Topic: Reckon you can read this?

[OpenC]

Surely the first three letters have been written over another word (with a larger nibbed pen), which makes it even more complicated.

[indi]

Here's a list of the registration districts in Northumberland: http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/REG/nbl.htm

[80]

Looks like I've managed to crack it - found other documents which show it more clearly as West Sleekburn - just near Newbiggin after all. Thanks for everyone's help, though, Andy's efforts being particularly valiant.

Am having to go on censuses as family memory only reliably takes us back to my great grandparents, on the whole. Yes, I'm on ancestry.co.uk - seems like the thing to be on. Have found Genes Reunited to be decent though - found two obsessives who saved me Christ knows how much work Not much cop if no one shares any ties, though, no.

Ireland is even harder than Scotland thanks to the arsonists of the Easter Rising - if only they'd known their place, genealogists would've been saved a lot of hassle...

What does your work account give you access to? Just national censuses and such, or do you get other records like local death inquests and marriage certificates? That could come in handy, mate.

[indi]

Yeah, when people come in and ask about Ireland I just laugh and wish them luck.

We've got a full account on ancestry and if you find a district that you don't know who to speak to about I can stick it in the computer at work and find out, but I can't get access to that at home.

On ancestry I've got access to the birth death and marriage indexes, and everything else, but I've never looked at all the other stuff I don't even know what's on there to be honest. BMD is what you need though.

Got anyone you want me to find?


How much have you been paying for certificates by the way?

[Andy]

How on earth can that possibly say "West Sleekburn?"

[indi]

Do you have a paid for account on there or are you just using the free stuff?

If you are, try this place instead: www.freebmd.org.uk it's the best of the free ones as far as I know anyway.

[80]

How on earth can that possibly say "West Sleekburn?"

Christ knows, Southern bureaucrat encountering the local accents at a guess - "Wes....erewhuwrek? That'll do.". Ancestry.com interpreted it as "Wenning".

I've got a paid account on ancestry.com at the moment, but it's not the premium version. Just paid £7.50 for a marriage certificate as I was wanting the name of the father of the groom (first name, no sarky comments). I'm now gonna be looking for his death certificate, as I understand he came to a bad end somewhere around Darlington. Not hit any English dead ends, just now, though, thanks.

[indi]

Cool, £7 (or £7.50) is what you should be paying for a cert, just wanted to check you'd not been ripped off, there's a load of websites that charge anything up to £50 for certs and basically all they do is ask you for the same info a register office would then forward that onto the appropriate one, pay £7 and pocket the rest. Was thinking of setting up my own actually there's that many people wanting to do their family tree who haven't got a clue, but are willing to chuck a load of money at it, they're basically asking to be ripped off, it may as well be by me!!

[80]

Cool, £7 (or £7.50) is what you should be paying for a cert, just wanted to check you'd not been ripped off, there's a load of websites that charge anything up to £50 for certs and basically all they do is ask you for the same info a register office would then forward that onto the appropriate one, pay £7 and pocket the rest. Was thinking of setting up my own actually there's that many people wanting to do their family tree who haven't got a clue, but are willing to chuck a load of money at it, they're basically asking to be ripped off, it may as well be by me!!

Bet most of them are American. Not a dig, but as someone who isn't that interested, I've seen the poor buggers get taken for mugs so many times, especially by the Celtic ancestry 'industry'.

[Mike]

Cool, £7 (or £7.50) is what you should be paying for a cert, just wanted to check you'd not been ripped off, there's a load of websites that charge anything up to £50 for certs and basically all they do is ask you for the same info a register office would then forward that onto the appropriate one, pay £7 and pocket the rest. Was thinking of setting up my own actually there's that many people wanting to do their family tree who haven't got a clue, but are willing to chuck a load of money at it, they're basically asking to be ripped off, it may as well be by me!!

Bet most of them are American. Not a dig, but as someone who isn't that interested, I've seen the poor buggers get taken for mugs so many times, especially by the Celtic ancestry 'industry'.

Thought about doing something like this too, but my surname is Murphy and my mothers side leads directly back to the cargo hold of a boat. Didn't think I'd be able to find much.

Good luck to you.

[80]

Cool, £7 (or £7.50) is what you should be paying for a cert, just wanted to check you'd not been ripped off, there's a load of websites that charge anything up to £50 for certs and basically all they do is ask you for the same info a register office would then forward that onto the appropriate one, pay £7 and pocket the rest. Was thinking of setting up my own actually there's that many people wanting to do their family tree who haven't got a clue, but are willing to chuck a load of money at it, they're basically asking to be ripped off, it may as well be by me!!

Bet most of them are American. Not a dig, but as someone who isn't that interested, I've seen the poor buggers get taken for mugs so many times, especially by the Celtic ancestry 'industry'.

Thought about doing something like this too, but my surname is Murphy and my mothers side leads directly back to the cargo hold of a boat. Didn't think I'd be able to find much.

Good luck to you.

I wouldn't want to put you off having a dig about if you're interested - it could still be rewarding for you. Apart from things like that which indi suggests, the real trap is for tourists who come over and get bled for the 'authentic tartan of the clan Scapaticci' and such. But still, if you have a bit of sense and a healthy cynicism, you never know what you might turn up.

Likewise if you do give it a go.

[Mike]

Cool, £7 (or £7.50) is what you should be paying for a cert, just wanted to check you'd not been ripped off, there's a load of websites that charge anything up to £50 for certs and basically all they do is ask you for the same info a register office would then forward that onto the appropriate one, pay £7 and pocket the rest. Was thinking of setting up my own actually there's that many people wanting to do their family tree who haven't got a clue, but are willing to chuck a load of money at it, they're basically asking to be ripped off, it may as well be by me!!

Bet most of them are American. Not a dig, but as someone who isn't that interested, I've seen the poor buggers get taken for mugs so many times, especially by the Celtic ancestry 'industry'.

Thought about doing something like this too, but my surname is Murphy and my mothers side leads directly back to the cargo hold of a boat. Didn't think I'd be able to find much.

Good luck to you.

I wouldn't want to put you off having a dig about if you're interested - it could still be rewarding for you. Apart from things like that which indi suggests, the real trap is for tourists who come over and get bled for the 'authentic tartan of the clan Scapaticci' and such. But still, if you have a bit of sense and a healthy cynicism, you never know what you might turn up.

Likewise if you do give it a go.

Every generation you go back on my father's side, and we just get lighter and lighter. I'm the darkest male Murphy that I know of. Thing is, none of the family I've met was anything that could be considered Irish. I've got Portuguese friends that tell me how much my family looks like their family. It's just the speculation of untrained eyes, I have no clue what to do with info like that.

[indi]

Cool, £7 (or £7.50) is what you should be paying for a cert, just wanted to check you'd not been ripped off, there's a load of websites that charge anything up to £50 for certs and basically all they do is ask you for the same info a register office would then forward that onto the appropriate one, pay £7 and pocket the rest. Was thinking of setting up my own actually there's that many people wanting to do their family tree who haven't got a clue, but are willing to chuck a load of money at it, they're basically asking to be ripped off, it may as well be by me!!

Bet most of them are American. Not a dig, but as someone who isn't that interested, I've seen the poor buggers get taken for mugs so many times, especially by the Celtic ancestry 'industry'.

Thought about doing something like this too, but my surname is Murphy and my mothers side leads directly back to the cargo hold of a boat. Didn't think I'd be able to find much.

Good luck to you.

I wouldn't want to put you off having a dig about if you're interested - it could still be rewarding for you. Apart from things like that which indi suggests, the real trap is for tourists who come over and get bled for the 'authentic tartan of the clan Scapaticci' and such. But still, if you have a bit of sense and a healthy cynicism, you never know what you might turn up.

Likewise if you do give it a go.

We have loads of tourists (Aussies mainly) who turn up expecting to be able to get their whole family tree done just like that with no info whatsoever. They stand there with a blank expression whilst I tell them that this is what's called a hobby and in common with other hobbies the person whose hobby it is does the f***ing work!!

You should see their faces when I tell them that we don't do family history certs on the same day and that we'll send it to them in a week or so. Sorry, but you should have done even the tiniest little bit of research before you spent a fortune on flights and travelled halfway across the world you twit! Oh and Salford isn't in Manchester, it's in f***ing Salford!! The clue's in the name: Salford, ie Salford!

[indi]

Cool, £7 (or £7.50) is what you should be paying for a cert, just wanted to check you'd not been ripped off, there's a load of websites that charge anything up to £50 for certs and basically all they do is ask you for the same info a register office would then forward that onto the appropriate one, pay £7 and pocket the rest. Was thinking of setting up my own actually there's that many people wanting to do their family tree who haven't got a clue, but are willing to chuck a load of money at it, they're basically asking to be ripped off, it may as well be by me!!

Bet most of them are American. Not a dig, but as someone who isn't that interested, I've seen the poor buggers get taken for mugs so many times, especially by the Celtic ancestry 'industry'.

Thought about doing something like this too, but my surname is Murphy and my mothers side leads directly back to the cargo hold of a boat. Didn't think I'd be able to find much.

Good luck to you.

I wouldn't want to put you off having a dig about if you're interested - it could still be rewarding for you. Apart from things like that which indi suggests, the real trap is for tourists who come over and get bled for the 'authentic tartan of the clan Scapaticci' and such. But still, if you have a bit of sense and a healthy cynicism, you never know what you might turn up.

Likewise if you do give it a go.

Every generation you go back on my father's side, and we just get lighter and lighter. I'm the darkest male Murphy that I know of. Thing is, none of the family I've met was anything that could be considered Irish. I've got Portuguese friends that tell me how much my family looks like their family. It's just the speculation of untrained eyes, I have no clue what to do with info like that.

Loads of Irish people have a Mediterranean complexion.

If you've got Irish ancestry though, I wouldn't bother doing your tree, like 80 says Ireland's a f***ing nightmare for this kind of stuff.







Erm, not meaning to put you off like.

[Mike]

You did a hell of a job by accident, then.

I'm more interested in the African side of it all, to be fair. Wouldn't mind knowing where I'm from.

[indi]

Sorry, you know I'm just exaggerating for "comic" effect.


Well not that much, but anyway.

[80]

Every generation you go back on my father's side, and we just get lighter and lighter. I'm the darkest male Murphy that I know of. Thing is, none of the family I've met was anything that could be considered Irish. I've got Portuguese friends that tell me how much my family looks like their family. It's just the speculation of untrained eyes, I have no clue what to do with info like that.

One thing I've always found strange with some people, especially Americans, is that they only take an interest in their name line - or their Irish line - preferably the two are combined. So I hear people talk about there's being an Irish family, when, as they go into it, you hear that Irishness only makes up a small portion of their background - the rest being half-German, a quarter English or whatever else, America being the melting pot it is. I suppose what I'm saying is - there's more to your ancestry than Murphy. If the Murphys keep getting darker, then (putting genetics aside in the interests of rhetoric) it stands to reason your other family has been getting lighter Just follow all the other records, mate.

Loads of Irish people have a Mediterranean complexion.

Supposedly thanks to the Armada - cowardly Spaniards hiding behind Irish skirts

[indi]

Loads of Irish people have a Mediterranean complexion.

Supposedly thanks to the Armada - cowardly Spaniards hiding behind Irish skirts

Better than getting washed up in Hartlepool I guess.

I thought is was due to the Romanys Romanies Rommanys Rommanies the gypsies then, the f***ing gypsies, b****** spellchecker with your f***ing red lines under everything, grrrrrrr!!!! 

[80]

You did a hell of a job by accident, then.

I'm more interested in the African side of it all, to be fair. Wouldn't mind knowing where I'm from.

You're not gonna go all Oprah Winfrey on us, are you? A tip - just because you're black, it doesn't make you a Zulu. Another tip - just because they're black, it doesn't make the Zulus goodies - ask their neighbouring tribes...

But yeah, there have been some interesting programmes on such explorations of ancestry. There was this thing over here about three who did DNA tests to find out where X and Y chromosomes came from (as I say, only a small proportion of their actual ancestry, of course). One guy was really proud to find he descended of a proud tribe of warriors from up towards the Sahara - until he discovered that they were fearsome enslavers who worked for the local Sultan

I'd love to do some of that genetics stuff, myself. Strange to think of so many people being show to be descended of the same person at some point in time.

[Mike]

Nah, nothing like that. It'd just be nice to have some roots. I mean, I don't want to go to Africa just to go and pretend to feel everything I'm supposed to feel. I want to go where I'm from. Wherever that is.

[80]

Loads of Irish people have a Mediterranean complexion.

Supposedly thanks to the Armada - cowardly Spaniards hiding behind Irish skirts

Better than getting washed up in Hartlepool I guess.

I thought is was due to the Romanys Romanies Rommanys Rommanies the gypsies then, the f***ing gypsies, b****** spellchecker with your f***ing red lines under everything, grrrrrrr!!!! 

Attitudinally unreformed spellchecker

Well... its just a well-worn story. No idea how true it is, though I must say I've always had my suspicions. Probably more likely than the Scottish self-assertion that they hail directly from Scythia, though...

[80]

Nah, nothing like that. It'd just be nice to have some roots. I mean, I don't want to go to Africa just to go and pretend to feel everything I'm supposed to feel. I want to go where I'm from. Wherever that is.

The further you push back the more you realise we don't really have roots, though. Shy of going all the way back to Kenya, everyone's come from somewhere else one way or another. You're from... where you feel like you're from, I'm not sure its something you can be instructed in. If you don't really feel like you're from anywhere at the moment, and your family history can't give you any stand out suggestions, you're best off setting out to make somewhere your own, instead. The alternative probably involves spreading your feet across large swathes of at least two or three continents (and that's just the relatively recent history).

[Gorilla]

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