Where to start??

[wickchick]

I want to find out my family history, Also do a family tree. Only problem is i dont know where to start.

Any help would be appreciated.

[marionq]

The standard advice is start from the known and work back to the unknown. Start with a rough drawing of a tree for yourself and your parents (or subscribe to something like genesconnected which has it laid out for you, or use any of the free family tree layouts you can pick up on the internet) Put into it dates of birth and deaths and marriages where you know them. From the marriage certificate or the others you will get their parents' details so you now have enough to insert your grandparents. Get as much information from your relatives as you can (remember they are fallible and sometimes get dates and facts wrong). When you have gone back as far as you can you have to start resorting to databases held by eg The Church of the Latter Day Saints in Utah which you can call up on the internet, or to Freecen (still in its infancy). You can pay £6 for 30 credits from scotlandspeople and get census details up to 1901 at roughly 6 credits a time and the same if you are calling up birth, death details etc. If you are living in Wick you can go down to the Library and much of your family history will be available to you for free.

Go back a generation at a time. You will meet dead ends from time to time which months or even years later may fall into place. Collect general history about the families and the area as you go along as it helps you to understand the context of your ancestors' lives.

You could do worse than read the Statistical Accounts for Scotland 1799 and 1845 for the history of the area your ancestors came from. I find them fascinating.

Collect photos, information, listen and take notes of any old family tales which may or may not turn out to be useful but will make you beloved for being a good listener. Post you family names that you get stuck on in notice boards like this one - a long lost relative may be out there.

There is such a lot to do and find out that the "black hole" will suck you in and you will have a hobby for life.

Very good luck to you. Marion

[trinkie]

You have already been given excellent advice.
Once you are up and running you will find that most folk are more than willing to help you.
If you can, ask your parents and grand parents for names and dates and places, it doesn't have to be exact dates at this point, just a rough year to get you on track.

ScotlandsPeople: is where you will find almost everything - almost !
There you pay £6 for 30 credits,
but before you begin to pay out, do check........

FreeCen: for Census Returns for 1841 and 1851, this will give you the age and so you have a better idea of the date of birth.

IGI : Family Research, is another free site and I use it a lot. They have been known to make a few errors, but it is well worth starting here. Get as much as you can from IGI before going on to Scotlands People.

This will get you started and I do hope you will do so soon, as you will find it a most interesting and absorbing hobby !
Dont forget to collect as many family stories as you can for that will help a lot with places and dates.

Good Luck
Get in touch if you are stuck !

[oscar]

Wick and Thurso Registration Offices can help with ancestry research. Current charges are £10 per hour to search for records in the registers. The offices also have access to all Scottish records from 1855 available on line within the office. This costs £15 per half hour.
You will be assisted by a registrar when there.

[Kingetter]

I want to find out my family history, Also do a family tree. Only problem is i dont know where to start.

Any help would be appreciated.
Additional to all the wonderful advice you've already been given, I'd add I use Rootsweb all the time. Main reason is coverage. Someone somewhere may be looking for connections with your family. As has been said, post on message boards and forums, and update as you discover new information, but it can become very time-consuming. Along the way, you can make some great friends.

[fred]

IGI : Family Research, is another free site and I use it a lot. They have been known to make a few errors, but it is well worth starting here. Get as much as you can from IGI before going on to Scotlands People.


This is the second time that the accuracy of IGI has come up in a few days.

Always look at the bottom where it will tell you the source of the information. If it has come from the parish records then it is quite reliable, if it says "submitted entry" then take it with a pinch of salt, there is no way of knowing if someone has entered their guessework as fact or not without further evidence.

[Tricia]

I agree with Fred re IGI on familysearch.org (see last message).

Also please be wary when taking info from family trees submitted to Rootsweb.com and Ancestry.com etc. Not all information is accurate.
The submitter may have only copied from another and that may not be confirmed.

[Doolally]

The Statistical Accounts can be viewed here :

http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk//sas/sas.asp//?county=Caithness&parish=Wick&searchtype=bycounty&submit=Find%20report&session-id=04f86ac28a596c1ef494c568ee0ce9f5&naecache=4&action=public#bycounty

[Kingetter]

I want to find out my family history, Also do a family tree. Only problem is i dont know where to start.

Any help would be appreciated.
REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any photo you come across that you can get identified, including DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, write info on back of photo!!!!!!!!!!
Lord save me from having to go through masses of pics where someone had not recorded anything, attitude being "I know all about this pic and that's all that matters"> WRONG as you will find out no doubt.

[htwood]

I agree with the bit about photos. My mother's enduring legacy is that each and every photo from the 1920's and 1930's, where I find it in a drawer and say, Who the bejeebers is THIS?....

There is my late lamented mothers handwriting..from left to right, front to back, not only full names, but how related and location and year of photo. What a blessing. Thanks Mom!

[Kingetter]

I agree with the bit about photos. My mother's enduring legacy is that each and every photo from the 1920's and 1930's, where I find it in a drawer and say, Who the bejeebers is THIS?....

There is my late lamented mothers handwriting..from left to right, front to back, not only full names, but how related and location and year of photo. What a blessing. Thanks Mom!
and it takes so little time to write on the photo but a h--- of a time years later trying to identify it.

[darkie@dreamtilt.com.au]

I want to find out my family history, Also do a family tree. Only problem is i dont know where to start.

Any help would be appreciated.If you get time check out www.genesreunited.com (http://www.genesreunited.com) I did and found a lot of my relations who came to Australia in the 1800 and it has helped me a lot Good luck http://forum.caithness.org/images/icons/icon6.gif