How far back do you go?
- Thread starter Chicabee19
- Start date
I can trace my roots all the way back to the classic rock icons of the early 1970s, even farther back into the late '60's, but the records are a little, uh, "hazy" at that point.
Seriously, I'd like to get into genealogy, but just haven't made the time yet.
I'm a little a-scared to see what I might find.
.
Seriously, I'd like to get into genealogy, but just haven't made the time yet.
I'm a little a-scared to see what I might find.
.
- Thread starter
- #103
Some Geneology Research Hints:
The way I originally began my Geneology hunt -- I found a torn and stained note written by my father many years ago that listed family member's full names, birth dates, death dates, and a little something about each one.
Explore GenWeb -- http://usgenweb.org/
Google your surname like this: "JONES surname", and explore the links that are clearly about Geneology.
When I type in my surname I get 105,000 hits.
If you run across discussion forums specifically for your surname, such as the "Jones Family Discussion Forum", search it for some of the known names and locations - say, your grandfather or great-grandfather, his birthplace, etc...
Search for websites about places. I found "Arkansas Geneology and History" website, and actually downloaded photos of my family history that were displayed there.
You can also simply Google your great-grandfather, for example, "John Jacob Jones III", and see what comes up.
You may be able to find an existing descendant's website. Search for example, "Descendants of John Jacob Jones III" -- you can usually make good contacts and find long-lost third cousins.
Finding and networking with others who are also researching your surname is where you'll get the most information and help
The way I originally began my Geneology hunt -- I found a torn and stained note written by my father many years ago that listed family member's full names, birth dates, death dates, and a little something about each one.
Explore GenWeb -- http://usgenweb.org/
Google your surname like this: "JONES surname", and explore the links that are clearly about Geneology.
When I type in my surname I get 105,000 hits.
If you run across discussion forums specifically for your surname, such as the "Jones Family Discussion Forum", search it for some of the known names and locations - say, your grandfather or great-grandfather, his birthplace, etc...
Search for websites about places. I found "Arkansas Geneology and History" website, and actually downloaded photos of my family history that were displayed there.
You can also simply Google your great-grandfather, for example, "John Jacob Jones III", and see what comes up.
You may be able to find an existing descendant's website. Search for example, "Descendants of John Jacob Jones III" -- you can usually make good contacts and find long-lost third cousins.
Finding and networking with others who are also researching your surname is where you'll get the most information and help
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Will - there are no misspelled names - just phonetic guesses by recorders. Many beginning genealogists make the mistake of disregarding information because a name isn't spelled the 'right way'. If your great great grandfather couldn't read or write, he couldn't tell someone how the name should be spelled. Spelling also wasn't uniform - it was no big deal how things were spelled. Early dictionaries were more concerned with defining the meaning of a word, rather than the spelling or pronunciation.
I always told my students to throw spelling out the window and get creative. Not only do you have to worry about the spelling - but how did the transcriber see the word.
For example I have an ancestor whose name was Raymond Fortin. The same person transcribed the county's records and He shows up as Barns or Bams Fortin. When I actually saw the original I could see why. Although we're dealing with IL, the family was of French Canadian ancestry so spoke French. It is obvious that he pronounced the name Ramo and the recorder wrote it that way. However, to the 20th century transcriber, the R looked like a B, the o an s.
So early misspellings of names will also give you a clue to the accent of your ancestor. My mother's maiden name Rakestraw (pronounced just as it is spelled, rake straw) is recorded as Rexstree in some early records. One family today uses the spelling Rickstrew.
Favorite Sites
I like www.genforum.com Sometimes you can really hit the jackpot there. If not - you can get access to others researching the same people.
It gets alot of complaints but www.familysearch.com the LDS site is one of the few places you can still download gedcoms to help you avoid retyping alot of information. Keep two files - one proved and the other your "roadmap" or families to look at closer to prove.
The LDS church has recently revamped the program, hoping to have people update and correct the incorrect information. You can do that using the genealogy program Ancestral Quest. They still offer PAF as a free download.
Many use www.ancestry.com but it has a fee unless you use their intro offer - make sure you unsub (has to be by phone). One word of caution. Beware of their "One Family Tree" pedigree site. In my opinion it can be worse than the LDS site. What they did was throw all of our pedigrees into a computer and let the computer decide which family belonged where. The LDS site is full of human error. This is computer error. I found it because people kept emailing me for sources for things I had never put into a file. Not to mention I had removed all family files a few years before in protest of ancestry taking over rootsweb.
When I looked at the problem their computer had added incorrect information to an older file of mine and was still listing me as the source of information. I emailed them to complain and point out the problem. All you can do is use those post-its they have to warn people. But unless you LOOK at your files you think you know what you have in them.
Which brings us to incorrect information. I recently wrote a book for a family organization. One of the older members was upset that I chose to use known incorrect sources. His feeling was that we should have distanced ourselves from it. My point of view is that if I had ignored the incorrect sources, some newbie would have thought they had uncovered some new information we didn't have and use it as the latest and greatest. By including the incorrect sources we could address that so and so said such and such but it is wrong.
But why are these old genealogies wrong? The science of History as we know it has only been in existence since the early 20th century. Prior to that accuracy wasn't as important in a history book as a good read. History was romanticized. So was our family history. People didn't have the opportunity to travel and do "in person" research. They relied on the family lore of others. Embarassing bits? Downplay them or rewrite. Similar last names must be the same family. So old family histories aren't always accurate.
Mary Ann
I always told my students to throw spelling out the window and get creative. Not only do you have to worry about the spelling - but how did the transcriber see the word.
For example I have an ancestor whose name was Raymond Fortin. The same person transcribed the county's records and He shows up as Barns or Bams Fortin. When I actually saw the original I could see why. Although we're dealing with IL, the family was of French Canadian ancestry so spoke French. It is obvious that he pronounced the name Ramo and the recorder wrote it that way. However, to the 20th century transcriber, the R looked like a B, the o an s.
So early misspellings of names will also give you a clue to the accent of your ancestor. My mother's maiden name Rakestraw (pronounced just as it is spelled, rake straw) is recorded as Rexstree in some early records. One family today uses the spelling Rickstrew.
Favorite Sites
I like www.genforum.com Sometimes you can really hit the jackpot there. If not - you can get access to others researching the same people.
It gets alot of complaints but www.familysearch.com the LDS site is one of the few places you can still download gedcoms to help you avoid retyping alot of information. Keep two files - one proved and the other your "roadmap" or families to look at closer to prove.
The LDS church has recently revamped the program, hoping to have people update and correct the incorrect information. You can do that using the genealogy program Ancestral Quest. They still offer PAF as a free download.
Many use www.ancestry.com but it has a fee unless you use their intro offer - make sure you unsub (has to be by phone). One word of caution. Beware of their "One Family Tree" pedigree site. In my opinion it can be worse than the LDS site. What they did was throw all of our pedigrees into a computer and let the computer decide which family belonged where. The LDS site is full of human error. This is computer error. I found it because people kept emailing me for sources for things I had never put into a file. Not to mention I had removed all family files a few years before in protest of ancestry taking over rootsweb.
When I looked at the problem their computer had added incorrect information to an older file of mine and was still listing me as the source of information. I emailed them to complain and point out the problem. All you can do is use those post-its they have to warn people. But unless you LOOK at your files you think you know what you have in them.
Which brings us to incorrect information. I recently wrote a book for a family organization. One of the older members was upset that I chose to use known incorrect sources. His feeling was that we should have distanced ourselves from it. My point of view is that if I had ignored the incorrect sources, some newbie would have thought they had uncovered some new information we didn't have and use it as the latest and greatest. By including the incorrect sources we could address that so and so said such and such but it is wrong.
But why are these old genealogies wrong? The science of History as we know it has only been in existence since the early 20th century. Prior to that accuracy wasn't as important in a history book as a good read. History was romanticized. So was our family history. People didn't have the opportunity to travel and do "in person" research. They relied on the family lore of others. Embarassing bits? Downplay them or rewrite. Similar last names must be the same family. So old family histories aren't always accurate.
Mary Ann
Quote:
Rachael - you're lucky you've gotten all sides done. I've still got to do my Dad's side and his side is ENTIRELY from Ireland (and are still there too) - immigrated to PA sometime or another.
I think my uncle has some of it started on that side but otherwise, if he doesnt, I'm going to be lost because he's the only surviving one left
that would know anything. Everyone else here in the US on my dad's side has since passed away.
Rachael - you're lucky you've gotten all sides done. I've still got to do my Dad's side and his side is ENTIRELY from Ireland (and are still there too) - immigrated to PA sometime or another.
I think my uncle has some of it started on that side but otherwise, if he doesnt, I'm going to be lost because he's the only surviving one left
Hennysmom -
Your uncle would probably welcome the opportunity to talk with you about the family, especially if he's gotten started working on the family tree. I think it's fair to say that just about every genealogist worries about what will happen to the hard work that they've done all these years. They worry that it won't be interesting or important to the succeeding generations and that all their hard work will end up in the trash some day. I highly recommend giving him a call or making a visit to ask him to share the stories and information he might recall. Plan to call/visit more than once because you're sure to come up with more questions once you have time to digest and research what he shared with you on the first visit.
Additionally, Ancestry.com has both immigration records and British Isle Census records which make research on that end a little bit easier. I am one who finds Ancestry to be a wonderful value. Yes, I realize it's expensive, but the work I've accomplished there has been so worth the amount paid. My membership renews every year in Dec/Jan. With Christmas in Dec. and my bday in Jan, guess what I get every year for both?
And, to all the newbies to genealogy . . . .
If I might recommend a genealogy group for beginners, it's Genealogy4Dummies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Genealogy4Dummies/ It's a great place to ask questions and it's where I started out 9.5 years ago. Also, the folks there are great about helping and doing lookups for those without online genealogy memberships. And, don't forget the great volunteers at Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) http://www.raogk.org/ for lookups as well. Time permitting, many of us who have access to records willingly do work for other people, free of charge. It's an honor system and we hope that you'll do the same for someone else by offering your time and expertise in your own area. We consider it as doing genealogical good deeds and hope that it'll pay off for ourselves someday as well.
Your uncle would probably welcome the opportunity to talk with you about the family, especially if he's gotten started working on the family tree. I think it's fair to say that just about every genealogist worries about what will happen to the hard work that they've done all these years. They worry that it won't be interesting or important to the succeeding generations and that all their hard work will end up in the trash some day. I highly recommend giving him a call or making a visit to ask him to share the stories and information he might recall. Plan to call/visit more than once because you're sure to come up with more questions once you have time to digest and research what he shared with you on the first visit.
Additionally, Ancestry.com has both immigration records and British Isle Census records which make research on that end a little bit easier. I am one who finds Ancestry to be a wonderful value. Yes, I realize it's expensive, but the work I've accomplished there has been so worth the amount paid. My membership renews every year in Dec/Jan. With Christmas in Dec. and my bday in Jan, guess what I get every year for both?
And, to all the newbies to genealogy . . . .
If I might recommend a genealogy group for beginners, it's Genealogy4Dummies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Genealogy4Dummies/ It's a great place to ask questions and it's where I started out 9.5 years ago. Also, the folks there are great about helping and doing lookups for those without online genealogy memberships. And, don't forget the great volunteers at Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) http://www.raogk.org/ for lookups as well. Time permitting, many of us who have access to records willingly do work for other people, free of charge. It's an honor system and we hope that you'll do the same for someone else by offering your time and expertise in your own area. We consider it as doing genealogical good deeds and hope that it'll pay off for ourselves someday as well.
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Backyard Buddies - my birthday is in november and my mum bought me a years ancestry.com membership and some credits for the scotlands people site I use
Hennysmum - Most of my family originated in the UK and scotland rather than Ireland which has been much easier in finding the info, the UK cencus records on ancestry are very informative and the scotlands people site has been of a major help to me. I have been incredibly lucky on my mums paternal side that they had a habit of using a mothers or grandmothers surname as a middle name..one of the main names i found running throughout the line is glendinning - not a hugely common name.
what I have found is that when you go far back - the spellings of names does alter depending on the record - The name Christian ( for a female) is used an awful lot but is altered on some record to Christina or Christine, makes double and triple checking just that little bit harder
also i have found that some of the trees on ancestry full of bogus info so you really have to check your facts
Hennysmum - Most of my family originated in the UK and scotland rather than Ireland which has been much easier in finding the info, the UK cencus records on ancestry are very informative and the scotlands people site has been of a major help to me. I have been incredibly lucky on my mums paternal side that they had a habit of using a mothers or grandmothers surname as a middle name..one of the main names i found running throughout the line is glendinning - not a hugely common name.
what I have found is that when you go far back - the spellings of names does alter depending on the record - The name Christian ( for a female) is used an awful lot but is altered on some record to Christina or Christine, makes double and triple checking just that little bit harder
also i have found that some of the trees on ancestry full of bogus info so you really have to check your facts
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