Welcome!

There are a few genealogy related groups on LT, but they are all limited in scope by geography or ethnicity.* I thought it would be nice to have a group for all people interested in reserching family lines, regardless of their level of experience or where their family originated.

So, WELCOME one and all!

I've been working on my family tree off and on since 1981. I've hit several walls (one of which involves an ancestor changing our family's last name while reputedly fleeing prosecution for a murder), but I haven't given up hope yet.

I had an overzealous elderly relative who spent countless years preparing a highly inaccurate family history in which she makes claims to being a decendant of William the Conqueror. I'm lucky to have another relative, an uncle, who is also interested in family history, which I hope to take advantage of!

*note: Iwrote this before I found "The Gene Pool" group. Evidently, the group search engine searches titles and descriptions of groups. Since TGP doesn't acutally use the word "genealogy", it didn't show up on my original search. Feel free to join both or either group! :-)

Thank you for inviting me to join. I 'm new to LT. I've been doing genealogy about as long as you have! Started by "proving" an inherited tree done in the 1930's. It had a missing generation which I filled. Now I'm collecting the inlaws of inlaws.

I love that this group is open to all skill and dedication levels! I love learning about history, and family too, but right now I don't have the time to run down the missing links, so to speak. I am working with information inherited from other dedicated souls and trying to fill in the history gaps around the individuals. What I would love to do, when my children leave home, is to travel around to the places my family came from just to see if they left any impression there.

Mrs.Lee that sounds like a great plan. If I could learn German and then visit all the small towns and villages over there, I just know that I would learn so very much about my family history. However, I guess I'm going to be resigned to the fact that I'll never know everything about everybody. Still it is fun to dream.

Hi, I have just joined LT and so far have only listed books i've recently read. I am interested in doing my family tree, but i haven't a clue as to where to start. Any help/advice would be appreciated.
I'm a Canadian, by the way, as if that mattered!!

I don't know a lot about Canadian research, but it can't hurt to start at FamilySearch.org (.com gets you to the same site) -- on the right hand side of their homepage next to the pic of mom with child it says "How do I get started?". That's a great place to start...

Welcome!

#5

There is "how to begin" advice on many sites. The key is to start with yourself and work back. Downloading the forms & the Personal Ancestral File from FamilySearch.org (not ".com") is a good idea.

With regard to asking relatives, don't just ask "When was Aunt Jane born?" They know a lot that specific questions won't bring out. Get them talking about their families, childhood, visits to aunts & uncles & cousins, family dinners (favorite foods served --- food is a great memory trigger!), who came to the wedding or the funeral, etc. etc. Record the conversation if possible. Ask about documents, old letters, photos.

After I'd spent 30+ years quizzing my mother for info, she would occasionally blow my mind by asking out of the blue "Did I ever tell you about ____?" And long after I'd gotten every bit of info from her first cousin ("No, there are no other pictures"), his wife recently sent me a photo of my GGG-Grandmother!

Keep track of your source for each fact, even if it is just "Interview with Cousin Tom." Don't believe everything you hear from relatives or find on the web. And don't expect to "find your family on the web." Even if you did find a tree purporting to be for your family, you would need to verify the information. No pain, no gain. :-)

To add to the getting started clues- most folks can't remember the exact date an event happened but they'll remember the season- it was cold, the daffodils were blooming, it was sunny....those clues will help you narrow down the time of year.
-Kate

I just joined this group today. Thank you for the invitation. I've been working on genealogy since about 1980.
My mother, children and I drove from Virginia to Mississippi to research her Dalton family. Her father and grandparents were born in Mississippi so we started there. Mississippi took us to Tennessee. Tennessee to the Carolinas. The Carolinas to Virginia ... Orange County. Just 2 counties over from our starting point.
We were also searching for her grandmother's family, Hammond. It ended up that they came from Virginia as well.

Welcome to all the new folks (and the "old" ones, too!). It's great to see the group growing and to see all the interaction -- it's a drag to be in a group where no one talks, but this isn't going to be a problem for us!

:-)

Thanks for the invitation.

I'm an Aberdeenshire Scot, exiled through work in Moray for the last 20 years ;-) I've been doing work on my family history for about as long - though not consistently. I usually get bursts of enthusiasm once a year.

I've got a small amount of material particularly specific to the area round Turriff on the Aberdeenshire/Banffshire border. Not all of it listed yet.

Particular interests

Dempster - Turriff-Inverkeithny-Huntly
Clark - King Edward-Rhynie-Cabrach
McKenzie - Rothiemay-Cullen-Rathven
Gray - Bellie
Vass - Bellie-St Andrew's Lhanbryde-Nigg

Funniest thing...I've been on the phone to my mother several times in the last few days. I keep finding inscriptions in the books I'm cataloging. (Mostly in books I have "borrowed" - read stolen - from her) I'm learning more about my family and ancestory just identifying the book-givers in my vintage collection!

I can't think of a more satisfying way to find out about relatives!

Thank you for the invitation to the group. I have been researching since about 1980. I gratified to have been able to knock down a few brick walls.

I will enjoy keeping up with the posts and putting my two cents in.

Patrice