Do any of you work on Genealogy?

Do any of you work on Genealogy? I have been doing Genealogy for years now it seems. (It's one of my other interests besides dancing lol.) I've even taken a class in it from our local library and just loved it even though I was the youngest person there lol. Anyways, I've found out some pretty cool things. Like I had a relative that founded Portland, Oregon and many other cities. I supposively am related to Daniel Boone (but who isn't lol). Another famous person on my mom's side that we might be related to according to family notes is Jesse James (and I have a cool ghost story about Jesse James lol). I guess our families go back to Virginia.

Anyways, do any of you work on genealogy? Are any of you working on dead ends right now? Mine is with the Alexander line from Virginia. My dad's line is figured out. I traced them back to Scotland. My grandma on my mom's side is figured out, but not my grandpa on my mom's side. That's because my great grandpa lied about everything even his age, but that was so he could join the war lol. But it's so frustrating lol. I'm trying to get back into it though. I think it's important that my family figures this out, because my grandpa had been trying for years and had spent a lot of money doing so with our Alexander line. I must say if you haven't started your Genealogy, it's interesting! Try it! You may like it!

I did alot of geneology back when my children were small. I happen to live in a place where geneological resources abound, but my paritcular lines are all from back east and down south, so it's only helped me marginally. ( Being in Utah )

But if you haven't checked out the geneological helps that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints offers to anybody and everybody, you should. Supposedly, they have the largest database in th world.

Hope this helps.

dancewriter said:

I did alot of geneology back when my children were small. I happen to live in a place where geneological resources abound, but my paritcular lines are all from back east and down south, so it's only helped me marginally. ( Being in Utah )

But if you haven't checked out the geneological helps that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints offers to anybody and everybody, you should. Supposedly, they have the largest database in th world.

Hope this helps.

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Oh that's good to know! I'm glad someone else does genealogy or used to! Actually though, I know about the Church. They have a large database, but you have to be careful about what you read especially when it's someone else's work even if it's in a book. This is why if I do happen to come across someone's work, then I will end up getting the original birth certificates that kind of thing just so that I have double proof lol. But with that said, that's how I get leads is by seeing what someone else has come up with!

I have an uncle who has done some work on my father's family, and most of what I know about it comes from him. (I'm not much good at keeping my begats straight, which makes me a failure as a Southerner. ) Apparently our ancestors on that side came to the U.S. around 1890. They were, to put it bluntly, Kentucky hillbillies. One or two generations later they came south to look for work. My grandfather worked in a cotton mill in Gadsden, AL. He married a woman named Mathews or Matthews (I'm not sure which). Most of the Mathewses are from the area around Bristol, TN/VA. Sgt. Alvin York of WWI fame married a Mathews woman, I'm told.

I know less about my mother's side. I know my mom's maiden name is Cox, which I believe is a Scottish or Welsh name. The Coxes were merchants. If I remember the story right, my great-great grandfather on that side came to Alabama from somewhere in the Midwest after the Civil War. My great-grandfather on that side owned a grocery store. He was shot and killed in a robbery, a crime that became notorious in Gadsden. Grandfather Cox was a wheeler-dealer type who would do more or less anything reasonably legal to make a buck. He was also a heavy smoker, and he died of emphysema(sp?) when I was not even a year old. I just barely remember him. My grandmother never remarried. She lived to the age of 99, so she spent more than half of her life as a widow. I really don't know much about her family.

Originally MacRuadhri, Ireland. Third king, his brother had him killed because "he was a cannibalizing, horse-thieving good-for-nothing whose people hated us all because of that one imbecile."

Touching.

I've done a fair bit of family history research in Australia - got stuck on one part of my family there as my Grandmother has spoken about her sister in over 40 years to the point where my second cousins didn't know their dad had a twin sister until they were 30+! because she ran off with a married man!!

I'm in Scotland now and am hoping to fill in the gaps in this branch of my family tree while here

My greatuncle has done a fair bit of genealogy. I can trace back that branch of my family until 16something. All the way from migrating from the south of germany to the vicinity of Odessa (in the Ukraine today) then part of russia until returning back to Germany during WWII when my grandma was a teenager. Quite interesting reading material. Only the choice of firstnames seems to have been vary limited during that time so that makes it vary confusing because most of them names appear at least 2-3 times.

I come from the Bryan (or de Bryan) line on my mom's side, so tracing that wasn't too painful. They have info back to about 1100. Even some before that but it's very tenuous. Not so easy with my dad's! It stops with his mother. She was adopted in about 1910.

How the heck would you trace that? I know adoptions are difficult anyway, but back in 1910--weeellll, doggie!

cornutt said:

I have an uncle who has done some work on my father's family, and most of what I know about it comes from him. (I'm not much good at keeping my begats straight, which makes me a failure as a Southerner. ) Apparently our ancestors on that side came to the U.S. around 1890. They were, to put it bluntly, Kentucky hillbillies. One or two generations later they came south to look for work. My grandfather worked in a cotton mill in Gadsden, AL. He married a woman named Mathews or Matthews (I'm not sure which). Most of the Mathewses are from the area around Bristol, TN/VA. Sgt. Alvin York of WWI fame married a Mathews woman, I'm told.

I know less about my mother's side. I know my mom's maiden name is Cox, which I believe is a Scottish or Welsh name. The Coxes were merchants. If I remember the story right, my great-great grandfather on that side came to Alabama from somewhere in the Midwest after the Civil War. My great-grandfather on that side owned a grocery store. He was shot and killed in a robbery, a crime that became notorious in Gadsden. Grandfather Cox was a wheeler-dealer type who would do more or less anything reasonably legal to make a buck. He was also a heavy smoker, and he died of emphysema(sp?) when I was not even a year old. I just barely remember him. My grandmother never remarried. She lived to the age of 99, so she spent more than half of her life as a widow. I really don't know much about her family.

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Oh how funny! I actually own a COX surname book. The reason is because the COX and the ALEXANDER lines married into each other.

Yliander said:

I've done a fair bit of family history research in Australia - got stuck on one part of my family there as my Grandmother has spoken about her sister in over 40 years to the point where my second cousins didn't know their dad had a twin sister until they were 30+! because she ran off with a married man!!

I'm in Scotland now and am hoping to fill in the gaps in this branch of my family tree while here

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My dad's side was from Scotland as I said up above. Anyways, one name that I was looking for was originally McKay. I've got them traced back to the 1600's, because Scotland kept great records. What was interesting is that they moved to the U.S. and on a ship called, The Iowa or something like that to New York. Well, most of my dad's side of the family moved from South Dakota etc. to Iowa as to which almost all of my cousins still live in Iowa today. I thought that was interesting! My cousins did too!

I will tell you that it's hard to do research when it's overseas. I was lucky to find someone that gave me the records for free. But I found interesting things out like how the McKay's lived in Smailholm at the same time Sir Walter Scott was there. And how there is a county called Mackay I think, and if you don't show proof that you are related to a MACKAY (different spellings of course), then you can't get past the boarder because they have people blocking the boarder. I didn't know you could even get away with that today!

I've a great, great cousin that is the family historian on my mother's side and then my aunt does the geneology work on my father's side. My mother's side is Dutch/Irish...some interesting and scandelous tales on that side.

My father's side is Welsh/German...I'm a direct decendent of Alexander Hamilton (my maiden name is Hamilton). Pretty cool, huh?

TemptressToo said:

I've a great, great cousin that is the family historian on my mother's side and then my aunt does the geneology work on my father's side. My mother's side is Dutch/Irish...some interesting and scandelous tales on that side.

My father's side is Welsh/German...I'm a direct decendent of Alexander Hamilton (my maiden name is Hamilton). Pretty cool, huh?

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Isn't it fun when you find out that you are related to someone famous? That's what I get a kick out of every time I discover something new!

SPratt74 said:

Do any of you work on Genealogy? I've even taken a class in it from our local library and just loved it even though I was the youngest person there lol.

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My son got interested in genealogy when he was still in high school. I remember spending Saturday afternoons in the library with him and a bunch of very old people. In college (Ohio University) he spent spring breaks visiting cemetaries and churches in the Pennsylvania area digging out info instead of going to Florida or the like. He has now traveled to Europe twice and looked up distant relations.
He is now an attorney but would love to have more time to dig deeper into the family history.

Swingolder said:

My son got interested in genealogy when he was still in high school. I remember spending Saturday afternoons in the library with him and a bunch of very old people. In college (Ohio University) he spent spring breaks visiting cemetaries and churches in the Pennsylvania area digging out info instead of going to Florida or the like. He has now traveled to Europe twice and looked up distant relations.
He is now an attorney but would love to have more time to dig deeper into the family history.

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I wish more young people would get involved in family research! It's funny how the Internet has connected me with some of my cousins all around my age, because Genealogy usually has the older generation working on their family trees! I think that's a pretty cool thing!

SPratt74 said:

I wish more young people would get involved in family research! It's funny how the Internet has connected me with some of my cousins all around my age, because Genealogy usually has the older generation working on their family trees! I think that's a pretty cool thing!

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I would think the internet would help a lot to create interest among the younger folks. You can find a lot of information without having to go the the geneology rooms of the library with the older crowd. And then you can connect with those cousins.