Genealogy thread

[Buzz Rules]

Genealogy thread. Post questions on genealogy here. Genealogy is a hobby of mine, so if you need some tips just ask. If you have any tips, feel free to share.

 

[Praying Colonel]

As far as I can tell, most of my ancestors came to America in the late 1600s/early 1700s. I'm having a hard time finding travel info on them from that period, like ship manifests/etc. Any tips?

(My guess is most of them came as indentured servants/criminals, and maybe they just didn't keep records for such people.)

 

[Kennywood]

You might find the following site helpful: https://www.familytreenow.com/

 

[Buzz Rules]

As far as I can tell, most of my ancestors came to America in the late 1600s/early 1700s. I'm having a hard time finding travel info on them from that period, like ship manifests/etc. Any tips?

(My guess is most of them came as indentured servants/criminals, and maybe they just didn't keep records for such people.)

What state or states do you believe they arrived in? There are records depending on the state.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I was just going to ask about how you found immigration records because I was having a hard time finding them.
But then just now I found a whole family that came together on a ship in 1872! I'm so excited!

 

[Buzz Rules]

My first tip. Make a basic tree account on https://www.ancestry.com/. If you can track your family back to 1850 in America, you have an easier time finding the colonial records associated with them if they were here at the time. There are books that are available at Barns and Noble that are very helpful in researching ancestors during that time period. Look for name changes could also be associated with your family.

 

[Buzz Rules]

One thing that makes research easier for families that have ancestors in NY pre-1950 is that after the 1890 census was lost do to fire, NY issued a special 1892 Civil War veteran census. That could help fill the gap between the gap between 1880-1900. There are also mid decade census that were issued according to state.

 

[Stratman50th]

I played with it a lot several years ago. I used ancestry.com as well. On one side I got as far back as the revolutionary war. I had a difficult time with tracing once I started getting into Europe. Since I was finding it hard to confirm any additional information, I kind of gave up.

 

[Buzz Rules]

I played with it a lot several years ago. I used ancestry.com as well. On one side I got as far back as the revolutionary war. I had a difficult time with tracing once I started getting into Europe. Since I was finding it hard to confirm any additional information, I kind of gave up.

They’ve added even more documents and sources this year alone, so you might have more information available now that you didn’t before.

 

[Buzz Rules]

I played with it a lot several years ago. I used ancestry.com as well. On one side I got as far back as the revolutionary war. I had a difficult time with tracing once I started getting into Europe. Since I was finding it hard to confirm any additional information, I kind of gave up.

Did your Revolution ancestors qualify for SAR or DAR? If so, they might have more info for you.

 

[Stratman50th]

Did your Revolution ancestors qualify for SAR or DAR? If so, they might have more info for you.

The only thing I remember is they fought in the "German Regiment" which I failed to research any further than the name.

 

[sarahann77]

I've found the site familysearch.com very helpful. It's completely free unlike ancestry. It also allows to search on some of the paid sites as we..

 

[Buzz Rules]

The only thing I remember is they fought in the "German Regiment" which I failed to research any further than the name.

Oh, the Hessian regiment? Then you most definitely can track their family history with today’s resources. By the way SAR and DAR would be out then since Hessians were sent to kill Americans. Most however were forced to fight against America against their will by the German princes who owed Britain money and in turn provided mercenaries. After the Battle of Trenton, many Hessians deserted the army and settled in the USA, became citizens and lived their remaining days in peace.

 

[Buzz Rules]

I've found the site familysearch.com very helpful. It's completely free unlike ancestry. It also allows to search on some of the paid sites as we..

How far back have you been able to track your family?

 

[Buzz Rules]

The only thing I remember is they fought in the "German Regiment" which I failed to research any further than the name.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessian_(soldier)

 

[Buzz Rules]

The only thing I remember is they fought in the "German Regiment" which I failed to research any further than the name.

 

[tvguy]

My daughter has been working on our family history and the most interesting thing is just how few records there are, and how many are wrong.
She found records of my Grandmother coming to the U.S. (Ellis Island) from England, but she was 10 years younger after that 9 day transatlantic voyage!
Apparently my Grandfather was a prominent San Francisco business man. When he died the Oakland Tribune did an article on his death on the FRONT page, and almost all the information in the article is wrong. When we went to the cemetery where my Grandparents are buried, they pulled out the death certificates and the official causes of death were not what was in the article. According to the article my Great-Grandfather was a German Baron. My daughter went to school in England for a year and spent a week in Germany doing research, and there is no record of any Baron by that name.

 

[Buzz Rules]

My daughter has been working on our family history and the most interesting thing is just how few records there are, and how many are wrong.
She found records of my Grandmother coming to the U.S. (Ellis Island) from England, but she was 10 years younger after that 9 day transatlantic voyage!
Apparently my Grandfather was a prominent San Francisco business man. When he died the Oakland Tribune did an article on his death on the FRONT page, and almost all the information in the article is wrong. When we went to the cemetery where my Grandparents are buried, they pulled out the death certificates and the official causes of death were not what was in the article. According to the article my Great-Grandfather was a German Baron. My daughter went to school in England for a year and spent a week in Germany doing research, and there is no record of any Baron by that name.

Ages were often lied about and names were most of the time spelled phonetically and misspelled sometimes due to the illiteracy during different time periods. Many Germans came to North America between 1840-1870 due to religious persecution and the opportunity to own land not available in Germany.

 

[Praying Colonel]

What state or states do you believe they arrived in? There are records depending on the state.

Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, I think, judging by the first records I can find for them that show their location.

 

[SC Minnie]

I've tried to go do mine a little. My issue is my dad's family has an extremely common surname. Couple that with common first names like John/James and it gets messy figuring out if you have the right person or not.