Genealogy Chat

I know it's a free day today on this site, but besides putting in relatives from 1881 census and being able to search if anyone has any connections, but! is that all you can really do? Ria

Yes, I think so! I have about 40 rellies on there from 1881 and keep meaning to add more but just don't get round to it. I haven't paid to join - didn't really think it was worth it. Had no connections yet after about 7 months. Anne

No offence to the site owners, but I think it's a tad naff :-S unless I'm missing something. Ria

Hi I have over 100 rellies on there and have never had a contact. The actual idea is quite clever, but for me personally I think they need a few extra strings to their bow. Just my 2p ... Paul

I've just spent the evening typing in 58 relatives, thinking there must be a match but that I'll hit the search button when I've finished entering tonights batch and hey presto.......nothing, not a single match! But I'll have to wait now and see what happens. Thing is now, do I pay the £10 subscription for a year or leave it that I'm not a subscriber that I'm just registered so I have to wait for people to email me rather than me be able to initiate contact? Not sure what to do now? Anyone else got any ideas as to whether it is worth it? Thanks Claire

I think your more likely to win the lottery lol

I have 74 rellies on there and no match yet,I'm not a subscriber either, Think I will wait till I get a match before parting with any money Linda

I think when the Site started, they did intend to include other censuses, but they have hit a snag with obtaining copyright (they cannot compete financially with Ancestry, for instance). I have only had one match on there - my brother (and it called him my cousin!) Olde Crone

I really can't understand why one of the family history magazines gave that site top marks and this one bottom marks for 'value for money' recently, as I said the other day. Nearly every time I go on there all I do is see if there are any matches and then log off! Kate.

Hi Sorry you have had no luck with lost cousins, i have had 2 direct hits, one of which is in Australia, I have had a lot of waiting around for people to turn up on there, but at least if you get one you know they are the right people and not possibles, as the census numbers match, Don't give up hope one day a match will be found. Sue

I can see the idea is really good, I've got all of mine on there and have been for ages, I go on regularly to see if there is a match, and when there is I'll think about paying! but at the mo, the free weekend seemed a waste of time for me, and unless someone can explain a reason for paying up whene thare isn't a match, I'll just keep checking every few weeks. Suex

All of you seem to assume that your missing relatives have internet access and are looking for YOU! Some of them may be elderly and wouldn't go near a PC if you paid them! Never make the mistake of only using websites like Curious Fox, GR or Lost Cousins. All are good at tracing missing relatives with internet access; but for those who DON'T have internet access (nor want it!) I would suggest you trace missing relatives by sending for death certificates and seeing whom the informant was. These death certificates often supply the informants address. I have contacted missing living relatives in this way. Also, you mustn't assume that just because YOU are looking for missing relatives that your 'missing relatives' are doing the same! Mine weren't looking for me but they didn't mind being found! :-) Cheers, Horatia

I suppose it's a catch 22 situation. They need to get as many people on the site for it to work, so that as more people join then there's more chance that you will get a match. I expect that the same situation existed when this site was new. I've got about 30 names on there, and haven't had a match yet. I haven't paid any money yet though - I'll get my credit card out once I get a match! I wouldn't write this site off yet - give it a chance.

I had not paid for membership on Lost Cousins, although I had two matches, because I suspected they were both people I'd contacted through here. Over the free weekend I did make contact and found that one person was definitely a previous GR contact and I'm awaiting a reply from the other. The best news though was a new match which turns out to be a lady in New Zealand connected by marriage so we have started exchanging information. I really like the idea behind Lost Cousins because, as others have said, you don't get false matches and you don't need to pay unless you want to initiate contact. I actually enjoy the fact that it's very straightforward - there are no message boards to be sidetracked by, LOL. To work to its full potential it really needs to increase the number of relatives entered - lots of new members needed and existing members to add all their distant cousins, great great aunts and uncles, etcetera. What are you waiting for? !! Linda :o) PS to Rachel - You're right, I joined this site when it started and even though GR grew enormously quickly I didn't get a single even likely match for about seven months, when I then paid to upgrade my membership.

Hi all As ever i have to agree with wiser people (and again this time it's Horatia) I am researching my birth family,nothing to unusual there,and i know that none of them knew of my birth except for possible brothers and sisters. I now have 400+ names (not all in my tree)spreading backwards and sideways,i have found only one name in one tree that is a relative. The remaining times i match a name it is usually through a marriage 100 years ago into 'my' family,or the third wife of ggg g/f or something similiar. I have found that i have 15 half brothers and sisters,(still possibly two more to go),and that means loads of potentialy close rellies of similiar age to myself. I traced each line back three generations,and none of those appear in a tree owned by a descendant of the name i am looking at. They usually come up as siblings via the census and the tree owner leaves them alone,'not a direct enough relation to spend time and money on' Strange isn't it,15 half siblings who have never used the internet to record any family,via GR,Lost Cousins,etc etc. I get far more success using the internet as a research tool,then looking for ways to locate the rellies and try to contact them directly. Glen

I suppose the big question is... what is it you are paying for if you do subscribe. Yes I agree if you get a match it must be correct cos of the page numbers etc and even though it could take a long time it is possible to get matches as some of us have. Don't understand what was free this weekend as i couldnt do anything different. ive had about 70 people on since the site started and havent had a dicky bird. Ria

I entered all my rellies from 1881, when the site first began, but so far have not had a bite, I just cannot beleve that in the hole world I have no rellies at all, most of the ancestors had really largge families, there sureley must be ONE somewhere!!

Yep, there probably are but not everyone uses the internet! I know its hard to believe but its true! But no one seems to want to accept it. Not everyone is as dedicated or obsessive about family history as we are. Not everyone has been bitten by the family history bug! Use other methods as suggested in my previous post. They may not be looking but they don't mind being found! Cheers, Horatia

Hi Ria, What was free this weekend was the ability to initiate contact if you had a/some matches. That was it. Being a cheapskate I had been waiting to see if either of my two matches contacted me, especially as I thought they might not be new to me. It's like this site in the way that, without paying, you can respond to a message but not make the first contact. I was able to make use of the ''free weekend'' but only because I already had a couple of people listed as matches - I put my 117 names on in December. I don't intend to subscribe yet; I prefer to spend on certificates! I think it's very likely that more than half of any matches I ever get through Lost Cousins will be people I know through other sites for the very reason that they are the ones also using the internet. I have, however, got one genuine new contact through LC, which I'm really pleased about. I also agree with posts above that for anyone really wanting to find specific living relatives there are better ways - I've traced an elderly relative just using 192. c o m combined with BMD indexes and family knowledge - but it's never been my main aim. Linda :o)

I've made half a dozen or so contacts through GR (although one of those was my uncle, who only had five people in his tree and couldn't tell me anything I didn't already know) and none through LC, although the latter's offer of free help has been really useful in getting me round an apparent dead end.