Anyone else working on a family tree?

[navycop]

My 21 yr old daugther asked me once (when she was 17) where our ancesters came from. I have been working on it ever since. When a relative has a baby or gets married I add it to the list.. It started off with 3 pages, now it is up to 14.

 

[bensoelberg]

Are you using any special software to help you in your research?

 

[WIDirt]

Family Tree....

My mother is so involved in genealogy, that she almost died when a friend of my aunts came over to her home and without permission proceeded to use her computer. It took me a week to recover about 95% of what she destroyed.....

That was 3 years ago and about 290MB worth of data. (My parents are Mormon, and heavily involved with the genealogy center in Salt Lake City. She has traced us back almost to Christ! Not a direct descendant, but that far back in time. At the current moment, she has three external drives, all Raided, as backup copies. I have a copy and my older sister has a copy. I don't think we will lose the 1.8GB file she is keeping track of now....

As for my wife's family, I do the work on that one. I currently have 350 names give or take a few, but have run into a brick wall on her dad's side at his great, great, great Grandpa. The family is from poland, and during the German occupation, the hospital where he was born was razed, all records burned, and many of the staff killed. Of course, we then went to the city records, only to find the same thing had happened there.

So, I have him married to a certain woman, with three kids. Married to a different woman, same kids. First wife 2 DIFFERENT kids. Second wife, 4 DIFFERENT kids. NO wife at all. (How did grandkids show up???)

The best part of all this.... The records I was given were from my wife's mother's grandfather, a second grade education was all he had, and he managed to collect and collate 6 generations of his family into a hand written file that I still have. It is written almost as a story. Way cool! The worst part.... I spent a year verifying it all, typing it up in Family Tree Maker and PAF, and 3 days before he and his wife got my rendition of his work in the mail, He passed away and never got to see it. He was about 99.5% accurate in his record keeping. I only had to fix a couple of minor errors, mostly involving spelling, that caused a few members of the family to be lost. I was able to find and include them.

I still work on it occasionally, adding new additions to the tree from the kids we have now, and looking for old Valentin, but I don't have the time to really delve into right now.

Just a few brags that I want to toss out.

My son is named for his great (say that like 28 times) grandfather. None other than Erik the Red. I have 3 Spanish kings, Phillippe the First, Second, and Third, two English Earls, and umpteen european royalties in my family line.

What the He!! happened that I am not RICH beyond belief!!!????:crying:

Keep up the good work and you'll find some very interesting things in your back story!!!

CdirtO

 

[GoodTurns]

I'm looking to prune my family tree!

 

[Haynie]

My mom is the record keeper. We all get regular updates. Pretty cool stuff. No royalty just a bunch of hillbillys and farmers.

 

[navycop]

Are you using any special software to help you in your research?

I am using family tree maker to log it. I use ancestry.com at the libary. Like CdirtO says I have hit a couple brick walls. People with the same surname as me but they live in states that I know we have no reliatives in..
CdirtO that is too bad he didn;t get to see it, It would of came full circle if he did.
With me living in Virginia, I try to ask my mom and relitives about info but she is getting alzhimers and everybody else lives in Ohio.

 

[Woodlvr]

I go to the Genealogy center quite often and work on our families history. It is very fulfilling to find out who your ancestors were, it is for us anyway. You guys should try familysearch.org for your record searching. It is free to everyone and you will be surprised how much information that is available. Happy searching.

 

[CSue]

My aunt, now 83, began researching the family tree when she was in her 20's. Most of the info of that branch of my family tree that people "find" at Ancestry.com are based on her records and research. She actuallly traveled the world over to get "first hand" records where possible.

I began researching my father's family a few decades ago. I find it fascinating . . . that my father's family are decendents in direct line with a king of England, Princess of Italy, Scotland. Lords and Barons and holy emperor of (I forgot - german or bavarian empire.)

It really helps to sit down with older relatives and ask for "Family Stories." Gathering letters of those older generations can lead to many suprises (Cherokee grandmother and one of the founders of Virginia.)

When you search online, just make sure the dates and years and generations make sense and can be verified. It doesn't make sense to find out that your grandfather was 6 years old when his son was born - until you find out the "son" was really your grandfather's brother.

And I've found out that, while it is interesting, even though I can say that Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake are relatives, doesn't do me diddly when I go to the bank to make sure a check is covered.

I have over 3,000 names and records that go back to 1025 AD

 

[Longfellow]

Family Tree

I have over 2,000 names listed in my Family Tree Maker File. Been researching since 1994. Fun, but can be expensive obtaining copies of documents from, government agency's, cemeteries, churches, etc. Found I descend from European Royalty back to 625 AD but didn't inherit any of their wealth.

 

[PenPal]

Mike,

Before I was married I commenced my family research, it used to cost me a weeks wage or more for a copy of a birth, death certificate etc etc. In 1962 we swmbo and I became Mormons and gained as can anyone access to the LDS Family History Centres around the world.

One our daughters picked up the baton and became our family historian and has written several books of her Mums and my family. She is dedicated to fact only (supported) and for the last ten years has lived in Logan Utah where she with her family are now.

In the last year or so following my family name in Scotland in the 1700,s cousins of mine Emigrated to the USA he to take up the 6th President of Princeton and was the 42nd signer of the Declaration of Independance he was a member of the Legislature and a close friend of Washington.

Other members cousins of mine moved from Scotland in 1841 to join with Joseph Smith in Missouri moving later with others to Utah.

Imagine my happiness when Captn G Garry Lazer cut on 3/4 inch timber two copies of the original Declaration of Independance, our daughter bringing my copy in two weeks time.

Recently a man introduced himself to our daughter in Utah, this man nearly the same age as me late 70,s a cousin also of the LDS members from 1841. This was at Church one Sunday.

Most recent book published was 10 generations on my Dads Mum from Cornwall in England whose family together with all my family people emigrated free settlers around the 1840,s to Australia when the population in Australia was measured in the thousands. Ancestry.com produced this book on 220 gsm acid free paper in full colour and leather bound no charge whatever for preparation or printing and we bought copies for our family for round 50 bucks. Also Ancestry.com have special prices for Mothers Day Xmas etc with great discounts. Our daughter is one of not many specialist teachers of English as a second language and lectured in London when she photographed extensively around the South of England churches where family were married christened (pics of actual fonts etc).

Yes we have records of large numbers of thousands of our ancestors and rellies in answer to your question.

Thanks for asking.

Kind regards Peter.

 

[Scott]

I have kind of a neat story regarding genealogy. My family is Mormon, so among Aunts, Cousins, Sisters and such I have my family pretty thoroughly traced. My one cousin was a bishop and was pretty well known at the family history center in Salt Lake. One day a lady was asking some questions about his family, and they gave her his name and address.

When my Dad was just a kid, his Father (my grandfather) abandoned his family and just disappeared. They never heard from him again. It was a tough time, the mid-1920's, and my Dad had to work hard as a kid to help his family get by. They made it, but they always wondered what happened to their Father.

It turns out that when he left. He travelled about 150 miles to the west, got married, and raised another family of five daughters. The lady asking questions about our family at the Family History Center was one of those daughters. It was like overnight our family grew a whole new branch! My Dad was the big brother the girls had always wanted. It was truly wonderful!

Without an interest in genealogy we would have lost out on knowing these wonderful ladies. All of our lives were enriched beyond measure! Sometimes you get lucky and it's not all dusty old records. Sometimes you get love and family in return.

Scott.

 

[SGM Retired]

Wow!! I have tried start but just can't get when the family came from Poland/Gernany. Wish there was a class I could to get the basic search down and pointed in the right direction.

Gary

 

[titan2]

Genealogy is a lot of fun.....you can find all kinds of interesting things about your ancestors. Will be able to do more once I retire in a few years....

Took a genealogy class in college and got bit by the bug! Got an AA degree in genealogy and a BA in Family and Local History......I'm kind of a history buff, always loved history. Connecting family with history really can bring you close to your ancestors in understanding the times they lived in and how they lived......just very interesting!


Barney

 

[titan2]

Wow!! I have tried start but just can't get when the family came from Poland/Gernany. Wish there was a class I could to get the basic search down and pointed in the right direction.

Gary

PM me with specifics of your research in getting back to Poland/Germany.....there are resources out that might be able to help. There are other resources that can also help you get started in the right direction.....I'll see what I can find out what is in your area.


Barney

 

[mick]

This is a very timely thread. I've done fairly extensive research into our family tree and have it all on a hard drive from a crashed computer. Bought an external dock to put the hard drive in but when I opened it the FAmily Tree Maker program itself is gone. I've got all my back ups but can't open them. Does anyone have the program CD you could make me a copy of? That way I can reinstall in on my laptop and transfer my files from the old hard drive.
I'd gladly pay postage and for copying the CD.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[TellicoTurning]

I've been working on mine off and on for a few years... one of my cousins did my mother's family all the way back to 1628 in Virginia and then back into England... seems the Appomattox manor house where Grant made his headquarters when he took Lee's surrender at Appomattox courthouse... the manor house had another name, but don't remember it right now... the property was still in family name until some years back when it was donated as a national monument.

I've also run into a wall with my great grand father... I found him in TN in the 1850 census but stuck there...

 

[Jgrden]

Wow!! I have tried start but just can't get when the family came from Poland/Gernany. Wish there was a class I could to get the basic search down and pointed in the right direction.

Gary

PM me with specifics of your research in getting back to Poland/Germany.....there are resources out that might be able to help. There are other resources that can also help you get started in the right direction.....I'll see what I can find out what is in your area.


Barney

I tried to trace mine back to Southern Krakow. Grandpa married Grandma in the U.S. Both Polish. I have not yet found their township.

 

[Woodlvr]

If you want a challenge try looking for your mother when all you have is her maiden name and an address on my birth certificate that goes nowhere, and no one in my whole family knows anything. I have been searching for he for over 12 years now and am no closer than when I started. One day I will stumble upon something that will start to put the puzzle together. My dads side of the family is no problem I can trace them back to Canada and Germany from my grandparents. Do not give up, even Family search.com has some great aides that are very helpful. I hope to to work in the Genealogical library in Salt Lake City in a couple of years , I am sure it will be a very fulfilling experience helping others find their ancestors.

 

[ren-lathe]

My wife's mother is of French Canadian descent. If any one else is the best site to use is www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/ It is under the auspices of the university of Montreal. They have all the records of birth, death, burial etc. This is a pay site but unlike most it is not a subscription that expires on a specific date rather you buy a # of hits. Doing a search is free, if your search results is a find when load the record page itr educes your hits buy 1. You can view entire family records.

 

[TellicoTurning]

My mother's mother's maiden name was Cameron... this is both a German and Scottish name. Grandmother was of German descent, but would never admit it... she always told people her linage was Black Dutch....:biggrin:

 

[IPD_Mrs]

I've been working on our family tree for years. My Uncle got me started on it back when it was done floppy disk and some strange computer language, but mostly pen and paper and a family sheet to WRITE ON . I now use the Family Tree Maker and belong to Ancestry.com so that I can access information from around the world. If you are serious about trying to find ancestral information and aren't independently wealthy I highly recommend getting into some of the online sites - many of which you can access free for at least a short period of time. Another great resource is facebook. I am in a family group there which has close to 50 members - all of us are anywhere from my own children to cousins, uncles, great uncles etc. The family history and stories from there are spectacular!

While I haven't entered these branches I have seen another member who has traced one of our branches back to 6 AD. In the research I have, we have found (and documented): Three signers of the Declaration of Independence. Betsy Ross (who is credited with the American Flag :wink Many Earls, etc. George Ross's (Sr. Jr. I etc) are direct descendants and quite accomplished gentlemen. I believe it was the Senior whose obituary was written up in the newspaper owned by Ben Franklin. Mike (who also traces his family) and I have been out to grave yards in the middle of corn fields so I could photograph headstones of my ggg grandfather etc. I have been lucky enough to hold 100 year old marriage certificates in my hands of family members long past. Yes .. I have definitely been bitten by this bug

Unfortunately - we all seem to come to a brick wall don't we :frown: Mine seems to lie in Fifeshire Scotland somewhere in the late 1400's probably. My family (per family report) lived in a "village or berg ??" in Fifeshire before they Emigrated and we would need the name of that in order to get Scotland to trace that for us - guess what we don't have :redface:. (There is some reports that they went to Ireland before coming here and I do have some of that information - but I want the earlier stuff that I can't find!!)

Enjoy your searches and thanks for posting this topic :biggrin:

Mrs.

 

[Tanner]

I've been working on ours for many years. I have Family Tree Maker and have over 10,000 names in the tree. I've melded many trees into our tree that have matching people. One side of the family went right through Brigham Young. That connected us all the way to Queen Elizabeth and many Kings and Czars throughout Europe. The tough part was the Norwegian side as back in the day fathers were called, let's say Jon. His kids were then called say Emily Jonsdatter and James Jonson. They soon stopped that nonsense and just kept the last name the same. Mine being Olson instead of being Tim Dickson since my dads first name is Dick. Very confusing. I've gone back as far as Witte I King of the Saxons born 320 AD. Once you get someone like that in your family tree, the branches are endless.

 

[Florida Marine]

http://www.thecarys.net/Family%20history%20information/index.html

This is one my cousin did...haven't updated it in a few years - and we have had two deaths since then (my dad in 2008 and my mother in law this past Sunday).

Short of that its pretty current.

Sean

 

[IPD_Mrs]

I've been working on ours for many years. I have Family Tree Maker and have over 10,000 names in the tree. I've melded many trees into our tree that have matching people. One side of the family went right through Brigham Young. That connected us all the way to Queen Elizabeth and many Kings and Czars throughout Europe. The tough part was the Norwegian side as back in the day fathers were called, let's say Jon. His kids were then called say Emily Jonsdatter and James Jonson. They soon stopped that nonsense and just kept the last name the same. Mine being Olson instead of being Tim Dickson since my dads first name is Dick. Very confusing. I've gone back as far as Witte I King of the Saxons born 320 AD. Once you get someone like that in your family tree, the branches are endless.

Tanner I've run into the same problem. One of our branches has a considerable amount of royalty in it - for example it includes one of the Kings of Austrasia and the Cromyn family of Scotland.
I shudder to think what that would all look like if you could print it out - I'm sure it would be quite impressive. You've done a great deal of work on it Tanner - that's very neat. I think I might get to do that when I'm about 75 :smile-big:

 

[sbwertz]

I have a cousin who is heavily into genealogy. She sent me a report that shows I am a direct descendent, parent to child, of Atilla the Hun! My husband says that explains a lot!

 

[Smitty37]

I've putched for years

I have found a lot of my ancestors dating back to arround 1600 on one branch, 1730 on another. No one rich or famous among my known ancestors. One of my ancestors was also an ancestor of US Grant and when he died his wife married another ancestor of Grant.

 

[markgum]

I chase ancestors every now and then. Got the Gum line back to the 1600's in Delaware, but also have some German lines, and English lines, along with Norwegian. My Norway ancestors changed their name to 'Jones' when they settled in Chicago.
One interesting story. 2 Brother's joined the Union Army from Ohio and off to war they went. While in Virginia the older brother was killed. The younger returned to Ohio and married his brother's widow so the baby girl would have a daddy.

 

[glen r]

I've been working on my family tree for a few years now and have run into a similar problem with records from Ukraine/Austira/Germany. The same area was under the rule of different countries depending on who won last week's war. That plus the fact that the spelling of the name varies in different localities even though its part of the same family. Immigration records, church records and census records also have different spellings for the last name. That just makes thing more interesting when doing the research.

 

[fireangels]

My mom got me hooked on it and when I got married I got my wife hooked so I dont have to do it much but I have learned something very valuable to all...just because you find someone and believe that they are related dof one of my cousinsesnt mean a thing you have to prove your rights to claim the relation and to do so you must have birth, marriage, and death certificates and marriage liscense to document such proof. that being said with the help of one of my cousins we have traced our family back to 1410 England,Scotland and Ireland and have the ships manifest of when they came to the states with some brags proudly Lyndon B Johnson, John Rockerfeller
not so honorable but still good Pete Rose

good luck with your family search

 

[avbill]

My genealogy started when my grandmother started telling story's of her life. in china in 1929-1932 Indo-china War 1933 in Manilla with the island's great Earthquake and Pearl Harbor Dec 7 1942. My mother's side of family started the Mass. Bay Colony in 1630. Another side i've traced back to 1400 England. My family has been in every war except the Black Hawk War & and the Spanish American war in America. We have a journal of my wife's great-grandfather in 1870. I have court-marshall papers of my great-grandfather from the civil war. The army did not realize he was a lawyer and he won his case.

My father's still turning in his grave as I found that my mother is related to General Patton.

It's great fun to research your family's history. make's a great past time in the winter as the garage is too cold! even in California.

 

[Jgrden]

I have a cousin who is heavily into genealogy. She sent me a report that shows I am a direct descendent, parent to child, of Atilla the Hun! My husband says that explains a lot!

eh, eh, we must be careful and tread lightly around you. :biggrin::biggrin:

 

[IPD_Mrs]

I've been working on my family tree for a few years now and have run into a similar problem with records from Ukraine/Austira/Germany. The same area was under the rule of different countries depending on who won last week's war. That plus the fact that the spelling of the name varies in different localities even though its part of the same family. Immigration records, church records and census records also have different spellings for the last name. That just makes thing more interesting when doing the research.

Nod - interesting and PAINFUL. Imagine how many ways you can find to spell FYFFE, Simons and KIRCHOFF. My own family changed KIRCHOFF (I have the documentation that shows it originally had two H's in at least a part of the family - not to mention what ships captains and other emigration officials/ census takes did to things.

 

[Smitty37]

Yep

I've been working on my family tree for a few years now and have run into a similar problem with records from Ukraine/Austira/Germany. The same area was under the rule of different countries depending on who won last week's war. That plus the fact that the spelling of the name varies in different localities even though its part of the same family. Immigration records, church records and census records also have different spellings for the last name. That just makes thing more interesting when doing the research.

Nod - interesting and PAINFUL. Imagine how many ways you can find to spell FYFFE, Simons and KIRCHOFF. My own family changed KIRCHOFF (I have the documentation that shows it originally had two H's in at least a part of the family - not to mention what ships captains and other emigration officials/ census takes did to things.

My wife was a Kaufman....I have personally known people with three different spellings. Even something as simple as Smith .... Sometimes changed to Smith from schmit or schmidt around the time of the 1st world war. Also might have been changed from Smythe,