Author Topic: whats your reason?  (Read 10546 times)

Offline UK4753

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Re: whats your reason?
« Reply #36 on: Wednesday 10 October 18 22:36 BST (UK) »
I have a copy of a pedigree chart that my maternal grandfather made.  When Ancestry offered a free membership for 2 weeks I thought, what the heck.  His pedigree chart was spot on and I was hooked.  That was 4 years ago and I have traced each branch of my mother's side to the water's edge (I live in California).  That got me back to the Mayflower (1620) in some cases but none later than 1750.

My paternal aunt had written down a "Family History" which was based on stories passed to her by her mother and grandmother (they were from England).  I have found some accuracy and some myth in that History and am currently trying to follow those stories, but tracing a "Jones" in Wiltshire is quite a challenge to say the least.  Still, I am making progress.   :)
Wiltshire: JONES, BANKS
Yorkshire: FEVERS, SCALES
Kent:  RUMLEY, NIGH
London:  HUGHES, NIGHTINGALE

Offline Guy Etchells

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Re: whats your reason?
« Reply #37 on: Thursday 11 October 18 06:39 BST (UK) »
I was a history nut from the age of at least seven, which is around the age I started shining lights in my great-grandmother's eyes and interrogating her about her parents.  After years of doing my family history, I did a BA in history at Birkbeck College (in the evenings, whilst working full time in the day) and loved every minute of it.  But I can remember even at Birkbeck, being laughed at by at least one other student for expressing an interest in social history.  Seems some people don't think the history of ordinary daily life is really respectable - it has to be just military, political and economic history, nothing else.

Any person who tells you that is ignorant of the truth no matter how intelligent they are.

All history (except natural & geological history both of which are to a certain extent) is determined by the individuals discovered by family history and those individual's actions and re-actions are determined by the family and social interactions they were brought up with.
To ignore family history the historian is being lazy and only skimming the surface of history.

Cheers
Guy
http://anguline.co.uk/Framland/index.htm   The site that gives you facts not promises!
http://burial-inscriptions.co.uk Tombstones & Monumental Inscriptions.

As we have gained from the past, we owe the future a debt, which we pay by sharing today.

Offline Chilternbirder

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Re: whats your reason?
« Reply #38 on: Thursday 11 October 18 10:56 BST (UK) »
I was given an old wallet which had been passed down to my mother containing letters and merchant navy papers for my gg grandfather. This prompted me to research that branch of the family in the old fashioned way with lots of visits to St Katherine's House and rotating eyeballs from looking at censuses on microfilm. This ended up at a couple of brick walls which I still haven't been able to break. The need to visit Scotland meant that I didn't follow up my paternal line and eventually research stalled when the children came along.

When one of my daughters sent me a link to some published material showing my father's ancestors I started using the net. I have now got as far back in all the lines as I can track without travelling to the other end of the country to search records that aren't digitised.
Crabb from Laurencekirk / Fordoun and Scurry from mid Essex

Offline bugbear

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Re: whats your reason?
« Reply #39 on: Friday 12 October 18 08:33 BST (UK) »
Puzzle solving/detective work.

  BugBear
BICE Middlesex
WOMACK Norfolk/Suffolk


Offline DavidG02

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Re: whats your reason?
« Reply #40 on: Friday 12 October 18 14:11 BST (UK) »
A lot of reasons and many have been said here

Puzzle solving, history. Hearing family tales and trying to work out why my grandmother seemed to be ostracised from her family. And my dads cousin had started doing it and I loved what he had started and have taken over most of it

And ultimately for my son to know.
Genealogy-Its a family thing

Paternal: Gibbins,McNamara, Jenkins, Schumann,  Inwood, Sheehan, Quinlan, Tierney, Cole

Maternal: Munn, Simpson , Brighton, Clayfield, Westmacott, Corbell, Hatherell, Blacksell/Blackstone, Boothey , Muirhead

Son: Bull, Kneebone, Lehmann, Cronin, Fowler, Yates, Biglands, Rix, Carpenter, Pethick, Carrick, Male, London, Jacka, Tilbrook, Scott, Hampshire, Buckley

Brickwalls-   Schumann, Simpson,Westmacott/Wennicot
Scott, Cronin
Gedmatch Kit : T812072

Offline KGarrad

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Re: whats your reason?
« Reply #41 on: Friday 12 October 18 14:56 BST (UK) »
Both my grandfathers died before I was born, so I knew next to nothing about my family.

Curiosity, and a love of research (of any type), led me on.
Discovered that grandfather was actually married 3 times - he divorced his 2nd wife to marry my gran  ;D

Eventually discovered the link to John Constable (his grandmother is my 6x Great-grandmother).

Now I just enjoy the research - and have started to get paid for it!! :D
Garrad (Suffolk, Essex, Somerset), Crocker (Somerset), Vanstone (Devon, Jersey), Sims (Wiltshire), Bridger (Kent)

Offline iluleah

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Re: whats your reason?
« Reply #42 on: Friday 19 October 18 18:10 BST (UK) »
just wondering what everyones reason is for researching their family history is.mine is because my dad knew nothing of his family,i have since found out that we had family living five miles away.

Exactly the same reason, my dad died when I was 17 and always said he didn't know the name of his mum who had died when he was 4yrs old........ now of course I know all he had to do was look on his birth cert, but didn't think of that at the time.... so I started researching FH to find his mums name
Leicestershire:Chamberlain, Dakin, Wilkinson, Moss, Cook, Welland, Dobson, Roper,Palfreman, Squires, Hames, Goddard, Topliss, Twells,Bacon.
Northamps:Sykes, Harris, Rice,Knowles.
Rutland:Clements, Dalby, Osbourne, Durance, Smith,Christian, Royce, Richardson,Oakham, Dewey,Newbold,Cox,Chamberlaine,Brow, Cooper, Bloodworth,Clarke
Durham/Yorks:Woodend, Watson,Parker, Dowser
Suffolk/Norfolk:Groom, Coleman, Kemp, Barnard, Alden,Blomfield,Smith,Howes,Knight,Kett,Fryston
Lincolnshire:Clements, Woodend

Offline Thongmas

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Re: whats your reason?
« Reply #43 on: Monday 22 October 18 17:11 BST (UK) »
For family mostly but the more I look into things the more curious I get  ;D

Offline Thongmas

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Re: whats your reason?
« Reply #44 on: Monday 22 October 18 17:14 BST (UK) »
Always hitting walls though which is massively frustrating  >:(