topic Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live). in Community Chat

Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

qualitygal — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 13:49:21 GMT

Maybe someday, I'll get into that. I'm a little curious about that. Ancestry.com, wonder how that is for checking on past relatives.

Has anyone here gone into that? How far back did you trace your ancestry? I think it could be very interesting. Know where my dad's family came from in Poland. I'd like to see my mom's side and where they came from.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

jackthebear — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 13:51:16 GMT

@qualitygal wrote:
Maybe someday, I'll get into that. I'm a little curious about that. Ancestry.com, wonder how that is for checking on past relatives.

Has anyone here gone into that? How far back did you trace your ancestry? I think it could be very interesting. Know where my dad's family came from in Poland. I'd like to see my mom's side and where they came from.

my daughter did, when she took a trip. I know all I need to, doesn't interest me that much

curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

Isobel Archer — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 14:01:18 GMT

Definitely recommend Ancestry. I didn't know my father's relatives as he and my mother divorced when I was very young and he moved to another state.

From Ancestry, I discovered that - on his side - I had a direct relative who fought in the Revolutionary War. I have since applied to and been verified as a Daughter of the American Revolution. I had no idea prior to Ancestry.

Check in to it. Who knows what you will find.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

software — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 14:04:21 GMT

My ancestors are most likely very nondescript, I may run into a dead end. So many records were destroyed during the Civil War. My dad's side go back a way in the South. An uncle who did some work told me the family fought on the side of the Union. Not everyone in the South was for the Confederacy.

But my mom's ancestors may turn out to be more interesting. She's French Canadian, she was first generation & the French Canadians have an interesting history, quite possibly originating in the South. But she has a very common French name, in fact both her parents have the same last name, but the 2 families spelled it differently. And they weren't related!

I've reached out to her side of the family and got the cold shoulder so I'd have to start from scratch. Without giving up too much detail, I know their family was quite colorful.

I have kept all her personal documents, the family is Catholic and her Baptismal certificate is in French, I have it framed in my home. Maybe the next generation will be more fruitful.

There are many local genealogy groups with a lot of information, including local libraries. Not sure I would go to ancestry.com first.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

hayseed00 — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 14:04:48 GMT

One winter I signed up for Ancestry, and found quite alot of my dad's family tree from draft cards to ships log of passengers coming to US from Germany. I would look at the info for hours and really enjoyed it along with being informative. I went back as far as I could for dad's family. In the spring I cancelled because I just get to busy outside.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

drizzellla — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 14:07:32 GMT

I am fortunate. My Great Grandfather did a wonderful thing if you are trying to do family genealogy. He and his brother married two sisters. So every year "the cousins" had a big reunion picnic.

Well, they decided to do a family genealogy. And so they pooled their ancestry resources and compiled a book of the genealogy. Then they published probably hundreds of the books, so everyone would have a book.

The book went into detail about the family in Wales. How the patriarch was a Doctor. And 3 of his sons came to the US. I felt like it was like the movie How Green Was My Valley.

I had no information regarding my husband's family. So I started doing the census records. I went to the Philadelphia Archives. And got as much information as I could. Then I went to Washington DC to the National Archives. There are floors and floors of information and I did not have enough information regarding the ship manifests. Then security tightened up and work and life took over and we never went back.

I have no idea about looking on line but I am happy with the information I got. It took many hours and days to gather my information. I bet now it can be done in a matter of hours.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

cotton4me — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 14:11:29 GMT

I love genealogy. I find it fascinating. I think Ancestry is a good site. They help you with “hints” associated with your ancestor like census, birth, marriage, death records, etc. They also lead you to other people’s trees who have the same ancestor where you might learn additional information. I’ve traced my family way back, some lines back to BC.

When I first began genealogy there was no internet and it was very laborious. I remember going to the National Archives spending hours going through rolls of microfiche looking at census records. It’s so much easier now with everything online.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

jeanlake — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 15:02:27 GMT

I hope you find a trail and enjoy the research.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

CelticCrafter — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 15:08:41 GMT

You can only go so far with any of the free sites and then most times they lead you back to Ancestry where you can only see so much using the free version.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

NicksmomESQ — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 15:17:37 GMT

For all those who enjoy the search I’m glad for you.I personally have no interest in going back to find long lost connections. Life is too short.I’m living in the present with my eye toward tomorrow .That‘s If I’m lucky enough to get to tomorrow!!

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

cactusgal — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 15:37:42 GMT

@qualitygal If I were you first try FamilySearch.org, it is free. See how far you can get with that site.Then if you need deeper information you can also go to the nearest Family History Center that is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints at one of thier churches and it is also free. I have gone back 15 generations, Good luck in your search

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

ALRATIBA — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 16:33:27 GMT

We got back to 1550 on one surname line. But it was an unexpected find that opened up about 100 years family history.

We did most of the research well before Ancestry and the internet. We used the LDS Family History libraries and spent about one day a week for years reading microfilm. Success depends on the kinds of records that were kept in the area where your family lived.

My grandfathers each came from a family of ten children ...

The research was started by my mother about 40 years and I took over about 20 years ago. Our tree has about 3500 ancestors ... and we are still adding to it - now using Ancestry. Two nephews and a cousin are now linked to my tree and are adding branches for their families.

One of the fantastic things about Ancestry now with the DNA testing - I'm finding so many distant cousins - some on branches that never left Europe.

I guess the most difficult part of the research was learning to read the documents that were handwritten in a foreign language. But - there are lots of genealogical dictionaries and research guides.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

Boehm Collector — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 16:35:54 GMT

@qualitygal wrote:
Maybe someday, I'll get into that. I'm a little curious about that. Ancestry.com, wonder how that is for checking on past relatives.

Has anyone here gone into that? How far back did you trace your ancestry? I think it could be very interesting. Know where my dad's family came from in Poland. I'd like to see my mom's side and where they came from.

@qualitygal ... I did a DNA test through Ancestry. Through my DNA matches I was able to reconnect with relatives I had not seen or heard from in years. I also connected with some distant relatives I had never heard of before. All were able to provide a lot of information regarding my paternal grandmother's and grandfather's family.

Re: curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

ALRATIBA — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 16:40:52 GMT

@Isobel Archer wrote:
Definitely recommend Ancestry. I didn't know my father's relatives as he and my mother divorced when I was very young and he moved to another state.

From Ancestry, I discovered that - on his side - I had a direct relative who fought in the Revolutionary War. I have since applied to and been verified as a Daughter of the American Revolution. I had no idea prior to Ancestry.

Check in to it. Who knows what you will find.

@Isobel Archer

I also had a relative who fought in the Revolutionary War ... except he was a Hessian and fought for the British side!

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

Carmie — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 16:44:21 GMT

I am super fortunate that my family is close on both my mother's and father's side. I grew up knowing family members from many different generations.

My family came from small towns in Europe. They lived in the villages there for generations, so that it has been very easy to find information...all located in the same place. Some of my family members went there and got copies from churches and town halls.

i can go back quite far and I know my great, great grandmothers, great grandmothers and my grandmothers maiden name on both sides of the family by heart.

My father's family came in the early 1900's, but my mother's family have been here, much, much longer. There are towns named after her family members in the county where they settled.

I think it is interesting. Lucky for me, a lot of work has already been done. All I have to do is read. Once a year a cousin e-mails everyone for updated info..marriage, birth, deaths and divorce. She keeps the informationupdated and she then sends us a new page to put with the book we already have.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

Pook — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 17:16:40 GMT

My grandparents on my mother's side came here from Italy. Ancestry was not much help except to find the ship my grandfather came over on. Nothing for my grandmother. I did find some census records but I already knew the different places they lived. I guess from here I would need a site that find info from Italy and the area they came from but don't know where to turn.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

ALRATIBA — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 17:48:42 GMT

@qualitygal

One thing to keep in mind ... you should keep a paper trail of documents to verify the data.

We have about 30 binders of copies of documents. Archives and universities that I've contacted in Europe were very helpful in getting me the copies I requested, or verifying information that I had from other sources. Churches / cemeteries here in the US were also helpful.

Archives here in the US are great resourceas. We went down to Colllege Park in MD a few years ago and came back with a stack of document copies regarding a business my family was in.

Also - if you get into this seriously - there are lots of research guides available for various localities. Check with your local genealogy society.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

qualitygal — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 17:51:06 GMT

Thanks ladies, lots of great info here, I was even reading some of them to my husband.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

Boehm Collector — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 18:05:20 GMT

@Pook wrote:
My grandparents on my mother's side came here from Italy. Ancestry was not much help except to find the ship my grandfather came over on. Nothing for my grandmother. I did find some census records but I already knew the different places they lived. I guess from here I would need a site that find info from Italy and the area they came from but don't know where to turn.

Hi @Pook,,, my paternal grandparents came from Italy. I was able to find some information on them through Ancestry and through my DNA matches. My maternal grandfather came to the US twice but both times ultimately returned to Italy. I was able to find a ships manifest with his name on it. Other than that there is no further information on that side of the family in Italy. I don't know of any website I could look into. If anyone has any info I would truly be grateful.

Re: Little curious how my ancestors came to settle here (where I live).

OnlyShopsOnline — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 18:07:52 GMT

I did the Ancestry DNA kit two years ago. It has been a truly amazing journey. I'm going to sound like one of their commercials, lol.....

I knew my mother was Polish/Lithuanian and my father was Sicilian/Italian....or I thought so anyway. My mother was most definitely Polish Lithuanian. My father was only partly Sicilian/Italian. A large part of his ancestry was Russian Jewish.....people who immigrated at some point to Italy/Sicily. When I ran my raw data through GEDMatch.com, I came up as 50% Ashkenazi Jew. I'm so amazed.

I thought my Italian grandfather had one sister. He had nine siblings. Several died at young ages. But several came to the USA. I have made connections with cousins I never knew existed, because most of my grandfather's family settled in upstate New York, and he settled in Maryland.

I found out that my great grandmother, who remained in Melfi, Italy, lived to be 106. I was 15 when she passed away, and I never knew anything about her, which blew me away. AND, I had two pictures of her in my collection of family photos, but never knew who she was.

One of my new cousins has traced our Italian ancestors back to the 1700's.

I could go on and on. I know some people are hesitant about doing DNA tests, and I respect that. For me, this has been a journey that I wouldn't have missed for the world.