Hi everyone

I am Carol Burns nee Thomas. I was born in April 1960 in St david's Hospital, Bangor North Wales and lived in Ty Croes , Anglesey with my Mum and Dad.

In 1964 we moved to York with dad's work and my sister was born in Oct 1964 followed by my brother in July 1972.

My Mum is Mair Owen b Anglesey and my Dad is Kenneth Gordon Thomas b Bangor


I started doing my family tree about 1996. My dad was doing his side so I decided to do my then husbands side as he didn't know of any relatives that were still around. His Dad had died when he was 4 and his Mum died when he was 10. He has 3 brothers and 2 sisters but none of them remembered much about other relatives especially Grandparents.

I started with his dad's birth date and went from there. I have since managed to find his dad's siblings and their children as well as going as far back as his Great Great Grandad in the direct line and back to 1478 with his Great Grandmothers family. There seem to be cousins popping out of the woodwork all the time now even thoughit has taken 9 years of searching constantly for them. Have you ever tried searching for Burns or Turnbull in Northumberland? lol Not easy at all.

I then started on his Mum's but have not been able to get too far back as the family were from Burma and not Military but we have managed to get back to 1780 with his Mum's Dad's family so that is good enough for me. Still more to find yet from that side

My dad asked me for help on his side and I corrected a few mistakes with a lot of researching but we now seem to have got a lot further back than he had on his own. My Mum's side has also been incorporated and this has gone back to 1800's Again the problem has been the names - Owen, Griffith, Thomas and Jones all in Anglesey

But, luckily I love a challenge and this is one challenge that cannot be completed. I think this is why I have lasted so long at it and enjoy it so much. I get plenty of brick walls and go for months with nothing found at all but then all of a sudden they appear from nowhere and I am back on the path again

I would love to be able to say that I have a long list of other hobbies but I can't as I do not have time for other hobbies except reading.

My tree, compared to many other peoples, is small at 6000+ people but it is an achievement for me as I have had to work hard to find those I have.

I am classed as an "anorak" wearer by many but do I care? I don't think so. I'm happy with census images and birth entries to look through. Never mind your magazines about celebrities and what they have been doing - I would rather find out about our own celebrities (our ancestors) and what they had been doing

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing about you all

Carol