| Author |
Message |
Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 3:06 am 
It's been a long time and I forgot who it was.
Smith would be very hard.
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 3:26 am
Misspellings are the bane of my existence. My husband's last name is three vowels followed by two consonants. It is RARELY spelled correctly, even today. I collect all of the misspellings and tack them to my wall for amusement. I have a couple of misspelling trifectas, where his name and my name are misspelled and a hyphen is included (I have an easy to spell maiden name which is now my middle name, and there is no hyphen).
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Mamabatsy
Member
08-05-2005
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 8:46 am
Smith and Jones were names given to immigrants at Ellis Island when their names were hard to pronounce. They were told their new names were official and couldn't be changed. My stepfather had a really ethnic first name coupled with Smith as a last name. People always did a double take when he identified himself.
According to him, his real last name was lost forever. His Grandmother refused to utter it because she was afraid the officials would send her back. Since she was a young widow alone with very small children when she arrived, no one knows what their name was in the old country.
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Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 9:33 am
I had no idea Mamabatsy. I can't imagine trying to tree the Smith name. Talk about going in circles!
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 12:06 pm
Mamabatsy, that is tragic!
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Rissa
Member
03-19-2006
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 1:29 pm
In my case the name Smith (actually Smythe but shows up as Smith more often than not in the original documents) pops up in dh's family in England in the late 1700's. But, I know your point about Ellis Island having relatives that immigrated from Norway. They (at that time) were given three names: a first/given name followed by their father's given name with a -son or -datter at the end and finally the name of the farm they resided on. If you moved then your last name changed and also children had a different *middle* name than the parents. So for example Hans Larson Grov could have a son named Anders Hanson Hjelle and a daughter named Anna Hansdatter Hjelle. When they arrived in North America they had to choose... father's *middle* name or farm name and do you pick the farm you JUST moved from and your children were born on or the farm you yourself were born on? Thankfully my family all choose their primary farm name so locating them was fairly easy. I feel pain for all those Johnsons. LOL
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 1:51 pm
Oy, Rissa. My dad has Jones's from Wales, but that was their real name (or "Ones" as it were). I haven't gotten them back over the pond yet. Colossus has Naesmyth in the family, which was transposed to Nasymott on the death record of his gg-grandmother (horrible Scottish brogue to blame, I think). It took some doing to figure that one out, I got the correct spelling (at least for that time frame) from a sister in law living in the house of a family I knew were ancestors in the 1800s. The spelling has changed a number of times over the hundreds of years it goes back. What a PITA.
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 3:37 pm
Our Joines name is often confused with Jones in census records, which makes it very confusing. As the Mathis name is confused in the records with Mathews.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-16-2003
| Saturday, April 16, 2011 - 1:57 am
LOL txhazel The one thing about having the same name, it's quite unlikely that your parents had the same name, as well
i guess this is where i say i have Four sets of Aunt Helens and Uncle Jakes.
because of the Mennonite community, it is also very possible for the Maiden name to be the same as the Married last name.
for instance, Mary Rempel might marry John and STILL be mary rempel because John's last name is too.
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Rissa
Member
03-19-2006
| Saturday, April 16, 2011 - 5:33 am
So true and add to that communities that had a naming system such as..first son after paternal grandfather, 2nd son after maternal grandfather, first daughter after maternal grandmother, etc. I've got two brother named: Francis Robert X and Francis David X, sons of a Francis Smith X and THEIR eldest sons were Francis' as well. Most of the census records I have just say Francis (sigh)and up to a certain time those census only gave ages rounded to the nearest 5 (so 18 yr old and 22 yr old Francis are both written down as being 20). You add two or three of these situations and customs together and you have a complete nightmare to sort out. But, isn't that part of the fun? LOL
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-16-2003
| Sunday, May 01, 2011 - 9:45 pm
oh i'm not sure how much fun it is. I'd love to do my dad's side of the family. I often wonder why his father's family pulled up roots from NY, came to Vancouver and Never a word mentioned about the NY relatives. I'm not even sure my Grandpa was an only child.
That side of the family are weird too. ITs like no one makes any effort to keep in touch with each other. I've seen cousins in Manitoba more often then ones who live an hr away
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Needmylifeback
Member
08-14-2000
| Tuesday, May 17, 2011 - 9:37 pm
I've been doing all four branches. My parents and my husbands parents... turns out .. our "Paths" crossed.. and we're 5th cousins 3 times removed..
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Txhazeleyes
Member
02-12-2008
| Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 12:40 am
Sunshyne, are you saying that your grandparents named 8 of their children the same name?
I know what you're saying about your paths crossing. Turns out that my sister married a man whose last name none of us had never heard of is also one of our relatives names. Haven't gotten so far to find out any relationship yet.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-24-2003
| Tuesday, July 19, 2011 - 8:46 pm
Marisa Tomei is going to be on the next season. She was on Regis & Kelly today. All research on family tree is done for them. They're told nothing in advance. Just travel from place to place and told what type of clothing to pack.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - 9:59 am
Thanks Colour! DH is a HUGE fan of Marisa Tomato as I 'jealously' call her. ;);)
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - 10:02 am
I was wondering if the show was coming back. I am so glad it is.
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Riviere
Member
09-09-2000
| Saturday, December 31, 2011 - 3:57 am
Apparently a new season is finally coming soon, so we can watch celebrities being surprised!
Too often my local station pre-empted shows but I watched them on my computer to keep up.
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Saturday, December 31, 2011 - 6:56 am
I can't wait!
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Saturday, December 31, 2011 - 8:01 am
YAY!!
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Monday, January 02, 2012 - 6:29 am
I just think this show has a lovely quality to it.
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Rissa
Member
03-19-2006
| Monday, January 02, 2012 - 9:16 am
I went hunting to try to find the other guests for season 3 of Who do you Think you are. All I can find confirmed is Marisa Tomei (as stated above), Martin Sheen and Blair Underwood. Also, the show begins Feb 3rd on NBC. Love this show, can't wait.
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Monday, January 02, 2012 - 10:01 am
Martin Sheen is going to be very interesting. IMO
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Monday, January 02, 2012 - 2:18 pm
Do we have a season start date and time, or have I missed it?
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Rissa
Member
03-19-2006
| Monday, January 02, 2012 - 4:47 pm
Read up just one post Mame.  Feb 3rd on NBC in the same time slot as last season (whenever that was, I can't recall).
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Monday, January 02, 2012 - 5:02 pm
LOL Thanks Rissa. I read it and it just didn't register. Been a crazy day!
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