Dead Ancestor Collectors

I think genetics play a huge part in who we are.

Both personality wise and physically. I know everyone on my Dad's side is very argumentative. I'm like that. My mom is more easy going, my sister is like that. My sister has the 'family' nose. We have several health issues that have existed for generations and they continue on (they effect the members in the family with this condition identically, there has been NO variations).

National Geographic is doing a project where they identify what migrational patterns your acestors had in the past. They go back over 20,000 years!!!!!! It's fascinating.

 

Not that far back really.. but on my paternal side I know that my paternal great-great grandmother was a mintzmeyer from Germany.. she married a bischoff and had my great grandmother (Emma Catherine whom I am named after) who married a Scotch-Irish gentleman named James David MC Lain whose father was a twin and spoke seven different languages... that's as far back as I have gotten.. I guess that is the great great's on my father's side of the family.. I know the greats were born in their respective home countries of Germany and Ireland but came to the States while still children, my great great grandfather owned a butcher shop and did quite well.. but the family money was lost in the depression.. though my great grandfather regained some of it by building a small resort style community in Hot Springs, Arkansas during the open gambling era.. I actually grew up at this place.. but by the time I was born he had sold off most of the land and other cottages plus the barber and beauty shop and small store of some sort I am told.. we had a small motel and two homes on the property that I actually remember.. though there were lots of photos of the past property set up..

Interesting sidenote.. my great aunt Evelyn's husband Pete Scott was a truck driver and they drove Elsie the Cow and Beauregard her calf to all the state fairs all over the eastern and middle United States until his death in the sixties.

All I really know about my maternal side of the family is that for many generations back the first female born has the same middle name of Jean or Jeanne'.. (which I also have.. and my daughter has as well)

When I was born both sides of the family named me... I wound up with Emma-Jeanne' Catherine Jude Scott as my name. Quite long.. but all sides of the family are represented.

umm.. probably more than you cared to know.. but yes.. I enjoy learning about my genealogy.. though I stopped at the great greats because I have enjoyed studying what all of them did for a living.. I suppose one day I may start researching farther back. I have spent time studying each branch of aunts and uncles as well.. going back to the great greats on a few sides of their families as well. No one famous or royal that I know of at this point.. just a very simple and hardworking background it would appear.

guess I better hush up now.

 

On my mother's mother's side I know a lot, because there is a Family Society, where my grandmother's sister is one of the main administrators. Evidently, I am related to a Scottish clan and to a 16th century French king. I do not have many relations to other branches on the family tree, unfortunately. I learned only relatively recently about my mother's father's family that there were some pretty smart people there, scientists and inventors in that line ... and they have the same thinning hairline as I've got..

I do not know much about my father's side, unfortunately. My father's father's mother got pregnant outside wedlock by someone who is still unknown to the family. She got pregnant while working at the Danish Court, so there is still some hope...

 

Ooh! What a cool thread!

My husband and I are the "official" family genealogists for both sides of our families.
I think so far we've only been able to go back to the 1800s or so. We've been working very sideways-ish on the tree. So we have over 1,630 individuals in our family tree but we haven't worked very diligently on getting straight upward lines.

In addition to doing the genealogical research we also organize a bi-annual family reunion on every odd numbered year to try to bring together living family members and share with them all the photos and information we've gathered so far (and pump them for more info and photos ). Here's a picture from this year's reunion that shows one of the picnic tables covered with a printed version of 1/4th of the tree that we have worked out so far.

I unfortunately just had my great-aunt pass away, but on the plus side I was sent an envelope fiull of old family paperwork that included my great-grandfather's death certificate. It listed his death date, burial location, birthdate and most importantly his parents names which I didn't have yet! I was very excited to get that document.

Over the summer I signed up for the 2 week trial of Ancestry.com and spent all my free time in those two weeks pouring over the census records. For my county the census information is also online for free via my library's website, but Ancestry.com has more years available. Other than information from older family members I think the census is where we've gotten the bulk of our information. It's so interesting to read what their occupations were, see where they lived and then be able to drive through their old neighborhoods.

One of my goals this month is to get my house cleaned up enough and get organized again to do more research, but with the state of my house currently and the holidays just about here... I don't think I have a chance. But I refuse to get back into it until I'm more organized because I just keep re-doing work I've already done because I can't find where I have stuff from the first time I looked it up.

I also am the caretaker for both families old photo albums. I've been working on scanning them into the computer so that we have a "back-up" of them before they degrade any further than they already have. And I have 2 large plastic bins of those albums to go through still. But it is very rewarding to have not only the names of all these relatives, but photos of them as well. Someday I'm hoping on getting a lot of them framed and having a huge display ala Hogwarts stairwells with family portraits on them.

~Doc_Bev

 

Family hunting is addictive.

Some of my family could not care less, others want to know.

I've discovered the family portraits and I'd love to have them back in the family. Just trying to convince the guy who has them to part with them.

Happy hunting.

 

I love looking at the old photos I've got and wondering what it was like when you got your picture taken back then. It must have been quite an event. My sister and I also try and pick out who we resemble and such. It's funny to see that some of our least liked features (my sister's nose, my chin, my brothers massive ears) seem to be the most common things passed on from generation to generation.

I started out with the Ancestry.com trial edition, then I found I liked it so much I shelled out the big bucks for it. Between this and costuming I've been driven into poverty. LOL.

Ooo... Here is where I've got most of my tree online. I'm working on a web page with photos and maps and such, but it's taking a loooong time.

 

Oh my, I just stayed up until 5am adding about 500 cousins to my database.

It's so easy to loose track of time. Has that happened to anyone else before??

 

Don't know that I've ever gotten quite to 5am. It's usually 2-3am when I notice the time.
I also seem to miss a lot of meals too...

~Doc_Bev

 

It's a good way to drop those extra holiday pounds

 

OK, first it was WoW and now this? What next JGoC?

I have 300 cousins in NJ. My mother was adopted and my father's last name might as well be Smith.

 

LOL...

On my mother's side her family's last name is Smith, and Bell, and Hall, and Jones, and Evans (and they're from Wales too)

Then we've got a few obscure last names in there that you can't find anything on. Goeking... Liblay... *sigh*

The rarer surnames are sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse

 

I thought my maiden name (Baconcini) would be a blessing, but I've found it's actually a curse. I've never really tried doing research in Italy yet, but I've been having such a hard time finding any information that I've mostly convinced myself that the name must have been changed at some point. I've only been able to go back as far as my great-great grandfather on that side.

The only blessing I've found is that anytime I do find a new Baconcini I can be 99% positive that I'm related to them and it's only a matter of finding out how.

It's really important to me to find more information as the Baconcini name (as far as I can tell) has died with the fact that my great-grandfather only has great-granddaughters.

~Doc_Bev

 

Good luck! I know that misspelled names are often the downfall of a genealogist. Makes searching a LOT harder.

I know what you mean about a dying last name too. My brother is one of the few capable of carrying on the name. Although we discovered that a local music store owner is actually a cousin of mine and they've kept the last name too... so maybe there's still hope...

It always makes me think about the nature of Patriarchal nomenclature. Women have gotten looked over so often in history. Maiden names are difficult to find out most times and it's easy to hit a brick wall with a female ancestor. Which of course makes me more determined to do more digging. Probably another reason why I stay up so late working on this.