My family tree is something of a shrub. I am adopted, and my paternal grandfather was adopted, but we know relatives from grandpa's birth family. So, not counting my adoptedness, my mom's side is English all the way back, supposedly to the Mayflower in one narrow direction. On dad's side we are German/Canadian-English (Grandpa) and Swedish (Grandma).

I love genealogy. It makes history come alive for me. So many twists and turns within a family's story. I have been using ancestry.com for awhile and the resources at NEHGS. My mother's family line is primarily English, most lines stretching back to the 1600's (inc. Mayflower - Alden & Howland & Salem Witch Trials - accusers (Putnam) and accused (Blake)). My father's family is Scotch via Nova Scotia, England with some late emigration (1890s), Germany. A 4-great grandfathers had a bakery near Independence Hall in Philly. I wonder if he sold bread to signers of the Declaration of Independence!

My own family is Swiss-German and English (emigrated to PA in the mid 1600s) on my Mother's side and almost entirely Welsh (emigrated in various waves to PA from the early 1700s to 1870s) on my Father's side. My DH's family is almost purely English: with documented Mayflower-descent (Mary Chilton) on his Father's side and on his Mother's side also very early emigrants (c 1630) from England.

My DH's family has long been pre-occupied (obssessed?) with their forbears so aside from receiving copies of their research I had little else to do. My own family is mostly my own research, on site in PA and with a subcription to Ancestry.com.

If you are interested in trying your hand, then a free-trial of Ancestry might be useful. You can often also use it for free at a library. To make a good start, begin by listing all your known relatives names and residence, birth, marriage, and death dates and places. Ask everybody in the family to weigh in so you have lots of leads to try. Due to privacy concerns, Ancestry has better (more accessible) info on earlier generations than on people likely to be still living, so it really helps to know about as many living people as possible from family informants. The more starting places you have, the more likely you'll be able to work around apparent dead ends. Even in families without a tradition of genealogical interst, there's a surprising lot of stuff that is known once you start asking about it. And it sure beats dull ordinary small talk at family gatherings - folks love to tell you what they know and when it's pieced together a pretty complete picture will emerge. Be prepared, though to find little "taboo" things come up like pre-maritally started pregnancies, or occasional black sheep that sort of fade away out of family knowledge. (There's usually somebody who knows why, or has an inkling if you dig deep enough.)

Often if you look around locally there will be free workshops run by genealogically-minded people that meet at libraries and community centers for the express purpose of helping beginners get started. That's a great place to begin. And, at least once a year (around Easter, IIRC) ancestry runs a free week promotion, where you can use the site to look stuff up. And there is generally a free trial subscription on Ancestry you can sign up for, but don't do that until you have a bit of time to really dig in, so as to maximise your free access.

It's quite fascinating - and addictive - once you get hooked! Have fun.

L

My mother-in-law is a genealogist, and has published a number of books on various family lines. My family is predominantly French, the Campau line that founded Detroit (way back when) and before that, from Cape Breton Island. She traced us back to a particular village in France. My husband and I are both related to a woman who came over on the Mayflower--our daughter was named after her. There are also many stories of dubious paternity, Civil War captains (my son is named after one), a witch (in the colonies) and a murderer. Oh my.

My family is relatively new in the America, only 2 or 3 generations, with most coming over around the turn of the 20th century.

Maternal line is German, with a bit of French based on the surname. My Dad's family is Sicilian, practically all the way to the beginning. But it's rumored that some relative was married to a Spanish princess. As with most Sicilian families, you also hear rumors of La Cosa Nostra ties, but I don't believe it. Although, the family settled in St. Louis after they arrived in New York, eventually returning to NY, then moving west to California just before WWII.

I've heard that one of my Dad's cousins has an extended history of the family, so I'll need to check with my Aunt. My Mom's family has one with the names going back several generations, but that is all I know. I'm closer to Dad's side of the family, so I identify with them a lot more.

Recently we learned that our State Library has an extensive library of geneological records for Oregonians and has sharing rights with other states. They also tie in with the LDS church, which shares it's GINORMOUS database for free. It's a free service, so that is also something to consider checking into.

I began researching our geneaology on ancestry.com to find out more about my father's mother. He's 91 and she died when he was a few months old. I never knew what effect this had on him until a couple of years ago when he mentioned that he never had a mother and that a step-mother never treats someone else's children the same as her own. It explained so much about who he is.

He was this little dirt-poor Kentucky motherless boy, who never felt quite good enough. His mother's family, the Stephens, go back to Stephens City, Virginia, where they were some of the first in the Shenendoah Valley. His father's family goes back to Jamestown. He listens as I share each discovery with him, but the thing he was the most amazed at was when I showed him a copy of the 1920 census, which was taken three days before he was born. There was his mother's name, his father's name, and his little 18 month old brother's name, in black and white. He just kept looking at it.

But one of the most interesting facts I've come across is that my mother and father both go back to the same person in New Haven, Connecticut, and that one of DH's ancestors lived right around the corner. The map of ancient New Haven nine squares shows right where they lived.

My mother's family has three revolutionary war soldiers buried on the hill of her family's farmland. We also have a witch and one of DH's direct-line relatives owned the land on which Wall Street is now located. Another of my father's relatives was married to Pocahontas' husband.

I love geneaology and we're planning on spending the summer travelling to document what I've learned.
Dee

I just started doing genealogy - found the LDS FamilySearch site a good place to start for free. My father died when I was young, he was an only child (as was I), his parents both dead before I was born so I have NO family history on them. My dad's death certificate was filled out by my mother, who also didn't know his family at all. I recently found a census report from when my dad was a baby and it shows my grandfather's name was different than what my mom put on my dad's death certificate. It also showed his (my grandfather's) state of birth, which I didn't know either. I found a bunch of his aunts and uncles that I didn't know existed and made contact with a woman in Canada who is maybe a 3rd cousin...my first paternal relative, ever.

My dad used to tell me when I was a little kid that we were related to Captain Kidd...I'd love to be able to trace that far back. The whole process is such a treasure hunt - I love it!

When DD was in grade-school, She had to do a geneology project. So we subscribed to Ancestry.com for a time.
I THINK we reliably got back to LATE 1700's with one branch.

90+ % Norwegian on my side. SOME Danish & English too.
DW has more Swede, but mainly Norwegian.

I HOPE I'm related to a Lutefisk inventor...;-)

Faron

No one on my Dad's side kept track of anything. They were poor Irish miners in the Wilkes Barrre, PA. coal mines. My great grandparents immigrated from gaeltacht region of Ireland (native Irish language speakers) and couldn't read or write English. In the 1900 census my great grandmother had 6 boys, ranging in age from 18 to 2. The 4 oldest worked in the mines, the 18 year old was a mule driver, while the others (ages 14, 11 and 9) were slate pickers. They worked 6 days a week, 10 hours sifts sitting on a wooden bench over the conveyor belt that carried coal to the crusher. Their job was to put their feet in the coal as it passed and sort through it, pick up the pieces that were embedded with slate and toss it aside to be broken up later. It's hard to believe that this child labor lasted almost into the 1920's. If a child fell onto the conveyor belt he ended up in the crusher.

My Mother's side is completely different. In 1975 a distant cousin wrote a book delineating the descendants of my great, great grandfather who had 20 children. And one line goes back to 1116 in Wales.

I've just started researching my Dad's side and it's slow going. I haven't been able to pinpoint where they came from in Ireland. But I've only been doing this a few months.

lukki, the website your uncle created is a real treasure- have you been to Ireland or are you interested in going to see that village?
jakabedy, my tree is something of a shrub too. My paternal grandfather was an orphan.
lirio- very interesting, and thank you so much for all the helpful info!
kkay- I love how you named your son and daughter with names from your history!
pesky- my family is relatively new here, too- I'm second generation on one side and third on the other.
dee- heartbreaking about your grandfather.(mine has a similar story) Your summer trip sounds great.
oly- I'm glad you found that 3rd cousin. You're right, it's like a treasure hunt!
faron- I am partly Norweigian- uffda! My grandma used to make kringla-
maire cate- unbelievable how hard their lives were! Also, that's amazing about the line that goes back to 1116! Good luck with your research.

Fun reading all these stories.
My father's family (English)settled on Chincoteague Island in the early 1600s (around 1620). They came to England from France with the Norman invasion in 1066. Watermen all once in the Virginia colony. My grandfather was the first in his family to leave the island. Most of the history is gleaned from oral stories, but the facts came from Naval Intelligence who did a backfround check on my uncle when he enlisted at the start of WWII. They decided they had gone back far enough when they got to the 1600s-lol. Apparently one relative was impressed into the British Navy in the 1800s. Not sure when my paternal grandmother came, but she was Swedish. On my mother's side, family has been here since the late 1700s/early 1800s. They were German for the most part on both sides. We have the birth/baptimal frakturs that were done in the 1820s for my maternal great-great-great (?) grandfather and grandmother. An uncle did a geneological search, so I have names and dates for the other side of my mom's family, but not much else. He father went out west in a stagecoach as a young man which I always thought was pretty cool when I was a kid addicted to westerns.

Maybe when I retire, I will try to find out more, but it's the oral history that I enjoy the most-how my grandmother's little sister, Lilias died when she was six and how she liked to have the warm lid from the stove to hold against her tummy when she was sick, or how dad was the iceman as a teen during summers at Stone Harbor, NJ, or how an uncle was spotted sitting on the back of the seat of his car and waving to my dad as he steered with his feet, or how my grandmother was maybe related to Jenny Lind (she wasn't). Wish I had recorded my parents and grandparents as they told the stories.

For those whose families are more recent arrivals to the US: Ancestry.com is not limited to North American data. They have tons and tons of European, and even some Asian and African stuff. (Ancestry.com springs from the LDS -Mormon- theological interest in family research and the global outreach of Mormonism is strong.) Subscription to the "Deluxe" package (@$300/yr, but purchasable in monthly chunks so you can try it out to see if it meets your need) provides entry into the non-US dBs. I haven't done much with that stuff, I basically work back to the emmigrant relatives and leave it there. It's not that I am not interested, it's just that I particularly like looking things up myself from primary sources on site and the odds of me traveling overseas again are very small. After growing up overseas and years of expat living, I'm totally traveled out!

L

deeinohio, we may be related! My 3rd great grandmother was Elizabeth Stephens. Her father was Isaac Stephens and his father, Peter Stephens. He is my link to the DAR and the papers I have say they were from Stephens City VA. BTW, I'm from Ohio, too!

My mother's family all were in KY for many generations. My paternal lines are either German or Irish.

I've done genealogy for 10+ years and enjoy it very much. We've gone on many trips around the country looking for our family history.

It's a lot of fun!

My sister has done a lot of work for our family. She's had success tracking back to the 1700's. Several women on my dad's side kept and passed records. We are German and Irish.

I tried to put together a simple family tree for kid #1 and found it impossible. DH is Lebanese, both sets of grandparents "came over on a boat" as his family tells it. Once they got here, they all changed their names. Went ahead and gave their kids Arabic names and then when the kids were old enough, they changed their names too. So DH's mom and dad, aren't really the *Bill & Mary* I thought they were.

When DH was born his dad decided on a family name for his son. DH's mom was like - no way. So, she waits til DH's dad goes home for the day, gets the nurse to bring her the birth certificate and fills it in the way she wants it! DH ended up being a II when he should have been a Jr. The woman was on drugs at the time and she might have messed up the end but by golly she got the first and middle names just the way she wanted it.

The "family tree" page is blank in both my kid's baby books. I kinda gave up.

That's so cool, up_a_lazy_river. It's definitely the same Stephens family.

I'd love to know where our connection is. If you get a chance, shoot me an email. (I tried to email you but your email wasn't in your link)
Dee

Dee and lazy river- I'm so excited that you two may have found a connection here!

Dee, I did email you but with my "good" email addy. I haven't heard from you yet...did you get?

I too just started researching my family tree. My family comes from Germany, Ireland and England. Nothing too interesting so far, but my husband's family is fasinating. His dad is a decendant of Martha Carrier, who was killed during the Salem Witch Trials and is buried in Salem. His mom is a decendant of Creek Indian Chief William McIntosh who was murdered by his own tribe in 1825 when he gave over the Indian lands to the U.S.

lazy: I've been gone all day; I shot you a reply.

And, thanks Nancy, for a great topic! I hope others join in.
Dee

Got your reply, Dee and sent you a reply. Hello Cousin! I think your Lawrence was my 4th Great Granduncle. Small worl.

I was into the ancestry thing back in the 90s when most information was free on Ancestry.com. Now they charge for everything. I posted a question on their forum asking if anyone knew this couple and I gave their name. They were my great-grandparents and I had no information on them. Then one day I get an email from a woman I did not know and she says, "WHO ARE YOU and how do you know my grandparents?!". I had no idea there was an entire "wing" of the family alive and well, yet no one ever mentioned them to me. We started corresponding via email (since we live across the country) and have been in contact ever since.

Given how successful I was with my mother's side of the family I decided to try my father's side...this time looking for his long lost great uncle. Like before, I posted my question on Ancestry's forum and it wasn't long before I received an email from a woman in Washington state who was a great niece or cousin, I forget. She filled me in on all the missing pieces, how he died, who he married,etc. But she was different than my other relative, she wanted nothing to do with me other than to answer ancestry questions. I would have liked to kept up contact with her but I when I found out that she is a very wealthy woman I figured she might be afraid I'm coming out of the woodwork for a share of the pie. I didn't pursue it further and I never heard from her again. Shame because I have no other living relative on my father's side. Yet her coldness doesn't come as a surprise, my grandparents were cold people too, Now I understand now why my father had little affection for any of them. But at least the mystery was solved as to who the missing links were in my geneology and I was able to complete the family tree.

As liriodendron said, you may uncover some family secrets when you research your lineage. That's the best part, it's the things they didn't want known that are the most interesting! In my case my father said that there was a secret in his family but he never knew what it was, his mother did but she was gone. Well that's all I had to hear and I was off to the races, I had to find out! What did they deam so bad they didn't want anyone to know??? So I started digging, looking for any clues. I searched a couple generations and found nothing. But the generation prior I found something unusual for this very WASPish clan. Amidst all the Scottish/Irish names I see a woman with a very different maiden name...mediterranian maybe. Was this it? The big secret was that there was an Italian in the family tree??? LOL. I laughed because that would be something this family thought to be shameful (btw, my mother was Italian). It took some doing but I finally tracked down the mystery woman's lineage and that's when I saw it...siblings with Jewish names! That was all it turned out to be, my snobby grandmother who bragged about being a Daughter of the American Revolution was technically speaking, Jewish. I called my father up laughing, "hey Dad, you're technially Jewish! That's your mother's secret". He said, "that's it? that's all?". Here I was looking for a mass murderer and it turned out just to be bigoted grandmother. OY!

But wait...there's more. ;-)
Years before I got into geneology I was talking to a Jewish gal who says to me, "you're Jewish right?" I said no. "Yes you are" she replies. "no" I repeat. I remember this conversation because of what she said next, "You ARE, you just don't know it!". We laughed. I wish I still knew her because she would have gotten such a kick out of my geneology discovery. Even though I'm only 5% Jewish she could tell it's in there somewhere!

Great story, flyingflower!
hoovergal, you're right about fascinating- (but very sad, too)
dee, I'm glad you're enjoying this topic-

nancybee 2010 - You're so right - it is terribly sad. While researching my family it seems most of the written stories for my ancestors have been tragedies surrounding their lives and deaths. I wish I knew more of the good stories. It makes me realize how lucky I am to live in America and in current times - and I have my ancestors to thank for it.

That is so true, hoovergal. And their hard lives still can have an effect on us- my grandfather was an orphan and was adopted by a cruel man (in Germany) and he ran away. But that had an effect, I think, on what kind of father he was and so on. I'm thankful to live in America and in current times too.