Any Family History Enthusiasts here?

[txplowgirl]

I have been researching both sides of my family since I started at the age of 15 back in 1979 way before the internet started. I'm 53 now. That was very time consuming and a little expensive.

But now you can do your family history for just about free anymore but that's getting harder an harder to do with the big Ancestry sites buying up the small ones out there but you can do it.

But I finally decided to join Ancestry.com. Been a member there for quite a few years, I've also had the DNA tests done and that has helped prove the information that I've had all these years was right. I just love researching. As I tell people I love looking for dead people, lol.

I have gotten back on my dad's side back to the 1400's and on my mom's back to the 1300's. Plus the off shoot lines. It is soo interesting to see where I come from and sometimes you can strike gold as in a many great grandparents picture or a story that was posted in an old newspaper or find that you are related to an important person from history. Mainly, several distant family members who fought in the Revolutionary war, War of 1812, etc.

And when I get bored or stuck on some of mine I find someone looking for theirs and I help them if they are stuck or just give them ideas on where else to look if they haven't looked in a particular area. I'm willing to help if anyone would like to get started or maybe a little help with something. No charge at all. I just have fun looking.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

 

[turtlelaura67]

I started, and then got stuck.
We have better info on my dad's side. On my mom's side, my great-great grandfather is a mystery. We know he was born in NJ, was in the Civil War at age 15 as a drummer boy, and from his pension record, we know his parents' names. The trouble is, he doesn't show up in the census records until after the war, at which time he married my great-great grandmother, known variously as Elena, Lena, Lina, Ellen, and Eleanor (whew! no wonder genealogy is hard). Also, my great-uncle kept most of the family records. He was married to a woman who was jealous of his relationship with his family, and she destroyed EVERYTHING.

Now this little tidbit has to do with chickens. On the night my mother's father was born, my great-grandfather gambled away the house in a cockfight and had a heart attack and died on the way home. It isn't funny, but it really is!

 

[txplowgirl]

Argghhh, I hate when I hear that about jealousy and destroying records. My great great grandfather married for the second time a lady who couldn't read or write. He was 43 and she was 16. He also was in the Civil war, etc. Story goes that he started keeping a journal from the time he was 13 and had everything in there from known ancestors to his service to information on my great great grandmother's death and burial to all the kids, etc.

Story goes that the day he died, he was 66, she took all those journals and burned them. The kids asked for them and she told them how she burnt them.

The day I found that out I got angry and I cried for all that information and getting to know my great great grandfather was gone forever.

Another story. This same woman that married my great great grandfather also happened to be my paternal grandfather's sister she married my paternal grandmother's grandfather. . If that isn't confusing I don't know what is. But we finally figured it out.

My gggrandfather, after he lost my gggrandmother went to a traveling revival. He met this lady's father and they got to talking about things and well before the night was up my gggrandfather had told him that he needed a wife to help with the youngest kids and this gentleman told him he had a 16 year old daughter he needed out of the house. Yep, too many mouths to feed he supposedly said.

Anyway, the 2 met and they visited each other 3 times for a total of all of 6 hours. That was 2 hours each weekend at this revival that was there for a month. That next weekend they were married. They were married for 23 years when my gggrandfather died and they had 7 kids.

Anyway, my great grandmother, the daughter of my gggrandparents grew up, got married to my great grandfather. He died when my grandmother was just 7 years old. The had 2 girls and a boy, the boy was not quite 2 when he died of tuberculosis. With no where to go my great grandmother and children moved in with her dad, my gggrandfather, his second wife and their kids.

Meanwhile, my grandfather decided to go see his sister, my gggrandfather's second wife. He met my grandmother. They knew each other for only 2 months when they decided to get married in 1914. My grandmother was 16 and my grandfather was 27. They were married for 42 years when my grandfather passed away in 56 and they had 13 kids which 11 made it to adulthood.

Now my chicken story.

My maternal grandparents had goats, cattle, chickens, etc. They had a chicken and goat that were almost inseparable. You wouldn't see 1 without the other. The goat had somehow found a way to jump and climb up on the roof of the barn and that's where they could be found when it was time for bed. They'd sleep up there all night if they were allowed to. 1 day the goat accidently got hit too hard by 1 of the bulls and died. My mom and grandmother both told me that that chicken attacked that bull several times. Jumping up and trying to slash that bulls face with his spurs.

They buried the goat because grampa told gramma that thing was too old to eat he wouldn't taste any good so they buried him. That chicken stayed on the top of that grave 3 days and nights before he died. Grampa when he found him did not see any bites or anything. Grampa, gramma and my mother believed that chicken died of a broken heart and they buried that chicken with that goat.

1 more, my ex husband and I were married for 21 years. Let's just say it wasn't a good marriage. When I finally decided to leave. I made the mistake of leaving my family photos and family history, making the mistake thinking I would get it back later. Nope, he put a match to all of 30 years worth of family history as well as family photos, which is all I had wanted out of the marriage, out in the back yard. 15 years later I've gotten a lot back by asking relatives for copies of what I had sent them but some things were irreplaceable.

Sorry if this was too long but when I get to talking about family history and stories I tend to get a little long winded,

 

[turtlelaura67]

Wow, my head is spinning!!!!
What a shame about all the photos and documents lost. It's really awful because that's all we had also, and there's probably no hope of learning about his family history without it. Some things did survive because my mom has them, like a court martial from the early 1800s. Not sure what my ancestor was court martialed for but it must have been good.

I love the story about the chicken and the goat! That must have been something to see.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I started about a year ago... I have traced both sides of my family to when they entered the US, but I need to pay that extra to find out information from outside the country.

One thing I found very interesting when I started on my father's side... His father was 100% Polish, and I'd heard stories from my grandmother saying both that he was an only child and that my father had cousins on his dad's side. I found the census from when he was a kid. It listed his father as being born in Poland, his mother born in Mississippi (which I later learned from my grandmother that her parents were fisherman from Poland). Anyway, Grandpa's siblings (!!) were also listed... but both of their parents were listed as being born in Poland. I quickly came to the conclusion that my great grandfather had two wives. I talked to my grandmother about it, and she confirmed! That the first wife died trying to get an abortion (can you imagine?! In the 20s?!) and my great grandfather went wife shopping and found his new wife, who later gave birth to my grandfather.

I'd love to get more information, from records in the UK, Canada and Poland... but I have to wait for Ancestry to have the free months...


Also, I did the DNA last year... Very interesting, because I'd been told I was a quarter Polish, half German and a mix for the last quarter.... Yea, No! LOL I'm about 57% British! Then 23% Western European and 15% Eastern European. The British really surprised me!

 

[turtlelaura67]

Yeah, it's weird how you think you're one thing and you turn out to be another! I want to do the DNA ancestry too. My sister had her daughter's done last year, and everything was what she expected, except for one thing. One set of my great-grandparents was from Spain. So that would make us about 25% Spanish. But my niece's test showed not one percentage point of Spanish descent. So I'm wondering if my grandfather is indeed my mother's father.

I found out some neat stuff in my ggGrandfather's pension record. He had rheumatism and after a certain point was so disabled that he couldn't work. The record had testimony from his neighbors. They said he was in such severe pain he was confined to his bed. After he died my ggGrandmother tried to get a widow's pension, and eventually did, but not without getting an attorney - a female attorney, in the 20s! If you have Civil War ancestors you can get their pension records from the National Archives. It was really fascinating reading.

 

[Moorwitch]

I have traced my side and my SO's side. Mine, I have raced back to 1100's England on my maternal grandmother's side. Her family going back, came over and started Reynolds and Reynolds tobacco company. On my maternal grandfather, I have traced back to 1300's Germany. On my paternal grandmother, I traced back to 1200's English, with a side note that one of my direct ancestors was bought for 5 dollars from her brother, a Cherokee. My paternal grandfather's family came from Ireland. I traced them back to the 1500's.
On my SO's family, we have found that his ggrandmother was a Hatfield. Traced his paternal side back to 1720 Ulster, Ireland. His mother's side back to 1300's England.
We both have some famous relatives. It's kinda funny, the things you learn when doing ancestry research.

Side note: It was a family rumor that we were related to Elvis Presley. Well, when I was in school, I had said something about it and was made fun of for a long time. Turns out it was not just a rumor. LOL, we have the documentation on it. So when one of those kids reached out as an adult, (Facebook), I reminded her of what she had done. She kinda laughed and joked that I still didn't believe that, did I? Well, she is no longer laughing since I showed her the proof!

 

[jnicholes]

Hello,

I am BIG into Family History. I found this thread and wanted to join.

One side of my family came from the Netherlands, and my other side is a little harder to explain. I am still looking into it.

Anyway, people ask me, "Why is there an E in your last name? It is normally spelled Nichols, but your spelling is Nicholes, why is that?"

I learned from family history why that is. I had an ancestor named Josiah Nichols. Note the spelling. During the time he was alive in the 1800s, there was a dispute with the law, and to avoid trouble, he put an E in his last name, so he could say, "Mr. Nichols doesnt live here anymore." What the law didnt know was Mr. Nicholes, with an E, now lived there.

I worked, and the name stuck for many generations. I now inherit his name.

Family History is fun, isnt it?

Jared

 

[azurbanclucker]

I'm 13th generation on North American soil on my Dad's side in an unbroken male line, and I've been able to go back 18 generations in an ubroken line for our surname (though it changed spelling a bit over time). We were here before there was a USA. My ancestors owned a smithy on the Boston Neck in the 1600's. Too bad they didn't hold onto that!

I'm 12th generation here on Mom's maternal side and unsure on her paternal side. She says that my Grandfather's family came though Ellis, and had their surname changed, but I can't corroborate that. I'm Irish by both sides from my mother. this is where I've been focusing the majority of my research recently. I got a lot of Dad's side from him a while ago and just had to plunk it into the tools.

I've pushed our research back into the late 1400's in England on Dad's side but I have not contacted any of the genealogy research groups in England to dig deeper. I still poke around every couple of months trying to dig deeper. Mostly through the LDS's tool, Family Search. They've been collecting records for a long time, and they're freely available even to non LDS members (like me).

I've started working on my wife's tree as well, but getting any history from her family is difficult. They don't really get along very well and don't care about their heritage.