How Well Do You Know Your Ancestry?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Inspired in part by this thread and in part because I’ve become interested in documenting a family tree for my son…

How far back do you know your ancestors?

For me, it’s a mixed bag. On my father’s side, not far at all. He was born out of wedlock in El Salvador; his mother was a Central American Indian who never married and who passed away in the 1970s. My father died in 1985, so he’s not available as a source of information. My paternal grandfather was apparently a man of some social standing, but that did not extend to my dad - although my dad knew who his father was and even attended his dad’ funeral, and was apparently treated well by his half-brothers when he did. But he didn’t belong to that family in any meaningful sense. So I don’t even know, for sure, my paternal grandfather’s name, much less his ancestors or any of my uncles on that side.

My mother’s family is a different story. I know her parents’ names, the date they married, and the names of her two siblings – one of whom was a corporal killed in World War II, part of the 42nd Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division.

I know the name and birthdate of her fathers’ parents as well. And in fact, due to some truly amazing geneaology work already done for me, I can trace that line back to the 1500s, in the parish of Ivinghoe, England, and one John Higbed, c. 1600s. His descendants were the Higbee family, and my great-grandfather married Anne Elizabeth Higbee. The Higbees have done amazing work uncovering their family tree; there is a Higbee whose name and address I know that is my 10th cousin. (Haven’t contacted him to say “Hi, cuz!” just yet)

My mother’s mother was apparently estranged from her family, apparently over the decision to marry my grandfather, so the line stops dead, so far, with her – I don’t even know her parent’s names.

So – I can name three of my four grandparents, two of my eight great-grandparents, and ancestors of one great-grandparents all the way back to the 1500s.

Has anyone done more digging than that?

2

I traced one family line back to the days of Cromwell (early 1600’s). The rest go back 6-10 generations. Some of us (Irish) got here by way of Nova Scotia, some (German and a little Irish) were Pennsylvania Dutch, others (english and danish) were covered-wagon pioneers going from England to Utah via New Orleans. I have to go back to my parents’ some day and copy off the family tree I made up back in 7th grade…

3

Not well at all, I’m afraid. I don’t really want to trace my ancestry; at least, not now. I think it would be too depressing. Interesting, but depressing nonetheless.

4

I’m fortunate that several members of my family have great interest in tracking our ancestry. My maternal grandfather traced his and my grandmother’s families back as far as he could, through 200 years in the US and some in England and Germany before that. He passed this hobby on to my uncle before he passed away so we are still learning new things. In fact we have photos of ancesters back to the late 1800’s and I can find a great-great-somthing grandfather on the Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg.

My father has traced his father’s family back to thier arrival from England in the 1700’s. Unfortunately all we know about my paternal grandmother’s family is that her father came over from Lugo, Spain before the Civil War and her mother’s parents came from somewhere in Poland, perhaps Krakow. It’s been a lot easier to track back in the country you live in. It’s those overseas trips that seem to cause trouble.

G

5

Not very well. My mother’s side, I never knew my grandparents and don’t know their names. However, my mother’s side is still alive so I can ask them.

My father’s side? I was born out of wedlock, so no one knows much about him. I barely know his name.

6

The family commissioned a geneology back in the 1890s. We have a copy of it with handwritten entries for my father and me and my siblings. Our family name is large enough to where we actually have a family association and the geneology is kept current on the Internet.

We trace back to a guy who came over on the Mayflower. I understand that, fairly recently, there has been evidence found of him over in England, but while I was growing up, the theory was that he changed his name because he hadn’t been located. This led me, at age 15 or so, to comment that he was on the run and we were probably descended from a long line of British pig thieves and rapists. My father nearly herniated over that one! :smiley:

7

I know my ancestry quite well. It includes a bathtub gin producer during prohibition, a woman hung for witchcraft in Salem in 1692, a revolutionary soldier who fought at Bunker Hill, two War of 1812 veterans, a Civil War vet, and a whole slew of people who fought in “King Philip’s War”!

The Mercotan surname can be traced to one particular individual who resided at the eponymous estate in the early 1600’s and took the name as his own. The place itself’s name is noted in Charlemagne’s tax rolls back circa 800 AD.

8

Well, Mom’s a amateur geneologist, so I have a fairly detailed family tree established, at least on her side. Dad’s side goes back to the early 1800’s in Cologne, Germany and such. Mom’s goes back well into the 1500’s. Seems I an tangentally related to any number of Scottish scoundrels, most notably Sir John Dalrymple:

In April, 1695, King William ordered an official Commission of Enquiry into the Massacre at Glencoe. In the commission’s final report, Sir John Dalrymple was blamed for the atrocity. Dalrymple was forced to resign his office, after which he received a pardon from the king. When questioned about the massacre, Dalrymple replied “My only regret is that some of them escaped.”

:smiley:

9

In my case, we’ve been able to trace our family lines as far as their arrival in the US (which ranges from the 1600’s in my paternal grandmother’s line to around 1906/7 in my paternal grandfather’s line), but our efforts to trace our ancestors back in the home countries haven’t been as successful.

10

My mother’s side is reasonably well-documented. Her direct paternal line can be traced to 17th century Rhode Island. Her maternal line stems from German (Lutheran, the Palatinate), Dutch (Niew Amsterdam), and Melungeon (Tennessee). No Mayflower ancestors to my knowledge. On my grandmother’s side I probably have ancestry from the Middle East – maybe I’m a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

My father’s side is a big blank. I’m another illegitimate child. I have my father’s name, and the name of his brother. That’s it. Never met the man. I feel like there’s a big gaping hole. My biological father has an Irish surname however.

11

Not as well as I’d like to. I know a little about my great-grandparents - I think that was the generation that came to America on both sides of my family about 100 years ago - what countries they were from, that’s it.

12

Don’t forget that guy named Gandalf! He’s my favorite remote ancestor.

13

My mother researched her family all the way back to the 1700’s here in the US, so that information is available to me. Father’s grandparents came here from Ukraine just prior to WWI. They were very close-mouthed about anything to do with old country, so we know next to nothing going back any further than that.

14

My brother is the family tree person. His database isn’t online anymore, so I can’t go check on dates. But he’s been able to go back to the 1700s on my mother’s side. My father’s parents were orphaned in London as young children, so little or nothing is known about their parents or other family. It’s odd that some of the people whom my brother has contacted for information for the database were downright hostile about it, and wouldn’t tell him anything…

15

On my father’s side, I know my grandparents names, my grandma’s father’s name and when they came to the US (from Rome), and a great-uncle or two. My father’s traced the male line back to a small town in Germany and then some, but all I know of that is the name of the town. It’s thought that the male line eventually extends back to Hungary, but nobody knows the genealogical path.

On my mother’s side, I can trace back to all of my great-grandparents (including maiden names), and I know the name of my mother’s father’s mother’s father and a few stories about him. Going back further in my maternal grandfather’s line, I know I have a great[sup]4[/sup] grandmother who was a Shawnee Indian, and I know the name of a great[sup]5[/sup] grandfather who came over in 1775 for the opportunity to fight the English (he ended the war as a captain in the American army). But I don’t know the path to either of them. Aside from my Shawnee ancestry, the fellow who fought in the Revolutionary War was the first of my ancestors in the New World, so I know I don’t have any Mayflower blood. Most of my Irish ancestors (my granpap’s line) came over during the Potato Famine. I know almost nothing of my maternal grandmother’s branch, past her parents, beyond that they were mostly German.

16

I have a book that was published a few years ago that has the descendents of a French Hugenot couple who came to the Williamsburg, VA area in 1700. I’m on page 132. My kids are the 12th generation of descendants of this fellow. A somewhat famous gay author from SF who shares my surname is also in the book.

On my mom’s side, I only know back to the late 1800s in S. Arkansas, but I know the name is Welsh, so they probably go back a way. Someone, somewhere has it, but I don’t.

17

My last name was invented by my grandfather – for reasons largely unexplained, he changed an o into an a. So far, my one year old cousin Jacob is the 15th person to have the name. I have a good idea of my ancestry on that side through my great-grandfather Nathan. On my mother’s side I only know back up through her parents. I also know that one of my mom’s grandmothers was a Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty, but I don’t know her name.

My wife’s uncle did a great geneaology of their family several years ago which we’ve got a copy of, although (being that they’re Chinese), it only includes lines that branch off from male family members.

–Cliffy

18

I know that most, if not all, of my parents’ grandparents were born in southwestern Russia in the last quarter of the 19th century, that they were all Jewish, and that they had all moved to America by the time WWI began.

19

Same problem here. My grandparents and great-grandparents did not like talking about The Old Country, and reconds on Eastern-European Jews were not very well-kept (and what was kept was destroyed during the war, along with those relatives who didn’t git while the gitting was good).

I know a lot about my mother’s maternal line, just because one of the great-aunts was interested and kept records; and some about my father’s paternal line, because his father wrote his (highly selective) memoirs. But the rest of the family? I don’t even know what cities they’re from of what their real names were. Every time I asked, I got shut down.

20

I knew all my grandparents and one great-grandmother (all dead now), and at least the names of 3 out of 4 sets of great-grandparents. Those sets on my mom’s side were immigrants, so on that side I know all the way back to the boat. On my dad’s side, my parents have a book printed sometime around 1940 that lists all the descendents of my grandfather’s great-great-grandfather, a Virginia plantation owner and Confederate officer (hardly a point of pride, obviously).