Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - clairec666

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 ... 125
1
The Lighter Side / Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« on: Friday 11 September 20 09:46 BST (UK)  »
For me it's like doing a giant sudoku (which I also love), with the added bonus of knowing that what your ancestors did directly affected your own existence. Plus I love all the interesting names you discover along the way!

2
The Lighter Side / Re: Genealogy frustrations.
« on: Friday 11 September 20 09:43 BST (UK)  »
Quote from: coombs on Monday 31 August 20 20:31 BST (UK)
Also we always have to face the small chance that the man named on a birth/baptism certificate was not the real father of your ancestor. A quick roll in the hay with the neighbour, the dalliances with the milkman or temporary separation leading to a fling, or the wife seeing another man and the hubby being none the wiser. Not sure the rate of infidelity in our ancestors days, but only advances in DNA testing will give a more accurate reading.

I always wonder about my Essex family - every census the men of the family are listed on a boat somewhere, while the women are left at home. Who knows what they got up to while the men were away!

3
The Lighter Side / Re: Genealogy frustrations.
« on: Friday 24 July 20 13:14 BST (UK)  »
Quote from: cafetiere on Monday 20 July 20 16:49 BST (UK)
Had a bit of a breakthrough today but I seem to have a large amount of people in my tree who have no children. (There are plenty who have lots of children as well). But having no children means there aren't m/any people looking for them and just fewer records all round to give any more clues about other people.

But childless people can be useful too! If they left a will, their beneficiaries might be siblings, nieces and nephews. The informant on their death certificate might be a relative too, and so might other people buried in the same grave.

I'm currently going through all the unmarried and/or childless people in my tree and searching for them in the 1939 register. Quite often there are other family members in the same household. In one case, a single lady was living with two of her widowed sisters - I hadn't previously been able to trace them beyond 1911.

4
The Lighter Side / Re: Genealogy frustrations.
« on: Friday 26 June 20 09:21 BST (UK)  »
Quote from: coombs on Tuesday 23 June 20 18:51 BST (UK)
Oh yes the endless Johns, James', Williams, Georges and Elizabeth's, Sarah's, Mary's and Anne's. They chuck the odd Stephen or Erasmus in for good measure, or Thirza's.

I'm eternally grateful for having an Israel, Barnabas and Elijah amongst my ancestors!

My biggest frustration is burial records without ages. I've found likely burials for a few of my ancestors, but can't be sure because there's all that's recorded is their name. Even worse, some of the other records on that page are beautifully detailed - e.g. "Mary, wife of Edward Gibbons, blacksmith, age 48", but my possible relatives just have a name and nothing else.

5
The Lighter Side / Re: I wouldn't be here if..........
« on: Monday 25 May 20 12:11 BST (UK)  »
Both my sets of grandparents met because of WW2. Both grandfathers were in the RAF and this led to them meeting their future wives.

A generation before that, I strongly suspect that one of my sets of great-grandparents met because of WW1, but I have no proof.

I also exist because of the railway. In the 1880s my g-g-grandfather moved to Surrey to work on the railways, and it was there that he met and married my g-g-grandmother. Another set of g-g-grandparents moved from a rural area to a town that was becoming a popular resort due to the arrival of the railway.

6
The Common Room / Re: 1939 Register is this still being updated ?
« on: Monday 18 May 20 07:07 BST (UK)  »
Quote from: Mike in Cumbria on Sunday 17 May 20 23:05 BST (UK)
My Dad slipped through the net - born in 1936, still very much alive and shows up on the 1939 register. His brother, born 1939 is redacted.
Mistakes do happen.

Yes, I've seen many, many more like this. In a lot of cases it's because the dates of birth column has become mis-aligned with the names column, so the wrong dates are assigned to the wrong people.

7
The Lighter Side / Re: If You Had a Time Machine
« on: Sunday 17 May 20 22:10 BST (UK)  »
I would love to see more information about occupations recorded on parish registers to help with our pre-1837 research.

It's great when you come across some older registers which record as much information as possible - for example, I've got some from the late 1700s which include the mother's maiden name on baptisms. And then on the flip side, some burial registers are just a list of names, no ages or anything, so I guess my best use of the time machine is to get some extra information on those records!

8
The Common Room / Re: 1939 Register is this still being updated ?
« on: Sunday 17 May 20 21:48 BST (UK)  »
I'm pretty sure that Findmypast has recently opened up some records that would now be over 100 years old - i.e. born in the first few months of 1920. I've found some from my family recently which weren't open a few months ago.

9
The Common Room / Re: FREE ACCESS TO ANCESTRY ETC
« on: Saturday 21 March 20 06:51 GMT (UK)  »
Quote from: Tickettyboo on Friday 20 March 20 14:20 GMT (UK)
Quote from: delen on Thursday 19 March 20 14:30 GMT (UK)
Has anyone heard if Ancestry and the like will be giving us FREE access whilst we are having to self isolate?????

Can't for the life of me think why they would?
 They still have staff to pay, hosting to pay for etc etc, the usual expenses to be covered, same as any other business. As more people are having to take unpaid leave, things like subs will be the first thing to not renew and taking out a new sub to combat boredom would be well down on the list of most folks priorities.

Boo

Also, there will probably be an increased number of people taking up the free offer, more likelihood of the site crashing or being sluggish, and possibly fewer staff at Ancestry able to handle it?

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 ... 125