Have you looked at your ancestry and did you find anything interesting?

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Have you looked at your ancestry and did you find anything interesting?

by psylyn Posted May 20, 2009 14:00:55

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	No and I am not interested.
	No but I will.
	Yes I got information from family to get me started.
	Yes but it was difficult
	Yes and I found famous people!
	Undecided (Please leave a comment)
	All of the above
	None of the above (Please leave a comment)

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+4 raves QueenShebaVIII May 20, 2009 17:21:14

Answered: None of the above
I haven't because I wouldn't know where to look... There's probably nothing that interesting. I bet my family's been in Wales for centuries upon centuries... Hmm, maybe I'm distantly related to Tom Jones?
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+1 raves
triskaideka May 30, 2009 21:13:34

Answered: Yes I got information from family to get me started.
I actually do genealogy and have found all sorts of neat things not only about my own family but other people's families as well!

The most fun I've had is finding shared ancestors for married couples. Mwuahaha. My parents did demand that I stop researching once I found their fourth shared ancestor (from the 1500's for heaven's sake).

I'm descended from the Plantagenet line five times over... from the famed King John of Nottinghamshire (in two lines, I believe)... also from Robert the Bruce, and Norwegian royalty (I don't remember their names...) My g-g-g-g-g-g-g-grandfather's sister was the mother of Tecumseh. Uhmm.... That's all I remember off the top of my head.

Oh! I almost forgot. I tracked down my great-grandfather's family in this state and confirmed that he truly was my grandfather's biological father. As it turns out, my surname is not the name that should have been passed down in our family!
+1 raves
psylyn to triskai... May 30, 2009 21:46:26

That is really interesting and you are obviously good stock. I love playing detective. My claim to fame is being an ancestor of John Hancock but I am still trying to find the actual connection in Derby UK. He would be a cousin of one of my Great-Grandads. I did find a connection to the Hubbert family of 'Hubberts peak' fame that I didn't expect but having known my Grandad it shouldn't have surprised me because he was such a natural mathmatician. I didn't get that gene though. LOL
+1 raves
triskai... to psylyn May 30, 2009 21:54:00

aww. that's too bad! (about the math.) i wouldn't go so far as to say i'm of "good stock"... but there are some fun family stories. i especially enjoy the love stories. =)
if you ever want help in research, let me know! i do it for fun.
+1 raves
psylyn to triskai... May 30, 2009 22:38:04

Thank you.
+1 raves
Shadow May 22, 2009 05:09:28 (edited)

Answered: Undecided
I found out many of my ancestors survived some horrendous things. And many were very lucky in their timing of when to leave, before the wars. Nice to know I came from such interesting people. One of my old grandaunts told me we came from the people of Vlad...

We seem to all have very nice hair and an odd sense of humor. Lol.
+1 raves
Scaramouche [LordOfPants] May 21, 2009 03:28:21

Answered: None of the above
How on earth am I supposed to find out about that! Half my family's stuff got destroyed in the damned war.
psylyn to Scaramo... May 21, 2009 08:51:17

That has happened to millions of families in various countries over generations. Sometimes other members of the families do survive and could give you information. All countries keep records of people living there so if you did want to find it you could start with asking at your local authorities.
+1 raves
Scaramo... to psylyn May 21, 2009 09:30:14

Hmm, might try that. But there's a pretty big chance nothing's going to come out of it. Singapore wasn't exactly known for its prowess back then. My grandmother doesn't ever know her birthday cause they lost everything.
psylyn to Scaramo... May 21, 2009 09:39:07

I know someone from India who doesn't know when she was born. Apparently her Mother lied about their ages to get them into the UK and now she has forgotten. They came from a small village and there were no calenders so that didn't help either.

Perhaps if you find one some details might be attached. Some of the information I found was accidental.
+1 raves
Tracer Bullet May 21, 2009 03:17:24

Answered: Yes I got information from family to get me started.
My father has done some extensive genealogy work for his side of my family, and my aunt on my mother's side has also done a lot of digging.

The most interesting person my father found in our family tree was Abraham Lincoln.

Of course none of Lincoln's children had any children of their own, so there isn't any direct lineage, but Honest Abe is something like a great great second cousin once removed or some sh*t like that. (I have no idea how any of this works, so please don't tell me thee isn't any such thing as a "great great second cousin once removed")
+1 raves
psylyn to Tracer ... May 21, 2009 08:59:54

I am related to John Hancock but it goes back to the 1500s and getting the evidence is a nightmare.
Tracer ... to psylyn May 21, 2009 18:31:24

My dad got lucky in that he found a distant relative with the same surname as ours who had compiled a book with all the information he had discovered. It was in that book that we found out Lincoln has rattling around in our family tree. Dad has since verified it, and I was simply floored when he told me.
1169888 May 21, 2009 01:54:59

Answered: Yes I got information from family to get me started.
I found some interesting things because of now having use of the internet. I found out that while I was always thinking myself to be english, that my family actually snuck into England way back from France and took up a new life. Also I found a revolutionary war commander in the same branch, a descendant of the person(s) that had snuck into England. So that family branch just keeps leaving one country in lue of another.
+1 raves
SeaSparkzz May 21, 2009 00:54:46

Answered: None of the above
I've tried, but cannot find anything at all.
+1 raves
psylyn to SeaSparkzz May 21, 2009 01:38:31

You have got to go backwards from the information from the oldest alive now. Once you find someone around the 1900 era it isn't so bad. If you need to buy birth and marriage certificates it will give you loads of information but it can get expensive.
+1 raves
SeaSparkzz to psylyn May 21, 2009 01:49:07

I suppose I can ask my dad... I was able to find my grandmother's and grandfather's death certificates... but it didn't say they had any information of their ancestry listed. How can I know that it will be worth it to pay?
+1 raves
psylyn to SeaSparkzz May 21, 2009 09:09:26

It will be better to get marriage and birth certificates to find details of their parents. Then you have someone older to research. The Ancestry website will have birth records but they don't always give parents names on the documents you can access for free.

Ask all of your older relatives for information while you can and keep all your notes. Stories can give you lots of information to research too and will give you an idea of who they were. If you find two people in the area with the same name and age then you can look at the occupation to find the right person.
+1 raves
SeaSparkzz to psylyn May 22, 2009 03:32:27

Cool, thank you for the tips. :)
+1 raves
bella123456 May 20, 2009 22:45:26

Answered: Yes and I found famous people!
yes and guess what i am nicks half cusion nick jonas that is its not fair he is so hhhoootttt
+1 raves
Missy A.K.A. Mel Rod May 20, 2009 21:56:32

Answered: No but I will.
I'm a mutt, so it would be difficult. I know a pair of my great-great parents travelled from Ireland to the States in the early 1900s. My great-grandma had 12 kids, so it would be difficult to trace them down. The other great-great grandparents were from Spain. They travelled to Puerto Rico and settled down there. From PR my dad's family came to Boston in the 1960s. he met my mom in the '80s and got married after high school.
+1 raves
Jane_D May 20, 2009 21:07:29

Answered: No but I will.
no i dont know where u can find that out any suggestions?
+1 raves
psylyn to Jane_D May 20, 2009 21:34:11

There are lots of Ancestry web sites. I use http://www.ancestry.co.uk if you are in the US you want their American site http://www.ancestry.com

You need to ask older relatives for names and dates of birth first. The last UK census to be published was 1901 so I needed to know people born before that time. I was lucky to have a family who knew a lot about the past and I took notes collected scans of every picture I could get and built a website for us all to share information. It was great fun because all the family stories, although right, connected to the wrong people and or generations. It was fun playing a detective and I have got to know family I didn't know I had!
+1 raves
Jane_D to psylyn May 20, 2009 21:42:19

ok thanks i will check it out!
Tracer ... to Jane_D May 21, 2009 03:19:25

Mormons have a wealth of genealogy information available to non-Mormons. There are also a few genealogy site on the Internet.
+2 raves
AlyssaTaylor May 20, 2009 20:40:16

Answered: Yes I got information from family to get me started.
Found out a lot about my mom that made me happy since I met her once when I was born.
+1 raves
LeAnn May 20, 2009 18:06:49

Answered: Yes and I found famous people!
Catherine the Great is a great (something) grandmother of mine. And I'm related to the Romanovs (Anastasia, and all of them.) Wasn't directly descended from them obviously, since they died, but I believe they would have been my cousins.
psylyn to LeAnn May 20, 2009 18:09:40

Very royal claim to fame!
+1 raves
moomoof "Jin Kazama!" May 20, 2009 17:46:14

Answered: No and I am not interested.
no man i dont want to know if i had a seriel killer in my family or worse nazi ....so no thanks
+1 raves
Mari May 20, 2009 17:24:14

Answered: No but I will.
Naw, but I'd like to know a bit more.
+2 raves
Lunacat May 20, 2009 17:21:37

Answered: Yes I got information from family to get me started.
The most interesting thing I found was the fact that one of my ancestors on my mothers side came from England in 1634 and was one of the founders of Dedham, MA. I also now know that most of my ancestors were from England & Wales.
+1 raves
psylyn to Lunacat May 20, 2009 21:37:01

I have recently found a whole section of my family who went from England to the US.
+4 raves
QueenShebaVIII May 20, 2009 17:21:14

Answered: None of the above
I haven't because I wouldn't know where to look... There's probably nothing that interesting. I bet my family's been in Wales for centuries upon centuries... Hmm, maybe I'm distantly related to Tom Jones?
psylyn to QueenSh... May 20, 2009 21:38:26

So Wales could be your 'green green grass of home.' LOL.
+1 raves
Tiger Annie. AMERICAN. . w... May 20, 2009 16:40:19

Answered: All of the above
It took my mom, my brother and I to come up with ours and we got some real surprises. I still haven't finished it but I have a better idea of where I came from. I'm studying their migration right now and the history surrounding the reason they migrated. I tell you, though, by the time I'm through and ready to write my book, I'll be an expert on World and US history.
+1 raves
psylyn to Tiger A... May 20, 2009 17:04:20

Mine are spread across the world too. What I found frustrating is the cost of accessing documents abroad.
+1 raves
Tiger A... to psylyn May 20, 2009 17:08:57

Oh, I know and hard to figure out who to contact to get them. I do alot on the computer and it helps get the info but locating documents is much harder.
+1 raves
psylyn to Tiger A... May 20, 2009 21:39:48

If you need anything in the UK please let me know and I'll see what I can find for you.
+1 raves
Tiger A... to psylyn May 20, 2009 22:25:12

Thank you very much. I have been trying to find out information about Rockbourne. All I can find on the web is a site for a museum but no history is listed on it. It's an old Roman Villa close to Stonehenge. One of my ancestors named John lived there; Sir John, was knighted by Henry VIII on July 4, 1622 and he was made the first Baronet of Rockbourne, co. Hauts. I would love to find out more of the history of the area. I can Google Earth it and see the place but not very close. Know any good history books of the area?
+1 raves
psylyn to Tiger A... May 21, 2009 09:12:51

Try here: http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/

You might also want to look up 'Wiltshire ancestry' to find if they have their own website. I know Berkshire has one, which is the next county to Wiltshire.
+1 raves
Tiger A... to psylyn May 21, 2009 19:27:16

Will do, thank you very much. I've been in 16th Century England so long as far as research, I feel I know almost everything about it. I know I really bore my family with it sometimes. (lol) I enjoy watching The Tudors and every time I watch it, I marvel at the history and that good looking young man that plays Henry. Now I know Henry VIII wasn't that good looking but with him I dream he was. (lol)