Genealogy, Anyone done/doing it? Options

[Neil B]

What it says on the tin. A pastime for some of us in these dark days.

What site or sites do you use?

Anyone had a DNA test too?

I've been going since about 2003 but only recently picked up the ball again.

Turns out I'm (probably) Fredd's brother, Andy Foster's cousin, HCA's Great Aunt Mabel and, at some point, I think I might
have married MadAndy? !

Seriously though, how are you getting along with it?

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[DancingDad]

Closest I have come to it was when it turned out that my mum's cousin Micky was actually my mum's half brother and that my Gran had not been as chaste as she should have been.

[cp8759]

All I've heard about DNA tests aimed at consumers is that a lot of the results are rubbish.

[Steve_999]

I started looking into my family history back in 1989. No online assistance then; the closest thing to that was the LDS church (whose data is sometimes quite inaccurate). I was fortunate that (1) I lived within walking distance of the County Record Office and (2) my ancestors had remained within a relatively small geographical area. Within a month or so I had traced back to a marriage in 1688 in a village about 8 miles from where I lived at the time.
I have used ancestry.com mainly (but generally only when they had special offers or free months) and a couple of others. I would perhaps be wary of uploading your research to these sites, as you then lose control of it and it can be hard, if not impossible, to correct any errors you may later discover. It's a shame that you don't have more control as the whole idea of these web sites is to share data and make connections. Just the other day I had a message from a lady whose grandfather had grown up with my late wife's father (who had been adopted), and she had been able to show her grandad photographs of my late father-in-law who he had not seen for more than 40 years.
At my parents' golden wedding celebration, I displayed the family tree which caused a great deal of interest. My father was an only child, as was his father, so that side of the tree was quite thin. My mother was one of 11 children, however, and the guests were quite heavily weighted on that side of the family. I remember a couple of cousins coming over and telling me I had got the dates wrong on the tree, as their parents' marriage was a few years after the last of their children was born. Not thinking, I opened my folder of documents and showed them their parents' marriage certificate!

It is a very interesting hobby though, and I would very much recommend it. The only real drawback is that you end up kicking yourself for not doing it while your grandparents, or even parents, were still with you. I have discovered, and made contact with, distant cousins in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The one in New Zealand is a blind pastor who venerates Trump, which makes for some interesting email exchanges! I have a great-great-grandfather who died in the Crimean War in 1854, and have the last letter he wrote to his wife. His daughter (my great-grandmother) was baptised in the Tower of London (St. Peter ad Vincula). His widow later remarried and had three more children, one of which was another of my great-grandmothers! Try printing out that part of the family tree!
I'm in two minds about the DNA tests that are on offer. Once again, as I understand it, you have no control over the data once you have the test, and that information is out there for eternity for just about anyone to use or abuse. I think I will pass on that for the moment!

[The Rookie]

All I've heard about DNA tests aimed at consumers is that a lot of the results are rubbish.

I think rubbish is a bit harsh, but certainly not as scientific or as accurate as they like to make out.

I did watch a documentary where twins sent in their DNA (yes to the same company) and had different (though not massively so) results, another example was two samples sent to the same company about a year apart duding which time they had 'refined' their database so again slightly different results.

[666]

Steve's advice above is all very sound.

I'd add that if your lucky enough to be Scottish then things can be much easier. All statutory records (births, deaths, marriages and census returns) since 1850-ish , together with all church and parish records going back to when God was a boy, are digitised and indexed and available on a single site, scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

[Neil B]

All I've heard about DNA tests aimed at consumers is that a lot of the results are rubbish.

I think rubbish is a bit harsh, but certainly not as scientific or as accurate as they like to make out.

Got to admit I was initially suspicious when I got my results as they appeared to just reflect the geography of my tree, which the same
company have on file. But then when you start to look through others who've tested and connect to you it starts to make sense and seems quite accurate. Some of those are so distant, e.g. 4th - 6th cousins, that they are unlikely to be in your tree but if you check Ancestry's 'Thru-lines' it shows how you are connected. Example; someone has a weak DNA connection to me because her tree connects to my 2nd Great Grandmother by virtue of being a descendant of a branch that 2GG's ancestors, three generations earlier!

It is a very interesting hobby though, and I would very much recommend it. I have a great-great-grandfather who died in the Crimean War in 1854,

I've got one who fought in the 1812 war and, according to another record, he may have got back in time to fight at Waterloo.

One of the things that interests me is the enormity of it all. In the 19th century families all had ten kids and with an average 8 surviving that soon explodes into a massive cascade of descendants. I was waiting to find someone on one side marrying a very distant cousin from the far side of the tree without possibly being able to know they were related.
Not seen it it yet but y'know, six degrees of separation etc.
I do have a few things like it.
> My Great Uncle and a distant relative 250 miles away both dying in the same battle in 1917. They couldn't possibly have known each other.
> Two Sisters, one becoming my Great grandmother on my Mother's maternal side and the other marrying into my Mother's paternal side a generation later. Again, seemingly by only chance.
> Great Grandmother on my Father's maternal side being killed by a luftwaffe bomb in a hospital just 3/4 mile from where I am right now.
> 3 of my 4 core families I note sometimes lived very close together, generations before they had any connection to each other. Sometimes in the same street.
> Similarly, the tree is hinting that two of those core families originated in the same Norfolk village but any connection must have been several generations before the point I've reached.

And just to let motoring get in on the act, that Norfolk village is Hethel, where Lotus are/were based.

[Fredd]

Where these services have been shown to be rubbish is in claiming to be able to identify your regional origins. In matching individuals they've been more successful (notoriously so in the case of police in the US using genealogy sites to identify suspects based on their relatives' online profiles).

[Neil B]

Where these services have been shown to be rubbish is in claiming to be able to identify your regional origins.

Hence my initial suspicions. My DNA map view has East Anglia lit up like a Christmas tree but that info is all in my tree
which the same company hold.

But like you say, can't ignore the personal connections. A Niece, a Cousin in Canada, her daughter and myself all had tests unbeknown to each other.
It linked us closely even though none of the three were in my tree at the time (because I hadn't realised genealogy sites 'hide' living people even when your tree is 'public' so hadn't added them).

In matching individuals they've been more successful (notoriously so in the case of police in the US using genealogy sites to identify suspects based on their relatives' online profiles).

Sites claim to keep everything safe but I can quite believe that for the US. Their trees are often huge too, like Canadians and Ozzies.
I saw one this week that linked to me with 160,000 people in it -- and managed to persuade myself not to look! It can get out of hand.

[Neil B]

The only real drawback is that you end up kicking yourself for not doing it while your grandparents, or even parents, were still with you.

Yep, my Dad had a wealth of memories and although I wasn't researching at the time I've held on to some and used them since.
One example was his sharing of visiting a Grandmother in hospital, as a teenager and into his early twenties every Sunday. She was in a mental health wing of 500 ish patients but only by virtue of having Parkinson's. He couldn't recall her name because, of course, he only knew her as 'Gran'.
He bemoaned the fact he was the only one ever to visit her.
I wondered about this ever since he told me in the 1980s and it's only now I've rekindled my genealogy interest that I found out who it was.
It turns out, thanks to the wonders of the 1939 Register, that it was >

> Great Grandmother on my Father's maternal side being killed by a luftwaffe bomb in a hospital just 3/4 mile from where I am right now.

The damage was so severe that the section of hospital didn't reopen until after the war. The survivors were evacuated to the 'South Ockendon Colony', a mental institution that later had a notorious reputation for mistreatment.
She was 75 by then and doesn't appear in any list of those that went to SOC. I've concluded that bomb got her but I'll check with local history groups for casualty details when I get a mo. I think, perhaps, it was a kindness.
What saddens me is that I can't share this back to my Dad to tell him the outcome of what he had shared with me nearly 40 years ago.
He was married by the time she died, already had my two Sisters to worry about while working as a carpenter at Ford in Dagenham <<< Another motoring connection, lol!

Yeah, sorry, it all gets a bit emotional and I realise it's a bit boring reading other peoples' family histories. Still, I'm enjoying sharing.

[mickR]

Im sure the songs of praise mob will be happy to point out that we are all in fact related as of course we all decended from Adam and Eve

[Neil B]

Im sure the songs of praise mob will be happy to point out that we are all in fact related as of course we all decended from Adam and Eve

That's a weird post; what is it supposed to mean?
I had just been sharing some very personal events. as an encouragement to others to look at their own history.

Your interruption to that is most peculiar?

[mickR]

Hey sorry i "interrupted" Neil lol. But It wasnt directed at you nor anyone in particular. I found your story very interesting. I have our family tree dating back to the early 1600s.
My daughter just done the dna test and it appears shes decended from almost every continent in some percentage. We came to the conclusion dna was infact pointless as generations are speading tbe globe and therefore there will be much diversity in everyone.
My point about about the God Squad is that everyone is decended from just 2 people and therefore related to everyone

This post has been edited by mickR: Thu, 16 Jul 2020 - 23:21

[thisisntme]

there has to be a point where the first few evolved. A man's rib had nothing to do with it though...

[666]

Im sure the songs of praise mob will be happy to point out that we are all in fact related as of course we all decended from Adam and Eve

Surely we're all descended from Mr and Mrs Noah, since everyone else was drowned?

[Neil B]

Hey sorry i "interrupted" Neil lol. But It wasnt directed at you nor anyone in particular. I found your story very interesting. I have our family tree dating back to the early 1600s.
My daughter just done the dna test and it appears shes decended from almost every continent in some percentage. We came to the conclusion dna was infact pointless as generations are speading tbe globe and therefore there will be much diversity in everyone.

Soz. Maybe touchy cos some of it makes me quite emotional.
I haven't managed to get back that far; the very parish records I need seem to have gone missing. I just found a decent tree, with attached records, that sorted one line for me and took me back another two generations but my earliest is still only 1732.
On DNA, mine was a bit of a shock and a disappointment as my name has huge connections to Scotland but I can't get my tree there!
96% English*, 3% Scandinavian and a tiny bit of a sardine.

* Which means what? I guess all the races that combined over time to make the modern day English but wouldn't that include Scandinavians anyway and not warrant a separate mention?

[cp8759]

Im sure the songs of praise mob will be happy to point out that we are all in fact related as of course we all decended from Adam and Eve

Actually we all come from the LUCA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_universa...ion_of_the_root because there is only one tree of life on Earth, hence all life on Earth is related to all other life on Earth.

Interestingly this supports the view that life only got going once, and hence that abiogenesis is a much rarer event than some might think.

[mickR]

Im sure the songs of praise mob will be happy to point out that we are all in fact related as of course we all decended from Adam and Eve

Surely we're all descended from Mr and Mrs Noah, since everyone else was drowned?

No dont be silly, messers Noah were already decended from Adam And Eve

Actually we all come from The LUCA

Ive got a mate called Luca i very much hope im not decended from him

[mickR]

Hey sorry i "interrupted" Neil lol. But It wasnt directed at you nor anyone in particular. I found your story very interesting. I have our family tree dating back to the early 1600s.
My daughter just done the dna test and it appears shes decended from almost every continent in some percentage. We came to the conclusion dna was infact pointless as generations are speading tbe globe and therefore there will be much diversity in everyone.

Soz. Maybe touchy cos some of it makes me quite emotional.
I haven't managed to get back that far; the very parish records I need seem to have gone missing. I just found a decent tree, with attached records, that sorted one line for me and took me back another two generations but my earliest is still only 1732.
On DNA, mine was a bit of a shock and a disappointment as my name has huge connections to Scotland but I can't get my tree there!
96% English*, 3% Scandinavian and a tiny bit of a sardine.

* Which means what? I guess all the races that combined over time to make the modern day English but wouldn't that include Scandinavians anyway and not warrant a separate mention?

No probs mate, i cant take credit for composing family tree, my cousin who has now sadly passed away did it. Much credit to her must have been a task to get back to i think 1630. A nice highlight for me was to see that first entry was the same name we called our son! It also led to identifying a relative killed in ww1 who was burried in the war graves at Ypres and my daughter visiting the grave and laying a red rose on a school trip. A very moving and emotional moment.

[Neil B]

It also led to identifying a relative killed in ww1 who was burried in the war graves at Ypres and my daughter visiting the grave and laying a red rose on a school trip. A very moving and emotional moment.

The great uncle I mentioned a few posts back I found on the memorial here >
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5158009,-0....6384!8i8192
That's right outside where his family home stood when he was younger.
Loads of my Father's two core families lived all down that street at various times; all coming from Gt.Yarmouth
in the mid 19th century. Many were baptised and married in that church, which is now luxury flats.