Geneaology

[Winslow]

So anyone out there trace their roots? If so, how did you do it? Did you use an online source?

I have a paper that was produced by one of my relatives, that traces my father and grandfather's roots back to 1735.

I've always been tempted to go to a geneaology web site and plug in the names to see if I can find out more about my family tree. It's rumored that through one of the women that married into the family early on, we go back to the Mayflower (which would be cool).

[i_mmmchocolate]

So anyone out there trace their roots?
Yep.


If so, how did you do it?
I was fortunate enough to have an aunt who went back to the old country (Spain) recently and got birth and death records as far back as my great-great-great grandparents.


Did you use an online source?
Nope. Those were useless for my genealogy.

[thespianphryne]

So anyone out there trace their roots? If so, how did you do it? Did you use an online source?
[....]

Yep.

I went to the family's ancestral temple and asked the head priest to look up the family records. He gave me the dirtiest glare and referred me to the surname of the architect who built the temple in 1258...okay, so I was asking a redundant question.

But seriously, if you're actively interested in your genealogy on top of simply plugging your name into a site, follow up on town records. Family histories have way of getting fudged or smudged over time; names get changed; names get adopted - it's very tricky.

[Phrozen]

One side has relations going back to the mid-1600s in the New World but most of the family came sometime in the early 20th century, Have been the Grimm family since 1945 at most probably earlier in the 1920s.

The other side no one really knows. The Fury-McCords just appeared.

[Merey]

Yes, but I didn't do any of the work myself. My grandparents on both sides of my family love(d) genealogical reseach. However, all their research was done way before the internet. My Grandmother on my Dad's side use to attend summer genealogy programs at BYU. BYU has the best genealogy resources in the country (and in the world for all I know) because being able to trace their ancestors is extremely important to Mormons - it has to do with the whole posthumous baptism by proxy thing.


Anyway, on my Dad's side of my family, my Grandmother has traced us back to Jane Lane (the woman who helped Charles II escape England). My mom's side of the family is traced back to all of our Mayflower ancestors.

I love history, so I find genealogy fascinating. Someday I plan to learn more about my Revolutionary War era ancestors. In New Hampshire, I grew up in the town where my Great x 5 Grandfather was the town's first minister (and Revolutionary War vertern) and he was also featured in a children's biography about the journey of an escaped slave, Amos Fortune. It was pretty cool having someone you are distantly related to come to life through a book.

[Expletive Deleted]

Try your state's Historical Society. Most of 'em have lots of resources, both online and off, and I know at least some offer genealogy workshops.

[Joe Acro]

I don't trace my family history. My mom does that. She's quite good at it. I'm related to William Rufus King (a former Vice President of the U.S.) and the Stewarts of Scotland (and the once-rulers of Great Britain).

I don't know how she does it. Some of it is asking older members of the family. Another is by looking through old newspapers archived at libraries or even online. I'm sure there's more, but I've never watched her find this information.

[zilch]

My brother really got into this a couple of years ago. He got as far back as pre-Revolutionary War, but couldnt find a direct link back to England. finally underwent DNA testing and got confirmation that we're relatives of Edward Doty, one of two non-pilgrims on the Mayflower, and winner of the first duel fought in the US.

On my mom's side, he went back to 15th century Germany.

[Loren]

I've done a fair bit of genealogy research online, and there are two sites I've probably gotten more from than anywhere else.

Ancestry.com offers a free trial month of service, which I took full advantage of. My local library also has free use of the website on the premises. Being able to text-search US Census records is a miracle. In fact, you can search the Census records and see some basic results for free.

Second, as far as I'm concerned, the best thing to come out of Social Security is the Social Security Death Index (http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/). If all you know is someone's name and birthyear, and don't know what happened to them later in life, it's a free and easy way of researching.

Other than that, you might just want to poke around http://www.cyndislist.com/ and see what you find.

[roguespirit]

As a Jamaican its really hard. My ancestors are slaves and there is little if no records. However my Great Great Great Grandfather had a narrative written about him which gives us lots of clues to his origin in Nigeria.

In fact this is the subject of a channel 4 documentary on March the 11th over here in the UK

[Winslow]

Thanks a ton for all the advice, stories and links.

Good stuff.

I'll play around and see what I come up with.

Then again, maybe I don't want to know. There is a Cunard in my family tree (from Pennsylvania no less)

[Typo Lad]

Loren- thanks for the SS site. Did not know about that.

[Gingold]

It's been my mom's obsession for the better part of the last twenty years. She's got her side of our family traced back quite a ways. Some of the online genealogy messge boards ended up being invaluable in getting certain information that previous generations had worked to keep secrets, and I know she's used a lot of other online sources. My dad's a historian, and probably was able to help her get access to some stuff that's harder for the general public to get to.