How far back do you go?

[Mac in Wisco]

I've been digging into family history for about 15 years. The online sites like ancestry.com are a good starting point. You can access census images, WWI draft cards, state records and such. Do not trust any family trees or histories that you find online! Way too many of these these are pieced together from erroneous information. If you didn't do the research yourself, don't trust it, at best they can only provide you with possible leads for doing your own research.

My history:

Paternal grandfather:
Father: family came from Ireland around 1780, settled Maryland
Mother: family (Welsh) dates to Jamestown, VA 1638

Paternal grandmother:
Father: unknown ancestry, last name probably German
Mother: descended from German immigrants settled WI 1850's

Maternal grandfather:
Father: descended from German immigrants came to WI 1847
Mother: immigrated from Germany as young girl, 1850's

Maternal grandmother:
Father: descended of Norwegian immigrants settled MN 1890's
Mother: descended of Czech immgrants settled WI 1850's

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
So true! I found out that a lot of my ancestors were considered "free people of color". Some are buried in a "colored" cemetery, and identified as "mulatto" in the census records.

It was after I began exploring this dimension of my family tree that I discovered the Melungeon connection. The Melungeon history is fascinating! I have almost all of the Melungeon physical traits, but my daughter and granddaughter do not.

One of the most famous Melungeons was George Sizemore, called "Old George of all" because he was so popular with the women. 3 of my direct line are "George Sizemore (my surname) I, II and III"

Here is an interesting new website about him. I don't think he was as "Native" as the picture indicates:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sizemoregenealogy/george/ofall.htm

I am the only person in my family who will acknowledge 'color' in our blood. Some family members are extremely racist (good thing I did not grow up with them), but it is THEIR line that introduced the color, LOL!

I am proud of the four different races in me!! Nothing could make me happier, considering my religious beliefs.

Sorry but Im so lost on the Melungeon defination.....can you tell me how the history came about and why they called them that?

Nothing wrong being Mulatto....look at Obama, he is one good looking guy!

It would be like starting a Civil War if you do tell them they got "color" in their blood. After all, most of us would have had families going back to Middle East somehow.

 

[Chicabee19]

Check out "Melungeon" online -- you'll find loads of information. Far more than I could cover in a reply.

 

[redhen]

well..i got you all beat.....i come from adam and eve...

..

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Oooooh! Something I like even more than chickens, as if that was possible.

I've been working on my family history for just over 9 years, although I think I was always interested, even as a kid.

I'm a bit of a stickler for proof and documentation so the furthest back I've gotten on my own is 1785-ish. On that line I'm working with a group of people and we maintain a group at Yahoogroups to discuss the family, upload documents and photos, share stories, and knock our heads against the proverbial 'brick wall'. One of our (female) members with a direct line just had her brother take a DNA test, so we have hopes of taking that one back further.

I like the group work and find that both beneficial and enjoyable. I maintain several family lists at Yahoogroups for that purpose.

In general, I do not trust the online trees since there were several people who sold fraudulent genealogies 100 years ago to unsuspecting people, which has tainted many family lines with false info. Gustav Anjou was one such person, but there were many more. http://www.familychronicle.com/Fraudulent.html

My own grandmother (an only child who had an only child) is listed in nearly a dozen family trees at Ancestry, ALL of them with the wrong information (birth off by 14 years and born in the wrong country). I've emailed each and every person with her in their tree and only ONE has corrected it.

Seems that the other 11 would rather copy each other than bother with the documentation that I offered them for free in order to set the record straight.

So, that said, there are online trees that I've not personally proven that take my family back to the 1500s. I'm 1/4 Swiss (perhaps more since I also have PA Dutch in my line), 1/4 Kashubian (an ethnic minority from Prussia/Poland), and 1/2 mutt.

 

[rubyv67]

redhen You're funny!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Exactly. Most of the trees on Ancestry are spliced together from smaller works that contain unsubstantiated info and a lot of errors. I've seen people post about how they have recently taken an interest in genealogy and have spent a few weekends completing their family tree database of 10,000 names. What!? I've done fifteen years of hard work visiting courthouses across the country, viewing microfiche and old newspapers, contacting distant relations, DOCUMENTING everything. You can't put together a family history in a few weekends.

I have refused to publish any of my work online. I provide hard copies to family members and answer inquiries from people who I can confirm to be descendants of people in my family lines. The intro states that the work is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced without my permission and is under no circumstances to be published online without my permission. I tell other researchers that this is only a reference to give them leads for conducting their own research.

I would like to publish my work on a web page, but restrict viewing to only people cleared by me. It would have a home page listing all the surnames and places so it could be found by the search engines and just enough info for people to confirm that they have found the correct family lines. From there they would need to contact me for a password to access the data. The purpose is two-fold. To protect my work from unauthorized distribution and to get contact info from people who are viewing the pages, people who could give further insight, that would otherwise not contact me.

 

[MissPrissy]

With this newest discussion I have to also add as a very serious genealogist who has been doing research for over 20 years - You cannot trust most of the family trees on file at the LDS library. Over the years I have found tons of false information. They have refused any suggestion of labling it questionable or removing it. I have no longer used any info or leads from LDS library as it has never once lead me to valuable correct information.

I am not saying all of it is false info. I am suggesting you prove yourself any information gleaned from their family tree files. No one get their feathers ruffled.

 

[rubyv67]

It has been stated several times on this thread how very important documentation is. I have met several distant relatives online who were very kind and generous to share our common heritage. I worked hard for 20 years and couldn't get far. Ancestry and the internet helped me with resources for documentation, I previously didn't know how to obtain. When i started on ancestry I took all the info in, then realized some of it could be faulty. I then cleaned and pruned my tree. The more famous relatives were the easy ones. Once a genuine link was made. I have trouble with the courthouses burning down etc. Those lines I'm stuck in th 1800's. Not everyone is after the "glory" of famous relatives. I'm just as proud of my farming ancestors and TX rangers as I am the Kings and Queens I've documented.

 

[andehens]

Well said Miss Prissy!
and lets not forget all the cheokee princesses out there!

I try to have at least three sources of some type of documentation; makes for slow going. The sources could be census, newspapers, letters, other family members as court records aren't always avalable and I live 1500 miles (give or take a few) from where the ancesters did! I'm comfortable with my research! A lot the of the trees on ancestry are sooo bogus, I've even seen my research that I have shared with people and they publish, the great upside is all the history and neat people you "meet"!