Anyone do Genealogy / Ancestry?

[85_Ranger4x4]

I could go stand on my father's grave, grandfathers grave, and great-grandfathers grave, and know those men are 6-feet below me.

Makes me wonder what will happen to me when I die. Will I be buried or cremated, and where on earth would I possibly want to be buried?

I bought my acreage from my great-uncle's estate, he inherited it from his father (my great-grandfather who passed away in 06)

From their graves if the trees don't have leaves I can see the white roof of my barn from probably close to 4-5 miles away as the crow flies.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

why is it no one is related to any evil persons from the past ?

BINGO. Just as the people who claim to hear voices in their head never say those voices tell them to do good things, only bad things.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

According to what I believe, we're all related, going back to Noah and his family.

There's serious research that says anyone in the world is no more distant than 30th cousin to anyone else anywhere. Really.

 

[don4331]

My mom was into it so traced lines as far back as she could (this was pre internet/she didn't travel to Europe).

My maternal grandmother came from Ukraine via Siberia. They were part of Catherine the Great's dowery*, that she resettled in Ukraine. During WWI, they were sent to Siberia (Russian's didn't want Germans in Ukraine). After the war, they were dumped in Germany - those in Germany didn't want what they saw as Russian, and wanted to be rid of them. A town in Saskatchewan needed a preacher, so they came to Canada. The original payment for their travel to Canada was stolen, so had to be paid again. As a result, my great grandfather worked indentured servitude for most of the rest of his life.

*Catherine's dowery consisted of a number of serfs, who wanted a German Lutheran preacher in St. Petersburg. My relatives were preachers back to Stettin, Prussia in early 1700s. Alas, while royal connections, no royalty.

My maternal grandfather's parents also came from Prussia. But they were serfs, so tracking back beyond 1890s wasn't possible at the time (I think location is actually in Poland now, and that was still off limits when my mom was working on this).

My paternal 3x great grandfather was recruited in Germany (possibly Denmarck - Andersen family name) by the south to fight in Civil war. (Is that almost evil person).
My paternal 3x great grandfather was Pennsylvania Deutsch** who fought for the north...

The musket he fought with hung over the mantel when my dad was young, but it was destroyed as not safe to use...​

Both families moved through Minnesota, North Dakota and into Saskatchewan over the next generations.

**Yes, I know Dutch, not Deutsch, but my grandmother was so shocked to learn she was German not Dutch, we liked to bug her (as only grandkids could).

My paternal great grandfather owned a cobbler shop in Norway. Unfortunately, he was a drunk and lost the business (employed 13 people in Stavanger at one point) bolting for USA. He changed his last name at Ellis Island and took train to North Dakota. So, there your 1st thief...

Unfortunately, the Nazi's decided the location of the historic church/graveyards was perfect location for an airport. All the documentation any further back is now under the runway.​

My grandfather came North into Saskatchewan.

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I've visited relatives Norway.

We were interested in Vikings; those relatives were very clear - they exported the trouble makers to the New World.​

My daughter and I running to the edge of Preikestolen and sitting on edge with feel hanging over probably reinforced that... ​

​

My younger brother has all the documents, so the above is what I remember.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

I have found it to be opposite, mostly everyone I have met that is into genealogy has been male. Maybe for the same reason, to show the girl that they are interested in that they are descendants of royalty.. my grandma and sister are a few of the females that were/are interested in it.

Most of those who rush to send their DNA or their kids' DNA to those genealogy sites are women. As you and others here show, most men are suspicious of sending their DNA to any website.

Some people do brag about being related to notorious types. Supposedly I'm distantly related to Jesse James on my mother's side, and a few of the ne'er-do-wells who made up most of her relatives seemed to like to tell others about it. To me, that's like bragging about being related to Ted Bundy.

 

[19Walt93]

I send a sample of my DNA and I'm not a woman, too hairy and homely. If access to my dna helps law enforcement identify a criminal I'm all for it.
I found King James Stewart of Scotland from 1500 in both my father's and mother's trees. In my father's line I foung King Louis XII of France and Catherine Medici from Italy and my daughter tells me they were "bad dudes". King Henry VIII of England is in my maternal grandmother's line with one of his mistresses. I have an ancestor who was George Washington's great great grandfather and I share an ancestor with Dick Cheney- he ain't Jeffrey Dahmer but my liberal kids think he's the devil. Ten ancestors were beheaded at the Tower of London- one had been queen of England for 9 days- 5 were burned at the stake and 5 were hanged, drawn, and quartered. I don't know what most of their offenses were, at least a couple were executed for religeous conflicts with the king.

 

[19Walt93]

My father's parents moved from Canada to Vermont in the late 1800's/early 1900's and then to Lebanon, NH.. My grandmother was Canadian and my grandfather was American because the front door of the house he was born in was in the U.S.- even though the bedroom where he was born was in Canada. Searching their line farther back I came apon a women identified as Fill du Roi which means king's daughter or king's girl. I thought she was a princess. Nope. The French rounded up 768 young women and shipped them to New France(Canada) to marry colonists. I hope it was voluntary.

 

[Jim Oaks]

My kids use to ask me 'what we were' when they were younger. I told them I didn't know. My families been here for a while. I had mentioned getting a DNA kit to see what I am, and ended up getting a kit for a Christmas present so I did it.

My cousin researched this back in the 1990's before the internet. Since then, he's probably went back further than my son-in-law has.

It's a rabbit hole. I started looking to see if I could find out where my great-great grandfather is buried and killed a few hours before deciding I needed to stop and do something productive.

I had no real interest in this yesterday. My daughter showed me a screenshot that her cousin sent her of a family tree (this other cousin is really into it), and then my son-in-law showed me what he had found, and the next thing I knew I was sucked into it.

 

[JohnnyO]

Has anyone else ever looked to see how far back your family goes here in America? Not that it matters in any way. I just found it interesting.

Family genealogy is more my sister's thing but according to her we qualify for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) thru my maternal grandmother's side. I guess that means if your family was here prior to the Revolutionary War.
All of my other great-grandparents came here from Europe between 1890 and 1905. Italy, Germany, and Sweden.
I identify as Italian because that's the side of the family I'm tight with, plus that's my last name (Americanized by my grandfather to not sound Italian).
Visited Ellis Island when I was in NYC in 2022. Very powerful and it hit me much harder than I expected, walking around the same rooms that my 15 year-old great-grandfather did, coming from Italy with his brother in 1903. He was the only ancestor I could find in the Ellis Island passenger registry.
Thanks to Facebook I am in touch with a number of distant cousins back in Italy. It started when one of them went looking for the O family in America. A number of them are interesting people. The guy who got all the good-looking genes in the family is a model and actor and does a lot of TV commercials, magazine ads, and music videos. His day job is assistant coach for one of the pro soccer teams in Italy. I look nothing like him.

 

[ericbphoto]

My dad did a lot of research on our family tree, both his side and my mom's. I don't have a good memory for all the details. But everything he learned is documented and filed away at mom's house. If I recall, most of my ancestors came to the US in the late 1800's or early 1900's. So, post slavery. We weren't slave owners. On my dad's side, mostly Polish and German. They came over and many worked in coal mines in northeastern PA. Mom's side came from England, Ireland, etc. Came over and farmed in upstate NY. Some owned a factory that made wooden tool handles. My dad visited the factory years ago. Someone had a place that sold bicycles/motorcycles/cars as all that technology was evolving. My great grandpa farmed and owned a portable saw mill that he would set up on people's farms to mill their lumber on-site.

My ex-wife is related to Lewis Powell, aka Lewis Paine, who attempted to murder secretary of state William Seward on the night of Lincoln's assassination. All part of the plot. She also has verified moonshiners, Cherokee Indians and confederate soldiers in her family. I've visited some interesting cemetaries on her behalf. After hearing family stories, I started researching and verifying what I could. And it all checked out.

 

[snoranger]

why is it no one is related to any evil persons from the past ?

My great, great grand aunt was an axe murderer. I have copies of the news paper article in one of the binders.

 

[Jim Oaks]

You're related to Lizzie Borden?

 

[snoranger]

You're related to Lizzie Borden?

Unfortunately no… IIRC, my aunt only killed her husband.

I am related to William Dafoe. Which makes sense, he is a little crazy.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Some people do brag about being related to notorious types. Supposedly I'm distantly related to Jesse James on my mother's side, and a few of the ne'er-do-wells who made up most of her relatives seemed to like to tell others about it. To me, that's like bragging about being related to Ted Bundy.

Then you get into local legend...

SUPPOSEDLY Jesse James's gang (not sure if it was the Younger gang or what) would pass thru my area on raids, They would also supposedly pay very well for fresh horses/supplies and in the time right after the Civil War that was a good way to win the hearts of the locals while you mainly rob banks. Not that a farmer with MAYBE a shotgun had a whole of options when a gang of bandits swung by for supper either...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I read somewhere that a large majority of earths population is related to Genghis Khan. Apparently he was quite the womanizer while conquering over half the known world.