Genealogy - Getting to Know your Heritage

[Elderberry]

New England has some absolutely awesome records.  With my  particular New England great great grandfather, I have traced 113/128 of his ancestors back to England and Scotland.  over 90%!!!!!   However, they all came over on boats 3- 100+ (1628-1660).  not a single one to the Mayflower.  :(

Today I received the preliminary review from the Mayflower Society and I forwarded it to the Historian of the Georgia Chapter, requesting all the help I can get.
I can't wait!

[ConstitutionRose]

You're welcome and good luck on your search.  I do use that site from time to time, and I did notice they had some links to other sites for Mr. Wren.  Anyway, I agree with those here who recommend talking to the older ones in our family.  That would now be me, and I'm trying to answer any questions my family may one day have.  I wish to this day I would have followed that sage advice, but in any case, working through both Ancestry and Heritage as well as DNA, have put together five generations complete, and some going back farther than that.

My mother's side was Irish and all came over in the late 1840s on the famine ships.  My father's side was almost all English.  What a difference.  The Irish side is extremely difficult to trace earlier than the late 1700s; the English side on some names can trace back to the Normans.  Better record keeping I guess.

Opposite in my family.  Dad Irish and Mom British.  An aunt did tons of research and passed it on to my next oldest sister.  The English side is documented clear back to Charlemagne, the Irish only to the arrival in America.  I'm going to talk to my sister about DNA.  I don't believe she has used that tool and it might open up some info for her.

I'm glad I found this thread.

[ConstitutionRose]

Ping to follow this thread.  Thanks for starting.

Been doing it off and on for 20 years.  Have a large family tree as both sides (maternal and paternal) trace back to 1600's in America.  Eaton's of MA/NH on paternal side. On maternal side, the Stone's, Clark's, and Lee's of VA and Vansciver's of NJ.

My mother's side includes Clark's in VA.

[Idiot]

My parents spent years researching their families.  My mom now has several file cabinets full of info.  They traced our family back to Abraham Lincoln's wife (yes she ended up in a mental institution....hmmm...that explains some things.)  Sadly neither my brother or I don't really have an interest in this information.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXOwNOf2QXY

[skeeter]

My parents spent years researching their families.  My mom now has several file cabinets full of info.  They traced our family back to Abraham Lincoln's wife (yes she ended up in a mental institution....hmmm...that explains some things.)  Sadly neither my brother or I don't really have an interest in this information.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXOwNOf2QXY

My parents went through this phase as well. They found out we are directly related to this guy:

http://spartacus-educational.com/PRbrunt.htm

[ConstitutionRose]

You are right.  Scant info on this guy.  I will look further.
Alexander Wren

Birth:  1772 - USA
Death:  Virginia, United States
Marriage:  21 Dec 1785 - Greensville, Virginia, United States
Spouse:  Lucy Lawrence

If you wish I can send this to my sister who is planning a trip to VA to look in graveyards and old church records.  She might be able to find something.

[Bigun]

If you wish I can send this to my sister who is planning a trip to VA to look in graveyards and old church records.  She might be able to find something.

@ConstitutionRose

Thanks but a relative sorted it all out via a Y-DNA test.  Turns out that Alexander was not the right person anyway. 

Here's the correct fellow.

Evans Wren
1763–1826
Birth 31 AUG 1763 • Blackwater, Surry, Virginia
Death ABT. 1826 • Lawrence County, Alabama, USA
Spouse:  Lucy Hicks

 I would greatly appreciate any information anyone might find about him and wish to share with me.

[kalee]

Place marker. I am researching Wards and Heflin's of VA.

[RetBobbyMI]

My mother's side includes Clark's in VA.

I'm a descendant of William Clark of Clark's Mountain in Orange County and the Elder John Clark.

[kevindavis007]

I found a lot of neat information about my family. The only problem I have is that I can't seem to find any information about my Great Grandpa Davis.  Mainly his parents.  But most of my ancestors came from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland Wales, Germany and Ireland.

[Yogafist]

Genealogy - Getting to know your Heritage.

This Thread is posted for  discussion of Genealogy or the study of one's Heritage.

I personally think it to be one of the most important undertakings one can engage in and besides that I LOVE it!

Free accounts available at http://myheritage.com

Wow, thanks for that link!  I had been stuck on my paternal grandmother at Ancestry, but this site took her family all the way back to 1720 in the blink of an eye.  Ancestry's link included a name change that just couldn't be supported by any documentation, and it appears, they are wrong.  Additionally, I found a photo of my grandfather who was born in 1885. 

[Bigun]

Wow, thanks for that link!  I had been stuck on my paternal grandmother at Ancestry, but this site took her family all the way back to 1720 in the blink of an eye.  Ancestry's link included a name change that just couldn't be supported by any documentation, and it appears, they are wrong.  Additionally, I found a photo of my grandfather who was born in 1885.

You are quite welcome!  Glad you found it of use.

Welcome to TBR!

[truth_seeker]

My sister did a DNA test with Ancestry.com and has been getting a steady stream of suggested related people.

In each case,  the person is found to be indeed related.

One of the latest helped a woman and her daughter. The woman was adopted in Winnepeg, and lived her life with sealed records, and no knowledge of her birth family whatsoever.

But those records were recently unsealed but all she learned was the surname of a birth -parent, and Winnepeg.

DNA indicated relationship to us. Sure enough, they were both thrilled. The now know the story of those ancestors, where they originated and where they wound up.

Our ancestors were part of the group from Smaland, Sweden that came to Chisago Lakes, Minnesota in the 1850s-60s. My ancestor went next to Dakota Territory. Hers to Manitoba.

The mother (now age 73) now lives in White Horse, Yukon Territory, and her daughter lives in Grand Prairie,, Alberta.

Our common ancestor was Jonas Peter Falk, born 1793 died 1881 and buried in Center City, Minnesota

[mountaineer]

That's cool,  t_s. I'm becoming more persuaded to do the DNA test after reading accounts like that.

[truth_seeker]

That's cool,  t_s. I'm becoming more persuaded to do the DNA test after reading accounts like that.

As my Mormon uncle told me, interest in genealogy is the "spirit of Elijah." Kinship, family.

I realize some evangelicals dislike Mormonism. My Italian Catholic wife likes them. She says they are a lot alike. Family and Food.

In the case of Mormons, lots of jello. Inside joke, BTW. I am not and have never been Mormon, just related to quite a few.

[catfish1957]

Here are  few suggestions to get the utmost genealogical value in your test....

(1) Build,upload, or import your tree for about 10 generations.  Include those though which may not  be proven, are highly likely.
(2) Secondly, after uploading, look for leaf matches.  Document in the comment section your common ancestor, and the relationship.  For example...3rd cousin once removed, I use nomenclature 3C1R.
(3). You may need to go through about 3 cycles of all 4C or lower data, and 4C and nearer start filling in the blanks via the shared matches function.
(4) Once everyone is assigned, and believe me there will be any examples of no common documentable matches, you should be able to find groupings which should say which family belongs where.
(5) When there are no discernible matches, make sure it is documented so.  I use NM (No Matches) in the comment section.
(6) Process, may prove some common ancestry, but almost as important it eliminates others.  Example...  If you determine that you get a pattern of people with a match to a set of great great grandparents, that eliminates 7/8 of the rest of your tree for research matter.

Good luck.

[Bigun]

My sister did a DNA test with Ancestry.com and has been getting a steady stream of suggested related people.

In each case,  the person is found to be indeed related.

One of the latest helped a woman and her daughter. The woman was adopted in Winnepeg, and lived her life with sealed records, and no knowledge of her birth family whatsoever.

But those records were recently unsealed but all she learned was the surname of a birth -parent, and Winnepeg.

DNA indicated relationship to us. Sure enough, they were both thrilled. The now know the story of those ancestors, where they originated and where they wound up.

Our ancestors were part of the group from Smaland, Sweden that came to Chisago Lakes, Minnesota in the 1850s-60s. My ancestor went next to Dakota Territory. Hers to Manitoba.

The mother (now age 73) now lives in White Horse, Yukon Territory, and her daughter lives in Grand Prairie,, Alberta.

Our common ancestor was Jonas Peter Falk, born 1793 died 1881 and buried in Center City, Minnesota

My wife of nearly 50 years never believed that she was the daughter of  the  man named 'on her birth certificate as her father.  Within the  last year DNA has revealed the truth and she 'has been able to discover who her real biological father was (no longer with us unfortunately) and 'connect with an Aunt and several close cousins.  They are all very excited by the turn of events and I am excited for them.

[catfish1957]

That's cool,  t_s. I'm becoming more persuaded to do the DNA test after reading accounts like that.

I have gotten tons of benefit from both my Ancestry and FTDNA testing.  I have proven 3 ancestors that earlier were just pure speculation.

Another interesting story is I found a close match (3C) that had no rhyme or reason.  I started closely comping our trees, and found that one of my great grandmother's brothers just happened to live in the same city/county this matches great grandmother had.  Pretty coincidental :) considering this residence was 150 miles from our family's homestead.

Those things happened even over a 100 years ago.

[mountaineer]

My maternal grandmother was a Polk and it always has been believed we were related to someone in President James K. Polk's family (he didn't have any children, alas). Maybe with the DNA testing, we can find out.

[Gefn]

My sister did a DNA test with Ancestry.com and has been getting a steady stream of suggested related people.

In each case,  the person is found to be indeed related.

One of the latest helped a woman and her daughter. The woman was adopted in Winnepeg, and lived her life with sealed records, and no knowledge of her birth family whatsoever.

But those records were recently unsealed but all she learned was the surname of a birth -parent, and Winnepeg.

DNA indicated relationship to us. Sure enough, they were both thrilled. The now know the story of those ancestors, where they originated and where they wound up.

Our ancestors were part of the group from Smaland, Sweden that came to Chisago Lakes, Minnesota in the 1850s-60s. My ancestor went next to Dakota Territory. Hers to Manitoba.

The mother (now age 73) now lives in White Horse, Yukon Territory, and her daughter lives in Grand Prairie,, Alberta.

Our common ancestor was Jonas Peter Falk, born 1793 died 1881 and buried in Center City, Minnesota

I've thought about doing this because I'm adopted and my birth records are sealed tighter than anything. At one point in my life I even went to court to have them unsealed to no avail.

Now, I just don't care anymore. I know the blue eyes had to come from some common European ancestor.,but I'm beyond caring. The records must be sealed for a reason, so be it. I'm a mutt.

[truth_seeker]

I've thought about doing this because I'm adopted and my birth records are sealed tighter than anything. At one point in my life I even went to court to have them unsealed to no avail.

Now, I just don't care anymore. I know the blue eyes had to come from some common European ancestor.,but I'm beyond caring. The records must be sealed for a reason, so be it. I'm a mutt.

In this case though, the woman wanted to see what DNA might reveal.

To each their own. I respect either choice. 

[kevindavis007]

How good are the DNA test? Which is better?

[Bigun]

How good are the DNA test? Which is better?

Extremely accurate.. IMHO FTDNA IS the best of the lot.

[musiclady]

I did the Ancestry.com DNA test and found out I was Scandinavian.

BIG shock............................... Not! ^-^

[pookie18]

My wife did both FTDNA and 23 & Me tests. We found a bunch of known relatives on 23 & Me. We haven't been able to confirm any matches on FTDNA. I believe that, between the two, there are many more people on 23 & Me.