Paula1 wrote:

Topsy wrote:That's interesting about first names Hugh. I don't think I've come across deliberate first name changes by priests, despite having a large branch of Catholic ancestors in Scotland. I don't doubt it's happened though. I've had lots of instances of first names being spelled incorrectly or shortened (often by the parents themselves in successive census returns!)

I was quite alarmed to find that some of my ancestors had to mark documents with an X due to being illiterate

Most of my farm worker ancestors prior to the 1870s marked their name with an X. I wasn't surprised as there was no free education then. This contrasts with the line who were educated and the surviving eloquent letters written by one them.

It's something I'd really like to do sometime. I think a few of my ancestors came from various parts of Scotland and England as well as Ireland, and it would be interesting to find out for sure.
I had a peek at Ancestry but I was a bit wary about paying for it. They have military records on that website that I'm dying to see, but I guess I'll be waiting until I have a bit of money to throw at it!

Ash wrote:It's something I'd really like to do sometime. I think a few of my ancestors came from various parts of Scotland and England as well as Ireland, and it would be interesting to find out for sure.
I had a peek at Ancestry but I was a bit wary about paying for it. They have military records on that website that I'm dying to see, but I guess I'll be waiting until I have a bit of money to throw at it!

I could have a look for you if you want to PM me

Thanks a million Paula, I may do that in a while!

Ash wrote:Thanks a million Paula, I may do that in a while!

Your welcome, only takes minutes usually

I did a lot of family tree research some years ago. Very interesting to see how much information there is available. I was working in London and joined the Society of Genealogists there in order to look through their library of records on spare evenings.

No famous ancestors but I found that one distant branch was the Bordon family of Kent in England way back in the 14th century. This is the family that much later produced Lizzy Bordon in America and eventually through one line of descent the mother of Winston Churchill. I am therefore something like a 27th cousin of Winston, me and millions and millions of others of course.

A few popular myths debunked:

Most people did not marry very young
It was not unusual for wives to be older than their husbands
The first child was often born a lot less than 9 months after the wedding
Most people moved about a bit. It is rare to find the same family in the same place for more than a couple of generations unless they owned land (and I don't think many of my ancestors did)


Biggest problem is often too much information, not too little. If your ancestor had a distinctive name and you know approximate date of birth you can be pretty sure of a link. But if for example you have an ancestor named say John Williams in Cardiff or Thomas Smith in London you can pretty well give up. Middle names only really became common during the 19th century.

Paula1 wrote:I was quite alarmed to find that some of my ancestors had to mark documents with an X due to being illiterate

Being from scotland I assume these ancestors have only recently passed

Leonidas wrote:I did a lot of family tree research some years ago. Very interesting to see how much information there is available. I was working in London and joined the Society of Genealogists there in order to look through their library of records on spare evenings.

No famous ancestors but I found that one distant branch was the Bordon family of Kent in England way back in the 14th century. This is the family that much later produced Lizzy Bordon in America and eventually through one line of descent the mother of Winston Churchill. I am therefore something like a 27th cousin of Winston, me and millions and millions of others of course.

A few popular myths debunked:

Most people did not marry very young
It was not unusual for wives to be older than their husbands
The first child was often born a lot less than 9 months after the wedding
Most people moved about a bit. It is rare to find the same family in the same place for more than a couple of generations unless they owned land (and I don't think many of my ancestors did)


Biggest problem is often too much information, not too little. If your ancestor had a distinctive name and you know approximate date of birth you can be pretty sure of a link. But if for example you have an ancestor named say John Williams in Cardiff or Thomas Smith in London you can pretty well give up. Middle names only really became common during the 19th century.

That is so interesting. Thank you for sharing that.
I would like to look for my ancestry in Germany, but as others have said, I'm a little loath to pay out money for information I may not find. South Africa doesn't allow public access to genealogy records even though they are fairly recent.

I've got as far back as the 1820s. There are an annoying number of men on my mothers side with the same name which made for some interesting family shuffling... that Richard... not that one... errr he died then was born?

A few shockers similar to Leonidas. Children arriving a lot earlier than 9 months after a wedding. Men tended to be a fair bit older than their brides 10-15 years. Huge families, 8+ children in several generations. A couple of aunts I will never know (one died at birth the other arrived mid-war and wasn't my grandfather's daughter, put up for adoption shortly after his return never to be seen or mentioned again). I actually realised how little I knew of my daft amount of cousins!

pennypitstop wrote:I've got as far back as the 1820s. There are an annoying number of men on my mothers side with the same name which made for some interesting family shuffling... that Richard... not that one... errr he died then was born?

A few shockers similar to Leonidas. Children arriving a lot earlier than 9 months after a wedding. Men tended to be a fair bit older than their brides 10-15 years. Huge families, 8+ children in several generations. A couple of aunts I will never know (one died at birth the other arrived mid-war and wasn't my grandfather's daughter, put up for adoption shortly after his return never to be seen or mentioned again). I actually realised how little I knew of my daft amount of cousins!

Yes I only found out fairly recently that the son my parents adopted and who died of pneumonia as a baby, was my mother's sister's son. I wish she'd told us that rather than to leave it for us to find out after she'd died. I would've liked to have told her that it was a nice thing to do.