Anyone here interested in a family history/ancestry group?

[Rhiannon12866]

Is anyone else interested in genealogy? Learning your family history and tracing your relatives? We all come from somewhere, in this vast melting pot, and we can get together to help each other.:-)

If you're interested, contact Cooley Hurd, who has offered to draft the mission statement, if we get enough interest, or me. JohnKleeb is also on board. And, please, post on this thread! Let us know!:D

And it doesn't matter where your ancestors are from. I just think it's important to find out where we all come from, and what these brave people endured to make it here, so that we were lucky enough to live here. Everyone's story is amazing, and we can share them.:-)

Thanks so much,
Rhi:hi:

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. Sure...

Count me in...

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Thank you!

Consider yourself counted and very in! Welcome!

Rhiannon:-)

[Midnight Rambler]

3. Sounds good to me

My aunts and a couple of my older cousins are always digging up this kind of stuff. I'm actually working on a family religious history for a class right now, so I'm definitely interested.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Great! Thanks!

My aunt is also very good at this, and my cousin, and they got me interested. Sounds like you'll fit right in!:-)

[Huckebein the Raven]

4. Sure. Count me in as well.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Great, Dark_Leftist! Glad to have you with us!

Just, please, don't slash anybody, okay?:D

[Huckebein the Raven]

7. LOL. I promise

:)

[Rhiannon12866]

8. LOL! Thanks!

Do you descend from Samurais? That would probably be the most interesting story of us all!:D

[Huckebein the Raven]

9. Don't think there were black samurais.

I just love the history of the samurai.

:)

[Rhiannon12866]

11. It doesn't matter where they came from.

I guess what you mean is that you're black. So you may still have a much more interesting story than the rest of us. And if you'd like to trace the history of the samurai, that's also fine. We're liberals, remember, LOL! We have a big tent and surely accept samurai! And we're just glad to gave you with us!

Rhi:-)

[Huckebein the Raven]

13. It's cool. I'm really interested into digging into my family's past.

There is a town in France that has my last name. That's fascinating to me because my last name is not that common.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. That does sound fascinating, and I'm hoping you'll find some answers.

Cooley Hurd is interested because her family names are fairly common, and hoping to find something specific to her. Me? I just want to know more than I do. This sounds like a pretty cool adventure. And it's more fun with the help of friends, than on your own.

Rhi:hi:

[jessicazi]

10. I am Mormon,

so count me in. I think it is a sin if you are Mormon and don't do genealogy at least once in your lifetime, ha.

Jessica

[Rhiannon12866]

12. The Mormons are the best on genealogy, aren't they?

Isn't their center the one that you turn to to find out your heritage? That's what I read. We're honored to have you among us, thank you, Jessica! Irish and Mormon and samurai! What a diverse and special group! We're doing really well and I have high hopes for us!:-)

[jessicazi]

14. Not sure if they are the best

but if you want to research your family history, they have great resources. When I attended a private Mormon university, I took a class on Genealogy. Mormons are very passionate about it!

[Rhiannon12866]

15. I have heard that they have a great genealogy center.

And I know that they are passionate about about it. You're very welcome to this group, since you have some background and may be able to help us neophytes.:-)

[REP]

20. It's Not So Good For Gentiles (Non-Mormons)

They have some of my family - staunch Puritans all - listed in their database, but fortunately, all the information they have is laughably wrong (I don't fear Mormon baptism; I don't like them having the data, period). Among professional genealogical researchers, LDS sources are never given taken as definitive, even for LDS members.

[jessicazi]

31. Oh no

I am sorry about that. I guess nothing and no one is perfect!

-Jessica

[Rhiannon12866]

38. I think that's exactly it, not to quibble with REP, since she's very good.

But others have found useful info here, so thanks so much for the links. A valuable contribution, IMHO. I have heard great things about the Mormon genealogical information, but I have never had the opportunity to access it, myself. I'll also run this by my aunt, who is very good at this. Thanks again for our first, and very considerable, contribution, and welcome on board.

Rhi:hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

41. Please elaborate, REP. I've always heard they were the best.

And if you have other websites you think are better, please let us know. I know other people have found success here.:shrug:

BTW, how are the kitties?:-)

Rhiannon:hi:

[REP]

76. There Are No "Good" Websites

For this sort of thing, you really have to do your own research, and not count on someone's tree posted on mywishfulthinking.com. There's one very well-known genealogical program that will practically guarantee you're descended from Charlemagne, and just about everyone uses it and posts the resulting tree. It gets worse if your family has any historical prominence at all.

I personally like the US GenWeb project (usgenweb.org), which has tons of census rolls on line (transcriptions and images) as well as cemetary records, obituraries, etc, going back to the 1700s.

Another good source are city directories; these often list not only home addresses but occupations as well. There are quite a few on line, and some are available at no cost.

The problem with the LDS site is that LDS converts often add random relations to the rolls, with little regard for accuracy. The information for my great-grandmother, for instance, had her giving birth to her first child at age 2 and her last at age 125. The reporter had mixed together information for my great-grandmother, her mother and grandmother - and still managed to get the county of birth wrong! There is also the problem with the LDS adding Jews to their sealed baptisms, which pisses off Jews, so that information is not well researched, either. The LDS records can be a place to start, but for Gentiles - that is, non-Mormons - you really have to double-check the information (it is said to be more reliable for the LDS).

The cats are large and hairy! How's yours?

[Momgonepostal]

84. Basically, primary sources are the best

Meaning, actual birth and death records, as opposed to what someone else claims is the birth or death date.

The LDS site, familysearch.org, has both. The "ancestral file" consists of information that has been submitted by individuals, usually about their own families. Some of that information is on the money, other not. It's best to find a primary source, if possible.

They also have information compiled from other churches records, as well as civil records, like the federal census. These tend to be more direct from the source and less subject to wishful thinking. I met a man years ago who worked for the church as a documents photographer in Italy. He went around to various Catholic church buildings and asked to put there baptismal/marriage etc records on microfilm. The deal was the parish got a free copy, and another copy went to the LDS church. I asked him how many said no, and he told me he'd never been told no in his entire career. Ever.

The problem with information taken from sources like old church and census records is the the original entries are handwritten and sometimes less legible than others.

While not perfect, Familysearch.org is my favorite online site. It's thorough and free.

The GenWeb sites vary greatly. Some counties are very thorough and have great sites, others are barely up and running. It's a good place to check, definitely.

If anyone of you ever get a chance to visit the family history library in Salt Lake, DO! It's like a genealogist's Disneyland.

[marions ghost]

51. yeah I looked up something on the Mormon site

and it listed the persons death as occurring before their birth.

Still, it's a huge data base and they are trying to catalogue everybody, so it's worth consulting but you'd have to verify with other sources.

[hfojvt]

56. It is not the LDS sources so much

as it is the films of census records and church records and wills and many other records that you can find in Salt Lake City and can order to your local center.
Truly, Mormons rule the genealogy world. And certainly count me in. I just passed 145,000 people in one of my genealogy databases.

[Spider Jerusalem]

58. 145,000? Wow.

You must be tracing ALL of your relatives, then. I only have 3900 or so, and that's direct ancestors, not distant cousins and half-15th-great-aunts and so on...

[hfojvt]

60. speaking of wow

I only have 616 in my pedigree. Altogether I have about 190,000 in all three of my databases. That includes alot of in-laws too.

[fudge stripe cookays]

62. I'm Gentile, and I've found huge amounts of information there.

I don't take as gospel the stuff submitted by members, but it is helpful in guiding me to places to look.

Much of the information they have in their database is stuff that has been submitted by members, who are human. If it's wrong, submit your own and correct it. Use them for the birth records, marriage records, census records, instead.

If they don't have records for your ancestors, it just means that they can't do everything. Their list of records is impressive though.

FSC

[fudge stripe cookays]

61. Make that centerS.

Plural.

No matter where you are, there's one near you where you can order the materials and have them sent to you.

Count me in! I thougth about suggesting this awhile back, but figured my thread would sink like a stone. Who'd have known there was so much interest here?

FSC,
obsessed w/genealogy

[jessicazi]

16. Here is their website,

http://www.familysearch.org/

Here is the main center you can go to for research, (in Salt Lake)
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHL/frameset_library.asp

They also have 4000 smaller family history centers all across the world, you can click this link and type in your address to see if there is one near you, http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp?PAGE=library_fhc_find.asp

I hope these links work.

Jessica

[Rhiannon12866]

18. Thank you! Wow! We're off and running!

:wow::bounce::wow:

[Cooley Hurd]

24. Woohoo! I found another surname (thanks for the link!!!)

Sarah NOE - my great-great grandmother!:thumbsup:

[CBHagman]

35. I've used FamilySearch quite a lot.

And I'm not even Mormon. Yes, there are errors, but it's still got a lot of worthwhile material. It helped me make considerable progress on my genealogy research.

And if you can't find somebody related to you in their databases, I'll bet you don't even exist. :-)

Count me in for the genealogy group!

[Rhiannon12866]

40. Thank you! Welcome aboard!

I have yet to check, but most of my family's Irish, and fairly large, so somebody's got to be there! Thanks for joining us!

Rhi:hi:

[Cooley Hurd]

19. I dunno... is this such a good idea?

;)

Of course, you can count me in.:hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

37. You have got to be kidding! LOL!

Thanks for taking over! I was bushed and the dogs were hungry!:hi:

[hfojvt]

57. so are you part of the Cooley family

related to Charles Horton Cooley?

[Rowdyboy]

21. Very interested....Last year I traced one branch of my family to a small

town in the Rhineland (Albisheim), Germany. Several of my ancestors were baptised and married in the same small church. I find it all fascinating.

[Rhiannon12866]

39. Totally fascinating. My grandmother's family has a book,

Tracing her family, largely through census records. They are Dutch. And my Irish side of the family often uses baptismal records, like yours. I'm new at this and hope to learn a lot, about my family, and from all of you. I find it thrilling, as well. When I found my grandparents' names on the Ellis Island website, it was like suddenly finding a familiar face in a crowd of strangers. Thanks for joining us.:-)

[Iterate]

68. I live about a half hour away

from Albisheim. Have you ever been to the town?

[Cooley Hurd]

22. Kick for the 8am work crowd...

Grab a cup o' Joe and sign up.:hi:

[brook]

23. Definitely interested.

I have been working on family history off and on for years.It's fascinating and such a thrill to find the records that 'open' up the past.

[Rhiannon12866]

42. I know. It's amazing to discover family, especially people you knew.

As I said, when I found my maternal grandparents on the Ellis Island website, even though I never even met my grandfather, it was like suddenly spotting a familiar face in a sea of strangers. Nothing like it! Thanks for joining us!:hi:

[livetohike]

25. Please add me to the list

Thanks!

[Lindsey]

26. I'd also like to participate...

n/t

[Rhiannon12866]

44. Thank YOU! Will do! Great to have you with us!

Rhiannon:-)

[bertha katzenengel]

27. Heck yeah! Sign me up.

:bounce:

[Rhiannon12866]

45. Welcome bertha! This is the name of my great-aunt!

And she knew the most of everyone in my family. Must be kismet! Great to have you with us!

Rhiannon:-)

[Cooley Hurd]

28. Early lunch (or brunch) kick...

:kick:

[Cooley Hurd]

29. Late afternoon kick...

:kick:

[JohnKleeb]

30. Just affirming it

[Rhiannon12866]

46. Thanks for the celebrity endorsement, my friend!

Look out! Now EVERYONE on DU will be standing in line to join us! Yikes!:D

[elshiva]

32. I'm interested!

I am half Jewish, half Christian. Some of my family is from Latvia other is from Germany and Scotland.
Great Idea!

[Rhiannon12866]

47. Thank you, my friend! Great to have you on board!

It sounds like you have a most interesting background. I am Polish, Irish, Dutch and English. But still daunting. I wish us all luck. LOL!

Rhi:hi:

[Book Lover]

33. Sign me up!

I have a "complicated" family history and would love to have a place here to discuss it and others' situations.

[Rhiannon12866]

48. You've come to the right place! I hope we can solve it all!

Thanks so much for joining us! There is so much that we can learn from each other.:D

[Cooley Hurd]

34. Later Evening kick...

:kick:

[aQuArius]

36. I AM, I AM

I may not be a mormon, but that geneology bug got to me since I was raised in Utah. I have lots I could share with potential family members! :hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

50. Great, thanks so much for joining us!

I'm not Mormon, either, but I think they could be a great help. And, many others who know more than I do, can help, as well. It's great to have you with us!:hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

43. Here's the Ellis Island site, which I keep mentioning.

I found my maternal grandparents on here, a real thrill for me, and my first effort at this. I was totally blown away. I'm not sure what the exact dates are for this, but if you're too early or too late, you're out of luck. But there are many other sites. I just managed to find this small part of my family. Anyway, I wanted to pass it on, in case anyone hasn't seen it. And it is VERY user friendly, if I could manage it.:-)

http://www.ellisisland.org/

[Huckebein the Raven]

63. I came back with some entries when I did a search

interesting....

[Rhiannon12866]

66. I found both of my Polish grandparents here.

I made copies of their respective ships' manifests, with their names and embarkation and destination points, and even got photos of the ships. Amazing, for me. But Ellis Island has a definite time frame. My Irish relatives came too early and many others' ancestors may have emigrated too late. I do hope that you found something useful to you.:-)

[fudge stripe cookays]

67. Didja get to put your folks on the wall?

I think it's like $100 a pop, but my mom and I went halfsies and got both my great grandparents on the wall there.

Hopefully I'll be able to see it someday.
FSC

[Rhiannon12866]

72. My mother did it, and they are there! They're her parents.

You're right, it is fairly expensive, but I think the money goes to refurbishing the Ellis Island site. And my mother even visited it and did "rubbings" of their names. I'd also love to see it, someday, since I think the entire experience would be quite a thrill. It's lovely that your great-grandparents are also there and I do hope that you get to see them, as does your mother.

Rhiannon:hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

69. Great tip for Ellis Island site!

This was posted in the latest Ancestry.com newsletter I get every month. Ellis Island site lets you add annotations when you find your ancestro!

You can post information there and find research buddies! I just did this today for my great grandmother and great grandfather, and her brother. This is a great idea:

-------------------------------------

"For another example, go to the Ellis Island database (www.ellisisland.org) and enter "Jurko Sydovka" (a version of Yurko Sydorko). A single entry will appear. Click on the name and sign into the site (if it's your first time, you'll have to register, but there's no charge). You'll be taken to a certificate version of immigration details for George. To the left is a menu. Many of us make frequent use of "Passenger Record," "Original Ship Manifest," and "Ship," but few of us ever select the options immediately below--"View Annotations" and "Create an Annotation."

If you click on "View Annotations," you'll find yourself in the Community Archives, which includes the annotation I contributed. By clicking on my name, you'll see a number of additional details I entered, such as alternative versions of his name, occupation, where he settled in the United States, dates of birth and death, names of his children, and names of other relatives who also came to the United States. All of these are pre-set fields, so all you have to do is a little typing.

At this point, there is no field for your e-mail address, so I suggest making use of the fields you would otherwise leave empty to provide this information. For instance, I used the "religious community" field to indicate how I could be contacted.

Eventually, the annotations themselves will be made directly searchable. That's not the case at present, but anyone who does a conventional search for the passenger arrival records of the same people as you can find your notes appended."

FSC

[CBHagman]

82. Bunches of my relatives are on that site.

One of my aunts actually printed out a list of everybody in the family who was recorded at that site. You can see images of the ships your relatives came over on and the whole nine yards. Very cool.

Bear in mind that the website contains transcriptions of ship manifests (and also actual images of the same), and sometimes the transcriber doesn't understand the handwriting. Hence my Aunt Julie, who was called Juliska in the old country, wound up as "Fuliska," thanks to a misreading of early 20th century handwriting. The staff has since corrected that.

Now if someone would do an exhaustive website for Castle Garden in New York, I'd be able to find me Irish great-great-grandfather, who showed up in NYC before Ellis Island opened.

[Rhiannon12866]

85. Ellis Island is an amazing site.

I found both of my Polish grandparents there, points and dates of departure and photos of both their ships. Sadly, they were both teen-agers, who never saw their families, again.:-(

But their names are both recorded on the wall.:-)

And I totally understand your problem with the handwriting, since it was all hand-written, and I have trouble reading it, and I'm pretty good, so there must have been many mistakes made. And I have seen photos of the ships that they came over on, which gave me a thrill. I just wish I could have shared this with my grandmother, who could have told me so much more.:shrug:

And I share your frustration, since my Irish relatives, who are the ones I am most trying to trace, also missed Ellis Island. They also emigrated too soon.:-(

[Maine-ah]

49. sure! I just finished the paternal side of my in-laws

now I am working on my maternal side. I find it so exciting when I find a piece of info that I have been searching for, for a long time. I say lets do it!

[marions ghost]

52. would be a good idea

to have a genealogy group.

[Rhiannon12866]

55. Thanks and welcome aboard! I think we're all set!

Rhiannon:-)

[China_cat]

53. Definitely

We have a family mystery that we've been trying to solve for years. Any help would be appreciated. (Missing ancestor...didn't know my grandfather was a twin until after he died, don't know what happened to the other and family denies it ever happened)

[Cooley Hurd]

54. One more kick...

:kick:

[cleofus1]

59. i would need to get a membership...

But i'm very interested...although i have limited information on my family...



great grandparents on my maternal grandfathers side

[Rhiannon12866]

74. What an incredible photograph!

We'll see what we can do about getting you a star. Hang in there.:-)

[fudge stripe cookays]

64. I'm making a research trip to the Midwest in June...

Chicago, Madison, and St. Paul to visit umpteen research centers and do a bunch more looking.

If any of you have roots in Wisconsin, you can't beat the Center in Madison.

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/genealogy/

And for those of you in Minnesota, the center in St. Paul has a searchable birth and death database online. It's WONDERFUL.

http://www.mnhs.org/genealogy/index.htm

My great grandfather had 9 brothers and sisters who spread from Wisconsin to Maryland, to Pennsylvania, to Minnesota, to Alberta Canada. I have now found descendants of 8 of them! I'm determined to find descendants of every possible small branch.

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[Rhiannon12866]

75. WOW! I am amazed and impressed!

Thanks so much for the links! My roots are in the NorthEast, but I'm sure that this can be a lot of help to so many of us. DUers are just the best with coming up with information. Thank you.:-)

[fudge stripe cookays]

77. You're welcome!

Here's another AWESOME site.

One of my genealogy cousins told me about it, and I've found a bazillion great pieces of information here.

www.godfrey.org

It's a research library up in Connecticut. You call the phone number on their Website, tell them you want to be a Godfrey scholar, and they can give you your access codes right over the phone so you can begin searching that day!

It's about $38 a year, but WELL worth it! You have searchable access to statewide censuses for just about every year (not 1890, obviously, and not 1880), but most of the others. 1930 is being added a little at a time. And you can manipulate searches many different ways to look for people, which helps a LOT! Especially if you know first name, but the last name is constantly misspelled...that sort of thing. I discovered my great great grandfather enumerated TWICE in the 1860 census in Boone County, Illinois. BEcaue of the quick referencing I was able to do, I discovered it by accident. I would never have found this flipping through the stuff in a library.

The census feature is absolutely invaluable. Instead of sweating it out in the library over a bazillion separate films, you can sit at home watching Law and Order, and expand your tree exponentially within a few hours.

They also have searchable obituary lists, old newspapers from the 1800s, a searchable newspaper database that covers TONS of places, and many other features I couldn't begin to name. PERSI being one of the best. So you'd have plenty of great stuff for the northeast too.

Try it out. It's already paid for itself multiple times over for me.
:hi:
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[Rhiannon12866]

78. Thank you so much! It sounds well worth it.

The problem for many of us, including my aunt who has done family research on-line, seems to be the invariable fees. But this site does sound like a winner, and it is reasonable. And it sounds awesome, providing information that my Dad's cousin sweated over, in the library, over months. I do know that my Irish relatives came here in the 1880s, but I am happy to learn more about the early 1900s. Thanks so much for posting this and for joining us.

Rhi:hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

65. Civil War Soldiers & Sailors Database....

My cousin told me about his a few months ago, and it is AMAZING! I've found lots here.

Happy searching!
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/

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[libertad]

70. I am interested.

nt

[ImpeachBush]

71. Me too ...

I've done some minor work on my family's history, and I have a great interest in continuing the work.

[Robeson]

73. I'm with you Rhiannon12866. I'm all for it!

[Rhiannon12866]

80. Please join us! I posted the link!

Rhiannon:-)

[Rhiannon12866]

79. Thanks to Cooley Hurd, we now have a forum!

Thanks to all who helped get this started and for your enthusiasm. We need you now, more than ever! Please post, please share, ask questions and share information. We're all in this, together.

Thanks,
Rhiannon:-)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=331x2

[fudge stripe cookays]

81. Woo hoo!

I'll bring my links over to make sure everyone sees them!

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[Rhiannon12866]

83. Yay! And thanks! Please re-post your links!

They were excellent! I'm really excited about this, since I think we can all help each other.

Rhiannon:hi: