Genealogy anyone?

I've been on a genealogy kick. I find this stuff so fascinating. I love finding out things about my ancestors.

I've also been looking into DH's family as well.
His grandfather even gave me a ton of old old photos to look at.


And the coolest thing - DH has inherited his great grandfather's WW1 army uniform. I had the pleasure of actually seeing it today. It is pretty amazing!!


Anyone else into this??

My whole family is on geni.com and it is crazy how far we've expanded just using their free service! I actually found some extended family on facebook because my grandfather's last name is so rare the only other people in the entire country with the last name are related to him (first cousins of my grandfather)!

DH went on geni from there and entered his whole family in and since he has 27 first cousins, it just exploded!

Recently a long-lost cousin of my mom's found us since she lives in Charlotte and her grandmother's maiden name is that same rare last name and my great uncle also lives out there. It was really cool meeting her!

We actually LOOK similar!!! So funny!

DH has traced his family history back to 1732 in Virginia and before that, England! So crazy!!!

It's really cool.

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Posted by Cacarina

Sounds so cool...but I wouldn't even know where to start. How did you get into this and how were you able to find out information on your ancestors?

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the best place to start is with ur family members..ask them questions & then you can start filling out a family tree.
Ancestry.com is one of the best places to find documents (censuses, immigration lists..etc etc). but of course that comes with a price.
you can get a free 14 day trial - which is cool.
i found out that I can go to my local library and sit there for hours & use ancestry.com for free.

i have a aunt who is verrrrrrry into this..every time i log onto fb i have a message from some cousin i never knew

I'm interested in in, especially since we're like 99.9% certain we have a famous cousin lol...but the other part of me is like nah, I don't want to know who I'm randomly related to...because my luck I'd end up being related to DH somewhere back in time

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Posted by Dreemer107

I've been on a genealogy kick. I find this stuff so fascinating. I love finding out things about my ancestors.

I've also been looking into DH's family as well.
His grandfather even gave me a ton of old old photos to look at.


And the coolest thing - DH has inherited his great grandfather's WW1 army uniform. I had the pleasure of actually seeing it today. It is pretty amazing!!


Anyone else into this??

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Oh I am! I just subscribed to ancestry.com ... have not really had time to really figure it all out yet .

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Posted by coldasice217

I'm interested in in, especially since we're like 99.9% certain we have a famous cousin lol...but the other part of me is like nah, I don't want to know who I'm randomly related to...because my luck I'd end up being related to DH somewhere back in time

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haha thats funny you should say that. DH's family & my family both lived in the same parts of Queens & Brooklyn at the same time. (and we think even immigrated from Amsterdam around the same time - 1600s!)
My mom keeps saying that she thinks DH & I must have been together in another lifetime

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Posted by donnasmom09

Oh, Megan, yes, yes, yes!!!!!!!!!!! I've been working on my Genealogy !!!!! Today, I received the death cert., for the man, I believe to be my Paternal Great Grandfather. I know of many helpful links for Genealogy. BTW, I recently heard that Ancestry is going free; Do not know for sure, but one needs a credit card to access the free trial. I have put out a lot of inquiries on genealogy.com/genforums, and have been blown away by the great people, who are out there, and want to help. Sometimes, it takes some time for people to see your posts. For those of you who know me, it will come as no surprise, that I prayed, asking THE LORD to bring information to me, since I could not afford the paid genealogy sites. And, HE HAS!!!! An example is: one day, I googled the maiden name of my Paternal Grandmother, and found a genealogy site for that name, and when I contacted the gentleman who had the genealogy site, we got in touch with each other, and he sent me a TON of info about my Paternal Grandmother's family!!!!! He had been working on the family history for 40 yrs., and recently turned his info over to an Historical Society, who will post it on their website. Let me round up my links and I'll post them. Mary MOB

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Check your local library! I've been noticing that the libraries out in Suffolk have free access to ancestry.com. I havent tried it yet, because the downfall to it being free is that its only accessible at the library. I dont have the patience nor the time to sit at the library for hours (cause goodness knows i can get caught up in it for that long).

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Posted by coldasice217

I'm interested in in, especially since we're like 99.9% certain we have a famous cousin lol...but the other part of me is like nah, I don't want to know who I'm randomly related to...because my luck I'd end up being related to DH somewhere back in time

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ooohhhh who is it!!!!!!

Genealogy Links

Cyndi's List


RootsWeb


Family Search

Ancestry


Genealogy.com


About.com:Genealogy


RootsWeb, can be very helpful, but be cautious, because the info is donated by various people who do not always know the truth; They just copy from other sources, and are not always accurate. I found my own personal family facts were stated incorrectly, by several people; I contacted one poster, in New Hampshire, and gave him correct info; He graciously posted it!!

Ancestry makes use of Federal Censuses; Not all that info is accurate; Some info was purposefully misrepresented, I guess to 'protect' individuals. But, some info is a result of the miscommunication between Census takers and whoever was giving the info to them. One Census 1890, has records missing: Missing 1890 Records


Another helpful, but paid link:
Genealogybank.com

This link was very helpful to me when it first opened. I was able to see enough snippets to go to a public library and access microfilm records. However, the site is no longer giving these helpful snippets.

Another very helpful site!!!!

USGENWEB

Access records from a public library, or call and a researcher might be able to help you by going through microfilm of newspapers; Generally, a small fee is involved. Recently, I got my Paternal Grandfather's obituary from a researcher; It cost $5. Or, if you know enough info about a family member, you can write to a State's Archives, or for Vital Records info. A small fee is generally involved here also. I'll try to add more as I think of it!!! Mary MOB

Were you guys aware that I have genealogy links to Long Island? Mary MOB


PS Joe Bonsall of The Oak Ridge Boys, and I, share a common family history!!! Recently,my Brother met the group and Joe, and had his picture taken with them!!!!!

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Posted by gina409

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Posted by coldasice217

I'm interested in in, especially since we're like 99.9% certain we have a famous cousin lol...but the other part of me is like nah, I don't want to know who I'm randomly related to...because my luck I'd end up being related to DH somewhere back in time

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ooohhhh who is it!!!!!!

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Renee Zellweger...my papa has this book which is basically a genealogy book of his last name, but it's from Switzerland, and it's government run, so it's hard core lol. Basically you have to submit all your birth certificates to be part of the book. And it shows all the last names in the town, who married who, who had who, etc...and from his town, there were four main families, who all married amongst themselves, one of which having the last name Zellweger, and some people in that book apparently immigrated to Texas....so that's pretty coincidental. Plus my mom's first cousin looks a lot like her too! It's be cool to find out for absolute certain, but probably really creepy of me too

omg thats so cool ali !!!!!!!!!!!

the ony famous relatives i have are the ones in jail for um..family bussiness affairs..

My Aunt on my dad's side has doen extensive research so we ahve tons of info on that side

ON my moms side my uncle traced it back to Ireland but I'm not sure what happened to the info cause no one has seen it since he died back in 95'.

My father and I talk about trying to get more info but never quite find the time.

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Posted by gina409

omg thats so cool ali !!!!!!!!!!!

the ony famous relatives i have are the ones in jail for um..family bussiness affairs..

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hahaha
Ali - that's pretty cool. I betcha if you looked for it, you could link urself to Renee!

Free info:

Search for : any surname aka one's last name + GenForum.

Example: Smith GenForum: It will be called 'Smith Family Genealogy Forum'

Smith GenForum


Once on this page, you can change to a different name by typing in the name, in the upper right box, that says, ' Jump To Forum'

You can also jump to forums in different States:

New York Genealogy Forum

Mary MOB

Oh, and something that might not have crossed your minds, because it certainly didn't cross mine, was some ancestors may have lived in a Poorhouse; My Paternal Grandparents did. My Mom kept referring to my Grandmother getting cancer, and going to a 'hospital', and my Grandfather went with her. I researched and discovered that the 'hospital' in question, was actually a Poorhouse, at the time my Grandparents went there. My Dad and his siblings were in foster care. Mary MOB