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Why are you a family historian?

Vivienne14

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
Intrigued to know what motivates people to start the journey to uncover their ancestors. Is it plain curiosity, a search for identity, or what? I started out simply to build a family tree as a record (purely factual) but soon found myself absorbed in trying to find out what these people were like and how they lived. And what a journey it's proving to be ........... Viv
 
For me Viv,it was an accident.My wife's cousin sent my wife information on family matters (my wife had no interest).However, the way she sent this info.was to our son's computer,and he didn't want it cluttering up his business computer,so he put it all on an old laptop, and gave it to me.With the information that there were 120 documents on this laptop...and I didn't even know how to switch it on.:rolleyes:
Well,the outcome was I became hooked,love all the detective work that goes with it,and have learn't so much about "real people" social history.:)
 
Yes I too love the detective side of it. It's exciting when you get a snippet of info that leads you into all sorts of areas of research. I write letters (yes with a pen and paper!!! Remember them?) to an elderly relation who drip feeds me little pearls of info. How I look forward to receiving those letters! It's re-awakened my interest in history - a subject I was turned off at school. And it's great to have such an absorbing hobby. Viv.
 
I put it you, me lord, that we do it because we are all caring, sharing people with one foot planted in the present and the other planted suarely in the past.
If we don't do it, who will ?
 
I started in 2003 when my daughter in law asked if she could see our family bible. My son said Mom you should do your family history. Within two days we had found so much info I was hooked. I could never imagine in my wildest dreams having the information and photo's I have now. Like Vivienne I have an elderly relative who feeds me info which I then research but the 'inside' information she has given me would be lost forever. I send her a letter with a s.a.e and always get some wonderful gems on the return. Well worth the stamp....lol
 
Mine was started to give my daughters and son an idea of their heritage and also Dad commenting on where his family were from on our way on holiday.
It was only supposed to be a quick look, but as with a lot of people I got totally hooked.
I am trying to write it all into my last years birthday present, a lovely big illustarated Family Bible, but also into a lovely heritage book and a hand-made record book.
No doubt when I have done this, I will be researching again, I would love to get into the Birmingham library at some point, but am not sure how to do it, as although we have a B postcode it doesn't count as a resident!!
Sue
 
I started looking into my husband's family when our son asked "Why is Barrett my middle name?" .
Having sorted out that side of the family, I thought I should even things up and look at my side so that the children and grandchildren have a balanced picture of things :)
 
My eldest son, who is now 24, was asked by his junior school teacher to do a family tree for homework, for which he required my help. I asked him how far he had to go back, to which I got the usual helpful response.." dunno " !! So I thought I'd ask some questions of family members, as I only really knew as far back as my grandparents.
Mom told me what she could remember and my one Nan told me a little but then said, "as for the rest, let sleeping dogs lie ".. that always intrigued me and so I did a little digging of my own. The more I found the more my addiction grew and I have been "feeding my habit" ever since, not only with my own tree but with doing them for friends too.
Its a good job my son was happy with a chart going back to his Gt Grandparents otherwise his teacher would still be waiting for his homework !!
 
Mine was started at school with an interest in History and then on to doing a university cause here in NZ on history, reading as many history novels and books as I could find on the subject... then a long came the idea of researching the family... to give my son and daughters an idea of their heritage and so that unlike myself they would be able to tell their children the names of their grandparents and where they and in turn their parents lived and originated from... then I got hooked and because I'm inherently nosey started helping others find out their roots. :) I just love it as I've mentioned before on other threads it's like doing Jig- saws something else I like doing when young.
 
A thousand years ago we 'knew who we were' because the bards sang of our family lineage in the mead-halls.
Now, it's as Postie says: if we don't do it, who will?
 
Sue its no problem to search at Central Library you need a reader ticket so just take a photo and some form of identity. It only like going to a record office but with more info.
 
I've amazed myself at the pleasure to be had from rooting around to find the smallest bit of evidence. It's taken me into areas of business history, geography, marine history, architecture, photography......... The list goes on. The most bizarre experience so far must be wandering around a Liverpool cemetery with a gravedigger in a snow blizzard trying to find an ancestor's grave ! I started out doing all this simply to pull together a family history but it's grown into this colossal 'library' of info. Is anyone writing up or planning to write up their history? I'd like to and wonder if anyone has any helpful tips on getting started. Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
.... Is anyone writing up or planning to write up their history? I'd like to and wonder if anyone has any helpful tips on getting started. Viv.
Click to expand...

The wife of a second cousin, once removed, sent me mother a copy of her family history report containing the sections about my mother and grandmother. Mom sent me a copy and after a quick glance I tossed it onto the mountainous keep pile. There it lay gathering dust until my beloved grandmother was taken away when I remembered it and thought "I'll have a go at that". Now I'm hooked.

The above report was done in a descriptive style, a bit like a magazine article I suppose - very readable but not much detail. I recently did my own version which was a bit techy in that for each person I had a small summary paragraph with pictures followed by the transcripted details of all the certificates and censuses I'd found for them and their children plus a link to a representative song or film clip that reminds me of them or their job (eg some of my female relatives were interviewed for the 1842 commission on children and women in mine work and The Unthanks version of "The Testimony of Patience Kershaw" is based on a similar case) - this format is not very approachable for the casual viewer as too much detail. There are pros and cons to each approach.

When I redo my report I will create a separate document (rather than all in one) for each person for easy access. I will also reduce the image sizes so the document doesn't become too big. I will also redo the summary into a more narrative style. That's the plan anyway....
 
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When my sister and I opened our shop in 1997, just after Dad had died, we decided to call it 'Lonsdales', which was Dad's middle name. Over the years, several people asked where the name came from, and knowing that it was a 'family' name we started digging to find where the name 'Lonsdale' came from.......... and the rest, as they say, is history.

What a shame all the older generation had gone by then, so we've no-one to ask - all we've had to go on was our own memories of comments made over the years, an old battered photo album (with no flippin' names on the photos), and an army paybook belonging to g. grandfather. Thankfully, one side of the family developed the habit of using maiden names as middle names for their children, so we've been able to make educated guesses which came up trumps.

Like others, we've gone off at a tangent, exploring such diverse occupations as bell founding, bonnet making, mariners , brass founders etc.
We've discovered the purchase of a manor house, and connections with America's founding fathers - alongside bigamy, illegitimacy and transportation!!

Absolutely hooked now, and of course, the story never ends does it? There's always the next generation beyond the one we've just found..............

Knowing where we came from has, I think, been a great leveller, seeing how tough life was for our ancestors - I'm so glad we started.
 
I started because I remember. many years ago, (probably early 60's) my mum saying that we had a viscount as a relative.

I never thought much about it until about 5 years ago, when I started wondering who he was. I Googled 'Viscount Alexander' and the first link was to wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._V._Alexander,_1st_Earl_Alexander_of_Hillsborough if anyone is interested!

His mother was Eliza Jane Thatcher (my surname!). I thought 'This looks promising'

Eliza Jane was the sister of my Great Grandfather so the relationship was closer than I ever imagined.

I recently bought a biography of him 'Winston Churchill's Favourite Socialist', a real 'local boy makes good' book.

I'm hoping to make a trip to Cambridge University soon, where they have a repository of his documents, diaries and other things from when he was in the Labour Government and Coalition Government during the war.

All this from one little thought... 'I wonder who he was'
 
I only started because my brother passed the job over to me when I retired, if I had known how much time and money it was going to cost me, I think I might have told him where to go.

Of course, I have loved every minute of it, and am still researching the "Black Country" side of the family that we never knew existed, the Chambers and the Colliers.
 
I wonder when we decide the point at which we started being 'family historians'. I could say that it was when I rifled through my maternal grandfather's box of papers and photos, which is when I started writing things down. Since the internet made it possible to find out dates and records more easily and quickly, I have made great strides, having left it alone for the years inbetween, when my children took up so much of my time, followed by studying for a degree then building a career. But you know, I have mulled over Viv's question and I think I became a family historian in those far off days when I used to sit and talk with grandparents about what things were like in their day, and listen in on my mum and her sisters talking about their memories and amusing anecdotes of our family. So I would have to say that the seeds were sown from the time I learned to eavesdrop without being noticed!
 
I started in 1999 by accident. My aunt's daughter-in-law had done a little, but will not buy certificates (by her own admission, too mean) and I was asked to check an entry in St Martin's Baptisms. I went to the library, and when I could not find the answer I wanted, I asked one of the librarians. 'Have you tried the GRO?' she said. I immediately felt very foolish as I did not know what the GRO was, at that time. Once I was shown how to search, but now knowing where to start as I had not been given firm details, I decided to look for my gt grandmother's death, as I knew when my gran was born, and that her mum had died when she was just four. Once that certificate was purchased, I was well and truly hooked. We did not know anything about my gran's father, nor did she, but we found that he had died two years prior to his wife. I went back a little, not expecting to find much, as I had been told my gran's father had come from Ireland. I was totally shocked when I found he came from Cheltenham! It took me quite a time to find out why that rumour existed, it took me to the gallows at Warwick Gaol. Since then I have developed a huge interest in all my lines and have so much paperwork I really don't know what to do with it. My search has taken me to several places in England, and also to Australia, where I went to meet distant rellies in 2005. A wonderful hobby, I really don't know what I would do without it. The ironing might get done on time, though.
 
I started when my Mom & Dad passed away within 3 months of each other in 1984-85 but only in a fashion. But seriously when my younger Sister died a couple of years later and realise that we were the next generation and my Children needed to know. Something I never thought to do.
 
I started shortly after Alf in 1988, something that I had been meaning to do for several years. The trigger was a new member of the company that I worked for who happened to be a Brummie and had been researching his TYLER family for several years, and then interest from another member anxious to learn something about his EASTWOOD roots. So the three of us would traipse off to St Catherine's House periodically. I later discovered the facilities of my local LDS Family History Centre, before starting to make trips further afield.

Some years later I set up my website as it seemed a pity not to share my, by then, considerable store of information. The site gets about 75 hits a day and whilst most take the information without leaving any sort of message, I make on average about one new friend every six to eight weeks. I'm more than happy with this as I have acquired quite a bit of information that I would not have gained from anywhere else.

If you don't already use a genealogical database to store your information, I suggest you do. I prefer Brothers Keeper as it is less cluttered than many others, and almost all will allow you to store pictures, scanned documents, and audio files. (You know, those rare recordings of relatives now long gone. What, you haven't got any!!! :shocked: Get recording now - a simple microphone plugged into your computer is all you need. It's nice to know what granddad sounded like as well as having a few pictures of him!) :)

Maurice :cool:
 
Thanks Aidan. Like the magazine style idea as I want it to be easy to read and to keep the reader interested. I suppose it all comes down to who you expect your audience to be! Viv.
 
My journey began in 1999 in memory of my Mum who passed away the year before. Having never known her own mother who had died when Mum was just an infant, it was her life long desire to know her "maternal roots". We would often pull out the few photo's of my grandmother's existence and Mum would tell me the same stories she had heard as a child (little as they were).

While visiting Mum's graveside one weekend, I did a walkabout the cemetery and wrote down the inscriptions of her family. I went to my local library and asked the reference department for assistance. Within weeks, I was carefully opening my first box of microfilm to placed on to the reader. I was HOOKED! My one regret is not starting sooner, as my parents would have been delighted in the progress I've made on both my paternal and material side.
 
Sospiri. Some useful tips here thanks. I've tried to keep my research to my paternal side so far. Even by keeping to that side, I still drift off into so many branches with the result of having to deal with a mountain of paper. Despite using the laptop for all my research etc, for some reason I keep all my records on paper in the good old fashioned way. Not really given it much thought before now. How odd is that when you routinely use a pc for virtually everything else? Viv.
 
Viv:

I never throw anything away - you never know when you might want to look a little more carefully at, say, a signature, or you'd like to send someone a copy of the original document. But when someone contacts you and says "Did the husband of your great aunt Violet have a earlier wife called Mary Ann, if so, we might be related?", it's so much easier to give a quick answer than having to trawl through lots of paper.

It will also compute (in a fraction of second) the relationship, if any, between two people, e.g. third cousin twice removed! It's also easy to produce an indented list of the ancestors or descendants of a person - handy when you want to quickly send out some information to a query you have received.

On the matter of audio, a couple of years back, a cousin gave me a CD he'd made from an old reel-to-reel tape recording of a family gathering in the 1950s. most of the people now being dead. Fortunately he'd also given me some notes about who was speaking about what and when! I also have some recordings of my mother who passed away 15 years ago now. These are precious memories that once lost can never be retrieved and are well worth saving.

Brother's Keeper can be downloaded from https://www.bkwin.org/version6.htm

Go down the page to Download Full Program and and click on
Download FULL program BKSETUPE.EXE (English only, 11 megs)

It's shareware which has no time limits and is fully functional except for the fact that two reports are grayed out and you can't print to a file. However, the author has kindly provided a temporary password to try out these facilities if you look on the Help menu.

You can also export GEDCOM files that contacts can import into other genealogical programs and you can set up multiple databases within the same program. For instance, I have both both my family database and my research into a Victorian singer set up separately within BK. It's easy to switch between one or the other.

It's a fairly swift learning curve with good help menus and I'm sure you'll soon get to grips with it. I now have over 3200 names on my family database and another 100 for that of actress/singer Marie LONGMORE.

Apologies to the Mods if I've drifted slightly off topic.

Maurice :cool:
 
My research into my family started with a photograph of my great grandmother in a locket which used to belong to her and was passed down to me.
She looked very' grumpy', and both my uncle and my mother were not too fond of her! On looking into her history I discovered on the 1911 census she had 12 children of whom only half survived, a husband who drank and eventually left her. I think I might have looked abit 'grumpy'. However, we will never know her circumstances, and he may have had good reason to leave her! But this hooked me or should I say obsessed me.
When I was young I collected postcards, and stopped at the beginning of the 70's when I married. However, I never threw them away approx 2000. We have been trying to have a bit of a clear out (I empahasise the word 'trying'). Any way they are now out of the loft and I have been reading through them, it is amazing to see cards from people I have forgotten about. The places family members went to and the things they wrote on the cards. This includes myself who sent my mother a short grocery shopping list for my return! How formally people addressed one another to Mrs So So So from Mrs xyz, or in some cases Dear Friend. I have a card written by my grandmothe'rs sister , postmarked a day before my grandmother died......she would never read it. They really are a wealth of information, My father and my uncles worked at the GEC I have lots addressed to various Depts there. ( Must sort them out and put something on the GEC thread) .

I could go on....I won't but all these things spur me on and I suppose make me the family historian...if only I can make others interested.!

LInda
 
Linda how fascinating to have your collection of post cards especially as they are connected to you and your family. I have loads of postcards but not many connected to my family. I am sure we would love to see the ones from GEC when you have time.
 
Agree Wendy. A lovely piece of family history, so hang on tight to those postcards Linda! I'd love to have similar in my family but, alas, nothing has turned up so far. Viv.
 
Thanks for your advice Sospiri. Will look into bkwin. Another great thing about family history is you're constantly learning new things, not just about your ancestors, but how to deal with your findings too! Viv.
 
barrie said:
I only started because my brother passed the job over to me when I retired, if I had known how much time and money it was going to cost me, I think I might have told him where to go.

Of course, I have loved every minute of it, and am still researching the "Black Country" side of the family that we never knew existed, the Chambers and the Colliers.
Click to expand...


Barrie I knew a 'Chambers' family who lived CranleIgh Crescent, Broadway, Hill Top, West Bromwich, and others at Hill Top proper. Any relations of yours perhaps?
 
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