Has anyone here had experience doing genealogy of their families?
My family is traced back to the mid-1700's, but I am trying to trace back further now. We know a lot of details of everyone from their arrival in Canada, but I am now trying to trace back in England. The furthest back we had so far was the father of my ancestor who came to Canada. But we just knew the father and mother's names.
I contacted a woman in the records office in the town they came from, and she pointed me in the direction of a university that held records. Well, what do you know, I found his (the father's) will! I ordered a copy and had them email me a scanned copy as well, which I got today.
First of all, it's the neatest thing ever to see my ancestor's perfect old style writing from 1759! But it is really hard to read
It is in great condition and really neat handwriting, but there are phrases, words, and whole sections that I just don't understand.
I've forwarded it to the lady in the records office, hoping she can make sense of it, but honestly I'm not sure how soon I will hear from her. A month ago she wasn't sure how I could pay (they don't accept credit cards there), and she wasn't going to start work on anything until I could pay her. I have tried getting in touch with her, just to find she was on holidays, and I am leaving for there in 3 weeks now. I was hoping she would have had my information done before we left!
Anyways, I'm just wondering if anyone can help me out, if anyone has any experience with this kind of thing! I just really want to be able to decipher and understand this will! The old English is beautiful, but frustrating!