The mormons and family history.

[dogboy]

I want to rerearch my family history and have been told that the mormons have a service allowing people to do just that. I am not a mormon, so what I want to know is, has anyone else used this service? And if so, how far did it go back? What help did they give? Did it cost anything? Also, did they try to presure you into joining their religion? To put it bluntly, any information anyone can give would be most appreciated.

[chiquita]

In my opinion, all of the religeous groups try to recruit you!! I've only spoken to mormons once, but they were determined to discredit anything I said not accepted by their faith!

[Gothicina]

I want to rerearch my family history and have been told that the mormons have a service allowing people to do just that. I am not a mormon, so what I want to know is, has anyone else used this service? And if so, how far did it go back? What help did they give? Did it cost anything? Also, did they try to presure you into joining their religion? To put it bluntly, any information anyone can give would be most appreciated.

The Latter Day Saints (mormons), believe that they can baptise their ancestors into their faith. To aid that they did a great deal of work, searching the Parish Records (for births & some marriages) of many of the C of E churches in the UK, (they did the same for many other countries) they also have a little information from Independant churches (Baptist,Wesleyan etc.). The Catholics refused to let them access their records.

This information they collated into a massive database known as the IGI (International Genealogy Index). It is invaluable as a GUIDE, but some of the data added is suspect to say the least, as some of the "researchers" seem to have added just anyone to their tree.

MOST of the parish record information is correct, the main errors are in the Pedigree Resource File. The LDS also indexed the 1881 census & made the information available for free long before the likes of the paid for sites.
You can acces the IGI & their other searchable resources at.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
You can also download their excellent FREE family tree software known as PAF5 from their site. This stands up very well against the commercial software available for genealogy.

They do not charge for these services, they do not pressure you to join their religion.They don't do the work for you, you need to do that yourself. They go as far back as the parish records were legible at the time the original database was started (1927). Although the index is enormous in scope it is by no means complete. There are virtually no deaths indexed, and very few baptisms or marriages after 1875 - most entries cover the period 1500-1875.

With genealogy your starting point must always be living relatives, working backwards, you need to use all the resources available. Birth/Death/Marriage certificates (they started in 1837), census information, 1841 -1901 are available in most cases, occasionally earlier ones (1821 & 1831). (The 1911 census will not be available until a 100 years has passed.)
Parish Records & the I.G.I

There are a lot of good sites out there some paid for some not, www.ancestry.co.uk has both free & pay for information available. Another good site is www.genesreunited.co.uk
If you're lucky you'll find other people researching the same lines as you & you can share information.

Researching your family tree takes YEARS, there is no quick way. I'm back to the mid 1700's in most of my lines but only 2 generations with the Smith's .

You'll come up against brick walls, people who vanished without a trace, changed their name for no apparent reason.
Families with child after child after child, who didn't live beyond 5 years. Most of your ancestors will probably be just ordinary people, agricultural workers, shoemakers, carpenters, people like that. It'll drive you crazy, but the buzz you get when you finally track someone down is beyond compare.
Your christmas card list will also grow at an alarming rate!!

[stitchysyl]

I have been reseraching my famly tree as well...I have managed to get back to 1585 on my paternal side of the tree...but can't get back more than a few generations on the maternal. There are so many branches of the same family in the same area that trying to work out who is who is like putting a huge jigsaw puzzle together...there are several of us working at it.

Ancestry.co.uk is a good site for researching records.
Genes United is a great site for finding other researchers and sharing information.

You are right...when you find someone that has the same great great great grandmother...it gives you such a good feeling.