Familysearch.org, rootsweb.com, and cyndislist.com are also helpful in getting started with genealogy.
I think my g-grandfather came from France via Hamburg by boat, but I haven't found a record of his arrival.
Bae--a tall tale? Or are you the last of your kind?I was hoping to close in on some Neanderthal genes, but it's not looking good.
Right, right. Ignorance is bliss; I might find out I'll need that amnesty deal Big O is decreeing.Originally Posted by Rogar
Packy, are you really believing what you've been told about your ancestors and don't suspect a surprise or two a few generations back?
Definitely considered this! My mom's family can trace roots from the Mayflower but my dad is from an island in the Caribbean that at times was home to Mayans, escaped slaves, and pirates. So we would both learn something I think. My brother's adopted with no idea of "sperm donor" aka birth dad so he'd be an interesting case too. I think he's part Samoan, personally. He looks like The Rock (actor) guy.
I got the SO tested (a Christmas present) and it turns out he has a significant percentage of Jewish, and also Middle Eastern (as well as Native American and Iberian) heritage. So my theory that his ancestors fled Spain for Mexico one step ahead of the Inquisitors was likely right on. Tracing his line back to actual people and places would be the icing on the cake.
PBS has been running Genealogy Roadshow, so episodes are probably available on line for that. Some of the stories are interesting.
Who Do You Think You Are? begins a new season on March 8th. As they say, check your local listings.
Who Do You Think You Are? shot several segments at my Library in St. Louis. They aired in (I think) November, and I'm seeing them repeated often. The Library is beautiful and makes for great backdrop. People I know are in the scenes.
DH and I keep meaning to do this, but just never get around to it. DH's mother, YEARS ago, before ancestry.com, etc., went on a genealogical road-trip to find her grandsons' (our sons) heritage in the US. She found the relatives and got lots of photos and stories and compiled them all in a book she had published and donated to genealogical libraries in those areas. The stories in particular add a special layer. What a neat thing to have for our kids and grandkids. And we FINALLY found out who our #2 son looks like! I swear, I birthed him and I know who his father is, but he never looked like anybody on either side of the family, but looking through old old photos we found him! He looks like MIL's great uncle as a young man, but we only knew him as an old man so didn't see the resemblance. Yeah ... we need to do it before we die ...
i am pretty interested actually. My dad is danish and german, mom is pretty much german as far as we know. But my dad and i are both 'dark danes' , not that a dark dane looks anything but white to most. Basically we do not sunburn, more olive tone skin. So there is some chance that southern europeans went north and that is part of our history. i also would love a nice juicy surprise in there as well, ..
Most of us started way too late. I'd love to grill my mother about how much she knew about g-grandmother and the insane asylum--I always got some vague story about how she died young...Well she did, but there was lots more to it than that. Though maybe Grandmother kept that under her hat, or maybe the nuns who raised her did. If you think family history might be interesting to you, jump in before all the older relatives die off.
Finding Your Roots had a fascinating episode (the last in the series) in which they traced Henry Louis Gates' family using DNA in conjunction with detective work (a new speciality). It turned out that his genome most closely matched others with the Mayle family name. They teased out a really heartwarming history of that side of his family. The whole series is worth watching, but that episode particularly. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/episodes/
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