Researching your family tree

[Hans Tucker]

My ancestry, like probably quite a few, is European. My Father and his family coming from England, quite a few living relatives .. on my Mothers side it is virtually blank. All I know is that she was born in Dorpat Estonia and there is a linkage to the Netherlands on her fathers side. With just basic names and no known living relatives it is difficult to construct a family tree on my Mothers side of the family.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and had some success in filling in gaps in lineage? Have you been able to get birth records from abroad?

[Huey]

Hans,
try familysearch.org. It's a free website operated by the mormons. Even though they own the site, there is no religious stuff inbolved. They have millions of records from around the world. I found ancestors there from Europe dating back to 1520.

Good luck

Huey

[sheeny]

+1 for family search.


I use Roots Magic Genealogy software which interfaces well with family search, but less conveniently with Ancestry. Currently approaching 10,000 people in my tree, but it's wide including cousins' trees etc.


Had nothing on my father's side for ages, but then some cousins on his side contacted us and we were away on that branch of the tree finally. I can't advise about getting documents from overseas, as I haven't had to yet. Between Familysearch, relos, ancestry, Trove, and NSW and SA Births Death and Marriages records, I have heaps to fill in without actually applying for records.



Al.

[Startrek]

I guess I had a head start , my eldest son is a part time genealogist
On my Dads side he went back as far as 1865 ( England and Ireland) with only 2 unknowns
On my wife’s Dads side he went back to 1830 ( Malta ) with no unknowns
Although it’s still a work in progress on my Mums side ( German ) and my Wife’s mother’s side (Malta)
He mentioned the only way to go further back is visit those countries and spend time researching local records , otherwise information is a bit sketchy or unreliable
Really interesting journey researching your roots
Thanks for posting

[Sunfish]

Ask the family regarding town name, occupation, and get middle names and siblings. The family usually knows details which are important to separate all the entries with similar names.

With those I found records in the UK and Germany back hundreds of years and Australian shipping records.

Sometimes an online request yields information and for me has resulted in family visits to France.

I researched for my mum some years ago at her request when many records were published free online by data entering enthusiasts and which now have bought up by Ancestry etc.. many public records sill exist which paid application to authorities can provide . You can be lucky with the mormons.