Success Stories

I would like to say a general "Thank You" to everyone on this site who has helped me with my research. Your kindness, patience and generosity of time and information is very much appreciated.

When I first joined GR, I took notice of the tip "Never throw anything away" and I have adopted this as my family research mantra. Never before has it meant more to me than today.

5 years ago, almost to the day, I decided to extend my research to the sideways branches of my tree i.e. g.g.aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. At that time, I recorded details of a family that I thought might have a connection to my g.g.grandmother through the marriage of a sibling. As I couldn't validate the information, I printed off a copy of the information I had found on the 1901 census, kept it to one side in a box file and carried on researching the rest of my "known" ancestors.

Recently, I decided to pick up the thread again to try to solve the query and I posted on GR. Thanks to the (very quick!) feedback from Maureen and Carolyn, I was steered in a slightly different direction and was able to continue with my research. Where I had been looking for someone called Polly, her name was actually Mary.

Today, I have just received a message from Victoria who has a connection to the same family albeit through the male line and she has confirmed all of the information that I originally printed off from the 1901 census.

As I was researching my ancestral females, who had married out of the common family surname of Nixon, I would never have been able to make the connection to all the ancestors that I have now discovered.

There have been many people on this site who have helped me over the years and so this posting goes to you all but the main reason for writing this is to emphasise strongly NEVER, NEVER throw anything away that you think might have the flimsiest relevance to your research.....you never know!!

Pamela