New to the site and new to genealogy

[Bewildered]

Hello everyone,

I am Helen, maiden name Scott. I am wanting to trace my family tree, mainly on my fathers side but also my mothers side aswell. The main surnames are SCOTT and MATTHEWS.

I have signed up with Genes Reunited, but in order to email anyone or get further records you need to pay a subscription. I'm not against paying a subscription but would really appreciate any advice on which site is the best one to pay for, as i dont want to pay on Genes reunited only to then discover a different site would have been better

There seem to be so many sites out there, the main two seem to be ancestry and genes reunited. I have signed up to the 1911 census, but again in order to view any transcripts i need to pay. I have got information from both my mum and my dad so that i have as much info as possible on my family tree, but am a bit bewildered as to where to go from here. Please help!

Many thanks, Helen

[Northern Lass]

Hi Helen

Welcome to the forum

Where are your ancestors mainly from?

The way this forum works is for any counties post in the General Discussion section
If you have any ancestors from the Black Country area, that covers parts of Staffs, Worcs
then we have a dedicated section....just scroll down the main board
We all have access to quite a few records and can help you there.

Now I suggest you have a look at our beginners section for some tips
It gives you guidelines as to what to do first.

But basically get as much info as you can from family members and start with yourself and then parents and grandparents.
We can help you on here too.

I like Ancestry and am on Genes too and think they are both good.
But I would recommend doing your own research as so many trees can have inaccurate info in them...so best to check yourself
always always verify the info given to you yourself.

We can always give you help with the answers on an ancestor but you only find the info once and it is good to find it yourself
it gives you such a buzz!

Other useful websites are Tribal pages and I would recommend backing all your info up on Family tree maker.
In fact maybe use that as your main "bible" and then upload the gedcom from there to say Genes, Ances and Tribal pages
you only need a subscription as you say if you wish to contact members.

[Bewildered]

Hi, Thanks for the lovely welcome.

My ancestors are mainly from London and Cork, Ireland. The knowledge of my paternal grandfathers side is a bit patchy but i think it is in the central london area. Aswell as Scott and Matthews, I am also looking along my nans maiden name routes of Goggin and Edwards.

Thanks so much for your advice, i will most definitely look in the areas you suggested. I have posted on a few sites today and suddenly i have lots of places to look I have 7 windows open on my pc at the moment and so am getting in a muddle already but its fun too

Thanks again for your advice.

Helen

[Northern Lass]

No probs Helen

If you want any guidance as to how to use the various sites then post in the beginners section and we will guide you
we don't give you the answers in there just the know how.

If you want some answers ie census info or bmd info or any info
post in the General discussion and we will do our very best to help you

great to have you on board

[Annie]

Hi Helen

Welcome to the forum, I can reccomend it the members of been helpful when I have posted for help so good luck, I am also researching the Edwards surname mine mainly come from the Staffordshire area but some of them had itchy feet and moved about.

Annie

[Bewildered]

Thanks again Northern Lass.

Annie, The Edwards is on my mothers mothers side. Her name was Doreen Edwards and was born in 1920, in Bristol. I havent got started on that side yet, as i have just started on my fathers side, its all a bit daunting!

Helen

[Annie]

Hi Helen

I will have to hope we have some Edwards that are the same when you start researching them.

Annie

[Bewildered]

I would recommend backing all your info up on Family tree maker.
In fact maybe use that as your main "bible" and then upload the gedcom from there to say Genes, Ances and Tribal pages
you only need a subscription as you say if you wish to contact members.

Hi again Northern Lass,
I have just reread your post and wondered if you could tell me the web address for family tree maker please? Or is this software that you have to purchase? Your advice sounds good, I hadnt thought about the possibility of losing all the info after all the hard work ahead, that would be a nightmare!

Thanks again, Helen

[peterd]

hiya biwildered

[Bewildered]

hiya biwildered

Helloooo

[Northern Lass]

I would recommend backing all your info up on Family tree maker.
In fact maybe use that as your main "bible" and then upload the gedcom from there to say Genes, Ances and Tribal pages
you only need a subscription as you say if you wish to contact members.

Hi again Northern Lass,
I have just reread your post and wondered if you could tell me the web address for family tree maker please? Or is this software that you have to purchase? Your advice sounds good, I hadnt thought about the possibility of losing all the info after all the hard work ahead, that would be a nightmare!

Thanks again, Helen

Hi it is a software package you can buy think ancestry may have a sale on at the moment on this not sure
they sent me some blurp thru but deleted it now
I think sometimes on ebay you can get older versions
I did a stupid thing and put all mine on Genes and used that as my main site when what I should have done is started it on family tree maker
or a similar genealogy software database, and then loaded that gedcom to the different sites I wanted eg Genes, ancestry, tribal pages
as now the only thing I can do is export my gedcom from Genes to family tree maker and the notes are slightly different.
So I would suggest get a decent database use that as your bible and then transport to different sites to pick up possible rellie connections
other people have different advice but that is mine.
So get a few opinions then make your own mind up.
But what ever you add to your tree check out yourself too


ps always back up with a memory stick too!
dont rely on your comp hard drive

[Bewildered]

Thanks again Is this package the type that will be ok for using? http://www.ancestryshop.co.uk/productdetail.php?master=1&dept=2&number=FTMDELUXE It's not too pricey and has 3 months free membership to ancestry too?

[Northern Lass]

Thanks again Is this package the type that will be ok for using? http://www.ancestryshop.co.uk/productdetail.php?master=1&dept=2&number=FTMDELUXE It's not too pricey and has 3 months free membership to ancestry too?

I can't answer that the only thing I can say is that I like family tree maker and mine is a few years old
and I like ancestry.
You can download free family tree databases but I don't know about those.
so think in the end the decision is yours

[linell]

Hi Bewildered, you can download this PAF Family Tree Maker free from the LDS site:- http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

A few contacts I have use it, it is very good and easy to follow, and is free!

Best Wishes from Linell.

[Bewildered]

Thank you Linell