Family History

[REWahoo]

I've never been very interested in family history, but I have a first cousin who was bitten by the genealogy bug many years ago and has done extensive research on the family tree. He's publishing a 900 page book detailing 10 generations and more than 4,000 descendents of my paternal g-g-grandfather, born in 1792. Lots of photos in the book including this one that I found interesting.

This photo appeared in Life Magazine in 1946. It was a special edition of the magazine celebrating "50 Years of the Motorcar", and it included one-of-a-kind autos that individuals had designed and built, including this one built by one of my distant cousins. Some set of wheels, isn't it? Talk about "jar your liver out"

 

[SteveR]

Cool!

My aunt did genealogy for many years but mostly for other people.  She did do some work on the family and my mother kept what was done and handed it down to me.  After I retire I may get into it some.  We don't have anybody famous but we have lines (no not that kind) back to England and Wales in teh early 1600's.  Somebody on one side or the other founght in every war in US history prior to Viet Nam (I missed it by that much  8)).  Mostly farmers or small business owners.   Just your average US family from UK ancestors.  Our only claim to fame is a very distant relationship to Sam Walton (too far from the money falling from the family tree  ).

 

[REWahoo]

The cousin who did all the research got into genealogy many years ago when the miniseries "Roots" spurred a big interest in family histories. Told me he didn't make much progress until the Internet opened up all sorts of new venues for research.

I've only seen bits and pieces of all the information he gathered, like this photo, a copy of an application by for a pension by my g-g-grandfather after serving in the War of 1812, and a letter from a Civil War soldier from prison camp (where he later died). I'm in awe of the information he was able to put together and looking forward to getting a copy when it's published in April.

 

[REWahoo]

Our only claim to fame is a very distant relationship to Sam Walton (too far from the money falling from the family tree ).

Too bad. But on the positive side, had you been closer to the "trunk", you would never have found this forum and missed out on all the fun!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Geneology can be a lot of fun, and its amazing how much information is openly available on the internet for free. I traced my family tree back to 5 generations with just a few first names and areas of birth or death.

Not much of note. My fathers mothers father was a palace guard in london, he ran off with one of the cooks to canada.

 

[LOL!]

When I was a kid, an elder relative self-published a family history. The only problem was that it was more a million little pieces with lots of embellishments than an accurate portrayal of history. As the years go by, folks are gonna forget that this book is not based in reality, so the great grand kids will have something to look forward to.

 

[Brat]

The genealogy group in my community is very active.  It is interesting to see the historical immigration routes.  One of the most active subgroups is Scandinavian (almost all Norwegians).

I have a funny genealogy story...  I moved to a neighborhood known for not welcoming new arrivals and inadvertently challenged one of the neighborhood cliques.  During a party at my house member of the clique did a "And how long have you lived (here)?" in less than cordial tone.

I had just done a couple generations of family history and had spilled "Oh, just a year but my Mother's family arrived in the territory in 1845, a branch of the family founded (not too far away town) and was a member of the first (State) senate.  When did you arrive?"

She answered she had moved to this region of the country 16 years earlier so I gave her a hearty welcome!

Meow, hiss, hiss.

 

[Howard]

I am able to trace my family back for several hundreds of years, due to old certificates passed down through the family.

I was able to see my Great Great Grand Fathers burial place, courtesy of the net, a Church that dates back to 1300 A.D.

My family name was given by Henry 11, we were the King's Courier.

The Mormon's have a great site,forget the link?

 

[Outtahere]

Are there any truely "free" sites out there to use for searching your family tree/history?

 

[Brat]

Absolutely...

The LDS site (corrected from LSD): http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp

and Geneaology.com: http://genforum.genealogy.com/

for a start.

Your library may subscribe to some of the pay resources.

 

[REWahoo]

Absolutely...

The LSD site:

 

[REWahoo]

My family name was given by Henry 11, we were the King's Courier.

So your last name is UPS?

 

[JPatrick]

My great great uncle Bosworth Brinks invented the first home security system.

 

[REWahoo]

My great great uncle Bosworth Brinks invented the first home security system.

...and my great uncle Bubba Don Trump invented the first redneck high rise.

 

[73ss454]

Was that really the first Trump Tower?

 

[nwsteve]

So is this a "deer stand" or a BigFoot Stand??
nwsteve

 

[Outtahere]

Thanks for the links and great pictures, makes me not want to look up my family tree LOL

 

[Calgary_Girl]

Unfortunately, there's nobody very famous on MY side of the family. My mom has a second cousin that's a famous author in Europe but I've never met him.

DH on the other hand is related to Paul Revere (great great great great great grandfather) and distantly to Abraham Lincoln. I keep asking DH where the family fortune is since we haven't seen a penny of it...?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Are there any truely "free" sites out there to use for searching your family tree/history?

It was last year, but IIRC there are a bunch of government 'birth and death' records. If you have last names, a town or at least a state, and a rough time period you can find stuff. I knew my mom and dads parents names and places of death, found their death records which had their parents names (my dad only knew his grandparents by pet names), their records included parents, siblings, and I even found that my grandfather (my dads dad) had fathered another child out of wedlock...who my dad remembered coming to live with them when he was very young but who he never knew was a half-brother. I followed the 'family tree' back to the point where everyone entered the country and found some of their immigration records.

For more recent snooping, social security numbers are helpful- the social security records have a lot of info in them and a lot of it is free.

I dug up as many photos as I could, and asked my wifes parents to do the same for their 'side' of the family. We both put scrapbooks together, me and my dad (and my wifes parents) filled in as many names as possible, wrote in notes and remembrances. Much of it may be hoo-hah and heresy, but I thought it would be cool when Gabe shows interest to show him both books of his 'geneology'. Theres enough stuff there that given the technology and data probably available in 2020 or 2030 he might be able to continue up the tree as far as he wishes.

 

[Brat]

Geneaology is much more than dates, it is family stories.  One story I overheard as a child I have since validated (the patient portion), but it is the backstory that makes it interesting.

I remember my Father talking to his brother about the difficulty their uncle had in keeping a critical machinist from being conscripted during WWII.  The uncle had the patient for the automated donut making machine.  This was not a case of guns or butter, but planes or donuts.  Evidently donut production was important for the success of the war because the machinist got an exemption from the draft. The business was sold after WWII and is still operating.

So, you can give my Dad's family credit/blame for the ever-expanding American waistline.