Our Family Tree

[MuckyPuppy]

oldrooster,

That is so very cool. I was trying to think of something profound to say but it really is just very cool. What an amazing group of people to be related to. I find this all so fascinating. I am distantly related to a former president but I think yours trumps mine!

I have also recently found out that I am very distantly related to a well know actress but I believe that she is a liberal and I am a conservative so I'm closing my eyes, sticking my fingers in my ears, humming really loudly to myself and ignoring the whole issue.

 

[oldrooster]

Mukky Puppy I hope it isn't hanoy jane....

 

[MuckyPuppy]

Nope not her, my dad was in Vietnam and I don't think he would have been overjoyed if we had been related to her.

 

[The Howards]

I could use any suggestions you might have. I have researched my dads line back to 1811 and have the names of this persons parents. But the records kind of go away before that date. There are very few and really far between to put a definite pin point on where these people might be. Prior to a certain date there were no birth or death records kept, unless you were wealthy and made it into the paper-not my people though. Up to this point they have all been in 2 close counties in NC. The problem is that they have the popular name of William and Mary. Ancestry, family search, rootsweb... none of them have any documents with the correct children and parents listed on it. I have looked through all the possible microfilms of old documents at the library. What do you think my next step should be?

 

[oldrooster]

If they where church goers try looking for birth and death records from churches popular at the time not so much now except with Mormons and some branches of the catholic church.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I could use any suggestions you might have. I have researched my dads line back to 1811 and have the names of this persons parents. But the records kind of go away before that date. There are very few and really far between to put a definite pin point on where these people might be. Prior to a certain date there were no birth or death records kept, unless you were wealthy and made it into the paper-not my people though. Up to this point they have all been in 2 close counties in NC. The problem is that they have the popular name of William and Mary. Ancestry, family search, rootsweb... none of them have any documents with the correct children and parents listed on it. I have looked through all the possible microfilms of old documents at the library. What do you think my next step should be?

I hate those brick walls! Have a few of them myself and they're just so frustrating. As far as other steps, you should check the formation dates of the two counties in NC where they resided. Could be that the county where you're finding them was formed - split off from another county - near that time and your family might be found in the records of the original "mother" county. I would recommend that you search the county courthouse archives, too. When I've managed to break through brick walls, it's usually been via something I've discovered in the county courthouse. You can't beat those original documents and they never manage to get all of them on microfilm. Good Luck!

 

[HeatherLynn]

I have seen you mention sons of the revolution, don't forget daughter of the revolution. We gained a ton of information that way. If you are up north you might also just type in who you are looking for a sort through. I did that with my husband and found a book written about his family. Also found his family in a book about the salem witch trials. I am thrilled to find 3 witches on his moms side of the family. It confirmed a few thoughts I had lol. Man I love saying that.

Familysearch.org and rootsweb. We had just as good luck with these as with ancestory and they are free. Also we actually got some amazing leads from the Find a grave website. My husband is huge into this so I think he may have hit every site out there at least once. If you have any indian background you are in for an uphill struggle. Close to impossible to track and the one government website we were directed to was a bit insulting. I am currently checking out a local civil war research group in the hopes they are helpful. They do searches for a small fee but they have a huge network to pull information out of. When I have more info I will try to remember to post it.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Just a bit of advice from my own unfortunate personal experience . . . do not use the submitted family trees from familysearch.org, rootsweb, ancestry, or anywhere else as your primary source. Use them for clues only and then verify your results with court/census records.

Familysearch.org will not correct bad info on their site. Years ago - when this family history hobby was just starting on the internet - their info sent me astray and I contacted them with the correct info, including source documents. They responded that they were not able to change incorrect data as it was submitted by individuals. Rootsweb and ancestry are the same when it comes to the family trees. Sadly, you can just make up names and upload it and call it a Family Tree. Some of them for my families are so wrong that I think that's exactly what they've done! The real unfortunate thing is that this bad data is out there for anyone to grab and the incorrect information just keeps perpetuating itself.

Of course, their libraries and source records should be reliable but I never, ever use any family tree submitted by another researcher as a source. I'll use it as a clue and then search for a source document to verify.

 

[MuckyPuppy]

First of all , I'm sorry that I haven't been on til now. I've had the flu. Well, no, that's a lie. I still have the flu. The kids were kind enough to bring it home from school and share it with me.

Oh wow, Great information everyone! I second Mtnlaurl's advice to double check any information you may find on other people's family trees. My husband's family also found that out the hard way that incorrect information has a habit of spreading everywhere. His aunts have had to erase a huge portion of their family tree because of an incorrect link and are now stuck. Hubby and the aunts are now working at it and hopefully they will become unstuck soon.

How to become unstuck is a problem. All of the suggestions are great. I became stuck on one part of my grandmother's family tree for quite a while before I finally found out that I was looking at the wrong state for the rest of that part of the family tree. It was at that point that they had moved into that state from a different one. I hope that made sense as I've rewritten those sentences four times now.

This is my brain on the flu.

On my grandfather's side I have been very lucky on some of it as, like HeatherLynn's husband, (please forgive me if I misspell anyone's names or slightly misquote anyone) there have been books written about some of them or they were well known. I will do a catch up later on the new stuff I found out on my own side of our family tree but right now I am going to close my eyes for a few minutes and try to get rid of my headache.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

On my grandfather's side I have been very lucky on some of it as, like HeatherLynn's husband, (please forgive me if I misspell anyone's names or slightly misquote anyone) there have been books written about some of them or they were well known.

So sorry about your flu and hope you're feeling better soon. I, too, was fortunate in one line that there was a book written and the book made sense. All the data was sourced and documented.

But - on my Dad's side - there was a book written and it was written many years ago and can be found in quite a few family history libraries. It takes us all the way home to England and references our immigrant ancestor's Baptism in London 1680.

Yet I've got court documents showing him as an adult in Maryland the year he was supposedly Baptized as an infant in England. He was deposed in several Maryland court cases where he gave his age and he was consistent every time so I know the year he was born. His will verifies his identity as it names his heirs. THE LONG AGO WRITTEN AND OFTEN CITED BOOK IS WRONG! Arrgghhhh . . .

So, don't even believe the books unless you can confirm the data and - most importantly - the math is correct. It's all in the math. And I HATE MATH!