Genealogy question

[bright.ton42]

Just for the heck of it I googled my deceased dad's name, and it brought up Ancestry.com where to my amazement

someone had posted that they were looking for his family  -   they had details of his wife and kids (us), where we used to

live, dates,  and were spot on , the poster said she was a niece of my mother.   I had no idea I had a cousin with her

name, say XX,  and I messaged back that I am one of the kids, and would love more info.

XX lives in the UK where my mum's family came from,  and the post was 12 months ago, and I haven't heard back

yet.   She has a user name which I clicked on for other posts and they're all related to this question where others had replied and given her a fair bit of info about me. 

Is there any way I can find out more about her without registering or setting up a family tree which I'm not ready to do?  Would

Ancestry.com have an email address for her?  My mother had a very common Irish surname so searching isn't bringing up anything and this person hasn't given a surname.   .

[bright.ton42]

sineater I think you misunderstood me -   I have no interest in finding anyone famous in my background, i just would love to see old  photos, and as i said if people weren't famous I think photos would be very hard to find.

[the_great_she_elephant]

I'm actually feeling a bit goosebumpy on your behalf Bright.ton

What a wonderful thing to have discovered you have family after believing yourself to be alone.

[***super_nova***]

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@roserobin12 wrote:

Super Nova, Ancestry is evolving all the time. I have cancelled a few subs just before expiry and they cancel immediately however you still get the days you paid for.

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OK, so, if I get the 2 weeks free and then let's say keep it for 1 month, can I then cancel or does it mean I have to commit myself for the full year?  Because last time I looked at the possibility of getting membership, I thought I have to commit to 12 month - payable either monthly or bit cheaper up front.  I have no interest in Australian, US or British site, as all the ancestors I need more info were in Europe.  All the special offers I keep receiving are about Australia. 

[flashie*]

Super nova...........if you do not want ot commit to paying for Ancestry membership I would suggest looking for a Facebook group in the area your ancestors come from.

Or join a genealogy forum free............I belong to one called Family Tree Forum.......there are many members on there that have full geneaology subscriptions that are happy to look things up for you...........they are very clever.

[sineaterdoodah]

bright,i'm so sorry,apparently a couple of posts that i responded to were removed. my reponse was NOT to you in any way,it was to a post stating how gullible people are who use the available sites that are charge a fee. 

i don't think i can say more than that without getting in trouble.

i mean NO OFFENSE to you and your search,and that's why i talked about my FIL. i encourage you,as long as it isn't costly,and i think you have some great resources! 

as for the person who commented..well,you know how it is,with disappearing posts and people. it happens.

honestly,if i could help,i would! i can look at dad's index,maybe something could help? we'd have to see if the sites are still "live",he died 7 years ago.

[bright.ton42]

Sin I never took the slightest offence at what you said,            I just didn't want you thinking I was looking for famous people in my background , as I couldn't care less.   Actually I do know way back there is a Baron, and a Count and a Duchess.....(kidding....)

In a way I don't quite see the point in finding out lots of names and dates going way back if they don't lead to

anything -  I suppose some do, but on my dad's side I've tracked back to his great grandfather and they are just

names and dates so pretty meaningless to me. Unfortunately dad rarely spoke about his family except that I remember he had

a diary written by his great grandad who was russian and it was quite exciting as he escaped from somewhere (some war) and it was all about him crossing the Russian Steppes.   But the diary has gone and that's that, so a mystery it will remain.

I haven't joined any site incidentally but I can't see why on earth someone would say it's gullible to join them as even for a month you could learn a lot.  I would think.    . 

[bright.ton42]

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

I'm actually feeling a bit goosebumpy on your behalf Bright.ton

What a wonderful thing to have discovered you have family after believing yourself to be alone.

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She El that's exactly how I felt -  goosebumpy.  I was so absolutely chuffed.   This 'new' cousin Jean is very articulate and has been tracing her family tree for a long time.   She now lives in France (wish it was here) but shared in mum's family life when she - my mother- was young in the UK.  .  Mum had 10 brothers and sisters and left them all to come out here and marry, and she was very homesick for them. and was  always talking about them to my brother and I.    .  Jean (mum's niece)  is able to fill in a lot for me and it's very moving for me.   

[the_great_she_elephant]

It's the social history side of it that interests me - being able to read of stuff that happened in the past and know your family were a part of it. It's

One of my ancestors was an Irish Navvy in the early 19th century, during the height of the railway building frenzy.I watched a documentary on the era not long ago and it was fascinating to think he might have been one of the men whose lives they were discussing. He later went to Canada to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Mr Elephant's tree is crawling with convicts and one of his ancestors was a lamplighter in London during the early 18th century.

[green.fields]

Supa Nova, from experience I think Ancestry is useless for European genealogy. My last sub was a worldwide sub and it was near to useless for my own family who come from Europe. The UK one is great for my hubbys family. I think if a person is starting out and if you are on Facebook to join a group there and see what help you can get from them.

Minimum ancestry sub is a month.

[sineaterdoodah]

thank you bright! 🙂

she el(is it okay to call you that?),that's alot of what dad was interested in too. some of the stories in his notebooks are just amazing! 

one of the things he discovered about MIL's family was how far back they went,as miners. her dad was killed in a mining accident when she was little,so it was interesting to see that his family had been miners for 8 generations before that. 

the family name appears in several news articles about mine cave ins ,bot in europe and in the states.

via this info,we found a whole branch of her family in pennsylvania,we're still in contact with several of those cousins.