[LinguistixDE]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone here is interested in genealogy. If so, could someone reccomend a good way to good started with genealogy. Such as, for example; software, services, etc. It would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

[tearhsong2]

Geneaology is pretty cool stuff. The best way to start is to get a pedigree chart and write down as much as you know. Then start asking your family members questions to fill in the rest.

There are a lot of resources available online. Some are free, some cost money. Here are some links:

www.familysearch.org

www.ancestry.com

www.genealogy.com

www.archives.gov/genealogy

www.genealogy.org

 

[SuicideBlonde]

I had a little help a few years ago in my hunt to find my birth mother. In the prosses I found an awesome sister. I am almost curios about my birth father but have lost my information in my many moves. Oh well. At least I found an awesome sister.

 

[Skylark]

Luckily for me, my grandpa on my mom's side and my uncle on my dad's side already did that work for me. They traced back the family trees as far as I would be interested in knowing.

I will have the easiest job in the world when I become family historian someday. I'll just pull out their research.

 

[das_nut]

*bump*

I've been doing a lot of work on this lately. If you ever needed to know the importance of citing your sources, genealogy will teach you. Sooner or later, you'll find information that disagrees with whatever you have recorded, and that's the time when you'll have to review the sources.

You'll also discover that the web can be extremely useful, as well as being full of bunk, BS genealogies that are inaccurate.

It's one heck of a puzzle. I've traced all my great-grandparents, and 13 out of 16 great grandparents. My earliest ancestors go back to the 1500s. I've met a second cousin I didn't know about, and communicated with a cousin, once removed via email.

 

[Empty_Shell]

My sister went nuts with all of that. Also traced one line back to around 1500. She spent quite a bit of money on it, but as a side-effect, she gathered all the info needed to get dual residency.

Some stuff doesn't make sense, like one of my Great great grandfathers died in 1860, which is before the civil war started, but then it shows a document showing that his wife got civil war death benefits for him.

 

[dusty_scholar]

I do geneaology. My own family has no information, because none of the relatives I know, know anything, and ancestry.com has little information. Most of my family is relatively recent in the United States. So... Instead, because I am a history buff, I do the descendants of King Henry VII of England.

 

[das_nut]

What do you mean you have no information for your family? Have you looked for graves, wills, newspapers, stuff like that?

 

[Purp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dusty_scholar

I do geneaology. My own family has no information, because none of the relatives I know, know anything, and ancestry.com has little information. Most of my family is relatively recent in the United States. So... Instead, because I am a history buff, I do the descendants of King Henry VII of England.

Do you have an unusual last name, or is your mother's maiden last name unusual? That's a big help, right there. If it's Lee, or Smith or Jones, you might have a tougher time, but if it's something a little different, like Orwall, or Northman, or something like that, it makes it a lot easier. I know ancestory.com has message boards (like this one

) where you could look up last names, along with first. Good luck.

 

[Indian Summer]

It's a bit murky on my dad's side, but on my mom's side we can trace it back to my great-great-great grandfather who was born on Fyn in Denmark in 1806 and before him his grandfather who lived in Pomerania in Germany (today's Poland) who allegedly killed some military dude in an illegal duel and was thrown in jail, at which point the family emigrated to Denmark.

Edit: Um yeah, the OP was asking for good sources. Well, church books. Also, in Norway we have something that translates to something like "parish books" (bygdebøker) which talks about who lived at which farm and who were their children, how many cows, sheep and goats they had etc. Not sure whether other countries have a similar concept.

 

[ElaineV]

I always actively avoided genealogy because I felt like it didn't matter. Other than for medical information, blood relationships aren't any more important than relations formed by friendship or love. That view has made me much more interested and able to adopt.

It's insane to me that unknown relatives within 6 degrees -literally - have more legal right to determine a child's future than someone who has an established loving relationship. A lot of people fell shared biology is the most important component of a family. Luckily, I haven't had to experience that issue directly myself.

However, I've come to accept that blood is extremely important to many people. And I have to admit, there's something really cool about geneology shows like "Who do you think you are?" they've made me interested in getting my DNA tested to see what my heritage truly is.

 

[das_nut]

Lets see.

How I've found family members...

Well, outside of the obvious (Social Security Death Index, census, obituaries, city directories, etc), I've also had the following:

1. Old diaries (thanks Google books!)
2. Collection of wills published online.
3. Parish records online.
4. Documents at the state historical society.
5. Newpaper articles.
6. Gravestones.

Sometimes, when I get "stuck" on a family member, I start branching out. I look for other possible family members nearby in records. Then I start building their family tree until I see if I can connect it to my own, or if I have to reject it.

 

[das_nut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElaineV

However, I've come to accept that blood is extremely important to many people. And I have to admit, there's something really cool about geneology shows like "Who do you think you are?" they've made me interested in getting my DNA tested to see what my heritage truly is.

DNA testing, I'll admit, would be interesting, but there are old stories I've found that are so interesting as well. A written account by a distant uncle about him and my direct many-great grandfather as pioneers in Minnesota. Tales about a family fortune, and the truth behind them. Descriptions of violations of colonial law. People fighting in old battles we've forgotten, issues of losing property over backing the wrong side in a conflict, diseases and accidents we don't even worry about killing people, etc.

 

[Empty_Shell]

You don't always know if your Great-Grandmother's were fooling around and the Husband didn't know he wasn't the real Father of his kids.

 

[Pixie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Empty_Shell

You don't always know if your Great-Grandmother's were fooling around and the Husband didn't know he wasn't the real Father of his kids.

That's a very good point!

 

[angie54321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElaineV

I always actively avoided genealogy because I felt like it didn't matter. Other than for medical information, blood relationships aren't any more important than relations formed by friendship or love. That view has made me much more interested and able to adopt.

It's insane to me that unknown relatives within 6 degrees -literally - have more legal right to determine a child's future than someone who has an established loving relationship. A lot of people fell shared biology is the most important component of a family. Luckily, I haven't had to experience that issue directly myself.

However, I've come to accept that blood is extremely important to many people. And I have to admit, there's something really cool about geneology shows like "Who do you think you are?" they've made me interested in getting my DNA tested to see what my heritage truly is.

I feel the same about blood relations - however I am researching my family tree for historic interest. I find it fascinating to discover what they looked like, what they did for a living, where they lived and what their living conditions were like. I even traced my grandparents root from Ireland to the USA in the 1920's, found the ship they sailed on, and then, using google streetview, the house in New York where they lived. And my husband has traced a criminal element in his ancestry, which has been a source of great amusement to me

LinguistixDE - I can recommend www.geni.com as a good place to store your family tree. The best thing about Geni is that you can use it for collaboration - so you can invite other relatives to add information to it. But as das_nut says - note down your sources accurately - sooner or later details will clash, and you need to know where you got your information from in order to discover the correct information.

 

[Beetlejuice]

deleted

 

[das_nut]

1625 from Norway? Where did they come to? New Sweden, perhaps? (Was Norway/Sweden unified at that time?)

As for the revolutionary war, I had one ancestor that was wounded by Benedict Arnold's men, and another who lost his property due to being a loyalist. Several direct ancestors fought in the war, but I haven't tracked down their military histories.

 

[Beetlejuice]

deleted

 

[Indian Summer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by das_nut

1625 from Norway? Where did they come to? New Sweden, perhaps? (Was Norway/Sweden unified at that time?)

Norway was in a union with Denmark at the time (, the so-called "400 year night" ...).

Quote:

Originally Posted by RabbitLuvr

He settled in New York (New Amsterdam at that time), owning a huge chunk of land on Manhattan island, and married into a Dutch family after he arrived there. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any records from before he arrived in the US.

That makes sense. Many Norwegians were sailors on Dutch ships and took part in the Dutch colonisation of New Amsterdam. (Just reading this now on Wikipedia ...) He would probably have been one of the earliest Norwegians to arrive though (since the L'Anse aux Meadows settlement 600 years earlier ...). Large-scale Norwegian immigration didn't start until in 1825.