant cousin of OH told me he had the same Family tree going back to 1684 and that he had no idea there were relations in Australia. OH Great-grandfather and his cousins Great-grandfather were brothers. He sent us photos of familt members and their cottage by the sea.

The original family members had only one name. eg. Jeppsen, Nissen, Pedersen for the sons and Jeppsdatter, Nissdatter, Pedersdatter etc.
I asked when the names changed to what they are today, with christian name and family name, and was told it happened in the 1800 when Registration was made law. Everyone received a family name that was either related to their trade, specific landmarks where they lived, or the name of the town.

I found this very interesting and like to go further in my research. Amazing what you can find out about your ancestors.

Pitty is that with IVF, surogacy and single women not naming the father of a child, much information will be lost for future generations.

Have fun searching.
Erica :-x

[lovetosew72]

What a great thread...
From when I was about 14yo, I joined my father in putting together what ended up being a very full & detailed family history.
Dad had already started it when I took an interest, & got involved. Dad is a very detail oriented person, very thorough, so we went into every nook & cranny of the family.
I loved being part of the process & we did some travelling too, only in WA, but still it was fun. No murderers or bigamists, pity!

When Dad got our first household computer, he spent ages typing up stuff & to this day continues looking for ways to dig up more info...

[flashie*]

A lot of imformation in Australia can be found on Trove.

I love the site....it has Australian newspaers upto about 1954.

Excellent for Births Deaths and marriages.

[izabsmiling]

Thanks for those sites.I may not get much cleaning done now.LOL

Flashie UHM.I hope you can make sense of it.
Thankyou
:-)

[illicit69]

I've researched both sides of my ancestry on the internet.
I have filled in nearly all the names back to the point where they entered Australia - convicts and gold seekers on my mother's side and Cornish miners on my father's side.
One day I might find a way to research the English roots past 1788.

I have also researched my children's ancestry on their mother's side, which is quite different and includes free settlers from German & Chinese roots, and an Aboriginal ancestor from the stolen generations.

Great fun.
I have even found the original court documents for a couple of convict ancestors transported to Australia. One was for stealing 2 silver candlesticks and another was a customs officer who stole a roll of cloth from a ship he was meant to be inspecting.
It was much easier to become an Aussie in those days.:-)

Hi dorroughboy,

Just out of curiosity, did your Cornish ancestors travel to Australia for the goldrush & where did they settle? Both my Great-grandfathers & Grandfathers on my Mother’s side were Cornish miners and settled in Gympie, all became Mine Managers and their photographs can be viewed in the Gympie Historical Museum, names: Treloar & Daddow.

However my Father’s Family Tree is a little more interesting, Grandmothers maiden name was Henschell and has been traced back to the infamous German ‘Hess”, not very flattering considering his reputation. Grandfather’s name ‘Hurley’ which dates back to the Hurleys of Bantry, Ireland. They were dispossessed of their Hurley Castle (Ballinacarriga Castle – circa 1585) because they sided with the rebels (Protestants), they then fled to Australia. The Castle is still standing...well almost, but the graveyard is a font of knowledge & totally fascinating.

[illicit69]

Blantently obvious I should have said my Father's name was Hurley...oh duh!