Ancestry

[Falkyrn]

I was recently contacted by a first cousin who told me she had started a family tree by subscribing to Ancestry in December. Already she is back 1,000 years - in two months! I have never subscribed to Ancestry, but it must be a wonderful site if you can do that!

I have a private tree on Tribal Pages. People can see the surnames I am researching and then in contact me for more info. I worked hard to get my tree as far as it is and I'm not prepared to just give it away for nothing. I welcome serious researchers who are interested in REAL ancestors, but the fictional tree my cousin has on Ancestry is not for me

Barb

Someone has placed a tree on Ancestry which links my family to a certain Mr and Mrs Odin (birthdates given as mid to late 7th century), address Valhalla and from them to just about every former royal household in Central Europe ....

Personally I find it extremely difficult to prove anything beyond 17th century Scotland,I guess I must be a little pickier than the tree author but I can prove everything I have

[nica]

Wow, Barb that takes some doing!! But as I am thinking of joining Ancestry, is your cousin researching Scottish ancestors cos I am a tad worried that the records Ancestry has for Scotland may not be as good as the ones they have for England and Wales. My nephew says that Find my Past is good for English and Welsh but not so good for Ireland and Scotland (and guess where I need to research!) xx

[Muriel]

Only Odin - what about Moses & Abraham

Muriel

[BarbR]

Hi Nica,

No, she is on the English side of my tree. My lot were from Sussex and Kent, but hers are from everywhere in England as long as the last name matches - we are all over the country! Transportation no problem.

Find My Past and Ancestry seem to be the sites for English records and Scotland's People can't be beat for Scottish records. I have made some good connections on Genes Reunited too, I just don't let anyone see my limited tree on there. I really don't mind sharing a branch of my tree with anyone who has a genuine connection, but they don't need to see the whole thing.

Barb

[Falkyrn]

Wow, Barb that takes some doing!! But as I am thinking of joining Ancestry, is your cousin researching Scottish ancestors cos I am a tad worried that the records Ancestry has for Scotland may not be as good as the ones they have for England and Wales. My nephew says that Find my Past is good for English and Welsh but not so good for Ireland and Scotland (and guess where I need to research!) xx

Ancestry is pretty good for the trancriptions it has of the Scottish Census records although their transcriptions can sometimes be a "little" frustrating the search facilities are better than SP's and allow you to narrow down your search considerably. However to view the actual images you still need to go to Scotlands People.

Recently Ancestry has been adding more records and of course WW1 war medal cards are available there but overall their coverage of Scottish records is not a patch on the access provided to English records - it may be best to take advantage of one of their sporadic offers (usually 14 days access for free) and test the water

[Falkyrn]

Only Odin - what about Moses & Abraham

Muriel

We don't talk about that side of the family - all that begatting and begetting that went on.

[nica]

Thank you Falkryn, I am thinking of doing the trial first.........will have to pick a fortnight when I know I can take full advantage.
Had a giggle at Muriel's post and your response!!!!

[mallog]

It's nice to get pointers and given some names etc. but I have always found that when I do my own research I end up really engaged with the family's story ( even if sometimes they are only tenuously linked to my tree). They definitely come alive. This doesn't seem to happen when I get handed something wholesale. For me it's the journey as they say. My point in doing this is not to have a completed tree at the end of the day but to get really into the social history of their times and to find out what kind of people make up me.

[nica]

That is a good way of putting it, Mallog and I think most of us would agree that is why we do it! there are threads from my dad's mum's side that are really well documented and I find myself less fascinated by those than my dad's paternal gfather and g mother and my mum's mum and dad and their antecedents.......both giving me trouble finding!! they are hiding!!