# I went on ancestory.com... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 29, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149 "2012-03-29T13:35:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/41 "2012-03-30T22:47:18Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A lot of Poles took their American equivalent for a first name, but on a census it could turn up as the original spelling. It took forever to find my wife’s grandfather, who went by ‘Lorenc’ (Lawrence). I found him on a census under Wawrzyniec. And it only took me five years and a flash of insight. :rolleyes: My last name has only three letters (today). Just poking around on FamilySearch this afternoon I found three different spellings for it since my great, great grandfather arrived here some time before 1840 (I’m told he stowed away on a ship from Germany, so finding immigration records might not be easy). To top it off, I found 5 different spellings for his first name on various documents over a 90 year period. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/42 "2012-04-01T15:44:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > First Cousin marriage is legal in many states even now. And not just the ones you would sterotypically think of. > > [http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/human-services/state-laws-regarding-marriages-between-first-cousi.aspx](http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/human-services/state-laws-regarding-marriages-between-first-cousi.aspx) And from what I understand, most of Europe doesn’t think any thing about 1st cousins getting together. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/43 "2012-04-01T17:03:52Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Her earliest ancestor of the same name had mitochondria. You can get a topical cream for that now. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/44 "2012-04-01T17:58:47Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > My last name has only three letters (today). Just poking around on FamilySearch this afternoon I found three different spellings for it since my great, great grandfather arrived here some time before 1840 (I’m told he stowed away on a ship from Germany, so finding immigration records might not be easy). To top it off, I found 5 different spellings for his first name on various documents over a 90 year period. My sympathies. I know the original spelling of my German immigrant ancestor and what year he came to America, but can find no record of his journey or his naturalization. The [Ship Transcribers Guild](http://www.immigrantships.net/) has a good free searchable database of immigrant ship manifests that is expanding all the time, if you haven’t checked there. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/45 "2012-04-01T20:03:01Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > My sympathies. I know the original spelling of my German immigrant ancestor and what year he came to America, but can find no record of his journey or his naturalization. The [Ship Transcribers Guild](http://www.immigrantships.net/) has a good free searchable database of immigrant ship manifests that is expanding all the time, if you haven’t checked there. Thanks for the link. I think I’m going to go ahead and sign up for [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) in hopes I can nail down the timing of his arrival, and maybe this will help me go back from there. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/46 "2012-04-01T20:07:35Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > You would not \*believe \*what I learned about my family on [incestry.com](http://incestry.com)! I just typed that into a search engine… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/47 "2012-04-02T17:38:14Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > _I_ went on [Ancestory.com](http://Ancestory.com) and discovered that my ancestors were… Conservatives! No political refugees from the U.S.? ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/48 "2012-04-04T14:43:08Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > You’re descended from Egyptian royalty? 🙂 No…she’s a Lanaster. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/49 "2012-04-04T17:10:02Z")
My dad’s gotten pretty into this whole thing, down to actually contributing original research to the field. (He has some fascinating theories about how the eruption of Krakatoa in 535 affected crops in Ireland and England.) He’s found my Revolutionary War ancestor died twice. Once in the Battle of New York, and once at Bunker Hill. He couldn’t figure this out. It’s not just database entries, there was documentation. Then I pointed out to him that the Battle of New York one was in a hospital, and they had the clergy come by about once a week and write final letters for people who they thought were about to die. So he clearly had the final letter and last rites performed, and got better anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/50 "2012-04-04T18:00:43Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > My dad’s gotten pretty into this whole thing, down to actually contributing original research to the field. (He has some fascinating theories about how the eruption of Krakatoa in 535 affected crops in Ireland and England.) > > He’s found my Revolutionary War ancestor died twice. Once in the Battle of New York, and once at Bunker Hill. He couldn’t figure this out. It’s not just database entries, there was documentation. > > Then I pointed out to him that the Battle of New York one was in a hospital, and they had the clergy come by about once a week and write final letters for people who they thought were about to die. So he clearly had the final letter and last rites performed, and got better anyhow. My dad had a crazy idea about breeding pine trees. Hmmmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/51 "2012-04-04T18:36:56Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > You would not \*believe \*what I learned about my family on [incestry.com](http://incestry.com)! No joke, when doing my family tree I found out that my grandfather’s father was my great-_great_-grandfather. :eek: and ewww. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149/52 "2012-04-05T14:16:18Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Why go to [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) when you have [familysearch.org](http://familysearch.org) with the same data for free? Then if you want to see the actual records, it looks like [familysearch.org](http://familysearch.org) takes you to [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-on-ancestory-com/617149.md?page=2)