Finding myself through my ancestors...

[Dall_Piobaire]

Good advice.

In addition, what you may want to do is take a look at the General Mayflower Descendants site, or similar such sites. They have pretty strict rules on what evidence is acceptable and what is not. I believe they still accept bible entries with back up evidence.

Remember, the further you go back you will find surnames did not exist in many cases. You will find son of, Mac and Fitz, and place names. I believe ihe old Gaelic tradition was to name people based on theire appearance or where they were from.

Oh, and keep type written records, not hand written. I have my great-grandfathers diaries and letters and really can't make head nor tail of them.

It's a great adventure though, and you will find some really interesting coincidences.

[ohiopiper]

A note on finding out rather less than stellar information about your ancestors:

On my Mothers side, they left England fleeing charges of horse thievery.

On my Father side, they left Germany fleeing charges of distilling untaxed liquor (moonshining).

My Dads' family were, in fact, moonshiners up until the late 1960s. Grandpa became a minister and Great-Grandpa decided it was time to retire. I've not had the urge to take up the mantle. Yet...

[BoldHighlander]

A note on finding out rather less than stellar information about your ancestors:

When the subject came up, my grandmother would say "it's best to let sleeping dogs lie."

All this did was make me want to search all the more!

[Sharkman]

You may find like I have that it is the most exciting thing you can do. I found my Scottish heritage doing just what you a begining to do. My father and mother only had a few stories and very little interest about any of this, but I always wanted to know so that i could pass it on to my children.

The Mormons in most larger cities have geneology information that is quite helpful and you can sit in there for ours looking things up and they are generally very helpful and kind folks.

Good Luck!!

[glenlivet]

A note on finding out rather less than stellar information about your ancestors:

On my Mothers side, they left England fleeing charges of horse thievery.

On my Father side, they left Germany fleeing charges of distilling untaxed liquor (moonshining).

My Dads' family were, in fact, moonshiners up until the late 1960s. Grandpa became a minister and Great-Grandpa decided it was time to retire. I've not had the urge to take up the mantle. Yet...

Sounds like Grandpa just decided to switch 'spirits'. So which mantle might you take up, once you get the urge?

[ohiopiper]

Ain't tellin'. Let's just say I can quote scripture and know how to build a decent still.

[madman79764]

I have been working on my family history since 1986 and have been able to trace one line back to John Howland(Mayflower) 15 generations through the Crocker line starting with his grand-daughter Hannah Howland and Jonathon Crocker down through the Crocker line to my 3x G-Grandmother.
"A note on finding out rather less than stellar information about your ancestors" I myself love finding the skeletons in the closet. I have been able to find 1 family member who deserted during the Revolution. Another family member Benny Havens who is still held in high regards by the cadets at West Point due to the Tavern he ran and the inspiration for the song Benny O. one thing that I did find that surprised me some was several of the family members owned several slaves in New York during the mid to late 1700's.

I have a list of many sites that have a lot of information available that I use regularly if you are interested I can provide them. After working on my family history for the past 25 years I am still finding information and putting the puzzle pieces in place. So far in my case I have amassed 1500 pages just with my family history and another 1000 pages on my wifes family that dates back one line to the early 1500's in Denmark, another line of my family can be traced to the early 1700's in Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

[tripleblessed]

ohiopiper, where I grew up, some people did both, if that simplifies your predicament.

An uncle about 150 years back was testifying about some sheep found in his pasture and a dead neighbor on a nearby farm. "Well, been two year an' 'e
ain't paid me fer mah sheep, so I went an' got'em an' brung'em back home. There was some discussion about it, an' I seen he was upset, but he ain't pull that knife, he ain't got cut with it." Unfortunately, the jury was the dead guy's cousins, so he knew how it would go. The Courthouse at Mount Vernon is 2-story, courtroom upstairs, with large windows that were open in the summer heat. When the "Guilty" was pronounced, he leapt out the window into the waiting arms of a huge oak, shinnied down quick as a 'coon into the saddle of a horse held by his brother, and I have cousins in Florida I've never met. For over a hundred years that oak bore our family name. Fifty years gone to disease, it still gets mention in local lore.

[Mike_Oettle]

madman79764 wrote: “One thing that I did find that surprised me some was several of the family members owned several slaves in New York during the mid to late 1700s.”

Bear in mind that New York was previously Dutch, and that the Dutch made extensive use of slave labour.
Several ancestors of mine who were at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th century owned slaves. They were mostly Dutch, German and French in origin, but they also included freed slaves of Indian origin.
At the Cape, slavery was abolished through legislation passed by the British Parliament in Westminster – first the slave trade was abolished early in the 19th century, and then about three decades later, slavery itself.
I am familiar with the abolition of slavery in the southern states by Lincoln’s proclamation during the Civil War, but it would be interesting to learn how it disappeared (through legislation or otherwise) in New York.
Regards,
Mike

[EagleJCS]

Google is your friend. Several sources I found with "New York abolition" indicate that in 1781, manumission of slaves who had fought in the Revolutionary War was enacted. In 1799, legislation was passed for the gradual abolition of slavery. By 1827, it was complete and all slaves in the state of New York were freed.

One of my ancestors (and probably more - I haven't looked into all the 'nooks and crannies' yet) owned at least one slave around the turn of the 19th century (early 1800's). There are also a couple of "colorful" characters (rogues and cads), and a few tragic events in the family history. It's always interesting to find out things that my grandparents either didn't know or wouldn't talk about (there are some things that kids don't need to know until they're old enough to understand). I've discovered some things my dad didn't know because his father didn't encourage questions about some aspects of our family history.