Anyone into Genealgy ?

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RaniDart70 said:
i would think Genealogy would be easy for Amercians considering how well Europeans typically kept recordsl
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Eastern Europe in the late 1800s through the 1940s ? Lots of changes and lot of places blown up. Ive come to a total dead end and cant find anything on my Great Grandfather.
 
RaniDart70 said:
i would think Genealogy would be easy for Amercians considering how well Europeans typically kept records......especially of Spainish descent within the Catholic Religion .....they kept excellent records.

i would think going back to Europe....someone has to have records on you guys before your Ancestors got on the Mayflower....and there has to be a reason why they got on the Mayflower.

My Genealogy was easy bcoz i was born in South Central India and my family has been in the same place for what we believe is a couple thousand years from one kingdom that existed in ancient times....i am basically the first person in my line that has ventured off so far from my birthplace. ......but hopefully my offspring will find the records and paper trail from what i am doing now lol
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Rani: it's not as easy as some may think. A lot of it's when folks came over from Europe names got changed. Due to language barriers causing misspellings or changes to just fit in in certain areas.
Then the original spellings where lost or forgotten along the way.

I was fortunate enough to go to a family reunion for my dad's side of the family in 1999 one of my distant relatives did a lot of research and gave everyone a copy of the family tree. The unfortunate thing is they could only trace family back to New Brunswick Canada from Ireland. The name was changed for some reason. They came up with some variations of the name but nothing positive. They even contacted relatives in New Brunswick and they weren't sure of the original spelling either. I've tried myself with not much success.

My mother's grandma on her mother's side were from Norway . My grandma had info on her mom and her family from Norway. The town they came from, the name of the ship they came over on , the port of Boston and the date when they went through customs.
The thing was when I went to confirm the date I couldn't find record of my great grandmother. So I used one of her brother's and one of her sister's names and I found her on the list . Her first name was misspell instead of Olufine they spelled it Alufine.
Whether it was written wrong at customs or the data base input who knows.

Her husband who was born in New York city (so he said) is another story he was very elusive about his past and having a common Irish name as John Moore as he did doesn't help either.

Sorry for being long winded just showing some problems folks might have researching their family back grounds. And some of the pros too especially
when you get research handed to you.

Good luck Adam on your endeavor.
 
I found 1 great grandmother with her name spelled 2 different way. Both her first and maiden name. My other great grandmother I found as both Elizabeth and Lizzie before finding her name prior to coming over as Beta.

My great Grandfather changed his first name to William when he came over. I later found his name was Vaclav. I still have yet to find much on my other great grandfather " Harry " Im pretty sure I will find his last name was not Rushka before coming here.
 
We have a few genealogy buffs in our family. My moms side has a direct link to Lewis of Lewis and Clark. On my fathers side, the records go back to the early Americas late 1700's for his fathers side of the family who were deported here from England as criminals and to the days of Robert the Bruce of Scotland on his mothers side. This picture was taken in 1928, from left to right is my great-great grandfather Nathan B Rogers, my great grandfather James H Rogers, my grandfather James H Rogers II and my uncle who passed away last year James H Rogers III. This is one of my favorite pictures that has 4 generations in one shot. :)

My uncle who recently passed gave me a lot of the pictures and family tree documents and pictures/tree drawings etc. Someday when I have some time I hope to be able to read through all of it.


vbpgimage.php
 
The gentleman who did the majority of research on my Father's side hit a dead end and literally flew into Germany and visited the Churches who were kind enough to crack open some very old and dusty books. He traced my present family name back to 15th Century Southern Germany (Black Forest and Western Czeckoslovokia). He couldn't get this information over the phone or by email, only by a personal visit. His and our family came over on the same boat that was charted by my great, great grandfather who knew the Kaiser was a nut and wanted his family out, hence the personal interest he took.

Anyway, I suppose some information can only be had by personal visit and some intense detective work. My mothers side was even more difficult and she found the end of the trail at some prison records in Ireland after a personal visit. No one knew what he did, but it didn't take much to get thrown in a dungeon back then.
 
Find a Grave.com also is a good resource. A lot of listings will show spouses, family, etc.

I realize that a lot of people aren't interested.....but I think everyone should know their family history.
 
I only found my Grandfather and his brother on my father side on Find a grave. Their father (my great grandfather) died in San Fransisco in 1933 according to my Great grandmothers citizenship paper. I have no clue what he was doing in Ca. and cant find anything about his other then paper work from her and a census from 1920. Its killing me because he's the one i wanted info on so I could figure out the true story about our last name.
 
My Mother did some digging a while back. She could only find info on my Dads family and it stopped with his Grand parents. Pretty much every one she found info on was a shady soul. Horse thief's, bank robbers & prostitutes. Most of the were hung in the late 1800's. She said that they were all from Canada. That it appeared they were the Canadian version of Jesse James. The last of them had a robed a bank in the early 1900's and hid in someones basement in Boston until there death in the 40's. There last name was Sherett. When I was in grade school our library had a few history books with the mention of the name. All of her digging was prior to the internet, she apparently paid someone to do the digging. The person put all there notes into a book for her but I have no idea what happened to it after she died.
 
Different Last Name spelling was not uncommon when folks moved to the U.S. Last names were "americanized" quite often due to language barriers...
 
Heres a list of the sites Ive been using.

I found lots of information on this site.
https://familysearch.org/

This site is good if you know a birthday. Look up the birthday, names are in alphabetical order by first name and it will give you SS# number (great for finding more info) and death date.

This site is a list of other sites
http://www.cyndislist.com/

Site Im building my tree on
Ancestry.com

Ship records
http://www.ellisisland.org/
 
I've tried those also.
The Mormons have a site which has a lot of records too.
I've never really used it, but I know of some folks who have and had some results.
 
pretty interesting to see the surname changes and why throught generations. When my father went to school (in 30's) the teacher mis-spelled his surname different from his brother, and the mis-spelling stayed with him - our surname and my uncles are different because of a spelling mistake that was never corrected.

during the expulsion of the acadians ,our family line surname changed from Jeddry/Geddry in Nova Scotia to Guidry in Louisiana to LaBine in Ontario(upper canada) during one family generation
 
AdamR said:
Heres a list of the sites Ive been using.

I found lots of information on this site.
https://familysearch.org/

This site is good if you know a birthday. Look up the birthday, names are in alphabetical order by first name and it will give you SS# number (great for finding more info) and death date.

This site is a list of other sites
http://www.cyndislist.com/

Site Im building my tree on
Ancestry.com

Ship records
http://www.ellisisland.org/
Click to expand...



lol those were the ones I was going to recommend. :D plus also findagrave you can also go to cities vital records to find information

for instance Nashville has one on line
https://www.vitalchek.com/vital-records?click_id=256705251775152130&gclid=CKTp2s7tk7YCFQGCnQodHkIAdQ

Once I had a lead I found out more by networking with other family members who have worked hard spending hours on the family tree

I have pages and pages of info and documented proven info that they dug up

I was basically not raised or around my family therefore I had a heightened interest.

During the family tree search I was able to find actual family members and some interesting and funny facts.

A toddler I baby sat when I was young I found was actually a cousin.
I worked for a company once that was owned by another cousin.

I had a cousin contact me and I found my father had another brother and there were three siblings (cousins) with kids and kid’s kids (even more cousins)

I signed up for the FREE ancestor.com and was on there a year when it was FREE assess. I used to be able to search for my name and my post showed up and I could get in free that route but not now since they changed the site.
Also on ancestor during the freebie period of time and this was actually recent. I accidently found my youngest brother had died in 2006. We had been searching for him since 1994 the last anyone had seen him and ironically it was when my other brother had been murdered. Still trying to find the cause of death, but working on that at the moment.

I taught a class and one of my students who looked so familiar that I just knew I had met him someplace but where I had no idea. One day he told me he was related to AAAA and I thought he would buckle at his knees when I extended my hand to shake his saying “good to meet another cousin, I AM an AAAA”. His last name made sense at that moment because it was one of the names in the family cemetery and of one of the ladies (cousin) I spoke with related to me. Yes he looked familiar he looked like my deceased brother but a smaller version.
I am a blue blood on my father’s side, by way of an Earl and Duke. (Whoopee) I am related to two senators and many others in such positions. There are a lot of famous people in the family tree of both my father and father’s mother’s side. My mother’s side is also interesting.

I have spoken with several cousins and have information on the family that they worked hard researching. A lot of information I have stored is from networking with other family members that I met doing the family search. Funny thing is I have no need for Facebook. Thought it was a total waste of time. Then all at once I had all these cousins contact me that I had no clue existed. I met my two nieces and nephew on FB for the first time. I find that even thought I was not raised around them I am so much like them. It IS in the genes!! My niece used to drag race and she built the motor for her maverick in the kitchen.
Now that’s pretty cool. I will never forget trying to rebuild that thermo quad carb for Richard Charger in my kitchen floor. J The prognosis was poor for that one indeed J

I have 2 cousins who are way deep into the family history. One has paid for his DNA to be stored for the family tree and another who is writing a book. Several books have been written but I have yet to get one they are out of print.

I can name off all the names of famous people that I am related to mostly cousins’ back through history but to me all that does not matter a whole lot. What matters most of all is the “Here and Now”! All of that information is very interesting but not really important. It’s all in the past and all you have now is what today brings. You can’t change the past but you can invent the future. Family does not have to be blood related. Just because you are blood related does not mean you are family. Blood related don’t mean they will be there for you. If they are not here for you during the good bad and ugly they are not family. Families are the ones that are there for you and are close to you that don’t mean they are blood related it means they are family.

I live with my best friend and soul mate. We have lived together for several years and plan to be together forever. We are a team and consider ourselves as family which we are a family unit. Yes the family tree is interesting but here and now is what is important. The people who are there for you who actually care about you through thick and thin. Yes they are out there but are they here for you now?
:blob:
 
AdamR said:
I found 1 great grandmother with her name spelled 2 different way. Both her first and maiden name. My other great grandmother I found as both Elizabeth and Lizzie before finding her name prior to coming over as Beta.

My great Grandfather changed his first name to William when he came over. I later found his name was Vaclav. I still have yet to find much on my other great grandfather " Harry " Im pretty sure I will find his last name was not Rushka before coming here.
Click to expand...


lol those were the ones I was going to recommend. plus also findagrave you can also go to cities vital records to find information

for instance Nashville has one on line
https://www.vitalchek.com/vital-records?click_id=256705251775152130&gclid=CKTp2s7tk7YCFQGCnQodHkIAdQ

Once I had a lead I found out more by networking with other family members who have worked hard spending hours on the family tree

I have pages and pages of info and documented proven info that they dug up

I was basically not raised or around my family therefore I had a heightened interest.

During the family tree search I was able to find actual family members and some interesting and funny facts.

A toddler I baby sat when I was young I found was actually a cousin.
I worked for a company once that was owned by another cousin.

I had a cousin contact me and I found my father had another brother and there were three siblings (cousins) with kids and kid’s kids (even more cousins)

I signed up for the FREE ancestor.com and was on there a year when it was FREE assess. I used to be able to search for my name and my post showed up and I could get in free that route but not now since they changed the site.
Also on ancestor during the freebie period of time and this was actually recent. I accidently found my youngest brother had died in 2006. We had been searching for him since 1994 the last anyone had seen him and ironically it was when my other brother had been murdered. Still trying to find the cause of death, but working on that at the moment.

I taught a class and one of my students who looked so familiar that I just knew I had met him someplace but where I had no idea. One day he told me he was related to AAAA and I thought he would buckle at his knees when I extended my hand to shake his saying “good to meet another cousin, I AM an AAAA”. His last name made sense at that moment because it was one of the names in the family cemetery and of one of the ladies (cousin) I spoke with related to me. Yes he looked familiar he looked like my deceased brother but a smaller version.
I am a blue blood on my father’s side, by way of an Earl and Duke. (Whoopee) I am related to two senators and many others in such positions. There are a lot of famous people in the family tree of both my father and father’s mother’s side. My mother’s side is also interesting.

I have spoken with several cousins and have information on the family that they worked hard researching. A lot of information I have stored is from networking with other family members that I met doing the family search. Funny thing is I have no need for Facebook. Thought it was a total waste of time. Then all at once I had all these cousins contact me that I had no clue existed. I met my two nieces and nephew on FB for the first time. I find that even thought I was not raised around them I am so much like them. It IS in the genes!! My niece used to drag race and she built the motor for her maverick in the kitchen.
Now that’s pretty cool. I will never forget trying to rebuild that thermo quad carb for Richard Charger in my kitchen floor. J The prognosis was poor for that one indeed J

I have 2 cousins who are way deep into the family history. One has paid for his DNA to be stored for the family tree and another who is writing a book. Several books have been written but I have yet to get one they are out of print.

I can name off all the names of famous people that I am related to mostly cousins’ back through history but to me all that does not matter a whole lot. What matters most of all is the “Here and Now”! All of that information is very interesting but not really important. It’s all in the past and all you have now is what today brings. You can’t change the past but you can invent the future. Family does not have to be blood related. Just because you are blood related does not mean you are family. Blood related don’t mean they will be there for you. If they are not here for you during the good bad and ugly they are not family. Families are the ones that are there for you and are close to you that don’t mean they are blood related it means they are family.

I live with my best friend and soul mate. We have lived together for several years and plan to be together forever. We are a team and consider ourselves as family which we are a family unit. Yes the family tree is interesting but here and now is what is important. The people who are there for you who actually care about you through thick and thin. Yes they are out there but are they here for you now?
:blob:

I am adding this because I found out the records site for Nashville I believe you do have to pay but there are some you don't cept maybe for the cost of copies.
 
I havent been able to find anything new in the last few weeks. My great grandfather is still a mystery. I did speak to my Aunt yesterday who was working on it awhile ago. She was excited I was doing it. She said none of her kids seemed interested so she stopped. She going to send me what she has and a bunch of pictures but she thinks I have more then she does.
 
I have hit a road block as well. Can not find anything beyond my great grand parents, perhaps there was a name change thrown in around this time?
 
AdamR said:
I havent been able to find anything new in the last few weeks. My great grandfather is still a mystery. I did speak to my Aunt yesterday who was working on it awhile ago. She was excited I was doing it. She said none of her kids seemed interested so she stopped. She going to send me what she has and a bunch of pictures but she thinks I have more then she does.
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inkjunkie said:
I have hit a road block as well. Can not find anything beyond my great grand parents, perhaps there was a name change thrown in around this time?
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Same here I got as far as my great grandfather and ggm then nothing. Adam thanks for starting this thread I piccked up where I left off years ago.
 
Doug Im pretty sure a name change is my problem. Ive heard 2 stories, One the name was made up, The other the spelling was changed. Im also pretty sure my great grandfathers birth name wasnt Harry.
 
AdamR said:
Doug Im pretty sure a name change is my problem. Ive heard 2 stories, One the name was made up, The other the spelling was changed. Im also pretty sure my great grandfathers birth name wasnt Harry.
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Perhaps you can trace him thru one of "Harry's" siblings?
 
I havent found any. If he has them they arent going by the same last name that I know of.
 
AdamR said:
I havent found any. If he has them they arent going by the same last name that I know of.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the proverbial block wall. Don't give up, keep digging.......
I have a list of folks that were in the book that my Mother had. It is in one of the tubs in the shed, not even going to look for it. It will turn up when we get our house done some year. It has all of the criminals on it. I believe they were the generation before my grand parents. My Dad did tell me that our last name was changed at some point due to them. If I could figure out the way they spelled there last name it might help me out.
 
Ancestry.com is a GREAT tool, but you gotta know how to work it... I've tried a few times to find stuff about my dad's side by using my mom's account, but I always get as far back as Russia (what is now the Ukraine), and that's about it...

My mom, on the other hand, traced her mother's side back to the 1750's to Gotland, Sweden... Apparently we come from a very VERY long line of Jacob Halverson and Halver Jacobsons.... She sort of gave up in the 1750's because of not-that-great church records and she figured the 1750's was far back enough, but it would seem my family was a fairly affluent farming family, owning a servant or two, a handful of livestock, and a radio!

She also traced her father's father's side back to Norway, Sweden, then Switzerland, back to about the 12- or 1300's, and traced her father's mother's side back to pre-1000ce Norway; I am quite literally a direct descendant of Viking warriors! :viking: And couple that with my mother's side being almost entirely Scandinavian and my dad's side being German and German-Russian (the Ukraine thing, a population of native Germans that emigrated to the Ukraine, but kept the German culture, and further were slaughtered en masse by Stalin in the 40's and 50's), I am pretty much 100% Anglo-Saxon/Scandinavian.... Probably the whitest person on earth. A few years ago I spilled a bunch of Liquid Paper on myself, and people complemented me on my "sweet tan!" ;)

Digging through your ancestry is a pain in the stump most of the time, but once you finally find that result and can confirm it, it's like a tiny little slot machine in your head that has FINALLY hit the jackpot and is dumping out all of its tokens. Stick in there, keep digging. It's well worth it. :)


- CK

P.s. A strange side-note: I was born in 1986, a Ukrainian descendant... That same year, just a few months after my birth, the Chernobyl incident happened. All my life, for some unexplained reason, I've always been sort of fascinated with the area, the effects of heavy radiation on the flora and fauna, et. al.... If I ever take my awesome trip across Europe, I'm stopping off in Kiev and signing up for the tour of the 30km exclusion zone around the Chernobyl NPP and Pripyat (the city built for the staff of the plant)... I've no idea why, but I feel like I -have to- do this... Can't explain it...
 
Adam

Have you tried to find the translation of Harry in Russian or Ukrainian.

Here are some I found Gavrila, Gerasim, Khariton, and Egor'.

If you want to check search English - Russian name cross reference.
If you haven't already.
 
Adam, the surname sounds more Slovak than Czech. My mother's family were from Slovakia and came over as coal miners and settled in western PA and WV. My maternal great grandfather was a foreman for the PRR and helped build the "Horseshoe Curve" in Pennsylvania, which was an engineering marvel of its day. My sister is doing some research into that side of the family.

One of my paternal relatives researched my dad's lineage and traced it back to the 1400s in Italy.

There are some great records dating from Ellis Island, but it came into existence only late in the 19th Century and all other immigration records seem spotty.

Many immigrants from non-English-speaking countries changed the spelling of their names to make them more pronounceable in English. Both sides of my family did this. It might have been at the time of entry or later through a court. I have also seen some common English surnames of long-time family in this country that were adulterated over the centuries, mostly due to illiteracy.
 
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