Janette,
I do like questions I can answer! First, sit next to the older members of your family and ask them for any information they might have (and do that soon, because they tend to die off just when you think that you needn't visit Aunt Gladys until next year)! Get used to taking copious notes, cross checking where possible, and constantly asking questions where there is something obviously wrong (people frequently forget or invent details – or they might never have known the full story in the first place). I find it best not to be judgemental - for example, I cannot possibly know what London in WW2 was like and why certain things happened in my family. I can only elicit the truth, check it and record it. Start a card index or computer file for each person, or buy the latest version of a program like Family Tree Maker. If you find something important enough to note, record the source and, if possible, check the original.
Write to the following with your mother’s maiden name and her date of birth. Give them a ring to find the cost of the certificate first, but I think it is £5.60.
General Registry
Deemster's Walk
Bucks Road
DOUGLAS Isle of Man IM1 3AR
Work: 01624 685 242
Work fax: 01624 687 004
That certificate will give you the details of your grandparents – names, ages, occupations and address. Then the fun starts! With a little luck, your grandparents should appear in the 1901 census (when we see it) with their families. That gives you possible birth-dates and locations. As you move back in time, watch for the Pooh Traps (two people with the same name born at the same time and Jumping To Conclusions). However, the Island is well documented and Brian Lawson has published an index to each census. Then you can start using www.familysearch.com and before you know it… you’re hooked. Wills, their houses, occupation, relatives, war-service, medals, gravestones and obituaries – all will become an obsession based on maths: you have two parents, four GP, 8 GGP, 16 GGP etc.
Janette, don’t do it! Go to a dark room now, lie down and wait for the feeling to go away. It will be cheaper in time, effort and money! Otherwise, welcome to the company of a bunch of kind and helpful people and the start of a fascinating hobby!
James
(oh and by the way, if you find an Eleanor Kelly during your searches....)