Researching Your Family History - How Do You Do It?

[Tintin]

I don't know if it's because I'm getting older (ha!) or just because I've always been interested in history, particularly ancient history, but I've wanted to trace my family-line, as far back as possible, for quite some time now. Our family has a book chronicling our ancestors family-lines from the time they moved from Prussia to settle in South Australia and beyond (from the late 1830s up to the mid-1980s when it was published).

What I'd love to do is trace my family-line back even further. I know very little about their time before coming to Australia. I know we are descended from the Saxons that stayed behind in 'Germany' when the others took parts of Western Europe (Great Britain etc.) and that centuries later they moved into what is now western Poland, not long (relatively) before they settled in Australia. But beyond that I know nothing. It seems there's heaps of information on Anglo-Saxons, but not so much on Saxons themselves (the Germanic tribes that remained in 'Germany').

In a perfect world, I'd love to trace family history all the way to Noah's sons, but between plagues, wars eg. Genghis Khan or Attila the Hun or slavery, natural disasters etc. and some cultures not having any or few written records, there's no way that's realistic goal. Still, one can dream.

I don't care about ancestral elitism or anything, I'm just seriously interested in this stuff. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Lynx]

According to all those commercials for Ancestry.com all you have to do is put in your name and browse through your ancestors until you find a leaf.

 

[AgnusDei]

Saxons were a germanic tribe that took over large parts of Europe.

Saxons invaded what is now England and part of Wales. Actually England means land of Anglos, in french this is seen much better: Angleterre. England was raided by Saxons, Anglos and Juts from Jutland.

Now...
From Noah's sons descended the first three continents that would shape the world in a future: Europe, Asia and Africa.
the sons of Cam origined the powerful Empire of Egypt, the amazing kingdom of Absinia, now Ethiopia, the Congolean dynasty and so on.
From Japheth descended powerful nations to what now is Europe: javan (will would shape the powerful Greek empire from Hellas..greek name for greece), and some other tribes that came much later like the celts.
Oceania, North America, And outh America were discovered by Japheth (actually Europe). James Cook discovered what is now Australia, Tasman Islands and New Zealand and French, English and Spanish sailors discovered North and South America.

ALL the nations descended from Noah's ADN through his sons because Noah survived the flood which means the line from
Adam and Eve never died.

Australia had aboriginal tribes that were very powerful before British settlers arrived. The maoris not only extended their dominium over New Zealand but Australia as well long before James Cook came.

Maybe this info help you somehow, Tintin.
If it not what you need, I aplogize. I read and re-read what you wrote so I hope I am on the right track

 

[Tintin]

Saxons were a germanic tribe that took over large parts of Europe.

Saxons invaded what is now England and part of Wales. Actually England means land of Anglos, in french this is seen much better: Angleterre. England was raided by Saxons, Anglos and Juts from Jutland.

Now...
From Noah's sons descended the first three continents that would shape the world in a future: Europe, Asia and Africa.
the sons of Cam origined the powerful Empire of Egypt, the amazing kingdom of Absinia, now Ethiopia, the Congolean dynasty and so on.
From Japheth descended powerful nations to what now is Europe: javan (will would shape the powerful Greek empire from Hellas..greek name for greece), and some other tribes that came much later like the celts.
Oceania, North America, And outh America were discovered by Japheth (actually Europe). James Cook discovered what is now Australia, Tasman Islands and New Zealand and French, English and Spanish sailors discovered North and South America.

ALL the nations descended from Noah's ADN through his sons because Noah survived the flood which means the line from
Adam and Eve never died.

Australia had aboriginal tribes that were very powerful before British settlers arrived. The maoris not only extended their dominium over New Zealand but Australia as well long before James Cook came.

Maybe this info help you somehow, Tintin.
If it not what you need, I aplogize. I read and re-read what you wrote so I hope I am on the right track

Thanks, brother. There's some good information there. I'm not sure who Cam is, I think you mean Ham? Anyway, yes, we're all descended from Noah's sons and their wives, all the way back to Adam and Eve. I'm familiar with some of what you've said, simply because the Table of Nations, in Genesis, is one of my favourite parts of the Old Testament (but only if you research/study that topic, otherwise it seems boring). So it's probably safe to say Germanic tribes are descended from Javan? But then it gets confusing, what with Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan spreading their seed across much of the known world at the time.

 

[Tintin]

According to all those commercials for Ancestry.com all you have to do is put in your name and browse through your ancestors until you find a leaf.

A leaf? As in Leif Ericson, the viking explorer?

 

[zeroturbulence]

It seems like eveyone who has tried ancestry.com ends up finding out they are related to a past king or queen of some country so I am very skeptical of those kind of sites.

 

[Tintin]

It seems like eveyone who has tried ancestry.com ends up finding out they are related to a past king or queen of some country so I am very skeptical of those kind of sites.

Well, Noah and his family would've been considered royalty in the post-Flood world, so really, we're all related to royalty in some manner.

 

[the_last_gunslinger]

familysearch.org is a good site. It's a Mormon-run website, but it's free I believe, and you don't have to be a member of the church to sign up. It is very comprehensive. There are all kinds of tools for family tree building, history writing, photographs and so forth. That might prove useful in your search.

Good Luck!

 

[Tintin]

familysearch.org is a good site. It's a Mormon-run website, but it's free I believe, and you don't have to be a member of the church to sign up. It is very comprehensive. There are all kinds of tools for family tree building, history writing, photographs and so forth. That might prove useful in your search.

Good Luck!

Thanks, mate!

 

[inthewind]

Sometimes a simple Google search of the family name that you are interested in can lead you to others who have done a whole lot of researching. Other times it can take years of hitting brick walls.

Don't know if this helps..

Germanic Genealogy Society - Saxony

 

[violakat]

I know that Lynx was joking, but Ancestry.com is a great place to start, especially if you get a subscription. Here are somethings to watch out for. In any site you use, make sure to double check all information. I've ran across some people whose information can be totally way off, and cause others to have incorrect information. In fact, I've had to start over a couple of times, because I wasn't being observant. Be willing to pay a little and do the DNA test that ancestry.com promotes. You might be able to find relatives you don't know about.

Second, talk with the oldest generation on both sides. Find out what they know. Record them talking, so you can have audible records to listen to as you search.

Third, visit your local libraries. Many will have places that will help you start your genealogy research: as in census records, birth records, etc etc. And some will have full time staff that will be able to give your pointers.

Finally, the LDS probably has the most extensive collection of information on families. You can go online and check their records, although again, you may have to pay a fee.

 

[violakat]

It seems like eveyone who has tried ancestry.com ends up finding out they are related to a past king or queen of some country so I am very skeptical of those kind of sites.

I have yet to find myself related to a king or queen. Instead, it shows that my dad's side, what little info is out there, were all laborers or farmers.

But this does reiterate my point about double checking all information, as many people take things that are on these type of websites as face value.

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

My grandmother always told us we are related to an Irish prince and in the end we found out we were related to an Irish Prince (surname).

My family can trace our German roots to the first settlers in SA and then again Germany in the 1600

 

[Tintin]

familysearch.org is a good site. It's a Mormon-run website, but it's free I believe, and you don't have to be a member of the church to sign up. It is very comprehensive. There are all kinds of tools for family tree building, history writing, photographs and so forth. That might prove useful in your search.

Good Luck!

I've signed up and I'm giving it a whirl. Cheers!

 

[Tintin]

My grandmother always told us we are related to an Irish prince and in the end we found out we were related to an Irish Prince (surname).

My family can trace our German roots to the first settlers in SA and then again Germany in the 1600

Awesome sauce! I still double take when you write about SA though. South Africa, South Australia, South America?

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

Awesome sauce! I still double take when you write about SA though. South Africa, South Australia, South America?

Ooi man like I said in my eyes only SA is South Africa

My brother did some intense research on our family history but I can't remember what sources he used.

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

It seems like eveyone who has tried ancestry.com ends up finding out they are related to a past king or queen of some country so I am very skeptical of those kind of sites.

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

 

[VioletReigns]

My question is, how can you really know which branch to trace back? There are so many branches, I wouldn't know where to go after my grandparents. I mean, we have 16 great grandparents and 32 great-great grandparents. How can you genuinely investigate it thoroughly enough? I'm just wondering.

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

My question is, how can you really know which branch to trace back? There are so many branches, I wouldn't know where to go after my grandparents. I mean, we have 16 great grandparents and 32 great-great grandparents. How can you genuinely investigate it thoroughly enough? I'm just wondering.

If I understand this correctly there are books with names of who married who. This is kept for historical purposes and in the end we can only rely on the source (almost sounds like a sermon )

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

What made me sad (and in the moment a little angry towards the British) was when my brother found out that my great grandmother was in a concentration camps and lost all of her kids (think it was 7 or 8 children) except one from famine and illness.

But then I am also happy for the one that survived else I wouldn't be here