topic Re: Anyone interested in geneology? in Community Chat

Anyone interested in geneology?

151949 — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:13:50 GMT

I haven't been really but my DH is so he joined FIND A GRAVE.COM and has been volunteering to go to cemetaries and take pictures then enter the picture and info we could find out onto the website. He started with his own family , then mine and as we have been working all summer on this we have gotten more and more interested. I have now joined Ancestry.com and our family tree is growing every day. My DH needs to start doing his family tree as well. We are really enjoying doing this together and tromping around the cemetaries looking for the graves is great exercise and it is out in the sunshine so 100% good to me.

I know some people go way over the top with this - go back to Europe etc looking for ancestors , but we won't be doing that. However, I have ancestors who have been in this country since before the revolutionary war so I can do quite a lot right here in the greater Pittsburgh area.

Many of the cemetaries here in the burgh are on hillsides overlooking the city so we are seeing some new and beautiful views of our birthplace as well. And since we have the camera in hand anyway....

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

MyGirlsMom — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:17:13 GMT

Yes. our family is very much interested in genealogy. My husband has traced his family tree back to the Mayflower. He has multiple photos of grave sites.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

BreezyBri89 — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:20:07 GMT

You can try familysearch.org. It is free and I have found some very interesting information on there!

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

CatsyCline — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:21:49 GMT

@151949 wrote:
I haven't been really but my DH is so he joined FIND A GRAVE.COM and has been volunteering to go to cemetaries and take pictures then enter the picture and info we could find out onto the website. He started with his own family , then mine and as we have been working all summer on this we have gotten more and more interested. I have now joined Ancestry.com and our family tree is growing every day. My DH needs to start doing his family tree as well. We are really enjoying doing this together and tromping around the cemetaries looking for the graves is great exercise and it is out in the sunshine so 100% good to me.
I know some people go way over the top with this - go back to Europe etc looking for ancestors , but we won't be doing that. However, I have ancestors who have been in this country since before the revolutionary war so I can do quite a lot right here in the greater Pittsburgh area.
Many of the cemetaries here in the burgh are on hillsides overlooking the city so we are seeing some new and beautiful views of our birthplace as well. And since we have the camera in hand anyway....

really, over the top?? some people only have first line ancestors from over in Europe. not everyone is a Daughter of the American Revolution

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

MariotaMurielle — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:27:39 GMT

I'm a novice, but very interested. I have been an ancestry.com member for a year or so. my dad was interested in tracing his family and did not use a computer. he did it the old fashioned way, writing letters, making phone calls and visiting the area of Tennessee where his great grandfather was from. he left all of his hand written research to me when he died last summer and I have been trying to carry on where he left off. I've gotten stuck at the proverbial brick wall, which is extremely frustrating. I recently had my brother submit a DNA specimen for the FamilyTree project specific to our paternal family name and can't wait to get the results. I'm hoping it will connect me with other people related to us who are also doing genealogy research.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

151949 — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:34:07 GMT

@BreezyBri89 wrote:
You can try familysearch.org. It is free and I have found some very interesting information on there!

Thanks, I'll look there.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

MyGirlsMom — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:34:32 GMT

@MariotaMurielle, I did a dna test and the results were more than I expected! I hope you have the same expectations.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

tegrace — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:38:16 GMT

I am interested in my family history. My father has been working with findagrace.com in locating family cemetaries in Bulloch County, Ga where I live. In conjunction the Boy Scouts here locally help clean and cut away shrubs in those family cemetaries for their community service projects. My husband has rich family in Savannah, Ga. Funny story, his family has roots in Bulloch County as well as I......we had to do some tracing before we were married to make sure we were not related.

If your family has family reunions is another way to find out about family history.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

151949 — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:38:37 GMT

People are now e mailing my DH on Find a grave asking him to go and find graves and post the pictures for them because they live out of town. So we will do as many as we can before we go back to Florida in the fall.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

151949 — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:41:07 GMT

@MyGirlsMom wrote:
@MariotaMurielle, I did a dna test and the results were more than I expected! I hope you have the same expectations.

So you felt like it was worth the money? My friend's sister has done it and is waiting for her results.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

MyGirlsMom — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:42:46 GMT

@151949 wrote:
@MyGirlsMom wrote:
@MariotaMurielle, I did a dna test and the results were more than I expected! I hope you have the same expectations.

So you felt like it was worth the money? My friend's sister has done it and is waiting for her results.

***

ABSOLUTELY!

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

151949 — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:47:45 GMT

@151949 wrote:
@BreezyBri89 wrote:
You can try familysearch.org. It is free and I have found some very interesting information on there!

Thanks, I'll look there.

UH Oh - I went to this site but find it is The church of latter day saints and I am nervous they will be bugging me , because they require my address and phone #, so I am leary of using this site.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

MyGirlsMom — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:50:46 GMT

@151949 wrote:
@151949 wrote:
@BreezyBri89 wrote:
You can try familysearch.org. It is free and I have found some very interesting information on there!

Thanks, I'll look there.
UH Oh - I went to this site but find it is The church of latter day saints and I am nervous they will be bugging me , because they require my address and phone #, so I am leary of using this site.

***

I've NEVER had a problem with them contacting me at all.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

Lovethesea — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 01:04:00 GMT

My interest began as a child listening to my father's family at family holiday dinners discussing our genealogy. Some 35 yrs. ago, my grandmother(a DAR) had traced her lineage through her mother back to the Mayflower and gave me a copy, and my father (her son) had obtained a 100 pg. document of my grandmother's father's lineage and gave me a copy of that as well.

I am the 1st. born grandchild on both sides of my family and always identified with the older generations, so I was very excited to delve into our history. I set aside time every Christmas break for researching and walked the 2 cemeteries where my relatives were buried taking notes from their headstones.

I've found Ancestry.com, the LDS site: FamilySearch.org, FindAGrave.com, communicating with 1st., 2nd. and 3rd. cousins as well as posting on the Ancestry.com message boards to be very helpful.

Although most of my research has involved my father's side of the family, I have also sought information on my mother's side most of whom were only children (including my mother) and are buried in a Pittsburgh cemetery or in Los Angeles.

I find genealogical research fascinating!

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

Lovethesea — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 01:11:43 GMT

@151949 wrote:
@151949 wrote:
@BreezyBri89 wrote:
You can try familysearch.org. It is free and I have found some very interesting information on there!

Thanks, I'll look there.
UH Oh - I went to this site but find it is The church of latter day saints and I am nervous they will be bugging me , because they require my address and phone #, so I am leary of using this site.

You don't have to sign up on the site. Go to the menu across the top of the page to SEARCH and then RECORDS. From there, you will be able to search records for your deceased ancestors by name.

I've used this site for decades and the LDS has never contacted me.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

Dorothy11 — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 01:12:33 GMT

My parents died when I was in my teens, I'm an only child with not much extended family. Several years ago through ancestry.com, I located a cousin and family I didn't know existed, and we have connected. Unfortunately, my great-grandparents were poor immigrants, and we have not been able to find any records of their siblings or parents. More records get posted all the time - so you never know.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

Lovethesea — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 01:25:58 GMT

For those of you who would like to use the Ancestry.com website without subscribing or using the Free Trial, go to the bottom of the home page and click on SITE MAP then go down to HISTORICAL RECORD SEARCH. From there, you can search for your ancestor.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

Moonchilde — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 01:43:30 GMT

Using Ancestry.com and the (I thought) little information I knew (grandparents names and state/city), I have been able to find out more about both sides of my family than I ever dreamed I would know. I started out using only census records, and suddenly there were grands, great-grands and their entire families.

From there - if you let your tree/research be public (no reason not to for most people), Ancestry emails you "hints" for other peoples' public trees that share matches with you, and you can add *all their research* to your tree!

In this way, I traced both sides of my family back to Shakespeare's England, and one side to the Mayflower - not something I would have dreamed of before I started. My family didn't know, either.

I found a second cousin who sent me priceless family photos (I never had many, and lost what I'd had in a fire) and put me in touch with three first cousins I didn't know existed - and we have since met and they have also given me photos. One of them did the necessary paper-proofing to join The Mayflower Society. I could use her papers and also join, but it's not so much my thing.

I did the DNA testing (I have no male relatives to test), and what came back was 99% exactly what my family tree said - no surprises - which was interesting in itself.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

Lovethesea — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 01:48:52 GMT

Other search tips:

Search Census Records on Ancestry.com

This will provide you with others in the household in addition to the person for whom

you are searching.

To Access the Message Boards on Ancestry.com

http://boards.ancestry.com/

Search Intelius.com

May provide you with those related to the person for whom you are searching.

Search Google.com for Surnames

ETA: All of my suggestions are FREE. I have yet to pay for genealogical information.

Re: Anyone interested in geneology?

blackhole99 — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 01:49:44 GMT

My uncles wife was very much into geneology years ago, she traced his families roots back to Austria and Germany. Their family actually traveled to Austria to meet them and stayed with them at their farm. We also found out that his grandmother lost her US citizenship because she married a man from Germany who came to the US via Canada ,which at that time was illegal. My husbands people came over on the Mayflower so they say.LOL! My people are from Poland and they have visited us here in the states and my cousins who speak Polish fluently have visited them in Warsaw. It's a good thing we know who our people are because there are so many people in Poland who use our last name it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.