Let's hear it for MysticCat, Jr!

I've gone to the Highland games in Ligonier & in Delaplane, but since they "bookend" my birthday, I try to go to whichever one is closer. That way, I can tell a certain someone, "gee, that would look so great..."! ;)

Kick ass. :D

LOL. Yes, think Connor MacLeod (i.e., MacCloud).

And never mind that Connor is more of an Irish than a Scottish name. :D

Psh, Duncan's way cooler... and sexier.

For all you who are in the societies or heavily into family research. Do you find it's more common for people to be more involved if they have an uncommon surname? Like, are there many Jones, Smith, Johnson types? I was completely not feeling work today and was messing around with familysearch.com and I think I would shoot myself if I had to research my surname beyond my grandfather. It's not quite "Jones" but it's almost there. Plus common first names, like John, were ever so popular for the guys.

It'd be a million times easier to research my mom's side or my paternal grandmother's side. I can pretty much count on anyone in the country with the same last name is related in some way. For example, for my great grandmother's maiden name there's only 17 matches when I do a search on whitepages.com That's for the entire country!

I haven't forgotten :) I'm making it my summer project!

Try Benjamin Davenport who is the son of Benjamin Davenport who is the son of Benjamin Davenport. . . . .

Everyone will run into a name roadblock at some point in time. The more information you can find about your specific person the more you can narrow down the search. Even with limited information you can make up a log of where the person was located for various events to help narrow down the search.

First, yes and no - some of it depends on how exact you want to be. I'd rather have the right person than someone who may be my ancestor, so I get nitpicky. I know people in the DAR with Smith or Jones as their Patriot's name, and let's not forget that there can be over 20 ways of spelling the same name! I'd suggest that you find something that can make your lineage stand out a bit from others - no matter how small.

On my mother's side, there is a John & William CommonName in EVERY generation. Once we realized that there were two families in identical years, in the same county, with the same name, we literally had to do both lineages. Just to make it interesting, there are at least four people on the RootsWeb, Ancestory.com etc sites who live nowhere near the county in question, but insist that either these two lineages are the same or that there's a different Mrs. CommonName born in 1737. No matter how many times you try to tell them to "look at the church records!!," they won't change their minds! ACK!!

What I've done, and others have, also, is to give each a nickname - but never, ever Junior or Senior. I'm talking "John the bell ringer" and "William the shopkeeper" as opposed to "John the farmer" and "William the soldier" in the same generation.

Also, to make sure your search is miserable, ( ;) ) make sure that you use Soundex, and don't stay married to Smythe, instead of Smith (Brown/Browne, Johnson/Johston, etc). Spelling was only as good as the listener (census taker, pastor, undertaker) heard, and you could find yourself down the wrong road. This is a great Soundex Generator, especially if you're mostly researching online. FWIW, I put every one of our names into it, alphabetized the list, and printed it out for when I research. There are other fun gadgets to help with this sort of problem at Fun Stuff For Genealogists.com. I especially appreciate their "Cite your Sources!" Sticky-notes - sticky notes to put on the back of each piece of your research, so you know where to return (or NOT return!). Some societies insist on the information that's on them, so they can be a godsend.

http://www.funstuffforgenealogists.c...our-source.jpg

Last (for now!), don't forget that the lineages found online are only as good as the persons who entered them. I usually start off an email conversation with a nicer way of "what are your sources?" before I take one seriously.

In your experience, how accurate is familysearch.com? I want to trust the LDS records because they've been doing it for so long but I have my doubts. My great great grandfather has unique first and last name. He first lived in MO then IL after he imigrated. But they also have same first/last name w/ a middle initial who moved to NY after IL. There's a 16 year age difference but the birth place listed for the middle initial guy is where I know my g-g-grandpa was born. Tiny town, impossible to spell or say, in Bavaria. I can't decide if it's a likely cousin or inputer error. :confused: It's annoying!

While the LDS church has been collecting genealogies for many years, they do not require any sources before data is published. Familysearch.org is a good starting place (it's where I found my great-grandmother's name and most names in my line). HOWEVER you will want to do further research (census records, vital records, etc) to verify the data listed on the site. Even ancestry.com has data that needs to be taken with a grain of salt as members can submit lineages without including any sources (and most sources listed usually refer back to the LDS collection).

I like using heritagequest.com (through my local library) to search books for ancestors as well as getting copies of Rev War pension applications.

For some reason, the Fort Wayne, Indiana library has a huge geneology section. My Dad takes groups of people from his geneology class from the senior center in Ohio to Fort Wayne a few times a year so they can do research. So if you are ever in Indiana, try and visit the Fort Wayne library!

Oh and my Dad has told me that the LDS records are a good start, but he has found lots of errors in the information that they have and it is very hard to get them to correct it (even with proof that it is wrong). Especially if they have already done a proxy baptism on the person (my grandfather was raised by his aunt & uncle after his mother died, but according to LDS records, there are two cousins with the same name- so they have made my grandfather into two people).

LOL, I can't speak to sexier, but at least Duncan is a more Scottish name than Connor. :D

I subscribe to Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, and I'm not sure if the article that intrigues me will be available to those who don't subscribe. It says, among other things, "Six out of ten Americans do not know both of their grandmothers' maiden names ". This really blew my mind - although, with all of the blended families, I supposed I can see how it happens. The rest of the article follows:

Americans Lack Family History Knowledge
A survey conducted a few months ago by The Generations Network reports that few Americans know very much about their family trees. Among other facts, the survey discovered that:

One-third of Americans cannot name any of their great-grandparents
Half of Americans know the name of only one or none of their great-grandparents.
Six out of ten Americans do not know both of their grandmothers' maiden names
Twenty-two percent of Americans don't know what either of their grandfathers do or did for a living.
Although America is known as a nation of immigrants, 27 percent don't know where their family lived before they came to America.
Is this a problem or an opportunity?

Commissioned by Ancestry.com and conducted by zOmnibus Survey, the survey does make some positive statements. For one, the survey reports that 83 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds are interested in learning their family history. Following closely are the 35- to 54-year-olds at 77 percent and Americans aged 55+ at 73 percent.

It strikes me that there are millions of Americans who have at least a casual interest in their family trees but have no idea how to get started. I am particularly impressed that younger Americans reportedly are more likely to be interested in their ancestry than are senior citizens. That is the reverse of what I would have expected.

This is an opportunity for commercial companies and non-profit societies alike. A potential marketplace exists. The biggest difficulty is in identifying that audience and reaching them. Traditional advertising methods are prohibitively expensive. What we need is "grass roots" advertising. That's where you come in.

In your casual conversations with non-genealogists, you might ask a few questions:

Where does your family come from?

What did your grandparents do for a living? How about your great-grandparents?

Are there any physical characteristics that run in your family?

Can you remember any family stories that were told to you as a child? Do you believe those stories are accurate?

Did your family have any memorable holiday or other traditions that were passed down from previous generations?

Of course, when the other person says, "I don't know," you should be ready to step in with a few suggestions of good books for beginners, the address and meeting dates of a local genealogy society, and perhaps a few web sites of genealogy interest. Hey, send them to THIS web site!

If you and every other genealogist in this country can start "spreading the word," we can greatly increase the percentage of Americans who do know about their roots.

You can read more about the survey at http://tgn.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=115.

I gave up on doing my paternal grandfather's line for a while because there are about a million people with our last name and his first name (like 3 more in the same county). I decided to try my dad's mom and apparently my family has been here since way before the Mayflower on that side - who knew?

I thought about this thread yesterday. I attended an Installation of Officers for Daughters of the Nile (a Masonic organization.);)

I have been trying to do my family genealogy, but its a bit difficult, because my surname is an adopted name! (Paternal)....Maternal line is just as confusing, but I will have to tackle it soon. My maternal grandmother is the only one left ...

If you have a video camera, try and record your grandmother talking about her childhood/family recollections. She may also remember things about your grandfather's family. Having her on tape is also a wonderful memory once she is gone...

I will never regret doing this with the only two living grandparents I had. That's one of the reasons I put all of the "teaser" questions above.

i've started taping my father and grandmothers. too bad i didn't have enough sense to tape my great-grandmother's sister (i have no idea what title of relation that is). She lived to be 107 or 108 and was SPRY until she hit about 105. My father grew up in her household so i'll have to get him on tape with his recollections of HER and that branch of the family.

this thread is great. :)

That would be your great-great aunt.