Geneology?

[.Shane.]

Are any of you into geneology?

I'm not that much, but I would, at a minimum, like to just keep the barebone facts somewhere. Does anyone have any websites or software they recommend? Freeware is best, but I realize that in a niche industry there might not be any good freeware.

Anyone have any interesting finds from doing this type of research? And please, avoid the stuff about "I'm descended from nobility!" I mean, any of you find relations that were killers? Diplomats? Any interesting occupations?

That kind of stuff.

 

[Irish Caesar]

I had a great aunt (I think?) who was a bootlegger during Prohibition.

That sort of thing?

 

[Lockesdonkey]

Hmm...

My main point of interest is that I'm from everywhere west of the Gobi, north of Lake Victoria, and east of the Atlantic. I have ancestors from Georgia, Ethiopia, Iran, Arabia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Greece...

 

[.Shane.]

I had a great aunt (I think?) who was a bootlegger during Prohibition.

That sort of thing?

Yeah, that's way more interesting that "we're descended from the house of blah blah blah."

 

[Trajan12]

I've always wanted to know what my ancestos were. I usually assume that they were Revolutionaries, at least that is what I tell people.

 

[Mirc]

I had a great great great great etc. grandfather (so I'm direct descendant from him, he's not my uncle or cousin) that was an important general in the last crusade against the Turks. Also I might be a far relative with a known painter.

 

[JonnyB]

on my mothers side I have a Grandfather (I can't remember how many greats to attach) Who was a ship owner and was given licence by the King of England to attack and capture Spanish vessels. I don't know if he ever did though.

And another who owned what may or may not have been a brothel.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

I know a little bit about the side of my family whose origins trace back to the Netherlands. Quite a few soldiers.

Spoiler :

1624 THEUNIS JACOBSEN KLAARWATER 1715
Whose ancestors were among the founders of the

DUTCH REPUBLIC
A soldier of Holland.
An early settler of Ulster County.

1663 JACOB KLAARWATER 1747
A native of Holland who fought in the wars of the
American frontier.

1699 ABRAHAM KLAARWATER 1782
Sergeant in the provincial army during the
Colonial Wars.
Signer of the Articles of Association 1775.
Dragoon in the Marbletown Troop of Horse during the
war of the Revolution.

1757 THOMAS KLAARWATER 1830
Signer of the Articles of Association 1775.
Trooper in the Marbletown Horse
Soldier in the Continental Army.

1787 THOMAS TEUNIS CLEARWATER 1860
Soldier of the War of 1812

 

[luiz]

I recently found out that I'm somewhat closely related to the notorious fascist aviator Italo Balbo, a possible successor of Mussolini.

 

[Whomp]

From my understanding, my great grandmother on my mother's side was Italian royalty. She fell in love with a common man and was disowned from her family. They came to the U.S. to start a new life. The story goes that the people at Ellis Island tried to butcher the Italian surname but she corrected them since she spoke fluent English.

My aunt on my father's side has run the English geneaology and said she found that Aaron Burr is a distant relative.

 

[bhsup]

My Great-Great-Great-Grandfather and his sons moved to the Kansas territory from upstate NY before the Civil War to support the abolitionists.T hey fought for the Union in the Civil War. A couple of the brothers married Cherokee indians and my idiot great-great-grandfather broke all ties with that branch of the family because they...you're going to laugh in disgust...diluted the pure French blood. His son and grandson both went on to marry Irish women.

 

[.Shane.]

I recently found out that I'm somewhat closely related to the notorious fascist aviator Italo Balbo, a possible successor of Mussolini.

From my understanding, my great grandmother on my mother's side was Italian royalty. She fell in love with a common man and was disowned from her family. They came to the U.S. to start a new life. The story goes that the people at Ellis Island tried to butcher the Italian surname but she corrected them since she spoke fluent English.

My aunt on my father's side has run the English geneaology and said she found that Aaron Burr is a distant relative.

My Great-Great-Great-Grandfather and his sons moved to the Kansas territory from upstate NY before the Civil War to support the abolitionists.T hey fought for the Union in the Civil War. A couple of the brothers married Cherokee indians and my idiot great-great-grandfather broke all ties with that branch of the family because they...you're going to laugh in disgust...diluted the pure French blood. His son and grandson both went on to marry Irish women.

Oh, now these are fun!

@VRWC, did he maybe disown them because, as Cherokees, they probably had sided w/ the Confederacy?

Also, anyone know any decent software for this type of stuff?

 

[Chandrasekhar]

My line traces back to some bandits and train robbers. Interestingly enough, my English teacher says that his grandfather was killed in a train robbery, and it just happened to occur near the territory that my ancestors lived in. Not that I'd tell him that, of course...

 

[ShannonCT]

I had a great great great great etc. grandfather (so I'm direct descendant from him, he's not my uncle or cousin) that was an important general in the last crusade against the Turks. Also I might be a far relative with a known painter.

Considering that this was 800 some odd years ago, that general probably has hundreds of millions of direct descedants by now.

Guess what... I'm a direct descendant of Charlemagne, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and William Wallace. I rule!!!

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

Are any of you into geneology?

Perhaps if I had reason to believe that any of my ancestors were anything more interesting than village peasant Jews from Eastern Europe, I might be interested in geneology.

 

[downtown]

I am directly related to Samuel Brown and Newl K. Whitney, two of the very first Mormons, who were instrumental in the settling of Kirtland (the first real gathering of Mormons). Mr.Whitney is actually mentioned a few times in the D&C, and his store is an offical Ohio historical monument.

As for my mother's side, we dont have too many records. I know that my grandpa's great grandparents were Italian immigrants who went to Brazil to make some moola (and failed). Nothing too notable.

 

[Godwynn]

I believe I am a descendant of William Bigler a governor and senator of Pennsylvania. His brother was a governor of California.

I'm not sure though, I know very little about my family history. English and German, thats about it.

 

[Falcon02]

Got an Aunt who's really into Geneology, so got alot of information about my Mom's side of the family, at the very least back to the German immigrants who came over around the 1870's. She knows the "stories" fairly well, and recently organized a family reunion of quite a bit of the discovered extended family. Unfortunately, I only know the vague story of the original german immigrants of my family, beyond that I don't know.

Also, the story of a French woman who fled to England during the French Revolution.

On my Dad's side, only know Grandparents, and my Grandfather's parents... beyond that I don't know except that the family name that's survived today is Swedish. One of these days though I want to try to find out more about my Dad's side of the family. Compared to my Mom's side it seems very neglected.

 

[Turner]

My maternal sperm-donor was orginally from Missouri. Supposedly he was a cousin of Jessie James something like four times removed.

My father's side of the family is rather active in tribal politics. So while not really famous outside of the tribe, we're pretty well known inside.

 

[amadeus]

I'm a descendant of poor, landless European peasants.