be interesting to find who has got back the furthest in their family tree andany major surprises eg Royalty, pirates

Mine on one side possibly back to early 1700s in Berkshire
another only to 1890s up to now
no major surprises only a great great great uncle who set up the first photography shops for Fox Talbot and was the 1st mayor of St Kilda Aus

I have been researching my family tree for about 2 years now. The furthest I have gone back is my paternal grandmothers line to 1532 in France. This is via USA and before that Canada. I found in that family line that I am related to Celine Dion, Madonna and Hilary Clinton (who are all also related to each other). Each of them is either a 10th or 11th cousin, Celine Dion is 1 level removed aswell.

I got back to 1769 Guernsey on my mums side my dads were irish which are too hard to trace due to the records office burning down no one famous but no paupers either.

Apparently I am related to Robin Hood! 1300's?

Wow! Some really interesting stuff here. Keep 'em coming!!
I have always wanted to do mine, never got round to it though. On the 'To Do' list...

just post for help
I can look up 1881 census others have access to later or earlier census
Ask your mums/grandparents/dads for names of their parents/grandparents and places NOW before it gets too late and then you wish you had done

Only got paternal grandad left and he's pushing 90. Best get a move on!
My dad is an Able Seaman and i believe his uncles were too! Didnt even know my grandad had brothers!!

your on your way then if you can get info off him parents grandparents and where born/lived
Now you can research thru censuses 1911 and down
BMD for info for certificates post a family tree on various
genealogy sites and other researchers may recognise names and places that are in their trees and may take you a bit further
Latterday saints a good site to have a gander at

Rudebox

if you need help and a starter let me know. ask your grandad his parents names, anything.

Thanks people! I'll get cracking when my dad comes tomorrow. Cheers.

I can go back to about 1800 (ish) on my dad's side of the family although i have not tried to reserch my family history, and legend has it that one of my relations was a vicker in the 1750's.
I am also lucky to have a surname that can be traced back to the 900's in a part of the british isles !,

Wow!! My maiden name was Robinson- probably millions of us! I believe my married surname is of Scottish origin.

One half of my lot came down from Hartlepool to Goole with the shipyard. The other half moved from Dyserth in 1735 to Minera, with the lead mining.

I get back to 1558 on my mother's side & 1792 on father's. The interesting thing is that both families have Shropshire roots. The curious thing is that my wife & I came to Shropshire in 1966 by accident really. We lived in London; we were on holiday & the car broke down. While we were waiting for it to be fixed, we found our perfect house near Church Stretton. We later discovered that my wife's great great grandfather had been a wine merchant in Ludlow, so we both have roots here.

My dads family was traced back to 1800s they came from round the swindon area farm labourers my grandad came to birkenhead to work on the railway my mums side came from the isle of man and settled in wallasey

damn oscarpops beat me to it

Back to 1760 on Scottish/Irish paternal side. Glaswegians mainly. Maternal side I'm still working on, easier because they're English. Got a DNA printout from Ancestry, which takes us back to Ethiopia, yeah right! via Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Think I might have got seen off there. It is interesting tracing the stuff though. Need the 1911 census to come out to tie some ends up. The Jocks won't let their paperwork out, probably holding out for more money.

oscarpops and starkita are you both on the same tree sisters?
just noticed birthdates - twins

from bandycoot Got a DNA printout from Ancestry, which takes us back to Ethiopia, yeah right! via Scandinavia and Eastern Europe


illegal immigrants were you

They reckon I still am over here.

yes i introduced oscarpops after istumbled accross this site.

Does God count when looking at how far back you can look at your family tree???

was told the Bible had the oldest genealogy family tree
all those begats

interviewed my dad. Got nan+ grandads DOB, siblings names, their parents names, me nans maiden name (meredith). Am on me way .....

My dads uncle 'trevor' is in his 80s and lives in maryland lane! Me dad hasnt seen him for 30+ years- which explains why i dont know him!

What now? Get nan+ grandads birth certificates and their parents etc

if their dates of birth are before 1911 and you know what area if you ask, someone will look them up in 1911 census and be able to tell you who were in their households
If history sees this and gives permission I'll pm her email
address

Paternal grandad

Frederick Robinson 30/ 9/ 1920

My nan

Dorothy Meredith
30/ 9/ 1920

I felt really emotional when me dad left! Excited, invigorated, bit sad??
Is that just me or do others feel/ felt like that?

same D.O.B.

Oh yeah, lol. Doh! Gives me an excuse to get my robbie williams personal organiser out again!
Dorothy meredith dob- 7. 7. 20

Soundspar for the course really. Once you get into it it becomes really addictive. Just wait till you hit something with a bit of mystery or a story behind it. If your anything like me it will drive you mad till you sort it. Unfortunately my mystery ancestor was based in Brighton so not so easy to work on up here.

I got as far as me Mam and Dad. Then I lost the plot.

Hi

Yep get in touch, thats fine.

History

Rudebox

was Dorothy from Wales? Did she have a middle name? same with Frederick. I can find no birth for either in Wirral!
Also do you know any siblings?

History

I'm decended from a well documented Cheshire family and can see a partial family tree online going back to the 12th century.

My Uncle did the family tree and we are decended from one of the two brothers resident in the family seat at that time.

thanks history-ill pm you later-only here on a flying visit atm

1500s with one family branch, 1600s with another, the others are about 1700s and one family is only the 1800s - they are of Irish descent and it is virtually impossible to trace back any further!

If anyone needs any help or advice on researching I wouldn't say I was an expert but I may be able to help having done so much of my own family tree!

I am lucky in having an unusual name so I have got back to 1390. The first person in my tree was described as a "stranger" and lived in Canterbury before buying a piece of land on the outskirts of the city. Two years ago, I went back to Kent and traced all the villages where my ancestors had lived in for over 500 years which was a wonderful experience. Eventually my great great grandfather moved to Liverpool in the 19th Century before the family moved over to Birkenhead in the early 20th Century.

On my mum's side I have got back to late 18th Century with ancestors from Wales and Cumbria who moved to the Wirral in the middle of the 19th Century

my tree goes back to 1100 scotland they used to own large part of it till one of them gambled it all away

I got back to the early 1700 and found them to be smugglers, some very interesting stuff.

Rude, there is a free trial on Ancestry.co.uk at the moment. Give it a bash and see how you get on, be prepared to get hooked though.

My dad's family goes back several generations to early 1700s, based in the Wirral, Heswall mainly. This is what led me to this site!
If you share my surname and come from Heswall then you will be related!

Hi maybe if we posted some of the surnames we are all interested in, we might be able to help each other!! Here's a few of ours I am looking at at the moment,HIGGINSON< SHERLOCK< TARBUCK< DODD<JONES<HILL<EVANS<BARNES<WRIGHT<MIDGLEY phew!! that's enough for this week (lol). What are you looking into at the moment? Jess

my john thomas

(waiting on wedding certificate 1880's)

I am doing my research with my mum. She lives in Oz, and we often sit on our computers together and on the phone!! She is the one up late not me!! Jess

I was adopted and recently found my grand father, which was an emotional day. He gave me details of six other relatives who I never knew I had. People don't always want to be found, so please tred carefully out there

There are a number of Sherlocks living in Upton listed in directories etc between 1841 and 1938 (link), there are also 10 baptisms listed between 1762 ans 1779 (mostly with the same parents).

There is also an Amos Midgely living in Upton listed in the 1881 census.

Hi thanks for that, I have recently found that the Sherlocks had an ironmongers shop , which is now a night club called Sherlocks!!

Me too! We are mentioned in Omerod's Visitation and my direct paternal line can be traced back to 1000s. Father's side were 'upstairs' mother's side were 'downstairs'. I am a complete anorak as far as the family tree is concerned and have found many distant cousins around the globe to share research with.

I love the Ancestry site. As another poster said, you really should give the 2 week free trial a go; highly addictive.

My husband has Sherlocks in his tree and his 2 x gt. grandmother, Elizabeth Sherlock, is mentioned in Bill Houldin's book Up Our Lobby as the midwife Granny Sherlock, we believe.

My mum says my dad was a neanderthal!!!

I have just been talking to a great niece of mother sherlocks!!
Do you have a tree on ancestry? I am adding Sherlocks by the day!! Jess

Hi Jess53, no I don't have a tree on Ancestry and I only have a very basic one on Genes Reunited. Please pm me if you'd like to chat about Sherlocks.

Hi just tried to pm but you are over your topi limit!! Do you have another way to contact? Jess

Crumbs, I didn't realise you could only have 5 messages and I didn't know 3 of those were there anyway! Would you try again please? I'm just dashing out to work and probably won't get back online before lunchtime tomorrow.

I can send you a copy of our tree from ancestry, its also on rootsweb world connect. Do you have an email address that you feel happy to use on here? You can always set up a hot mail account if you prefer, Regards Jess

£3 for USERPLUS have upto 100 pm messages

Contact me at [email protected] and I'll give you my private email addy.

Thanks for that info, Derekdwc.

Hi will do!! Hope you have got some tome on your hands as there are a few rellies to wade through!! Jess

so many new members have joined recently so thought I'd try to get this going again
plus here

my cousin has got back to 1575 with our family tree, so gobsmacked to think it was nt far off henry the eighth time wish there was photo s from that day.

My family tree goes back to 1630. But I do have quite an uncommon surname and I was fortunate enough to find someone who had researched its origin and meaning. He was able to trace things back to the very first recorded history of it in 1285. He found records of the first family to use it and how it originated. Fascinating stuff.

Working online from Canada, I have only been able to get back 5 generations. My Elmslie branch goes back to Alexander Elmsley and Margaret Grey in Rothbury, Northumberland. I suspect they originated over the border in Scotland. Another brick wall in that branch is Isaac Stirling who came to Birkenhead from Londonderry, Ireland. I am also stumped by Thomas Broster b. c 1833 in Dunham on Hill. There are about 3 different Thomas' about that age so I can't pin him down from here. He married Ann Woodward of Eastham whose parents were Peter Woodward (stonemason) and Mary Mort (m 14mar 1833, St. Peter's, Liverpool). I have a public tree on Ancestry - Elmslie Broster Frankton Millns , but my membership has lapsed so I can't communicate through there.

There are so many pitfalls in doing this - but it is a really absorbing way of studying your family's history . I've managed to get back to 1808 on my father's side - apparently my roots are in Scotland . But with my name being Wilson , a common name up there , I've hit a brick wall - reseaching Scottish records is just as confusing.
My maternal great grandfather filled in his 1911 Census form giving his name as A.A.Lewis and he was from Barrow in Lancashire-is that the same as Barrow in Furness ?(I don't think it is}.
Another relative appears on his daughter's wedding certificate under the name Beny Green-is it Benjamin or a misread Henry ?
All this is confusing-especially with the tendency for some people to be a little 'creative' with the truth when filling in official forms-it went on even then apparently !
For all that , I'll keep plugging away and continue to test the patience of those fine people at the Archive centre !

Maybe Barrow near Clitheroe.

Thanks , Geekus - I'll chase that one up . Geography was never my strong point !

I think it's only a small place.

Family church (for Christenings, etc) may have been somewhere like Clitheroe, or Whalley depending on how long his family lived there.