Lost Cousins ???

[Alan SHARP]

QUOTE
Report this postReply with quoteRe: Macdonald from Govan, Golbals Glasgow
by weeweegie » Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:37 am

Hi Keith
Have you registered with Lost Cousins?
http://www.lostcousins.com/

BW
Karen weeweegie

END QUOTE.

Greetings

This is the first time I've taken note of "LOST COUSINS" or remember seeing it mentioned by the Genealogical Societies as a site worth registering with. Upon taking Karen's link to their home page I see some very interesting information, and offers with lots of promises, that appear to make sense, BUT nothing did I spot about the people behind the web service.

At least on TS this information is supplied and the admin has a public profile.

What gives; where are they domiciled; what are their credentials ? Can we trust their word is their bond, re material shared ? Under who's jurisdiction would any challenges be decided ?

Just curious.

Alan SHARP.

[SarahND]

Hi Alan,
I have been a member of Lost Cousins for several years now. It is run by Peter Calver, who is based in England. The system is very ingenious and pretty much fool-proof. That is, you only get matches that are real matches, meaning someone else has entered the same person in the same census. You enter in the census data for all the people you are researching and if there is a match with someone already in the database, you will know right away. It is most useful for those with recent English roots, since most of the members are in England, I believe.

The censuses we currently support are the 1880 US Census; the 1881 Canadian Census; the 1881 Census of Scotland; the 1911 Census of Ireland; the 1911, 1881 and 1841 Censuses of England & Wales (these include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands).

These censuses were chosen because they are readily available online - and four of the six (US 1880, Canada 1881, Ireland 1911, England & Wales 1881) can be accessed completely free of charge which means that all members can obtain the correct data, irrespective of means.

It is nearly four years since I joined Lost Cousins and have yet to make a connection. I assume this is because most of my family came from the UK to America in the 17th and 18th centuries. I have put in the details of the few relatives I can come up with (mostly from one branch of the family, that of the most recent immigrant, who came to the U.S. in 1837). Obviously, I am not going to find too many people related to me in the UK today, since most of us can't reliably go back before the 18th century in parish records (and what a job it would be tracing all the descendants of my 17th century ancestors in order to find them in 1841!). Well, you can see the problem. I'm hoping that one day the U.S. 1850 census can be included in the dataset. It is a good idea, just not suited to my particular ancestry.

All the best,
Sarah

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings Sarah.

Thanks for the informative reply. Lost Cousins, possibly has been mentioned in newsletters to me, or at the Family History Fairs I've attended, but not one I've previously taken note of.

Was a little disappointed that this dummy could not immediately find info about the site founders / operators, from the home page. Web pages today are two a penny, promising much, but delivering little, and in some cases with ulterior motives, hence my caution.

Like many who regularly read TS posts, I'm one who's fore bares left Scotland before, or about the start of, regular census taking, and Civil registrations, so we know, and have published info about our easy finds in the early records. Now the trouble is locating the missing ones due to, missing/lost records, irregular spelling and transcription errors, and the closeness of some members.

The Cousins then, that Lost Cousins are offering to introduce, are a generation or two later than the ones who I want to tap into.

It's sorting out my inter related "cousins" five, six, and seven generations back who are my challenge. They had a very small pool of names used, in overlapping generations, and in the relatively confined area of the extremely rapidly growing, greater environs of Glasgow.

Regards,

Alan SHARP.

[SarahND]

Hi Alan,
The thing to do is to follow down the lines of your ancestor's siblings who did stay in Scotland, or who went to another of the countries where the census is part of the Lost Cousins database and enter in their information. The hope is that you will find cousins on other branches of the family who have been able to go back far enough in their research to help you out with your early brick walls.

All the best,
Sarah

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings again Sarah.

Yes I appreciate that. But therein lies the problem. First I have to sort out the very close relatives born 1780 -1820 and then work forward to the census and civil records generation. My OPR data base of some 830 SHARP/E's from Glasgow and the environs, stretching out into Refrew and Lanark, have some 20 John, 19 William, 8 James, 4 Thomas and 4 Alexander SHARP/E's of interest. With a high probability of most of them being related as distant cousins, or uncles and nephews, but some of them are doubly linked, as indeed they were again with intermarriage between the William and then John lines that came to NZ, and possibly some to Australia also, because they named their properties after places of mutual interest, in the home shires of Scotland. We need some clarity here, before we can look at potential Maternal lines.

As well as the regular TS team, I've had what I've come to consider very well researched people like 'David W' and 'Just Jean' personally checking out my successes/research to date, and have even (with help) been able to challenge early census transcriptions, but still have very few names, that cross reference with some certainty, to be able to work forwards to the generations of the 1880's and the more recently released census’.

We have been very lucky to have found OPR records of the Row/Rhu Parish, Dumbarton, recording the Grand Parents for birth records of 1844 and 1848, but they have been the only ones, predating civil registrations, and it's in this generation that our family run out of oral history, about the folks of home. Unfortunately, to date, we have not been able to tie those Row Parish named, paternal grand parents, to any other records.

Alan SHARP.

[SarahND]

I appreciate the problem. There is nothing that helps your research like an unusual surname... but we have to take what's on the plate!

At least be glad you are not trying to do this with ancestors who "appeared" on the east coast of America in 1632. With most of my lot, I may never make the jump back to the "old country."

All the best,
Sarah