Here comes the king's

**King-cormis** · 25th May 10, 08:08 PM

well i have expressed interest in my heritage...finally haha.

My grandmothers last name is much more interesting of a name then my own. which is Pierce and to what i believe is scotish. My Grandmothers father was a King. MUCH more interesting lol. so i decided to start with my irish side as far as geneology goes.

first off i am new to this as of this week hehe. a scots friend of mine told me to come here, though i do not know if he is registered. anywho. how do i go about finding which clan i fall under. I am aware, if not mistaken, that King is of irish decent.

any help would be amazing. and also how do i go about actually trying to do a geneology on my family.

King

**The Wizard of BC** · 25th May 10, 10:37 PM

The goal to Genealogical research is an unbroken paper trail.

You start with your parents. Find their marriage license. This will give you information like full names, dates and places of birth, etc.

Then you go back, one piece of paper at a time. You find your mother and fathers birth certificates which give you your four grandparents names.

Back another generation. You look for birth, death, marriage certificates, Census records, draft registrations, Parish or church records.

It is a long and exhausting process to even work your family back just four or five generations. But what fun. It's like the ultimate treasure hunt or mystery story. One clue leads to another, and another.

One good source is Ancestry.com which is a subscription site. They publish things like census records for N. America, Draft Registration and voter registration records. They are beginning to post ship passenger logs too.

Family records like old bibles are a good starting point, but please if Grandma has a memory, that's great, but without a piece of paper to back it up it didn't happen.

**BoldHighlander** · 25th May 10, 10:41 PM

I cannot add to Steve's great advice, so I'll just say:

...from the far nw corner of Washington state!

Ah, one bit of advice: in your quest your bound to run into brick walls from time to time. Don't get discouraged. There are times you will wonder if you will ever find the family details you seek, and there are other times the dam will burst & you'll be swimming in a wealth of genealogical details.
Keep your head up thru it all!

**King-cormis** · 26th May 10, 07:46 PM

thanks m8's for the quick reply's i will keep you updated with whats going on i have just found out that my mothers side of the family may be a waste of time since shes adopted....hmph i just started and already have found me a wall. hehe

but my dads side is full of information im sure its just when looking for these records i just dont know how to go about it like do i search on google?

also about my clan symbol i was hoping to maybe find it i have two names im gonna be doing geneology reports on.

King

and

Pierce

are the last names im searching does anyone know how to find out what clan im from.

**BoldHighlander** · 26th May 10, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by King-cormis

thanks m8's for the quick reply's i will keep you updated with whats going on i have just found out that my mothers side of the family may be a waste of time since shes adopted....hmph i just started and already have found me a wall.

Hang in there....one line of my family (my maternal grandfather's) we've had a hard time tracing. We get to my great-grandfather & the trail goes cold. Why?
Back in the post-Civil War days (& up to early 1920's) my grandpa's people back in the Missouri Ozarks & West Kentucky were associated in activities like train & bank robbery, Bald Knobbers, & other less than legal activities.
Loose lips could lead to real problems for kin on the run, so you just didn't talk about family.

My grandpa kept his lips sealed, though what little slipped out made me feel that he knew more than he let on. Now he's gone (3 yrs) and the trail is colder.
I'm not giving up though

**HeathBar** · 27th May 10, 05:08 AM

Originally Posted by King-cormis

King and Pierce are the last names im searching, does anyone know how to find out what clan im from.

What you are looking for is something called a sept see this link: http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...lies_septs.htm

King and Pierce are not known as Scottish clans. That doesn't mean your ancestor were not Scottish. They could have pledged their loyalty to one of the other larger clans in the lands they lived. To get a real sense of where to go, would be to find out what part of Scotland your ancestors came from. Then find out who the major clans were in that region.
I did see that Clan Colquhoun (pronouned "Col-Hoon") lists King as one of their septs. Does this mean that your King ancestor were loyal to the Colquhouns? Not necessarily. But I would do much research before dropping loads of cash on clan items that you may or may not have a kinship towards.

Good Luck!

**macwilkin** · 27th May 10, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by The Wizard of BC

The goal to Genealogical research is an unbroken paper trail.

You start with your parents. Find their marriage license. This will give you information like full names, dates and places of birth, etc.

Then you go back, one piece of paper at a time. You find your mother and fathers birth certificates which give you your four grandparents names.

Back another generation. You look for birth, death, marriage certificates, Census records, draft registrations, Parish or church records.

It is a long and exhausting process to even work your family back just four or five generations. But what fun. It's like the ultimate treasure hunt or mystery story. One clue leads to another, and another.

One good source is Ancestry.com which is a subscription site. They publish things like census records for N. America, Draft Registration and voter registration records. They are beginning to post ship passenger logs too.

Family records like old bibles are a good starting point, but please if Grandma has a memory, that's great, but without a piece of paper to back it up it didn't happen.

And don't forget the genealogy department of your local public library or historical society! Many offer free classes and assistance with research.

T.

**King-cormis** · 28th May 10, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by HeathBar

What you are looking for is something called a sept see this link: http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...lies_septs.htm

King and Pierce are not known as Scottish clans. That doesn't mean your ancestor were not Scottish. They could have pledged their loyalty to one of the other larger clans in the lands they lived. To get a real sense of where to go, would be to find out what part of Scotland your ancestors came from. Then find out who the major clans were in that region.
I did see that Clan Colquhoun (pronouned "Col-Hoon") lists King as one of their septs. Does this mean that your King ancestor were loyal to the Colquhouns? Not necessarily. But I would do much research before dropping loads of cash on clan items that you may or may not have a kinship towards.

Good Luck!

Thanks so how do i prove kinship? just through research and hope i see that name in my family tree?

**King-cormis** · 28th May 10, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by BoldHighlander

Hang in there....one line of my family (my maternal grandfather's) we've had a hard time tracing. We get to my great-grandfather & the trail goes cold. Why?
Back in the post-Civil War days (& up to early 1920's) my grandpa's people back in the Missouri Ozarks & West Kentucky were associated in activities like train & bank robbery, Bald Knobbers, & other less than legal activities.
Loose lips could lead to real problems for kin on the run, so you just didn't talk about family.

My grandpa kept his lips sealed, though what little slipped out made me feel that he knew more than he let on. Now he's gone (3 yrs) and the trail is colder.
I'm not giving up though

well i was just talking with me father and he was telling me that our family (King's) didnt originally have that as a last name im getting conflicting stories thought but its a lead i guess lol. my father is saying that our GGGGGgrandfather or whatever the number of Greats before it were, that he had killed someone in ireland and ran to britain changed there name to king and went to nova scotia. my grandmother told my sister that the last name King was our scotish name but then when i asked she said it was our Irish last name....gah this is fun lol i feel like a treasure hunter.

**BoldHighlander** · 28th May 10, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by King-cormis

well i was just talking with me father and he was telling me that our family (King's) didnt originally have that as a last name im getting conflicting stories thought but its a lead i guess lol. my father is saying that our GGGGGgrandfather or whatever the number of Greats before it were, that he had killed someone in ireland and ran to britain changed there name to king and went to nova scotia. my grandmother told my sister that the last name King was our scotish name but then when i asked she said it was our Irish last name....gah this is fun lol i feel like a treasure hunter.

Ha! Sounds like my mom's family (concerning my paternal grandfather's line)! Don't you just love genealogy sometimes?

Best of luck in your search & please keep us apprised of your results.