Ancestors, hmm?

[Kimberly AJ]

You know, pals, I have some of my ancestors which is on my daddy's side. They lived a long time ago before we were born. Has anyone got ancestors on his/her parents' sides?

[Maggie]

Well Kimberly, we all have ancestors but some of us may not know who they were, or where they were from.

I know all of mine, back several hundred years, because they stayed in Ireland.

However, my husband was adopted, so we don't know who his ancestors were.
All we know is his mother was from Wales, and his father was from the USA.

[Texas Chava]

Yes Kaj, like it or not, we all have ancestors.  My four grandparents all came from Latvia, which at the time they came was Russia.

My husband can trace his roots here in the US to the early 1800's.  We started doing research a few years ago on his family.  His mother's family came from Ireland and his dad's family we can trace directly to the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland.  I even ordered a catalogue from Ortak, a jewler in the Orkney Islands and it had a thank you note from a sales lady with the same last name as my husband...one that is very common in the Orkney Islands.  Of course, I emailed her back!

Tracing ancestors is fascinating.

[Nero Angelo]

According to my father (a genealogist in his spare time), some of my ancestors came in on the Mayflower.

[OldFatGuy]

Oh, yeah.  We all have ancestors.  Mine came from England around 1630, but our family was originally Norman Celts who fought on William's side at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

[Fiddle_Addict]

My mother can trace her ancestors back to the 1650's, they originally came from Sweden to Northern Germany during the Thirty Years' War.

My father was adopted, so we know nothing about his parents and ancestors.

[fireyred09]

My Mom's Grandmother came from Czechoslovakia, and lived in New Prague, Minnesota, where my grandmother was born. My mother has done extensive research on our family history, but hasn't shared as much as I'd like with me. I'll ask her about it some time!

[zankoku]

On my mothers mothers side, We can trace back to th e1800s in Holland and germany. My mothers father was from Banteer ireland. I know the date, the name of the ship and even have a copy of the manifest showing his name.

My Dad's family can be traced to the mid 1700's including their service in the Army to win frredom and keep it.

Naturally I don't know all of them since I wasn't born yet<g> but we do have the family tree.

Jim

[Courtland]

My mother's father was Courtland Beecher Stone, cousin to Henry Ward Beecher and his sister Harriet Beecher Stowe.

[Cash]

My mother has done extensive research on our family history, but hasn't shared as much as I'd like with me. I'll ask her about it some time!

My Mom was also somewhat secretive about her Dad's history and stated something like its best to leave some things unknown and in the past. Plus I am unsure of what to believe from various family members who speak about it. People obviously try to frame things in a positive way regarding their family. He was said to be a great violin player though. But I get the impression my Grandfather either did something wrong or made some powerful enemies and came to America to raise his family where he and they were safe.

We found out a little more about my Dad's family because we have some written records that go back plus some other families from the same European area migrated to America together and settled in nearby communities. Most of his family were farmers, some were Cossacks.

Speaking of ancestors and Ukraine, wasn't the first permanent Celtic settlement near the Black Sea in what is today Ukraine?

[Maggie]

People obviously try to frame things in a positive way regarding their family.....

You're right about that, Cash!

I used to work for a company called Historic Families here in Orlando.
We did scrolls with history of family names etc.

I can not count the hundreds of people who told me " We're descended from Mary Queen of Scots, you know".
I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes and say "Yeah, sure you are".

Yes, the Celts are supposed to have originated somewhere around Ukraine, but nobody knows for sure.
Then they moved into Central Europe.
Then they ended up in Scotland, and the more intelligent among them crossed into Ireland!!!

[OldFatGuy]

Then they ended up in Scotland, and the more intelligent among them crossed into Ireland!!!

And they call me a "tad biased"!!

[Maggie]

Then they ended up in Scotland, and the more intelligent among them crossed into Ireland!!!

And they call me a "tad biased"!!

Oh? Biased? Moi?

BTW, those name histories were very vague, and I always pointed out that it was only a general history of the NAME, and not of their particular family.
Some of my co-workers, however, were not so truthful.
We had a Scottish guy worked there for a while who was totally shameless.
He would wow the ladies, telling them all kinds of fantasies about how noble their families were.
I'm sure he was responsible for many of the "Mary, Queen of Scots" stories.

She didn't have many descendants, after all she only had one son, who was homosexual, and when he married out of "Royal duty" 3 of his kids died in infancy and one other died young.

That Scotsman was taken away by immigration officers, and deported over the sea to Skye.

[Caite]

I love researching my ancestors.
My family and I have gotten back to the 1400's on my Mom's side. Good ol' Princess Anne of Parma Austria (now Italy). She ran away and married an Italian peasant. Then there are the Swedes, and English.
On my dad's side we only ever finished finding all the clan members (that was enough for me...over 240 families!) of the two clans we belong to: the McKay and Ferguson (Scotland).

I'd love to find out more about everyone in my family though.

<3 Caite

[zankoku]

I too love researching the family. My Dad did the ground work by finding them all, but I researched things like battles they were in, people they knew.

I researched a Civil War battle in Murfeesboro Tn and have said it before. I would rather spend another year in Vietnam than 1 day in the Civil War.

I would like to go back and find Robert Fulton (the nephew of my great great great , etc grandfather. Then another one who founded the United Church of Christ in Carversville Pa.that still exists. He was a War of 1812 vet.

Jim