BS: Genealogy...anyone researching

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 05:08 PM

I am. I know enough that if I ever go to County Offaly I have permission to cut peat there. I also found out some horrifying stuff about my mother's family.

And now I am intrigued by the possibility of Melungeon blood...Williams of Georgia..and Williams is one of the Melungeon names...and would explain certain things...just found out a Chinese-Melungeon possible connection...this will be the year of the Melungeon so people keep googling...it is fascinating and is going to rewrite American history..not just of supposed European Americans -- but also of Native Americans from way long ago. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 12:57 PM

Here is a simple program for entering your records. It is called, surptisingly, Simple Family Tree (scroll down for links)

Here's an image of it with an edit box open

I have been adding stuff for several years now, and have followed my family back to Delaware in the 1700s and to Virginia in the early 1800s.... I 'might' have one branch back to Europe, but one must be careful. I have one verified female ancestor named Farrabee, but whether I can be sure exactly which branch she is from is not clear, as I found this, referring to 2 generations earlier, on one page...

"The FARABEES are a well researched line and there's lots of information on Farabee / Furbee / Furby. [But please note: As of yet, it has not been proven by Farabee researchers that Caleb Farabee is the same Caleb Furbee that married Jane Brady. So far this only seems to be an assumption made by Louis Thomas Farabee, author of "The Genealogy of the Farabees in America."]?

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: kendall
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 10:48 AM

As far as I can trace them, my fathers ancestors originated in Scandinavia, settled in Normandy, changed the name to DeMors, invaded England with William the conqueror, settled in Marlborough, changed the name to Morse,two brothers emigrated to America in 1635. One settled in the province of Maine,and one of the men was killed while defending an Indian against white men near Robbinston Maine in 1742 I think it was.
After serving in the American Civil War my great grandfather left his family and went to Australia where he died looking for gold.

It is hard find out anything about my Mothers ancestors, my maternal grandmother divorced my real grandfather and wouldn't talk about him. Her grandfather died in Libby prison in Richmond during the Civil war.Her maiden name was Crabtree, and my Mothers name was Webber, so I'm sure they were of English heritage.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Stu
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 10:18 AM

I started doing my family history a couple of years ago and it's been an exciting journey.

On my maternal side we traced the female side of the family back into mid-Wales after believing for years they came from the Valleys. They hopped over the border occasionally just inside Herefordshire and the far west of Shropshire around Clun but all roads eventually lead back to Wales, Radnorshire especially.

The male side of Mum's family came from Essex (the Rodings) and we think some may have originally come from Scotland too. My great-great grandfather was a coachman who worked in the stables at Windor during the glory years of Queen Victoria's reign. It must have been some sight.

My father's side led to the real surprises though. We had rumours of French, gypsy and Irish in the family but it wasn't until I contacted a great Uncle that we began find out the details. One side of the family were gypsies who worked the canals and eventually settled in Southall in West London; at the time it was well-known as a gypsy are. One great-great grandmother had twenty-two children by two different husbands! Another great-grandmother was Irish but I am researching the details at the moment.

By far the greatest story came down from my rather wayward great-great-grandfather. He was born in Shoreditch as was his father. His mother was too, but her maiden name was Cameroux and it turned out her family were Huguenots who came to England in the 18th Century intow waves; one via Berlin and Mannheim where the family fled to escape persecution where they originated from, near Nimes in the south of France. The others came from Rouen and Uzes and went straight to England where their marriage is recorded.

I'm hoping to travel there this year to see where my ancestors came from.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Will Fly
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 05:46 AM

I've been doing family history research for over 40 years, but it's really in the last 10 or so years - with the rise of the internet and computer power - that most of my results have been produced. It's not only the databases such as the IGI and those provided via Ancestry that have produced data, but also communications from other people who've linked to my family data using GenesReunited, genealogy bulletin boards and other family websites.

I used to keep various files in Filemaker Pro, Word, Excel and other formats, but now I just keep all my found data in handwritten books and transcribe it all into the (Mac) Reunion software.

Ancestors came mainly from Lancashire and Norfolk in the UK, with deeper roots in Ireland (Kildare), Scotland (Edinburgh) and probably the Low Countries. Some ancestors migrated to Canada (Ontario), some to Utah to join the Mormon faith, some to Australia and some to South America. One or two fought in the American Civil War and received pensions from the US government for doing so. Trades were mainly miners, blacksmiths, agricultural workers, shoemakers, tailors, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: bfdk
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 05:31 AM

Count me in, please :-)

I've been at it for some 10-15 years now, and have my own Genealogy homepage which lists the ancestors of my 4 grandparents as far back as I know them. Or rather, it needs updating, as I've found more bits and pieces in the meantime, just never got round to updating.. Most of the homepage is in Danish, though, but there's a small intro in English.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: open mike
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 02:10 AM

i have added hundreds of names to my family tree. thanks to rootsweb
contacts and mailing lists and web frorums. I also used to buy into the membership on ancestry, myfamily and genealogy.com.

I have met several relatives on-line since researching them and visited them, and attended family reunions too.

most of my searching was inspired by trying to find out about my
grandfather who disappeared when my mom was 4, leaving grandma and the three children to live in the prairies before there was welfare to help. I have found out about several generations before my grandpa
and also several generations after, but it is still a mystery about him.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Ed T
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 10:20 PM

One of my ancestors was an Acadian, (some of the first Eurpean settlers to Canada) His brothers and sisters (and families) were deportated to New England ( out of Canada) during the Acadian Deportation of 1755. At the time, the British declaired it illegal for any Acadian to be at large...and they could be captured, deported, or killed on site. He avoided deportation, was unarmed when shot by British troops while he was tending his fields on his farm. His wife and two children survived a fled to safe haven inside Canada. Most of his deported relatives eventually came back to Canada....save one who went back to France and one to Quebec.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 09:03 PM

There's actually a better write-up on Yeamans in a link on that page. Here is a DIRECT LINK.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 08:57 PM

Barry, it is good to see you posting. Thanks for the links. Those are both very evocative and beautiful. I still can get lost for hours in your site...the tunes and your arrangements, etc. are so incredible and extensive.

My mom's brother did a lot of genealogy research pre-internet; he travelled to a lot of places, finding graves, etc. He traced us back to a Sir John Yeamans of Barbados, I suppose the most famous/infamous of our ancestors as he had a large plantation but coveted a neighbour's wife. He wound up killing the neighbour in a duel. There's a picture of the house and the story HERE. I've seen other records which report he brought 3-400 slaves with him from Barbados. Not something to be particularly proud of. Interestingly enough, my daughter's boyfriend is from North Carolina and is an American of African descent. In all of their research they have never found any ancestor who is listed as a slave.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: artbrooks
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 08:21 PM

The Brookses originally came over in the 1630s, but almost everyone else immigrated in the 1880s. The most interesting story, I think, is on my wife's side - she had a great-uncle Arthur who was employed by the White Star Line as a violinist. He was signed on to the Titanic, but traded his spot at the last minute to a friend who needed the billet. He later jumped ship in New York...an illegal immigrant, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Janie
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 08:13 PM

I am more of spectator and cheerleader for my sister than a researcher, but it is all quite fascinating. All of my ancestors on both sides of my family had immigrated to the Americas by 1730, and all very quickly headed toward the Appalachians. My branch of the family then spread out up and down the Appalachians and the Appalachian Plateau, but others soon went on to Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma. The amount of relocating, pulling up of stakes and moving on that occurred within each generation up until at least the Revolutionary War is truly astonishing.

As I have read what others have shared and what my sister has learned, it is like reading of the history of the process of the founding of this country, its early settlement, and the economic, political and religious forces that drove the engine in microcosm, including the effects of Native Americans, particularly the Cherokee and other southeast tribes, as the first generation of my Williams anscestors to be born here moved quickly into the southern Appalachians and both fought with and married Native Americans.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Rumncoke
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 08:05 PM

That is weird.

My mother's mother's first husband died in the 1916 Somme Offensive, and left her a widow with two small children. He has no known grave.

His daughter survived to old age, but had no children. His son died in infancy from diptheria.

Though I supose there are many people with an ancestor, or a 'would have been' ancestor who died in the first world war.

My actual grandfather was wounded at a place he and the family called Wypers - it was only long after I first heard the name that I found out that it is written Ypres.

Anne Croucher

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 07:18 PM

Thanks for the Ellis Island tip Kat. Just tried it to see if my errant Grandfather came up, he did a runner in the mid 1930's. No luck, though we know he did go to the US as we have some old letters posted from Washington DC. I have the feeling from research that he even lied about his name. It was easier to dissapear in the 30's than today and then set up a new identity.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: akenaton
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 07:17 PM

As I have a rather unusual name, researching genealogy is fairly simple for me.
One of the most interesting(to me) things I discovered, was that my great-great-grandfather sailed on "HMS Temeraire" after Trafalgar.

The ship was of course celebrated in Turner's famous painting.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Barry T
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 07:13 PM

I've been researching my roots (as well as my wife's) for the past four decades. It's either a passion or an obsession. 'Can't quite decide which.

The best reward of all is reaching out to and making new friends with folks from all across the globe who are researching the same names.

The hobby has also connected to music for me. Inspired by family history and the emotion it sometimes generates, I wrote two musical works to honour two of my ancestors born a century apart.

An Emigrant's Daughter

Gilbert Lightfoot (Bagpipe Slow Air)

.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Jeri
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:57 PM

My mother researched our genealogy, and was more interested in the stories of the people than anything else. One of my great-greats was Old Henry Fransisco. What follows was all information my mom had. There's actually a 'Fransisco Society'.

From http://www.nortonancestry.com/warner:

Hendrick Francisco has in various interviews stated that he was born in Essex, France on June 11, 1686. There are no records to confirm this. It is known however, that he died in Whitehall, New York on October 10, 1820.

From http://forums.uechi-ryu.com/, on the author's trip to Whitehall, NY:

Its most famous resident seems to have been "Old Henry Francisco" who lived to be (allegedly) 134 years old and listed as interred in "The Old Skene Cemetery"

So, the Skene family must have been the movers and shakers of Whitehall in earlier time.

Henry Francisco (everything follows is 'alleged') unless a notation indicates otherwise:

was born May 31, 1686; His date of death is gives as "October 1820";
he served :

In Colonel Sth Warner's Regiment from January 1777 until 1778; so it appears possible he may have been at Valley Forge. I will research that matter.

There is a lot more to Henry Francisco's military carreer, and I do ask momentary patience as I cannot list all his various enlistments and services dates just now.

He was, however, interviewed by a de Toqueville predecessor in 1819. which described as "fair and delicate" in appearance.

Dr. Stillman, the interviewer asked if Henry had been present at the coronation of Queen Anne, whose name is used to identify "Queen Anne's War".

Henry allegedly responded to the question as follows:

"Ah, dat I did, and a fine looking woman she was too, an any dat you will see now a days". Queen Anne was crowned in 1702. he Participated in all Queen Anne's Wars.

Of the commanders he served under he cold recall only the Duke of Marlborough.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:49 PM

I have been slowly researching for a number of years, but not as many personal notes as you have noted, though I did write a novel based on my dad's oral history of early days in Colorado. Originally I was going to present it as non-fiction, but there wasn't enough material, so a couple of people talked me into fictionalizing it. That was anathema to me for a long time, I thought it would be disrespectful, but I am pleased with the result. There's a bit of the early stuff I was working on HERE.

I've had several thrills when finally discovering things one of which was the name of the neighbour by great-grandad had a shoot-out with and killed. My dad couldn't remember if it was Sullivan or another Irish last name. One day I found some mortuary records from that area online. There is was, the right date, etc. "Jim Sullivan, shot dead" etc. With that clue I was able to contact the state historical society which found an extensive Rocky Mountain News article about it!

I also had a kind of odd thing happen. I was looking for info on a brother-in-law of my maternal grandma when I was led to an auction site which had his entire newish Civil War Union Officer's outfit up for bid. It was newer because he'd been a prisoner and was issued it when he returned to his unit or somesuch. I cannot remember the starting bid but it was way out of my range.

I keep forgetting to watch ebay for genealogy-related items, including family bibles.

You might find some interesting resources in This Old Thread.

I look forward to hearing more. I LOVE this subject! I've another one I will post later.:-)

Subject: BS: Genealogy...anyone researching
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:27 PM

For the last 8 years an uncle and I have been researching the family tree. Simpler nowdays as access to records on-line is much easier.

Come across some surprising turns and twists based on an aural recolection written down many years ago. I have managed to push back to the late 1700's on direct branches.

One of the saddest records I came across was for the effects of my Gt Gt Grandfather who died on April 5th 1918 at Aveluy Wood on the Somme. He was with the Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles. From records held at the National Archives in the UK I have been able to read the battalion diaries for the day he died. He would have been listed as an OR (Other Ranks) killed in action. Only officers were identified by name. We have a splendid photo of him and his bride taken in 1908 in London along with about 40 other members of the family at the time.

His effects were returned promptly and really only consisted of a watch with a missing glass,a watch key and case, some photo's, a souvenir coin, and some religous books.

His body was never returned and we are not sure that the marker for his grave at Martinsart is correclty placed as records seem to indicate that he was given a field burial along with the 4 other men he was killed with, but later that was blown up by artillery fire and what was left was re-buried.

He left a wife and two small children behind.

I have also found records that show another relative who was injured in the Great War and headed off to Canada on discharge with his wife and three children. He was with the Royal Engineers and it look like he was one of the sappers overseeing the mines at Messines which were made famous by the book 'Birdsong'. Apparently they dug 22 mines of which 19 were detonated. 2 have no known location and one blew up in the 50's following a lightning strike which killed a cow plus bringing down the electricity pylons.

Another, who gave up weaving in Essex to join up was quickly taken prisoner of war. He was with the Essex Regiment, Cyclists Battalion.

One of the happier records is for a Gt Gt Grandfather on my mothers side who owned the 'floating baths and bathing machines' at Southend on Sea in Essex. The machines were for females only in order to preserve their modesty. He died at 90 of 'Apoplexy and brain siezures'. Wonder what upset him so much?

Any other Catters researching and found interesting info?