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Author
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Topic: More ancestors - is it worth it? (Read 558 times)
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suttontrust
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2716
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I'm researching a friend's family history and find it as absorbing as doing my own. However, on one line we've got back to the early 18th century in Wiltshire, and I'm wondering whether to pay researchers to try to get another generation or two back, or to stop there. After all, it's just adding names and dates without any knowledge of who they were as people. Do others want to get back as far as possible or at some point call it quits?
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« Last Edit: Sunday 13 February 05 00:11 UTC (UK) by Copyright Editor »
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Godden in East Sussex, mainly Hastings area.
Richards in Lea, Gloucestershire, then London.
Williamson in Leith, Vickers in Nottingham.
Webb in Bildeston and Colchester.
Wesbroom in Kirby le Soken.
Ellington in Harwich.
Park, Palmer, Segar and Peartree in Kersey.
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Welsh Jen
Dyfal donc a dyr yr garreg!
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1125
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I think you may find the history of these people more interesting. It depends what you are 'after' in this hobby (ney! obsession!) 
I like to ' fill out ' the bones on these individuals. Finding out about the difficulties they faced, the conditions they lived in the places they frequented the social community they surrounded themselves by, the things they found important at that time.
Names and dates are great & look good on paper but the stuff that fills in all the details in between I find much more rewarding, even if I am stuck on a particular generation It does not matter (even if it is enfuriating!)
I get great satisfaction from knowing them better in some sort of strange way!
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Welsh Jen
Dyfal donc a dyr yr garreg!
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1125
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Certainly! if one can find another ancestor adding them on the tree is a bonus!
You also seem to be of the same frame of mind as me The social side of things give greater insight into the history of these people and they then become more than just a name and a date.
I also agree the further back you go the less fulfilling the details will be, that aspect is an unfortunate one but if someone has the 'need' for detail in their family history they will go to great lengths to see if there is anything more documented on their long gone ancestors.
My Taylor line in particular is very well documented but the further back the line has gone the less interested I am as I only have the odd reference to a name (which could be a Christian or Surname) the only good thing which lifted my spirits is that the line is an illegitimate one and all the children took the name of the mother
My mother is so glad she was born a Taylor and not a Husofut! 
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Sylviaann
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2854
Isabella Barette
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There is a wealth of information out there about our early ancestors. I have copies of early wills (The reign of Charles II) They make wonderful reading.
Personally I got as far back as I could and then looked for information about their lives. My next project is to find out which side my ancestors are likely to have supported in the Civil war.
I did not pay anyone but looked at the films of the records in the LDS family history centre. Not as good as looking at the originals but next best thing. I did pay for the wills look up but that was before the net.
It's just a problem knowing which line to follow first.
Sylviaann
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Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukNorfolk: Gooch, Loveday, Lake, Betts Suffolk: Gooch, Crosby, Turner Hampshire: Laws, Burrows Kent: Beer Jersey: Barette, de Gruchy East London: Middleton, Gower, O'Farrell, Smith, Weston |
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Nick Carver
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1261
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I'd not consider paying a researcher if there was the slightest chance of my being able to find the information for myself. I'd also recommend not being too hung up on 'knowing' the individuals. With the late 18th century, most of us are going to be looking at anything between the 6th and 9th generation before us and (before even contemplaiting siblings) this gives us over 1000 ancestors (in the 9th generation). That is a lot of people to get to know. It may well be that you find out something really seminal from an even earlier generation and if you had taken a dogmatic stance on not going back any further until you were satisfied you knew the people, that could well be missed. It may be ages before you can get to Wiltshire to do some research - I have got enough trips 'planned' to last me 10 years, but I hope to work my way gradually down the list. Happy hunting
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E Yorks - Carver, Steels, Cross, Maltby, Whiting, Moor, Laybourn
W Yorks - Wilkinson, Kershaw, Rawnsley, Shaw
Norfolk - Carver, Dowson
Cheshire - Berry, Cooper
Lincs - Berry
London/Ireland/Scotland/Lincs - Sullivan
Northumberland/Durham - Nicholson, Cuthbert, Turner, Robertson
Berks - May
Beds - Brownell
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casalguidi
Global Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 11919
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I think the good thing about research in the earlier 1800s and beyond is that it "forces" you to explore other avenues ie. settlement records, parish poor records (those that received relief and those that paid taxes), freemen rolls, apprenticeships, wills etc..
One branch of our family were really quite poor throughout the 1800s yet when we get back to the early 1700s they were property owners, left wills and one direct ancestor a HM Customs Officer so you never know ............ we were certainly surprised!
Best wishes
Casalguidi
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kerryb
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 11982
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I've been doing a bit of both, it is fascinating filling in the details of the closer relatives and finding out what jobs they did, such as the chicken fattener and my great grandfather who was postmaster at Lingfield Post Office. A lot of this information came from some love letters we found at my grandparents house that my gran had written in the 30s to my grandad before they married - fascinating finding out about my gran before I knew her, when she was young. She sounded similar to me.
I have also found several strands of my tree going back to 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. All of these lines stay in Sussex and have, for me, answered why I have never wanted to leave Sussex. It will always remain home, I am well and truly Sussex born and bred (go on fill in the rest of the words!) and now I know exactly why! Mystery solved. 
That for me was priceless.
kerryb
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukSearching for my family - Baldwin - Sussex, Middlesex, Cork, Pilbeam - Sussex, Harmer - Sussex, Terry - Surrey, Kent, Rhoades - Lincs, Roffey - Surrey, Traies - Devon & Middlesex & many many more to be found on my website .... www.kerrysfamilyhistory.co.uk |
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teddybear1843
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 682
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Hi.
Yes, like Kerry I have found that I originate wholly from this part of the World and I now see why I have always come home.
I never stop looking for information and just because it is the C18th doesn't mean there is nothing to find. One branch named their sons Owner & Miles, why, because there were two politicians in Great Yarmouth called Miles Corbett and Edward Owner at the end of the C17th, no need to ask what side my lot were supporting!!!
If you have to pay for research then your hands are tied but if you are doing it yourself why not try to get back where you can but if not, embellish you family history with information, even if it is not directly linked to your family. The weather on their wedding day, the social news on the day they were born, what were the wages for their job at the time? Cottage conditions etc etc etc I could go on!!!
I LOVE social history and my family history just sits nicely beside that interest. Why did they move to wherever in 1840, could it be due to lack of work on the land? Look into it and often family migration makes perfect sense.
I'll shut up now!!
Happy New Year. 
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Bear, Burrows, Burroughs, Goll, Mayes, Yull, Bacon, Harvey, Fenn, Youngman, Jary, Lake, Chesney, Yaxley, Freestone, Briggs, Carrington, Frarey, Blaxter, Bennefer, Gosman, Howard, Wildman, Woodbine, Jessop, Taylor, Walpole, etc etc all in Norfolk. Weasenham village history and families connected to the villages of Weasenham All Saints & Saint Peter in Norfolk. Happy to carry out research in Norfolk. Please PM for details. http://norfolktours.110mb.com/ |
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kerryb
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 11982
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I have to agree, I wouldn't pay anybody else to do the work for me, as half the joy has been the investigating, finding the answer myself and having the excitement of giving my family the next instalment. All of my family come from Sussex, Surrey and Kent except for two strands (my paternal Grandfather's family who come from East London and Lincolnshire). My dad wants to know did they always live in the East End, or did they come from elsewhere because of the IR? So that is my latest task.
Great fun and why get someone else to do the fun at expense!!
kerryb 
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukSearching for my family - Baldwin - Sussex, Middlesex, Cork, Pilbeam - Sussex, Harmer - Sussex, Terry - Surrey, Kent, Rhoades - Lincs, Roffey - Surrey, Traies - Devon & Middlesex & many many more to be found on my website .... www.kerrysfamilyhistory.co.uk |
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suttontrust
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2716
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I think this question of whether to pay a researcher has been aired before, but frankly there is no alternative if you live nowhere near the area of your research and you need the sort of records which are only available locally. I have paid ROs, for instance, for records I couldn't get any other way, and been happy to do so. After all Record Offices are paid for by local taxation, and whereas I can visit my local ones for free, it's only fair that I should contribute to others which are doing searches on my behalf. Similarly, I don't mind paying somebody to access records I can't get at myself. It's what you do with the information that counts.
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Godden in East Sussex, mainly Hastings area.
Richards in Lea, Gloucestershire, then London.
Williamson in Leith, Vickers in Nottingham.
Webb in Bildeston and Colchester.
Wesbroom in Kirby le Soken.
Ellington in Harwich.
Park, Palmer, Segar and Peartree in Kersey.
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