How far back?

[Jayhawker Soule]

Ever so often I take a few hours to dig deeper into my genealogy. Last night I discovered my 11th great grandfather (b. 1538; d. 1586) and I have a number of branches yet to be investigated.

In the course of all this, I've discovered that ...

• I'm eligible for membership in Sons of the American Revolution due to having a number of Patriots among my ancestors,
• on the other hand, one of my relatives was hung as a loyalist traitor,
• sadly, a number of my relatives owned slaves, and
• the family folk narrative linking me to Davy Crockett is almost certainly wrong and Sarah Elizabeth Crockett, instead of being Davy's sister, is actually a bit of a mystery.

All in all, Shakespeare got it right:

“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.”​

 

[Nakosis]

Ever so often I take a few hours to dig deeper into my genealogy. Last night I discovered my 11th great grandfather (b. 1538; d. 1586) and I have a number of branches yet to be investigated.

In the course of all this, I've discovered that ...

• I'm eligible for membership in Sons of the American Revolution due to having a number of Patriots among my ancestors,
• on the other hand, one of my relatives was hung as a loyalist traitor,
• sadly, a number of my relatives owned slaves, and
• the family folk narrative linking me to Davy Crockett is almost certainly wrong and Sarah Elizabeth Crockett, instead of being Davy's sister, is actually a bit of a mystery.

All in all, Shakespeare got it right:

“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.”​

Can you recommend a site or resource that would help a beginner to research into their own genealogy?

 

[Tumah]

Last night I discovered my 11th great grandfather

Wow! Most of us only have four!

 

[Sunstone]

My mother was quite a hobbyist when it came to genealogies. She researched our family back on both sides to the 1500s, and then researched about 200 families in her home community who were of no relation to us. I once asked her how she would determine how far back to go. She replied, "You should always stop the generation after the horse thief in the family was hanged, and go no further back."

May I ask where your 11th great grandfather was from?

Four people in my family served on the American side in the Revolutionary War, so we've got that in common, Jay. All were later hanged for horse theft.



Just kidding about the hangings.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Ever so often I take a few hours to dig deeper into my genealogy. Last night I discovered my 11th great grandfather (b. 1538; d. 1586) and I have a number of branches yet to be investigated.

In the course of all this, I've discovered that ...

• I'm eligible for membership in Sons of the American Revolution due to having a number of Patriots among my ancestors,
• on the other hand, one of my relatives was hung as a loyalist traitor,
• sadly, a number of my relatives owned slaves, and
• the family folk narrative linking me to Davy Crockett is almost certainly wrong and Sarah Elizabeth Crockett, instead of being Davy's sister, is actually a bit of a mystery.

All in all, Shakespeare got it right:

“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.”​

I've traced some of the family lines back to 10 to 15 generations...much beyond that and I'm pretty sure the genealogies are forged, at least based on partial/incomplete information...especially the lines that trace my ancestors back to Odin and Frigga in Asgard (located in Eastern Europe or Asia) about 250 BC...

 

[savagewind]

My mother was quite a hobbyist when it came to genealogies. She researched our family back on both sides to the 1500s, and then researched about 200 families in her home community who were of no relation to us. I once asked her how she would determine how far back to go. She replied, "You should always stop the generation after the horse thief in the family was hanged, and go no further back."

May I ask where your 11th great grandfather was from?

Four people in my family served on the American side in the Revolutionary War, so we've got that in common, Jay. All were later hanged for horse theft.



Just kidding about the hangings.

Oh, Now my thought up post won't make sense. Did you make it up that your mother said that?
WHO said that?

She replied, "You should always stop the generation after the horse thief in the family was hanged, and go no further back."

YOU saying it is not so awesome. HER saying it is noteworthy, I think.

 

[Sunstone]

Oh, Now my thought up post won't make sense. Did you make it up that your mother said that?
WHO said that? YOU saying it is not so awesome. HER saying it is noteworthy, I think.

For the record, that was indeed my mother's joke about how far back to trace your ancestors.

 

[savagewind]

For the record, that was indeed my mother's joke about how far back to trace your ancestors.

I like your mother!

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

For the record, that was indeed my mother's joke about how far back to trace your ancestors.

Then I'm still good.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

... I just wish that I could crack the Sarah Crockett mystery.

 

[George-ananda]

I love this genealogy thing but the tracking is a lot tougher if your ancestors are not from English speaking countries. Mine are all from Italy, Portugal and Poland. Sucks as I would love to do this.

It seems like with time and technology somebody could make this accessible but I don't know if anything has been done. Anyone know?

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Ancestry.com (which was created originally by the LDS...I'm not sure if they're still involved) may be the most popular, but there are a number of others out there. Some are pay sites, others are volunteer, sometimes supplemented with advertising. Rootsweb is the only one that comes to my addled mind right now, but I'm sure google will be your friend here...

As for the non-English languages, yes, there are people/organizations working on these things, but there is always the translation barrier, and the differing computer formats for many records.

 

[bobhikes]

Ever so often I take a few hours to dig deeper into my genealogy. Last night I discovered my 11th great grandfather (b. 1538; d. 1586) and I have a number of branches yet to be investigated.

In the course of all this, I've discovered that ...

• I'm eligible for membership in Sons of the American Revolution due to having a number of Patriots among my ancestors,
• on the other hand, one of my relatives was hung as a loyalist traitor,
• sadly, a number of my relatives owned slaves, and
• the family folk narrative linking me to Davy Crockett is almost certainly wrong and Sarah Elizabeth Crockett, instead of being Davy's sister, is actually a bit of a mystery.

All in all, Shakespeare got it right:

“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.”​

Wow impressive, I only go back to 3rd great grand father 1788. I have Uncles that are veterans of every US war since the war of 1812. My Brother being the last veteran serving in Desert Storm.

 

[sun rise]

I really like the TV show "Discovering Your Roots" but it's clear that it takes a horde of researchers to trace some people back.

Someone in my family started to do this but it's been a while since I checked on his progress.

 

[Revoltingest]

My family came down out of the trees when
the horseless carriage replaced brachiation.

 

[Brickjectivity]

As for me, someone else has already done the tracing for me. Sons of the American Revolution? Yes, I could. The trail goes back not quite as far and becomes vague after reaching a Norman battle standard in England. That far back the bloodline is quite muddled, but sufficiently large numbers of weakling have died off to insure that I am resistant to bee stings, have no trouble scabbing wounds, and I can safely eat almost any food no matter how many days its been in the refrigerator. If enough people die I am eligible for the throne of England, probably.

 

[siti]

If enough people die I am eligible for the throne of England, probably.

Yeah! They reckon about 80% of the present population of England is descended from Edward III. I have only managed to trace my ancestry back to my eighth great grandfathers - two of them - with certainty, although I have tentative information back two more generations in one of their lines which (if I can ever confirm them) takes my line back to the early 1600s. I've traced all but two of my 16 great-great grandparents and 24 out of 32 of my third great grandparents but some - even relatively recent ancestors seem incredibly mysterious - appearing nowhere in census records and cropping up only as the groom's father and in vague military records. I haven't discovered any famous ancestors yet but its a fascinating pastime. Most of my pre-20th century ancestors seem to have been very poor and died young which is kind of sad.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I find myself confronted by three challenges:

1. As one goes back in time one finds documents that only identify head of household (typically male) and family size. The effect is to prune women from one's family tree.
2. For Ashkenazi Jews, it's not uncommon to find that one's relatives immigrated from the Pale of Settlement in the mid to late 1800's, and that there are exceedingly few records that antedate this immigration. perhaps one can discover one's great-great-grandparents, but the trail stops there.
3. Finally, name changes are not all that uncommon. Spelling changes abound. Folks would also Anglicize their names to something they felt would be more acceptable in their newfound homeland. This plays havoc with surnames, but it can also affect first names. So, for example, I have two Molly's who became Mary's during a period when anti-Irish prejudice was relatively strong.

Now, if I could only solve the mystery of Sarah Elizabeth Crockett ...

 

[jonathan180iq]

I've traced my mother's line into France in the 1300s.
I cannot trace my paternal line any further than 1776, when my 5th Great Grandfather was born in Antrim, Ireland, because of record loss. (Their local church burned sometime in the late 1800s, destroying all paper records... )

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I've traced my mother's line into France in the 1300s.

Well done!