what made you search for your roots?

[ggrocott]

I started it for my son.  He is an only (son, nephew and grandson) but has LOTS of cousins  (only one first cousin but plenty of seconds, thirds and removeds!) and I have always tried to make sure we met up with the various ones on my side whenever possible.  A little difficult when some of them are in Canada and others in New Zealand but he has met them all at least once!  -I did a VERY basic version when he was tiny so he would know where he came from and have some idea who all the various cousins were.  Then, when he was about 10, he decided he wanted to know where the Grocotts came from so we visited the Family Records Office and I have been hooked ever since! - He takes an occasional interest but only in the Grocotts - all the other bits I have collected are ignored but never mind.

[Gadget]

It was when I was 8 and discovered I had Scottish ancestors. Finding  the Family Bible and my Mum and her sisters' stories then got me even more interested.

Didn't do very much after about 12/13 (just the odd dabble - too busy with career) until about 10 years ago. Then when I became semi-retired, I started off again. The internet has been a really boon but I still like the original records and documents best. It's something about the age and look of the material and seeing ancestors signatures and crosses. This proved that they lived 

Gadget

[PaulaToo]

Little things do mean such a lot.
Not only do I have Gran Sarah's wedding certificate, but also her passport.
She travelled a lot in Belgium just before WW1 and made quite a few friends over there. I can't imagine what it must have been like when war broke out. What ever, once she could get back she got out this new passport and was over there again. I have lots of brochures, restaurant bills and hotel cards from her trips. The prize of the collection is just a torn off piece of paper. You know the sort, ladies, the kind that is 'always at the bottom of your handbag.'
I can just imagine her, having a rummage, bringing out this piece of paper, and scribbling down a copy of the 'Notice from Lord French, at the Cloth Hall, Ypres.' A moment in time, brought to me in an old lady's handwriting.

[CarolBurns]

Fantastic stuff

That alone would fill a whole section in one of my files

I have my In law's passports (ran out in the 50's) and the visa passes are great complete with dates so we know where they were and when. Have the odd shopping list as well - one on the back of a "loan payment card"

Carol

[throckenholt]

when I was about 12 I had a "what was it like when you were young ?" conversation with my nan (she must have been about 58 (she died a year or two after).  I got interested in her memories of her nan etc, and my mum helped me find out a few bits and pieces - we went to London to St Catherine's house etc. 

That was over 25 years ago and it is a hobby that I have picked up and put down over the years.  I have followed back on every line I can and reached many dead ends.  The farthest back I have got it a Frenchman born in approx 1599 who emigrated to Amsterdam.

I wonder if my kids will be annoyed that I have got there before them and deprived them of all the fun of discovering it for themselves.  Although is still much flesh to add to the bones I have found - maybe that can be their job

Julie

[throckenholt]

ps - my mum still thinks "we" have found out so much about the family history - I bite my lip and try not to yell "it was ME that found it all out - not you, you gave up years ago (and never contributed to the cost either !"

[sallysmum]

I started searching after my mother's death.  Prior to then, I had no interest in family history, and I think the search started as a knee jerk reaction to wanting to hang onto family.  I would dearly like to have shared some of the things I've discovered about my mother's father with her  such as his father was a regular soldier and travelled all over the country and even perhaps to South Africa during the first Boer war - she knew very little of his side of the family.  However it is a double edged sword - if mum was still alive, I doubt I would have got the bug.
Sallysmum

[Simon G.]

Might sound strange, but I don't really remember what got me started.  I was at university at the time and reading history, so I suppose it seemed like a very good idea at the time to flex my grey matter in the field I was studying...and still does, of course.

[ozlady]

I started after hearing about a beautiful wooden chair in a church. The chair was dedicated to my great uncle who died in WW1.