Netty and I are addictively searching for our ancestors...anyone else? I started doing some searching many years ago, well before the Mormons went online with every available record and other online services were available and at that time I found pretty much nothing on a couple of elists I joined. No one had any of my family in their trees. I started searching online earlier this month and so far I have been able to go back far enough to find three lines that will have to be further searched for in Ireland, one in England and one in Germany. Of course, other lines will also include searches in other countries but I am not that far back on them. And then there is my maternal Grandmother. She died when my Mom was 17 and other than asking her mom if she had any brothers and being told no, my Mom at that age wasn't interested in finding out anything more and my grandmother never offered any info. Sadly Mom never knew exactly how her mother's maiden name was spelled so I have two possibles and never heard her mom mention any family members at all. She told me that her mom was born in St. Louis, Missouri but according the Census record I found for my mom and her parents, my grandmother was born in Pennsylvania. I know this woman came from somewhere, I have an idea of where but nothing confirmed yet and it looks like it will be impossible to confirm it.
Yup, I'm definitely addicted! I started my family tree about 10 years ago. I was able to expand my tree after writing letters, interviewing relatives, online research and message boards. I got a little discouraged after not finding anything new for a year and packed everything up. Just a few weeks ago I discovered some new developments on Family Search.org and then signed up for a month on Ancestry.com and have been able to extend my tree again. I am also now looking for information on my husbands birth family - even if it is only the medical history. He was adopted and now that the adoption records have been opened here we have more info. This could be touchy for those involved so we are proceeding with caution.
Several years ago, I researched my Great Great Grandfather. There was always a story that he came back from the Civil War with a matel clock that he had gotten from a southern plantation house. In fact my next oldest brother has that clock as he is named for him. I was able to find his war records and trace his history. He was in the Quarter Master Corps which in those days consisted of working behind the lines procurring supplies. That in turn meant he was stealing cows pigs sheep chickens or whatever to supply the Union troops. So that job would put him in place to get the clock. He went into the Army as a Private and came out as a Leutenant 4 years later. He survived the war and lived until 1913. I found out that he is buried in Springfield Ohio, but his grave is unmarked.
How fun to find out a family legend is actually true. My grandmother never wanted me to know about her side of the family, she said I would probably find horse thieves hanging in the family tree. But what I found was more personal to her, such as what year she was actually born compared to the year her parents married. She just never realized how common that was, I have found a few of those instances already. I have found several multi-great grandfathers fought in the Civil War (for the south of course ) and one of them died at Vicksburg in 1863.
I've found this quite a few times too! In one case, an excuse was listed on their wedding record as to why they had a child before marriage! (I wish I could remember what it was...I can't read the German script) It seems more common than I ever thought!
My Uncle researches peoples family trees for a living. He has researched ours - well, my mums parents trees, and I have gone back a bit along my dads line. A few family secrets have come to the surface, making research either difficult, or things have suddenly made more sense. As far as I know, my Unc has gotten us back into the 1700's.
I did a lot of family tree research several years ago, and I've always planned to proceed once I have more time on my hands. We've got a head start since my mother's mother hired a chap to write up her family tree. I'm back to the 1500's on that side and to the 1700's on my father's side. The fun thing is that there are lords and serfs, farmers and seamen and just about everything else in there. The most foreign I've found is a Danish aristocrat. I've planned to research that chap further but so far haven't managed to find out anything about him. He was probably shipped off to northern Norway for some misdemeanor. As for babies and marriages I've got lots of those too, and one excuse was that the priest only visited once a year.
Other than the errors made by the people reading the scanned documents not being able to tell if that letter is an 'a' or and 'o' or if that number is a '6' or '8' I have found a lot of errors in other family trees on Ancestry.com involving relatives I actually knew and know their information is wrong. Many trees have my great-grandfathers middle initial as 'H' when I have proof it was 'A' and I just found a photo attached to Randy's grand-father on another member's tree with the comment that "This is my great-grandfather on my momma's side" Randy's grandparents only had two boys so the connection couldn't be through this person's momma's side. The photo should be attached to Randy's great-grandfather who did have girl children. Has anyone had to contact another searcher to tell them of errors in their information and if so was it received well or did they get all bent out of shape over it. You know the phrase, once burned - twice shy, back years ago when I was a member of Rootsweb.com I found the error with my grand-fathers middle initial and contacted the person, they did not re-act in a positive manner and now I am a little leery about trying to have corrections made. I even took a photo of my grand-father's headstone to send them but they wouldn't get back to me.
Out-of-wedlock children weren't necessarily born out of wedlock. Many settlements didn't have an ordained preacher, but an itinerant or circuit preacher who might show up only three or four times a year. Couples wishing to be married got both families' consent, everyone prayed and they were "married" in the eyes of themselves, the families, and the whole neighborhood. They were formally married when the preacher arrived. I've seen records of a preacher performing five or six marriages and an almost equal number of baptisms on the same Sunday. He would also pray over the graves of those who had died since his last visit. Capt. Y'all need to give my family clock back. My grandmother remembered her mother complaining about the Union soldiers who took her milk cow. They probably took the clock, too!
The worst thing is when you make a connection and find errors. I found that on my great grandfathers sister's family that came to Michigan. Corrections were sent and I was thanked for them, but they were never changed on Rootsweb. I also hate it when you find a connection and contact people and they don't bother to reply. Generally I have had good luck with people as they are interested in the same thing as I am and we help each other. I also had someone who I was in contact with a few years ago and we exchanged information. I wrote them back last month when I found some new info and they didn't remember who I was or even having spoken with me. That really stinks.
I was told many times by searchers on the surname lists on Rootsweb that you couldn't enter any information on your tree that wasn't verified by at least two official sources and the memories of older family members didn't qualify as proper sources. But then you find an error in their info and have sufficient proof that shows the correction needing to be made and they totally ignore it. So much for accuracy. On another subject....my grandmother on my mom's side - I have found her, my grandfather and mom on the 1930 Census in Memphis, Tennessee. I have searched every combination of her name, every spelling of her surname and have come up with dozens of possibilities then have to eliminate them because they married someone else, born in the wrong year (century), lived in another part of the country, etc. But there is one that I can neither prove nor disprove because there are only two mentions of her anywhere that I have found. This one shows up in the 1900 Census of the Indian Territory, Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma and in the 1910 Census of another town in Oklahoma. By 1910 her dad had apparently died and her mom, who was white took the kids, moved off reservation and remarried. The birth year is the same, the month is off but that that could depend on who was answering the questions, the last name is spelled the way my mom remembers her mom saying it was spelled. I am thinking I should enter those parents as hers and see what information comes along, I can remove them if the connection proves to be wrong...any one see a problem with that idea?
I'd give it a try toni. We've discovered several errors too. The birth years for instance. I guess it all depended on the handwriting of whoever made the protocol or church book notes. I guess a 3 and a 5 could look pretty much alike, and also the 7 with the line across the downward bar might look like a 3. Since we're talking great-great-grandparents or worse nobody's alive to help me out and I've had to make do with double birth years. Even the priest or vicar's long gone so I can't correct him either. The arrogance of the people who refuse to be corrected amaze me! I almost wish somebody would bring the cane back, just for those people.
Well Toni, I've been hooked to this computer for DAYS now trying to deciper German parish registers. I had no idea these images were available for my ancestors small towns. Because the books weren't indexed they weren't showing up in searches and I almost missed an invaluable resource. Make sure you do a little digging to see what is actually available for the area's you are researching! Now if only I could decipher this horrible handwriting!
We've been fortunate that one of my aunts on my dad's side of the family has already traced us back to Naples Italy circa 1700s. My sister is now working on my mom's side of the family... which is much more colorful! I helped out a bunch a few years ago... but just don't have the time to jump into it again right now. Sure is interesting stuff though!
