Find Ancestors

People who assume there is only one John Smith in the world and so dates/places are not needed as we all know who they are talking about People who think they can research their tree in a matter of hours/days.... Anyone who asks how far I've got and when I say early 19th century assume that I've only been at it a few months and treat me like a complete novice... I just happen to be patient, have a full time job and student debts and have actually been doing this for over 4 years!

Sorry Rosemary, I can't resist ..... The Royal Oak ... 4 doors up ! I go up for 1/2 lager every Christmas Eve ! Elaine ;-) ... I know, it's pathetic innit !

When they say to me 'Have you finished your Family Tree yet?' NO I HAVEN'T - and how will I know when I have, anyway? And - this is going to sound like a rant against Newbies - people who decide to do their Family Tree without doing even the most basic reading first. Every library in the land has umpteen books for beginners, and even this Site (LOL) has instructions on How To Do It. And why are these also the people who do not possess a Dictionary or an Atlas? Christopher - I often question people about their sources of information. I want to know if its fact, or whether its just what their Grandad remembered his Auntie Ethel telling him - which often turns out to be anything but a fact! Olde Crone

I have been researching my husbands and my family tree for almost 20 years. I HATE it when rellies, usually at a family funeral or something, ask ' How far have you got back to then' It's about more than that. Also, if I mention it, 'haven't you finished doing that yet? you've been doing it for years' It will NEVER finish. I also get annoyed at people who dont own a map, dictionary or calculator. If you dont physically own them, they are on your bl***y computer. Either on Windows or Internet. Yes, I also refuse to give total access to my tree on GR. I also have had my whole tree put on a very remote connection of my husbands tree. She had my mother, father, sister, grandparents etc on it. They are not even slightly related to her except through my marriage to my husband who is her 7th cousin 5 times removed or something. When asked to remove them, I was told I was pompous. I had a 5th cousin who claimed all my work as his own. He hadnt spent a penny on it. Sent his brother round to proudly show me all his hard work. Its a wonder I didnt explode. I was fuming. I am not so stupid now. No one sees all my tree. If they are connected I send a file via email of that part of the family that is connected to them. It never includes living people. Margaret

Hi again Sorry you had the same thing, Margaret. The person who 'nicked' our tree wasn't even a blood relative of mine - she is my Mum's cousin's wife!!! I never said anything, just rang my Mum up and moaned, but I think in future maybe I should do the same and e-mail branches... Or find somewhere to shove branches in one particular case (sorry, but it would be quite satisfying to get my own back, and with all my husband's years of work, some of them are quite sizeable). All the best Lysianne

that record offices don't stay open till around midnight. Claire

Irish relatives - no contest

Thought we could all relate to this, plus enjoy a good giggle from it (sorry about taking up so much space!): Source: Author Unknown It is New Year's Eve 1852 and Henry HYDENWELL sits at his desk by candlelight. He dips his quill pen in ink and begins to writes his New Year's resolutions. 1. No man is truly well-educated unless he learns to spell his name in at least three different ways within the same document. I resolve to give the appearance of being extremely well-educated in the coming year. 2. I resolve to see to it that all of my children will have the same names that my ancestors have used for six generations in a row. 3. My age is no one's business but my own. I hereby resolve to never list the same age or birth year twice on any document. 4. I resolve to have each of my children baptised in a different church - either in a different faith or in a different parish. Every third child will not be baptised at all or will be baptised by an itinerant minister who keeps no records. 5. I resolve to move to a new town, new county, or new state at least once every 10 years -- just before those pesky enumerators come around asking silly questions. 6. I will make every attempt to reside in counties and towns where no vital records are maintained or where the courthouse burns down every few years. 7. I resolve to join an obscure religious cult that does not believe in record keeping or in participating in military service. 8. When the tax collector comes to my door, I'll loan him my pen, which has been dipped in rapidly fading blue ink. 9. I resolve that if my beloved wife Mary should die, I will marry another Mary. 10. I resolve not to make a will. Who needs to spend money on a lawyer? 11. I will live in a house without a number on a very long road which goes through three enumeration districts on at least two rolls of microfilm.

Tina I had a similar thing on my marriage cert. I had to give my grandads address because I thought I lived in the parish I wanted to marry in, but then found out that I was the wrong side of the road. The Parish Boundary ran down the centre of the street. Grandad agreed to let me use his address. Even the vicar knew I didnt live there. The trouble was, the vicar left before I married and the temporary vicar decided to check up on things. He knocked at my grandads door and asked him if I lived there. Grandad said, I may be old but I'm not senile. Do you think I dont know who lives with me? Of course she lives here. Good old grandad R.I.P. Margaret

Also hate the queries that come from, usually the USA, (apologies to those in the USA but it does happen) asking for whoever born in UK. It must be the same one as mine was born in the UK too. Yes, it may be a much smaller country than the USA but we dont all know each other personally. Margaret

Oh and cousins or friends who say, ' I wouldn't mind doing my family tree, can you help me?' When you tell then it costs money they suddenly lose interest. They want it presented in front of them in a couple of days. 'Well isnt everything on the Internet now? It must be really easy.' NOT!!! Oooops didnt mean to hog the thread, sorry. Margaret

My pet hate: People who post question after question after question on the message boards, get other people to do the research and then claim to have 'investigated' and 'researched' their family tree!. Also, along the UK being smaller than the USA line, try being in Australia where everyone else in the world presumes we all speak like Paul Hogan and have kangaroos as pets! Yeah right!!! Lewella

All the freeloaders who want others to find their relations on sites for which payment has to be made......and won't even fork out for a cert. Reg

Well done Daniel Barry - I love it. Irene

My biggest pet hate is that all my Smiths seem to marry women who have Smith as their maiden names, added to this they are all called Elizabeth or Ann!!!!! NOT HELPFUL!!!!!

I've always had enormous sympathy for fellow researchers with White, Brown, Smith, Green Walker etc in their tree. I need bucket loads now for myself .... just started a new branch .... and a Green married a Walker :-( .... Walkers mothers maiden name was ..... Smith ......... I just knew my luck couldn't hold ....... :-( Elaine ;-) Desperately need Sue Smith now ... with her Walker clan ... I need to pinch some names ... just to bulk the tree a little bit ;-)

Hi Well, looking on the bright side, you've all made me find a reason to be cheerful for bearing the loathsome name of Lysianne - hopefully, any genealogically minded descendants will find it useful. I knew it had to have some advantage somewhere to offset strangers pronouncing it Licey Anne... Lysianne

hey Lysianne! what a pretty name (is it pronounced lissie-anne?) like you my name is quite unusual (unless you are looking for a sewing machine via google!) and I have to answer to Bernadette, Bernice and (my pet hate) Bernie but my real name is BERNETTE! Hope future researchers appreciate my mother's choice! sorry to hi jack thread... my pet hate is seeing vast quantities of photos and other memorabilia being sold or thrown out by uncaring owners. ARGHHH I wish I had just a tiny amount of original documents to fill out my tree netti x

Mine is: Have you reached Adam & Eve yet? Every flippin time the family mention it GRRRRRR

Hi everyone My pet hate is members of my family who don't appear to have died yet, despite being born in 1850!! (I've spent about 10 hours trawling through the registers on ancestry, quarter by quarter and year by year with no luck so far - and that's only for 2 people) Also my gt gt gt grandfather wasn't born, although I do have a copy of his marriage certificate!! Perhaps he was beamed down from another planet - it could explain a lot. Great thread, thanks for starting it! Louise :>)