whats your reason?

[blinky]

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.

[Welsh Jen]

My need to find out about my ancestry began when I began my own family. I too come from a family (maternal & Paternal) where there is no knowledge of our ancestry & I wanted to change that.

[RJ_Paton]

I'm curious ..... especially when I'm told I shouldn't be asking about something

[Pollynation]

I was brought up by my maternal grandmother. When she died i found a "treasure chest".
It was a case full of BMD's and burial information. Alot of whom i had never heard of. I then started asking questions and it followed on from there.

Also like Falkyrn said "I'm curious"
Best wishes
Pauline

[Rebecca Steele]

My grandmother was never told who her parents were and was brought up by her 'grandparents' and 'aunts'.

She tried a few years before she died, to get a birth certificate, and was told that she was not registered at the then St Catherines House, and the church which was on her christening certificate had had a bad fire in 1970, so she just left it, thinking she wouldn't find out.

Then, my cousin from my dads side of the family started doing that side of the family tree, and that gave me the urge to start my mums side of the family's history.

Rebecca

[MrsLizzy]

But surely by 1970 records dating from when your grandmother was born should already have been sent off long since to the Diocesan wossname, or to the County Record Office?   

[Rebecca Steele]

Well, you'd have thought so wouldn't you! Seeing as she was born in 1906!

Although it seems that this particular church had decided to keep its records 

[casalguidi]

Ours started because my husband thought he had a "made up" surname.  He always thought that their/our name should have been something slightly different.  He was right!  For reasons best known to themselves, my inlaws married in this contrived version of father in law's name and stuck to it!

Casalguidi

[MrsLizzy]

I was helping out a nice lady from New York once in the Family Records Centre, who was having a bit of trouble finding her Glucklich relations.  As I helped her look for them in the ledgers, I commented that glucklich was German for "happy".  She replied:  "Well they woin't, so they changed it!" 

I wish I'd kept contact details for her!