Ancestry thread..

blackribbon · Jun 12, 2016

My husband's family line is just dripping with fascinating connections...even back to the second or third round of Jamestown settlers, part of the original settlers in Georgia, and possible relationship to Captain Oliver Hazard Perry....along with women with college educations long before the civil war. At first I thought this couldn't be true because they ended up literally barefoot poor in Texas but I have been able to prove without a doubt a Governor of Texas (and the Law School paper at University of Texas is named after him since he was also on the Texas Supreme court when Texas was an independent country. So maybe it isn't so far fetched that some of the other connections could be true.

James of Arc · Jun 12, 2016

James of Arc · Jun 12, 2016

MehGuy · Jun 12, 2016

Some of my close relatives (European) apparently lived in China during the late 19th early 20th century.

Travelers.Soul · Jun 12, 2016

My family was a mix of wealth and poverty, they were also a mix of upstanding citizens and hooligans. One side of my family was involved in a feud. (No, it wasn't the Hatfields and McCoys)The farther I go back the more mysterious my family seems to become. My family tree is a mixture of English, Scottish, Irish, and German descent. I often thought I look more Irish than anything else, since while I was in Ireland many mistakenly thought I was local (until I spoke) but who knows. My great grandfather worked as a machinist at the base in Columbus Ohio during WW2. I really want to do a DNA test just to see if we are actually who we think we are...you never know.

Cearbhall · Jun 12, 2016

MehGuy said:
I know there has been a million of these types of threads but I have been spending that past couple of days really trying to fledge out my family tree on ancestry.com.

So has anyone else used the site? Is it helpful? Do you have any useful tips on tracking people down?

I've been using it steadily for eight years now. I've probably made around half of my discoveries on Ancestry.com and half on the rest of the Internet. My other sources include FamilySearch.org, FindAGrave.com (very impressive despite its 1990s homepage), and independent websites that people have made to publish their trees.

BadHabit · Jun 12, 2016

I had been told about my background ever since I was a child, and I never had reason to question it. I was curious though how much of what I had been told was truth, and how much was just some giant fish tale. Turned out I am every bit as Irish as I was told I was, but somewhere along the lines, members of my long past family neglected to mention that the next top three haplotypes in my makeup are, in order of prevalence, Ashkenazi Jew, Native American, Sub-Saharan African.

blackribbon · Jun 12, 2016

My husband's oral history is so very different from his actual one. No one knew about the Governor of Texas tie and that is a direct relative. On his mother's side...even though red-hair is almost a staple in that family, I was the one who proved they were VERY Irish which my MIL denied being...but the verbal history that was handed down was only from the Norwegian side that married the Irish girl. I can tell you where this Irish family immigrated into Canada, where they crossed into the US, the path they appeared to take across the midwest before founding a town in North Dakota where one daughter met and married a naturalized Norwegian immigrant.

Cearbhall · Jun 12, 2016

Darth Bagel said:
Was the process easy or complicated? I think that is interesting, and I'd be curious to know what my results said. Although I don't know how comfortable I feel giving strangers a DNA sample. Never know if that might end up in CODIS or something.

It's very easy. They send you a kit. You spit into a test tube and send it back.

The best thing about it, in my opinion, is how Ancestry uses it to confirm your findings. They cross-reference DNA results and family trees to see if you're a double match with anyone. You can view the family trees of the people in your DNA results, and if there's a name in common, Ancestry will display the whole descendancy.

MehGuy said:
I might be more German than I thought. Even though my last name is English sounding uh.. I guess that line is from Germany.. ? Lol. Its kind of weird there. Seems like they moved in and out of Germany a few times.

Unfortunately, the test doesn't get that specific. It's also difficult because modern nation-states =/= ethnic groups. Here's the map of regions that are included in the DNA results:

MehGuy · Jun 12, 2016

Cearbhall said:
It's very easy. They send you a kit. You spit into a test tube and send it back.

Unfortunately, the test doesn't get that specific. It's also difficult because modern nation-states =/= ethnic groups. Here's the map of regions that are included in the DNA results:

I never thought it would get that specific. But it would be interesting if some I got some wild ball results. Lol.

BadHabit · Jun 12, 2016

Cearbhall said:
It's very easy. They send you a kit. You spit into a test tube and send it back.

The best thing about it, in my opinion, is how Ancestry uses it to confirm your findings. They cross-reference DNA results and family trees to see if you're a double match with anyone. You can view the family trees of the people in your DNA results, and if there's a name in common, Ancestry will display the whole descendancy.

Unfortunately, the test doesn't get that specific. It's also difficult because modern nation-states =/= ethnic groups. Here's the map of regions that are included in the DNA results:

Interesting. They've changed the way they do it. My test was much, much more specific. Maybe a different lab is being used now that it is getting more popular and they don't have the time to get into detailed analysis like they used to? I had a list of the top 50 haplotypes I share DNA with, and a map showing that particular haplotypes emergence in the genetic record and a chart showing the migration patterns of those types. Interesting stuff.

MehGuy · Jun 12, 2016

I have to say, researching dead people for hours at a time is a little depressing.

Someday I'll just be a stupid name my future relatives will probably be looking up. While blasting current music through their headphones or directly into their minds or whatever future technology the future brings, lol.

Cearbhall · Jun 12, 2016

blackribbon said:
Unless you are Native American, you had to "come over" on some boat...and that is interesting and a story even if it is an unimportant boat.

That reminds me of the responses to the question about ethnicity on the U.S. census. For some reason, they offer "American" as a choice (separate from Native American). The only place where it's a common response is in the Bible Belt. Apparently, some people in that regional culture refuse to identify as anything else.

William67 · Jun 12, 2016

Cearbhall said:
That reminds me of the responses to the question about ethnicity on the U.S. census. For some reason, they offer "American" as a choice (separate from Native American). The only place where it's a common response is in the Bible Belt. Apparently, some people in that regional culture refuse to identify as anything else.

Maybe its because we are secure enough in our heritage to feel as if we don't need to hyphenate ourselves. I personally call myself "American", even though I am Scottish, Irish, Ulster-Scots, English, Welsh, French, German, Swiss, and Cherokee. Although on the census I had to identify as "Native American".

James of Arc · Jun 12, 2016

William67 · Jun 12, 2016

James of Arc said:
Come on William admit it, you have a family stick not a tree.

Actually, my family is quite diverse. lol I am related to many well known historic people (and some not so history, but none the less famous). Ive traced a number of my European roots back to the 10th century.

Travelers.Soul · Jun 12, 2016

James of Arc · Jun 12, 2016

William67 · Jun 13, 2016

James of Arc said:
lol, good for you.

I think so. Now, if I could just find a good woman to marry.

Noxot · Jun 13, 2016

MehGuy said:
I have to say, researching dead people for hours at a time is a little depressing.

Someday I'll just be a stupid name my future relatives will probably be looking up. While blasting current music through their headphones or directly into their minds or whatever future technology the future brings, lol.

maybe they will be reading and laughing at your cf posts

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