My Great grandad

[Tattybear]

Sorry to be so pedantic, but you really need to start by looking at your own birth certificate and matching it up with the details on your parents marriage certificate. From their marriage certificate you then need to get your parents birth certificates which will give you the right names of your grandparents. Continue going back like this.

There is a world of difference in getting the right names and certificates and getting the ones you 'think' are right.

Hi,

it's all about being skint at the moment for me. I will have to apply for certs when I can afford them. £9+ is alot to me ATM as I'm training.

I was hoping to find out more without having to pay. But it doesn't seem to work like that :/

thanks for all your help

[grantowi]

Out of intreast, where did you get the details of your GGDad from ?

Whats the furthest back that you can go with solid evidence, if you can get back to 1911 then it's pretty easy (he said foolishly) to follow the census's back to 1841, if they were in England or Wales.

And as some one has mentioned in 1914 they started to list the mothers name in the Birth registers.

BDM (Birth, Death & Marriage) references and the census's for the local area can normally be found in the libary, but be warned, once you start, it's impossible to stop

Grant

[Tattybear]

Hi.

My dad told me. Don't know how he knows he just does.

My grandfather john kitson, born 30/12/1920

and he was in the war. Maybe his papers will be online and will have his dads details on? Can you check for me? we have his 3 medals, Italian star, African star and the all round star. I'd love it if you could find his online papers and it showed his dads details

I just wish I could afford certs

[grantowi]

Did John have a sister called Mary - born in 1913 ?

I dont think WW2 stuff is online yet

Grant

[roughdiamond]

Hi.

My dad told me. Don't know how he knows he just does.

My grandfather john kitson, born 30/12/1920

and he was in the war. Maybe his papers will be online and will have his dads details on? Can you check for me? we have his 3 medals, Italian star, African star and the all round star. I'd love it if you could find his online papers and it showed his dads details

I just wish I could afford certs

WW2 records are held by the MOD, it costs £30 to get copies, here's the link:

http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/army.html

You said in your 1st post you'd "decided to do your family tree", trust me it costs.

[grantowi]

I think this is your GGmum - based on age - in 1911:

BOOT, Elizabeth, Head, Single, General Dealer, born 1865 in Staffs Walsall

BOOT, Eliza, Daughter, Single, Out Of Work, born 1887 in Staffs Walsall

BOOT, Ellen Daughter, Single, Buckle Finsiher, born 1890 in Staffs Walsall

WASHBROOK, John Henry, Nephew, Single Dresser, born 1886 in Staffs Walsall

WASHBROOK, Benjamin Boot, Nephew, School, born 1903 in Staffs Pelsall

BYNG, Howard, Adopted Son, born 1903 in Staffs Walsall

I think your gonna have to bite the bullet and at least get the marriage certificate - which at £9.25 is cheaper than getting GDads service record :-) - that will enable you to get back onto the 1911 census.

Grant

[rksimpson]

Hi

WW2 service records are not online -you have to apply for them

read this - http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/searching-som...2-research.html

unfortunately you have to pay, so something else to save up for, but well worth it for the information you get

regards

Robert

rats, roughdiamond got there before me, and I agree with him, researching your history does cost, but the information you can find out is very interesting!

[ph0ebus]

Hi Tattybear,

You're at 7 posts now, try PMing me your contact info.

I pinged the other two private tree owners today. As of yet no reply from the first one I PM'd the other day.

To riff off of what others have been saying, doing genealogical research is worse than crack. Highly addictive, can get a mite expensive, you can lose oodles of time working on it, but all very well worth it. On the bright side, at least the records you seek are in English! Half the stuff I need is either in variously unreadable forms of German, or Hebrew, neither of which I read or speak, and whatever is not readable was burnt up in one of the myriad wars that have ravaged Europe from time to time...

I will say this: Google has been one of the best research tools I have used in recent years, and I cannot tell you how many fruitful leads and bits of info I have gotten just be googling my ancestors. But be forewarned: you have to try various ways of putting in the names to get results...i.e., for your relation, you can google "William H Kitson", "W.H. Kitson", "William Kitson", "Kitson, William H" and get different and sometimes priceless leads with each, or get zippo. That's just it, you never know. Also try Kitson and his birth year, birthplace, and stuff like that, as it may also be productive. Certainly whiles away the hours.

-Daniel

[ph0ebus]

Hi Tattybear, all...

Got my first reply via Ancestry, which is as follows:

spitfire242

Today 7:28 AM GMT

Relation ship distant through marriage,William H Kitson's brother Samuel who married Ada Cutts this is link.Connection through my wife's side.Can't find any military details,by 1914 he was 42.

spitfire242

-Daniel

[Guest craigmollekin]

Hi,

Do you know when the William Kitson in your family died?

A William Kitson aged 68 died during the Sheffield Blitz in December 1940. I believe this William to be in my family tree. I can only find two William Kitsons born circa 1872 in the Sheffield area. Before ordering a death certificate, I'd like to reasonably make sure that the William who died in the Blitz, is the William in my family tree. If you can confirm that 'your' William Kitson didn't die in 1940, then that would be a help.

Kind Regards,

Craig