Genealogy sources?

[macwilkin]

Try your local public library and see if they have a genealogy department. Many public libraries offer free genealogy classes and have subscriptions to online databases like Ancestry and Heritagequest. Also, most genealogy librarians are genealogists themselves and have years of experience in the field. You might also see if there is a local genealogical society.

When I worked as a genealogical librarian for our local public library district, we had a very helpful handout about basic genealogy, which can be found here:

http://thelibrary.springfield.missou...t/basicgen.cfm

Happy Hunting!

Todd

[O'Neille]

I use onegreatfamily.com because it searches all the other databases automatically and you can be doing other research while the search goes on. It is a pay-service but well worth the price. I've gotten excellent information including pictures and biographies from distant relatives who just happen to be on the same quest halfway around the world. I'm back to my 16th Greatgrandmother, born in 1493. Kingswood, Wiltshire, England. O'Neille

[Schultz]

onegreatfamily is a great resource. i came across it a couple of months ago and was astonished to find MYSELF on there. the contact person said she got the information from her husband's grandmother and that's all she could tell me.

While the information did indeed open up new doors in my research, I'm still trying to figure out how I ended up in some distant cousin's gedcom file!

[turpin]

One of the best sources of genealogical information on the web is www.rootsweb.com.

I just spent about four hours on rootsweb. My brother is the family geneologist and he has over 100,000 names in direct lines of descent. I was looking specifically for when ancestors migrated to the US, and tracing Scottish lines of descent.

I've always known of my Gordon connection, and that one is traced through my GG grandmother directly to (and through) Adam, Lord Gordon who fought with Wallace at Stirling Bridge and Falkirk, and with Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.

My maternal grandfather's pedigree has a maternal line departure in 1658 that shows a direct Campbell line to Archibald (Gillespic) Campbell, born 1090, with a small Fraser off-shoot. My maternal grandmother has a strong line to Iverson, and my paternal grandmother links to MacIver, both septs of Campbell. (Too bad there is only one Campbell tartan I can wear, and that is Ancient Campbell (Black Watch), because I don't see a link to Breadalbane, Cawdor, or Loudoun).

George Gordon married Katherine Forbes in 1530, which traces back to Duncan Forbois in 1120. George's father James Gordon married Margaret Stewart around 1505 and that traces back through fathers and mothers to Robert the Bruce (cool).

I also found a minor Wallace connection.

Once you are n the right place rootsweb is great - it's finding your line that can take time, because someone has to have researched and posted it.

[Andrew Green]

Turpin:
Cool pedigrees!
I have the Moore side of my family back to 1817, NC... but I cannot find records past that, I too, and trying to find when the Scottish side of my father's family came over. Funny enough, many of the women who married into the Moore line's family does back to somewhere between 1690 and 1700 England.
Being Scottish born, and a Scottish descendant, this is naturally the focus of my research.
Trying to trace my paternal grandfather's side is much harder, as my great great grandparents on that side died when my great grandfather was quite young, so there isn't much to find there, as things were not well documented. That's a bit of a bummer, as I would have liked to trace that line back as well... as I am doing this to respect where all major aspects of my bloodlines come from.
My mother's side is equally frustrating. Her father didn't talk much of his family, as he lost his brother and his father in WWII. The town in CZ where they were from doesn't exist anymore, which is a real downer. I cannot find records for my maternal grandmother, but she's still alive, and doing well for a woman of her age, I do have the names from farther back, but many records could have been trashed in the wars.
It's fun as hell, but also a little disheartening at times, some of my relatives, distant, and not so distant went through some seriously difficult times. Makes my troubles look like a walk in the park. I know this aspect of my ancestry is NOT unique, but damn.

[turpin]

I think one of the reasons we've been able to trace so far back is that most of my family lines in this country start early in the 1600's, so there's been little opportunity for major disruption of records due to wars. Some of the records come from English shipping manifests that have good documentation of passengers who came over to the colonies. For example, the earliest birth I've seen so far in this country was 1613, but many in the mid 1600's.

So when someone boasts that their ancestors came over on the Mayflower, I can reply that mine met the boat.

[Andrew Green]

Ha ha ha!
That is cool though, to be able to trace back that far.
As far as my mother's side of the family, only she and a 2nd cousing came over to the states are far as I know. That was mmm... early 1960s.

[neo71665]

So when someone boasts that their ancestors came over on the Mayflower, I can reply that mine met the boat.

Guess since I'm 1/4 native american mine met yours, lol.

Good luck on traceing them back. According to the US governement my grandmother on my fathers side (where the native american comes from) was never born due to the fact of her being born on a reservation and not having any birth records. I tease my dad about being hatched. The rest of the family we has traced back to 1600s-ish depending on the family.

[Cawdorian]

The more you work with rootsweb the easier it will become to find information on their site. There are many search options available, if you have some names, spouse's names and birth or death dates it is very easy to fine tune your search. I think it is one of the best sites out there and best of all It's free!

The ship passenger lists are a wonderful source of information, there are some other websites that have information on cemeteries. I have several cemetery lists I have found on the net, they are a great source of birth and death dates.

If you have ancestors that settled at Jamestown VA, there is a website called "Society of Ancient Planters" that has a list of all the original settlers of the Jamestown colony. These settlers were English.

Study the migration patterns in the US back in the 1700's, many of our Scottish and Scots-Irish ancestors originally settled in Pennsylvania, from there they migrated down the "Great Wagon Trail" to Virginia, North and South Carolina,Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia.

The longer and deeper you search the more Scottish ancestors you will find.