Family trees / genealogy

1. 0

   Audreveaposted 14 years ago

   Has anyone got any interesting tales re their family tree? I've been tracing mine for a while now and the secrets are starting to be unveiled.
   
   There was a new Who Do you Think You Are series using American celebrities but I didn't get to see it when it screen here b/c of my schedule. Anyone know what the Sarah Jessica Parker gasp was about (from the promo)? What did she find out?

   replyreport
2. 69

   Pearldiverposted 14 years ago

   I have been able to track our family roots back to 1057 and the Normans who invaded England at Hastings and then Wales before settling in Ireland. If you can track back to somewhere like this.. you will be amazed at how good local parish records are.
   Good luck.

   replyreport
   1. 0

      Audreveaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      That's amazing! I've got back to the late 1700s so far - would need to get on a plane to really do the rest properly. Though, I did find Ancestry d com was useful to access some British and Irish records (though the subscription is too $$$ to stay with them forever; I just get in, get my info and then unsubscribe).
      
      What was your ancestor doing at the Battle of Hastings? Which side was he/she on? That's seriously amazing. Did you get to trace them through Tudor times as well and then back into the medieval era?
      
      Geez - keep going and you'll end up with Roman citizens in your line!

      replyreport
      1. 59

         ewd76posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I did the same thing. I did it once for the two-week "trial". Then I did it again with a different credit card. It wouldn't work for a third time. I know a lot of people claim to  have trouble with cancelling at the end of the two weeks, but I was watching. I got my cancellation in about 5 seconds to midnight.

         replyreport
   2. 63

      Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      We've run into major problems finding out anything about the people who came from Ireland.  All I've been able to find was record of a few of the deaths of people who were born in Ireland but died in the US.

      replyreport
3. 59

   Ohmaposted 14 years ago

   I have placed one line of my tree back to 1150 in turkey using nothing more than the free internet services and family records

   replyreport
   1. 0

      Audreveaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      You're all amazing. Now I feel motivated to get a wriggle on and move past the 1700s.
      
      When did Constantinople fall? Were your people around then? T
      I can't believe we're talking about the 1000s.

      replyreport
4. 69

   Pearldiverposted 14 years ago

   He sailed from Normandy with William and was shown to have commandered a section of archers against the English. This is reflected in our crest and land holdings that were found in Ireland and represented payment for service. You have to go to Ireland and the UK to follow your trail.. don't rely on that company. You will find that estates went to the eldest living sons.
   
   Read a book called Fairburn's Crests... it will show you how to research the Heraldary aspects prior to the 1700s.
   It is well worth the effort doing this exercise and very humbling meeting relatives in the old country.
   
   
   The Ultimate is Finding the Land Bribge from Africa that we used and when.

   replyreport
   1. 0

      Audreveaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      What's ironic is how much more I know about my Australian side (all with Irish or English roots) than my actual overseas family on the other side, living there in a continuously in an unbroken line. They know so little beyond their grandparents.
      
      Irish records are tricky and some stuff was lost in the fight for independence from the British.  You need to be across parish records (which can be a convoluted process depending on how accurate your lead is).
      
      You've done really well to get back that far. Have you read up on the battle and the history? That's would really bring it to life.
      
      I haven't thought about heraldry. We were Irish ordinary people... I doubt we had anything of class going on. They would have been living under oppression, lived through the Famine etc. I'd love to trace them back to the old tribes, but I don't think you can really.

      replyreport
5. 69

   Pearldiverposted 14 years ago

   This has not just been an effort on my part.. a previous generation did the hard yards. You will be suprised with Ireland... we thought the same as you at first.. but found that the family were land owners as opposed to tenant farmers. But if they Were Tenant farmers you should be able to track them via the family of the landowner... (and they were expected to fight for that landowner in their colors during feudal times).
   Also... watch for a change in the spelling of the family names.. it was where they lived that is an important factor as names generally reflected their occupations and towns.
   
   Find out from the Aussis which ships they came out on.
   Most don't want to know...as they came out with striped PJs.

   replyreport
   1. 0

      Audreveaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      LOL! Actually, nowdays it's a great honour to have a convict (most didn't do much wrong anyways)
      
      I couldn't find me a convict .. yet.  I have the boats, they were all bounty ships. The Brits basically rounded up the strugglers and told them Australia was a great place to build a better life.
      
      We're still telling them that

      replyreport
      1. 69

         Pearldiverposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         So they got sent out for stealing bread or just being poor.  That is going to be a hard search if you are trying to track them from those places... but the court records are all well kept.
         
         Good luck

         replyreport
         1. 0

            Audreveaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            They got assisted passage. The records tell you a fair bit about their trade and who else was on the ship, where they were born etc. Convict records are much more detailed. My guys were all free settlers, just not people of means.  They had trades though - there might even be trade guild records... haven't gone there yet.
            
            I find newspapers are a great resource for Colonial and early Australia. Some very interesting tidbits are gleaned that way.

            replyreport
6. 63

   Lisa HWposted 14 years ago

   I recently saw a picture of my great-grandparents and my great-grandmother's mother and family.  It's interesting, but it never meant much to me; probably because I didn't know either grandmother.  The one thing that made it really hit home was for me to think of my late aunts who lived to become great-grandmothers (and one would actually was a great-great grandmother, if that's what she'd "officially be called") for awhile.  Also, my mother was a great grandmother for a year before she died.  That made me realize how close the great-grandmother would have been.  Other than those couple of aunts, I tend to come from a long line of people who had a couple/few children late - so things have thinned out when it comes family members.
   
   The one person who kept the line going was that great-grandmother.  She had 14 kids (5 died) - so for all I know I could be any other Hubber's cousin (x removed).    I know who was who on my mother's side back to the 1700's, but someone else in the family has at least one from the 1600's (so far).

   replyreport
7. 59

   optimus grimlockposted 14 years ago

   I went waaaaaaaaaaay back and it said my family been pimpin since been pimpin since been pimpin!!!! lol. On my dads side  robert bartlett come over on the mayflower from great britten but it gets tricky before that and on my moms side we come from scottland and own mcwilliams castle

   replyreport
   1. 63

      Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Someone in my family supposedly owns/owned some castle in Scotland too.  My niece just asked me for the picture of it the other day.     I know a lady from Scotland (not a relative), and she said there are a lot of castles that were left in Scotland.

      replyreport
      1. 0

         Audreveaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Those big country house estates? I think when society changed after WWI it was pretty hard to sustain them as family homes. The National Trust looks after a lot I think.

         replyreport
         1. 63

            Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            This thing was a castle, but whoever left it left it ages and ages ago.  Apparently, someone way back deserted the Scottish military because he fell in love with a young woman (and I think he was the kid of whoever owned the property).  I'm not sure if I should be ashamed that this guy is one of my ancestors (apparently it was quite the scandal at the time), or if I should feel good that he was more "the romantic type" than the "military type". 

            replyreport
8. 66

   ceciliabeltranposted 14 years ago

   I found out that both my mother and father side came from shephardic jewish roots and I'm asian. that was a weird turn out. I even had myself dna tested and the dna testing confirms I'm from halogroup 9...semites from israel.

   replyreport
   1. 0

      Audreveaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      How do you get tested? I'd love to know if there's viking in there or something.
      
      NB - Nigella Lawson's Who Do You Think You Are episode traces back to Jewish roots and the Julia Sawahla one goes to nomadic bedouin people living in the desert (not Jewish).

      replyreport
9. 60

   Originposted 14 years ago

   I've looked back on both sides of my lineage (male + female) and I'm related to some nobility and knights on both sides.

   replyreport
10. 69

    jayjay40posted 13 years ago

    I have traced my tree back to the 1660's, using just the internet and information from the family.  The best contact I made was with some long lost American cousins here on Hub pages.  They read my hub and left contact details- BRILLIANT

    replyreport
11. 76

    barryrutherfordposted 13 years ago

    i posted a hub on my surname

    replyreport
12. 60

    Trail Otterposted 13 years ago

    I have parts of my family tree back to the 1700s. According to a brother of my grandmother, we are related to the Stuart line in England - Queen Anne was a cousin of an ancestor who was the royal governor of NJ in 1702. Unfortunately on that line there is a big gap which has yet to be filled in. One of my ancestors on my mother's side was born at sea. Also, filling in the story using history and locations, I think this same ancestor was a Tory since before the Revolution he was in Rhode Island then after he was in Nova Scotia, which was set up as a haven for British supporters. Family history is fun to look into.
    
    Those that have it back to the 1000s/1100s, I jealous

    replyreport
13. 90

    gracenotesposted 13 years ago

    As an American, I believe that it is easier to do the research if your family came to Ellis Island a bit later -- say 1880 to 1900 or so.
    
    When you have ancestors who came to America around 1715-1720 (?) or so, it's difficult, especially if they were Ulster Scots, as my ancestors were.  I don't see myself getting over to Londonderry anytime soon to do research, even though that area is the most likely place they lived before their move to America.
    
    Although I reached a dead end on this part of my family, I did learn that, while they resided in middle Tennessee, they knew future U.S. President James K. Polk well, and some of them were law clerks in the same firm with him.

    replyreport
14. 60

    odie_driverposted 13 years ago

    I started researching my family tree a few years ago, and have been in contact with some relatives also researching parts of the tree - relatives that I didn't know I had!
    
    Its been quite an experience, and I've been able to trace my roots back to William the Conqueror, an Irish tenant farmer that emigrated during the famine, and a french family that may have hidden during the Acadian Expulsion.
    
    There are still many mysteries that we're collectively trying to solve about a few branches of the family, but the stories and rich history that I've discovered and am now able to tell my own children about is priceless and will last for generations.

    replyreport
15. 89

    AdeleCosgroveBrayposted 13 years ago

    Family history can be interesting, I agree.  I've a Hub, called Four Branches, which explores the four main branches of my own family.  One side can trace its name back to the Picts.  Another is first documented in the 17th C. Scottish Highlands, while another is Norman in origin.

    replyreport