[Margaret Pilkington]

Retlaw, I fell into the research by accident(if you can call it that)

My niece in Australia had started trying to research both her mothers past and her husbands too(he was,by all accounts) descended from seafaring stock who were on the transport ships taking criminals to the colonies.

Then I started out trying to find out something about my side of the family.
My Ma was under the impression that her father was South African, but it turned out he was from a large Lincolnshire family(but he had spent much of his life out in SA).

My research has also shown that many of the weddings were 'shotgun' affairs...with babies arriving just a few months after the nuptials.

I don't know how future generations will research their ancestors. Fewer of them seem to want to get married.

I am sad that I did not ask questions of my grand parents while they were alive, but when you are young you do not have any grasp on what you will want to know in the future.
My maternal Grandfather died when I was very young and my paternal grandmother died when I was nine.

I know exactly what you mean when you say that each time they update the websites they seem to make it harder.
I found that fewer details gave better results on Ancestry.
I had never before been able to look at the census details and these proved to be really interesting(though the copperplate was hard to read...but as you know I have a little bit of a head start in that department. Anyone who can read the writing of Doctors is going to be ahead of the game).
Yes there were some questionable results, but cross referencing details helped get to the info that was relevant.

I might do a bit more today.