Genealogy thread

[Marionnette]

That’s cool. SAR and DAR may have journals of your ancestors as well. They have a vast variety of records that may be useful for you.

https://www.dar.org/

https://www.sar.org/

My paternal grandmother was a member of the DAR. It's where I got my clues for tracing that branch of the family. One ancestor served on the Committee of Correspondence for the Baltimore area in pre-Revolutionary War times.

 

[Buzz Rules]

My paternal grandmother was a member of the DAR. It's where I got my clues for tracing that branch of the family. One ancestor served on the Committee of Correspondence for the Baltimore area in pre-Revolutionary War times.

Thank you for their service.

 

[Buzz Rules]

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

This might help you find more information if your interested:

https://www.washingtoncrossingpark.org/captured-hessians/

 

[Stratman50th]

This might help you find more information if your interested:

https://www.washingtoncrossingpark.org/captured-hessians/

Thanks, I actually bought several books on the subject following the beginning of the thread. Real ones, made out of paper and everything, LOL!

 

[Buzz Rules]

Thanks, I actually bought several books on the subject following the beginning of the thread. Real ones, made out of paper and everything, LOL!

Who knows, you may qualify for SAR if your ancestor did something for the American cause after he surrendered (that’s how Rob Lowe became an SAR member). Or you may also qualify if his wife or her family did something for the war as well. Do you know if his wife was here pre- Revolution or if she came with him from Germany? I’m just curious. I enjoy hessian history.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

Well I hit the jackpot today on my research and I dug out my Family Tree files. My aunt had my Grandparents safe of paperwork (the most recent grandparent passed away a few years ago) and she gave it to me. They saved a ton of important documents. One of their naturalization and citizenship paperwork from the 1950's. Their original country (Norway) passport, which has the stamps from when left Norway, arrived in England, left England and even arrived at Ellis Island. I like to know actual dates, not just a year. I was stuck on my Great-Grandfather when I gave up years ago (couldn't confirm year of death) but found his grave thanks for the link on this site. But in the safe was his death certificate as well as his military service record. Baptism certs from some relatives even.

I found my old Family Tree files on the computer from 2010 when I gave up. I see they are in .ftl and I could put into ancestry. So now I'm going to create an account there and get back into it. So thanks @Buzz Rules for starting this thread and rejuvenating my interest. One question, when I setup ancestry account, am I able to keep it private? Or, is there a better site you'd recommend using a .ftl file?

 

[Buzz Rules]

Well I hit the jackpot today on my research and I dug out my Family Tree files. My aunt had my Grandparents safe of paperwork (the most recent grandparent passed away a few years ago) and she gave it to me. They saved a ton of important documents. One of their naturalization and citizenship paperwork from the 1950's. Their original country (Norway) passport, which has the stamps from when left Norway, arrived in England, left England and even arrived at Ellis Island. I like to know actual dates, not just a year. I was stuck on my Great-Grandfather when I gave up years ago (couldn't confirm year of death) but found his grave thanks for the link on this site. But in the safe was his death certificate as well as his military service record. Baptism certs from some relatives even.

I found my old Family Tree files on the computer from 2010 when I gave up. I see they are in .ftl and I could put into ancestry. So now I'm going to create an account there and get back into it. So thanks @Buzz Rules for starting this thread and rejuvenating my interest. One question, when I setup ancestry account, am I able to keep it private? Or, is there a better site you'd recommend using a .ftl file?

You can set your tree to private. Living relatives are automatically blocked from public eyes. Mine is always set to private.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Any questions for today?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

How’s your search going?

Haven't gotten back to it. It's been a busy summer.

 

[disneyworldsk]

not sure if you can answer this or anyone but if i have a photograph of 4 adult women from 1935 and the back is labeled as my great Aunt's name in Germany but i don't know which person she is out of the four women. How do i figure that out? Thank you.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Well I hit the jackpot today on my research and I dug out my Family Tree files. My aunt had my Grandparents safe of paperwork (the most recent grandparent passed away a few years ago) and she gave it to me. They saved a ton of important documents. One of their naturalization and citizenship paperwork from the 1950's. Their original country (Norway) passport, which has the stamps from when left Norway, arrived in England, left England and even arrived at Ellis Island. I like to know actual dates, not just a year

If you have proof they came through Ellis Island you can search their records. My Grandmothers sister came through Ellis Island and we found her. You can get the original passenger form they filled out, which give details of their home address, date of birth, ship information and so much more. Once you have the ship name you can also trace them on ship manifests. This is the link to the Ellis Island records https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/

 

[Colleen27]

I traced my family back to the "old country" with my daughter for a school project a while back, but have only recently started trying to get further than that (which isn't very far - mid to late 19th century, mostly). The name changes make it hard, though. While I was overseas, I was able to find a bit more than I had about the Irish side of the family, including a date of emigration 20 years later than I expected since the family story was that they came because of the Famine, but among the things I found was that my 3x great grandfather used one spelling of our surname and each of his three kids ended up adopting slightly different spellings on their official documents. So the spelling of my maiden name only goes back to my 2x great grandfather, which explains why there are so few of us. And though I have only gotten as far back as the 1860s on that side tracing specific ancestors, once I knew the older spelling of the name I have been able to find records of the name itself going back to the mid-1600s in the Irish county my 3x great grandfather was born in.

 

[Buzz Rules]

not sure if you can answer this or anyone but if i have a photograph of 4 adult women from 1935 and the back is labeled as my great Aunt's name in Germany but i don't know which person she is out of the four women. How do i figure that out? Thank you.

Several ways. If she was a naturalized citizen or had passport, her picture would be in those documents. Her immigration papers would also have a photograph. If she stayed in Germany, many records were kept on every person in the country during the Nazi era. Ancestry has many of those records as well.

 

[Colleen27]

As someone who has dabbled in genealogy for many years, I completely agree and want to highlight this. Just because it is on a tree on ancestry.com does not mean it's valid.

Yep, all it takes is one sloppy person with a shared ancestor indiscriminately accepting hints to make it hard to wade through. Someone who shares a 4x great grandfather with me has a massive tree, thousands of entries, but looking at the sources for my direct line, some of her entries contain sources that are obviously two (or more) different people with the same name and close-enough dates of birth, death or marriage. Which is easy enough to do - FindAGrave lists 20some men with the same name just in the one Cincinnati cemetery where I know that branch of the family is buried - but reading through the "story" page makes the errors pretty clear. In the mid-1860s, the odds of a poor Irish immigrant settling in Ohio, serving in a Mass. military unit during the Civil War, marrying in Virginia and being buried in California is pretty far-fetched, especially when census records from the period have him, and his wife and kids and grandkids, all pretty much staying put in southern Ohio.

 

[Buzz Rules]

The best way to start a tree is to only put down what you know (with proof) to be true. This gas always be true. If you only know your ancestors up to your grandparents, that is a great start. If you build the tree with all the accurate data about them, it leads to an easier time going back. Most people with little effort can go back to 1850 since that’s when American records start to become easier to read with expanded resources. Before that, it takes a great deal of research to prove what’s accurate. Don’t rush to put your tree together. If you are just confused on how to continue, Barnes and Noble and other bookstores have very good books on the subject and specifically on how to get more information if it’s available. Experts at Ancestry know how to determine what’s true with the information you have.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

OK need some help with arrivals to NYC from Southampton.......... I found my Grandfather's passport and I misspoke earlier when I said it showed his arrival at Ellis Island. It only shows the USDOJ stamp with "Admitted New York, NY". I can't find his arrival in the website for the Ellis Island passengers. I guess it is more out of curiosity to figure out where he came into NYC. Any help? This is what info I have and I did try searching various spellings of his name both his original name and his americanized new name.

Proof he sailed on Queen Mary according to the NY passenger list of alien passengers. This states "passengers sailing from Southampton on 12 February 1948". His arrival stamp in NYC is February 17, 1948.

Google leads me to believe there were three entrances in NYC; Ellis Island, Castle Garden and Barge Office. Castle Garden only shows people arriving up to 1892. Barge Office looks like they stopped processing in 1900.

I also read that when the Queen Mary arrived in NYC 1st and 2nd class passengers were allowed to immediately enter NYC (unless sick) and 3rd class and Steerage were routed to Ellis Island for medical screening. So now I'm wondering if he was actually 1st or 2nd class. I remember asking him if the crossing was like Leonardo in Titanic's class and he said no it was very nice, he had a private room. He also said how he waited until he was 21 to come to America as the trip was so expensive he had to save up as well as his parents paying for part of his ticket. I remember him saying how much it cost back then and googling it to today's value and remembering it was very expensive even in today's dollars. So now I'm wondering if he was the 1st or 2nd class, or maybe just a glitch in the Ellis Island records and he really did come through there. Urgh, I like to know details

 

[Buzz Rules]

OK need some help with arrivals to NYC from Southampton.......... I found my Grandfather's passport and I misspoke earlier when I said it showed his arrival at Ellis Island. It only shows the USDOJ stamp with "Admitted New York, NY". I can't find his arrival in the website for the Ellis Island passengers. I guess it is more out of curiosity to figure out where he came into NYC. Any help? This is what info I have and I did try searching various spellings of his name both his original name and his americanized new name.

Proof he sailed on Queen Mary according to the NY passenger list of alien passengers. This states "passengers sailing from Southampton on 12 February 1948". His arrival stamp in NYC is February 17, 1948.

Google leads me to believe there were three entrances in NYC; Ellis Island, Castle Garden and Barge Office. Castle Garden only shows people arriving up to 1892. Barge Office looks like they stopped processing in 1900.

I also read that when the Queen Mary arrived in NYC 1st and 2nd class passengers were allowed to immediately enter NYC (unless sick) and 3rd class and Steerage were routed to Ellis Island for medical screening. So now I'm wondering if he was actually 1st or 2nd class. I remember asking him if the crossing was like Leonardo in Titanic's class and he said no it was very nice, he had a private room. He also said how he waited until he was 21 to come to America as the trip was so expensive he had to save up as well as his parents paying for part of his ticket. I remember him saying how much it cost back then and googling it to today's value and remembering it was very expensive even in today's dollars. So now I'm wondering if he was the 1st or 2nd class, or maybe just a glitch in the Ellis Island records and he really did come through there. Urgh, I like to know details

Is he a naturalized citizen? His USA citizen or green card papers should have the information your looking for.

 

[Buzz Rules]

If you have proof they came through Ellis Island you can search their records. My Grandmothers sister came through Ellis Island and we found her. You can get the original passenger form they filled out, which give details of their home address, date of birth, ship information and so much more. Once you have the ship name you can also trace them on ship manifests. This is the link to the Ellis Island records https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/

Is Irish ancestry hard due to common names or are records not just available?

 

[RUDisney]

Well, I learned that DH's GM died after spending 1 year and 40 days in the hospital with third degree burns over her whole body. Yikes! What a way to go.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Well, I learned that DH's GM died after spending 1 year and 40 days in the hospital with third degree burns over her whole body. Yikes! What a way to go.

I’m sorry to hear that. At least she’s at peace now.