What do you know about your ancestors?

[reecejackox]

i dont really know a lot but i know my family name came from Ireland

 

[nw6675]

American history wise, I have the history from before the Revolutionary War. On my paternal grandmother's side, we can trace back hundreds of years to Ireland.

Only particular item of note is my 3* great grandfather and his brother surrendered with Robert E Lee at Appomattox.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I know lots. I'm the family historian, sort of. I do a lot of family history research, or at least I used to. I had a lot of elderly relatives at one time, and my grandparents were still living. I made up a questionnaire and mailed it to them with return postage, and the replies I got were great. I asked about what they thought of Pearl Harbor, about the first man on the moon, what their favorite songs were and about fashion, etc. So I now have these questionnaires, in their own handwriting, to share with people. I also have a lot of the old family photos in my possession.

 

[disykat]

I know my paternal family name came to the US from England around 1650 and can trace all the way back to him. I also have several generations of info on all of my other grandparents tracing back to Scotland, Wales, and France, most coming to the US in the 1800's. All this info came from other people in the extended family who have done the work, not my own research. On one side we have a whole bunch of tintype pictures (mid 1800's) etc. of unnamed people that we don't really know what to do with. I've gone through all the stuff from my parent's house trying to compile the info to leave my kids a family tree as far back as I can, but have no interest in warehousing the "stuff." My siblings have shown no interest, but they want it all kept. Should be interesting to see what happens when we're ready to sell the house!

 

[Carol_]

One set of grandparents came through Ellis island twice. TWICE! I guess they liked to cruise.

 

[JoeA]

They’re dead.

 

[disneychrista]

Very little. I know my maternal grandmother emigrated to the US from Canada as a young child. That is about it. My father was adopted, so know nothing about that side of my family. His adopted father's family was from Scotland so that is what always used in the school projects about where my family was from.

 

[Planogirl]

My aunt spent a lot of time tracing the English part of the family. She took one look at the Norwegian side and decided to leave that to someone else. My father was half English with few odds and ends and half Norwegian.

My mother was Dutch with a Dutch Jewish father. Her mother was adopted and her fathers family was mostly killed. This part isn't likely to ever be traced.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I can follow one of my paternal lines in great detail back to the ship they came over on in the 1630s (20s? Can’t remember, exactly). Practically everyone in this country today with my last name descended from the four brothers/cousins who came over at that time. Two of them landed in New England and made the family name (in)famous — I come from the two underachievers who settled in Virginia and started farming. More loosely, I can trace that line back to 1060 England.

My maternal line gets fuzzy as early back as my great grandparents who were immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Italy. That information is known to other relatives but has been lost to me. I figure I’ll just wait until someone on Ancestry builds out the tree a little better and get the story that way.

Speaking of Ancestry... Several years ago a stranger contacted me through that site. She had found, and bought, a family bible from the 1800s at a yard sale in Florida. She had no personal stake in this bible, she just wanted to get it back to the family. I had the matching last name and she reached out. Why me, specifically, instead of anyone else with that surname, I have no idea. She offered to send it if I just paid shipping, which I eagerly did. The bible is 1) huge and 2) packed full of family mementos — pictures, pressed flowers, and other keepsakes. It’s from the paternal line that I have a lot of detail on, and I was able to identify the original owner as something like the son of my X-times grandfather’s brother. So, a pretty distant relation. If I ever find a direct descendant, I would be happy to pass it on.

 

[kymom99]

I attend the church that my great, great, great, grandfather built just after he moved his family here from Germany.

 

[a1tinkfans]

We know quite a bit of history and it’s AWEsome. What strong gritty fearsome people that assimilated into this great country and thrived! Blessings!

 

[White Cat]

They lived in extreme poverty but in one generation they got out of it. That occurred when they moved to North America and worked hard and didn’t expect things to be given to them.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I don't know much about 50% of my ancestry, as they were all extremely poor, early 1900s immigrants that didn't really talk about the "home country". We thought we knew a lot about the other 50% as my Aunt traced things back to the 1400s pretty accurately...then she took a DNA test. Seems someone was lying in the last 600 years.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't know my dad's side. On my mom's side my grandfather's family came from Ireland in the late 1800s, my grandmother's family came over from Germany in the late 1800s.

My husband's dad's side came in what he believes was mentioned the late 1800s but it was from the Scandinavian region. They changed the spelling of their name when they came over too. His mom's side he's unsure of when they came over but it was from Germany and they changed the spelling as well.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I know lots. I'm the family historian, sort of. I do a lot of family history research, or at least I used to. I had a lot of elderly relatives at one time, and my grandparents were still living. I made up a questionnaire and mailed it to them with return postage, and the replies I got were great. I asked about what they thought of Pearl Harbor, about the first man on the moon, what their favorite songs were and about fashion, etc. So I now have these questionnaires, in their own handwriting, to share with people. I also have a lot of the old family photos in my possession.

Shortly after my grandfather passed away my mom showed me the family tree he had been working on for years. I forget how far back it went. I'm going to ask my mom though for the album again, it had photos, certificates, etc in it.

I love your dedication and I love that you thought of more than just generic questions. What a wonderful thing

 

[starry_solo]

They're dead.

That's about all I know...

 

[mmouse37]

One of my ancestors on my mom's side founded and was the first Governor of Salem, Mass (originally from England).

There is a statue of him in front of the Salem Witch museum but he passed away well before the Witch Trials

Roger Conant (colonist) - Wikipedia

My dad's side of the family came over from Ireland.

MJ

 

[tazdev3225]

I have been working on the ancestry on both my husbands and my side of the family. He knows absolutely nothing about his family, my MIL didn't keep in touch with many relatives beyond a couple on her side.

My side is so interesting though. My mother's family came here from Germany, Ireland and England. Her great grandfather had a family in England with 5 children. He packed up the kids, came to America and started a new family with a second wife. His first wife was still in England, alive and they never divorced.

One great-great grandmother was disinherited for marrying my 2X great grandfather. She was a German Protestant in Lancaster PA and he was an Irish Catholic in Philadelphia. Her father was not happy and threatened to disinherit any sibling that followed in her footsteps.

My dad's family came from Ireland and Poland. His Great-Grandfather was in the precursor to the IRA and helped plan the Easter Rebellion although he passed away before it transpired. When he died there were mourners from all over the East Coast and it was estimated close to 1,000 people attended the funeral.

My Polish side is interesting. My great grandmother abandoned the family for a year because she hated my great grandfather. She came back and threw him out. One of their sons was murdered under mysterious circumstances. My dad has some great stories about his family and I am trying to get him to tell them again so I have an accurate record of them for my kids and grandkids.

 

[Skywalker3]

Seems both sides came from Great Britain, 1600s, and later, one can be traced to late 1500s. Ending up in VA and the Carolinas, then Georgia, and finally Alabama by late 1800s. The ones who fought in the Civil War were in Georgia units. So far, most seem to come from England and Scotland, but my dad's surname is from Wales. My ancestry shows 100 percent Great Britain, although England includes NW France, so I guess some of that. All the rest are Ireland, Scotland, Wales....guess if I ever want to do genealogy way back, won't have to go all that far around Europe.
Also, my grandparents were all born in the 1880s, parents in the 1920s, skipping the normal 25 years or so for generations, so gets me back to that time faster than most people my age.

 

[bcla]

On my father's side I really only know back to my grandmother and grandfather, both of whom I knew when I was younger.

On my mother's side, my grandfather died when I was an infant but I knew my grandmother and my great-grandmother (her mother). Unfortunately my grandmother was in end of life care when my child was born.

I know a little about their history, but only a few things told here and there. It wasn't like an Ancestry.com commercial where they went over our family history.