Hmmm crikey ok here's a go...well at least the process i use. I tend to flit all over the place when researching though so might be hard for me to explain.

With Tom CUTTS, i put his name in the to general search box first with birth and death year parameters.

I then carefully went through the census for the years that were highlighted that he might appear in. From that I gain the information of his family including their movements. This gives me birth locations and checking with the information for the differing years, confirms whether or not i have the right family - writing it down can make connections seem clearer as you research.

When you find out the right areas they lived in and more dates, you can then take calculated guesses at years and places for marriages and look for the individuals amongst the records. Sometimes these can be just out of the counties people may have been born in although in the 1800's people didn't tend to move away much from the place they mainly were bought up in, unlike now and if they did it possibly was a major like immigration to another country. By doing this,you then get the females maiden name which can then lead to you hunting a maternal side down in the census by looking her up with her maiden name.

With Tom's mother, being noted as a widow in one census, i then went back to the previous one to see if she was a widow then. If not, then it will pinpoint the decade in which her husband died and you can do a finer search for him amongst other records such as the deaths.

It's sort of hard to explain but does take practice so don't be disheartened, there is an AMAZING lot of information to be gained by just a little patience and thinking outside the square ) and on saying that there are still some people i get practically no information for!

The information i've gleaned from Findmypast above for Tom and his family took over 3 hours but well worth it....in a funny sort of way, by the time you've completed the research, they almost feel like your own family!

I prefer Findmypast... i've used Ancestry.com also but feel that's a lot 'clunkier' to use.

Don't know if you can all see this, but may help if you have a subscription to FMP www.findmypast.co.uk/help-and-advice/kno...rriages-deaths/index

There is also the free BDM site www.freebmd.org.uk/

Don't forget to use your country's archives website - it may lead you to further documents such as probates [our NZ one often gives downloaded digital military records if they have been requested by someone already. For example see Tom CUTTS online.
archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do...20994856&digital=yes

Cheers [feel free to ask questions! I'll try to answer].
Sarndra

Ancestry.com has a help section yes www.ancestry.com/cs/HelpAndAdviceUS
and the message boards are certainly most worthwhile to 'noobs'
boards.ancestry.com/ [hope you can see those. I'm automatically logged in all the time, so may show unlogged a different page].

Findmypast.co.uk have a blog
blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/great-war-forum/
and forums
www.familysearch.org/learn/forums/en/index.php

It's just a matter of trawling through the particular sections you require.

Cheers
Sarndra

Sarndra wrote: Sarndra, Lol, we understand how FMP and Ancestry can occupy an entire day or three.
djb wrote: Good idea, David!
I see it's already happening !

Cheers,

Mark

My name is Karen Ritchie and I now live in Australia. I believe Tom Cutts is my great grandfather. My biological grandmother, his daughter, was Edith Cutts - mother to my father, Glen Beaumont. I remember Tom and Rachel when I was a young girl living in Auckland. I also remember that he had medals and memorabillia from the wars that was donated to the R.S.A. along with his journals. I would love any further information that anyone may have about him.

I was so excited to read this message as I had lost any links with his family.

Karen Ritchie

Teacher wrote:
Oh that's so cool Karen! I hope the information may be of benefit for you. If you find out what he was awarded his Military Medal for do let us know!

Cheers
Sarndra