Genealogy

[jnday]

Genealogy has become one of my most time consuming activities in the last few years. I think it is important for everybody to know where they came from and I like history anyway. I have found that each family has their own story to be pround of wheather it has to do with fairly recent events or distant history. The time and resources that I spend on my family history drives my wife nuts. I was just wondering if any other posters are into Genealogy and have any stories to share.
I actually had one grandfather that was a French knight during the First Crusade. Another grandfather and grandmother came into Jamestown in 1620. These are just a couple of things that I have came across.
Anybody have some famous ancestors?

 

[Tabascocat]

Charles Dickens on my dad's side. More recent, Tom Kite is my mom's cousin. Bill Bates to her side also through marriage, not blood.

Oh, also Mary Queen of Scotts, the one who was be-headed long ago.

 

[Rynie]

That's cool man, and please don't take that for granted. I was adopted, and have never met any BIOLOGICAL family, so I'll never be able to find my ancestors. :violin:

 

[Yeagermeister]

I tried looking up mine. I was able to trace my mothers side back to Scotland or Ireland. I couldn't get any where on my fathers side because he didn't know his grandparents names.

 

[Cajuncowboy]

Frank and Jesse James on my mom's side and Ben Franklin on my Dad's.

 

[jnday]

That's cool man, and please don't take that for granted. I was adopted, and have never met any BIOLOGICAL family, so I'll never be able to find my ancestors. :violin:

Some people are in your situation and some honestly don't care. My wife is one of those who don't know and don't care. My father didn't care until I found out a few things and shared with him.

 

[Teren_Kanan]

Never understood the desire to know this type of stuff honestly. Nothing wrong with it to be certain. I just personally couldn't care less about who my ancestors are, nor my great great grandparents.

 

[Aracil]

My mom's a genealogist and historian. She's traced both sides of my family line way back. I'm a descendant of both Charlemange and William the Conquerer. Also, Colonel (Harland) Sanders was my grandmother's cousin.

 

[jnday]

Never understood the desire to know this type of stuff honestly. Nothing wrong with it to be certain. I just personally couldn't care less about who my ancestors are, nor my great great grandparents.

That is a common feeling in today's culture. A great many ancient cultures prayed to their ancestors and considered them holy. One thing is for certain, without our ancestors, we wouldn't be here.

 

[Hoofbite]

That is a common feeling in today's culture. A great many ancient cultures prayed to their ancestors and considered them holy. One thing is for certain, without our ancestors, we wouldn't be here.

Well what is to be expected when we ship our elders to nursing home to wither away for their last days?

Trying asking someone from a really interdependent culture what they think of nursing homes.

Not to say that all people in nursing homes have been just shipped out because there are legitimate medical needs that require the attention but there are also plenty of old people who are just kind of stored away and visited every now and then.

I'm kind of interested in it. I'd like to know but I haven't actively sought out the information yet. I would only be interested in direct descendants. Not really too interested in relation through marriage.

 

[DFWJC]

I have a lot of interesting and quirky stuff on my family tree.

My Great-Great Grandfather was "Devil Anse" Hatfield. I guess the movie comes out soon and some of my family's diaries were used. That side of the tree produced a wide range: governors and a few scoundrels....of wait, some govs were scoundrels.

 

[Seven]

I would love to find at least one relative from my dads side.


I wouldn't even know where to start.

 

[Bill Wooten]

I would love to find at least one relative from my dads side.


I wouldn't even know where to start.

Same here.

Question to the OP. What resources have you found to be most helpful? Also which have you found to be the most inexpensive? Any websites or discussion forums that you've found that discuss this type of thing?

 

[CliffnDallas]

Martha Washington on my Mothers side.

 

[Cajuncowboy]

Same here.

Question to the OP. What resources have you found to be most helpful? Also which have you found to be the most inexpensive? Any websites or discussion forums that you've found that discuss this type of thing?

Try ancestry .com. They will give you a free two week trial. Just make sure you cancel before the two weeks is up if you don't want your CC charged.

 

[jnday]

Try ancestry .com. They will give you a free two week trial. Just make sure you cancel before the two weeks is up if you don't want your CC charged.

This is a very good place to start. There are many other sites that are linked to this one. Many times another distant family member has listed their family tree for public viewing. This speeds things up a good bit.

 

[Arch Stanton]

Same here.

Question to the OP. What resources have you found to be most helpful? Also which have you found to be the most inexpensive? Any websites or discussion forums that you've found that discuss this type of thing?

If you have iTunes there are a few Genealogy podcasts that are helpful.

Ancestry.com do have a lot of helpful information to help you get started.

However you trace your tree do remember to make sure you have primary evidence of the "facts" you think you have. Start off with Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates. They contain a lot of information. Also get access to Census records. Work diligently and don't get ahead of yourself. It's easy to order the wrong certificate.

I am self taught and have managed to get back to around 1666. If you join some of the many forums around the interwebs you'll find others from your family doing them same thing. I found a long lost cousin who lived just outside of St Louis. I had a great trip to meet up with him.

You will probably also find lots of books available in your local library.

I have access to all the UK records on Ancestry so if anyone wants me to check something out for them please PM me. I'm willing to give anyone a hand.

 

[JBond]

The Mormons keep excellent records. I am not Mormon but I did accompany my grandmother to Utah years ago to help her with her genealogy project and we found all sorts of stuff. Not a cheap trip, but well worth it for those that are serious about research.

This was 15 years ago, so everything may be computerized now.

 

[Arch Stanton]

The Mormons keep excellent records. I am not Mormon but I did accompany my grandmother to Utah years ago to help her with her genealogy project and we found all sorts of stuff. Not a cheap trip, but well worth it for those that are serious about research.

This was 15 years ago, so everything may be computerized now.

They own Ancestry.com

 

[JBond]

They own Ancestry.com

Well that makes sense. Back then it was free to comb through their records in person, or you could hire an assistant. I thought it was going to a very boring trip, but I learned a lot from Gran on that trip. Spending the one on one time together was worth it all by itself.