Who Are You People?

[Corkey]

Who am I...a hot mess with mutt tendencies.

[Sparkle]

I spent quite a lot of time recording family history in the year before my grandmother died. I am so glad I did, it was really wonderful time she and I spent together.

This thread reminded me that I should really make the time to spend with my other grandmother, as well. Thanks!

Most of my lineage is from the United States going back until the late 1700/early 1800s. It is said that one line was among the passengers on the first Mayflower (I've not seen the evidence of that though).

I can trace about 7-generations on American soil; and it wasn't until my mother's generation that anyone moved away from the very small region in Upstate New York that they settled after immigrating.

I've have had some interesting stories arise from the research we did:

I have a great Aunt who was an ex-pat and spent the 'Belle Epoque' years in her apartment on the Left Bank in Paris. She was independently wealthy and never married, and there is a good chance (though it is unconfirmed) that she was a lesbian. I have a portrait of her, a book of her travel photos and a few pieces of the art she collected.

One of my great Grandmothers was a "mail-order bride" from Austria. She was "bought" by my great Grandfather after his first wife died and was brought over to the States - they had three children together.

A truly tragic (but fascinating) story came up. In the early 1920s my great Grandfather had a wife and four small children and one on the way, he also had a long term lover with whom he was unwilling to part. They ran away together deserting their respective families twice; both times their families tracked them down and dragged them back. The third time they ran away - they had made a murder/suicide pact. He shot her and then himself.

Which is horrific and tragic, and in the course of our research we found that there was an endemic of murder/suicides in that particular period of time. There was four other cases cited in local papers within a two year period.

[Apocalipstic]

I tried it, but I am adopted and muy birth parents were not marries and when I try to enter their information it tries to say they have to be married...I was so excited about it but I don't think I fit the Mormon profile. I kept hearing the word "Bastard" in my head as I tried to find out about my heritage.

I do think Geneology and History are so incredibly cool!

[wolfbittenpoet]

The mormon site is surprisingly friendly. Try entering parents names seperately and any general details you know. I've found it works better especially in cases of adoption.

[Apocalipstic]

Originally Posted by wolfbittenpoet

The mormon site is surprisingly friendly. Try entering parents names seperately and any general details you know. I've found it works better especially in cases of adoption.

Like have two separate profiles for each one?

[wolfbittenpoet]

Not necessarily. Just research them as completely different branches kind of like if you were trying to trace different families. I also recommend using rootsweb for the first general searches.

[CherylNYC]

I've been having a good, long laugh about a possible wrinkle in my family history. She wasn't that successful in my case, but my mother took great pains to imbue pride in us that we were descended from proud Sephardic and Russian Jews on her side. I think she was less impressed with the combination of Romanian and Polish Jews on my father's side.

Well, it turns out that my father may have been the son of an Irishman! And a really famous one, at that. My cousins matter-of-factly mentioned this to my sister on a recent visit. My uncle was an impressive man whose word I trust. They had always known this story from him, and assumed we did, too. Nope. It was quite an amusing surprise.

My Romanian grandmother was an obscene old woman. I would tend to believe any, uhh, interesting story told about her. She and her sister Flossie were supposedly great beauties and rivals. Flossie was Joe Kennedy's mistress. (Yes, THAT Joe Kennedy.) My uncle used to go to the Kennedy office every Friday and pick up a brown envelope for his aunt. (Payday!?!) My grandmother let it be known that she thought Joe Kennedy was a fine man. One day she and her sister had a falling out and never spoke again. My uncle was small and pale like the rest of his family, and no one seemed to pay any attention to him on Fridays. That always changed whenever my uncle brought his tall, dark and handsome younger brother, (my father- who did NOT look like anyone else in his family), with him. Mr Kennedy would allegedly say to my father, "Come here, boy! Let me have a look at you. You're growing up nice and tall, I see." Yes, really. My uncle and everyone else in his family always assumed that Joe Kennedy had a lot to do with my father. Of course the part that twists my head a little is that, if it's true it would mean that he had something to do with me. Whoa.

Now I feel far less of a tourist about my interest in Irish spirituality.

[Random]

Originally Posted by Arwen

Gotcha. I tell people I am hopelessly Euro-centric in my genetics. Nary a Native American aka Aboriginal in my background.

I can point to a Cole Younger in my tree but have no proof that he was the actual bandit.

My great-great-great grandfather helped found the Democratic party of Travis county (this is not something to be proud of if you know political history) and I am apparently a part of the Austin pioneer families. W00t.

Okay, so that does tickle me a bit because it's kinda cool to be able to drive somewhere and see the ruins of his home.

HAH

If he was cole from the Younger gang then our great great somethings ran together... how funny...

[AtLast]

I finally learned how an entire segment of my family was erased from my history. Started with my Great-Great maternal Grandfather being left on a door step in Chile and ended (the passing on of this information among us) with racism, pure and simple.

Putting it all together has been an amazing journey- which I hope I am able to complete. I have found a couple of relatives.

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by Random

HAH

If he was cole from the Younger gang then our great great somethings ran together... how funny...

From Neshua, MO. Hi ya. No wonder we can hang. LOL. Saddle em up!

[Luv]

On dads side we are Black Irish and Cherokee..I am 1/8 cherokee.my grandfather was a circuit preacher in the Tennessee Hills (Scott County).Moms side Spanish and Morrocan..many preachers on her side too.

[Arwen]

Recently I found a rather hard-to-find ancestor. I'm hoping it is the right one. For me, that's the worst part about Ancestry.com--sloppy research work. People just accept things. I found one of my ancestors b. 1794 with his father listed at b. 1825. HUH?

Obviously they'd switched the son and father's b'days, but still, you have to pay attention.

Did anyone watch the Lionel Ritchie "Who Do You Think You Are" episode?

[LadyRain]

I watched, "who do you think you are", last show. I had forgotten that I had a book on my family.I don't remember ever looking at it, I just put it on a shelf. Well that book is AMAZING...... all the work has already been done! The family can be traced back to Egbert (770-839) !! The first to come here (usa) was in 1635, on the Elizabeth&Ann. I am reading and fact checking as I go. I found their names on the ships registry, for May of 1635, into Boston harbor.The registry list was not in the book.This feels so good to see who I came from and what they have done.

[Gráinne]

I've been working on Ancestry since January, off and on. My mother had done a great deal pre-Internet-I am in awe.

I am descended from John of Gaunt's illegitimate line, the Beauforts, who became a very powerful and influencial family in the 1400's. One branch led to the Tudors; my branch led to the Scottish Royal Family. Mary, Queen of Scots was the only (legitimate) child from her father, but her illigitimate half-brother is in my family tree. She was kind of an airhead, but my all-time favorite queen .

I'm also somewhat distantly related to Babington, the guy who ultimately got Mary killed.

I've discovered several colonists, Tory and Patriot, Confederate and Union in there. Several ancestors fought for the British in the Revolution. After that defeat, King George offered them tracts of farmland in Ontario. Many of them went up there and their descendants didn't come back down until the early 1900's. My mother was a descendant of Pocahontas.

When I first did my tree, I went back as fast as I could to find "cool" ancestors . I made a big mess, although I believe the relationships I found were right. I started over, this time collecting records and really being careful. It takes longer, but it's more organized.

[Rockinonahigh]

I was doing work looking for my linage,I swear ancestry got me so confused with double entrys on stuff I already knew.I hear mylife.com is better but I havent gone to the site yet.

[Glenn]

Both sets of my grandparents landed on Ellis Island in the nineteenth century from Italy, with love.

[Smiling]

Hi Everyone,

I have really enjoyed reading this thread. My subscription to Ancestry.com is currently inactive, but I have been laboring over a huge genealogical research project for the past two years. I even took a DNA test which has yielded 54 pages of distant relatives; in addition to providing my genetic makeup.

(The DNA is, of course, based on ancient migratory patterns so my more recent ethnic heritage looks somewhat different. However, it has provided a very good foundation).

Really basic background....

I have gotten as far as possible via records, etc. My father, as well as my entire paternal line has been completely estranged (under rather ugly circumstances) for 30+ years. My mother is polite and willing to answer some questions about this side of the family, but is uncooperative about and/or unable to answer others; particularly as pertains to my older half-brother; whom I have never met. He has no idea we exist.

I know where my father lives. I have his address as well as a telephone number; both publicly listed. He is 70 years old now. I have attempted to get in touch with other relatives who might be less "shocked?" at hearing from me; but to no avail. (Well, I have corresponded with some enthusiastic cousins, but they don't have any information as they, too, have been out of touch with this particular branch of the family for at least as many years).

My paternal uncle did respond (one year ago) and very politely told me that he feels he is just too old and therefore didn't want to deal with this at his age and abruptly cut off contact after he realized to whom he was talking via email. Luckily, he didn't recognize my name right away (though I was honest about my identity; I have many less than stellar qualities, but sneakiness isn't one of them) and he inadvertently provided some very helpful information about my grandparents.

So, the question is - do I send a letter to my father and ask if he would be willing to talk to me about some family history or do I just leave it alone? Am I being selfish to burst into someone's presumably peaceful life after all of these years? Is my request reasonable? For the record, I do not care if he wants to maintain contact or not; I barely remember him.

I invite everyone's opinions. I would like to hear any thoughts on this because I want to make sure that I have fully thought this through before I potentially just crash into someone's life.

I will ask also on the genealogy boards, but I need opinions; and I know you all have them, lol! (One of my favorite things about our community here).

Thanks in advance!

[Gemme]

I think you should try. If you don't, you'll regret it because you'll never know if he would have been able to help you or not. If you do, you have a fifty-fifty shot. Either he'll be helpful or not.

Talking about the past and family may be difficult, but if he's 70 years old, it certainly won't be the most difficult thing he's ever done in his life.

I think it's entirely reasonable to want to know where you came from. There's also a medical component to this as well.

[Happy_Go_Lucky]

As an adopted child of foreign birth, I have NO biological family of whom I am aware. No medical history, nada.

This is probably a unique if not a rare situation.

I rather am noncommittal about learning of my origin, however, the circumstances and facts of which I AM aware states I am probably better off not knowing.

[Smiling]

I've been going back and forth with this for the past 2 years. I've taken both of your thoughts into consideration (thank you, by the way!) and decided that I will pen a letter on Sunday to be sent via registered mail Monday.

One of my New Years resolutions was to reclaim my sense of fearlessness. This seems as good a place as any to start.

@Happy,
Do you mind if I ask how you might react if you suddenly heard from one of your biological relatives? I don't mean to pry, so please excuse me if I am being too personal; but I have in the back of my mind the situation with my half-brother and what may or may not be appropriate should I ever determine his whereabouts.