topic Re: Question For Genealogy Fans in Community Chat

Question For Genealogy Fans

PickyPicky3 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 18:29:48 GMT

I think I may be related to two famous Americans on my mother's side. Same last name; same town in Europe. I've never used any of the genealogy search or DNA sites.

It would be so much easier just to write two "dear cousin" letters . It's not important, but it would be fun to know.

I'd prefer to keep this as simple and inexpensive as possible. Any suggestions?

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

Redsoxmom1 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 18:35:33 GMT

I use ancestery.com. It has been interesting to see the information on my dad's side. My mom's side all the kin stayed close (cousins of our great grandma that came from Scotland). I paid an upgrade to find out some info on my dad's mom. He did not share too much info on a sad childhood in regards to his mom. I found her and what happend to her after. I have to say after my curosity was answered I felt really sad for my dad. He was tight lipped about her. I almost wished I had left it alone...

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

Buffalogal47 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 18:37:15 GMT

@PickyPicky3 Celebrities get letters from people claiming to be relatives all the time. What other information do you have about these people to suggest they are blood relatives? It would be a good idea to spend a little money on a geneology search before you contact these people. Even if you find strong evidence that you may be distant cousins, what do you think you would gain by contacting them?

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

PickyPicky3 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 18:46:32 GMT

@Buffalogal47

I doubt if I would contact them. I know very little about my mother's side, and it would be fun to find these two there.

These days I rarely turn down an opportunity for a little fun.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

Redsoxmom1 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 19:59:17 GMT

I should also add that my reserach showed some positive information on my dad's family that I had no idea as well. His family was one of the first settlers in the town my dad grew up in. I don't think he knew that or maybe he didn't care.

As far as contacting relatives, I am linked to hundreds of distant cousins through my dna on Ancestry. None of us have made contact. I really enjoyed most of the information I found. Just know there may be some darkness as well.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

Buffalogal47 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 20:53:07 GMT

@PickyPicky3 I kind of would like to know more about my ancestors, but as you say, there may be some darkness as well. That's why sometimes it's better to let sleeping dogs lie.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

PickyPicky3 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:12:10 GMT

@Redsoxmom1 So if you send a DNA sample to Ancestry for analysis, they send you results with names? How far back do they go? I know the police now use those results to locate family members of criminals. Do you get to decide if others see your name or not?

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

Redsoxmom1 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:18:25 GMT

If you send a sample in they tell you where on earth you come from. Then they match with you people that are also on the site that have done their DNA as well. And the estimate how close of a relation they are to you. The closest I have is 2nd cousin on my Dad's side and I have zero clue who she is. Fun fact, my husband's mom is a twin and his Mom's twin is on the site. They linked her to my husband as his Mom. His mom is not on the site.

I could find people linked to me as far back as 1655 on my dad's side.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

ALRATIBA — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:21:39 GMT

There is a free genealogy site - no DNA - but you can research public records.

It's the LDS site: familysearch dot org.

Ancestry is probably the easiest to use. You'll probably get the most results from there, It's a popular site.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

Mindy D — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 17:19:58 GMT

@PickyPicky3 @They only give you names of those that wish to be contacted. You can opt out of this. I prefer 23 and Me because they have the genetic health option. Once you get results from either company, you can delve further by inputting your results into an open database called GEDMatch. There are companies that look at more ancient DNA migrations than Ancestry or 23 and Me. Neither looks at your complete sequence of familial...nuclear DNA. They generally look at the most recent 500-600 years but they also scan for ancient trace DNA for Neanderthal ancestry and ancestry from ancient tribes. You can also use some sites that can provide ancestry through the female links, looking at mitochondrial DNA or through the male line looking at ySTR DNA. Some of these sites trace migrations of groups of people and their results are part of university studies. If you choose Ancestry, and your possible relatives have also chosen to use it and open themselves up for contact I think they provide data up to third cousins, but how distant they look is not firmly set in my memory. Some members also open up and start family trees by surnames and invite members to add in their data and contact them in the hopes of building a family tree.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

DottieBlue — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:59:50 GMT

@Redsoxmom1 wrote:
I use ancestery.com. It has been interesting to see the information on my dad's side. My mom's side all the kin stayed close (cousins of our great grandma that came from Scotland). I paid an upgrade to find out some info on my dad's mom. He did not share too much info on a sad childhood in regards to his mom. I found her and what happend to her after. I have to say after my curosity was answered I felt really sad for my dad. He was tight lipped about her. I almost wished I had left it alone...

@Redsoxmom1

I'm not asking for the information you got, but I am wondering how you got the info on your Dad's mom, via newspaper articles, or you were lead to other websites, or ?

TIA.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

ThinkingOutLoud — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 22:04:23 GMT

@PickyPicky3 I might have an idea how to do this for free but I need a name to work with. Are you comfortable sharing who the famous people are?

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

Still Raining — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 22:06:01 GMT

It is also useful to quiz all known members of your mother's side. Someone might have already done a lot of research.

Many records are also online, graves, ship passenger lists for sure.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

PickyPicky3 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 22:35:09 GMT

@ThinkingOutLoud Thanks, but I wouldn't want to do that. I'm willing to spend some money on this, but I want to explore the pros and cons of the various services first.

But I do wonder if these two ever got in touch to find out if they are related. I'm sure either would accept a phone call from the other.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

Redsoxmom1 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 22:36:33 GMT

@DottieBlue Ancestry. They showed me the marriage license of my dad's parents. Then I eventually found my dad's aunts names and their info. Then I searched the sisters obituaries through ancestry to get her new married name. Then I found he obituary and death record which listed her subsequent child's name. I only used ancestry. Like I mentioned I upgraded my account to be able to view different avenues.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

ThinkingOutLoud — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 22:48:56 GMT

@PickyPicky3 wrote:
@ThinkingOutLoud Thanks, but I wouldn't want to do that. I'm willing to spend some money on this, but I want to explore the pros and cons of the various services first.

I understand.

After I posted, I thought I'd try something and picked a name out of thin air. After just a couple minutes, I discovered that Dolly Parton's mom is my 11th cousin on my mom's side. Free and kinda fun with no dna required.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

PickyPicky3 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 22:48:24 GMT

@ThinkingOutLoud Which service do you use?

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

ThinkingOutLoud — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 23:52:56 GMT

I have an account on a couple different sites but for this, I used the one @ALRATIBA mentioned.

Step 1 - set up a free account on Familysearch dot org

Step 2 - input your info (names, birthdays, etc for you, your parents, grandparents). Go as far back as needed. There's a good chance info is already there once you add enough of your own. (hope that makes sense)

I'll give you a chance to get that far and add in the other steps in a bit.

Step 3 - google the names of who you think you're related to and go to their wikipedia page. Scroll down to 'early life' and note the parents names and birth/death years.

Step 4 - go back to familysearch dot org. At the top left, click on 'family tree' and scroll down to 'find'. Click that and type in the name, gender and years of the parent (from the wiki info). Click 'find' at the bottom. Names will come up to scroll through. When you see the one that matches the name, years and spouse, click on that name.

Step 5 - At the bottom of the pop up, there are icons. Click on the second icon (to the right of the star). In the black bar at the top left, it will indicate your relationship and you can also see the lineage from person to person.

Oh - living people are kept private so you'll just have to assume that if you're related to the parents, you are to their kids.

Hope I've explained things well enough and I'd love to hear if your inkling is correct.

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

Oznell — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 23:20:40 GMT

Searches of this kind can be a fun, diverting quest-- hope you enjoy, @PickyPicky3 .

I hope you won't mind, since there appear to be some Ancestry.com-knowledgeable people on the thread, if I pose a question that has been nagging at me.

My sister, who has done tons of genealogical research on our family over the decades, finally had her DNA analyzed at Ancestry. All of our ethnicities got broken down in percentages. Does anyone know why they have such a hugely broad category as "England and Northwestern Europe" lumped in together?

That covers a lot of turf! There's England-- and then northwestern Europe, I imagine, takes in France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and who knows what-all else. We already know about the English component in the family, and the French, but would have liked to know roughly how they break down, separately.

For those of you familiar with Ancestry, do they lump England and Northwestern Europe together b/c there are so many close genetic linkages that you can't really separate them out?

That might make some sense to me, yet they DO break down separately groups as closely related as Denmark, Sweden and Norway! How can they differentiate among them, yet not between England and northwest Europe?

Very grateful if anyone has answers!

Re: Question For Genealogy Fans

CelticCrafter — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 23:25:39 GMT

You can set up a family tree on Ancestry.

If there are other trees that have some of the same relatives and the trees are public you will be able to see them.

You can only search so far though on Ancestry and then you will need to pay.