Quote Originally Posted by jon1959 View Post
I have always read your posts on family history with interest. I wondered if the information now available on the web makes it much easier to put together family trees than it did when my dad was on the case with patchy physical records? I would like to fill in a few gaps and see if it is possible to go further back - but I'm not driven enough to go over the same ground as my dad and spend weeks trailing around West Country churches and graveyards.
To answer your question, it can be much easier now to research than even in 2000 when I started. The pay-for sites are wonderful (and could be accessed in local libraries if open) and the searchable sites of newspapers can be incredibly rewarding. Family Search (the Mormons free site) is very good and the Free BMD and parish records sites are excellent.

But you still need to be absolutely sure that the lines you are tracing are the right ones - otherwise you are wasting your time. Marriage and birth certs need to be obtained to confirm information. I had a case where a client's ancestors shared an unusual name with another person and all the published family trees followed the wrong line. Only by getting a cert could the right line be established.

What I will say is that anyone can access the on-line records, but an experienced researcher will access far more information. He/she will also often break down the seemingly impenetrable brickwalls taking research back several generations. I have a check list of things to do for every ancestor so that no stone is left unturned. It is surprising what is revealed. It's this nous and experience that you pay for if you use someone else. People worry about the cost. I do it because I enjoy doing it. There is a cost involved, but its not prohibitive.

Also there is only so much research that can be done on the internet. Libraries and County Archive Record Offices as well as the National Archives MUST be visited. In TBG's case, the answer to his question was only arrived at because 1) I spotted something in a Cardiff paper which was apparently unrelated and 2) I visited Cathays library (the local history section) where the key was found to unlock a mystery. It wouldn't have happened without that. I have to say that unlocking what these Archives have is a specialised science.

I wouldn't rubbish what your Dad did. He would have discovered stuff along the way that you would never get from the internet.

You also have to have serendipity on your shoulder - or call it luck - or call it having the eye. I could give you so many examples of this......