Finding myself through my ancestors...

[tripleblessed]

A couple of notes on the slaves issue. There were those in my family who did
have a few. Some were(gasp) apparently racist and would not own black slaves, only white. Some, as a result of being fervently religious, engaged in the not widely known practice of Jubilee Year. Every 7th year, all debt paid off,
land fallow, all slaves manumitted. From the Old Testament. Accounts for
quite a few freedmen.

[gordon63]

i have traced my ancestors back , but i was fortunate in that they only moved within perthshire , and from where they started from 300 years ago (as far as i got back) to now 45 miles! furthest back ancestor Donald McLaren marriage in 1755 , probably born about early 1730's. but with 15 Donald McLaren's in Balquidder parish , of this age group , take your pick!
did a dna test for clan maclaren society , other clans do the same. now have people related by dna in Canada , USA , New Zealand etc.
just another way to try , but the fortunate thing is , these people are living now , and many with family histories. gordon

[SteveB]

The best advise on here has been to start with yourself and work up the family tree, a branch at a time. Document each step. Primary records are your friend ( Birth, Marriage and Death certificates). On birth certificates, you want the long form as it usually will list parents and in many cases more useful information such as the parents birthplaces and their age at the time of the birth. All of this depends on the time period and location of the record. The ideal is to collect records that prove a linkage between one generation and the next. No matter how uncommon a name is, it does not mean that the one born in Rhode Island in 1685 is the twenty year old that married a lass in North Carolina in 1705 is one and the same person.

I have seen many lineage applications based on this presumption only to find them easily disproved by a will or land deed. Be careful and enjoy what you find. The recent televsion show "Who do you think you are?" in the U.K. and now in The U.S. have spawned an interest in instant genealogy. Most of those shows took weeks of research, long before the "filming" began. I share an ancestor with Sarah Jessica Parker, who was featured on one of the episodes. We both descend from Esther (Dutch) Elwell, who was accused on the 4th of April 1692 at Salem, Massachusetts of Witchcraft. I also descend from Richard Warren of the Mayflower.


Good luck on your endeavors,

Steve B
Research Assistant,
General Society of Mayflower Descendants,
Plymouth, Massachusetts


My new job as of the first of September.

[CMcG]

did a dna test for clan maclaren society , other clans do the same. now have people related by dna in Canada , USA , New Zealand etc.
just another way to try , but the fortunate thing is , these people are living now , and many with family histories.

That is a different approach, to be sure! What is the process and cost like for DNA testing?

[Lyle1]

There is a very handy source that I don't think was mentioned in this thread -- the family bible! Many bibles have a page to record family events (they are sometimes tucked into the middle), and many families used the inside of the front or back cover. I have an elaborate bible from my father's side, and a very small, unassuming bible from my mother's side, both of which have very valuable information about birth's, deaths, and marriages.

[gordon63]

To C McG

The dna test Y67 is at familytreedna at $268. you continuously receive updates , and is worth a look . their are many family groups listed.

As you would expect with my name mclaren , all the nearer genetic distances at the 67 level are mclarens , however if you go beyond a distance (variation in dna) of 3 i have gows , mcgregors and fergusons too.
At a distance back in time no one is dna related generally to one individual clan , but to a specific area. the similarities facially with close matches can be very striking.
if interested a lot to read at Familytreedna.

gordon

[McFarkus]

from Chicago. Rootsweb.com is a free site with a lot of family trees posted. The farther back you can trace your tree, the more likely it will intersect with someone else's tree. Also some of the family tree databases have a free version (without all the bells and whistles) that you can download (Legacy Family Tree for one).

[Gael Ridire]

Ooooh, what a wonderful and addicting path you have tread upon! For some reason since I was age 7 or 8 I've been asking the elderly to tell me stories about their family and grandparents. For almost 40 years I've been active in the quest in researching my ancestors since Vietnam War at the suggestion of my Grandmother to get me out of the funk. I began with the illusion of finding royalty but alas I only found miners and dirt farmers, but they were part of those you pushed the frontier west, and to my surprise most came here in the 1600s with the earliest in 1621. I'm now putting together 3500 pages on my ancestors and those of my wife.

One mention has been the local LDS Church. In your area should be a chapel that also has a branch of the Salt Lake City Family History Library. The search & help is free. Free section of ancestry.com, rootsweb.com, genforum.com, are all excellent places to search the message boards.

A genealogy without sources & proof of the information is just myth. Copy web links & date accessed. Copy the title page of books & library code, film numbers, dates of interview. Stick to primary sources when possible, but the farther you go back the fewer records. Birth, marriage, marriage bonds & banns (intent to marry within the month), death certificates. Wills, probates, land records. The biggest help will be the federal census. My local county library subscribes to Heritage Quest which has most of the Federal census, access with library card from home. Don't get hung up on the spelling of a surname. I have one will where the person's surname is spelled four different ways including his signature. I have one family surnamed Droullard, but in records it is Duland, Drulard, Drouilliard, Droland, etc.

Finding elderly in the family has been mentioned and I can't stress enough the importance of getting to them NOW. When they pass away, all that knowledge & memory goes with them. Try to find several sources that offer the same data, and some data on forms may be wrong, that why several different sources is nice to have. And don't stress out, one family at a time, one generation at a time, one line of ascent at a time. Family traditions have some degree of truth, maybe 1% or 90%. I write them done and then let the facts tell the story, some family don't like the rewriting of family history, so beware!

When all else fails and records are no more, you've hit the brick wall, then you might try DNA. There are two types, Y chromosome or male surname [DNA that is passed only from father to son], or M chromosome or mitochondrial [DNA that is passed only from mother to daughter]. A woman to check her surname must get a brother or uncle for the test. But DNA is the very last to use. I've found it helpful in it confirmed the surname was changed from O'Brien to Bryant, and that I'm distant cousin to the Chief of the O'Briens.

Have fun and if questions just post, appears there are plenty here to help.

[Mike_Oettle]

Small correction: mitochondrial DNA is passed by a mother to all her children. Only her daughters pass it on to their descendants.
When MT DNA tests were done on remains found in Russia believed to be those of the last Tsar, Prince Philip was one of those who volunteered to submit samples.
The genes the Duke of Edinburgh had inherited from his mother were sufficiently similar to the test sample for the conclusion to be drawn that the remains were those of Tsar Nicholas.
Every man has his mother’s mitochondrial DNA. But the DNA he passes on to his descendants is the Y chromosome, which only his sons carry.
Regards,
Mike

[Gael Ridire]

Thanks for the clarification!