Blame my mother. She and my sister went to a genealogy workshop yesterday, and, once again, when I talked to Mom, I got caught up in going through our family tree. We have genealogy going back forever on my mom’s side, from all of her family. My paternal grandmother’s records go back forever. It’s my paternal grandfather’s family that gets lost just a couple generations back. And, that’s what hangs us up no matter what source I use.
So, last night, instead of finishing my book so I could write a review, I ended up spending two hours on websites, working on genealogy. Thanks, Mom!
(If you’re interested in that sort of thing, Ancestry.com says I’m 65% from Great Britain, 14% Italy, Greece, 7% Eastern Europe, 5% Scandinavia, and less than 1% (with low confidence) West Asia. Although how that ends up on a map to show most of my relatives came over from Great Britain and Germany, I don’t know. Actually, that’s what we did know. They came from Great Britain and France/Germany.)
Do you get hooked on this stuff when you sit down to work on it?
I've been working on a family tree for about 4 or 5 years and time really disappears when I work on it. My family came over from The area of Europe that's now Lithuania and Poland . I've found a few records for one branch of the family over there but mostly I can't go back past great great grandparents. On the plus side I'm made contact with several second cousins I never knew and several of them were also working on or had family trees for their branch of the family and we were able to pool information. My father's grandfather had a half-brother I never knew about plus, there were several remarrages in that generation. My Mom's father was one of 13 children and one of her great grandparents had 12 kids so pooling information was a big help.
Isn't it fascinating, Sandy, when you find that information? It just brings the people to life.
I haven't gone down this road yet but could totally see getting into it! I have a coworker who did it and she found out her father isn't her natural father. She calls it her "Telenovella" life 🙂
Oh yes, time disappears when I work on my family tree. I have a lot of infomation on my mother's, mostly German, side, but not so much on my father's, mostly Irish, side. The Internet is a wonderful tool, but I wish I still lived in the Midwest, I'm in CA, so that I could spend more time in the libraries and courthouses there.
I "just" last week sent my little sample tube to Ancestry. Can't wait to see what it has to tell me about me. This is so interesting!
I am 71 ona and have been working on it on and off since my 20s! My Aunt Fern get me started. She made binders with photos for all the family My mother was the 11th child. Then my father gave me a family tree of his side written on a large piece of blue print paper by my Great, great, great grandfather. That one goes back to the 1500 in Greta Britian then skips to said that we are descendents of King Stephen. On my mother's side, it goes back to Eleanor of Aquintiane (relative) and some others. There is a hop and skip and says relateted to Odin!! Lol. My mother's father is a cousin to John Wayne the actor (Iowa) and he looks look John Wayne!!
I have binder on the English ancestory, Nantucket, one of the first settlers (related to Ben Franklin and quaker woman who fought for women's suffrage.
My 23 and Me results had one surprise:
British & Irish= 69.7 %
Scandinavian 7.2%
French and German 2.8 %
Broadly Northwestern Europe 18% .1% Finnish
Italian .4% (I knew her name)
Broadly North Southern European 1.1
Surprises:
North African <.1% (can't remember the countries)
West African <.1% Nigeria, Benin,Ghana The strange thins is that I used to belong to a Jo Be Dance Group From Benin!!! I love the their music and dance.
I have pension records from one who served as a guard on top of a train during the Civil War. The person on the phone said that there was nothing interesing in the records. I said send them. 50 copies of my ancestor's relatives and friends letter and one from him, his application for pension. He has a lot of trouble with his lungs like me! Anyway, persist, persist!
Have some of same genetic coding as Marie Antoinette, Prince Philip of Edinburg and Nicolas Copernicius. They checked the DNa by a sample from their hair.
We never know what you will find! One of my best girl friends had ancestors in the women's suffrage movement!!!
Sorry I talked do long. LOL I love genealogy.
Sorry lots of mispellings, hard for me to see!