Any family history researchers?

Just wondering if anyone could give me some advice about tracing a family tree.

My father's first wife died very young, in the 1930s, of TB. They had one son, obviously my half brother, who was killed in a motorbike accident in the 1960s. His Finnish wife went back to Finland with their two toddlers, and of course I have kept in touch (the daughter takes after this side of the family and has loads of dogs and owns a boarding and training kennel!).

Anyway, Janet is now curious about her grandmother's side of the family - i.e. my father's first wife. I know her name and year of marriage and can guess at her year of birth. With that information, would I be able to find out more by joining something like the ancestry site which is always advertised on TV? I know it's not cheap, but I think it's something I'd enjoy doing - unless of course it's a waste of money.

Any suggestions about how I can go about this gratefully received.

Taffsmum and Bitkin are the experts in this field.
Taffsmum found out loads of things for me and has helped me set up a family tree etc.

I researched my whole family tree, found cousins I didn't know I had and related to them that their grandfather didn't go down with a ship in the war but lived with my grandmother now known not to be his wife ever since but first wife told the cousins and children that he had died at see rather than tell him he had walked out on her. History is amazing what you find. I recommend it. I belong to Ancestry for about 3/4 years but once I had gleaned all I wanted I then cancelled my membership but not before doing both my ex husbands side as well as my own. So it is certainly worth it for a couple or three years. It becomes obsessive in those first years until you are scratching around in the end to find the odd third cousin or so. Good luck if you want any advice do come back to me. Moyra

There a few free sites you can look at first.
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl You should be able to find Birth,marriage & death indexes on there.
Ancestry is great but expensive. You can join for 14 days first for free though as long as you cancel before the 14 days are up you won't get charged.
There is also Find my Past. I think they are a bit cheaper than Ancestry - I prefer them.

Moyra - love the story about the grandfather thought to be lost at sea but actually alive and well and living out of wedlock! It's like something out of 'Who Do You Think You Are'. I can imagine it easily becoming very addictive.

Thank you for the link and reference to Find My Past, Lynne. I shall check them out, but in the meantime will email you as suggested.

Thank you so much for your response everyone - Janet's English isn't all that good and I think she'd find it very difficult to do any research herself. She grew up without her father, and now she's a grandmother herself I think she's finding a sudden need to find out about her own past.

I will be absolutely delighted to have an initial look if you and Janet would like me to, as I have Ancestry and some other sites too.

Just give me a prod if you would like me to take this further, and if I can have any information re names and dates that you already have, that would be a good start.

You have to bear in mind that depending on the names involved (an unusual one is a godsend!) it might mean sending off for lots of certificates in order to verify each stage of the research - these are not cheap at nearly ten pounds each, but are fascinating and wonderful to have.

Again as a Pat Murphy whose ancestors came from Ireland I am dead jealous of those who can easily trace ancestry!

Tang, I have a good friend who has Irish Ancestry, and she absolutely despairs over how little information there is. Such a shame because there is such rich history over there.

Pat Murphy eh Even if records were in abundance that would be a tricky one

There's no way I'd attempt to research my mother's side of the family - she was Welsh, an Evans, father's occupation Coal Miner - can you imagine how many of them there were!

I'd be delighted if you could have an initial look for me, Bitkin. I am planning to join Ancestry and do as much family research as I can, but I won't be joining immediately and it would be helpful to Janet if I could give her any little bits of information. I understand about having to buy certificates - I often watch Heir Hunters!

No unusual names I am afraid. The family I want to know about is my father's first wife - maiden name Ethel May Baker. I know she married my father, Sidney Charles Palmer, in 1928, probably in Bromley. I believe she was 17, so presumably born round about 1911. I think she died at the age of 28, so very late 1930s or early 1940s I would guess.

What a great hobby this will be in the long winter evenings ahead!

I will have a quick look for you now - let's hope that she was born early in 1911 or even before that because that will give us a foothold.

Be warned......once you settle down to doing this, you may not resurface for years It is highly addictive