Anyone else doing Genealogy? (1 Viewer)

[James_S]

Just wondering if anyone else is interested or is doing genealogy?

I have been doing genealogy for about 2 years now and have info all the way back to my GGGGrandmother (1804 in Norway) on my Grandmother’s Father’s side and to my GGGrandmother (1820 in Norway) on her Mother’s side. The relatives came over to the United States in 1877 and 1880 to settle in South Dakota and later to Minnesota.

It has been frustrating search, but in the end it is all worth it. One of the reasons I started was for my son. He was born in Dec of 1999. I wanted him to know where his ancestors came from and why they came over to the US.

Right now I have about 250 people in my family tree as of this weekend.

James

 

[SteveGon]

I had a little fling with Jeanie Ology, but she was such a b***h that I dumped her! Sorry, can't resist a bad joke...
Anyway, I'm kinda interested in this topic. My parents come from different cultural backgrounds (my father was Hispanic, my mother is white) so I'm sure there's some interesting stuff in the ol' family history. Finding out about my maternal family tree shouldn't be too difficult, but exploring my paternal lineage might be - all I'll say about that is that I don't even know the name of my real grandfather. This is a sore subject with my grandmother so it'd be kind of hard bringing it up with her. I know there are websites out there that would be helpful, can you recommend one?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I have information on my maternal side back for several hundred years. I have some info on my fathers side but not nearly as extensive as on my mother side...maybe one day I'll extend the work that my relatives have alrady done

 

[Holadem]

Being African, everything more than three or four generations up is a haze (no written records back home) :frowning:
My grandfather and I are the only black people I know with freckles . There might be some surprises in my family tree, I sure as heck would like to find out!
--
Holadem

 

[Bill Catherall]

For those looking for a good genealogy website, FamilySearch.org is the best one I know of.
My family has done quite a bit of genealogy. I've dabled a little bit in it, but it's at the point now that I'd have to do some major searching to find anything new. I do like learning about my ancestors and where they came from. It turns out that I'm not really a Catherall. It's a long story, but it disappoints other Catheralls that email me looking for some family history. Our blood line runs through the Scott family (I'm Scottish-American), so technically my last name should be Scott. But my great grandmother (who liked to sleep around a bit) wanted to save face and misnamed my grandfather. :b Well, Catherall was her last name at the time, by marriage, but my grandfather is not the son of a Catherall...he's the son of William Scott. So that's where I get my name from. I also have an older brother named Scott.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

My wife has her family back to the 1400s on many branches...once you get back to europe it can get really hard unless you go there and search records in person (!). Fortunately this will continue to change as more records go online.

 

[Dave L]

Timely question, since I have been working for the past few weeks on inputting all my family research into the new Version 9 Family Tree Maker program. I can take one line back to the mid-1600s, and the others to varying points less far back.

The program allows me to scan and include images -- photos, documents, whatever, and create ancestor charts with photos in them. Took my computer and scanner to my parents for Thanksgiving and spent a lot of time scanning old family photos into the database.

Actually, I started the research nearly 20 years ago and had it in a program that went defunct. It took some prodding from my partner and a few relations who wanted family history info to get me back on track. Now I'm getting enthused once again.

 

[WoodyH]

I've climbed around on the branches of my family tree from time to time...very fun stuff. When I moved a few months ago I gave all the paperwork back to my parents, though, so I don't have all the goodies anymore, but they tend to float from family member to family member over time.

I do remember some cool bits, though. We can trace one line back to Sir Richard Warren, who was one of the Mayflower pilgrims. Can't go further back from him on that line, though there is a valley south of London with a variation of our family name (Hanscom, often spelled as Hanscomb, Hanscombe, or Hascombe). I know of one ancestor who was fighting in the Revolutionary War, was taken prisoner, and was held on a British ship captained by his brother - they talked, each tried to talk the other into defecting, neither did, and they never saw each other again. One thing when you read stories like that in the history texts in school...quite another when you read it in your family history. Had one ancestor who ran a stop on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. Quite a few homesteaders over the years as America grew. We tried tracing my mom's maiden name, but it disappears a few generations back - we think that that's because her great-grandfather (or so) was an orphan, and therefore a ward of the state - hence the family name of Ward.

Neat stuff...I hope to get it back from my parents someday.