How You can Help Yourself to Taste Success!

[Britjan]

My match potential is only 2.1127 but I have not been looking at it to see if it has gone up. I do only have 407 ancestors listed although I have been adding them as I find them, which is not all that often. It has been a year now since I received my DNA results and I still have nothing to show who my paternal grandfather was.

I'm up to a match potential of about 7.5 without adding a great deal lately although my Canadian connections continue to be frustrating. As a matter of interest how many Canadian ancestors do you have on the 1881 census? I have over 50 although many are via my in law family. I see that I have work to do on tracing relatives who either stopped off in Canada and moved to USA or moved there directly. It always make me laugh as their connection is via my Ancestor number 46 and 47 Smith family which despite being a common name has been simple to trace !!

 

[canadianbeth]

As a matter of interest how many Canadian ancestors do you have on the 1881 census?

To the best of my knowledge, I have no ancestors who emigrated to Canada before 1881. My maternal grandparents are in the 1911 census and my paternal grandmother is in the 1921 census.

My husband's family emigrated from County Cavan in Ireland in the mid-1800s, so that very large family is almost certainly in the 1881 census. But they are not connected to me.

 

[Britjan]

My maternal grandparents are in the 1911 census and my paternal grandmother is in the 1921 census.

The 1921 Canadian census is so useful , I've been able to work backwards from it to confirm a few possible relatives. Since it shows where both parents were born and when the person emigrated to Canada it's prevented me from embarking on the wrong trail!

 

[canadianbeth]

Unfortunately, there are errors in my grandmother's information. It says her parents were born in Ireland; they were not. The census is in French, which is interesting because she was living in Ontario (Cornwall), but I was able to figure out the questions. I do not think she lied deliberately though; since she was sent to a workhouse at the age of 6 and abandoned by her family, she probably had no idea who they were. She even put the wrong name for her father on her marriage certificate. I have no idea where she got Ireland. She also gave her youngest daughter the name of her husband, even though when said daughter was married she used the name her mother said was her birth father's. (also possibly incorrect)

 

[Margery]

County Cavan in Ireland

Do you known which village/town they came from? My husband's family came from Killeshandra.

 

[canadianbeth]

Bailieborough. Or as the road sign said when we were there, Coill an Chollaigh. My Irish son-in-law knows how to pronounce it but I have forgotten. It was a quick side trip after Tara.

 

[Margery]

The other side of the County, then.

Bailieborough

 

[Red Dragon]

Hi Everyone!

Here's a weekly update on how well people have been doing over at LostCousins.

• 31 new members joined the LostCousins site
• 1,402 new entries have been added and
• 315 relatives have been matched.

Always good to see New Members joining. All numbers are up this week which is great news for all of us. But compared to this time last year, New Entries average was 1,782 and this year it's 3,003.

New Members mean New Entries, and New Entries mean New Matches. Everyone wins.

Good Luck Everyone!

Here's a graph showing the activity over at the Lost Cousins site

 

[Pauline]

315 relatives have been matched

I think a fair few of those were mine. Last weekend I entered about a dozen new families from the 1841 and 1881 censuses, and got matches with a higher proportion of them than I'd expected, along with 6 new contacts.

Now I just have to hope that some of those new contacts will eventually respond.

 

[peter]

Last weekend I entered about a dozen new families from the 1841 and 1881 censuses, and got matches with a higher proportion of them than I'd expected, along with 6 new contacts.

It would be amazing if every member of the forum did the same as you. Maybe my New Year Competition* will encourage them to do so?

 

[jorghes]

Your competition will inspire me to let my latest research move through FTA and onto LostCousins!

 

[peter]

Your competition will inspire me to let my latest research move through FTA and onto LostCousins!

Excellent - and as you find out more about the prizes on offer you'll feel more and more inspired.

But remember to check the entries you upload against the census!

 

[jorghes]

Excellent - and as you find out more about he prizes on offer you'll feel more and more inspired.

But remember to check the entries you upload against the census!

yeah, that’s why I only upload in batches, takes so long to check the records!

 

[At home in NZ]

as you find out more about he prizes on offer you'll feel more and more inspired.

Have just read the newsletter, I am not inspired at all, there is no point in trying to win A DAY TICKET TO FAMILY TREE LIVE 2020, at Alexandra Palace in London

because it would cost me thousands to go to it.

 

[Bryman]

Have just read the newsletter, I am not inspired at all, there is no point in trying to win A DAY TICKET TO FAMILY TREE LIVE 2020, at Alexandra Palace in London because it would cost me thousands to go to it.

Perhaps you are making an assumption that later prizes would not help? In any case it might make a welcome re-gift to a relative/friend nearer the venue.

 

[jorghes]

Have just read the newsletter, I am not inspired at all, there is no point in trying to win A DAY TICKET TO FAMILY TREE LIVE 2020, at Alexandra Palace in London

because it would cost me thousands to go to it.

You would also get a choice of the prizes, and may be able to choose something that does not require attendance in London.

 

[peter]

You would also get a choice of the prizes, and may be able to choose something that does not require attendance in London.

The prize list is still being finalised, but so far none of the other prizes involve travel.

But surely everyone who belongs to this forum and who lives outside the UK has cousins in Britain who would gladly use a ticket given the opportunity? Winning a prize and giving it to a cousin is surely even more fulfilling than wining it for yourself - didn't someone associated with Christmas say that it was better to give than to receive?

 

[At home in NZ]

everyone who belongs to this forum and who lives outside the UK has cousins in Britain who would gladly use a ticket given the opportunity?

Short answer - NO.
There is another discussion where people admitted that they are the only person in the family that is interested in genealogy. I only have two cousins still alive, they are interested to the extent of looking at the family tree but nothing more.

 

[peter]

Short answer - NO.
There is another discussion where people admitted that they are the only person in the family that is interested in genealogy. I only have two cousins still alive, they are interested to the extent of looking at the family tree but nothing more.

Everyone with British ancestry has tens of thousands of living cousins who are 6th cousin or closer.

When I started my research I wasn't aware of anyone else in my family who was interested - now there are so many it would take quite a while to count them all.

 

[Pauline]

Everyone with British ancestry has tens of thousands of living cousins who are 6th cousin or closer.

Maybe, but we won't be in touch with the vast majority of them, and there may be very few, if any, who we are in touch with often enough, or know well enough.

It doesn't help that over the last year or so, when trying to connect with living cousins (via Ancestry, Lost Cousins or whatever) non-responders are fast becoming the norm. Even if there is an initial response, all too often that is it.