How far back can you trace your family history? - Page 3

honeychile · #1 10-15-2008, 11:29 PM

<----- plans to make genealogy her second career.

On my mother's side, we're back to Jamestown (finally!) and starting England on the one lineage. Others go back to the 1600's, and we need one more proof for the Mayflower. We belong to several lineage societies, including First Families of PA and of Western PA, DAR, UDC & ( are applying to) First Families of VA.

On my father's side, I didn't think we'd get back very far, but then received an email from a man who is a distant cousin. I assumed he was a Mormon, as the family legend was that my ggg-grandmother's brothers became LDS. For those who don't know, doing their genealogy is part of their religion. This cousin turned out to be in England, living on the same street as where my ggg-grandmother was born! So, we have his lineage back to 1713.

There has been a lot of genealogical threads in the past. Try:
Daughters of This & That
DARs on GC
Colonial Slave Links
for starters, or just use the search function for genealogy.

One of the most important things I've learned about genealogy is "NONE of us had anything to do with our ethnicity, but EACH of us has everything to do with our attitudes about it!" I don't buy into the "my genealogy is better than yours" bit, as frankly, I had nothing to do with the wheres & whys I was born. I do enjoy researching it, though.

sceniczip · #2 10-16-2008, 08:31 PM

I think the farthest my grandmother got on my mom's side is like the 1800s. My dad's side would be more difficult. All of our names are really common too and I have seven different nationalities in me so it would be really interesting to find relatives. I'm sure we have some in Canada, France, Ireland, and Vermont that we never talk to on my dad's side. I'm also pretty sure there are still some in Yugoslavia (or whatever it's called nowadays) on my mom's side. I've always been interested in researching more but just haven't.

christiangirl · #3 10-16-2008, 08:38 PM

Not far on my mom's side, but my dad knows his side all the way back to the first male relative to make it to America. It stops there though...since he was given a slave name, we can't trace back the original surname to our ancestors in Africa. But we know what part of Africa he came from so maybe we'll hunt them down one day.

ZTAMich · #4 10-20-2008, 07:09 PM

1774 with an ancestor who possibly was from VT or elsewhere in New England. He appears in Oneida County, NY, by 1820. We do not know where he is buried (1843), but a daughter is buried in the old Quaker cemetery in North Bridgewater, NY. 6 steps down the family chart is ME! All this great research thanks to a Mormon relative.

KatieKate1244 · #5 10-20-2008, 10:22 PM

On my dad's side: 1400s in Austria. One of my uncles did most of the research, and he used church (Catholic) documents. Supposedly one of my cousins found our ancestor's grave while backpacking through Austria 10-15 years ago.

On my mom's side: Sometime in the 1700s, Cherokee. My great-great grandfather was a storekeeper in Oklahoma in the late-ish 1800s and kept detailed journals, written in Cherokee (The Cherokee language is really f'ing hard). They were mostly business ledgers, but he also wrote family stories and history in them. Someone had read them to my family so we could get a general idea of what was in them, but last I heard one of my great aunts was working with Cherokee tribal officials to get the journals translated.

XSK_Diamond · #6 10-20-2008, 10:37 PM

Far enough back (actually farther) that I can join DAR and the Cherokee Nation if I wanted to. I don't think I want to, but I like having the info.

DaemonSeid · #7 10-21-2008, 08:12 AM

On my mother's side...

Grandmother - early 1800's slaves imported from Africa to Marlboro County South Carolina

Grandfather - mid 1800's plantation in Darlington South Carolina is as far as I got.

About 12 years ago, I met a white man with the exact same last name I had (mine is a very unique last name mind you) and was one of my patients, come to find out, he knew my grandfather when he was a kid (there was about a 30 year difference) before this man passed, he showed me a book showing me his family tree and this was in part how I was able to trace back his side.

cheerfulgreek · #8 10-21-2008, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

On my mother's side...

Grandmother - early 1800's slaves imported from Africa to Marlboro County South Carolina

Grandfather - mid 1800's plantation in Darlington South Carolina is as far as I got.

About 12 years ago, I met a white man with the exact same last name I had (mine is a very unique last name mind you) and was one of my patients, come to find out, he knew my grandfather when he was a kid (there was about a 30 year difference) before this man passed, he showed me a book showing me his family tree and this was in part how I was able to trace back his side.

This is interesting.

KSigkid · #9 10-21-2008, 11:58 AM

Not terribly far - I know quite a bit about my great grandparents coming over through Ellis Island, but beyond that I don't know much.

RU OX Alum · #10 10-21-2008, 12:48 PM

I can go back all the way to the early 1700's.

Not really tracing, but when I was France, I found someone who's grandmother has the French spelling of my last name, and I learned some neat things from him. Mostly about where we hid during the French Resistance, etc. It was interesting. I want to go further to find out exactly the time and circumstances that we got our name. I doubt any records that have any claim to authenticity, regardless of accuracy, are still at present time extant, though.

gphi426 · #11 10-21-2008, 09:26 PM

My uncle is really into genealogy and he has found that on my dad's side we can trace all the way back to the Mayflower! Some of my relatives came to America on the Mayflower.
That is pretty cool. haha
And supposedly George HW Bush is my seventh cousin 4 times removed or something crazy like that. haha

RU OX Alum · #12 10-22-2008, 09:17 AM

What does "removed" mean, in this sense?

AGDee · #13 10-22-2008, 12:37 PM

In this sense, removed means they are of a different generation than you. My aunts and uncles children are my first cousins. My first cousins' kids are my first cousins once removed, because they are not from my generation, they are one generation off from me.

RU OX Alum · #14 10-22-2008, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AGDee

In this sense, removed means they are of a different generation than you. My aunts and uncles children are my first cousins. My first cousins' kids are my first cousins once removed, because they are not from my generation, they are one generation off from me.

Thank you!!

violetpretty · #15 10-22-2008, 01:04 PM

My dad's side I (or rather he) can trace back to 1752 when the last of his family emigrated from Germany. We know that during the Revolution, some of our ancestors were guards for Hessian prisoners because they spoke German. There is a statue in Gettysburg that looks EXACTLY like my father. We knew that we had ancestors fight in the Civil War, and sure enough, the statue is of a Colonel on my paternal grandmother's side!

My mom's side is pretty limited. I believe both sides of her family emigrated from Poland around the turn of the last century.

And my Sig Kap family, I can trace back to 1992!