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Genealogy, the good the bad and the ugly
Lady Rae
Member Posts: 2,343 ✭✭✭✭
Well, I was digging around.... Most of my family on both sides came to this country in it's early beginnings. From what I've found so far I don't think I could have been in the Daughters of the American Revolution 😭.... I could find no relative as of yet that served in the Union Army. Evidently I come from a family of Rebels. 😏 Quite a few were in World War I. I will continue this after I do the chores... My grandma was so proud of the Phillips family genealogy but it's the Harrison's where it gets interesting 🤔
"Independence Now, Independence Forever."
John Adams
Comments
I have not ventured too far donw the path I did find my dad's family back to the late 1700's in Tennessee and some interesting fellows
I know I had a great great grandma on moms side that was Cherokee but that was not to uncommon
And lord only knows who was hiding in the wood she'd when every one else was busy lol
I know Scotch Irish for sure my mom Once referenced black dutch also some day I will do dome diging
I have a chronology of my paternal Grandmother's family dating back to when they crossed the Atlantic from Europe in mid-1700's.
The rest of the family is less known and mostly undocumented until post Civil War.
As the eldest Son of the eldest Son (plus 6 generations), I'm the 'holder of the book' of the family history.
my mother left a bedroom full of geneology papers, after she retired she got hooked on it. she could remember birthdates and deathdates of some of the most obscure relatives. whenever we would be out in public she would allways run into someone we were related to and stop and talk. then look at me and say don't you remember so and so? they were married to so and so's brother on some date way before I was born. she has us back to the 1600's in a town called Metz france, our last name. she has records and knew that a distant relative would be related but missing one birth certificate or not on a census report, but just knew they had to be related. she got both sides of the family in the DAR, and would help track down records for other friends so they could join. she wrote 2 books on the local families and those she grew up around. but she was old enough to have actually talked with men who fought in the civil war, she was born in 1918. I gave all this to my sister and she was into it for a while.
Mom researched our family tree for years and loved it. She found that it goes back to the Revolutionary War and she became part of a fantastic group of women, Daughters of the American Revolution.
Going back further, Loftus is the modernization of Lofthouse or Lofthus
("house with a loft"), which has roots in Scandinavia and Northern England where Vikings settled.🇺🇲 "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson 🇺🇲
My people are newcomers here. My father's mom and dad came here from Ireland in 1912. Even on my mother's side we found that her people mostly came here from Germany in the 1870s. However we have traced my wife's family back to the American Revolution. I told her about the DAR, and she had no idea there was such an organization. The sad part is that, according to a radio talk show I was listening to recently, one has to be DNA tested to join the DAR. There will be no DNA testing for us.
A nice couple that I used to shoot Defensive Pistol with was very interested in geneaolgy. One day after a match we were talking and I mentioned that it would be interesting to know more about where I came from. She got my dad's and grandad's names from me and went to work. In two weeks she handed me a stack of papers two tall Indians couldn't shake hands over! Holy cow!. Info from my dad's and my mom's side. She traced by paternal side back to the late 1600's in a little village in Norway. The interesting part is that her husband's family could be traced back to a little village about 10 miles from where my family was from. He and I were very likely related, way back when.
My aunt was, and her daughter( my cousin) on my fathers side is a member of the daughters of the American Revolution. Are family on my dads side came here in 1632 from England. All documented thru genealogy history and through the daughters of the American Revolution. On my mothers side it goes back to around 1840 then just kind of goes blank before that. I know they were German and Swedish.
Dad was a Genealogy freak. I always felt guilty because I just could not share it with him. i swear he had tracked our Ancestors back before the Mayflower.
He had a first cousin who was in the FBI. He was reactivated during the first bombing of the World Trade Center. Dads cousin would spend his vacation time with Dad and they went every where searching out their Ancestors. Old overgrown cemeteries, court houses, churches, almost anyplace looking for a link to the past.
When Dad passed away I called his cousin Steve and got a special address to send two huge boxes of Dad's records to. As a active FBI he was not allowed to give out his personal address. Steve was very happy to get Dad's records. -------------------------Ray
Nothing wrong with that.
My wife's mother's side can date back to 1130, in England. Came to the US because of Religions reasons in the 1700's
My Mother father from the 1530 in France
My Mother Mother's From England via the Mayflower
My father side was an orphan from the Civil war.
My niece, in researching the family tree, found this guy. He was so thoroughly despised, he was murdered in broad daylight, and no witnesses would come forward. He was the son of my Grandmother Hallie's second cousin, so a far distant relative.
https://morbidology.com/the-town-that-got-away-with-murder/
I found my great grand dad.In 1915 he was doing 364 days in Atlanta federal for illegal distillery.
My sister was an only child.😉
I have followed mine back to my great-great-great-grandparents.
It ends there because none of them had any children.
Brad Steele
Uhhh....
Nevermind.
I had read the story about the guy getting Killed before. Sounds like he deserved it .
Some where around here we have some old info one of my wife's relatives started collecting she had a great great great ., uncle who started the first mill in his area of KY
we had a copy of his will and a copy of a auction held to sell of some items its bern years dice i read it but he left two maybe thee of his kids slaves listed by name To each one
And the listing from the estate sale had such things as one shovel sold for xx$ to the lady in the dark dress and so on for each item listed And sold
I do know at some point what ever welth he had accumulated was long gone before my wife's parents came along lol
One story from my dads side of the famly I had a xxx way back great uncle Banner ? If I recall was his name who per the info,
got into a knife fight with a fellow trying to take over the the town he lived in most of the men were off fighting in the Civil War at the time
he got cut up bad it was said, but killed the other fellow. as he recovered The town made him a hero .
Which was short lived as he decided he would take over the town him self
It worked a short time but some of the men returning from the war , as it was over By then
Caught up to him and hung him
From hero to swinging in a tree he must have Been one bad fellow
My Great Grandfather was a policeman working in Superior Wisconsin who was killed in the line of duty in 1911. He was just 31 years old, leaving behind a wife and two children. One of which was my Granddad.
Growing up, I was always told a few stories about his murder that added a lot of mystery and intrigue to his demise. When the internet came about, learning the truth was a real eye opener for me! He was shot while trying to apprehend a pair of bicycle thieves.
Patrolman Roy W. Jackson, Superior Police Department, Wisconsin (odmp.org)
I traced back to my great, great, great, great , great, great grandfather who was a original pilgrim and he put down he became friends with a native whose great x10 grandmother whose granddaughter now has become the sitting senator in Massachusetts also known as Chieftest Liz” Runnin Chicken” Warren.
my gr., gr, grandfathers family came from Germany in the 1850's, he lied about his age and enlisted in the army for the civil war. When they got to Va. were the 'fighting' was they found out he was only 16. They wouldn't let him go into battel, so they made him the company cattle thief. ...................which explains a lot of our later family history.
I couldn’t care less about where I came from. I’m here, and that’s all that counts!
I found out where you're from. But I'll keep it quiet.
🇺🇲 "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson 🇺🇲
As far as genealogy goes, I'm what Grandma called a "Heinz 57". Off the top of my head, we're Scottish, Irish, English, German, Greek, and Norwegian. Woof.🤣
You had better, if’n you know what’s good fer ya! 😆😆
,
My first cousin once removed was a descendent of Adam and Eve. Who knew ?
we must be related, my family was a distant relative of adam and eve also, my inlaws however came from someone whos name I'm not sure I can pronounce let alone spell, beelzezabub.............
Bill Zebub? I know that guy! Lives down at the crossroads. Unpleasant fella, really. 🤣
🇺🇲 "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson 🇺🇲
I used Family Tree Maker to find my ancestors. I started to look for my eldest ancestors a few minutes ago, until my eyes went blurry. I stopped at Nahshon B: 1339 BC D: Unknown. He was my 91st Great Grandfather. I know there were a bunch older than him including a bunch of European Kings and Queens. I also had a bunch of people on the Mayflower.
I have thousands of entries, but this is as much fun as I could stand right now.
Joe
Was going to school, of all paces in Switzerland ( international School ). and the subject of American history came up, Civil war.
General Sherman was mentioned and I said My Grandma's father was a Sherman and related. A girl said the same thing. After class we talked about family and found out, yep we were related thru my grandma and her grandpa side, way back. That was 50 years ago. and we still keep in touch.
Yes I went to School in Geneva Switzerland for 3 years, learned French and had a great time., Part of the package, when my Dad was working, for a organization, that has three Letters.
Kevin_L..."Mom researched our family tree for years and loved it", ditto, except Mom researched the family back a l-o-n-g ways before there were accessible computer records...researched back to the 1700's... she traveled & lived at Libraries, in the southern United States especially...she had enough info to publish a hard copy book, a pretty good sized book...I have a copy, if I can find it, that I have never read....guess if I can find it I should read it just out of respect...kinda cool to know a lot of the family members were Officers down to soldiers in the Confederate military and all the wars that followed thru Vietnam...
That's amazing! What a commitment she made! I say find her research and put it someplace safe but obvious. Such a body of work deserves a great display. 😊
🇺🇲 "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson 🇺🇲
My French Canadian ancestors walked across the New York State border backwards, the New York authorities thought they were leaving...
Saw where one of the hags on the View was looking for a big fat hand out because her ancestors were salves. She about had a cow when she found her folks were slave holders in the past Ha ha.
I think my ancestors mostly came from the England area, maybe Germany. Makes no difference to me. As Popeye says "I am what I am".
She also said she deserves her share of reparations
What a surprise
Thank goodness I can join the Daughters of the American Revolution. He served in the Berkshire Militia
"Independence Now, Independence Forever."
John Adams
Your ancestors had to have fought in the Revolutionary War to be a Daughter s of the American Revolution ,You could probably join this group if you have proof they fought in the Civil War .The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, and the promotion of the pseudohistorical Lost Cause ideology and corresponding ...
My great great...... grandfather was in the civil war in Texas. On my mom's side a great Great..... Uncle was in the Mississippi Calvary
"Independence Now, Independence Forever."
John Adams
Honestly, this is not to knock anyone that has, but I don't really care beyond more immediate family first cousins and closer from my father/mothers time which I already know. It isn't like one can change it if they find something they don't like. Short of if you didn't know your parents and hoped to find a DNA or other familial link. I don't see the appeal of knowing my genealogy. Modern DNA can determine certain negative health markers without actually needing to track the family itself. More info regarding this is here:
If it were free and someone told me, I'd just be like, cool and then get on with my life as before. However, I do know certain members of society who suddenly start acting like they just came to the US suddenly after discovering their heritage. I find that completely hilarious and idiotic. I have had one guy I worked with find out he had a Scottish ancestry and suddenly started wearing a kilt a lot, and even went as far as starting to learn to play the bagpipes. Another co-worker at a different place found out he was 1/8th native American and he started dressing and acting the part. He was a seriously lazy co-worker so combining those things, he later earned the title of "Idle Eagle". LOL
Again, nothing against those who do. If there's other reasons beyond what I have mentioned, I'd honestly like to hear them. I could yet perhaps change my mind on the subject.
I was a kid at Ashford Park School in Atlanta in 1960, a public school. I was in fifth grade. The lady from the United Daughters of the Confederacy came by and gave a little one hour talk to the class. She gave us the subject for our report that year, it was Fort Sumter. Each kid had to write a 2 page report on Fort Sumter.
The UDC gal came by every year for a talk about some facet of the war, and to give the subject for our report. One year, it might be Robert E. Lee, one year it was Jefferson Davis.
I do lol but I have to get my forum time in ❤️❤️
"Independence Now, Independence Forever."
John Adams