Genealogy

[ShogunGrumpyBear]

Anyone here into Genealogy? I think it’s interesting mostly come from farmers innkeepers shoemakers and some soldiers. Wish I had some one famous but in a good way of course.

 

[amadeus]

Landless peasantry from Northern Europe.

Always from the conquered countries too, never from the ones that did any conquering.

 

[Zkribbler]

Descendant of Parson Weems, the biographer of George Washington. He was the guy who made up the story of little George Washington cutting down his father's cherry tree.

 

[AmazonQueen]

My great aunts researched our family but discovered something so terrible they would never reveal it.
Ofc what my great aunts considered scandalous would probably barely raise an eyebrow with anyone else.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I have some relatives that dug into our genealogy.


My father's parents were something like 3rd cousins, who shared a common ancestor (on their respective mothers' sides) who lived during the American Revolution. He was a cousin of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the poem that became the US National Anthem, and similarly supported Independence.

My father's mother's was born on the same plantation where her father had been born during in 1864. His father spent the first half of the war in medical school in Philadelphia before joining the Confederate Army as a Surgeon. (I believe his father and grandfather immigrated from Germany in the early 19th century.) He got a commission to work at fort conveniently located about halfway between the plantation he personally owned (with almost 100 slaves) and a larger plantation owned by his mother (a widow who owed 300 slaves), near Selma Alabama. In the last year of the war (at age 26) he was reassigned to join the army in the field. We have a copy of the journals that he kept from late 1864 to early 1867. My father's mother's father went on to exploit the descendants of his father's slaves who became share croppers and kept them indebted to him as he owned the only store close enough for them to purchase any supplies.

My Father's Father's family descend primarily from English Gentry. I have a fairly detailed detailed pedigree for them filed away somewhere. The first man with my surname to visit America was knighted and married a daughter of George Calvert, the 1st Baron Baltimore. The family included a few Royal Governors and several other officials. They spent generations in American Colonies but remained loyal to the Crown and ended up fleeing back to England during the American Revolution. The family moved back to America around 1840 and founded a small town here in Georgia, which I visited once during their annual Watermelon Festival. I heard as a child that he was an importer who introduced the very first Watermelon to America, but most sources agree that it has been introduced by the Spanish centuries earlier. I think he really just introduced one particular new variety. My father grew up spending the summers on his grandfather's farm near that town, a farm which was the remnant of a former plantation which my ancestors owned (along with two dozen slaves) before the civil war. I think I recall there being another Confederate Army Surgeon on this side of the family too.



My mother's father traced his descent back to men-at-arms who fought on both sides of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Mom said that when she was growing up her father often spoke of how he was proud to be English but also proud to be a Mutt, insisting that Hybrid Vigor improves the human race. His ancestors were mostly commoners who lived in Northern England before becoming some of the earliest indentured servants to come to America. One of our ancestors fought under George Washington at Valley Forge and was later paid in the form of title to land in what would become Alabama. They briefly held a few slaves but mostly relied in having a large number of children to work the land. (It seems like everyone on that side of the family had at least 6 children, and often more than 10.) Several were involved in the American Colonization Society, which aimed to buy slaves to free them and ship them back to Africa. There was yet another Confederate Army Surgeon on this side of the family. I don't have such detailed records about him, but my grandfather insisted he was moderate Abolitionist who spoke out against Secession before it happened but still felt it was his patriotic duty to fight for his State rather than the Federal government after the decision was reached. That side of the family has been staunchly Republican since Reconstruction, when it meant standing up against the Klan.

My Mother's Mother's family were mostly German, Scotch-Irish, and Cherokee. My grandmother seemed to sincerely believe the rather dubious family tales that she was descended from a Cherokee Princess, who was a mean woman and the only member of her family to ever beat or abuse any of the slaves they owned, and that the slaves loved their masters so much that they could not convince them to leave once they were set free. She was also descended from some Southern Unionists who were involved in leading their county to try to secede from the State of Alabama as a response to the State seceding from the Union. They stayed neutral during the war, refusing to be drafted by either side.

 

[Kyriakos]

It isn't easy to follow your genealogy here, at least to the distant past...
That said, from my mother's side the family was relatively important (silk manufactory owners) in Constantinople.

And although I am not sure if they were related to him, they share the family surname with the greek governor of Smyrna in the aftermath of WW1.

 

[Lohrenswald]

I've heard like talk about one of my anscestors being a lovechild of the last union king, but I have never seen any evidence for it

and like, I don't even know my great grandparents' names

don't even know where I could go to look

 

[Josu]

When my father retired he went on his family tree back to the 1600's. There were no previous records.

Once ended,went on my mother's one and went back to the 1700's

All my great grandparents had basque ancestors except one, who came from Andalucia, about 1000km away in the south.
My father's side happen to have all ancestors in just 2 towns since they were records

 

[Naskra]

The Old Ones came from Donegal, where they had farmed rocks and cut peat since just after the flood (yes, that flood). Peasants, in the fullest sense of the word. But this guy can't be ruled out: https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/niall-of-the-nine-hostages-descendants

 

[warpus]

I am one of the great descendents of Octavian and my great-great-grandfather's uncle invented toilet paper.

Just kidding, we know nothing about our family's history before World War 2. I bet we could dig some pieces up, but how much? My country went through some pretty crazy 200 years or so, if not longer. So much chaos I don't know if it's possible to dig back further back than WW1, even if you manage to get back that far.

 

[ShogunGrumpyBear]

I have some relatives that dug into our genealogy.


My father's parents were something like 3rd cousins, who shared a common ancestor (on their respective mothers' sides) who lived during the American Revolution. He was a cousin of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the poem that became the US National Anthem, and similarly supported Independence.

My father's mother's was born on the same plantation where her father had been born during in 1864. His father spent the first half of the war in medical school in Philadelphia before joining the Confederate Army as a Surgeon. (I believe his father and grandfather immigrated from Germany in the early 19th century.) He got a commission to work at fort conveniently located about halfway between the plantation he personally owned (with almost 100 slaves) and a larger plantation owned by his mother (a widow who owed 300 slaves), near Selma Alabama. In the last year of the war (at age 26) he was reassigned to join the army in the field. We have a copy of the journals that he kept from late 1864 to early 1867. My father's mother's father went on to exploit the descendants of his father's slaves who became share croppers and kept them indebted to him as he owned the only store close enough for them to purchase any supplies.

My Father's Father's family descend primarily from English Gentry. I have a fairly detailed detailed pedigree for them filed away somewhere. The first man with my surname to visit America was knighted and married a daughter of George Calvert, the 1st Baron Baltimore. The family included a few Royal Governors and several other officials. They spent generations in American Colonies but remained loyal to the Crown and ended up fleeing back to England during the American Revolution. The family moved back to America around 1840 and founded a small town here in Georgia, which I visited once during their annual Watermelon Festival. I heard as a child that he was an importer who introduced the very first Watermelon to America, but most sources agree that it has been introduced by the Spanish centuries earlier. I think he really just introduced one particular new variety. My father grew up spending the summers on his grandfather's farm near that town, a farm which was the remnant of a former plantation which my ancestors owned (along with two dozen slaves) before the civil war. I think I recall there being another Confederate Army Surgeon on this side of the family too.



My mother's father traced his descent back to men-at-arms who fought on both sides of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Mom said that when she was growing up her father often spoke of how he was proud to be English but also proud to be a Mutt, insisting that Hybrid Vigor improves the human race. His ancestors were mostly commoners who lived in Northern England before becoming some of the earliest indentured servants to come to America. One of our ancestors fought under George Washington at Valley Forge and was later paid in the form of title to land in what would become Alabama. They briefly held a few slaves but mostly relied in having a large number of children to work the land. (It seems like everyone on that side of the family had at least 6 children, and often more than 10.) Several were involved in the American Colonization Society, which aimed to buy slaves to free them and ship them back to Africa. There was yet another Confederate Army Surgeon on this side of the family. I don't have such detailed records about him, but my grandfather insisted he was moderate Abolitionist who spoke out against Secession before it happened but still felt it was his patriotic duty to fight for his State rather than the Federal government after the decision was reached. That side of the family has been staunchly Republican since Reconstruction, when it meant standing up against the Klan.

My Mother's Mother's family were mostly German, Scotch-Irish, and Cherokee. My grandmother seemed to sincerely believe the rather dubious family tales that she was descended from a Cherokee Princess, who was a mean woman and the only member of her family to ever beat or abuse any of the slaves they owned, and that the slaves loved their masters so much that they could not convince them to leave once they were set free. She was also descended from some Southern Unionists who were involved in leading their county to try to secede from the State of Alabama as a response to the State seceding from the Union. They stayed neutral during the war, refusing to be drafted by either side.

Interesting story!

I can go back to the mid 1600's on maternal grandfather side. His wife, my grandmother, not so much. I can go back to the 1850's at best but being poor farmers from the Slovak/Ukrainian border, they was lucky to be living and breathing and could not be bothered about lonely ShogunGrumpyBear doing Genealogy 170 years later. My father side is in the middle. I can go back to the mid to late 1700's. Not as good as mid 1600's but better then the 1850's. My Croatian roots are "deep" in the sense that I can go back to the mid 1600's. If you go to the town now, I can still find relatives with the last names (distinct cousins). I hear some of them are not friendly though. Probably mad my ancestors "left" them for the US and I hear they are communists (my great grandfather apparently hated Communists when he left for the US). I can go back and see they are "Soldiers" or "Innkeeper". Just baptism records, stuff like that.

 

[Bamspeedy]

My mom was really into geneology. She's got a ton of family books (like 20+ binders, each three inches thick). Was told when she died, if no one in the family wants them to give it to the county historical society/museum.

On my dad's side (norway) we found the farm my great grandparents lived on before coming to the US. Seem to remember being told a lot of really old records in Norway were lost in some great fire (hundreds of years ago), so records going back too far is more difficult/impossible, but google is failing me, so I could be remembering wrong.

Back in the 80s she fell for a scam where a 'researcher' traces your family tree. Was supposedly related to Norwegian king, Eric Bloodaxe. From there the tree was traced to someone mentioned in the bible and then back to Adam and Eve.....I remember using this info for a school project (autobiography/family history). 121 generations or something. But some years later at a family reunion the Adam and Eve thing was never mentioned and the family history traced back to the 1700s A.D.

I suspect a lot of family trees traced to famous people in history have been by scammers like this, even if it didnt go to the extreme of connecting to the bible (I'd check the documents to any claims).

 

[Naskra]

I suspect a lot of family trees traced to famous people in history have been by scammers like this

Most family lore is bunk. People believe what they want to believe. Half the folks in New Orleans think they have some distant claim on the Bourbon throne.

 

[ShogunGrumpyBear]

Most family lore is bunk. People believe what they want to believe. Half the folks in New Orleans think they have some distant claim on the Bourbon throne.

Sadly that's true a lot of times, even with me on 1 occasion but I got lucky though. My grandfather always told me his father was in the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Supposedly he came to the US and was working in a lumber mill some place, went back over to get my great grandfather and got picked up for the draft. "Hey you came back!!!! Off the navy you go!". He got mad at another sailor while peeling potatoes and chase him back to his quarters with his knife and stuck it in the door, saying he was going to kill him and cussing him out in Croatian. After he got out, they came to the US. Them coming to the US of course is true, but we never found any documents about his service, so just a story I thought. One day I found this picture. It looked like.... it was him, my great grandfather! I asked around to some Croatian historians online and supposedly, the one said, he was a Stabsbootsmann. So He was in the navy it appears. Now, I don't know if he really came to the US, went back, and got picked up or did he just serve his time before he left for the 1st time, so that much might be family lore, but at least I solved the "main" part of the puzzle.

I have a blood related Great Uncle who served in the USMC for almost 25 years. Got the time in, a ton of medals earned,etc.... I know he was stationed in Korea and was told he fought at Chosin but I asked a retired Lt. Col from the war and he could not find my great Uncle on their little roster they kept on who fought at that battle. So that is another mystery to me. Plus, he never spoke about his war time service (which is understandable) so it's hard to say what he saw or didn't see.

However I know a lot of people find for traps though. "Great-Grandpa Joe was a general....." and turns out he was a private doing office work during X and X War. I'm related to King Edward 1 and find out you related to some knight that got beheaded by him instead.

 

[Kyriakos]

The Old Ones came from Donegal, where they had farmed rocks and cut peat since just after the flood (yes, that flood). Peasants, in the fullest sense of the word. But this guy can't be ruled out: https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/niall-of-the-nine-hostages-descendants

I thought the Old Ones lived ages before there were any men, and came to the young world out of the sky. Those Old Ones were gone now, inside the earth and under the sea; but their dead bodies had told their secrets in dreams to the first men, who formed a cult which had never died [...] it had always existed and always would exist, hidden in distant wastes and dark places all over the world until the time when the great priest Cthulhu, from his dark house in the mighty city of R'lyeh under the waters, should rise and bring the earth again beneath his sway.

But Donegal would do as well, ok.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Both sides of my family have substantial history. My mothers family is English and Scottish. Her mother researched her line back to the 1600s in Scotland with links to several clans including, McGregors, Donaldsons, Guthries, and Camerons. My mom's Dad's family has been tracked back the Woods family of the 1640s in Virginia and Peter Wykoff of New Amsterdam (English & Dutch). Meriwether Lewis is a notable ancestor.

On my Dad's side we have detailed family trees going back at least to New France prior to the 7 Years War after which the Brits booted them out. They moved to Louisiana and settled in Thibideaux. My Dad's mom was Irish and she created the chocolate covered macadamia nut in the 1940s.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

I diddled around with genealogy for a while. I can go back about 400 years before the data gets scarce. I knew that my great-grandfather was a peer, but I was surprised to find out how far back that actually goes. Seems that my family have been snobs for a while now.

Not that it means anything at all, of course. If I were a citizen of the UK it might mean something as my father was in the direct line of lineage from my great-grandfather, but I must admit that I don't quite understand the rules of nobility as they apply to titles and peerage and all that stuff. And I don't really care either, though it would have been nice to be "Lady" Lemon. Imagine that on a business card.

But seriously, genealogy is interesting, and it's kind of fun to find out about your relatives.

 

[amadeus]

One of my maternal ancestors had the name Kostrzewa, which is pretty neat, and a departure from the Anderssons and Erickssons that make up about 99% of my home state if you include Olson. But I’m not Swedish. So again, only the conquered countries, never the conquerers.

Changing my name to something cooler would be too much of a hassle.

 

[ShogunGrumpyBear]

One of my maternal ancestors had the name Kostrzewa, which is pretty neat, and a departure from the Anderssons and Erickssons that make up about 99% of my home state if you include Olson. But I’m not Swedish. So again, only the conquered countries, never the conquerers.

Changing my name to something cooler would be too much of a hassle.

Change it anyhow, go make it cool!

As for Lady Lemon, that has a good ring to it ! Suppodley my last name might be minor nobility in Polish and my ancestors there may have some land waiting for us but we was never certain....

 

[Socrates99]

The first person with my surname showed up in Virginia in the 1640s. He must have been an illiterate indentured servant because hes literally the first with my surname, there is no European equivalent so we're basically stonewalled there. My dad did one of those genetic testing things and it came back mostly English, German and Scandinavian. There are no known Scandinavian ancestors so the assumption is that part came from a northern English ancestor. I had ancestors in the revolutionary war and one that served directly under Andrew Jackson in the war of 1812.

Funny side note, dad found out he had a half brother about a month younger than him through the gene testing. He actually looks a lot like dad. Funny what skeletons might be uncovered by stuff like that.

Paternal grandmother was English and German and had an ancestor from Michigan that fought for the Union in the Civil War.

Maternal Grandmother was German, English and Irish, not much beyond that.

Paternal grandfather was Dutch and "Pennsylvania Dutch" which I later found out were early German immigrants. Apparently some English speaking Americans heard "Deutsch" and thought it meant Dutch.