Family Tree
 

How would one go about tracing ones family tree? Are there places out there with records of familes and stuff?

Matt

Re: Family Tree
 

I started using genes reunited and found my family tree that way, i've gone back as far as the 1600's and have contacted people in Canada and Australia as it seems my family has become somewhat widespread.

Its worth it as a starting place and you can do searches of records although you do have to pay for these, but worth it if you are serious about it :)

Sammy

Re: Family Tree
 

one good place to look is here,the mormons have masses of family history information

Re: Family Tree
 

Thanks you two, thats quite helpfull...me and maria are interested about our families :D

I wouldnt mind paying for someone to do some investigative work...is it expensive?

Anyone else with some more help?

Matt

Re: Family Tree
 

might be worth contacting as many members of your families as possible to see if they have done any research themselves, could save you a load of work!

Re: Family Tree
 

Ahem - I've researched mine back to the early 18th century on my father's side. It's like a never ending jigsaw. Lots of books in the library to start you off and get to know the basics...for instance how registration works (births, deaths, marriages) and what info you can glean from each occurence...and what info you need to establish each incident.

The first port of call has to be family members. Start with immediate (mum, dad) then get to work on grand parents BUT beware of info the older ones give you if it's 'word of mouth' as time has an awful habit of distorting the memory. Then you need to carefully document each part of your tree - stick with facts, use pencil for ifs/buts/maybes. You can enlist the help of a genealogist to get hold of certain info - again the library will help with this. There are also some monthly magazines on the subject. I used a pro to hunt through admiralty records - it didn't cost much - but I got loads of info about one particular chap and very fortunately a useful hand written document of his birth was located complete with where he was born.

When you do start documenting stuff, there's lots of software out there - I use Generation (I think!!) but I also type and hand write stuff. I have two ring binders - one for my mums side and one for my dads - it's inevitable that the male line is easier to research because the women change their surname upon marriage...usually. Another top tip - if there is an unusual surname in the family, then it may be easier to research by virtue of the fact that there are less of them. 'Alpinestarhero' should prove dead easy!!:thumbsup: :D :D

Re: Family Tree
 

Our tree is just at the bottom of the garden. I could have traced the roots but it was easy to see anyway



Sorry, I'm leaving...:roll:

Re: Family Tree
 

Being Devil's Advocate here...I think one should think long and hard before venturing forward with such an exercise.After all not all you might uncover will be what you want to learn.:confused:

Re: Family Tree
 

You can trace your origins back to anyone these days.....a lot of it is baloney. One wrong turn and your tree will be completely wrong. Sounds like a time wasting vortex to me :)

Re: Family Tree
 

As someone else has mentioned, the Mormons have huge resources and are very helpful.

Most of my tribe is Maltese, so all I have to do is fly into Luqa airport and virtually everyone I meet from there on is a family member.

Malta has a gene pool about as deep as your average puddle. It's handy having cousins who are also your aunties and grandmas and mum and sisters...and that's just the male side of the family.