Find Ancestors

Edited to make into a new thread out of an old thread.
I am a firm believer in recycling !

Thank you

Oops, I had to go do some work (still have to) so I'm late doing my own editing bit here, even though it was me who said. ;)

I assume that one of the threads referred to was mine. In fact, there were three: first this one by FannyByGaslight, then me, then kempinahat. (Yes, kemp's thread may have been a little redundant.)

The answer/explanation for your question is in my reply to FBG's post:

"FBG --- edit your post to put the surname LESTER in the surname line. I suspect that's where Leslie is posting and reading. It would catch her attention then."

It turns out (I discovered last night when trying to help another member do the same thing) that one can't edit to add a surname identification that will put the post on the "surname board" in question.

It was clear that the poster in question was reading only the Lester "surname board" subdivision of the History board. >>> They would not have seen FBG's post saying "one post per subject". So, to draw this to the poster's attention, I posted a similar message >>> but identified it by the Lester surname, in the surname line above my post, so it would appear on the Lester "surname board" and be seen by the poster in question.

kempinahat did the same thing, I saw when I checked that board. (Use the "filter this board" function on the main History board to see the Lester "surname board"; apparently the 15 or so posts that were the subject of the comments are now all gone.)

This had nothing to do with "named and shamed". It had to do with trying to get the attention of a poster who was flooding the board, evidently without realizing what they were doing, because they were not aware of how the system works -- i.e. that posts to a "surname board" appear on the complete board, be it TTF or History or Surname Information.

There was no way of knowing how many more such posts were going to appear, and the effect already had been that all other posts by all other members had been bumped off the front page of the main board.

It was also for the poster's benefit, because very clearly no regular member was going to start trying to help with one request when requests for obviously related people kept appearing, and the only result could be a load of duplicated effort.

You may be interested in the news in this thread on TTF:

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.asp?wci=thread&tk=1245265

We are under new management, and wonder of wonders, new management seems to give a fig about us users, new and old -- they are going to post guidance for new posters where they will actually see it, on the page for starting a new thread.

We are all crossing our fingers and bating our breath, in the hope that we'll be seeing fewer posts looking for "john born 1850", and fewer of them posted on four boards at once, and fewer people posting and running, etc.

Hopefully, new users will be able to make better use of the boards, and there will be less frustration (and bickering) among regulars.

Btw, when you look at the Lester "surname board", you will see what poor Leslie was seeing: a smattering of very old posts, none of them with any replies. S/he would have got no idea from that of how the boards really work.

People who see that have no idea that these days there are genealogy vultures waiting to pounce on their questions and start helping. They think they're just posting things that someday, someone related may see. There is a note somewhere that their posts will also appear on the main baord, but they don't know what that means, and virtually none of them ever clicks that link to see the complete board.

This is because people get emails from site management urging them to go look at their "surname boards" and giving them links for doing that. The problem originates with the way the site has been run, and it's both new users and regular "helpers" who suffer from that complete neglect of users and failure to adapt the site after it became possible to reply in threads.

Fingers crossed for better times ahead.

Just a thought...Is Leslie new? and just doesnt know how to go about thing's?
It was confusing seeing all the posts though.


** Cant see any posts now***
Marion

When you start your family tree you start with what you know...YOU.
Then you add your parents names and details,if you do not know your fathers name as some people dont,then you can at least work on your mothers line.
As for posting for help on the boards, surely if you have worked your way back with all the info and certs to back it up and come to a brick wall you would have some amount of detail to help people to try and help you no matter what board you post your query on?

As to searching a name and knowing if they are still living or not,how will you know if you do not start searching?

Do you mean you are looking for siblings of your parents?
Or siblings of your grandparents and their offspring?

Trying to Find board gets the most response I think for things like that,but if you have your grandparents names and details of births then finding siblings to them should not be difficult,and then you just follow through.
Unless their surnames are Smith or Jones of course,then its a bit of a B###r !

Personally, I think this jumble of boards is just ridiculous.

The "Surname information" board, for instance, is supposedly for information about surnames -- not about people with those surnames. Who knows that??

The "Records Office" board is supposed to be for requests for people who are going to records offices to do lookups. How many of them are there?

The "Tips" board is supposed to be just that, tips about genealogy. Instead, it's full of lookup and help requests.

The "History" board ... who the h knows?

And the "General" board is supposed to be about genealogy. Ha.

Our next campaign ... sort out the jumble.

A board for chat
A board for getting help with family history research
A board for getting help to find specific living family members

That's what I'd rather have, if I had my own druthers.

Fine if the last two are subdivided into lists for each surname (with posts all appearing on the main board too), as long as that setup is clear to users and they know that the main boards are where they are getting the help on.


No disagreement with you on any of what you say about the general confusion, IIB.

Did you read the post I linked to, about the change that's coming in the next few days?

This is the email I got from the person at brightsolid, the new owner:



I am delighted to tell you that a new drop down will appear with
instructions when adding a topic on the ‘Trying to find’ and
‘Surname’ board.

As you can imagine we have a long list of projects that we are
working on, so even with quick developments such as a drop down,
we still have to add it to the list of priorities, and this is why it has
not been possible for us to make this happen any faster.

This improvement should be live on the site by next Monday 8th
November – Possibly earlier if I can make it happen faster.

I hope this will solve some of the issues the volunteer helpers are
experiencing with new members.

IIB, we can just turn this thread into yours for help with what you're after, if you like. Just go ahead and post what you got!

......... all of it. ;)

Yep,We are here to try and help,lets give it a go right here and now.

All we really need is your grandmothers birth details I would think.
Name and when and where born and the names of her sisters that you know of and when they may have been born..

We do not use the records on here as there are no records on here,GR just sends you to other sites that do have records ,like Find My Past and Ancestry.
I pay for both FMP and Ancestry.
I will say this though,if you want help then Janey is one of the best ,if not THE best on here and if she cant find something/someone then they are not to be found normally..
I will catch her up one day..;)

IIB -- you mean the actual records on this site that people pay to access??

Not if we can help it!

Paying to access records on this site is a bad idea.

Always try the free sites first, like FreeBMD, and for old ones: FreeREG, familysearch.org, and pilot.familysearch.

Next, ask for help on the boards. People who subscribe to Ancestry and/or FindMyPast will be happy to start you off.

Then you can decide what to pay for where. Either one of those sites will be your first choice. "Gold" or "Platinum" at this site will be last choice! And that's the unanimous opinion of all experienced genealogy hounds. ;)

That thread is just about helping people know how to post -- what information to give, how to find their thread after they start it, how to post replies to what people post for them, and like that.

You might not have run into it, but the fact is that probably 3 out of 4 people who post here have no clue that they'll get answers on their thread (they think they'll get answers by email), let alone how to find their thread again and how to post in it.

For instance, most of them start out replying by PM, thus making the rest of us crazy -- as someone once said, "I just got a PM saying 'grandma was last seen climbing out the window in her nightgown and running away with Mr X'!" -- and we have to figure out what thread in the last 3 years this might be about!

The new thingy should help with that. The boards themselves will still be a jumble.

But for actual records, use the free sites, ask for help here, subscribe to Ancestry or FindMyPast.

Oh, FBG ... you might catch up if you stop spending all your time sucking up. ;)

FBG is not exactly a slouch. I just have a bit of a head start.

Hey, FBG, change the subject line on this thing.

Then change your OP, and I'll change my reply, and we can get down to business.

Or wait til IIB has her info, I guess, and we can make it that. ;)

Click on "search records"and go to the left of the page and this is what you get?Well its what I get...

Census (England & Wales)
1911 census
1901 census
1891 census
1881 census
1871 census
1861 census
1851 census
1841 census
Register Office (England & Wales)
Birth Records
Marriage Records
Death Records
Register Office (Overseas & Military)
Overseas & Military Births
Overseas & Military Marriages
Overseas & Military Deaths
Military
WW1 Death records
WW2 Death records

Post the details then please..

From http://freebmd.org.uk

Mothers maiden name is Wood

Births Sep 1915
Harris Edna M Wood Kings N. 6d 161

What surname did Nellie and Evelyn die under please?


??
Name: Nellie Preston
Birth Date: 1 Jul 1910
Death Registration Month/Year: Jan 1996
Age at death (estimated): 85
Registration district: Birmingham
Inferred County: Warwickshire
Register number: H3B
District and Subdistrict: 0611H
Entry number: 136

Births Sep 1910
HARRIS Nellie King's N. 6c 423

1911

HARRIS, Harold Head Married M 29 1882 Lamp Maker Birmingham Bham Warwickshire
HARRIS, Amy Wife Married 5 years
F 26 1885 Ladywood Bham
HARRIS, Doris Amy Daughter F 4 1907 Edgbaston Bham
HARRIS, Nellie Daughter F 0 (9 MONTHS) 1911 Edgbaston Bham

Registration District:
Kings Norton Sub District:
Edgbaston Enumeration District:
13 Parish:
Edgbaston

Address:
9 Court 4 Parker Street Edgbaston County:
Worcestershire

Just the 2 children born to the marriage so far.

So the 4 sisters are?

Births Sep 1906
Harris Doris Amy King's N. 6c 439

Births Sep 1910
HARRIS Nellie King's N. 6c 423

Births Sep 1915
Harris Edna M Wood Kings N. 6d 161

Births Sep 1920
Harris Eveline Wood Kings N. 6d 204

There are a lot more Harris/Wood births in Kings Norton area,but these you know to be "yours".

Well, who needs me? Show-off FBG. Sorry, IIB, I really did have to go do work, they're nipping at my heels about it being overdue. You're in excellent hands!