Young Genealogists?

[11easkry]

Just wondering if there are any other people like me who are young genealogists/family tree researchers. I'm 16 and have been doing it for around 9 months now and I absolutely love it! Not only is it fascinating to research trees and find information that makes your family look boring, but it also broadens my mind, and gives me good challenges when I hit brick walls in my research.

  The strangest part about it all is that I've researched about 40 family trees over the last 9 months, but never my own. I've always wanted to research my own family, however they are all born in Guyana. My dad's side of the family are hard to trace as my grandfather has many children with many different women, (so I have aunts and uncles that I have probably never heard of), as well as there being virtually no BMD, census records, or electoral rolls for Guyana, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, and the USA.

[eadaoin]

I was mad into genealogy when I was 15 - I had family trees of all the Royal families of Europe . . England from William the Conquerer, France from Hugh Capet etc.

I'm sure they're lurking somewhere in the house still, 50-odd years later.

[Kevin Burrell]

Glad to hear you are enjoying it - it is something that fascinates me as well - though I did not get into it until my 30's when the 1901 census was put online. It is a shame that you cannot easily research your own tree, but to me that sounds like the perfect excuse to go travelling!!! If it was me I would consider waiting until I had finished school then, before going to Uni (or work!), I would take a year off and go visit those countries to see what I could find (and enjoy the sights as well!!). In fact, you could even look to making a career out of it - I am sure there are people out there who want to know about their past but cannot be bothered to do it themselves, so would pay someone to research it themselves - so no different to what you are doing now I guess for your friends! Best of luck whatever you do

Kev

[groom]

Even if you can't actually find and look at records now, make sure that you ask as many relatives as possible what they remember about parents and grandparents. Perhaps even make a questionnaire and give it to them to jog their memories. Keep the replies somewhere safe, as you never know, in a few years those missing records may be available online, and you don't want to be thinking, as a lot of us do, "I wish I'd asked them when they were alive."

Good luck.

[stevew101]

Lovely to hear that you have such a great interest.

Don't forget to take plenty of photos while you can for future generations.

Enjoy

[pinefamily]

I too started at 15, after watching the TV series Roots. I started asking my mother about our family, and rang my paternal aunt to ask about that side (my father had already passed away). Lots of handwritten notes, and visits to libraries and archives (no internet back then). My interest waned for a few years, but I kept those notes. Luckily, because when I took it up again, those family members were mostly gone then.
Have you tried the LDS? Their family history centres are very helpful, and they may have access to the records you are seeking.

[rebeccaclaire86]

I started when I was 16 and remember getting some really odd looks when I went to the Family Records Centre in London. I also remember every time I went to the record office they automatically assumed I wanted a computer, not a microfilm reader!!

[Deer243]

I got started when I was 17 (19 now). I definitely second the point about talking to Grandparent's, my Grandfather died just after I got interested and so any information that he may have had has been lost now. Names, dates and places are relatively easy to discover in records compared to the personal stories which make a family tree far more interesting.

[hsfam]

Young genealogists are definitely around. You just need to find them in the right place.

Why don't you try this blog out:

http://youngandsavvygenealogists.blogspot.com.au/p/who-are-young-and-savvy-genealogists.html