ksdaddy Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I joined ancestry, not to see if I was related to John Dillinger or Ed MacMahon, but mainly this: most people are able to answer when asked what their lineage is. "I'm half Sioux, half Irish", type thing. All I suspected was that my ancestors originated in what is known as the UK. My mother's family entered Maine after spending a couple hundred years in Canada and I assumed they came across the pond at some point. Well, they DID, but tracing back, they were first in colonial New England. My father was adopted and even though I knew his biological parents names, I knew little else. I was able to chase them back to the coast of Maine and then Massachusetts. So getting back to the late 1500s or so, they all came from England, save for one line that came from Ireland and another from Scotland. I kept going back. Once in a while I'd run into a dead end but I followed whatever branch I COULD follow. Eventually by the year 1200 I ended up in the Netherlands and by the year 1000 he father was German and the mother French. There were some Sirs and Ladies along the way. I thought being able to go back that far would give me some level of closure or...something. Identity? I guess I did get that, at least knowing I'm basically English, whatever that means... not meaning any insult to our British friends, it's just that it seems no matter what country you ultimately end up tracing back to, it's never complete and never will be until you get back to Adam and Eve or whatever you choose to believe. I've always had a dilemma concerning my father though. His mother passed away when he was 2 or 3. He had two older siblings that were "farmed out" to relatives and Dad was adopted by a childless Swedish couple (ergo my last name of Englund). He was later reunited with his older brother and sister and they had a lifelong relationship. I had heard my biological grandfather was a bit of a gadabout and didn't want to be weighed down by a 3 year old. I also think about the childless Swedish couple and what that story must have been...and possibly heartbreaking to be childless? And then when the gadabout got remarried and moved away and eventually died, his survivors hunted down my father and asked him to sign a paper that he wouldn't lay claim to the family money (and apparently there was some serious money in the family by then). All of this makes me question WHO our real families are. Sure, I chased the gadabout back several hundred years but that's blood...and only blood. I feel more of a kinship to Carl and Anna who adopted a three year old. Every puzzle that gets solved, every door that is opened, leads to more puzzles and doors. This is why I don't smoke weed. Can you imagine how I'd rant while picking out seeds off the album cover while Steely Dan is playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 We did that. Mrs and I both have "brick wall ancestry". Seems the only thing that will overcome that is a minimum of $1700 dollars. Each. So the commercials are loverly and all, but all this stuff is public domain, and Ancestry doesn't do much except put it in front of you easier than finding it. They also, surprise surprise, attempted to not only triple the "free introductory rate" within three weeks, they politely refused to stop hitting my cc after I had cancelled twice. So our experience with them was pretty bad, and neither of us knows anymore than we already knew. I was sad to tell my niece what happened with us, but she was so gung ho all on it that she went ahead and signed up anyway and ran smack into "brick wall ancestry" and the need for another 1755 dollars, just to get started on figuring it all out. Once she cancelled she had a HECK of a time with them and ended up just closing the cc they kept hitting, and she didn't get 4 months back. What a racket. I am glad it worked out for you, and I know some folks that have gone really far back with it. I wish ours wasn't so messed up. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Anybody work on their family tree? I used to, but then I got married. Oh... you didn't mean work on adding to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I've considered the ancestry research, but my "pending" project is to research my father's WWII history (ETO). Since all his, and 18 million others, military records burned up in the infamous National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973, that's not so easy either. I do have his personal (or personnel) copies of many military documents to start from, and there have been a few books written about his outfit. Add to that all the web info that MAY be out there, and I think I can probably do a pretty good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Hello! We have most of the records back until the Anjou-era of the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary. Thanks God, the documents survived all the storms of history due to the habit of Catholic Church keeping records at three different locations. My grandfather worked for state administration, and He had to show all His (and my grandmother's) records back four generations to keep His job in 1939 - according to law number 1939/IV. So, He - once at it - draw the whole genealogical tree, pointing out to sources of information - where those birth/baptism certificates are kept. Interesting to see through this, how history affected the life of the family. Gives good insight on everyday's life aspect of history. Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brc Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Matter of fact we just completed ours about 2 months ago. Luckily our Mother had been working on our family tree for about 2 years before she passed away. Then my niece and her son needed to do the family tree for a school project, so I sent all the information my Mom had gathered to my niece in Florida. It was pretty easy for them to complete the family tree from where my Mom had left off before she passed away. Our family tree goes all the way back to the mid 1500s, showing that our family on my Fathers side originated in France before coming to the U.S. Even located our original family crest. My Mothers family tree goes back to the late 1600s, where it says they originated from an Indian tribe from Oklahoma. Due to all of the leg work my Mother had put into this before she passed away it did not cost us a dime, plus we had lots of phone numbers and addresses of our family that we would have never had otherwise. After my Fathers family had settled in U.S. after the civil war the moved to the state of Texas area of Forth Worth, Dallas , and Irving areas. Of course this is before some of these cities had been established. What is also kind of cool is that I found out that I am fourth cousin to Buddy Holly. I had also heard that story, but never knew how far of a distant relative he was. We had thought about using one of those sites that will trace your tree, but we had heard the same stories of the costs, plus we had so much of it completed already with all the work my Mother had already completed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I've considered the ancestry research, but my "pending" project is to research my father's WWII history (ETO). Since all his, and 18 million others, military records burned up in the infamous National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973, that's not so easy either. I do have his personal (or personnel) copies of many military documents to start from, and there have been a few books written about his outfit. Add to that all the web info that MAY be out there, and I think I can probably do a pretty good job. I kinda did the same with my Uncle, but in that case, he was aboard the Gambier Bay, which is pretty well documented compared to a lot of things. One thing working in our favor, is many classified documents have been de-classified. Still, a ***** to find on the net, and a lot of reading if you do find them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingarmadillo Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I haven't worked on the tree, but we did do the DNA thing. If you have $89 you don't need for guitar toys it's pretty fascinating to have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flight959 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 For my 40th as a present my wife got mine done dating back to 1700. I joined the above mentioned website which proved pretty useless as they don't hold records from Scotland!! My wife's friend did it for a small fee.... Its fantastic... Regards Flight959 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fromnabulax Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Just after the internet really started booming in the early 1990s I thought I would entertain myself by seeking out folks who may have been distantly related to me. I got a lead almost immediately when I found a recent headline story in Portuguese about a fellow with my family name. In the era before Google Translate, and in fact before Google at all, It took some doing to figure out what the newspaper story was about. I finally got the headline translated as "It Wasn't My Fault!" Reading on soon learned that the guy had recently been convicted to a life without parole prison sentence for an amazing array of heinous crimes. I quit searching out my family tree right then and there. Nowadays my family tree is a lovely little bush in my front yard, which is right where I leave it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Well, I was adopted when I was only 3 months old. So the only thing I know about my genealogy comes from a thing my father-in-law bought for me a few years ago called Ancestral Origins. I supplied a swab from inside my mouth and it came back that the strongest matches came from Central and Southern Europe. Mostly England/Ireland and France. Among my adoptive family, only a few cousins and an aunt are still alive that I still know of. My dads last name is Welsh and my moms side seems to have been German in origin judging by both her mother and fathers last names. I have a big book on the history of the Davies name, and on my moms side I also a book that someone put together in the 80s or 90s about her family tree. I've never really read through either one though. The only info I have of my birth is some correspondence between my parents and the agency they adopted my from. I even have the cancelled check for $300 that they paid for me in 1968. I've never bothered trying to research beyond what I already know or find who my birth parents were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 It's a great hobby. Being a history buff it's great to connect ancestors to historical events. But some times you find out old family stories are not true.My grand mother's maiden name was Jackson, legend was we were related to Andrew Jackson. There is a piece of furniture supposedly belonging to him had been handed down through several generations..Turns out, there was a Andrew Jackson in our family, but our Andy was born after The Andrew Jackson (President) died, and was born in an other state!Do you think anyone wants to hear the truth? NOT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 1426598096[/url]' post='1640728']We did that. Mrs and I both have "brick wall ancestry". Seems the only thing that will overcome that is a minimum of $1700 dollars. Each. So the commercials are loverly and all, but all this stuff is public domain, and Ancestry doesn't do much except put it in front of you easier than finding it. They also, surprise surprise, attempted to not only triple the "free introductory rate" within three weeks, they politely refused to stop hitting my cc after I had cancelled twice. So our experience with them was pretty bad, and neither of us knows anymore than we already knew. I was sad to tell my niece what happened with us, but she was so gung ho all on it that she went ahead and signed up anyway and ran smack into "brick wall ancestry" and the need for another 1755 dollars, just to get started on figuring it all out. Once she cancelled she had a HECK of a time with them and ended up just closing the cc they kept hitting, and she didn't get 4 months back. What a racket. I am glad it worked out for you, and I know some folks that have gone really far back with it. I wish ours wasn't so messed up. rct I feel your pain, they pulled the same thing on us. I have had good luck with WikiTree, it's free. The other good free site is Find A Grave. Fold3 is pretty good for a fee site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 My brother in law is more into this than I am.... but my little sis, for example, does have the paperwork somewhere that got her into the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). It does appear that the first known (at this time) birth in my family in the U.S. at least was in central Massachusetts in 1680 soon after King Philip's War. Mom's family was newcomers in the 1830s. Sis and BIL visited my paternal grandmother's family in German-speaking Switzerland, but that side was really a bunch of newcomers in the U.S. in the 1870s or so. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevDavidLee Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 I did try that a few years ago but ran into all sorts of "I don't know" stuff that I could not ask relatives about because they're mostly all gone. Grandparents are long gone & lost my Mom & Dad & brother in the last number of years so my resources are very limited. My Grandfather "Emerald" (yes that was his real first name) fought in the infantry in the Argonne woods of France in WWI - I know this because of a letter I found in my Mom's things after she passed away wherein Grandpa had written a love letter to my Mom's mom in the years before they got married - dated 1917 or 1918. He was a gruff old coot way back when we were young and I don't recall him ever talking to any of us grandkids - yet the letter he wrote to my Grandmother was in the floweriest writing I have ever seen and he was a real romantic which surprised me. He was born in Fall Branch Tennessee but when I contacted the city records they told me about a fire that burned everything up way back when and they could not tell me anything at all - neither could the military for the same reason. The one thing that really stood out in his letter was when he described "waking up in the midst of yawning corpses" of men who had died during the night from their injuries. He also told of when the Germans retreated, they had "chained women soldiers to the guns" & he said "had they not bared their breasts we would have killed them all". I never read about that stuff in my history classes. Wished I could have found out more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Actually have a bunch of documents dating back to Ellis island. Have also used ancestry and it was pretty good even for free. Mom is French, 89 years old now, family followed back to Turkey then France. France since 1711.She still speaks with a very heavy French accent. Dad's family moved from northern Germany to Hungary about 500 years or so ago(goes the legend). In the 1870's my father's family came to America. Mom immigrated when she married my Dad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Hello! Very intereting topic. Looking from a historical distance, nations - and the states formed by them - are only temporarily exist. Forces of history keep people in movement. Interesting to look at maps, to see where nations did live centuries ago, or how they were called thousand years ago. I found a very carefully detailed Israeli site with excellent articles about most of present-time nations. It explains how did they form, how they moved during the centuries, what forces did make them change locations, what alliances they had to form to survive (leading to genetical mixing with other tribes/people). This subject is quite important to us, Hungarians. We know our roots very well, but something completely different is being taught to us at school. This desinformation leads back th 19th century, when the Sacred Crown was held by the Habsburg dinasty. They wanted to cut the roots of Hungarians, and came up with the so-called Finn-Ugric theory. But, - in fact - no scientifically correct proofs were ever presented. No genetical, linguistical evidences, but the theory is still being maintstream! Unfortunately, not only the Habsburgs used this technique of power. The communists also found it useful to destroy the (healthy) national consciousness. Rule past, and You rule the future - occupiers know this so well. The previously mentioned Israeli site completely destroys this desinformation, and proves that the Hungarian folklore is right about the origins of the people. The same thing happened with the Sacred Crown of Hungary. The official version is, it was crafted sometimes in 13th century. Two different crowns were crafted together. Hmm. The dating scientifically proved it is from 4th century, and was very much like made in Baskiria, and the construction shows, it meant to be as it is: one unit. It was made for Attila (or His ancestor). After the fall of the Hun Empire it went into the hands of Franks. Charles the Great was crowned and buried with it. It was returned by the Pope to St. Stephan of Hungary in year 1000. Anyways... The Israeli site presents the descendance of each indo-european nation, one by one. Back to ancient times of Hettites, Hurrites, and our forefathers: the people of Nimrud. If someone is interested, I can PM the site address. Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 A couple of words on possible problems of family research. Most people can see as far as who they greatparents were. If their location of birth is known, one can go to the local administration (or the corresponding church), and look up the documents. Birth/baptism certificates show who their parents were and where did were born. It's quite easy - usually - to go back centuries. Real difficulties come when You reach to 13th-14th century. This is the time when family names were formed in the way we use it today. Prior to that lastnames could have changed from generation to generation! Then, prior 13th century, most if not all European nations used tribal names, like: "John, son of Jacob of tribe Whatever". My example. The name "Tóth" was formed in middle of 14th century. It's old written form of Hungarian word "tót", which means "Slovakian". But how it can be? Slovakian ethno-genesis happened in 15th century, when King of Hungary Matthias moved the population of Slavonina (Slovenia - today) to Upper-Hungary, after the Hungarian population of that region was annihilated by the Hussites, and the Slavonians where threatened by the Ottoman forces from the Balkan. Even then, it took centuries for the Slovakian nation to form as a result of intermarriage of Slavonians, Rutenians, and Polish people in that region. In, - fact - the word "tót" had a different meaning back then, it meant "Slavonian" in 14th century. But why didn't the Hungarians simply called Slavonians, - well, "Slavonian"? Looking back further in history, it was found that the word "tót" was used by Hungarians for all the indo-european people including Slavs and Germans as well, until they got into deeper relation with them, and they could distinguish the different branches of the indo-europeans. The word itself comes from the proto-indo-european word "teuth", which is the root of the words "deutsch" and "teuton" as well. But for unknown reason, it stuck on Slavonians, for until 19th century when the Slovakians (now as a newly formed nation) inherited it. But why and how my forefather got this name? Laurentius, son of Gug, de Újlak was assigned as the voivod of Slavonia by Louis I of Anjou, the king of Hungary, sometime in the first half of 14th century. At that times, noble people used to give nicknames to each other, that eventually stuck on the families. This is how we became called "Tóth" - because of this postion my forefather held. During the research, I ran into another problem: the noble pre-name of "de Újlak". This pre-name was used by the mighty dinasty of Csák, who are direct descendants of Attila the Hun. Of course, it would have been very nice to settle on that, as many professional historician do regarding our family. But I wanted the truth. There were confusing signs suggesting that we are not related to Csák dinasty. Even some saying we came from Bayern (dinasty of Héder), but as it seems now, we are only distantly related because of an intermarriage. Then, I found out that the Csák dinasty died out, and all it's assests were given to Laurentius by Louis I of Anjou. Further researches proved that Gug (father of Laurentius) came from a powerful dinasty who had held part of Slavonia already. Probably, that is why Laurentius was assigned as voivod of the region. This is where I am at, at the moment. Around 12th century, but that's based on correct information now, at least. The further You try to look back, the harder it gets. Information can be often misleading. You need to be careful. There are many derouts, because You bump into a hint of information that suggests something glorious. Don't get tempted, focus on factual information! It can be a hobby for life. :) Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 I cancelled my subscription to Ancestry. Hopefully I won't have billing issues like some here have. I printed off the confirmation for whatever it's worth. I really did satisfy my curiosity. I got a general idea of where I came from and that's all I was looking to accomplish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 yep. i've been adding as many branches as possible. busy. busy, busy ... my grandmother did in the 60's. Related to Sir Francis Drake. Drake was family name till turn of the 20th century... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 I joined ancestry, not to see if I was related to John Dillinger or Ed MacMahon, but mainly this: most people are able to answer when asked what their lineage is. "I'm half Sioux, half Irish", type thing. All I suspected was that my ancestors originated in what is known as the UK. My mother's family entered Maine after spending a couple hundred years in Canada and I assumed they came across the pond at some point. Well, they DID, but tracing back, they were first in colonial New England. My father was adopted and even though I knew his biological parents names, I knew little else. I was able to chase them back to the coast of Maine and then Massachusetts. So getting back to the late 1500s or so, they all came from England, save for one line that came from Ireland and another from Scotland. I kept going back. Once in a while I'd run into a dead end but I followed whatever branch I COULD follow. Eventually by the year 1200 I ended up in the Netherlands and by the year 1000 he father was German and the mother French. There were some Sirs and Ladies along the way. I thought being able to go back that far would give me some level of closure or...something. Identity? I guess I did get that, at least knowing I'm basically English, whatever that means... not meaning any insult to our British friends, it's just that it seems no matter what country you ultimately end up tracing back to, it's never complete and never will be until you get back to Adam and Eve or whatever you choose to believe. I've always had a dilemma concerning my father though. His mother passed away when he was 2 or 3. He had two older siblings that were "farmed out" to relatives and Dad was adopted by a childless Swedish couple (ergo my last name of Englund). He was later reunited with his older brother and sister and they had a lifelong relationship. I had heard my biological grandfather was a bit of a gadabout and didn't want to be weighed down by a 3 year old. I also think about the childless Swedish couple and what that story must have been...and possibly heartbreaking to be childless? And then when the gadabout got remarried and moved away and eventually died, his survivors hunted down my father and asked him to sign a paper that he wouldn't lay claim to the family money (and apparently there was some serious money in the family by then). All of this makes me question WHO our real families are. Sure, I chased the gadabout back several hundred years but that's blood...and only blood. I feel more of a kinship to Carl and Anna who adopted a three year old. Every puzzle that gets solved, every door that is opened, leads to more puzzles and doors. This is why I don't smoke weed. Can you imagine how I'd rant while picking out seeds off the album cover while Steely Dan is playing? Going through an 'identity crisis' are we, Scott? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Naw, just trying to find a suitable line of self effacing ethnic jokes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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