Just wondering if anyone here is interested in genealogy.
I've been doing quite a bit of work on my family and my fiance's family's history and have found a lot of great information. But I'd love some advice from people who've been doing this for a while on which websites/ books/ research tools are most valuable.
I've been using Ancestry.com, the Genforum message boards and the Family Search Site run by the Mormon church. I've also found some smaller sites here and there for different countries. Any other websites you really like?
I'm particularly having trouble with my Irish ancestry (which I know is a problem for many people) and my Australian ancestors. Any resources you can suggest on that front?
Curious to know if anyone else is into this stuff. I think it's a lot of fun!
I've never done any research myself, but my grandfather is really into it. He has the history of two sides of my family down to the men who came over on ships in the 1800's, the names of the ships, their movements until they settled in PA, and then the family descendants. He's also into military history and knows which family members were in the Rev. War, Civil War, etc.
My dad has traced the lineage of both his parents back to England and Scottland. He has also traced my mother's family back to their homelands. He did all of this before the computer age, so he had to physically go to places to do research. He has published the lineage of his family, but he never published my mom's side!
I'm interested in genealogy as well. A few years back one of our distant relatives did some digging and came up with a sizable book that was full of stories on most of the families. I would want to continue on in the sections she couldn't flesh out as well as she would have liked and I would like to be able to trace my father's Cherokee lineage.
Yes I am, and luckily most of the work has been done for me. My uncle just gave me a huge envelope full of pictures and stuff, and some of it is even about our family ancestors in Scotland (we had a castle!). Unfortunately there isn't anyone around to explain those things to me. My grandma told me that someone already traced the lineage on my other side too. It's really interesting to see it put all together like that.
Jen1098- The Family Search site and GenForum are both free. Ancestry.com has some info for free, but to access census records and such you have to pay. I totally forget what the price is. I want to say somewhere between $40-$70 for several months of access.
The thing about Family Search and Gen Forum is that not all the information there is correct. Some people post their family trees without backing up the info, so you still have to go and find documents that support their research on your own. However, I've gotten a lot of great leads there, though.
The reason Irish genealogy is so tough is that (a) churches that held birth records tended to burn down with regularity and (b) good records were not kept of the Irish Catholic population during the long years of British rule- particularly if they lived in rural areas.
Shimmerstar- What's the surname of your Scottish family? I also have extensive Scottish roots & the family estate/castle is still being lived in-- it's in Southern Scotland, near the English border. A lot of these families tended to be interconnected.
Cool! It is the Methven Castle in Methven, near Perthshire. It does not belong to our family anymore- I think they could not pay the taxes somewhere down the line! For a long time it was owned by the Smythe family, but the booklet I have is from the 30's so I don't know what's happened to it since then. I know my great aunt went to see it, sometime in the 70's or 80's maybe.
I also have Cherokee, Czech, Irish, and German roots.
My grandparents have always been really into genealogy. They go back to when my Pop-Pop's family came over from sweden and a cousin has traced back farther than that, even going back to sweden. My Gram, mom & aunt are all members of the Daughters of the Revolutionary War, and we know on my dad's side that someone signed the Mayflower Compact. I'd love to do more research on that.
My grandparents are very active Mormons who used volunteer weekly to do geneaology searches for other members (and maybe other people but their request came through the Mormon temple). My grandmother has since gotten to ill for them to continue this and they are actually at my mom's passing everything down to her. I'm excited to see the collection the next time I am home because it includes more than just names...stories, pictures, grave rubbings, etc.
Rosebud, I will be happy to ask my grandmother if she has any helpful tips for Ireland and Australia.....
Genealogy
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