I thought researching my girlfriends family tree would be a lovely gift. But I thought it would be quite easy, I thought once I have her parents details and records it will be easy to search for their parents and so on.

I started the family tree and so far have my girlfriend (Sarah Lilley) , her brother (Adam Lilley) and the parents (Keith Lilley and Lesley Lilley nee Cadby)

When I search for her parents records it gives me maiden name of her mother but that's all, how do I then go on the search for her Mothers parents with just a surname?

Am I completely wasting my time and money here? I wanted to go back many generations as they have a tie back to Africa but no one knows how or when, so it would be lovely to show them via this family tree.

Do I give up already?