Does anyone play around with this at all? I'm a shameless amateur, but it's pretty fun uncovering some bits and pieces of my ancestors, even if it's something as inane as how much livestock they had counted for the grand list when Canada became independent.
haven't, but have considered doing it as a project with my kids. How hard is it to get into and what kind of time commitment. They don't have a lot of time. Any recommends on where to start?
I actually got pretty lucky on a few fronts, I did a 23 and Me sample on a whim and had quite a few distant matches, and combined with what limited info I had (great grandparents names and general areas) ran into a guy from Ontario who had become stumped with my Great Grandfather in Michigan, so with information I had to finish details of his work he provided me with stuff back to Ireland in the late 1700's. I also found a few trails on Wikitree going back to Fife, Scotland; although for now all I have there are names. I think I'll spring for Ancestry when work slows for the winter and try to get more into the archival stuff; my family has only been in this area since about 1900 so there's only so much I can gather locally through records and such. Like most any hobby I jump into I'm making it up as I go so I'm not really one to ask for specific advice
My wife and my father-in-law dabble in it, and you hit a big block around the 1880's. One of the census' (I think the 1890?) was lost in a fire. Also, record keeping pre-20th was fairly poor and names were not recorded with the highest of accuracy. There comes a point you just have to decide to hoof it to areas in the country where they lived and start poking around. Even then, it is rough, particularly in rural areas.
One of my distant relatives has done a lot of work in it. He can trace us to Scotland although it gets very ify once you cross the pond. We started out in pennsylvania, down to Virginia then nc and over to tn. Several then went to texas.
My mother ran into this with her family in the 1700-Early 1800's in Maine. Lots of fluidity between the USA and Canada where the same guy leaves 2 trails, one in New Brunswick and one in central Maine.
Do it, it's fun and not too hard with the online services. My mother's family arrived in new France in the late 1600s. My dad's paternal min came from Scotland in the mid 1700s. Surname was invented then. Almost got wiped out when two of three men were killed in the American revolution. An offshoot went south, ended up in the Midwest after the civil war. My direct ancestors hung around Massachusetts and Vermont all the way to the present.
I've never done my mother's side, but my dad's side is pretty cool. They came from Denmark to northern Kentucky, then to middle Tennessee in the 1800's and set up shop. My father in law's family has a pretty cool story too. His great grandfather came over from Hungary with a sign that said take me to the West Virginia coal mines, then moved to Michigan.
I have a cousin on my mom's side that is basically a pro at this. She did my mom's dad's side of the family back to 1542 to a guy named John Cokayne out of Black Forest Germany. On my mom's mother's side, she traced it back to find out that John C. Calhoun is like a triple great uncle of mine. Not exactly proud of that but it is what it is.
Write down what you know for sure going back as far as you know before using search sites. Birth dates, place of birth/death, military service.... "Find a Grave" is a site I have found a lot of info on (free). I got a pic of a headstone 6 generations back in a cemetery in New York.
Ancestry.com has a ton of info. If you do a short trial go into it with as much known info as you can. Makes for an easier search and time to go back farther.
Y'all the descendants of a bunch of lefty, socialist foreigners from Europe. This explains everything. Smh.
I've tried. It's really hard to get right. When you have a John Smith born in 1835 North Carolina - good luck. Suddenly his grandfather fought in the revolution because there was a John Smith born some where around that time whose grandfather did. But the other 35 didn't. A bunch came from Europe and weren't even here then. I got discouraged when it seemed like multiple lines were tracing back to Jamestown or Roanoke or founder of some state. I was able to trace one line really well that I have high confidence in. And that was cool. Quaker - moved to PA with Penn. was granted land. Penn actually witnessed his will. That line went on to fight in revolution and they were one of the first families to settle west of the Clinch River in TN. The little town that Oak Ridge ate up during the war called Scarbrough was named after them.
