Who do you think you are?

[D_Relentless Original]

Hi, i have been tracing my family tree now for a while and have managed on some relations to get back as far 1710. Its amazing what you can "dig up" on the internet etc, i have been surprised by a few things i have come across tho.

Anyway, just wondering if any one is doing their family history/tree and could give a few pointers, also tell us about, what got you started etc.

Many Thanks Tardis

 

[crossy]

I beieve I am a descendant of Hugh Capet. The Mormon church has an awesome geneology collection from all over the world.

 

[D_Jared Padalicki]

I have no idea... can't find it either, but that is okay. :smile:
Only one side I know, my mums, and some of her family are from africa. (we are white lol)

 

[nudeyorker]

There is a site I think called... ancestor.com someone was raving about how helpful it was a a holiday party last winter. I've been meaning to look into and always get side tracked.
BTW...great new avatar!

 

[D_Relentless Original]

I beieve I am a descendant of Hugh Capet. The Mormon church has an awesome geneology collection from all over the world.

Hi crossy, that is a brilliant reference site, and it is free, i got lots of good info from there.

 

[rbkwp]

Well Tardis

I know on the Maori side we are related pretty close to the Royal Family (Tainui-Ngaruawhia) but... in saying that i dont think the English took too kindly to Maori having a Royal Family..ha
Also descended from some of the Scottish Clan .. Grahams i believe
On the Chinese side .. pretty much working class Peasants.i actually prefer my Chinese Heritage
Hence a pretty mixed up Individual
enz

 

[D_Andreas Sukov]

according to some thing i paid for at lands end in cronwall im decending from an irish clan, which means both sides of my family would be from ireland although my mothers side is more recent. there is every chance of some scottish in there too as my dads side were from darlington. i havent really looked much though. although im certain most of it is within these fair isles and maybe some scandanavian chucked in for good measure.

 

[2322]

I beieve I am a descendant of Hugh Capet. The Mormon church has an awesome geneology collection from all over the world.

Be really, really, careful of relationships to Hugh Capet. Since The da Vinci Code came out tons of people have (creatively) "discovered" lines back to the Capets because they are descendants of the Merovingians. I've run into this a few times and each time when I go back to sources outside of those on GenWeb or Ancestry.com, namely the family genealogists themselves, I find the truth isn't so noble. Most of these are come from the de Courcy line, others from the Bourbons. Usually the connection is alleged to be a bastard who made good under a different name, but not always. In my searches I've found three different connections back to Hugh Capet and, therefore, back to Rupert/Rutpert of Worms circa 7th century AD and the Carolingians. Until I find something more concrete than what various branches claim, I'm remaining sceptical.

Pay very careful attention when you find bastards or lesser sons and daughters of nobles and/or royals. Very many people in Europe and the US have some noble or royal connections, but at those junctures it's extremely important to be sure you're not being misled by someone else's wishful thinking. Look for independent supporting sources of good reputation. When you do find a true connection, it's a lot of fun because it's like finding an expressway after hacking through a jungle. With royals and nobles all the work has been done and it's just a matter of filling in forms until the mists of time have lost all record or myth takes the place of fact. Many have great stories and portraits (accurate or not) attached to them as well.

Online genealogical sources are great but take their entries with a grain of salt unless the sources are cited precisely and you can verify them. Use them as pointers. Also check for independent family genealogy sites which back their sources wth independent sources (not Ancestry or GenWeb or even the Mormons unless the data is sourced and backed).

And get your DNA tested as well. If you can afford to do both tests (patralineal and matralineal) then do them.

 

[StormyB]

Only one side I know, my mums, and some of her family are from africa. (we are white lol)

Well that's nothing strange, it's now being said that all humans originated from Africa.


OP: I've never tried to track my heritage, but now i'm curious :tongue:

 

[798686]

My parents looked into it a few years back and got to the mid-late 1700s. My Dad's side is predominantly English - although the surname is originally a Norman one, so may have come from France ages ago.

My Mum's side is 3/4 Irish and 1/4 Welsh - the Irish relatives having come over here in the 1800s.

 

[2322]

according to some thing i paid for at lands end in cronwall im decending from an irish clan, which means both sides of my family would be from ireland although my mothers side is more recent. there is every chance of some scottish in there too as my dads side were from darlington. i havent really looked much though. although im certain most of it is within these fair isles and maybe some scandanavian chucked in for good measure.

Pretty much everyone from Ireland is Scots as well because the Irish came from Scotland. All that red hair didn't come from Scotland or Ireland either, it came from Vikings who liked to, er, visit both places. So when you see Irish ancestry, immediately look to Scotland and Scandinavia for further clues.

 

[D_Relentless Original]

Thanks Jason, very useful to know.

 

[Ren69]

I dont know, I dont have idea... sometimes i thinks it would be cool to know...

 

[Jason]

The term "clan" is used for Highland Scotland, and not properly used for Lowland Scotland or Ireland. Correctly used it refers to a feudal legal and cultural system which existed beyond the Highland Line prior to 1745. In religion the Highlands were Roman Catholic. This is the system which was destroyed following the Battle of Culloden. No clans truly exist today, though there are plenty of revival organisations.

The Scots who settled in Ireland through the plantation were presbyterians from Lowland Scotland, mostly Galloway and Ayrshire. They are different from the Highlanders. They did not bring a clan system to Ireland - nor did the Celtic Irish have a clan system. There aren't Irish clans, whatever some marketer of tourist paraphenalia might try to argue.

Many in Ireland today of course have ancestry which reflects both the Catholic Irish and Protestant Scots, though there has been a strong tradition against cross community marriage. Most protestant Irish in the north are happy to call their dialect and culture "Ulster Scots" - and some are happy to call themselves Ulster Scots. This contrasts with Irish, the term used by the Celtic Irish. By contrast many in the protestant tradition whose families have been in Ireland for 400 years avoid calling themselves Irish - rather they are British, or men/women of Northern Ireland.

Links between the four countries of the British Isles are very many. Ireland has a Celtic population with an early Viking influx, a substantial Lowland Scots addition and then the English ascendancy. Scotland is named after settlers called the Scots who came from Ireland in the Early Middle Ages. Add the Picts, the Vikings and a lot of English, stir for a thousand years or so, and you get the modern Scots. England was once a Celtic country and this is still the predominant genetic stock, but with big English and Viking additions (and surprisingly large Gypsy and Jewish elements also). Wales is Celtic plus English.

The ethnic, cultural, political and religious mix of the British Isles is finely nuanced. It is a source both of pride and friction. The problems of Northern Ireland have not gone away (there were riots on Monday in Belfast). There are issues of Scottish and Welsh nationalism - and even Cornish nationalism - which can be problematic. The area is something of a minefield. It is also linked to families, and in Britain surnames do give a lot of information on origin. Shockingly even today there is a dmonstrable link between surname and income. Americans often seem unaware that they have a surname which has a set of associations which most people in Britain understand almost intuitively. In a British context the surname would suggest place of origin, religion, social class, perhaps even wealth.

 

[Jason]

All that red hair didn't come from Scotland or Ireland either, it came from Vikings who liked to, er, visit both places

Actually I agree with you. But the BBC geneticists cannot find Viking genes in Ireland.

The Vikings founded the city of Dublin - the biggest city of the Viking world. They settled in several other spots on the eastern and southern coast. And their migration was predominantly a male migration, so they took Irish brides.

Genes don't come with a clear rubric that says "this is a Viking gene". In the British Isles it is well accepted that the genes of the English and the Danish Vikings cannot be distinguished. However a few years ago the BBC commissioned a series called "Blood of the Vikings" for which they proposed a distinctive Norwegian Viking gene, and went on to identify areas of Norwegian Viking settlement. This does map reasonably well with areas where we think the Norwegian Vikings settled, with the major exceptions of Ireland and Norway. They found no trace whatsoever of their Norwegian Viking gene in Ireland - and Ireland's Vikings were the Norwegian variety.

It is very hard to see any reason why the Norwegian Viking gene type should be different from Danish Viking. My view is that the BBC allowed some dodgy scholarship through (indeed they seem to have buried the series after one screening which might suggest they feel this too). A thought is that the gene they are calling Norwegian Viking is in fact Pictish.

Red hair, blond hair, blue eyes, green eyes - these are northern Germanic traits, found among Vikings and English and Germans. The point perhaps is that they are not Celtic.

 

[798686]

Loads of Viking history where I was brought up (Wirral - near Liverpool). Loads of Viking place names (Frankby, Greasby, etc) and apparently there was a big battle there in the 800s when Alfred (I think) gathered the English tribes together and drove the Vikings over to Ireland.

 

[JF]

I have been dabbling in researching my family tree for a few years now - I first started after seeing "Who Do You Think You Are?". My starting point was simply to talk to family members - the older ones especially - so they can fill you in on the past couple of generations and hopefully the current ones, if you don't know your family well.

Collecting any family-related documents that may be around certainly helps too - birth, marriage & death (BMD) certificates help clear up a lot of mysteries or even start some new ones. Obtaining certified copies of these doesn't cost a lot (currently £7 per copy in England) and can help extend your search back greatly.

Recording your findings in either a dedicated family tree program or on one of the many websites is pretty much essential - though keeping a paper copy for annotation & as a working guide helps get the information laid out and is easy to quickly check & correct. Sharing your tree on such websites can reap benefits too - I have established contact with many distant relatives through doing so. However, ensure you set the privacy level so that you don't give out details of living relatives - that is often a serious concern if people suddenly find a Google search of their name produces a lot of personal information that shouldn't otherwise be available. Although some sites do charge for memberships, they do provide access to valuable information - transcribed census returns & BMD index information, military lists, maritime records and emigration records etc.

As well as simply recording the bare facts, finding and digitising old photographs helps flesh-out the members of your family tree, as does recording anecdotes or facts about the individuals as they come up during your research. There are also amateur enthusiasts who have devoted a lot of time to various research activities - one near me has photographed and transcribed all of the Memorial Inscription (grave) details for an entire cemetary and uploaded a searchable index online. Make use of whatever resources you can, but of course, be sure to thank those who help you on your way.

The key thing is to pace yourself and to keep enjoying it - finding a record after weeks of searching is a great feeling.

 

[B_Morning_Glory]

i do know that im related to jesse james a couple of great grandfather. my grandpa is a james.

 

[D_Relentless Original]

I have been dabbling in researching my family tree for a few years now - I first started after seeing "Who Do You Think You Are?". My starting point was simply to talk to family members - the older ones especially - so they can fill you in on the past couple of generations and hopefully the current ones, if you don't know your family well.

Collecting any family-related documents that may be around certainly helps too - birth, marriage & death (BMD) certificates help clear up a lot of mysteries or even start some new ones. Obtaining certified copies of these doesn't cost a lot (currently £7 per copy in England) and can help extend your search back greatly.

Recording your findings in either a dedicated family tree program or on one of the many websites is pretty much essential - though keeping a paper copy for annotation & as a working guide helps get the information laid out and is easy to quickly check & correct. Sharing your tree on such websites can reap benefits too - I have established contact with many distant relatives through doing so. However, ensure you set the privacy level so that you don't give out details of living relatives - that is often a serious concern if people suddenly find a Google search of their name produces a lot of personal information that shouldn't otherwise be available. Although some sites do charge for memberships, they do provide access to valuable information - transcribed census returns & BMD index information, military lists, maritime records and emigration records etc.

As well as simply recording the bare facts, finding and digitising old photographs helps flesh-out the members of your family tree, as does recording anecdotes or facts about the individuals as they come up during your research. There are also amateur enthusiasts who have devoted a lot of time to various research activities - one near me has photographed and transcribed all of the Memorial Inscription (grave) details for an entire cemetary and uploaded a searchable index online. Make use of whatever resources you can, but of course, be sure to thank those who help you on your way.

The key thing is to pace yourself and to keep enjoying it - finding a record after weeks of searching is a great feeling.

Thanks Jamie, i agree with all that you wrote, the buzz and feeling you get when you actually crack a name you have been working on for weeks is great.
I am going to Kew Gardens next week to the National archives which should bring up a lot more.

 

[B_Monster]

Ive gone as far as 1657 in Germany, actually 8 great-grandfathers on one side of the family, its really cool to search for family members.