Genealogy frustrations.

[coombs]

My ancestor Thomas Edgington was born in 1822 in Wootton Berkshire. He was illegitimate, as was his 3 siblings. Never found any trace of his father. Another ancestor was born in 1801 in Twineham, Sussex, and was born to an unmarried mother. No trace of any possible father.

[BillyF]

My 2x gt grandmother had 6 illegitimate children, one with a named father - my gt grandmother.

My biggesr frustration is the whereabouts of another gt grandmother and on the 1891 census, her sister is also missing but I`m not sure if  they are together.

[coombs]

I think we should just be grateful for the records we do have as opposed to the ones we don't have, such as ones that never existed or were lost or destroyed. If you have mainly Irish ancestors, getting back past the 1820s can be a miracle. i do feel for them.

England, Scotland and Wales have quite good records that can go back centuries. Wills and inheritance matters can really help as well as PR's for before the 1750s.

[IgorStrav]

yes I am always grateful for the sources I've found and the mysteries I've resolved either myself or with help from others.  Nothing replaces that surge of excitement when something emerges from the historical gloom into the light!

I find that it's really hard to conclude that I'LL NEVER KNOW about some things.  The sources aren't there, the census details for the streets I want are missing, I just won't ever find out.  So be it.  But hard to take..... 

[Crumblie]

I would agree with most of the frustrations mentioned already, I think mine are only realising now the questions I should have asked when I was a child and wishing I had listen more carefully to the answers I did get.

[coombs]

I find that it's really hard to conclude that I'LL NEVER KNOW about some things.  The sources aren't there, the census details for the streets I want are missing, I just won't ever find out.  So be it.  But hard to take.....

That is very hard to take, same as when you find the wrong line is more interesting than the right line, or that your ancestor's first wife had a father who was gateway ancestor with lines back to antiquity, but you descend from his 2nd wife, whose origins are hard to find.

I don't know why but I am keeping plugging away trying to find a gateway ancestor, something I never considered finding until recently. I think as much as I cannot stand the man, Danny Dyer's royal blood has inspired me to look for such ancestors, plus more info is coming online all the time.

I have some landed gentry in my ancestry which is something, many of them acquired their fortune and crests in the 1500s and before that are hard to find.

[M_ONeill]

I'm kind of both fascinated and frustrated by the 'Civil War Gap' - it's my first time tracing a line back to the English Civil War. I'm fascinated because it speaks very plainly to just how much the chaos would have effected even one small set of villages in Staffordshire. The frustration naturally comes in because tracing lines through that few years becomes very difficult, despite having good records on either side.

[clairec666]

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.

[LizzieL]

Dna , women using a married name instead of  maiden name , especially when no tree and ones which don't use a proper name but some can be identified!

Sorry, I'm one of those that use my married name as user name - I think it somehow became the same as the way my name is written on my credit card when I paid my first sub. I signed up to Ancestry long before DNA but my main tree is called by my maiden surname.