Researching your family history, a positive pursuit or a definite no no?

familysearch.org has a lot of alleged information on my father's side, but absolutely nothing on my mother's. What they list seems reasonable back about 10 or 12 generations, but after that I have serious doubts.

For example, one line of descent goes back 133 generations - - yes, one hundred thirty-three generations, not a typo - - where it lists my 131st great grandfather as God, my 130th great grandparents as Adam (4000 - 3070 BCE) and Eve (4000 - ? BCE), my 129th great grandparents as Shat (3870 - 2958 BCE) and Azura Akilia Bint Adam (3979 - 3067 BCE), and so on. Am I supposed to take this seriously? Am I supposed to believe that someone has found a reliable, unbroken chain of records listing all of the of births, deaths, marriages, and children for 6000 years? Am I supposed to ignore the fact that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old, and that our ancestors have been evolving for several billion years, not just 6000?

Still, I'm glad to know who some of my ancestors were over the last several centuries, where the lived, and (in some cases) what they did for a living. But I take much of it with a large grain of salt as there are bound to be mistakes.
 

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I've researched my ancestors and there's Chinese and Spanish in my DNA. I am inclined to think I have lived many years ago at the Forbidden City. The first time I went there in the late 90s, there were rooms in there I was drawn to and there were flashbacks in my mind of scenes there. I will keep exploring while I'm in this incarnation.
 
hellomimi said:
I've researched my ancestors and there's Chinese and Spanish in my DNA. I am inclined to think I have lived many years ago at the Forbidden City. The first time I went there in the late 90s, there were rooms in there I was drawn to and there were flashbacks in my mind of scenes there. I will keep exploring while I'm in this incarnation.
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If I get reincarnated I am definitely coming back as a man! Donā€™t care what color, donā€™t care what race, just for sure a male-a manly man šŸ˜
 

I found some of my information using Familysearch.org in addition to Ancestry. Not sure if that helps. But I have to agree some information can take you in the wrong direction and has errors eg name spellings, ages, where born, census info etc. I guess you have to use other sources to check and recheck. ā˜ŗ
 
Treacle said:
I found some of my information using Familysearch.org in addition to Ancestry. Not sure if that helps. But I have to agree some information can take you in the wrong direction and has errors eg name spellings, ages, where born, census info etc. I guess you have to use other sources to check and recheck. ā˜ŗ
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I found lots of interesting info on that site, too. No sign of my missing ancestor, though.
 
JaniceM said:
I found lots of interesting info on that site, too. No sign of my missing ancestor, though.
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I use both sites. If all else fails I go to the LDS genealogy library where I live, and get them to help me. But they could Not help with my brick wall ancestor. They did help straighten out two families, which children belong to which mother.
 
Ruthanne said:
Yes, it is very interesting! I got to know quite a lot as he told me all about the family in Europe. They are very nice, welcoming people.
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Learning about family history is great.. but in my opinion not nearly as great as finding present-day living relatives.
Actually, from some comments a member made on this forum awhile back, I thought it was possible the person might be a distant relative. Didn't want to sound obnoxious or be brushed off as a weirdo, though, so I didn't say anything.
 
JaniceM said:
Learning about family history is great.. but in my opinion not nearly as great as finding present-day living relatives.
Actually, from some comments a member made on this forum awhile back, I thought it was possible the person might be a distant relative. Didn't want to sound obnoxious or be brushed off as a weirdo, though, so I didn't say anything.
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My brother has met all the present-day relatives in Slovakia. He has been there about 3 times but not this year with the virus happening.
 
It might depend on how much you care. If bothering to search in the first place, one must care. Disappointments then, would have been prepared for.

I was prepared to learn I am not related to Chopin, Madam Curie, Brigadier General Andrzej Tadeusz Kościuszko nor to any Czar.

My surprise was to learn I am 2% Finnish, since Finland once belonged to Russia.
 
JaniceM said:
Learning about family history is great.. but in my opinion not nearly as great as finding present-day living relatives.
Actually, from some comments a member made on this forum awhile back, I thought it was possible the person might be a distant relative. Didn't want to sound obnoxious or be brushed off as a weirdo, though, so I didn't say anything.
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Well, if itā€™s me, Iā€™m be happy.
 
My late-in laws were into genealogy. They apparently visited relatives in Scotland, but when my husband was there with a mate in their early 20's, the "uncle" more or less ignored them during the visit - so, there's that ..
 
I always tell prospective genealogists to be prepared to find stuff you'd rather not know.

What got me started on the right track was spending the day at the big Mormon genealogy center in Salt Lake City. What incredibly helpful people!

Then I found a second-cousin-once-removed who REALLY steered me in the right direction, leading me to meet distant cousins all over the country. There are still some mysteries that even he can't solve.

My sister did one of the gene tests, which said we are part Bangladeshi. What? Can't figure where THAT would come in...ā€¦..
 
jujube said:
I always tell prospective genealogists to be prepared to find stuff you'd rather not know.

What got me started on the right track was spending the day at the big Mormon genealogy center in Salt Lake City. What incredibly helpful people!

Then I found a second-cousin-once-removed who REALLY steered me in the right direction, leading me to meet distant cousins all over the country. There are still some mysteries that even he can't solve.

My sister did one of the gene tests, which said we are part Bangladeshi. What? Can't figure where THAT would come in...ā€¦..
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Yup, they are really nice. I live very close to the library. Long ago I found my oldest relative in a book on school attendance, His name was spelled differently, it was lucky find.
 
Judycat said:
Probably. I figure everyone has the right to be left alone. My brother is a Mormon so they've been bothering these people for years already.
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What do you mean ā€œbothering these peopleā€? The funniest thing about LDS church is they baptize the dead and convert them to LDS. This was a few decades back, donā€™t know if they still do it. But some of my baptist relatives were converted to LDS after they died. šŸ˜‚
 
hellomimi said:
A manly male that likes jelly beans? šŸ¤­ šŸ˜„Sorry, I can't resist...I love your jelly bean story.
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Thatā€™s how you will know it is me, Iā€™ll be stuffing jelly beans into my face, and since I will be a manly man, I wonā€™t gain any weight! šŸ˜
 

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