Genealogy Chat

I also have a few wives in my records where I cannot find the surnames, but I dont think this is what gramps is complaining about. I think we must all have that problem, particularly prior to 1837 marriages/births. I also feel that the idea of this site was to share info and find contacts. I am not particularly worried about finding living rellies, but I do want to know about my ancestors.

Oh! dear, did I start this with my first query about dates and places, not to mention the site changes? I didn't mean to stir up the hornets nest. I am so late at trying to sort out my family tree and new on this site so apologies if my post started it. I suppose ther are some who have been researching for years and others like myself who are just starting. This has been a new field for me and find it fascinating, just wish I lived in the same area as my ancestors- that must make it easier to research. A friend who is also researching only has to go to the local record office, and a few churches etc. and all is found within a couple of months. Mine are all over the place so this site has been very helpful. So thanks to those who have helped me. Jean :-)

And share I do Heather, I share the use of the resources that I have purchased whilst researching my tree by way of look-ups. I have no qualms about helping others where I can and indeed I enjoy being able to help. I do not,however agree with people being put down because the way they decide to use this site is inconvenient to someone. Sue:-)

Good afternoon grumpy gramps. My, we are in a strop! I have a few relatives that I have described with either an unknown or an O because they are unknown! The LDS site often gives you a christening and puts "Father: Ben Brown and wife Mary" for eg. Now I suppose I could miss out Mary, but someother person might know that Mary married a Ben Brown and have the information. I too have sometimes sent lots of people emails and had few replies. I have also had loads of replies on other occasions so am grateful for what I get. I am due to renew my membership in Nov. but am going to India for 3 months from Jan. so will not renew till I get back. Do wish there was a way to flag this up but since there does not appear to be, no doubt some people may think I am being rude, Hope not. Cheerful grandma Jeanie

Hi Jim My tree has, where I know it, date and place of baptism. This is NOT the same as date and place of birth. I am aware of instances where birth and baptism vary by several years, not always shown in the registers. Guesswork is misleading and until GR has a facility to show baptism details I am not going to fill in the blanks. Brenda

Hi I have to admit that I am one of those who have rellies on my tree with the details as 'Mary' or 'Elizabeth' with no other information. This is because whilst researching a male in my family, I have found them on a census with their wife. Obviously census information does not include maiden names so until I find the marriage and get the certificate or a birth certificate of one of their children, I have no way of knowing 'Mary's' surname or date of birth. or even in fact place of birth, as census information differs from year to year. Basically I am trying to say that although all I may have at present is a christian name, I will not be leaving it at that, it's just that my research has not got quite far enough for me to be more specific. May be this is the same for other people and the reason there are entries with so little info (yet!) Sam

Suzanne, Not at all, When entering names individually on a Tree GR insist on an approximate Birth date and place. Unfortunately Gedcom can bypass this which means that Baptismal dates are not recognised by the Site. I joined this Site hoping it would prove to be a resource for sharing information with people who were researching the same lines as myself, and indeed it has proved to be so. My complaint is about those members who a) Ought to be on Friends Reunited if they are looking for living Relatives, or b) are sloppy and lackadaisical about the information they put on the Site. Jim

I have to say Sue, that you may be serious about your research, but the idea of this site is to share, isnt it?

I have been trying to build a family tree, etc. since paying my membership fee at the end of July but all I get are error messages and suggestions to contact "support", I have lost count of the emails I have sent them, all to no avail. I would love to put up my family tree, and wonder if many other people have the same problem. Grace R

Heather, I have asked GR to try to come up with a solution to this. It is very frustrating to have to go through every letter of the alphabet because there is no standardisation. Although, to be fair, a lot of it is caused by our members. For example, there are those who believe that an ancestor was born on the Isle of White. To my mind this is sheer carelessness and very aggravating. Happy hunting, Jim

I've found it really frustrating when adding birthdates for relatives. Sometimes I don't have any idea when or where they were born, all I have is their marriage date - no ages and nothing from the census to give me an approximate year. We have to give a year of birth and although we can add 'circa', to me that would mean give or take a couple, which could turn out to be totally misleading and not picked up by someone else who does have the correct year. I'd prefer to be able to put 'before XXXX' or perhaps a range of years, to show that I'm not sure. I agree with Jim that some people don't bother, but GR doesn't always make it easy for us either. Cazza

So you are saying that: A) Because I choose not to put my tree onto GC, I am not serious about Genealogy? B) Because I know by way of a birth cert that the parents of Jo Bloggs is Fred Bloggs and Jane Doe, but try as I might I can find no other information on them, I cannot enter them on my tree because it is inconvenient to others not to have an exact date and place? C) Because my interest is in MY family tree and not how many living links I can find, I am not serious about Genealogy? D) Because I do not base my tree on the information that I have gleened from being given access to another persons tree, I am not serious about Genealogy? Sue:-)

On thing I find frustrating and I have emailed the admin people about it, is that the place of births given can be confusing, as someone may put say, Rotherhithe, London or Rotherhithe, Surrey or even just surrey or London. Im not sure a way round this, but I guess there must be as it is a bit of a pain when you are checking through thousands of names, it would be nice just to put a place in to cut down on the entries you have to check through.

Natalie, There are 26881 Cooks on this site including 2 of mine. According to our members 4415 of them were born in the year 0. 161 of them between the years 1 - 100 and one each born in 175, 183, 187, 190 and 896. Is it only me who wants to scream?!!

When I started on family research I hadn't a clue how it all worked or what information to put etc. Through GR and other sites where people are so helpful, I now have a family tree (only small, though!) where I have checked out all the information and entered it correctly. As far as I can see GR is not a 'scientific' site, neither is it specifically aimed at the dedicated, professional researcher. So, it seems a bit of a shame to start judging people's efforts and criticising their methods.

A word about people not answering. To some people Family History is a pick up, put down, pick up again hobby, so they may not be doing it at the moment. Also, a personal event such as bereavment could have caused them to stop for a while as in my case when my husband died. In the meantime, they change their email address and forget to tell the site, and wonder why nobody is contacting them. (Personal experience) They now have my new email address. Dont be too quick to pass judgment, there may be a logical explanation.

Jim, I too found all the same problems that you have. I posted messages again and again for help with my Swaffield tree, and I offered help too. Apart from one or two people most requests have gone unanswered,yet there are about 200 Swaffields registered apparently. One of them must have the answers I need. I have given up using this site as a means of Research. It is disheartening and very frustrating. I use the site like chat room., although I do find the Tips Board good and Records Office. But I no longer expect any help with research. It is sad isn't it. Rose

Jim, I too found all the same problems that you have. I posted messages again and again for help with my Swaffield tree, and I offered help too. Apart from one or two people most requests have gone unanswered,yet there are about 200 Swaffields registered apparently. One of them must have the answers I need. I have given up using this site as a means of Research. It is disheartening and very frustrating. I use the site like chat room., although I do find the Tips Board good and Records Office. But I no longer expect any help with research. It is sad isn't it. Rose

I am not having a go at People with small Trees. The ones I would like to kick up the bum are those who think it is enough to say that a Relly was born in 58. No reference to the Century. Or those who had a Relly called Mary. No reference at all to date or place. And, of course, those who seem to think that it doesn't matter if the names or places are spelt correctly. Surely it is not too much to ask that all entries include NAME, DATE & PLACE, even if followed by a question mark? Genealogy by necessity has to be an exact science or it is just a total waste of time. Jim

There are probably people using this site in a less serious way, however, there are also people, like me, who are struggling to find information to put in my tree due to having a complicated tree. I have been a member for some time now and have a very small tree because of adoption in our family. It is not because I want a scant tree, or because I can't be bothered to take it seriously, but information is extremely hard to find. Every additonal person in my tree comes as a result of a lot of effort and time. So please, don't assume we are not serious if we have small trees!