| Author |
Message |
Aurora
Member
11-24-2006
| Friday, April 08, 2011 - 6:54 pm 
I wondered why her name was so prominently first on the list. Thanks Prisonerno6. I just noticed Sarah Palin is listed too. I'm surprised she doesn't use that on her resume or mention it in her speeches.
|
Txhazeleyes
Member
02-12-2008
| Saturday, April 09, 2011 - 4:45 am
One can only wonder how many descendants there would be for any ancestor born 400 years ago? Hundreds of thousands, millions?
|
Colordeagua
Member
10-24-2003
| Saturday, April 09, 2011 - 7:12 am
Ashley said William Brewster was her 10 X great grandfather. If each generation had two children, Ashley would be one of 2,048 descendants. Obviously, that's a very approximate number of what there truly is.
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Saturday, April 09, 2011 - 12:11 pm
I finally watched the Gweneth ep last night. I enjoyed it. I do find her a bit annoying at times -- let's face it, she's a complete princess in the way she was brought up, the way she speaks and carries herself, and the way her mother (and probably her father) spoke to her. No wonder she's such a princess! But I did enjoy the episode. She's always gracious to the people she meets. No real wow moments in her episode, but we can't expect that every week. Yes, it's seems there should be much more to how those 2 girls survived in Barbados and ended up on that ship. Maybe they found more but Gweneth didn't want it aired?
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Saturday, April 09, 2011 - 12:14 pm
Watched the Judd episode too. Very interesting. I think that's the kind of surprise info we all hope to find in our tree, not necessarily the Mayflower, but something that would make us go "wow!"
LOL GAL -- regarding her appearance. I too thought that she's not aging as well as the rest of hollywood. Made me feel better about my own face. LOL. Good for her if she resists the knife, but she did look puffy and a bit unnatural to me.
|
Donnagg
Member
08-11-2007
| Saturday, April 09, 2011 - 12:51 pm
I think Ashley is beautiful. I for one am glad that so far she
has resisted the knife.
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Saturday, April 09, 2011 - 1:51 pm
There's no doubt she's beautiful. I think we just forget what it's like to age naturally when every person we see on TV and in the movies has had work done! I know when I look in the mirror I'm always surprised. 
|
Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Saturday, April 09, 2011 - 4:05 pm
I did find that in my family tree after 17 years of working on my father. Trust me when I tell you I had no idea, and it was NOT something that was passed down through the family stories. My dad knew nothing about his family past his great grandparents, and I knew even less, when I started my genealogical adventures. It turns out he comes from some deep American pioneer stock. And the further back his lines went on American soil, the more I began to think that he might have a Mayflower ancestor in there somewhere.
I found the Mayflower ancestor last year down the line of a very obscure 5x great grandmother who was married to one of George Rogers Clark's Long Knives (he was a very sexy character - her, not so much). Turns out she was a direct descendant of Henry Samson.
If you learn about the lives of the people who descend from Mayflower ancestors, at least in my case, you learn how difficult it was for them in their day to day living. They didn't care much how they got there, they were busy trying to survive. This particular ancestress was one of the earliest settlers of the pioneer wilderness and survived at least one Indian ambush of the pioneer forts down in Kentucky. She died before her children were old enough to absorb whatever stories she might have of her ancestors. And so that part of the family oral history was lost. But the part about the Longknife father survived, as he lived well into his '80s. I found a written copy of the family memories of his Revolutionary War experiences in my Great-Grandmommy's trunk.
Anyway, that's kind of how the stories die. I thought Ashley's story could have been told in a more compelling fashion. She didn't have to go to York, and she didn't have to well up in tears every five minutes. It would have been fun to see the descendancy line for Brewster - how many direct descendants, who were famous besides Ashley.
She doesn't look terrific, but I'm guessing some of that has to do with her battle with depression. I hope she doesn't mess with her face, she's a beautiful lady. She and Diane Lane shouldn't ever let a surgeon go near their faces.
|
Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Saturday, April 09, 2011 - 4:18 pm
That's so cool Gal!!
I recently found a possible relation to William Taylor from Jamestown, Va. from my Mathis line. I have an ancestor who shows two fathers. If I follow one chain they go back to Isle of Wight, VA in the 1700's and on back to the Taylor's of Jamestown. The other father possibly connects to the same line, but it's further up. It's hard when people post heresay on their genealogy pages. In any event, I can't prove that connection just yet.
I found out the Mathis family were also Mathews in the Census reports.
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Saturday, April 09, 2011 - 6:36 pm
17 years of work GAL? Wow? Have new sites like ancestry.com made these kind of searches easier? That just sounds like so much effort. So cool that you have found out such incredible things!
Not sure I have the bandwidth now , but I feel like I need to pick the brains of my parents for what they know (which I'm sure isn't much) before that knowledge is lost.
|
Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Sunday, April 10, 2011 - 6:12 am
Brenda, Ancestry.com has made a big difference in ready access to some records, like census, city directories and military registrations. I used to spend entire weekends on microfilm at the Allen County Library manually searching census records with great difficulty because name misspellings are very common. Ancestry does a soundex for you that gives you all of the possible matches, and you can do it right in your own living room.
For nuts and bolts documentation, though, you still need to go to the source and access the original documents such as birth/marriage/death records, written service records, pension applications, obituaries, social security applications, etc.
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Sunday, April 10, 2011 - 8:55 am
So, GAL, how does one do that when you can't afford to travel to Barbados or Ireland? Are there people that you pay to do the library legwork for you? Do you just have to file requests for this info and pay and it will be sent to you? I find it all very intriguing.
|
Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Monday, April 11, 2011 - 2:12 pm
Brenda, you do all of those things. Many times if you're working with churches the church secretaries will send the information free of charge (always remember to provide a SASE). Same with cemeteries (I have donated to cemeteries that are maintained by non-profit organizations). If you go to a library and find information, usually you can copy it yourself for a fee. If you are asking a library to locate and provide you with information, it will cost more generally speaking.
Clerk's offices will vary, based on whether they insist you procure a certified copy or whether they're willing to fork over an uncertified copy (the difference can be as much as $30.00.)
I have hired researchers in Germany and Ireland to locate parish records for me. I met them at an international professional genealogists forum in Philly a few years ago. Hourly fee plus costs. If you have a relative who is searching with you, you can kick in on the costs. I also regularly order records from England (marriage, birth, death, etc.) and spend about $30.00 per record with shipping.
Most of the searches I do myself. I'm lucky enough that I'm near the second largest genealogical library in the U.S. (the 1st is the Latter Day Saints, of course). They house or have access to all kinds of records that have originals stored in other libraries. I travel quite a bit also, and Colossus has learned that if we're in an area that may provide me access to family records he should just plan on me disappearing for a day or two. We haven't been able to agree on a visit to England, Scotland or Germany because he knows I'll want to spend all my time hunting down records rather than enjoying the sites LOL.
The Latter Day Saints outposts will give you free access to registers of their holdings. They will bring in microfilm/fiche at your request to review and you can order the records as needed based on what you find. They really are a wonderful starting point for anyone who is interested in starting a genealogical search.
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Monday, April 11, 2011 - 5:00 pm
Wow GAL! Sounds like a lot of work, but a fun hobby. I joined ancestry .com for the free 2 weeks and have found 2 people who've done extensive work on the paternal side of my family tree, the one I was interested in. So, I've learned a few things already! I think what makes this show so interesting are the tidbits from the history experts and that's what a web site is lacking. I can see that my ancestors went from Scotland to Ireland, stayed in Ireland for one generation and then several of them went to PA and then Iowa. Why? That's what's missing.
|
Rissa
Member
03-19-2006
| Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 3:43 pm
I started working on our genealogy in the late 1980's while I was home on maternity leave with dd #1. At that time you would write a letter to a county courthouse (for example) and then wait a month or two for a response then send off another letter. Took months or longer to get any real information and move onto the next step. The internet has been a real game changer. I remember making more progress in a weekend than in the whole year before when I first went online.
Brenda, just be careful you confirm everything you find online. Some folks are just plain sloppy and make assumptions, others repeat what they've been told from someone who had repeated what THEY'VE been told from someone....... and so on. LOL Ancestry doesn't (or didn't) allow you to change your tree once you've submitted it. Once an error is there, it's there forever. Haven't used that part of their website for years so perhaps they've changed this?
I enjoyed Judd's episode but I do prefer the discoveries that have a more direct impact on who you are and the dynamics of your immediate family. Having said that, it was gratifying to see her get so invested, obviously a very empathic person.
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 4:34 pm
I an only imagine how many errors there are out there. Just a simple search for my sister showed entries where her birthdate was wrong. A search for my dad showed entried where his address was wrong -- it was my address! I can only imagine how much bad info there is out there and how can you verify? When you find two different census records and the age indicates different birthdates, how can you know? I guess you have to try to find birth certificates, which I don't have the energy for. I'm sure the record takers made mistakes and the people being interviewed for the census were not concerned about accuracy, etc. I have already found conflicting things on trees, but I think I found enough info that I feel comfortable with. Neither of the trees go back very far. They go back about 5 greats and then when the people are from over seas, it stops there.
|
Sunshyne4u
Member
06-16-2003
| Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 6:06 pm
i said something similar a few archived pages ago Brenda. So many assumptions based on Sketchy info.
There are three people in my small town with my SAME name and Almost same Birthday. dec 11 63, dec 11 62 and dec 12,62-- all of us with the SAME name and two with same middle initial.
magnify that other a few hundred years and a person cannot claim to be truly investigating their TRUE ancestor. Without dna typing of a Distant relative, its all guesswork.
Especially when dealing with Immigrants and inter-country travelling.
In my family there is Dyck, dick, Dueck, Doeck ALL which are the same name pronounced DICK.
this constant mispelling of names in documents and the fact that Dick is a common LAST name for Mennonite farm people, it is virtually all guessing from 1800s back.
not trying to poop on anyone's parade. My cousin is writing a book supposedly about our family history, not sure which side. BUT we are ALL from poor farm stock on Both sides of my mom's side, NOT a chance there is Proper records. Even my grandma birthed all my aunts alone in the farmhouse on the prairies. Birthdays and Birthrecords are sketchy even in early 1900s
|
Txhazeleyes
Member
02-12-2008
| Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 9:57 pm
The one thing about having the same name, it's quite unlikely that your parents had the same name, as well. In the remote chance they did, then their parents would have different names (hopefully).
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 11:41 am
I wish that were true Tx! It appears I have a James married to a Nancy Ann, and then a son James also married to a Nancy Ann. It certainly did make me pause and wonder if that could be right. I also have fathers and sons who's wives are Mary. And then there's the use of nicknames in the census reports. It's just all very murkey. But it's fun. We are from poor farmer stock, so little chance I'll mistakenly think I'm the offspring of a king.  If it's kinda close that's probably good enough.
One cool thing is that someone on Ancestry sent me a photo of my great-great grandfather and my great-great-great grandfather. I know this is not something my parents have. How cool is that?!
|
Txhazeleyes
Member
02-12-2008
| Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 12:13 pm
I've found my paternal lineage back to early 1600's and because the name is quite uncommon, it was simple. It starts in 1605 with a 2nd Duke of Aldeborough and 2 lords, but after immigrating to the US in 1675, things went downhill from there lol. Talk about farmers! The first 2 US generations were landowners and after that the last 8 generations were farmers. Oh well, I didn't expect much when I started research but was very interesting.
Oh, that is cool. I also received a picture of my grandfather's grandfather. Amazingly, my father has his deepset eyes.
|
Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 12:18 pm
That is cool Brenda - add me to the poor farmer familes! We're lucky in that my maternal side has passed down names, and we have pictures - but I forget the timeline - its written down somewhere, but when my dd was doinga WW2 project, I realized we didnt write THAT history anywhere! (my maternal grandmother had 3 brothers, all served in WWII - luckily the Texas County they are from did write it down and did make it available online!)
When my dad went searching he found someone did write a book!
|
Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 1:35 pm
Farmers, huh? I can play one-downmanship and win. Try coming from a lone line of coal miners. Compared to miners, you all came from royalty.
|
Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 2:52 pm
lol OG - Hear that! I lost my train of thought when DD called as I was posting!
|
Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 3:51 pm
I have one ggrandfather who had a first wife and one son. That family tree is listed on a major site for that family. It's the source for tons of people who copy that information The problem is that the genealogist who holds the site has never added my ggrandfather's second wife and our entire family line comes from there. I've written to him and so have others. He just won't do it for some reason. I agree about not trusting online sources. (Like my other family tree with two fathers listed for one person)
Rissa, was it you who had the common name with me that you were searching? Joines?
|
Rissa
Member
03-19-2006
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 2:11 am
Joines? Sorry not me, but I can top that with a dang Smith. LOL Told dh I will never forgive him for having Smiths in his family tree. I much prefer when you turn over a genealogical rock and find a real stinker of an unusual name (an easy to spell and therefore hard to mess up unusual name).
|
