Genealogy?

[SarahLovesJS]

Does anyone do genealogy research? I''m stuck and was wondering if anyone has great tips!

 

[2Artists]

I have some family who are really into genealogy. Some go to conferences and travel all over for that stuff. My Mom told me that true genealogists don''t care if their ancestors were noble or naughty as long as they left a trail to follow.

Mrs. 2Artists

 

[2Artists]

SanDiegoLady what an interesting story. That is so exciting to have other potential siblings. If there is a chance that they are anything like you they are very worth finding.

Mrs.2Artists

 

[jewelerman]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints(known by some people as mormons )have a geneological library in Salt lake City,Utah(the largest of its kind) that is open to people of all faiths for research.Their website www.lds.org under family history will give you great tips on starting how to get started and deal with problem issues.The library has been a great help to my family who are both Latter Day Saints and members of other faiths.You might try Ancestry.com for information,but I think there is a charge to join their site.My twin sister is huge into genealogy and we have had a great time researching our family members from the past.Its amazing how interesting geneology is and that it can be addicting.My aunt did my fathers side back to the 1400s in Germany and found all sorts of intersting people...a Duke,several ministers,Vine yard workers,and watch makers...Good luck with the search,its time well spent.

 

[jewelerman]

Michelle,
Its a good time to write that letter!The result may be great and you wont know until you write...dont waste valuable time!

 

[swingirl]

ancestry.com is a good place to research. If you can trace your ancestors to Europe a lot of the churches have kept the original hand written baptismal records and will photograph them for you. Start off by requesting birth, death and marriage certificates. Some military data is also available and the old census listings are available from 1930 and earlier. It lists who lived in the house, what relationship they were, ages, and where they were born.

It seems just about everyone has an ancestor that wasn''t an angel. Since divorce wasn''t always an option people had multiple partners, maintained separate families, and adopted relatives'' children as their own. But it was them, not us.

Good luck with your research.

 

[appletini]

Good Luck! My grandfather documented all the geneology for my mom''s side of the family going back to the 1500s in Europe...its really neat to read, and it even has locations of old houses and burial info. I guess I should try to put together the other side since I now have half of it.

 

[krispi]

My dad is really into geneology, and it''s quite interesting. I do know that he has a computer program to track everything, but most of his research was done pre-internet, and he has the family tree drawn out on this huge piece of paper that he showed me once when I was much younger. My dad has our family traced back to medieval times. He knows that we''re related to Andrew Jackson (though adoption), Anne Bolynn, and Thomas a Beckett (from the Canterbury tales). He knows the origins of our family name, what our family crest means, the castle in Ireland that used to belong to my family (Kilkenny Castle), and has traced our family since my ancestors immigrated from Ireland before the Civil War until today. He''s a wealth of interesting facts! For instance, there''s a state park in Kentucky (my dad''s home state) that is dedicated to an ancestor of mine who was a Civil War hero, and of course we visited there when I was younger.

My BF has also done some very preliminary research into his family history because he''s in the opposite situation of me - he doesn''t really know anything about his family origins. He did mention that there''s a special room in the main library for our county that keeps these kinds of records.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Thanks for replying everyone!! This is so exciting! I am so frustrated right now though unfortunately because I've hit two roadblocks.

Blegh!

ETA: I also wanted to say thanks for sharing your stories, they're really interesting! I love history, so I guess that plays into it some. Maybe I should have been history major..

too late now.

 

[Bia]

My boss is really into it. She has traced most of her family back to the early Puritan days in Massachusetts--and even abroad into Ireland and the UK. She has travelled to Mass, PA, CT, NH to look up writings at various historical societies, and has found pictures of historic homes her family once owned. She had a book made, one that looks like an actual published book, which contains her family history (they even make the book look antique, which is fantastic!). It a big-time hobby for her, one she really enjoys.

I asked her once how she does it. First, she writes anything and everything down and keeps it organized by last name, date and region. She also pays $25 per certificate of death, birth, etc. She researches her butt off, contacting the towns historical society, libraries, town courts, estate attorneys for a specific town/county who know the area in and out. Its quite fascinating but it takes time and a lot of patience....she''s been at it for over 5+ years.

 

[jewelerman]

Also try your local library for additional help.

 

[innerkitten]

Yes, I''m very interested in my family history. I found the best way to gather information is to talk to family members. I wound up getting my best information from distant relatives. My grandfathers cousin was able to give me info going all the way back to Poland in 1852 when my great great great ( I''m not sure how many greats it is lol) was abandoned by his family and raised by the whole village. And on my fathers side we can date our family back to Colorado during the civil war. My great great ( again I do not remember how many greats off the top of my head) was widowed three times!! I think she was from Ireland. Sadly on my moms side we can only go as far back as her grandparents. They were Eastern European jews, and all the family records are missing.
Good luck filling in the pieces of your family tree!!

P.S. If your family has been in the U.S for a long time old census records are available and you might also want to check out the mormon web site.
If you have any jewish family try jewishgen.com

 

[Catmom]

That would be me! I''ve been at it for about 10 years now. LOL, I think my hubby takes better care of my research than my sparklies. Research and pictures are quintuple backed up and stashed all over the place. In his words it would be a total disaster to lose that amount of research. I belong to many more genealogy boards than sparkly boards. Huh, never thought I''d say that......

It''s amazing what is available on line these days but also check out your local libraries and find the one with the biggest genealogy collection. You can locate much more info there and the can do inter library loans if needed.