Help Getting Started

[uggy]

I have been advised by MonicaL to post here. I think that I have been badly let down. I paid a lot of money for very little and as a pensioner it becomes very difficult. However what I am looking for is:-
My wife's family or a lot of them from the Lanarkshire area. Could anyone please advise on which
dvd /cd to get and if anyone can also point me in the right direction on how to follow this on by getting some documentation. I have tried to look at census dates but that needs to be paid for
and if I do not have the right name then It will take a long time. ie I looked for FLORA McLEAN and
put in what I thought was the correct DOB, however 5 hits came back with abt DOB and to see
where they came from you are required to pay even if you have the wrong information. Most of the information that I am looking for seems to be pre 1851. After this I would like to find my wife's mother's family. Mother seems to come from BUCKIE. With all the different spelling of McLean it seems very difficult. Any help will be very welcome. I have already downloaded the free LEGACY software so I will see how that goes.Thank you for reading and the help so far.
From wet WALES good day.UGGY

[sancti]

Welcome from wet and stormy Lanarkshire
What information do you have confirmed about your wife's family in Lanarkshire?

[higgsy]

Hi

One good free searchable site is http://www.familysearch.org.

Another searchable site is http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk but this is a pay per view site.

Another good resource is this site. If you give details of who you are looking for then members often check census for you on sites they are members of and this reduces the amount you have to pay for.

The scottish certificates show a great deal more than english ones although registration only came in in 1855 so prior to that it does get more difficult.

Why don't you post some information you have and are looking for and someone might be able to help you. Give as much information as you can and this will help.

Norma

[Jimster]

I have already downloaded the free LEGACY software so I will see how that goes.

Legacy is a program to organise the info you have gathered from other sources .... a sort of filing/display cabinet for your family history data.

It is not a tool for tracking down long lost ancestors, for this you can use others online sources.... some are pay sites and some are free.
If you post more details of who you are researching I'm sure people will point you in the right direction.

Good luck
Jim
 

[MonicaL]

Great to see your post now Uggy 

As you can see, lots of people on hand with good advice and information.

Perhaps a good way forward with your post is to start from the point where you are very certain on the information and you have been able to confirm in some way (certificates etc.) details on the line you are looking at.

This may be, for example, a gggrandmother who married in England and was born in Scotland c. 1860-4. You could have checked her marriage cert in England and it showed her father's name and his occupation.  As you can see, this is very much an example to give you an idea of what information helps people to help you! It is good to let people know where you are up to and what is certain and then, where to start working back from.

The more info you can give here, very often, the better the results can be. Start with one line and when that is sorted  you can move on to other related lines.

Monica

[Forfarian]

My wife's family or a lot of them from the Lanarkshire area. Could anyone please advise on which
dvd /cd to get

Don't buy any of them. You don't know whether the information on them is accurate or someone's wishful thinking.

Most of the information that I am looking for seems to be pre 1851.

Quite a lot of the Lanarkshire census for 1841 and 1851 has been transcribed and is available at http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

After this I would like to find my wife's mother's family. Mother seems to come from BUCKIE.

That's really one for the Banffshire forum but there's free information covering the Buckie area at http://libindx.moray.gov.uk/mainmenu.asp

www.familysearch.org is a superb finding aid but it is only an index so you have to check anything you find there by looking at the original documents at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

If you can supply more detail of names and dates we might be able to suggest some more avenues of enquiry.

[uggy]

To sancti.

Hi thank you for your reply. What I have found so far is:-

GEORGE MARTIN born abt 1849

My wife's family or a lot of them from the Lanarkshire area. Could anyone please advise on which
dvd /cd to get

Don't buy any of them. You don't know whether the information on them is accurate or someone's wishful thinking.

Most of the information that I am looking for seems to be pre 1851.

Quite a lot of the Lanarkshire census for 1841 and 1851 has been transcribed and is available at http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

After this I would like to find my wife's mother's family. Mother seems to come from Lanarkshire.

www.familysearch.org is a superb finding aid but it is only an index so you have to check anything you find there by looking at the original documents at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

If you can supply more detail of names and dates we might be able to suggest some more avenues of enquiry.

MARY BROWN born abt 1853
Both born in CARSTAIRS parish

Married at HARELAW, CARSTAIRS 7 Aug 1874

Then I get stuck I can't go further foreward than that.

Thank you again for your help. UGGY

[ev]

Hi all 

Uggy , sign up to the mundia website -

http://www.mundia.com/gb

Someone on there has George and family , perhaps you could contact them and find out what information they have
They even have photographs of George and Mary and their sons
It's free to sign up to that site

ev

[sancti]

Uggy

Do you have George and Mary's marriage record?

What was George's occupation?

Which of their children is your wife descended from?