Tracing Ancestry

[PWL]

23 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

If you are tracing family in Scotland the Scotland’s people is essential. It’s great, you can buy access and download certificates etc. 

My only gripe with that site is the cost. It can add up quickly if you need to view various entries to narrow down a search. 

[mizfit]

Been wanting to do this for a while.

My girlfriends grandparents have been doing it over the last year and have got back to the 1700’s. They asked for my families details to add to the tree and must admit I was a wee bit embarrassed I didn’t know anything beyond my paternal great grandparents.

[Lyle Lanley]

Would also like to do this but have no idea where to start. 

[Hedgecutter]

13 minutes ago, Lyle Lanley said:

Would also like to do this but have no idea where to start. 

I started with my parents.  Then theirs, then theirs...

[101]

11 hours ago, Funky Nosejob said:

My diverse and exotic DNA background was well worth £60 to discover. 

Then again, if my ancestors had been more adventurous I wouldn’t exist.

Take a leaf out the Americans book and go about calling yourself Portuguese and hang their flag outside your gaff. Basically make it a huge personality trait.

[Funky Nosejob]

5 minutes ago, 101 said:

Take a leaf out the Americans book and go about calling yourself Portuguese and hang their flag outside your gaff. Basically make it a huge personality trait.

Obrigada. Boa ideia.

[Cosmic Joe]

I spent a lot of time on mine a few years back and recently have been entering the information on Ancestry - just under 1,800 people. It has become a bit of an obsession again. My latest thing has been uploading transcriptions of Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates, which is nearly complete. 

Planning to do the same with Census Returns next. 

[PWL]

7 hours ago, Lyle Lanley said:

Would also like to do this but have no idea where to start. 

Ancestry always have offers on and it's definitely the best place to start. Between it, Scotland's People website and the Irish Genealogy site you can pretty much get all you need. 

Assuming you know your parents details you can work back from there. Their birth details will have parents name and age (unless illegitimate - loads of that in my tree) and you can in turn find there birth/marriage/death details. Census details are also handy but they only get released a century later. The 1921 one is due this year. 

You do need to watch spellings as @Jambomo says. When you get back to pre WW1 literacy wasn't as prevalent so a name like Lone can be listed as Loan etc. Plus it can be tricky deciphering handwriting.

If you are lucky, someone else on Ancestry has done the work already and you can piggy back onto that. 

[Jambomo]

10 hours ago, PWL said:

My only gripe with that site is the cost. It can add up quickly if you need to view various entries to narrow down a search. 

Yeah it’s not cheap and can be hard to know what you are looking for from the description. 

I actually went into the NRS in Edinburgh. They have an excellent search room and it’s much cheaper as you just pay for printouts, so you can more easily see that it is at least what you want and the printing wasn’t too expensive either. 

[beefybake]

9 hours ago, Jambomo said:

Yeah it’s not cheap and can be hard to know what you are looking for from the description. 

I actually went into the NRS in Edinburgh. They have an excellent search room and it’s much cheaper as you just pay for printouts, so you can more easily see that it is at least what you want and the printing wasn’t too expensive either. 

Don't public libraries have a kind of block subscription to Ancestry, so members can use it for free ?

I haven't researched much of my background since I read up on my clan name.  They appeared to be

the 14th, 15th and 16th century versions of contract assassins. 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by beefybake

[Jambomo]

4 minutes ago, beefybake said:

Don't public libraries have a kind of block subscription to Ancestry, so members can use it for free ?

I haven't researched much of my background since I read up on my clan name.  They appeared to be

the 14th, 15th and 16th century versions of contract assassins. 

 

Some might, it’ll be up to the libraries in each council area if they subscribed to it or now. 

Assassins would be wonderful. Mine were all boring Irish labourers. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

18 hours ago, Lyle Lanley said:

Would also like to do this but have no idea where to start. 

 

[Cosmic Joe]

Got my DNA results yesterday. Slightly frustrated that my 60.4 percent SW Scotland/ NI could not be narrowed down. I know that my Irish ancestors were from Cavan and Donegal, border counties, although there was no north and south back then. I'm wondering if some of them originated from counties now considered to be part of NI. I also have 8 percent from what is now the Republic, so more questions than answers really. 

[Dr Koop]

On 03/03/2021 at 00:18, PWL said:

Nearly as exotic as mine. At least you have some continental blood. The 1 other region on mine is England. 

 

I really should look twice. I swore that was nether regions. Jesus. DNA can be a corker - my test revealed ancestors down my mother's line in Syria and Iraq. She was bloody Irish.

[Scary Bear]

On 16/12/2020 at 23:58, Academically Deficient said:

My mother did a bit of research into this before she died. She did really well, and got to about the 1880s where the records ran out. Typical entry: signature X. Occupation miner or farm labourer.

There's something really sad about seeing your ancestor couldn't write their own name only 4 generations ago.

We can’t all be related to Robert the Bruce.

[coprolite]

21 hours ago, Dr Koop said:

I really should look twice. I swore that was nether regions. Jesus. DNA can be a corker - my test revealed ancestors down my mother's line in Syria and Iraq. She was bloody Irish.

Is it not that she has a genetic marker that's currently prevalent in those places more than elsewhere, rather than had an ancestor from there?

All it takes is a single itinerant shagger to spread a gene and a mis attributed or secret pregnancy to muddy the waters. 

[Dr Koop]

That might well be the case, although the test was sold on the basis that it provided data on ancestry rather than demographic wanderings. Still, teach this bloody stuff in schools and dump RE/RI, that's what I say.

[PWL]

Ancestry have updated their DNA reports this week. Mine remains remarkably boring. I've just dropped from 78 to 73% Scottish and they've put the 5% into Welsh. So it classes me as having DNA present in the four British Isles nations. All a bit rubbish really. 

[Venti]

Born in Kingston, NY. Welsh Granda.

Don't know.

Consider myself Scottish.

[scottsdad]

4 minutes ago, Slenderman said:

Born in Kingston, NY. Welsh Granda.

Don't know.

Consider myself Scottish.

Where you are born makes no odds. The acid test is if Scotland have an upcoming away match against the Faroe Islands and you get nervous about it. That defines your true nationality.