Your Ancestors

[Cloak N Dagger]

Watching the soldier play "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes at president Reagan's Funeral made me think about my Heritage. (And like many of you, I wasn't able to keep a dry eye)

I've been doing a lot of geneology research for the past few years, and have found out a lot of interesting things about my family tree.

I've traced my surname back to the highlands of Scotland. Looks like I haven't fallen far from the tree either, as I reside in the "Highlands" of Virginia.

On my Mother's side, all of my ancestors were Irish, except for one Frenchman.

On my Father's side, my ancestors were mostly Scottish and Native American. Some of my earliest relatives came to Virginia as early as the mid- 1600's. They were blacksmiths and farriers. Not titled men, but craftsmen. My grandmother was half Cherokee. Her ancestors were some of the Cherokee that hid out in the mountains to avoid the "Trail of Tears". My grandmother passed away when I was a youngster, but I vividly remember her long black hair. (Waist length) She kept it up in a bun all day, but let it down every evening and brushed it 100 strokes, while she sat on the front porch swing.

My wife has also traced her heritage back to Ireland and Scotland. Although it appears some of her "Scottish" ancestors were actually Vikings that decided to stay in Scotland after they raided it! http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/afraid_face.gif

Have any of you traced your family tree back? Where did your ancestors come from?

[savage24]

Scottish Highlands hear also. At least on my fathers side. I think they settled in Pennsylvania first, but came to Missouri in the early 1800&#39;s. I don&#39;t know much about my mother&#39;s side, since they apparently aren&#39;t interested in keeping track. My father has been doing the research for several years now and has created a scrapbook/photo album. Every Memorial Day weekend he and I go &#39;grave hopping&#39; (my mother&#39;s term) and decorate the graves of the last four generations.

[Hunter29]

Mainly british, but that is on my father&#39;s side. My mother&#39;s side however..Irish and german.

[pbrdog]

My Mom&#39;s side came from East Freisland (sp?) Netherlands and Germany in the late 1800&#39;s. My Dad&#39;s side can only be found as far back as the early frontier. They were mostly sodders between Oregon and Iowa. I suppose though with my last name, they originated from England or Ireland or somewhere there abouts.

[BelchFire]

My two primary lines (mother, and father) are French Heugenots fleeing France before the American Revolution. (Give me a break, guys, I&#39;m as American as they get. French only by ancestry, not allegiance.) For that matter, I have found English, Irish, Norse, German, and Italian; all in America before the revolution. I haven&#39;t found all the immigrants yet, but so far I haven&#39;t found one who came any later than the Revolution.

Savage 24, I&#39;m especially interested in the graves too. I have visited the graves of no less than 8 of my 5th gr-grandparents. (at that level, you have 128 ancestors; 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 gr-grandparents, and so on). I&#39;ve also visited every grave of the "in betweens" except one grave in one line. I believe that they know I&#39;m interested in them, and that they know I&#39;ve visited their graves. At least I like to think so.

That raisies an interesting point. Consider how many ancestors you had that so little as 1000 years ago. Given a 25 year average "generation span", that would have been about 40 generations ago. At the rate mentioned above, that would be 1,099,511,628,000 people. 1500 years ago? 1,152,921,505,000,000,000 people. I don&#39;t even know what comes after trillion, but that&#39;s 1,152 trillion people!

Now considering that the current world population is estimated at only 6,377,641,642, and increasing by about 72,500,000 per year, where did all your ancestors come from? Don&#39;t you expect that some people are "on the tree" more than once? OK, so if the entire world (1500 years ago) were your ancestors, who are mine? Do you see where this is going? Guys, and Dolls, I hate to admit it, but we&#39;re all kin. And that would include .......... http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/afraid_face.gif Slick Willie, and Uncle Ted! Any of you guys got a gun I can borrow?

[upperEA]

Anyone have any tips on genealogy reserch they would like to share. I have a general idea where my fathers side came form adn some of the lineage but wold like to find out more on both sides. I see some sites on the web but many are pretty $$. Thanks Tom

[Cda55]

Irish. My great grandmother came to the U.S. on a boat when she was a child.

[RELH]

Belchfire;

Yes! I have a gun you can borrow since guns have been present in my family line for many generations. I am a decendant of "Devil Anse Hatfield", AKA- William Anderson Hatfield from the Matewan area of West Virginia. He was the leader of the Hatfield faction during the Hatfield-McCoy freud. It seems that my ancestors not only hunted animals, but sometimes hunted humans while "Feuding", and during the "coal mine wars" that took place during the early part of last century in W. Virginia and Kentucky.
My Mother&#39;s side were Irish and German from N. Carolina. My parents had migrated to Calif. after the war and married here and stayed raising their Kids.
I am still trying to run down family members of the Hatfield clan, and will be taking a trip to Matewan in the near future. I also would like to locate family on my Grandmother&#39;s side, McDonald, who married the Son of Devil Anse Hatfield.
It seems that the older you get, the more important your roots become to you.

RELH http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-gunfighter-yellow.gif

[Hmebuildr]

My relatives came over on the Mayflower, John Alden and Priscila Mullins. I am 12th Generation Pilgrim.

[superduty]

I&#39;m a direct from the Youngers on my moms side. My grandmother&#39;s last name is Younger. I have&#39;nt had a opportunity to join in on the family reunion being I believe it alternates between the hometown of the Younger&#39;s and the James Boys and would take some planning to make such a trip. I do have a beautifull belt buckle my Great Uncle Jay Younger gave to me after having them minted to raise money to move the original home to a mesuem. Their home place was in Lee&#39;s Summit, Mo.. The Younger brothers were captured on Sept. 21, 1876, in Madelina, Minn., and were sentenced to life in StillWater State Prison, Nov. 9, 1876. Bob died in prison Sept. 16, 1889. Cole and Jim were released in 1901. Jim was not allowed to marry, and committed suicide at the Reardon Hotel, St. Paul Minn., Oct. 19, 1902. Cole, after many stage and church appearances, died of lead poisoning on Mar. 21, 1916. This caption is what is engraved in the back of the belt buckle with a registered buckle number of 65. The front has the D.O.B. and faces of all three with a picture of their home and a picture of the Northfield, Min. Bank Robbery 9-7-1876. http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-gunfighter-yellow.gif

[Lone Wolf]

On my Mother&#39;s side Scotch - English. My Maternal Grandfather&#39;s people came here from Scotland in the late 1700&#39;s and settled in Western N.C. My Maternal Grandmother&#39;s people came from England in the 1740&#39;s and moved to Western N.C. from VA. My cousins still live on portions of the property originally deeded from King George.

On my Dad&#39;s side Scotch - Irish. Little is know about this side of my family except that both my Fraternal Grandmother&#39;s people (Scottish) and Grandfather&#39;s people (Irish) came to America in the mid 1840s and settled in the Ohio river valley

[karstic]

Germany and...Germany. First generation American here. Bavaria to be more precise. My dad came over in the early 50&#39;s and my maternal grandparents came over in the 30&#39;s. I&#39;ve been to the town where my family name originated (just outside of Nuremburg). It was interesting to see war memorials from the Napoleanic wars with my family name. The is a schnapps distillery with the family name and during my last visit to Germany while talking to the owner he mentioned that our ancestors were the wardens and forestors for the land owners back in the 1600&#39;s and 1700&#39;s.

[karstic]

Germany and...Germany. First generation American here. Bavaria to be more precise. My dad came over in the early 50&#39;s and my maternal grandparents came over in the 30&#39;s. I&#39;ve been to the town where my family name originated (just outside of Nuremburg). It was interesting to see war memorials from the Napoleanic wars with my family name. The is a schnapps distillery with the family name and during my last visit to Germany while talking to the owner he mentioned that our ancestors were the wardens and forestors for the land owners back in the 1600&#39;s and 1700&#39;s.

[Buck-eye]

We are still trying to figure out that whole thing with my family. Half of my family is from the hills of W VA, so I think they are more afraid than anything else to find out. Maybe there are some branches that do not fork. http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-wow-eyes-yellow.gif
On Dad&#39;s side, we have Grandma who was a Peckrun, from the mountains of Germany who came to the US in the late 18&#39;s. Grandpa was a Patton Scotch/English, which meant he loved a shot with a beer. Apparently we have something to do with the House of Lords in Edinborough. Ill believe it when I see it.
Which brings up another point. At what age to men begin to compulsively lie about the whos and whats of their past? Ever notice how grandpas usually "personally know" every war vet or Rat Pack member?
OH I SEE! THATS JUST MY FAMILY!!

[Colusaduckhunter]

My father&#39;s father&#39;s line came from England in 1634 and settled in MA, eventually pioneering and settling in Maine. My father&#39;s mother&#39;s line came from Germany. I have a pic of my g-grandfather in one of those "Kaiser" helmets with a point on the top.

My mother&#39;s father&#39;s line is from Italy. My mother&#39;s mother&#39;s line is split...Portugese and English. The English line are the Covington&#39;s. Three brothers, of which my ancestor is one of, came to the America&#39;s with Lord Baltimore to help administrate his land grant.

I have done a lot of research on most of my lines and I have found that my 13th g-grandmother was one of the 19 alleged witches hanged in Salem in 1692. Many of my ancestors were notable patriots in the Revolution. We go back to King Edward the IV on one line (maternal unfortunately). A lot of nobility and other fun stuff. One cool thing is that I share a line with GW Bush. My Paternal 13th g-grandmother was a Walker from Maine. She was also a Delano as well.

Genealogy is fun, but very time consuming. My wife hates when I am doing it because I focus on nothing else. Kind of like a big puzzle that is rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Kind of like hunting!!!!

I am working her lines now. She has Southern roots from North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas. I&#39;m finding that it&#39;s harder researching Southern roots than it is New England roots.

[quote]That raisies an interesting point. Consider how many ancestors you had that so little as 1000 years ago. Given a 25 year average "generation span", that would have been about 40 generations ago. At the rate mentioned above, that would be 1,099,511,628,000 people. 1500 years ago? 1,152,921,505,000,000,000 people. I don&#39;t even know what comes after trillion, but that&#39;s 1,152 trillion people!That raisies an interesting point. Consider how many ancestors you had that so little as 1000 years ago. Given a 25 year average "generation span", that would have been about 40 generations ago. At the rate mentioned above, that would be 1,099,511,628,000 people. 1500 years ago? 1,152,921,505,000,000,000 people. I don&#39;t even know what comes after trillion, but that&#39;s 1,152 trillion people![quote]

Belch, that&#39;s a phenomena known as pedigree collapse, so yes, you will have duplication of lines. If you got all of your lines back to the timne of William the Conqueror, you would have something like 16MM direct ancestors, at a time when England only had one million people according to the Domesday records. I have duplication in my lines, especially the new England roots.

Good to see others out there with interests other than hunting and fishing!!

[campcook50]

In a nutshell, maternal grandparents emmigrated from Belgium to Windsor Canada at the conclusion of WW1, paternal grandparents emmigrated from
Northern Italy (near Milan) to Toronto Ca. about the same time. Mom was
born in Canada, Dad born in Detroit (but raised in Canada) the rest is easy...

[BelchFire]

Originally posted by Colusaduckhunter@Jun 14 2004, 12:40 PM
I am working her lines now. She has Southern roots from North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas. I&#39;m finding that it&#39;s harder researching Southern roots than it is New England roots.
Boy, you&#39;re not lying! I&#39;ve got an excellent genealogical library very near me, and I&#39;ve used it from time to time. Given the &#39;local&#39; nature of the southern lines, you&#39;d think there are masses of information available but the far off stuff is actually better documented and easier to find than the old southern stuff. That is unless you count all those snippets of paper that people copy for you where their great aunt so-and-so said.....

What are some of the lines you&#39;re researching? I have multiple families in Georgia, NC, one in Alabama, and a couple in Ark. I&#39;d be glad to share if there are any similarities.

[Colusaduckhunter]

Hey belch...the lines I am working are Talley, Jarmon and Chaney so far. I am sure more to follow. I am back to the late 1800&#39;s on these lines.

These people must have been criminals because they were pretty elusive in the census records. I live about 5 miles away from a National Archive, so if you ever need anything from a NAR, let me know and I will put it on my task list.

When I get more names, we&#39;ll have to compare notes! Hey maybe we&#39;re cousins (by marriage)!!!

[MNTNMAN]

I&#39;m kind of a mutt.

Mothers side Dutch,German,English

Fathers side English, Swiss, Irish

[Mntngoat]

Germany!
Liechtenstein actually, Hence the last name Liechty

[Bulldog]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>
Hey maybe we&#39;re cousins (by marriage)!!![/b]

Or marriage by cousins... http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-devil.gif

[Welby]

Wow, very interesting topic. I believe my heritage is of Irish descent.

My dad did some research into our family&#39;s background several years ago and found some pretty interesting information. One neat coincidence was that after moving from Arkansas to Louisiana and finally to Mississippi while I was growing up, we ended up returning to the area in which my paternal grandfather&#39;s family came from. I learned of distant relatives I had no prior knowledge of that live in this immediate area. One thing&#39;s for sure, if someone has the last name of "Lochala", I&#39;m kin to &#39;em. No doubt.

superduty, you may have some family in this area. There are some folks here who are direct descendents of the Youngers also. In fact, it is reputed that the James boys passed through this area a few times back in their day.

One last thing...you know that joke about Arkansas and first cousins that marry? There&#39;s some truth to it. When studying our family tree, I actually found two first cousins that did marry. The story goes that they did NOT know they were first cousins when they met and fell in love, and then weren&#39;t willing to part over it. They never had kids, but grew very old together.

[Colusaduckhunter]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>
Or marriage by cousins...[/b]

I knew that one had to come sooner or later!!!!!

[jmabbott888]

On dad&#39;s side I&#39;ve got Welsh, German, & American indian. On mom&#39;s side I got French, Polish, American (or should I say Canadian) Indian. Their jobs went from a Baptist minister to a banker, lawers, store owner to the other extreme of a bank robber & a horse thief, yes those 2 got their necks stretched. We traced our lines back to the mid 1400&#39;s on moms side & the 1500&#39;s on dads side.

[savage24]

Originally posted by superduty@Jun 13 2004, 02:31 PM
I have&#39;nt had a opportunity to join in on the family reunion being I believe it alternates between the hometown of the Younger&#39;s and the James Boys and would take some planning to make such a trip.
Hey Superduty, If you ever decide to make that trip, let me know and I&#39;ll try to help with planning or local information or whatever. I&#39;m a stones throw from Liberty, MO (ride my bicycle over there all the time) and my parents live southeast of Lee&#39;s Summit in a town called Pleasant Hill.