Ancestors
 

Anybody tried to look up their ancestors? I've tried a couple sites. Wow, that could take forever. So much info, a lot of people by the same name!

You'd think half the planet would have to be related to at least one Margaret O'Shea.

:D

Yep, best way to find out is to ask family members, especially the older folks. I've been working with a cousin and we have gotten back as far as the early eighteen hundreds, with documentation. If you have a genealogy library where you live, its a great place to get information. Get with family and look at photos, see if they have names on the back, follow those names. It is not easy, takes time and can get frustrating...so hang in there.

One thing to remember is that a lot of people changed their names once they landed on Ellis Island or it was changed for them.
My great grandmother was Apache, my ggrandfather was disowned by the family for marrying her. We have relatives that the family knows nothing about...

Yep, I found over two hundred names for my Maternal ancestors...everybody was named John, Sarah, Mary, etc.
Good Luck,:hug:

My sister started looking at our family tree years ago. I don't think she got any farther than our great-grandparents. There is a website that will help you - I can't remember the name of it now but it has a leaf as a advertisement.

I know that DDH's (dear departed husband) sister traced their family tree a good ways back. I have nothing on it though.....and not sure I really want to find more people in that family, KWIM?

www.rootsweb.ancestry.com

I've been doing some family tree climbing lately, and it's a lot of work, but I'm loving it. Connecting the dots, so to speak. You kind of have to have some starting references though.

My Dad's family was from Massachusetts before Vermont; my Mom's from Western PA and the Cleveland area of OH, and across the lake in Ontario. Probably I'm related to some of you. :D

I about gave my Sunday School class a collective heart attack when I told them I had furry ancestors in my family tree. Then I showed them old photos of David, Ellis, and Anna Furry. :D

You definitely need a place to start, like family records.

My paternal grandfather (where my last name comes from) - came over from Germany late 1700's. Records in Germany take the family history back to 1300's. If the preacher in the town is right, possibly 1100's. It's in the Black
forest - no wars, so church records were not destroyed. I lived in Germany for 3 years - this was easy to research. Family history shows Blacksmiths and Spielmans (entertainers) as the most part. The germans keep meticulous records.

My paternal grandmother - last name Simmons. Came over on the second Mayflower in the early 1600's. Well documented - family history on record at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. My link - Moises Simmons.

My maternal grandmother - Came over from Wales in the late 1700's. Very complete family history maintained - it's amazing how people over the years keep track of their family history. Oh, as a side note. This is the only side of the family that lived far enough south to actually have owned slaves. They freed them after the war (no, not the civil war. Records showed they freed them in 1791 - after the revolutionary war technically ended). Family name was Montgomery. They initially settled in Delaware - owned a tannery.

My maternal grandfather - uh oh. Last name Miller. He was German. My wife's last name is Miller. His family ended up in Lancaster Ohio. My wife's family came from Lancaster Ohio via Germany. I don't know enough about my mom's dads history to conclude much but damn...

Tom

I just googled Moises simmons. Try moses simmons.......... He's my great great great.......

Hey, I just thought of something. My Dad's mother's maiden name was Pitt. Maybe I'm distantly related to Brad!! :cool:

I discover that my ancestors on my father's side of the family came (were sent) to Virginia from England (early 1800s) because they had not paid their taxes:D.

I'd love to be able to search out relatives of my paternal grandfather. I think we have his parents names, but as far as I know, we've never been able to find out anything about them.

My grandfather came up here from Texas. We have his birth certificate and he was born in Houston. We dont know if he had any siblings, other than the fact that once he mentioned to my grandmother that she reminded him of his sister. I think we've got his parents names too, but no one I know has been able to research any further back than his parents. I know they were Irish. (we have a really really common Irish last name that I'm not mentioning because I dont want to give away my real last name)

He died in the early 60s before I was born, so I never got to meet him and interrogate him on the family history. Apparently my dad and his siblings and my grandmother never asked him any questions about his family. :confused:

I know that my sister and I would have had him under hot lights, asking him all sorts of questions about his family. I would hope he would have answered our questions, but I dont know what he was like. I dont know if he would have answered any questions.

At least for my dad's mom's family history, one of my aunt's has done the research for her family (and luckily had my grandmother and her siblings to ask questions of) I think they still doing the research tho. They've gone far enough back that they've been getting information from family members that are still in the European country that my grandmother's parents came from.

My maternal grandparents had the family researched back to the 1600's. I think they got as far back as the part of England her Smith family name came from. (not the famous Smith tho) I need to get copies of the research...what I do know about that is about 120 to 140yrs ago, a few of my mother's maternal grandparents were Choctaw and one or two other Southern US Indian tribes. (possibly Cherokee) I think it was far enough back that I couldnt really claim any specific tribe. It's just cool to have the mention in my family history. (it was enough to interest me in learning about various indian tribes...altho I did more research into the Plains Indians than any other tribe...instead of reading about the ones my mom was distantly related to)

I know about my dad's mom's family, and my mom's family history. I really want to know about my dad's dad's family and am seriously disappointed that we havent been able to get past his parents.

I love this kind of thing...

My dad was the product of a liason between his teenage mum and an Italian POW in Wales. Cut a long story short, my family met the italian family about 6 months after i left the country (so I've yet to meet them).
Dad has a wonderful relationship with that side of his new family though his dad died some time ago. it's been a real eye opener.

More recently, my nan would tell stories of an aunt who went to australia (from wales) when nan was a child.
Anyway, cut another LONG story short, I found the passenger list, the electoral rolls and the house where they moved to.
I always kinda looked up to this aunt; she'd made the same journey as me though undoubtedly my trip on a plane was better than hers on a boat.
It was with huge sadness that i learnt before christmas that, having been in Oz for 30 years and raised a family on a successful farm, she actually took her own life, and that's why the trail ended where it did.
I then started looking into her children and found out that one of her sons also took his own life. So maybe they weren't so happy after all.

I can trace my lot back to great great great great great great grandparents.

Ancestry dot com is good for finding UK people. Take the free trial, use it to the max then cancel it before 14 days.

I tried but it's hard when you just find out a little over five years ago your dad was adopted. LOL Nice, now we'll never know! Hope I never need a kidney.

I do know on my grandma's side we're related to Minnie Pearl and The Thrasher Brothers. haha

Another good resource is the Mormon church. They have assembled more records in one place than just about any other organization. Awhile back when I was doing some researching, they were just getting the records online. Now, it appears they have done that at www.familysearch.org - they boast the largest free collection of records.

I started and stopped on this search. My grandpa's side is easy because his family came over in the early 1900's. He was the last of 5 children and the only one born in the US. I found an online census report from 1930 showing their household. My grandma's side is harder and I haven't even really started looking at that. My paternal side is a mystery - never met my dad or his family and only have a name.

There is info out there, but the search can be consuming. I think I will start looking again at some point in time. When my grandma moved in with me last year, she had some documents that are quite helpful. I actually have my great grandfather's naturalization certificate and some birth certificates. It's like touching history. Holding that certificate the listed my great-grandfather as a "subject of the Chancellor of Germany" was amazing. You could almost feel the hope and dreams.

Sandy...my dad's mother committed suicide when he was 11, most of her people have died. I've met one child from my grandmother's brother...I need to go talk with her. Daddy doesn't remember a lot about her family and never saw his uncles once she died.

It is very hard even knowing some facts, can't imagine with an adoption.

Heck, I'm still looking for two cousins that were adopted...the court says I have no claim since I'm not the grandparent or sibling...how stupid is that.:eek:

My grandmother (maternal grandma) supposedly went to school with Minnie Pearl.

Grandma isnt around anymore for me to confirm that story tho. (g-ma died in 2000) I wonder if my aunt would remember the story tho?

Both my parents have done extenive genealogy record searching. On both sides of the family I have records going back to the 1700s. Dad kept this huge 'black book'. All the kids would run when he got it out and wanted to show some of the grand kids what he had. My youngest daughter didn't so after he died she got his book. Since she was still at home I have it. It is my job now to add any marriages, births, deaths etc. One year my daughter had a project to do where she had to make a family tree. She had the most intricate and largest and organized and got an A+.

What my Mom wants in addition to the genealogy is the how they got places. Like how did they get to Le Heigh Pa to Greene Co Ill? What route did they take. So I do hours of research for her and I find some pretty interesting things. I just do a google search and start opening up a loot of sites and read. One site wil lead me to another one. There are also genealogy message boards where you can post inquiries.

I have been researching my family for about 12 years now. I was fortunate to grow up living next door to my grandparents and I guess I listened and absorbed the stories and names they talked about.

Armed with their information, I searched cemetery listings online and filled in many blanks as to dates and spouses. I found a distance cousin who was researching as well. We shared photos and found out many things about that branch of the family. We have data tracing them back to early 1700 Ireland and England. Funny thing is, I discovered that I am kin to over half the county where I grew up!!

My husband's sister spent a couple of years researching their family. She finally found the cemetery where their great grandmother was buried and with the names and dates she has been able to piece together the family tree 5 generations back.

It is fun piecing together the puzzle of where you come from.

Well you folks will hate this.
I hail from the most prolific Pilgrim on the boat. The family married into what may be every other family that was there and came since! Every move they made, every child they had, someone documented and cataloged before I ever got to it. There's even books published about them all!

On the other side, same story, all the way back to Lords and Ladies and highfalutins back in Merry Olde England until your eyes hurt trying to read all the titles. All I need to know now is did any of them leave me any of that money???

I may be related to all of you! Hi Cousins!

Which pilgrim was that? From the original boatload of colonists??

On my Mom's side her paternal people said Queen Victoria was an ancestor, At the Monument in Province Town, Cape Cod. Mass., A female ancestor's name is written on the wall showing who came over on the Mayflower. But did all that get canceled out when son of that house got Irish serving girl pregnant and Mom was born? Dad's mum and Dad from Ireland worked ar same big house, Her the Housekeeper, him the carriage driver, later a car!!! No wonder I get so confused and think I'm the Queen of Maryland! And really, a SINGLE female on a boat full of sailors?? Who was she really? HMMM??

We got a great-great grandma who was an Indian. DH gets a little jealous, I think, when I zoom in my chair up and down long drive next to the woods with my pale Irish face saying I'm channeling my Indian and listening to all the animals move about. My mom coud read palms. My brother always said I was a gypsy child stole by a band of roving housewives. What a mutt I am!!!!!

RW,
You New England person!!! Maybe your ancestor knew my ancestor. Nobody left me any money though.

DH is trying to do his italian side. He is using Ancestor.com and he is frustrated. We found that it has a ton of American links, it doesnt have so many successful italian or foriegn links. its been a challenge. Speaking to relatives, and writing it all down is helpful.

I used Roots web, an off shot of ancestry.com - the free part.

I know my grand parents' names and most of my GG's. Thing is, *we* have only been here back to my grands. The GGs all were immigrants, just before Ellis Island records. Ellis Island is great for any of you who have people who might have come here around the turn of the century though. I don't know if they have logs prior, and they're just not online yet or what.

My peeps were coming 1860's -1880's.

GG on Dad's maternal side, Margaret O'shea - there are so many back then, that you could've swung a dead cat and hit two.

Gonna be a trial to find which one was her. I think I have a clue - the one the Irish side doesn't know what happened to her.

I think all dad's family was from Ireland. Some of Mom's side too, some of her side was German, and we're not sure if the others were French, Scotch, English or what. Her dad was an orphan, his dad died and put him and sibs up for adoption at age two, so nobody knew much about their family.

And most of the men, I don't know their names. They didn't live very long - were all gone by the time I was born. I knew my dad's mother and her sisters, grandmother, my mom's mother. I have pix of them.

My mom is the oldest living relative I have.

RW - that is totally cool.

Kicker - that explains a lot. :eek: ;)

I haven't looked it up but some in my Family have, on both sides. I have an English Lord and an American Indian in my tree. Most of me mither's side came over from Ireland, during the potato famine.

I used the Latter Day Saints web site and traced my Dads family back to the 1600's. My Mom's side is a bit tricky as she was an only child..her Mom died in childbirth and her Dad died a few years later at the age of 39. My mom doesn't know very much about either of them or their families. The Mormons have a lot of info and its free.

Oh dear God NO! The goofs I already know are enough, lol. :D

May the rest (and leave me) in peace..:D