I have recently been looking into my family tree after watching "Who Do You Think You Are?" and found it interesting how far back I could trace family heritage using only basic public records. So far I have been able to trace it back to Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands (the country not the kingdom) and France. Though there is a lot more to look at without paying for further access or DNA lineage.
Has anyone else looked into there heritage and if so where you from?
My wife is the geniologist, I shall have to consult her.
Found anybody famous yet?
My background is French Canadian/Irish. Apparently one of my great, great, great (etc) grandfather's was one of the first fur traders in Canada ;D
I did this a while back, it's crazy what type of history you'll uncover, though it may take some work. I was able to track my Irish heritage all the way back to the construction and ownership of Dunluce castle, and my great, great, great, great(I think that's how many) grandmother came from there after her family was killed, castle stolen, and ran out of the country by a rival family.
That, and my great grandfather stole his wife from a Cherokee tribe, which may or may not have gotten him murdered.
I'm just sad that the further back you go, it gets a whole lot harder to follow up on things. Everyone I know that has looked into their family's past has found at least one incredible/interesting/odd story along with it.
Quote from: Crow on December 04, 2011, 10:08:53 PMSo far I have been able to trace it back to Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands (the country not the kingdom) and France.
Wow, I feel sorry for you. My history finding was a pain and I was only sorting through two countries records, can only imagine the time you must be having with it.
Swedish as far as I know. Though I do think I might have a bit of English last time I checked.
I did trace my horse's pedigree back to the 1500s though.
Quote from: Tank on December 04, 2011, 10:13:07 PM
Found anybody famous yet?
Going back then forward I may possibly be related to Whyt Earp but that needs a little more research to properly confirm. The Sinclare clan and the Gunn clan though I don't know if I'm related to any of the historically famous people from those due to lack of records but most likely seing as my Surname came from one of the founders grandsons. There are a few famous people in my family alive today though that I had confirmed that my grandparents use to talk about but not really that notable.
Quote from: KingPhilip on December 04, 2011, 10:55:04 PM
Wow, I feel sorry for you. My history finding was a pain and I was only sorting through two countries records, can only imagine the time you must be having with it.
I have only looked properly into the Scottish and the Netherlands lines so far as they are notable historical names so quite easy to trace as there is a lot of information about them, with some fantastic stories and an Irish one being very very dark.
Scottish and Swedish :) A wee bit a' both!
Quote from: Phren-Seeker on December 05, 2011, 01:26:26 AM
Scottish and Swedish :) A wee bit a' both!
Finally! Another Swede on the forum. :D :P
I've poked around a bit in the past. My family name originated somewhere around Norway or Denmark. My mother's side is pretty cut and dry - Czech. No mystery there. I did find out that on my father's side I'm distantly related to Sir Thomas Overbury (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Overbury). I've also been toying around with the idea of genetic genealogy since many companies and organizations that have projects going like the Genographic Project (https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html). I think it would be interesting.
Well my father was totally Irish, birth and blood, and my mother is English. Having said that, her father and his family came from Norway between the wars and her mother is part Italian, so blood wise she's mixed. So tracing it back, as far as I know, I'd be...
50% Irish
25% Norwegian
^no wonder I'm ginger. :D
12.5% English
12.5% Italian.
All four of my grandparents came from central southern England, and I've never gone any further back than that. My surname, like so many, is a village-name; I know of about six villages of that name in England and have no idea which one the family line goes back to. Annoyingly, the villages seem to have three different etymologies.
I've always been a bit confused by my heritage, because my family considers itself Chinese (for the most part), but both of my parents and my grandparents were born and raised in Vietnam. Both of my parents speak Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Mandarin fluently. I'm not exactly sure when and how my ancestors immigrated to Vietnam. I should probably ask about that lol.
Aaron Burleson I came over to North Carolina in the 1790's from Wales (Caerleon, I think is the name of the town). The Burleson name originated in Devonshire, England, or thereabouts, (means something like "son of a butler") and then my ancestors made it up to Wales. From there, on my father's side, it's Aaron II, Joseph, James, Augustus, Richard, Robert, and Aaron Bruce (me).
On my mother's side, its a mix of Breton-English (Bowmer) and Scotch-Irish (Morgan).
I would think that it would be awesome to know the details of your ancestors lives, and some happenings that almost caused you not to exist. That's cool.
(I've been playing too much Assassin's Creed lately, in which the protagonist revisits and relives his ancestor's memories.)
Unfortunately I'm too lazy to bother searching through genealogical records, and too broke to pay someone to do it :P
i have British heritage but reside in Australia and currently on extended stay in the philippines , which has given me a confused outlook .
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 05, 2011, 11:07:20 PM
I would think that it would be awesome to know the details of your ancestors lives, and some happenings that almost caused you not to exist. That's cool.
(I've been playing too much Assassin's Creed lately, in which the protagonist revisits and relives his ancestor's memories.)
Unfortunately I'm too lazy to bother searching through genealogical records, and too broke to pay someone to do it :P
The Mormons probably already know your ancestry. They keep records on it, so in case you convert, they can baptize you for all your dead relatives. I happen to have a family that kept up with the stuff, so I generally know my heritage.
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on December 06, 2011, 03:22:00 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 05, 2011, 11:07:20 PM
I would think that it would be awesome to know the details of your ancestors lives, and some happenings that almost caused you not to exist. That's cool.
(I've been playing too much Assassin's Creed lately, in which the protagonist revisits and relives his ancestor's memories.)
Unfortunately I'm too lazy to bother searching through genealogical records, and too broke to pay someone to do it :P
The Mormons probably already know your ancestry. They keep records on it, so in case you convert, they can baptize you for all your dead relatives. I happen to have a family that kept up with the stuff, so I generally know my heritage.
So if I want to know my ancestry and don't have the money to pay anyone to do it, all I need to do is join the mormons? Hmm....
I don't think my dead relatives would like that though...I have the feeling that they would've been very anti-mormon when alive ;)
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 06, 2011, 03:32:51 AM
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on December 06, 2011, 03:22:00 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 05, 2011, 11:07:20 PM
I would think that it would be awesome to know the details of your ancestors lives, and some happenings that almost caused you not to exist. That's cool.
(I've been playing too much Assassin's Creed lately, in which the protagonist revisits and relives his ancestor's memories.)
Unfortunately I'm too lazy to bother searching through genealogical records, and too broke to pay someone to do it :P
The Mormons probably already know your ancestry. They keep records on it, so in case you convert, they can baptize you for all your dead relatives. I happen to have a family that kept up with the stuff, so I generally know my heritage.
So if I want to know my ancestry and don't have the money to pay anyone to do it, all I need to do is join the mormons? Hmm....
I don't think my dead relatives would like that though...I have the feeling that they would've been very anti-mormon when alive ;)
No, you don't have to join them. Here's a link to ancestry.com, the Mormon genealogy site. Might as well make use of their data bank.
http://www.ancestry.com/
Thanks :)
I'm seven parts Italian, one part Irish.
I hope it's the drinking bit that's Irish and the cooking parts are Italian! ;D
Danish vikings I believe.
German-Irish
It's basically the best as you have an excuse to be drunk and angry for no reason.
As far as I know, I'm about as pure Finn as one can be, from my mothers side at least. I do know I have some distant relatives living in US and Australia, and my great grandmother did live US for a time as a child, but she and her parents came back to Finland pretty soon. My fathers side is more of a mystery to me, and I don't think I'm related to anyone too famous even around these parts....
Though if I understood correctly, on of my great grandfathers who fought during the Winter War was a nasty peice of work, making a bit of a raid to one of the mottis (for those who are not falmiliar with the term, in 1939 when the Soviets attacked Finland, their columns were bogged down in the northern log roads and successfully chopped up into small pockets of resistance, that we call motti's. And motti is also a measure of wood ;) ). As I understood it, my great grandpa had been trained in the old Imperial Russian army (well, the Finnish Guard to be exact, which was its own independt group, rather then a part of the "regular" army), and he spoke russian, somewhat. After the last actual officer had croaked in his unit, he was placed in command, and he decided to make the Soviets very miserable. He asked around for other soldiers who could speak russian, and took a some of them with him to the motti, and he told them that under any circumstances they were not allowed to even cuss in finnish ("No russian", anyone? ;) ). Then, using long knives, they started to thin down the poor buggers every night, and a few days later the Soviets gave up and surrendered. They apparently said that some of their soldiers had suddenly gone mad and started to stab their own soldiers.
I just have to wonder what kind of stories he would have been able to tell me, if I could have met and asked him :o
I know i'm part dragon with some royal blood in me.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/boubunny/my%20art/chibihotoki-1.jpg
Quote from: Sweetdeath on December 07, 2011, 05:28:35 PM
I know i'm part dragon with some royal blood in me.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/boubunny/my%20art/chibihotoki-1.jpg
:o 8)
XD I like your emotes, silver.
I drew that little guy a few years ago.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on December 07, 2011, 10:42:48 PM
XD I like your emotes, silver.
I drew that little guy a few years ago.
It's a good drawing, I like manga styles ;D
German, Dutch, and Indian with a bit of jew back there somewhere along with who knows how many others. Like most American's, I'm your typical mutt.