View from The Treehouse

Sentimental Sunday: Mums, my Great-Granddad and my cousins

2012-03-18T17:54:00.002Z

That's been my week!

First of all, it's Mothering Sunday today in the UK. Sadly, I don't have my own Mum any more - I would gladly give my a year off my life to spend an afternoon with her, but that's not an option. Instead, I have been thinking of her and remembering those far off days when a little bunch of freesias would make her day. My own gorgeous daughter made my day with a little box of chocolates - not quite so fragrant, a lot more calorific but infinitely tastier! We shall watch a film together this evening and scoff the lot!

My great-grandfather has been on my mind because I wrote an article about him over on HubPages. They are running a competition in which you have to write an article in response to someone's published question. The question I answered was about which of my ancestors I would like to meet. Henry Brown has always interested me, so I penned Stalking Henry: A Genealogical Journey. I really enjoyed writing this article and it's had a fantastic response. One reader said it brought tears to her eyes! How's that for a compliment.

I've also been continuing to look for more cousins and corresponding with the ones I have already found. I love our Facebook page, it's a great point of contact and resource for sharing photos. There have been a few photos shared with week that have been absolutely great - a wonderful one of my grandfather's cousin looking windswept on a steamship sticks in my mind. Following on from Facebook, another of my cousins is using Pinterest to organise her family snaps. Hadn't thought of that (although I do use Pinterest, I love it!).

Have a great week, I'm off to work on another "Hub" - planning one on the Victorians.

Sentimental Sunday: Putting Right the Errors of the Past

2012-03-04T16:31:00.001Z

This week has been a tad gloomy in the respect that I have been contemplating deaths. Or two deaths, to be more accurate. Both happened some time ago but, due to error or omission, required revisiting.

First there was the death of Sidney Brown. Sidney was one of my great uncles, one of the ones who answered his country's call but who didn't return. He is lying in that corner of a foreign field. Sidney died, from what cause I know not, on 28 February 1917, hence the reason why his death was called to mind this week. And the error that needed to be righted? Well, our covenant with the war dead is that we shall remember them. I feel that Sidney has been forgotten for too long.

His two brothers fared better; Reginald and Ernest Brown had emigrated to Australia prior to WW1 and joined the Australian Imperial Force. When they fell they were not only remembered by the family they left in England, but also by the family that they joined in Australia; their brother, an uncle and cousins. Their brother remembered Reg and Ernie by naming his twin sons after them. His family never forgot them and have remembered them annually on Anzac Day.

Sidney, however, was not remembered so well. I didn't even know his name. Fortunately, last year I got into contact with a cousin in England who had a letter written at the time of Sidney's death giving more details about his last hours in a hospital in Rouen. It makes painful reading. I have shared the letter with my other cousins, and we shall remember Sidney not only on Remembrance Day but on the anniversary of his death.

The second error I have dealt with is just plainly that; an error. I have but one noteworthy relative, a bishop, who died in 1982. This week I was Googling his name and read his Wikipedia entry. It's a fairly brief entry, giving the dates of his tenure and the dates of his birth and death. According to Wikipedia, he died the same year that he was born. A simple typo, I am sure, but one that has been repeated all over the internet! Surely someone could have picked that up, it's glaringly obvious!

It wasn't a difficult task to put the Wikipedia entry right, I just created an account and corrected the document. However, I can't put all the copied articles right, so there will be a lot of wrong information out there. Which just makes you think, how much more is there on the internet that is just plain wrong? Hopefully, as family historians, we are all applying a higher standard of care to our research than a lot of internet researchers are applying to theirs.

Sentimental Sunday: From England to Canada and Back Again

2012-02-26T12:08:00.002Z

One of my most recently "found" cousins lives in Canada (as do several others). She is a third cousin, we share a common set of great-great grandparents. Her grandfather, who was a first cousin of my grandfather, emigrated to Canada around 1912, as did one of my grandfather's brothers. I have already got in touch with the descendants of my great-uncle Robert, but it is wonderful to have found another shoot of the family tree.

My "new" cousin asked for my help this weekend in tracing her grandmother's family. Like me, she doesn't have an international membership for Ancestry - it can get expensive if you just need to check out the occasional record. I am so glad that she did ask, it's been an intriguing weekend!

Her grandmother grew up away from her birth family, the story being that she was given as a servant to a grocer and his wife, her own family having too many children. The reality is turning out to be rather different. From the looks of things, she did go to live with a couple, who indeed owned a grocery business, but there is no question that she was a servant. At first she is described as a "visitor" on the census, but later as "niece". I think that the couple regarded her as family, but perhaps she stayed in touch with her own family, so it stopped short of a formal adoption.

There may be a further dimension; she had a much older sister, 16 years her senior. This woman didn't marry until her early thirties and then she and her husband emigrated to Canada. Her younger sister also emigrated a couple of years later, her adopted family having died. She married my grandfather's cousin soon after arriving in Canada. I wonder if perhaps the sister was in fact the mother and that is why the family gave the girl up. It wasn't unknown for the parents of a young woman who had a child out of wedlock to pass the child off as their own. Maybe this was the case. Or maybe not!

Military Monday: Imperial War Museum WebChat

2012-01-16T16:41:00.000Z

I love the fact that studying my family history has awakened an interest in military history. It's led my on to my Newquay War Memorial project which has given me more insight into military history. However, sometimes you should look at it from the other point of view; how can military history and military records reveal more about your family history?

The Imperial War Museum in London

Photo Credit: WordRidden via Flickr

My own family history research is a case in point. The military records of two of my great-uncle, held by the Australian national archives, revealed their next of kin; my eldest great-uncle. From this information we were able to eventually trace his living relatives, my second cousins. The Commonwealth War Grave Commission records can also help. They sometimes list parents or a spouse's name plus an address that can help you in your search. If you are very lucky, your relative may just have one of the surviving UK service records which can hold a wealth of information.

The Imperial War Museum is hosting a live webchat, in association with Gransnet, on Wednesday, 18 January 2012 at 1-2 pm GMT. Their researcher Mel Donnelly will be passing on her experience during the talk. You can post questions in advance and there are already a few on the site - here is the link: Live Webchat with the Imperial War Museum on Researching Family History.

Sadly, I shall be at work during the webchat, but I hope that you get the opportunity to ask a question if you need to, or just listen in if you are interested.

Sentimental Sunday: Looking Forward to Looking Back

2012-01-01T12:27:00.000Z

Where Will My Family History Take me in 2012?

Photo Credit: supakitmod/FreeDigitalPhoto.net

Over the last year my family tree has grown tremendously. It was pretty healthy at the start of the year but has grown in directions I hadn't even thought about at the beginning of the year. I had it in my mind to explore the Brown side of my family, that being my "main" branch. However, some lucky breaks have meant that I have also made progress in a branch that I thought had more or less reached its limit, and in another branch that I hadn't really even looked at too much. In addition, my family history has taken me down a completely different route and made me reassess my life goals generally.

What does this year hold? Well, last year's experience shows that even with the best laid plans the best outcomes often appear out of nowhere. I have found several new cousins over the past year and I was only actively searching for some of them. Three of them were happy accidents, extremely happy accidents, since I now have a photograph of my great-grandparents Alfred Williams and Ellen Jenkins. One of my other "lost cousins" has provided me with a very precious letter, written by my great-uncle Edwin concerning the death of one of my other great-uncles, Sidney in WW1. I also met one of my found "lost cousins", one of the highlights of my year. So, 2011 definitely underlined for me the importance of contacting cousins who are lost. My hunt goes on in 2012 - I will be writing about it on my other family history blog, The Cousin Hunter.

The other unexpected twist to 2011 was that I began to write online to make money. I started my HubPages project to finance my family history subscriptions and as a way to build a budget for my Newquay World War 1 War Memorial project. It turns out that I love writing and I am seeing some success. However, I am well aware that I have created an imbalance - the writing on HubPages and other sites has now taken over. What began as a sideline to finance my family history has now eaten up all my family history/WW1 research time. During 2012 I shall be addressing this. My ideal solution would be to make enough money to quit my day job, write during the day and go back to research in the evenings. It's a lovely thought, and one that I am giving serious consideration. Fingers crossed!

2011 has also seen the demise of one of my former goals: becoming a professional genealogist. I had thought that I could turn my hand to making a living from researching other people's family history. This year I have only taken on one commission and whilst I vastly enjoyed the research, I have found that actually I find the typing up a bit boring. I won't be doing any more family histories, other than my own. Oh, and one commission would hardly make a living!

I hope to be posting on this blog more regularly in 2012 - I slacked off in the last quarter of 2011, for the reasons above. I can't wait to see where my family history journey takes me and who I will meet on the journey. Any detours will be gladly accepted too!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Follow Friday: A Helping Hand Up from Down Under

2011-10-28T22:20:00.001+01:00

One of the first blogs I followed was Judy Webster's UK/Australia Genealogy Blog. I think it is probably aimed at Aussies with British roots, but it works for me to - British with "lost" (now found) Aussie cousins. Judy is a professional genealogist and a great source of information. Check out her website Judy Webster's Genealogy Advice if you have an interest in Australian Family History (especially that of Queensland).

Judy is one of the coordinators of a new project, and that's what I would really like to highlight. It is the Genealogists for Families project. The inspiration for the project was Judy's father, who had an altruistic streak - he would lend his "Do Good Money" to local hard working people in need of a little short term help. In his honour, Judy has set up the project which, like Judy's father, lends money to those in need. To volunteer you can invest $25, which will be repaid. Visit Judy's the Genealogists for Families project for more details.

Good on you, Judy!

Sentimental Sunday: Finding Comfort in the Past

2011-10-09T11:10:00.001+01:00

It's not been a great few months here at The Treehouse, for various reasons, and things seem to be sliding from bad to worse. Fortunately we have weathered worse times and we know that we will eventually bob back up again - we are just bracing ourselves for the storm. My usual take on hard times is to keep hold of the proverb "this too shall pass", be grateful for what I have got and make sure that I get plenty of exercise in the great outdoors. Another anti-depression measure is taking comfort in the past - my family history provides great lessons in overcoming adversity and my hardships pale into insignificance when compared to some of the circumstances endured by my ancestors. Here are some lessons learnt.

Financial worries: with one exception, all branches of my family went through periods of financial hardship. The Warrens left their small North Devon market town when the wool industry collapsed and found themselves in the slums of Bristol. Despite the major change to his life, John Warren adapted and prospered. Similarly, the Masons were forced to leave rural Ireland due to the potato famine and for several years endured a cramped existence in a couple of rooms near the Liverpool docks.

Physical hardship: I thank the Lord that I am not a Victorian wife. With one exception, all my great-grandmothers lost at least one baby, and most were producing a baby every couple of years throughout their lives. It wasn't only the women of course, the men worked hard too. My great-great grandfather Frederick Hawkins ended his days in the workhouse after losing his sight and so losing his livelihood as a mason.

Human tragedy: The loss of your children is the hardest blow to suffer and as mentioned, most of my great-grandparents endured these losses. But perhaps even worse is the loss suffered in the event of war - worry beyond endurance, the strain of waiting for news, highs and lows of hope, and the final crushing blow delivered by telegram - my great-grandparents Harry and Ellen Brown received three telegrams, I shall never be so unfortunate.

My life may feel hard at the moment, but put in the context of my ancestors, I am lucky beyond belief. It's a lesson I don't forget.

Thrifty Thursday: 15 Days of Free Access to Records

2011-10-06T20:05:00.000+01:00

Not all the records on Ancestry, of course, but as I have mentioned before, from 1st October until 15th October, Ancestry is celebrating its 15th Anniversary and as a result we get access to records our memberships don't cover. So far, I have tried the US Social Security Death Records - no luck there in locating the missing great-grandfather (James Toal). This evening I am devoting myself to the Australian Census records in the hope of finding some further (distant) branches of the family tree.

As far as I can see, you lucky people in the US get the added bonus of entry into a sweepstake - us lowly Brits aren't so lucky, we just get the free access.

Tuesday's Tip: Brick Walls

2011-10-04T20:28:00.001+01:00

I have run into so many brick walls during my family history research that I should have a flat nose! Sometimes the wall has held me up for a few weeks, sometimes a few years. In some ways it is natural that our research peters out on some branches. We don't have the seemingly infinite resources of the WDYTYA production team so are unable to travel the world following up documents unearthed in some obscure archive by an obliging local archivist. No, for us mere mortals, we usually have to accept that most of our research will (unless we are very lucky) wind up somewhere in the 18th Century. What is galling is when matters appear to reach a conclusion far sooner - say in the mid 19th Century.

Over the years I have found that there are a few common causes of brick walls:

Mistakes made on original documents (eg misspellings, wrong age etc)
Mistakes made by the modern day transcriber (eg mistaking a copperplate "T" for an "F"
Our own difficulty in reading original documents (due to poor quality of the document or archaic script)
Searching in the wrong place for an ancestor (our ancestors were often more mobile than we imagine).

The good news is that most brick walls can be broken down simply by learning a few new search strategies, applying a little lateral thinking and doing a little studying. Patience is also a virtue in the demolition process - leaving a problem and coming back to it later will sometimes reveal an answer, and sometimes new documents become available online.

I have put together my ideas for breaking down brick walls in a new article on Hubpages. As always, I welcome any feedback or additional ideas.

Follow Friday: (W)rapture

2011-09-30T20:45:00.000+01:00

I particularly loved one post this week. It illustrated how the commonplace and ordinary can become, simply by dint of time, out of the ordinary and rather marvellous. Many thanks to Diane from Nuts From the Family Tree for sharing the story and her cousin Steve.

As usual, I am not going to recount the story - let Diane and Steve tell you. Be warned - you may never discard a note or a gum wrapper again - it could become part of your family's heritage! Visit Nuts From the Family Tree for the whole story.

Ancestry.com Anniversary Sweepstakes

2011-09-30T18:57:00.001+01:00

To celebrate their 15th Anniversary on 1st October 2011, Ancestry.com are offering daily prizes for 15 days plus a chance to win their Grand Prize - going behind the scenes of WDYTYA? with Lisa Kudrow. If you want a chance to win, the link above should take you to the draw - good luck!

Follow Friday: Sit Up Straight and Pay Attention!

2011-09-23T16:56:00.000+01:00

I found a new blog this week, via Redgage actually, and as I am a teacher couldn't resist sharing this post. It is from the Oregon Art Guy's blog and is a test from 1895 for eighth grade students. We tend to think of our ancestors as being less educated, particularly as they left school at a younger age than we did. After reading this test I can only assume that they packed an awful lot in to their schooling! Not only would my Year 8 classes fail, but I would too. Here is the Oregon Art Guy Blog.

Let me know how you get on!

Those Places Thursday: Bristol in 1920s

2011-09-22T21:59:00.001+01:00

Bristol is my home town and the home town of many of my ancestors. This is "The Centre" - I spent many hours waiting here for buses to take me up to school on Cheltenham Road - happy days! Hope you enjoy the video, courtesy of Youtube.

A discount code for Genes Reunited (UK)

2011-09-18T15:55:00.001+01:00

Over on my blog The Cousin Hunter I have shared the good news that the jolly nice people at Genes Reunited have sent a discount code for their Platinum membership. Naturally, I couldn't leave you all out! Sadly it's only good for the UK - I know that cuts most of you out - and must be used by 3 October 2011. Hope it's of some use to at least one of you!

"Get 10% off at Genes Reunited"

Sunday's Obituary: Flt Lt James Martin

2011-09-18T11:11:00.000+01:00

James Martin died on this day in 1948. He had been born on 30 December 1902 in Dundee, Scotland. He was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Martin. James left Scotland to join the Royal Air Force and by 1932 he was married and settled down with a growing family. He served throughout the Second World War and his wife Ivy and his five children must have been delighted that he survived. After the war he remained in the RAF. On 18 September 1948 James took his last flight, at RAF Manston in Kent. I have written about the tragic events of that day before (it was not just a tragedy for the Martin family and the RAF lost not just one aircraft that day, but three, in unrelated accidents). Here is the link to the Airshow Tragedy at Manston, Kent, 1948.

Black Sheep Sunday: Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary!

2011-09-11T21:49:00.002+01:00

I was running through in my head the various occupations of my ancestors a few days ago and it occurred to me that in the Brown/Warren branches of the family there is a preponderance of policemen. My great-great grandfather William Henry Mann Brown and my great-great-grandfather John Warren were both constables for a time, as was John Warren's father, Joseph. Both William and John had sons who were policemen: Henry Brown, my great-grandfather, and Joseph Warren his brother-in-law. How very upstanding, if not a tad boring. But hold on! Something has arrested (sorry, couldn't help myself) my attention - Miss Mary Jane Warren - you naughty girl!

Mary Jane Warren was the eldest daughter of John Warren and the sister of my great-grandmother Ellen Warren. She was therefore the granddaughter, daughter, sister and sister-in-law of police officers. It would seem that this was not enough to keep her on the straight and narrow. No, Mary Jane went bad.

I know because I found her listed on the 1871 Census as an inmate of the Park Row Asylum in Bristol (not to be confused with the nearby Blind Asylum). At first I imagined that she was a lunatic, but further investigations revealed that this asylum was founded in 1854 and was for "for hopeful discharged female prisoners and hopeful destitute girls not prosecuted" . Mary Jane's occupation, like the other inmates, is given as "domestic servant".

The mystery is, what is a "hopeful" woman or girl, prosecuted or not. I presume it may mean one who is truly sorry for whatever (probably petty) crime she may have committed and who has hope of some redemption. I cannot find out what Mary Jane did to deserve her incarceration, but it seems that she put her past behind her for I believe she married a couple of years later, at the age of 21, to Joseph Lancaster. The couple lived in North Somerset and had a very large family, presumably to the relief of all her relatives in blue.

Thrifty Thursday: Free Trials Work!

2011-09-08T16:59:00.000+01:00

Back in August I wrote a quick post with a link to an article which I had written on Hubpages. The article was Can you Grow a Family Tree for Free? The article put forward my ideas for saving some money on your family history research, and that's what they were, my ideas - I didn't have any proof that they would really work. However, a couple of days ago my husband's first cousin put a triumphant post on Facebook, and now I have my proof! Here's what happened.

In my article I suggested that you should contact your family for information and, failing them having anything useful, to search for "lost" cousins. Beverley didn't need to go much further than me, fortunately. I had researched her father's side of the family as a Christmas present for his sister, my mother-in-law. So, with one email, Bev had a ready made family tree, one branch of which went back to the 17th Century. As Bev is interested in family history herself, she decided that she wanted to add to the tree, particularly on her mother's side. So, clever girl, she did what I had suggested in my article - she signed up for a free trial.

Bev chose the Ancestry 14 Day FREE trial and, having prepared herself beforehand, she has spent the last two weeks at her keyboard. Her proud Facebook boast (and quite justifiable too) was that she now has in excess of 800 names on the family tree and has got back to the 16th Century on some lines. Wow! Of course, she will need to put the information on to her own software, she won't be able to store it on Ancestry, but otherwise, a good use of a two week free period. I'm really pleased for her, although somewhat apprehensive of how much I may have to be adding to my husband's tree (who, incidentally, has no interest whatsoever in his family history - grrrrrr).

You do need to give Ancestry your credit card details to sign up and take care to unsubscribe before the trial period is up. With that in mind, I can't see that you can fail to win!

Follow Friday: Lists and Photos

2011-09-02T22:15:00.000+01:00

God bless the people this week whose blogs were simple to digest - I seem to have a million and one things to do (all self-imposed, so don't even think of wasting any pity on me) and their posts have been an easy to swallow diversion. Not that I am suggesting that they were simple to compose, they are just easy on the eye.

First of all Greta at Greta's Genealogy Blog with a great list of things she doesn't care about in genealogy. I bet we can all add an "amen" at the end of her list. I won't spoil it by telling you what she lists, I'll just say that I'm with her all the way on # 1 & 2, # 10 would be terrible, but having thought about it, I actually would be amazed and pleased if #5 happened (I live in the UK, remember!).

Over at Nuts from the Family Tree there is a great collection of photographs to go with a Labor Day theme. My favourite is the barber - I love those tinted photos.

On non-genealogy topics, Through Streets Broad and Narrow has a simply sumptuous 1950s advert this week - if only I could look like that! And as ever, Trixie at That's Just Stupid What You Said, keeps me in stitches - unlike her I don't have a Zac Ephron crush, but looking at those pictures, I could be guilty of an inappropriate fleeting thought!

A New Blog

2011-09-02T14:21:00.000+01:00

One of the best and most exciting parts of my family history journey has not been into the past, but into the present - finding "lost" cousins. It is such a buzz to find a cousin, particularly when you hit it off - even if you don't, you usually find out a little bit of information that's useful! So, with this in mind, I have started a new blog - The Cousin Hunter.

Some of my motivation is purely selfish - to help me find my own cousins. As I explain (quite badly, I fear) in my opening post, I am slowly getting to grips with what the search engines like - and they like Blogger. So, if I mention the names of the families I am looking for, they rank highly with the search engines and so I am visible to cousins who might be looking for me.

I would also like the new blog to act as a resource eventually, with advice and perhaps a message board or forum. However, it is early days and for now it is just a few pages of mainly personal information. I hope it will progress though, particularly the "Successfully Found" page!

Thrifty Thursday: Ancestry UK Freebie

2011-09-01T12:59:00.000+01:00

You may well have had the email or seen the adverts, but in case you didn't, Ancestry UK are allowing free access to their immigration records for eight days - 29th August to 5th September. This means that you will get the benefit of Worldwide Membership for that time. Check out Ancestry for yourself - I've even managed to put in a posh search box!

Can I also recommend Ancestry's occupation records. The recently released Railworker Records have proved a treasure trove for me, providing one great-great grandfather's date of birth, date of retirement, and his promotion records. His son didn't fair so well - he was sacked for absence without permission, which I notice ties in with the date of his son's birth - clearly he decided to take paternity leave before it was even invented. Also found a nice record of a payment to a great-uncle for his help in fire watching during World War Two.

It's preaching to the converted, but....

2011-08-31T18:57:00.000+01:00

I have written an article about family history blogs and ways to get more traffic to them. You are all, of course, masters and mistresses of the genealogy blog, and don't need my advice, but I really need some comments from you kind people - is my writing OK? Am I just whistling in the wind? Anyway, here's the link: Get more traffic to your family history blog.

The "Found" Cousins

2011-08-24T17:39:00.000+01:00

I have briefly revisited earth after we found our new cousins. Here are some details (some personal details have been left out to protect the innocent!)

Cousin Number One is from Australia and is my third cousin, ie we share a set of great-great-grandparents. My great grandmother Ellen was his great grandfather Joseph's brother. Joseph emigrated to Australia and it was to Joseph's house that two of my great-uncles moved shortly before WW1. Joseph and his family were very attached to the boys, as evidenced by the notices they placed in the Sydney newspapers after they were killed in action in WW1.

The best piece of information so far is that our new cousin has a diary which Joseph kept on his journey over to Australia. In it he mentions my great grandfather - we now know that he was known as "Harry" rather than "Henry". The diary also contains a newspaper clipping from a Bristol newspaper carrying the notice of my g-g-grandfather's death in 1915 - so we now know his date of death, in 1915 at the age of 83.

It's not all been one way traffic - I have sent him reams of stuff that I have - hopefully he will make sense of it all! We will definitely be keeping in touch, and of course he is now in touch with some of the other "found" cousins in Australia, so who knows, they may get to meet up.

Cousin Number Two is living in England and is another third cousin, again we share a set of great-great-grandparents, but different ones - so she is not related to Cousin Number One. Her great-grandfather was the brother of my great-grandfather, Harry, mentioned above. Not a lot of information from her as yet, but she has joined our Facebook group, so hopefully in the fullness of time we shall get to know each other better.

Still looking for more cousins - the hunt goes on!

It's me, just different!

2011-08-23T12:31:00.001+01:00

Just to let you know that I have changed my profile name and profile photo - but it's still me! I have started publishing quite a bit on various websites and wanted to pull it all into line. You get to see me dog too - isn't she cute!

Two New Cousins in Less that a Week!

2011-08-18T22:19:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to quickly share a couple of successes - not all my doing, by any means, but a joint effort with another splendid "found" cousin.

So, two new third cousins join the fold - they are both related to me, but not each other. The connection is already bearing fruit for both sides - all very positive. Will write more soon, I am in danger of babbling right now.

Sleep well!

Thrifty Thursday: Can you grow a family tree for free?

2011-08-18T10:18:00.000+01:00

I used to spend most of my disposable income on clothes and cosmetics. Clearly I have hit middle-age - nowadays I plough my spare hard-earned cash into family history or my other passion (or obsession, depending on your point of view!), war memorials/WW1 history. I would however, still like to look presentable, so I need to find a way of saving money on the family history stuff and diverting it back to the look-good fund.

I have thought about it and put my thoughts on a Hub - here is the link: Can you grow a family tree for free? Hope you enjoy it and maybe get some tips.