Digging at one's roots

[Detroitpete]

I've always had a bit of the genealogy bug in me thanks to great stories from my grandfather on one side and my other grandfather's complete lack of family information on the other.

This site has helped feed this and lead me to follow something I was told about there being more 'celts' in our family history than most of us thought of.

So here's a few of my findings by tracing the women that the men in my family married and had children with:

Jones from Wales
Corathers from Ulster
Bennett from Edinburgh
Hunter from Perthsire
McElwaine from County Sligo
Hall from Roxsburghshire

Add that to the Scandinavians-by-way of Balquidder of the men in my family and the olive-pure Siclians from my mon's side ;-) and WHAT a mix, eh?

The real treasure has been in finding documentation of birth/death/christening/transit records of these ancestors.

Thanks all for helping feed this 'other' addiction. We're probably all kin here, ha!

[IRISH]

congratulations on the fruitful search.

beyond family records and recollections, what was your primary outside source of information?

[Detroitpete]

congratulations on the fruitful search.

beyond family records and recollections, what was your primary outside source of information?

Hi Irish!

I was lucky. I had 2 great uncles who published a family history in the 1920's. My grandfather also helped fill in some missing peices. However, I found that there was a bit of misinformation and conjecture (they did the best they could) in the book. I used this as a jumping off point and began my own verification of what they had. I've used military records, christening records, marriage information, cemetery plot listings, and transit records etc.

Verification--actually getting a scrap of paper or seeing the archived equivelent has taken time and will continue to do so. I'm being very careful to verify everything I can, so as not to just take an assumption as documented history. I'm sure this has its limits as well, but it is very enjoyable.

[IRISH]

I've used military records, christening records, marriage information, cemetery plot listings, and transit records etc... Verification--actually getting a scrap of paper or seeing the archived equivelent has taken time and will continue to do so. I'm being very careful to verify everything I can, so as not to just take an assumption as documented history...

wow! you are thorough. nice work!

[Sammac]

Wish you were going to be at the Dragonmeade Sat. I could pick your brain about your sources.

[gilmore]

...We're probably all kin here, ha!

Yes. In fact most western Europeans are related by common descent from humans who lived in the Iberian Peninsula during the last Ice Age, then settled the Atlantic coast of Europe and moved inland. This can be shown in maps here http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mcdonald/Wo...groupsMaps.pdf setting out the distribution of Y DNA Haplogroup R1b (inherited by men from their fathers) before the expansion of Europeans to the rest of the world around 1500 CE.

[RadioKen]

That's great what you've found! I'm afraid that my own geneaology interest was there for many years before I actually acted on it. I had been told a few times when I was growing up that our family was (at leat partly) of Scots-Irish origin, but nobody seemed to be able to provide any more detail beyond that statement. By the time I finally got around to my own genealogical excavations, many of my older family members who would have had great bits of information to share had passed on. Still, I've been able to find a number of interesting things - things of which even my own mother and father were unaware.

One thing that I've done recently was get involved in my local geneaological society. My local library, too, has a remarkably good geneaology section and has free access to online research tools like Ancestry.com.

[Detroitpete]

Yes. In fact most western Europeans are related by common descent from humans who lived in the Iberian Peninsula during the last Ice Age, then settled the Atlantic coast of Europe and moved inland. This can be shown in maps here http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mcdonald/Wo...groupsMaps.pdf setting out the distribution of Y DNA Haplogroup R1b (inherited by men from their fathers) before the expansion of Europeans to the rest of the world around 1500 CE.

I really think that since we have this type of science, those of us interested should really take advantage of it. I'm a member of Clan MacLAren Society of North America and the clan is doing a lot in this regard.

I'm saving the $$$ and think it will be well worth it.

[Skipper1]

Hi - I have an aunt who has done extensive reseach on my family lines - Irish and scotish with a recent injection of Finn. SHe has gone back to the mid 1850s. I have been thinking of going back further. Have you had any success with that sort of extended research?

[Detroitpete]

Hi - I have an aunt who has done extensive reseach on my family lines - Irish and scotish with a recent injection of Finn. SHe has gone back to the mid 1850s. I have been thinking of going back further. Have you had any success with that sort of extended research?

I thought all along that I've only skimmed the surface. The earliest date I have is 1642. That sounds amazing when you think about it, but christening records in some places can be VERY helpful.

Research on an ancestor in question got me as far as location with date of birth, but I was then able to find a christening record for this individual. Another great help for me has been due to my ancestors doing their fair share of military service. Datbases for military records have grown in leaps and bounds from just a few short years ago.

This all began with me remembering that when I was young my grandfather told me that we had more "celt" to us than our scandinavian name would assume.

My word of caution is "verify". I've tracked down so many leads that are interesting but without the ability to verify with records, I still keep them in the 'unknown' file.