Family Tree Research

[Stine]

I'm starting to try to piece together some family information and put it into a family tree. I have a good start on some parts of it because my dad's mother's family has printed a family cookbook that includes a portion of our family tree. I am very lucky that I still have 3 of my grandparents and a great grandmother to get information from as well. I am just beginning and have a general idea of where to look but I was wondering if anyone has been working on their own and/or had any advice on this subject. I am thinking about joining http://www.ancestry.com/ but not sure yet.

 

[Morwen]

I think they have a $75 fee but it would be good to try. They're pretty extensive in their records. I was thinking about doing this myself, as all my grandparents have passed away. My mothers side of the family, both of my grandmothers parents were adopted out of Wales, so that would take a lot of effort because I would ultimately have to contact the church/orphanage for records keeping and whatnot and possibly have to pay large fees. My mom isn't sure she wants to do all that, so we're still debating.

 

[Propagandhi]

Family Tree's are so exciting to learn, but are a bitch to discover by yourself. My parents are Dutch and Friesian and have said ancestries, and we have a solid size book for each side dating back close to 500 years.

What happened is that a family member paid a genealogist, who spent close to a year researching and creating the book, back in the Netherlands. I can't read either of them, as it's all in Dutch and Friesian, but I just get my parents to translate it for me.

I found out my Grandfather had a twin brother, but died at the age of 5, a fact my father didn't even know about his own Dad. Another amazing thing is you can see how your last name has evolved, as when people move/immigrate they change their last name to fit into their new surroundings.

I met a lady in the city who knew my family and she told me an interesting story. During the war, her grandfather who lived in Germany, but was born in Holland wanted to leave and return to Holland. Of course, you really couldn't do that at that time, so he changed his name by rearranging and substituting some letters, put horseshoes backwards on his horse, and made the journey. I was confused about the horseshoe portion of the story until she pointed out that it would look like he was traveling towards Germany. Anyways, the point being is she said we were related, even though we had different last names.

I really don't know how expensive it is to hire someone to research your family genealogy, but I really think it's not that cheap, but it's a sure way to find out your family tree.

 

[Lanien]

I wish my family tree was interesting, but my family has lived in the same town for 400 years now, so we are pretty easy to trace back lol

 

[Stine]

Thanks for the advice guys. Most of my family has been in the US since the 1700s and since some of them were Methodist preachers that were helping out John Wesley (one helped found a church in downtown Charleston, SC) I may be able to search church records if I can't find them otherwise. Tristam on the other hand, his family has some German immigrants who came over a few generations ago so that might get tricky. We'll look to see what our options are. I'm not sure how much a genealogist will cost but I did see some advertised.

 

[Jayce]

All I know is that I'm related to Brigham Young... woo. Joy. Ugh. Mormons >.<

 

[Zephayra]

I heard of some people going to cemeteries to trace back their family, but I couldn't tell you how they do it @_@

Good luck on your search! My dad's parents are dead, and came from two villages in Poland that no longer exist, so I've lost interested in looking for relatives. My mom's side of the family got kicked out of their country so...not really sure I want to know why lol.

 

[Stine]

I can see that some people don't want to research some things about their family. Tristam's dad basically told him to put down him and his mother. His dad was not a nice man and most of that portion of the family seems a little off.

I have begun looking at some cemetery listings for mostly dates of births, deaths, and their spouses' names. The only problem is I kind of have to know who their children or parents were in order to connect them. I do have a family cookbook that has some of it written down. I think I'm doing pretty well with what I have so far. I've traced most of my family back 4 generations and one portion as far back as the late 1800s. It looks like most of my family came to South Carolina and just stayed there. Most of it looks pretty uneventful other than some alcoholism and a few people in the military. I at least have some names that I can check death, birth, and marriage records with now.

 

[Tristam Green]

I can see that some people don't want to research some things about their family. Tristam's dad basically told him to put down him and his mother. His dad was not a nice man and most of that portion of the family seems a little off.

In case anyone's confused: my grandfather was the "not a nice guy". My dad is perfectly fine lol.

I added everyone I know how to, and I think a lot of the problem with dad's side of the family is because he simply doesn't have a lot of information regarding it.

 

[Stine]

In case anyone's confused: my grandfather was the "not a nice guy". My dad is perfectly fine lol.

I added everyone I know how to, and I think a lot of the problem with dad's side of the family is because he simply doesn't have a lot of information regarding it.

Yeah I worded it weird. Your dad is cool.

 

[Tristam Green]

Yeah I worded it weird. Your dad is cool.

lol I was reading it and went "damn, I never knew she felt so strongly about him " Then I got what you meant.

BTW that kinda floored me when he said that last night -- when we lived in Alabama he was all about going down to where most of his fam lived and visiting gravesites of some of his deceased fam-members, even the ones on his dad's side.

I think I just need to prod him more.