Have you ever researched your family history?

[PigletsPal2]

I personally never researched my family history, but one cousin has been doing it for over 20 years now, and periodically sends updates.

I suppose the most interesting thing is that my maternal grandfather was actually born in pre-Soviet Russia, not Poland as originally thought. The borders were somewhat fluid in those days, and his family were ethnic Poles living just across the border in Russia. So I guess I'm a Commie.

I've dabbled in the genealogy of my mother's family, but it's been difficult because my mother's generation all passed away before any of my generation even thought about getting even a basic family history. I have my maternal grandparents' names and D/POB, but their names were rather common for their part of the U.S. and there are many dozens of people with the same name in the generation before them who may or may not be my ancestors. Also, the few stories I remember my grandmother telling were very likely not true. I don't believe for a minute that my grandmother was Eleanor Roosevelt's dressmaker. There's no way she wouldn't have kept some proof of this, if only to convince others that she was as well-connected as she claimed to be, She was a dressmaker all right, just not Eleanor Roosevelt's.

Two of my cousins on my father's side have done extensive research on that side of the family and like RedAngle and the guy on the Ancestry.com commercial, they found out that family historical records showed that our ancestors were born somewhere different from what we all thought. Our ancestral birthplace is Austria, not Germany. They also learned that my paternal grandfather was the most important/influential bookie in the rather good-sized city where the family lived. And his sons, including my father, were his runners.

Queen Colleen

 

[Mel522]

One of my ancestors was a survivor from the Titanic (3rd class). My mothers side is somehow related to Walt Disney. My dad always jokingly refered to him as Uncle Walt after he found that out.

The history I would love to know is my great grandfather. All we know is that when he was a boy he ran away from home and joined the circus, and was eventually adopted by a family along the way. He never told anyone anything about where he came from, why he left, his family or his original last name. We know nothing, and probably never will.

 

[dotfurio]

I tried on Ancestry but couldn't get very far without paying for the upgrade to view other countries. 2 of my grandparents are first generation Americans (Germany, Sweden), a 3rd is a second gen (Portugal), and only the 4th has been here for several generations - actually goes back to the 1700s here in America if the tree is to be believed. The best part of Ancestry.com was downloading some old family pictures I had never seen, such as one of my great-grandmothers as a child with her family. Otherwise I didn't find anything particularly interesting.

 

[low-key]

It would be fun but I would doubt any results I get back, as far as I could tell we all under the radar, just kind of trying to live a life

 

[here757]

I found out.. During the civil war. I had family on the confederate side. One got captured by two by Union soldiers. He convinced the Union soldiers if they let him go..he would go get his horses and bring them back.. He was let go and never returned.

 

[low-key]

I found out.. During the civil war. I had family on the confederate side. One got captured by two by Union soldiers. He convinced the Union soldiers if they let him go..he would go get his horses and bring them back.. He was let go and never returned.

now does anyone really know that, I bet the two Union Soldiers got a version of that story where they are the smarts ones

 

[elphaba91]

My 3x great grandfather and 2x great grandfather helped to establish the suburb that I now work in. They were among the early residents and helped with the planning, etc. of the suburb. Both of their houses are still standing and I pass my 2x great grandfather's house on a regular basis. My 3x great grandfather was a solicitor in the suburb (I am working in a law firm as a trainee solicitor) and sent his daughters to the school that I attended. My 2x great grandfather founded a prestigious boys' school that is still around today.

 

[here757]

now does anyone really know that, I bet the two Union Soldiers got a version of that story where they are the smarts ones

My family kept pretty good records. But u know he said vs they said

 

[tvguy]

My daughter discovered that my Grandmother was 52 years old when she left England in 1911, and was 42 years old when she arrived in New York one week later.
Anyone with tips on researching German records prior to 1911, let me know. Best we can tell, the Nazi's destroyed everything.
My Grandfather died when my dad was 9, and my Aunt was 11. My Grandmother committed suicide 6 months later. I suspect that may be part of the reason my dad and aunt has absolutely no interest in their family history. Not that a 9 and 11 year old would know much about their background, it is has been lost on my side of the family.

 

[RangerPooh]

My grandmother and her sister in law did a lot of research over the years, so I've always known a fair amount of my family history. That we came over on the Mayflower and have a former Massachusets governor/Revolutionary War general as family. A number of years ago DH got on a research kick on Ancestry and was able to get my grandmothers family back to England in the 1100s. Apparently we are related to King Edward 1 who killed William Wallace (Bravehart). On my moms side we didn't know as much as my great grandparents came rom Italy, but learned at one point we were connected to an Italian princess.

 

[JaneBanks]

I don't know much besides basic family history. The most interesting thing that we know of so far is on my mother's paternal side. We are direct descendants of the brother to the inventor of the Colt 45 gun. The inventor himself didn't have any direct descendants.

ETA: I forgot to add that just a few days ago, I saw something on Facebook; a mini biography on Ethel Barrymore who married a Colt. So, it looks like my family are long lost cousins to the Barrymore family!

 

[MickeySP]

Yep one side found out that part was the illegitimate child of Pope Gregory.

The irish side just peasants who fled from famine.

 

[justgrace]

I would so love to learn some family history. Unfortunately, there have been so many adoptions and weird happenings throughout generations, it gets too muddled to find anything useful. We tried Ancestry.com and they didn't really have much.

 

[PrincessBelle39]

My 13th maternal grandmother was Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII). I have spent the past six years working on my family history. I finished my paternal research. I am still working on my mother's side. It's fun, but a lot of work.

Mary is my 7th cousin 15 times removed.

 

[powellrj]

We have several family members doing it now. I have found out many interesting things. I found out we are part American Indian and my Grandfather fought in the Spanish American War and my other Grandfather was adopted. I can't wait to really dig into it and find out more!

 

[Prose]

I am related to both the Hatfields and the McCoys (and the Vances) on my mother's side - evidently the two families intermarried a lot before and after the "feud".

 

[DeaverTex]

I tried the Ancestry.com route, but using the free trial version I couldn't even find my Dad for certain. He was born in Houston, Tx, in 1925. He always refused to talk about his family, though, so with my common last name I really doubt we'll ever know anything about that side of the family except that they were probably originally English. My Mom's family is a mix-master of Irish, German, and some Apache (or so I'm told), with Lord knows what else. They all firmly believed that genealogy was foolishness (still do for that matter) so any records were thrown away as trash long ago.

I really DID have parents, though. I know that much.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

One of my ancestors (on my mother's side) is John Howland. He fell off the Mayflower.

Seriously, there's a painting about it, called "Howland Overboard"

On my mother's side, I may also be a decedent of John and Priscilla Alden (there's a little bit something fuzzy going on there, so I'm not entirely sure).

Also, my family name (so... my dad's side) is Jewish. I'm not Jewish, nor are members of that family name going back three generations, but I assume the family converted either when they came to America or while they were in Eastern Europe.

 

[Disney Ella]

It has been a little while since I last worked on family genealogy, but it was surprising to me at how much information on the family could be found. There is probably lots more out there. I guess some family history discovered that sticks out, an ancestor founded Yale University, several came over on the Mayflower ship, a few ancestors were living on the frontier/ first to live in an area, and as a result short biographies were written about them, a relative kept a diary during the Civil War, a few relatives were early Mormon converts. The Mormons had large amounts of detailed records on the early converts. A southern relative sued the northern union government after the Civil War for damages done when Shermans Army camped on his farm in Georgia. He lost that battle.

You are so lucky that you actually have biographies about your ancestors. My sister has done some research and traced ancestors back to Scotland, Ireland, Germany and Switzerland, but it's just names and birth and death dates. While that's nice to have, it's not really that interesting to me.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Mary is my 7th cousin 15 times removed.

We're talking Mary Rose Tudor, Queen consort of France, right?

Fifth cousin 16 times removed. Through Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel. Good 'ole great (times 20) grandpa Dick!