. I would say begin with Ancestry as you are more apt to get accurate help if you need it since many people use it.
Genealogy: in pursuit of family stories
- Thread starter Nathan
- Start date
It's not for everyone I agree to that, But some love it and others do it for curiosity, For me it's better than sitting watching horribly made shows on NetflixI don't see the value of genealogy and tracing ancestors, unless of course you have too much time to waste and are bored to death, in which case you may as well trace which breed of monkeys is closest to you.
Nathan
SF VIP
- Location
- High Desert- Calif.
People that are interested in their family history and origins value genealogy.I don't see the value of genealogy and tracing ancestors, unless of course you have too much time to waste and are bored to death, in which case you may as well trace which breed of monkeys is closest to you.
Nathan
SF VIP
- Location
- High Desert- Calif.
Here's an interesting video that YTs algorithm served me- English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish: What DNA Actually Separates Them?
Very watchable and informative, 16 minutes long which fits my ever shortening attention span. A little after the 5 minute mark there was an embedded ad for Incogni, a personal information eraser, but that was the only intrusion, and didn't really mar the validity of the video content.
Very watchable and informative, 16 minutes long which fits my ever shortening attention span. A little after the 5 minute mark there was an embedded ad for Incogni, a personal information eraser, but that was the only intrusion, and didn't really mar the validity of the video content.
Dr.Colosso
Member
My dad did all the work of finding out our family tree.
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AnneTeak
Member
- Location
- Boston, MA
George Jacobs Sr. (1609–1692) was an English colonist in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who was accused of witchcraft in 1692 during the Salem witch trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts. He was convicted and hanged on August 19, 1692. His son, George Jr., was also accused but evaded arrest. Jacobs' accusers included his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Margaret.
BJintheUK
Member
- Location
- Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, UK
Some of us grew up only knowing one side of our family, and for us it's a case of finding out if the other half had any particular physical or mental traits we should know about that might have a bearing on our own children. For instance, if my father's side of the family suffered from diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, mental problems, etc.I don't see the value of genealogy and tracing ancestors, unless of course you have too much time to waste and are bored to death, in which case you may as well trace which breed of monkeys is closest to you.
As it turned out I still know very little about my father other than that he worked in the same place as me back in the early 1970s, so we could have easily gone through the same security gate one behind the other, and not realised it.
He's dead now, so I'll never know, or be able to ask him. I don't even know if he'd be willing to admit that I'm his son, as he denied it at the time, until I was born and it was obvious to the social workers who my father was. By then of course it was too late to do anything about it, and he got away without having to pay any child support, or even acknowledge his actions in date-raping my mother.
So you see, for me there is a valid reason to pursue the tracing of ancestors, even if for you such motivation doesn't exist.
George1959
Senior Member
Either my wife nor me ever have been interested in our ancestry. I don't even know my great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers on my parents sides. It's completely unimportant to me.
jhummel73
New Member
I have always found geneology fascinating. My interest was piqued some years ago when I did the DNA test and found out I had a very small trace of African American. It came from my maternal side so I have dug in trying to find some answers but it goes back probably 7 gens and that is a long way back!
RuralKanuck
Member
- Location
- Ontario, Canada
As Nathan said in his first post in this thread I also started the genealogy "quest" in the late 90s searching microfilm at the local LDS Family Library. At that time the availability of online transcriptions were quite limited mostly from individual transcriptions of area census posted online by volunteers unlike now when such transcriptions are gathered online atone particular mostly restricted pay for use site.
Over the following 20 years or so I assembled around 3000 associated family names and details of many of them across two major branches of my and my wifes familys which I now just try and keep updated with new births and marriages.
These are all still kept in the LDS Personal Ancestral File software that many of us stared out with but is now been overtaken by much fancier software that can accommodate the ever increasing volume of video and similar data.
To me the search was as much fun as the results but whilst I still try to keep up with more recent additions,the ability to just pay for having much of the research done for you takes all the challenge out of it. However I do keep a personal history of my very varied homes and activities across dozens of places across two continents for my ancestors to find, it even is not embellished …much !
We cannot have much say about the distant future but we can document the past for our ancestors to know of past losses and gains!
Over the following 20 years or so I assembled around 3000 associated family names and details of many of them across two major branches of my and my wifes familys which I now just try and keep updated with new births and marriages.
These are all still kept in the LDS Personal Ancestral File software that many of us stared out with but is now been overtaken by much fancier software that can accommodate the ever increasing volume of video and similar data.
To me the search was as much fun as the results but whilst I still try to keep up with more recent additions,the ability to just pay for having much of the research done for you takes all the challenge out of it. However I do keep a personal history of my very varied homes and activities across dozens of places across two continents for my ancestors to find, it even is not embellished …much !
We cannot have much say about the distant future but we can document the past for our ancestors to know of past losses and gains!
Cailin
New Member
- Location
- Boston, MA
As someone who has researched my own family history, the following resonates for me:
THE STORY TELLERS
We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors – to put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve.
To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before.
We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one.
We have been called by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: tell our story. So we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me?
I cannot say.
It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can’t let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation.
It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe is called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers.
That is why I do genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. (Della M. Cumming)
THE STORY TELLERS
We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors – to put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve.
To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before.
We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one.
We have been called by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: tell our story. So we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me?
I cannot say.
It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can’t let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation.
It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe is called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers.
That is why I do genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. (Della M. Cumming)