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Oldgringo wrote:I've got a pretty fair idea where I'm going but am starting to have questions about where I'm from. Has anyone used any of the various internet genealogy sites to trace their ancestors? If so, which one/s and how'd it work out for you?

Be very careful about some of the genealogies out there. When I started years ago i put info out there and some of it was wrong(had a lot to learn). This was copied by other people. i corrected mine, but the other people did not correct theirs.

There are some great sites for genealogy research out there. including http://www.ancestry.com among others for their original source documents. one of my favorites is http://www.cyndislist.com

I would shy away from using the online genealogy programs. The LDS(Latter Day Saints) have a great free program that can be downloaded. Or any of the off the shelf products are good.

I use TNG http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php which is less than 35$, but needs to be setup on a server with MySQL. I pay less than 50$ per year for that. mine is currently private while I am fixing it. If you would like to see mine, I will send a PM with address and login and password

to see a good example of the software go tohttp://hatcherfamilyassn.com/

WildBill wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:I've got a pretty fair idea where I'm going but am starting to have questions about where I'm from. Has anyone used any of the various internet genealogy sites to trace their ancestors? If so, which one/s and how'd it work out for you?

Watch out Oldgringo, this genealogy stuff can be more addicting than crack. Thrity years ago, my older brother starting doing it as a "hobby". Since then he has spent thousands of hours tracking down stuff. He has made several trips to Salt Lake City as well as spending money on postage and phone calls to request records from Europe.

The records he found were interesting, informative and sometimes entertaining. The only record he found about one of our distant relatives from the 1800s was about his death: "Killed by Indians"

It's all fun and games until you find out your related to Al Gore

Oldgringo wrote:I've got a pretty fair idea where I'm going but am starting to have questions about where I'm from. Has anyone used any of the various internet genealogy sites to trace their ancestors? If so, which one/s and how'd it work out for you?

Ancestry.com et al also use a lot of census information so finding birth/death records is fairly easy, detailed information is a little more difficult to come by. Are your parents still living? Any of their siblings. The best way to start is by interviewing them, getting as much recollection as you can and any documents and pictures are a bonus. I was kind of the student family genealogist until my aunt died and I have all of her documents and photos she has collected over the years...boxes and boxes of it that I am starting by digitizing.

Ancestry.com also has free areas and forums. If you Google say, your great, great grandfather's name, you are likely to hit all sorts of genealogical helps.

I have an advantage as there is a lot of material from the 17th century forward on most of my ancestors. I've got a brief article on it at my website. You can always use the contact form or PM me if I can help you with the nuts and bolts of the process.

My mom spent the better part of 30 years as an "amateur" genealogist researching our family. She passed in 2003 so my info is dated, but here is its for what it's worth. I can't speak to it directly but early on in the days of the Internet I do recall her scoffing to others that the online sites often contained many inaccuracies and she didn't use or trust them much. I can believe this and see this being the case even today. I suspect the online services are much like the Internet; A great source of information but also a great source for misinformation.

Mom was a stickler for the details and didn't take much on face value without seeing or finding evidence to corroborate the information. I sure do miss her. Instead she did much of the hard work herself speaking with relatives, finding other researching lines, comparing research notes, researching court-house documentation, attending family reunions, visiting cemeteries and such. She had a favorite piece of software called "The Master Genealogist" (TMG) which she used for many years as the developer (Bob Velke) was active in the community and responsive to input from customers. She tried a few others and perhaps used one other for a specific feature or two, did much manually using LDS and other forms, but TMG was her go-to software.

The online sites might be a good starting point if you're at a loss for where to look, but I wouldn't stop there and would scrutinize the information obtained therein to see how it stands up to family recollection, census data and court records, where available. As others have indicated, you will find some folks just aren't as diligent in their research as they ought to be. Also, I'd start with living family while you have the opportunity and then taking that information to build your own library of research from other resources between visits.

I'm told that I'm related to some guy named Adam and I'm okay with that. It's the intermediaries that I'm somewhat curious about.

My Mother spoke of some distant relative who was drunk and fell off his horse on his way home after the South surrendered and froze to death. I always thought she was kidding...maybe not?

As long as we're posting pics of graves:

My paternal grandfather and grandmother in Arlington: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... i=43207092" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And paternal grandmother's father (great grandfather) in Arlington: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... d=35659424" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And my maternal grandfather (and grandmother, her name is on the back of the stone) in Arlington: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... 977&df=all&" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I also started out with different software, but after trying out a couple of others, settled on FTM as my final choice.

This is the free (open source) program I'm using:

http://gramps-project.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It must come as a shock that many Americans don't have a drop of noble blood, except possibly through rape or fornication. Rape was considered a privilege of conquering armies, and the European aristocracy at some times and in some places had a delightful custom called droit du seigneur.

In many cases the ancestors of people before the 19th century were illiterate. Some were displaced by wars, famines, or economic distress. Some were forcibly transported for being poor, or adhering to the wrong religion, or backing the losing political party. Some were enslaved.

Maintaining family genealogies in the castle keep was not an option.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. My grandparents moved to the U.S. from Ireland and never looked back. Ireland remained one of the poorest and most socially backward countries in Europe for the following century, while we did quite well.

- Jim

EKO wrote: . . . Be very careful about some of the genealogies out there. When I started years ago i put info out there and some of it was wrong(had a lot to learn). This was copied by other people. i corrected mine, but the other people did not correct theirs. . . .

My grandfather started the process for my family, and all I have had to do is continue his work and delve into the nooks and crannies in attempts to find branches that fell off and such.

One thing my grandfather did was purchase the product of the "Media Research Bureau" which borders on being a scam. The information they published is at least partially accurate, but very skimpy and pretty much useless for a person seriously interested in genealogy. They traded on their official sounding name, bordering on representing themselves as a government agency, and published these little papers that had a big bunch of fluff: "Probably the earliest known member of the family was Geoffrey de Langley . . . knight in the Third Crusade . . ." All very high sounding and official, but easy enough to put together with a quick trip to the library even back in the 30s when they were at their zenith.

The Media Research Bureau was eventually forced out of business by a coalition of members of the American Society of Genealogists, of which my grandfather was a member and even a driving force behind the effort to discredit the Media Research Bureau, in cooperation with the US Postal Service. I have several of their pamphlets, a few of which were purchased during the campaign against them and others which were purchased by family members who, unfortunately, got taken.

A couple of other outfits have done similar things since, but none were quite as successful as MRB.

There is the American Society of Genealogists, which is an organization: "To advance genealogical research standards and to encourage publication of the results. To secure recognition of genealogy as a serious subject of research in the historical and social fields of learning." http://www.fasg.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And: the "Board for Certification of Genealogists" http://www.bcgcertification.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My distant cousin, mentioned in a previous post, is a "Certified Genealogist" a title she wears as some CHL holders wear a badge.

seamusTX wrote:It must come as a shock that many Americans don't have a drop of noble blood, except possibly through rape or fornication. Rape was considered a privilege of conquering armies, and the European aristocracy at some times and in some places had a delightful custom called droit du seigneur.

In many cases the ancestors of people before the 19th century were illiterate. Some were displaced by wars, famines, or economic distress. Some were forcibly transported for being poor, or adhering to the wrong religion, or backing the losing political party. Some were enslaved.

Maintaining family genealogies in the castle keep was not an option.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. My grandparents moved to the U.S. from Ireland and never looked back. Ireland remained one of the poorest and most socially backward countries in Europe for the following century, while we did quite well.

- Jim

My paternal grandparents and maternal great-grandparents left Eastern Europe behind. Thank heavens!

jimlongley wrote:... published these little papers that had a big bunch of fluff: "Probably the earliest known member of the family was Geoffrey de Langley . . . knight in the Third Crusade . . ." All very high sounding and official, but easy enough to put together with a quick trip to the library ...

This kind of thing is still common, or maybe more so with the internets. I just did a quick search for the origin of my surname (Casey) and found a site that told me we were descended from the kings of Ireland (not bloody likely) and came to the U.S. in the 17th century (dead wrong, in my case).

Any site selling coats of arms or "secrets" is a scam.

- Jim

I was given a gray hardshell Samsonite suitcase for HS graduation little over a half century ago. That suitcase and I were on a towboat pushing a string of barges down the Cumberland River at 0530 the morning after HS graduation. In the intervening years, I was always too busy or too far away to ask....when there was someone to ask, alas.

Thanks everybody for great search ideas and sources.

seamusTX wrote:It must come as a shock that many Americans don't have a drop of noble blood, except possibly through rape or fornication. Rape was considered a privilege of conquering armies, and the European aristocracy at some times and in some places had a delightful custom called droit du seigneur.

In many cases the ancestors of people before the 19th century were illiterate. Some were displaced by wars, famines, or economic distress. Some were forcibly transported for being poor, or adhering to the wrong religion, or backing the losing political party. Some were enslaved.

Maintaining family genealogies in the castle keep was not an option.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. My grandparents moved to the U.S. from Ireland and never looked back. Ireland remained one of the poorest and most socially backward countries in Europe for the following century, while we did quite well.

- Jim

I'm a descendant of William the Conqueror. I also had an ancestor on the Mayflower. I'm only starting to get interested in genealogy. Unfortunately my greatest source (grandmother) died this summer just as I was getting interested.

"I was born a poor Black child."