Just Discovered Something Interesting

[Erinesque]

I've been doing genealogy research on my family, and started in on my maternal grandmother's side, and went back as far as I could, which was into the 1500s. There I discovered that my 11th great grandfather was the Archbishop of York in 1595, and that the house he was born in still stands in Skelton, Cumbria. It has a website, and it was so fascinating to be able to see a bit of family history.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I should sit down with my Mom and Dad at some point and see what info they have on my genealogy. I know Mom's done tons of research into her mother's side of the family, and while Dad didn't, I know his father did, and he might still have some of that on a computer disk somewhere.

[smfrazier]

I discovered I share an ancester with Barrack Obama even though I am white. I also have a couple of ancesters who came over on the Mayflower.

[XCashier]

Erin, that is so cool! I want to learn about my family history too, but it seems we are a bunch of nobodies. Seriously, I looked my dad up on one of those websites. It listed his birth and death days, and that's it. No mention of parents, siblings, spouse or children. It's like he appeared out of nowhere one day and vanished fifty-two years later. And he's the only one I've found mention of, so far.

[April]

I have extended family that is very heavy into genealogy, but I'm not close to them to be nosy about their information. I know that Jesse James (the train robber) is something like a 6th cousin, and we are related by marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln

[Bardmaiden]

11th great grandfather was the Archbishop of York in 1595

Hey I live in York York Minster is a lovely place. My family on my dads side was traced back to the tenth century and they were living in York back then

[Erinesque]

That's awesome, Bardmaiden. I discovered that he was born at a manor called Hutton in the Forest, which is still there! I told my mother about it, and she wants to go to England to visit it one day.

[Kit-Ginevra]

I assume that This be him

[Aragarthiel]

AFAIK there aren't any famous people in my family, but my great-great-great grandfather (from my mom's dad's side) came to America from the part of Hungary which was at the time called Transylvania (late 1890s, I can't remember the exact year). On my mom's mom's side of the family we have some pretty significant Cherokee heritage, and it's unconfirmed but some family says our family was the result of a Cherokee "princess" (chief's daughter) running off and getting married. Quite the scandal.

[EricKei]

This is one of those things that I've been meaning to do for a looong time

An aunt has Dad's side of the family's history, and Mom has an actual published book showing folks on her own Mom's side going all the way back to Colonial days. Two of the weirder coincidences are this:

a - Both sides of the fam have a decent chunk of ancestry that goes all the way back to the Alsace-Lorraine region -- one, French and Germans who emigrated to the US directly, the other, French, Germans, and Irish who came over (the French via Cajun ancestry, possibly among the originals in what is now Nova Scotia)

b - I apparently had an ancestor who was a German Pilot in the first World War -- and his first & last name match my own.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I assume that This be him

This is a better link.

[Erinesque]

And yes, that's him.

[Sunshine]

Xcashier, look at census records for more details about your family. The records are held for 50 years so you'll be looking for your grandparents mostly. I love genealogy. My one claim to "fame" is an ancestor that had three wives.... They met when he passed, and they came to claim the body!!

[MoonCat]

I used to do a bit of genealogy. I still have the letter my grandmother received from the Red Star Line confirming that there were indeed two places available on the ocean liner Samland coming to New York from Amsterdam in Dec. 1907.

My grandmother was 13 when she came here with her mother. Apparently my great-grandmother wasn't feeling well - not sure if it was seasickness or what - so my grandma explored the ship on her own! Somehow she managed to stay safe while wandering around an ocean liner.

Cyndi's List used to be a great resource to find records. I was contacted by a lady in Germany who was able, for a fee of course, to find some records of my grandmother's parents and ancestors going back to the 1600's in East Prussia.

[Akasa]

My grandfather's family came over with the Jamestown colony as indentured servants, meanwhile my grandmother's family was royalty. Lots of dukes and duchesses.