Any ancestry surprises when researching your family tree?

[Khan]

I find it interesting that 'official' records do not necessarily match DNA records. I know several folks within 2 or 3 degrees where official father was not biological father.

 

[Meadbh]

I find it interesting that 'official' records do not necessarily match DNA records. I know several folks within 2 or 3 degrees where official father was not biological father.

A geneticist once told me that when DNA testing became widely available, it emerged that up to 10% of babies born following infertility treatment were actually the offspring of males other than the husband. Infidelity is commoner than many people think!

 

[Khan]

A geneticist once told me that when DNA testing became widely available, it emerged that up to 10% of babies born following infertility treatment were actually the offspring of males other than the husband. Infidelity is commoner than many people think!

The 23andme package comes with a warning, probably for that reason.

 

[ziggy29]

Yeah, my wife and I discovered we're 12th cousins, going back to the same common ancestral couple who arrived on the Mayflower.

 

[MRG]

It is my understanding that the Mormon church collects and archives genealogy records from around the world.

They also make them available to anyone (free, AFAIK) who has an interest. https://familysearch.org/search?PAGE=/eng/search/ancestorsearchresults.asp

omni

Thank you. I poked around a little and found family I knew was correct.

When I read your post it agreed with something I learned a long time ago.

Thanks,

MRG

 

[photoguy]

My dad is getting older and at this past year's reunion he gave us a lecture on our family history. Biggest surprise is that we can trace back our ancestry 35 generations to the clan founder (through the male side only). Turns out the guy at the head of the line was some kind of general who participated in some sort of coup d'etat.

Also it turns out my maternal grandmother was actually the "other woman" at first (but did get married to my grandfather after his first wife died).

 

[Khan]

Father's father's father married the Scottish housekeeper after several children.

 

[omni550]

Thank you. I poked around a little and found family I knew was correct.

When I read your post it agreed with something I learned a long time ago.

Thanks,

MRG

http://mormon.org/values/famliy-history

Family History Centers

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Family History Library, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the largest genealogical library in the world and provides access to many collections of records, with more than two billion names of deceased people. It contains records from more than 100 countries, covering everything from 14th century English church records to African oral histories. An average of 2,400 people, including many visitors from Europe and Asia, visit the library each day.

In addition to our main library, there are more than 4,500 local family history centers worldwide, often located inside our Church meetinghouses. Their purpose is to teach people how to search for their ancestors. They’re staffed by local Church members who volunteer their time, and all these services are provided free of charge.
​

An atheist friend of mine, who is researching his genealogy, went to the local LDS family history center here in Michigan while doing his research. He was very impressed with the resources there as well as the assistance he received from a volunteer staff member.

With 4,500 of these centers in the world, there may be one relatively close to you if you wish to seek further family information.


omni

 

[MRG]

Thanks I can see one in the distance, literally.

MRG

 

[MRG]

The family tree on both sides of Gramps's parents is very well documented back to Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island, and further back to England. That tickled me, Anglophile that I am. I have always felt quite at home in London, and both sides go right back there. To find those two family lines were so well documented has been wonderful; once I learned some of the names, I found that I am probably related to just about everyone buried in those historical cemeteries in RI that I recently visited.

Any Surprises, Accidental Retiree. The one branch of our family tree that's in public domain is the Burdick family of RI starting in 1651(1641 was a typo). There's a bunch of Williams in that tree too. We're probably long lost cousins 43 times removed.

MRG

 

[GalaxyBoy]

One thing I've discovered is that you can't believe everything you read on the 'net when it comes to family history. Lots of people have posted genealogies on Ancestry.com and the LDS web site related to my family that just aren't correct. Turns out there was a book written on my family surname in the 1920's by a woman who was determined to link our lineage to English royalty, and she did. In her mind I think she believed it, but when one goes to original records you just can't prove the line that way without having at least one man father a son at age 3 (or something like that). Or so I read on the Internet.

But it's quite fascinating, and I plan to devote more time to it when I finally RE.

We also had an oral tradition that my maternal grandfather's mother was 25% Cherokee, but my DNA test disproved that. It also proved with very high confidence that I am indeed descended on my father's side from the man we thought we were, who first appeared in America in 1703. Makes me wonder if this sort of research could uncover certain infidelities from a hundred years ago.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Any Surprises, Accidental Retiree. The one branch of our family tree that's in public domain is the Burdick family of RI starting in 1651(1641 was a typo). There's a bunch of Williams in that tree too. We're probably long lost cousins 43 times removed.

MRG

With all those Williams children, we are probably quadruple 10th cousins.
You got any Winsors or Watermans in there?

The 'surprises' I have found relate not so much to ancestry, as that has been documented, as to discovering very poignant stories about those closer to me in time by piecing together their dates.

And I guess I am a little surprised at feeling a closeness to people I never even knew. When I was in RI, I felt kind of, oh, comforted, or maybe embraced. I can't put it any other way, and I can't explain it.

 

[meierlde]

With all those Williams children, we are probably quadruple 10th cousins.
You got any Winsors or Watermans in there?

The 'surprises' I have found relate not so much to ancestry, as that has been documented, as to discovering very poignant stories about those closer to me in time by piecing together their dates.

And I guess I am a little surprised at feeling a closeness to people I never even knew. When I was in RI, I felt kind of, oh, comforted, or maybe embraced. I can't put it any other way, and I can't explain it.

What I find interesting is to try to figure out why ancestors made some of the decisions they made. Also I have managed to validate a story that came down thru the family. One ancestors family landed in New Orleans May 17 1861 and proceeded to try to get up the Mississippi to Indiana. Obviously in retrospect this was not a good time to try that as a little matter called the civil war intervened. They got held up and all their goods taken at some point by bandits, and all their stuff was taken although they were allowed to pass and did arrive in Evansville. We had heard the story but when I looked at ship lists and found this I sort of understood the story. Given back then that it took 6 weeks to cross the ocean, 12 weeks before (which was when news from the US would have reached Europe) the Civil War had not started, so they got on the ship.

 

[Meadbh]

What I find interesting is to try to figure out why ancestors made some of the decisions they made. Also I have managed to validate a story that came down thru the family. One ancestors family landed in New Orleans May 17 1861 and proceeded to try to get up the Mississippi to Indiana. Obviously in retrospect this was not a good time to try that as a little matter called the civil war intervened. They got held up and all their goods taken at some point by bandits, and all their stuff was taken although they were allowed to pass and did arrive in Evansville. We had heard the story but when I looked at ship lists and found this I sort of understood the story. Given back then that it took 6 weeks to cross the ocean, 12 weeks before (which was when news from the US would have reached Europe) the Civil War had not started, so they got on the ship.

......which goes to prove that modern communications really do facilitate better decision making!

 

[Walt34]

It sounds like genealogy may be as much of a hobby in early retirement as photography has turned out to be, for some.

That could be the hook to get DW on ER.org. She's spent many years researching family histories, has an up-to-date copy of Family Tree Maker software and an account at ancestry.com. I'm amazed at what she has collected over the years.

 

[travelover]

My local library has a subscription to Ancestry.com that can be checked out. Not sure if this is common, but worth checking.

 

[MichaelB]

Remembering this thread, in the "Ask an Expert" section of the NYT there are a series of columns titled "Advice on How to Research Family History". http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/b...y-part-1.html?ref=booming&_r=0&pagewanted=all

Elizabeth Shown Mills, a genealogist and historical writer, is answering readers’ questions about how to research family history using online sources, physical public records and the stories and DNA of living family members.

Some helpful web sites (and book plugs) are also referenced. I've just browsed so far but it looks helpful.

 

[robnplunder]

My dad's military induction record showed his race as Asian. He was from Scotland, with no Asian ancestry. But he could tan really dark! The rest of the info was distinctively him. I think whoever wrote out the card (and I was looking at a scan of the original) was doing it very quickly.

That's funny stuff. It's really hard to turn a Scotish into Asian. And it's not like there were a lot of Asian recruits/draftees in your dad's time.

 

[robnplunder]

My DW has a family tree book that goes back about 500 years to a Chinese who ended up in Korea. The book starts with one liner info on that - paraphrasing, our ancestor was from China in such and such year." No info as to who, why he ended up in Korea. The surprising thing to me was that, according to what I read, almost everyone with the last name Song in Korea may be from the same ancestor.

 

[ls99]

I am reasonably sure that I come from a long line of serfs.

 

[BTravlin]

Distant male relative on my mother's side was a privateer in the Caribbean and spent time time locked up in El Morro in Puerto Rico.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I am reasonably sure that I come from a long line of serfs.

Ditto...

I have been back to the "old country" on my mother's side of the family and I can say this with a high degree of certainty.

 

[yakers]

Through 23andme I found a third cousin I was unaware of, lives nearby but far from where I was born. Also discovered, although Eastern European, I have a Mongolian gene. There were invasions back a ways. Does make me laugh at the idea of any pure European. Even the 'purer' Scandinavians had foreign outposts and imported slaves.
Oh, I am 3% Neanderthal.

 

[Marita40]

Mostly peasants in my family line, too. Ancestor pictures show women with huge "man" hands and thick peasant necks. My grandmother was less than 5 feet and thin but I can't wear her ring because it is HUGE on my finger. It is pretty disappointing to find that old world ancestors often couldn't even afford gravestones, so graves can't be found.
I'm going to do the 23andme! Can't wait to find out how much Neanderthal in the family!

 

[W2R]

Mostly peasants in my family line, too. Ancestor pictures show women with huge "man" hands and thick peasant necks. My grandmother was less than 5 feet and thin but I can't wear her ring because it is HUGE on my finger. It is pretty disappointing to find that old world ancestors often couldn't even afford gravestones, so graves can't be found.
I'm going to do the 23andme! Can't wait to find out how much Neanderthal in the family!

You are braver than I am! I thought about doing 23andme because I am very curious about that sort of thing. However, I am worried that if they told me I had some sort of unknown genetic flaw, I would become a hypochondriac and worry about it a lot. Even if I had a choice of not learning about possible health problems, I would be too curious and I would look.