Some Geneology Info I got.

[Danustouch]

Well...I was able to find out so much of my family history, from my contact in Ireland today. My Irish lineage can be traced back to the 1600's and the Scottish plantation in Ireland. So before that, we were Scottish Highlanders, according to family info. However, that's as far back as we know. No more info found. But it gives me great leads to work with..and I'm exceedingly happy with the information i've found:)

Have any others of you been working on your family tree's? What have you discovered?

[amberlaine]

I"m so envious of you people who can trace teir families!

As a half black woman, I dont have that luxury. Nobody exactly kept records of where the slaves came from when they ripped them out of AFrica, you know? But even the white half of my family we dont' know anything about--and I"m not even sure how I"d go about finding out information.

But my husband says he can trace his family back to before the MAyflower. He said someone in the family has a journal of one of his ancestors who came over on the MAyflower. THat's got to be pretty neat.

[Myst]

In our case there were no records kept at all. I couldn't tell you the birthdates of all of my mother's sisters or brothers, or even whether or not I have great aunts or uncles, or even who my great grandmother lived with or had children with. She was actually never married, and beyond that all I know is that my great grandmother was Mohawk etc.

[Danustouch]

Sometimes, all you need is a name, and a place of origin, and to be willing to be patient, and ask a LOT of questions.

For instance, most of the leads and info I got, were from Ancestry.Com, and Geneology.Com's message boards, which thankfully, are a free service (the rest of the sites, basically, are not). I started out just typing in the Surname (which is your last name, or parents last name), and all of a sudden, there's a whole message board about other people researching the same name (very few people in this world have a completely unique last name.). So..say your last name is Hooper. And you know your Grandfather originally came from Nyack, NY.

You post a message saying.."Hooper, Nyack NY", and type in whatever information you might have. Even if it's..."Born between 1917, and 1935, Member of the Baptist Faith, Married Rena Dumbarton" (all imaginary..lol). Or..Just.."to a woman by the name of Rena". Someone else, might have been researching Rena Dumbarton, and ran across the info on John Hooper. They'd post a response, telling you what info THEY had. Then of course, you could browse the forum, and see if there are any other Hooper postings, from Nyack, NY. Or..cross reference, by searching the "Dumbarton message board".

There are also locality message boards. So you could type in Nyack, NY. And browse all the messages, and see if anyone has any info on those two names, on THAT message boards.

Also, if you even have a clue as to what religion they were. And what locality they are. You could try to find the church that they were part of, by contacting a secretary, or minister, and having them check the records. Often, births, deaths, marriages, christenings, etc, are all kept in church records.

You could find out what City they are from, and go to the Social Security office. If they were citezens of America, they keep the social security info on file, and birth certificates. Which, of course provides parents names, date of birth, etc.

There are search engines specifically for researching African Slave Ships, and trying to find your ancestors who were slaves.

There are websites with passenger lists for emigrations.

Ellis Island has a website now, with passenger lists for many immigrants.

Then..you could also type "Hooper + Geneology" into Google.com, and see what it turns up. Often times, you'll see pages of websites relating to geneology information of that family. And often, even if a person discovers they have no link to YOUR line of hooper, they will post information about that line, on their website, so that others can find it if they look.

There are also Cemetery records online, at Genweb (i think that's the one that hosts them) .

It's a time consuming process. And it can be costly. However, if you want to put in the time, and never stop asking questions, and following up every lead, You might be surprised at the info you can find. Sometimes, it's much easier than people think, to trace their family lineage. There are also people who are willing to do the research FOR you, for a fee of course.

If this is a sincere desire for you, I urge you not to give up. You'd be surprised at the amount of information available on the web to help you.

Oh..one more thing. The church of latterday saints keeps a HUGE listing of geneology information. It's absolutely astounding. I urge you to check out their boards, as well.

[BeachWitch]

I did a search on google.com for my first name, really out of curiosity.

I was registering for an email account and used my first name - alas, someone else had already used 'onagh'!! I was stunned.

What came back was an entry for my grandmother (same name) by a long lost cousing in Canada who had sketchy info on her. For example, they had her listed as the first child of 4, but she was actually the second. She was however, the first daughter. Since then the person has filled in the blanks and now our tree goes right down to my neice and nephews!

Well, it turns out, I am descended from Scots-Irish, out of Ayreshire Scotland 1630. It pretty much disappears from there.

Pretty amazing!

[KissMeImIrish!]

Im pretty interested in tracing my roots back, but since my mom was adopted that makes it kinda hard. So on my dads side of the family its been traced back only a couple hundred years. My ancestors lived in Germany, and immigrated over to Russia when Catherine the Great brought over a bunch of Germans from her homeland. My family stayed in Russia until the 1920's when they moved to Canada, and here I am. Apparently, one of my aunts has a book that traces back our family tree even farther that was handmade by a great great (i dont know how many greats) aunt (who was a nun). Ive yet to come across this book, but when I do find it hopefully it will give me more information regarding the family! Surely we go back farther into history...And as for my mothers side, well we can consider it a mystery, but all I know is that shes Irish. So I guess I should say kiss me im Irish/Russian!
ps. if a german person moves to russia and becomes a russian citizen, does that make them russian not german??:confused:
what do u guys think?? lol

[Élistariel]

Well first off, just because citizenship changes, that doesn't mean the surname (origin) does too. I'm an American (usa), but I'm also Scottish, Irish, English, Dutch, Amerindian, Italian, German, and possibly Apache.
I've only been able to research my mother's side, and I still haven't found jack. I can't research my father's side, because my grandfather was adopted. I managed to find my great grandfather, who adopted him. He was a politician in Miami. And my grandma's line is just weird. Her surname is A., her mother was a N. and her father is a T. The only info I have is in my baby book, and it's rather confusing. I have no contact with my father or his side, and I barely have contact with my mom. I was raised by my 'grandparents', really my second cousin and her husband. And I've just now begun to figure my whole messed up family out. Well I did learn that I have a half-sis, (the reason for my parents divorce).
Should we make a list of our surnames, as a sort of mini-forum? So we can see if any of us, here at MW might have some connections? just and idea.

[Siarlas]

Originally posted by Maren Themah
Should we make a list of our surnames, as a sort of mini-forum? So we can see if any of us, here at MW might have some connections? just and idea.

That really wouldn't surprise me. Let's see... on father's side, I have English, Irish, Scottish, French, Welsh and some German, on mom's side, I have Philippino, Spanish and Chinese. I was born in New Zealand, live in Australia and have a Russian/Greek name.
How much more 'round the world' do you want to get? :lol:

[Danustouch]

Hey..I'm game.

Surnames:

Hislop (variants Heaslip, Hyslop, Heslop)
Torrence (Variants Torrance, Torrens, Torrins)
Mercer
Bartram
Beckerle
Burhance (Variant Burhans)
McCauley ( MacCauley, McCaulay)
Levingstone
Hall
Gilbert.

This is an incomplete list. There are a ton of other names in my family tree, however, right now, these are the only ones I could remember. Many, are still unknown, or unverified.

[Cinnamon Girl]

I went to the sites that Danustouch listed in her earlier post (ancestry.com and geneology.com) but unfortunately they appear to be geared towards Americans. Does anyone know of good international sites? Or maybe I'm overlooking something on those sites?

I've never really looked into my family history before, but I believe one of my great aunts has done extensive research on my mother's side. Being as how I have no contact with my biological father's family, I'm not familiar with even the current family, let alone the prior generations.

[Danustouch]

Ancestry.com isn't exclusively geared to americans.You simply need to choose from a drop down menu, for the country of your relatives' origins. Meanwhile, try www.cyndislist.com for the most extensive geneology links catalogue on the web. This list is an invaluable tool to geneologists.

Also Try the Church of Latter Day Saints Family History Library. Yes..they do have a website too, just can't recall it off the top of my head.

You really would have to tell me just what countries you are thinking of when you say "International". There are German sites out there, Italian Sites. Irish, Scottish and Welsh "Origins" mailing lists.

Moonowl...if you go to ancestry.com, just search for your surname , or try the messageboards using your surname. That's where I got most of my info, and contacts. If you typed in your name, and nothing beyond a certain year, here in America showed up. That might be a sign that your surname was actually changed upon immigration. I would honestly reccomend browsing the geneology.com, rootsweb.com, and ancestry.com messageboards again.

Other than that..."International" is a huge spectrum in Geneology. You need to be a bit more particular. You aren't going to be able to find all of your geneology info in one sitting. Trust me. Take ONE surname, and concentrate on it until your curiosity is satisfied. THEN move on to the next.

Sorry I can't be of more help, MoonOwl..but..in Geneology research, you really must be as specific as possible.

[Cinnamon Girl]

Thanks for the additional information, Danutouch. :)

Although I'm not interested in geneology myself, I wanted to see if there was anything out there for our non-American members who are trying to trace their roots.

[Danustouch]

If you would like, MoonOwl, I could start a new thread giving some pointers and hints for Geneology Research. In my own studies, I've noted plenty of people from Australia, the UK, The Islands, Canada, France, and even in some cases, South America, searching for their family roots on websites such as Geneology.com, and Ancestry.com.

I know that Ancestry.com may SEEM to come from an American standpoint (since it offers things such as SSI lookups, and Civil War registers) however, Ancestry.com has a specific database for UK research, which includes for instance, in Ireland, Hearth Money rolls, Muster Rolls, Parish Registers, etc. People from many countries, post queries and information they've gathered on Ancestry.com, in the messageboards sections. They also upload something called "GedComs" which are basically, mini files, which when opened/unzipped display a portion of the family tree which they may have mapped out. One other note, People from other countries are often just as curious to find relatives who have emigrated TO the US, as we in the US are curious to find the relatives left behind in those other countries.

People in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, and some of the Islands, would benefit just as much from the Ancestry.com's "UK. database" as Americans would. Since often, the ancestors came from the same places. For instance, with my Hislop name, I've found unverified links to people in Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and even some of the Carribbean Nations. Basically, what sites such as Ancestry.com and Geneology.com do, is gather census, SSI, Hearth Money Rolls, Military Records, Church Records, Gedcoms, AND family tree information which others submit (through the database itsself, or through the messageboards) and store them on their sites, creating links for people searching for a surname. Thus, anyone can benefit from them. I haven't really looked too far into my German roots, however, I do know that when I type in my German Surname (Beckerle) files come up tracing BACK to Germany. Also...Ancestry.com searches OTHER geneology websites, as well, and will give you links to where you can search for your ancestors on external sites. I was able to find links to German ancestry websites through ancestry.com, and also Cyndi's List, and Rootsweb.com.

There are also sites pertaining specifically to Native American Geneology, and Sites pertaining to African American Geneology. (both of which are far more complicated, in some ways, than UK geneology research, because of lack of really great records, "false" names, intermarriage between slaves, for instance, and their holders in some cases, and unaknowledged marriages in many of those cases. Etc.) Cyndi's list is a great starting point. Rootsweb, Geneology.com, Ancestry.com, Familyhistory.com, Origins.net, AlBeagans, these are all terriffic launch points for geneology research.

[Danustouch]

Oh..incidentally...recently my friend, who is Phillippino, asked me to do a look up for him. I went to Ancestry.com, armed ONLY with his last name "Palacio". MOST Of his family still resides in the Phillippines. A few aunts and uncles, and his parents are over here, now, but a lot still reside in the Phillippines. So....I typed in the name, and up came a messageboard for people researching his last name, and variants of it. People from South America, The Phillippines, Spain....had posted messages/queries/information about the origins of the Palacio name, links to websites, etc on the Palacio name. That is how these things work.They are truly international. I wanted to post that, to illustrate how anyone from any country, can benefit by such a search engine.

My BIGGEST problem with Ancestry.com and like websites, is the fee's for access to their records. I understand how much work goes into compiling this information. However, I'm also aware that alot of the information, CAME from people who were researching their family tree's. So Ancestry.com charges like 30 bucks for a months access to their site, to access information which OTHER people have done the research to get. THOSE people aren't compensated for their research..Ancestry.com is. Then again, if you try to do your family history research without using Ancestry.com, it is much harder, and even get's more expensive. Trips overseas, copying prices, fee's to browse certain records at certain offices, books, phone bills, etc. Either way, it is a very expensive undertaking. You CAN get alot of wonderful information, for free..but free only goes so far, unless you are incredibly lucky. I happened to find relatives in Ireland, through my research, which had already done all the research on their family tree before the records offices there started charging their fee's. And who had really great connections within the local churches. So...I was able to get alot of information,for the price of a few phonecalls to Ireland :) And..I located them, through Ancestry.com, and Geneology.com's free messageboards. Unfortunately, I've heard that one of these websites, are starting to require you pay for use of their messageboards :(

[Cinnamon Girl]

Originally posted by Danustouch
If you would like, MoonOwl, I could start a new thread giving some pointers and hints for Geneology Research. If you wouldn't mind doing it, Danustouch, I'm sure it would be much appreciated by myself (since I know nothing about it) and other MWers who are interested in tracing their family, such as Maren Themah. :)

[Alaiyo]

Originally posted by amberlaine
I"m so envious of you people who can trace teir families!

As a half black woman, I dont have that luxury. Nobody exactly kept records of where the slaves came from when they ripped them out of AFrica, you know? But even the white half of my family we dont' know anything about--and I"m not even sure how I"d go about finding out information.



I remember hearing that if you can match up your features to those of native Africans, you can pretty much figure out which part of Africa you came from. Most Africans that were brought to America came from West Africa--Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal, what is now Liberia, etc. Most came in through Louisiana and Virginia.


If you were born particularly below the Mason-Dixon line or your parents were, you should be able to trace your family through the church. Not that people don't belong to Christian churches inb other parts of the country, but particularly in the Black community, the church was the one piece of social glue that held Black communities together especially in places where thereouldn't be any other social outlet. Beyond the church, going further back, the census is helpful but keep in mind that information especially when it comes to minorities can be sketchy. If your roots are in the South, you will have to figure out what plantation your ancestors were held.) Oft times if you start with the history of the plantation owners and then go through their property records--slaves were property as were women and children for a LONG time--you'll find the rolls that list the slaves.

Names can be real easy and real hard. Slave masters weren't too particular in giving them distinctive names all the time. However, in after the Surrender, many slaves did take on the names of their masters. So if say your last name is Malone, likely your ancestors were owned by a Malone or that might have been a place name.

After WWI, there was a great migration up North to the cities. It was also during this time that a lot of people who would have been classified as Black "passed" and in most cases severed all ties with their families. It happened in the South too but not in places were you could not get lost like you could in New York or Chicago or Philadelphia.

If your roots are in the North it's a little more complicated and more work and you really would have to rely on the recordkeeping of the times. Blacks were more likely to be bonded servants rather than "slaves" which meant that technically they were enslaved but that didn't guarantee them the same comforts and courtesies that others enjoyed. Again, I'd begin with the church affiliation if there was one and then public records like census etc. If people all of a sudden "appear" in the 20th century in a northern city in the records, likely they came from somewhere "down there" and were escaping something.

The best resource as a starting point is family. I learned recently that my grandfather's family actually comes from Pine Hill in Ala damn bama. (I just like saying that). Family, especially older relatives, records events like births, deaths and weddings in the Christian Bible and will keep obits and funeral programs which tend to be mini bios and a wealth of info.

More importantly, Black people, and some others like American Indians have more of an oral tradition usually than a written one and sometimes that's discounted because it's different. I am pleased to hear that there are search engines, etc geared towards these groups. But I would say to anyone from that background to start by talking which can be difficult because the people that may hold the clues sometimes may not want to talk about things that might be connected with memories so painful that even in the present age of relative safety they aren't spoken about. But when you do have the convcersation, it's like finding buried treasure.

[Sugar & Spice]

Here's the link that was mentioned.

They do everyone's genealogy if they can, check it out you may be suprised!

Good Luck!

Family Search Internet Genealogy Service a.k.a LDS church site for genealogy. (http://www.familysearch.org/)

[Bainidhe Dub]

if anyone's in that area and interested.

Bates
Wolfanger (or variations)
Wood
Wilkinson
Hagadone
Neu (or Nue?)
Menz

I'm supposedly from Dutch/German/Irish/Cherokee descent. That's actually about all I know, besides a few bits and pieces from my aunt.