Hi everyone

[Northern Lass]

Have a look here too in the tips section
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=796

[Hope]

Hello Hope

The next step is to find the marriages of the parents - so, for example, William Jones was born in 1885 with parents John Jones and Sarah Jones (formerly Smith) - you would look for a marriage for John Jones and Sarah Smith, usually before the birth date of their child.

Sorry, I haven't read all of these posts - do you have access to Ancestry or Find My Past. If not - you will find births, deaths and marriages on FreeBMD - here : http://freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Good Luck - let us know how you get on

Maggie

Hi Auntie Em Have got my parents Marriage certificate and also got my grand parents marriage certificate on both mom and dads side. No not a member of either did take a look but found it rather scary to try and work out lol x

[snoopysue]

Just have a play about with it, can't hurt!

[Northern Lass]

Why don't you post the details of one that you want to start with
no living people pls

and then we can guide you from there.

Suggest you also put them on a computer programme tree too.
Family tree maker or something similar.
It is good to see how it grows then.
Back up your copy on a stick too.

You may wish to also upload it on Ancestry, Genes Reunited or Tribal Pages
that way others can contact you with any names they may have the same.

[Hope]

then parents birth & marriage certificate then granparents birth and marriage certificate is the place to start

Thanks Peterd yes i now have the certificates so next stop x

Next stop is to find the out more about the people on the certificate.
You could try and find their births. See this site:
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

Would they have been around in 1911 for the census? Their fathers certainly would have been. (If you don't have a subscription to a site that has the census, post a look up).

Hi Snoopysue just been on the freebmd site kept getting it all wrong oh my word its very daunting
will have a cuupa and try again x

[Antie Em]

You will have to pay for membership to Ancestry or Find My Past, so you may probably need to decide if you're going to "stick with it" before you part with any money. Ancestry sometimes has an offer on a 14 day trial period - it might be worth contacting them to see if they're doing it at the moment.

FreeBMD is free and although the records are more limited than the other two sites, it is very good for Births, Deaths and Marriages.

A more local site for the West Midlands is http://www.westmidlandsbmd.org.uk/ - this is the local Birth, Deaths and Marriage records and is more accurate to the place of birth - and is free.

Also, as Northern Lass says, if you are taking it serious, it can get a bit out of hand if you keep everything on paper. It's well worth investing in a family history programme, they're not too expensive and will keep everything in order for you.

Family Tree is good and also Rootsmagic.

Maggie

[snoopysue]

Hi Snoopysue just been on the freebmd site kept getting it all wrong oh my word its very daunting
will have a cuupa and try again x

Sometimes it's a good idea to reduce the amount of info you input, as things can be transcribed incorrectly. For this reason it can be a good idea to use the phonetic search.

[Hope]

You will have to pay for membership to Ancestry or Find My Past, so you may probably need to decide if you're going to "stick with it" before you part with any money. Ancestry sometimes has an offer on a 14 day trial period - it might be worth contacting them to see if they're doing it at the moment.

FreeBMD is free and although the records are more limited than the other two sites, it is very good for Births, Deaths and Marriages.

A more local site for the West Midlands is http://www.westmidlandsbmd.org.uk/ - this is the local Birth, Deaths and Marriage records and is more accurate to the place of birth - and is free.

Also, as Northern Lass says, if you are taking it serious, it can get a bit out of hand if you keep everything on paper. It's well worth investing in a family history programme, they're not too expensive and will keep everything in order for you.

Family Tree is good and also Rootsmagic.

Maggie

Hi Maggie thanks for all your help i did look into joining one of the sites but they wanted £150 dont get that spare in three years so no way could i afford to join. Can you recomend a disc for a family tree a very easy to use one please as new to computers and dont know much on how they work. Thanks again x

[Northern Lass]

I just joined Ancestry again about £84

[Antie Em]

I use Rootsmagic - I have used it for years and just buy the update every couple of years. It is really easy to use and the backup help from the company is excellent. In fact they arrange online training.

Have a look at S & N Supplies here : http://www.genealogysupplies.com/

The Platinum Edition is the one that you need.

There are free family history programmes you can use - Tribal Pages is good, this is the one we use for Black Country Connections, but it is web based, so you could lose your very valuable research.

Maggie

[Antie Em]

You will have to pay for membership to Ancestry or Find My Past, so you may probably need to decide if you're going to "stick with it" before you part with any money. Ancestry sometimes has an offer on a 14 day trial period - it might be worth contacting them to see if they're doing it at the moment.

FreeBMD is free and although the records are more limited than the other two sites, it is very good for Births, Deaths and Marriages.

A more local site for the West Midlands is http://www.westmidlandsbmd.org.uk/ - this is the local Birth, Deaths and Marriage records and is more accurate to the place of birth - and is free.

Also, as Northern Lass says, if you are taking it serious, it can get a bit out of hand if you keep everything on paper. It's well worth investing in a family history programme, they're not too expensive and will keep everything in order for you.

Family Tree is good and also Rootsmagic.

Maggie

Hi Maggie thanks for all your help i did look into joining one of the sites but they wanted £150 dont get that spare in three years so no way could i afford to join. Can you recomend a disc for a family tree a very easy to use one please as new to computers and dont know much on how they work. Thanks again x

You can join Ancestry - just covering the UK for about £80.00, but if you don't want to join, you can post your lookups on this site and we will help. Try FreeBMD first, you will soon get used to using it. It is important when you first start researching that you try and do the work yourself, it's the best way to learn. You'll soon become proficient - honestly.

Maggie

[Northern Lass]

I use Rootsmagic - I have used it for years and just buy the update every couple of years. It is really easy to use and the backup help from the company is excellent. In fact they arrange online training.

Have a look at S & N Supplies here : http://www.genealogysupplies.com/

The Platinum Edition is the one that you need.

There are free family history programmes you can use - Tribal Pages is good, this is the one we use for Black Country Connections, but it is web based, so you could lose your very valuable research.

Maggie

You can back up the Tribal Pages one if you pay which isnt much.
Then you can put it on your memory stick safe

[Hope]

You will have to pay for membership to Ancestry or Find My Past, so you may probably need to decide if you're going to "stick with it" before you part with any money. Ancestry sometimes has an offer on a 14 day trial period - it might be worth contacting them to see if they're doing it at the moment.

FreeBMD is free and although the records are more limited than the other two sites, it is very good for Births, Deaths and Marriages.

A more local site for the West Midlands is http://www.westmidlandsbmd.org.uk/ - this is the local Birth, Deaths and Marriage records and is more accurate to the place of birth - and is free.

Also, as Northern Lass says, if you are taking it serious, it can get a bit out of hand if you keep everything on paper. It's well worth investing in a family history programme, they're not too expensive and will keep everything in order for you.

Family Tree is good and also Rootsmagic.

Maggie

Hi Maggie thanks for all your help i did look into joining one of the sites but they wanted £150 dont get that spare in three years so no way could i afford to join. Can you recomend a disc for a family tree a very easy to use one please as new to computers and dont know much on how they work. Thanks again x

You can join Ancestry - just covering the UK for about £80.00, but if you don't want to join, you can post your lookups on this site and we will help. Try FreeBMD first, you will soon get used to using it. It is important when you first start researching that you try and do the work yourself, it's the best way to learn. You'll soon become proficient - honestly.

Maggie

You,ll soon come proficient love it . My family will be looking for me on here before i get the hang of it lol x

[Antie Em]

Oh no they won't

[Hope]

Just have a play about with it, can't hurt!

Play with it lol i am going to break it lol ohh so difficult its only giving me details that i have put in no more x