Researching Your Family History - How Do You Do It?

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Tintin

Guest
#21
#21
GandalfTheWhite said:
You have to remember that if your roots are going back to Europe chances are that you will have some form of noble blood in you because they were the people doing the exploring and going to countries like SA and USA....

Australia on the other hand, tuk tuk tuk poor Tintin. He is going to find out his grand father was a convict :p:eek:
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Lucky for you I'm descended from Prussian free settlers in South Australia, not convicts like those on the eastern coast of Australia. :p
 
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didymos

Guest
#22
#22
I can trace my line genealogy back to the late 1600's. In the Netherlands it's hard to trace it back beyond about 1648, because a lot of parish registers were lost when we fought the spanish in the 80 years' war. All my forefathers came from he same island, which made it much easier to trace our family's linage back. They were all farmers, fishermen, whalers, and (occasionally) privateers.

 
zeroturbulence

zeroturbulence

Senior Member
#23
Aug 2, 2009
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#23
GandalfTheWhite said:
You have to remember that if your roots are going back to Europe chances are that you will have some form of noble blood in you because they were the people doing the exploring and going to countries like SA and USA....

Australia on the other hand, tuk tuk tuk poor Tintin. He is going to find out his grand father was a convict :p:eek:
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But seriously, how many offspring did these royals have? They would have to have hundreds of children for everyone to be related to them somehow. I mean they were not the only ones on earth when they ruled as kings and queens. From what I've heard, they had very few children, usually no more than 2.
 
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didymos

Guest
#24
#24
Talking about nobles, one of my great grandfathers was a baron.
In the maternel line though, so that doesn't really count. (no pun intended)
 
zeroturbulence

zeroturbulence

Senior Member
#25
Aug 2, 2009
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#25
Anyway, the thing that makes me skeptical about these genealogy websites is that the internet has only been around for about 20-30 years, so where did they get all info on everyone's grandparents and great grandparents, etc..? That stuff is not on the internet. Its in big dusty old record books in the basement of ancient town halls and on microfilm in the basement of libraries (ok maybe not the actual basement, but u get the point).

Those genealogy sites would have to have hundreds of people traveling to all these places collecting data off those old books and microfilm in order to really have an accurate database of everyone's family heritage. Just the thought of gathering all of that data boggles the mind. Just one town would have data on thousands of families.. and then... that's not even the beginning...

Someone would have to somehow make all the necessary connections between relatives figuring out who is related to who (and many unrelated folks have the same last name). Even if all the data was at someone's fingertips, it would take an ginormous amount of man hours to try to piece together everyone's family tree from town to town, country to country, etc... I wouldn't be surprised if those genealogy sites are bogus.
 
GandalfTheWhite

GandalfTheWhite

Senior Member
#26
Jan 25, 2015
9,213
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#26
zeroturbulence said:
But seriously, how many offspring did these royals have? They would have to have hundreds of children for everyone to be related to them somehow. I mean they were not the only ones on earth when they ruled as kings and queens. From what I've heard, they had very few children, usually no more than 2.
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Mmmm, do we count the children with their slaves also? Remember they slept around like... like... eee whoremongers :) and the ladies of the time was proud to tell their children about the noble blood running through their veins.
 
GandalfTheWhite

GandalfTheWhite

Senior Member
#27
Jan 25, 2015
9,213
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#27
zeroturbulence said:
Anyway, the thing that makes me skeptical about these genealogy websites is that the internet has only been around for about 20-30 years, so where did they get all info on everyone's grandparents and great grandparents, etc..? That stuff is not on the internet. Its in big dusty old record books in the basement of ancient town halls and on microfilm in the basement of libraries (ok maybe not the actual basement, but u get the point).

Those genealogy sites would have to have hundreds of people traveling to all these places collecting data off those old books and microfilm in order to really have an accurate database of everyone's family heritage. Just the thought of gathering all of that data boggles the mind. Just one town would have data on thousands of families.. and then... that's not even the beginning...

Someone would have to somehow make all the necessary connections between relatives figuring out who is related to who (and many unrelated folks have the same last name). Even if all the data was at someone's fingertips, it would take an ginormous amount of man hours to try to piece together everyone's family tree from town to town, country to country, etc... I wouldn't be surprised if those genealogy sites are bogus.
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My feeling is that they approach it like Wikipedia. Information from site users but it needs to be confirmed from more than one source... I remember reading something like that...
 
AlaynaJ

AlaynaJ

Moderator
Staff member
#28
Dec 15, 1999
8,339
24
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#28
My mother is our family historian and genealogy is her passion and main hobby. She's a member of every website out there that exists having to do with family history, paid or free. She also enjoys reading censuses and finding old records. Every year they release more old records from the early 1900's or so, and for 2 weeks after they're released, that's all she'll do with the entirety of her free time.

She's done the DNA testing that Ancestry.com offers, and has had my father, grandmother, uncle and one of my dad's great aunts do it as well as a few others. It's one long, never ending game of hide and seek to her. If you ever want to talk to someone really well versed on the subject, I'll connect you to her and you can get some tips from her if you would like.
 
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didymos

Guest
#29
#29
zeroturbulence said:
Anyway, the thing that makes me skeptical about these genealogy websites is that the internet has only been around for about 20-30 years, so where did they get all info on everyone's grandparents and great grandparents, etc..? ....
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Cute girl traced your lineage back for you. :rolleyes:



(Yes, it's a mormon conspiracy... :eek:)
 
zeroturbulence

zeroturbulence

Senior Member
#30
Aug 2, 2009
24,641
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#30
AlaynaJ said:
My mother is our family historian and genealogy is her passion and main hobby. She's a member of every website out there that exists having to do with family history, paid or free. She also enjoys reading censuses and finding old records. Every year they release more old records from the early 1900's or so, and for 2 weeks after they're released, that's all she'll do with the entirety of her free time.

She's done the DNA testing that Ancestry.com offers, and has had my father, grandmother, uncle and one of my dad's great aunts do it as well as a few others. It's one long, never ending game of hide and seek to her. If you ever want to talk to someone really well versed on the subject, I'll connect you to her and you can get some tips from her if you would like.
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No offense Alayna, but how did Ancestry.com get hold of your ancestor's DNA? Especially since the science of DNA testing has only been around since the 1980's.
 
zeroturbulence

zeroturbulence

Senior Member
#31
Aug 2, 2009
24,641
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#31
GandalfTheWhite said:
Mmmm, do we count the children with their slaves also? Remember they slept around like... like... eee whoremongers :) and the ladies of the time was proud to tell their children about the noble blood running through their veins.
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That could explain it I guess.
 
AlaynaJ

AlaynaJ

Moderator
Staff member
#32
Dec 15, 1999
8,339
24
38
#32
zeroturbulence said:
No offense Alayna, but how did Ancestry.com get hold of your ancestor's DNA? Especially since the science of DNA testing has only been around since the 1980's.
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This particular type of DNA testing is more of a classification test. They tell you more about your cultural roots, the types of lines that you are connected with, ethnic backgrounds, and if you're genetically linked with others who have also done the same test in their databases.
 
seoulsearch

seoulsearch

OutWrite Trouble
#34
May 23, 2009
16,242
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#34
I have to admit feeling a twinge of jealousy when reading this thread.

Being adopted with no records, my whole life, I've wondered if I even look like anyone.

I know it sounds crazy but I have asked God many times that He would show me my parents' faces in a dream... But it's a prayer He's never answered.

I've been thinking of taking one of the Ancestry tests just to find out what possible race(s) I might be.
 
Oncefallen

Oncefallen

Idiot in Chief
Staff member
#35
Jan 15, 2011
6,058
3,372
113
#35
zeroturbulence said:
Anyway, the thing that makes me skeptical about these genealogy websites is that the internet has only been around for about 20-30 years, so where did they get all info on everyone's grandparents and great grandparents, etc..? That stuff is not on the internet. Its in big dusty old record books in the basement of ancient town halls and on microfilm in the basement of libraries (ok maybe not the actual basement, but u get the point).
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If you think about it, prior to recent generations many families remained in the same town (or at least area) for generations. It wasn't until air travel and the inter-state system that the mass exodus of families all over the country really began. Take for example my own family background, my father's line back was in the same area of Mass. from just prior to the Revolutionary War until my grandfather left for higher education(about 200 years). Once you cross back to Europe (for those of European descent) it becomes simple because Parish records were kept meticulously in ages past.

A site like Ancestry.com functions so well because you have millions of people all over the world placing pieces of the puzzle together, not dedicated site staff digitalizing ancient records. Once you trace back far enough, your search is bound to cross (by common ancestor) someone else's lineage that is already on the site.

AlaynaJ said:
My mother is our family historian and genealogy is her passion and main hobby. She's a member of every website out there that exists having to do with family history, paid or free. She also enjoys reading censuses and finding old records. Every year they release more old records from the early 1900's or so, and for 2 weeks after they're released, that's all she'll do with the entirety of her free time.
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My Mom is the family history buff in my family also. My dads lineage was easy following the surname just because my Dad's family was there for so long and one of my Dad's uncle's was town historian for a while. It also helped that someone did a lineage in book form from one ancestor forward down numerous branches (basically a family tree in reverse) back in the late 70's.
 

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zeroturbulence

zeroturbulence

Senior Member
#36
Aug 2, 2009
24,641
4,300
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#36
I'm pretty sure I'm related to Elvis.. :rolleyes: I mean I obviously have the same voice as him so...

[video=youtube;kXEYrDjCX1Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXEYrDjCX1Y[/video]
 
Desdichado

Desdichado

Senior Member
#38
Feb 9, 2014
8,768
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#38
My suggestion is to use multiple sources. Ancestry.com is amazing when used by itself, but if you have clues like other documents, family heirlooms, and credible rumors, your search will be far more productive.

The really cool part is that if you are related to somebody of historical note (most people are though they don't know it), you can even use wikipedia.

I figured out that I have some Danish, Spanish, Portuguese, Belgian, and Scottish blood that way.
 
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