Tracing your ancestry
- Thread starter C1500
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I have in the past...thankfully my grandmothers on both sides of the family had done a lot of the legwork so I had fairly complete family trees for both my mom's and dad's sides of the family to start. From there, I spent a little time on Ancestry filling in the info further back in time. It was pretty interesting, no doubt!
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ArdentVol
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That's kinda why I want to do it I have so much info to start with but my father and most of his direct line are long gone. Mom's side is easy to trace since my mamaw's brother has a book listing stuff all the way down to some jobs people had. I'm not sure why, but I just really want to know stuff about some of my family. I have always been huge into history and have a love for our country so I like to see where my family served in the military.
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tbh
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1. You can just google a name to try to find an obituary.
2. Plug in what you know in findagrave.com.
3. After going back far as ya can in findagrave, then plug in those oldest names and dates in the browse family surnames part of ancestors.familysearch.org. Occasionally you might hit one there that goes WAY back in time. Good luck.
2. Plug in what you know in findagrave.com.
3. After going back far as ya can in findagrave, then plug in those oldest names and dates in the browse family surnames part of ancestors.familysearch.org. Occasionally you might hit one there that goes WAY back in time. Good luck.
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During a visit to Salt Lake City a few years ago, we got started on "Family Search" at the Mormon visitor center. Fascinating & very helpful! Now I've gone deeper in to my family history than ever before. Also use Find a Grave.com for obituaries, etc. Both are free.
Create Account custom — FamilySearch.org
Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records
Create Account custom — FamilySearch.org
Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records
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My mother has traced her family back to England in the late 1500's, there was a few jam ups along the way; but in her retirement it's kept her busy and led to finding some good stories.
Via 23andMe I connected with a distant relation from Ontario who had fleshed out my Paternal Grandmother's side to around 1800, following them from Ireland to Canada. For whatever reason my branch left to go to Michigan in the 1880's, and what information I was able to provide helped him fill in some loose ends and in return he sent me years of research, census and tax records, etc.
Paternal Grandfather's side has been sparse, I can get to Scotland ca. 1800 fairly reliably. I have an eccentric aunt who says she has traced it back to Jesus but in the name of sanity I pretty much throw her research in its own folder and disregard it as looking for a fanciful story than anything legitimate.
Via 23andMe I connected with a distant relation from Ontario who had fleshed out my Paternal Grandmother's side to around 1800, following them from Ireland to Canada. For whatever reason my branch left to go to Michigan in the 1880's, and what information I was able to provide helped him fill in some loose ends and in return he sent me years of research, census and tax records, etc.
Paternal Grandfather's side has been sparse, I can get to Scotland ca. 1800 fairly reliably. I have an eccentric aunt who says she has traced it back to Jesus but in the name of sanity I pretty much throw her research in its own folder and disregard it as looking for a fanciful story than anything legitimate.
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ArdentVol
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I think it's fascinating, but my wife really hates that sort of stuff, so it's not like I'm going to take a vacation where I read moldy documents at the courthouse. I live where my ancestors were all pioneers, so it's a little easier for me. I have a relative who traced my paternal ancestors all the way back to France in the 1500's, so I'm just gonna take his word for it. They were Huguenots. It's kind of hard to believe today, but millions of people were killed in France for not being Catholic. It's just hard to believe that millions of people were even around. Anyway, they escaped and so I exist, I reckon.
Try searching in Start Your Family Tree - Search Genealogy Archives You can only search people that have passed but with a little practice you can climb a tree pretty quickly. My daughter and I traced some ancestors named John and Priscilla that came over in 1620.
The Familysearch.org website that @feathersax shared is a great starting point. Through my own research, I discovered a few years back that an ancestor on my mother's side is buried in Knoxville at the Bethel CSA cemetery after serving with a volunteer infantry unit out of north Florida (Mom's side of the family has lived on the GA/FL border for many generations). The unique volunteer/Tennessee connection is interesting to me, as the only other person in the whole family tree with a connection to Knoxville is, well...me, having been born a few miles away at UT Medical Center right at 120 years later.
My dad and his aunt did extensive research and compilation of our family history. Duly recorded, though not in true "tree" format. Which is something my son has some interest in updating to. We have a lot of documentation. Letters, newspapers, pics, paintings. You name it. Probably half a dozen bankers boxes. Have original canvas of great, great, great, great grandfather even. When someone married in, we also have their family tree book. We go back to Scotland. We do have a slight gap in info of when we immigrated to the Raleigh area. No one ever got up their to research those gaps. but, we had enough info to get back into Scotland and a fairly confident tie to John "The Red" Coming, who was nixed off by Robert Bruce. Had 10 brother and two sisters settle in around Raleigh for a spell. All picked up and headed west. Landed in Cookeville area in Jackson County. Originally up around where Roaring River branches off near Hilham. Had a mill there. Then we acquired the current property at Cummins Falls in 1823 from a Revolutionary War officer that was originally awarded it for his service. Been there continuously since that time. The one's that didn't stay here moved on west into the Dallas area, Arkansas, maybe Mich. Kind of spread out some from there. It's amazing to me the documentation this family saved over it's history. Unreal. And the collection of history in the old house. Down to the wooden camera that took photos onto those tin cards. Have the pics, camera, and tripod. Foot pumped organ. Painting, Sculptures (Hungarian uncle by marriage was an artist), old record player with that trumpet thing on it, and cylinder tube records, and a whole bunch of records. Still works and plays. Kind of neat to fire it up and have that 20's music in the house. 1861 farmhouse still lived in.
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Wow. Just messing around over lunch, I found I am a descendant of King Edward III
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ArdentVol and feathersax
We've traced several lines back to Europe and my grandmother did hers a long time ago to join DAR.
I know my sister found some really cool records on ancestry. Since she lives in NYC she went to Ellis island and found their names on the book when the entered the US from Ireland. Well, it was one of the three Patrick O'Leary's listed
I know my sister found some really cool records on ancestry. Since she lives in NYC she went to Ellis island and found their names on the book when the entered the US from Ireland. Well, it was one of the three Patrick O'Leary's listed
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ArdentVol and VolInNorthCack
My dad, age 66, had no idea who his birth father was until 2 years ago. His birth mom was trash and would never help him find his father. He learned that his father died 3 years after his birth in a stock car race in Nashville. His mom split him and his sister up when he was 4 or 5 and he finally found her using it as well. Hadn't seen her in almost 60 years. I got to meet her and her entire family. We have not reached out to his birth fathers family because we're not sure how they would take it but they are now somewhere in Oklahoma I believe.
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Yeah...I know what you mean about the DNA kits.
On one hand, it would be pretty cool information to have. On the other hand, I don't trust those companies and with my luck I'd get connected with some distant relative who either always wants to borrow tools without returning them, or has a habit of making lampshades out of human skin (both scenarios each being disturbing in their own right).
On one hand, it would be pretty cool information to have. On the other hand, I don't trust those companies and with my luck I'd get connected with some distant relative who either always wants to borrow tools without returning them, or has a habit of making lampshades out of human skin (both scenarios each being disturbing in their own right).
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I grew up Mormon and genealogy is a big deal in the faith. I never cared about doing my genealogy until now that I'm not Mormon, and I wanted to know about my non-Mormon lineage. Not a lot had been passed down to me from that side.
I did a DNA test last year and got 3 months free with Ancestry and I dinked around for a while building out my family tree. I didn't know my Dad's Mom very well and I found HS yearbook pictures of her. I discovered she was on the basketball team. I had no idea and I'm nuts for hoops. How many girls were playing hoops in 1930? Not many. The other crazy discovery was that I unknowingly named my daughter after my Grandma's closest sister. It is a traditional name, but it's not very common so this is a hell of a coincidence. My great Aunt had a nickname unrelated to her given name, and we only knew her by her nickname.
I came away from this feeling two kinds of ways...sad with a more clear realization that I didn't know my Grandma well enough, but I also felt more connected to her. I was left with a feeling that I'm connected to her in other ways that I'm still not realizing.
I did a DNA test last year and got 3 months free with Ancestry and I dinked around for a while building out my family tree. I didn't know my Dad's Mom very well and I found HS yearbook pictures of her. I discovered she was on the basketball team. I had no idea and I'm nuts for hoops. How many girls were playing hoops in 1930? Not many. The other crazy discovery was that I unknowingly named my daughter after my Grandma's closest sister. It is a traditional name, but it's not very common so this is a hell of a coincidence. My great Aunt had a nickname unrelated to her given name, and we only knew her by her nickname.
I came away from this feeling two kinds of ways...sad with a more clear realization that I didn't know my Grandma well enough, but I also felt more connected to her. I was left with a feeling that I'm connected to her in other ways that I'm still not realizing.
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