Ancestors
Some of you may know, but certainly not all of you, that one of my hobbies is tracing back my family genealogy. Too a lot of people these sorts of things are just names and dates, but I find it fascinating. It's always nice to know where you come from.
Unfortunately, not all of the genealogical records are online yet, so the process is somewhat slow. Last January I worked on them for a bit, and got as far as I could with the online stuff and what I knew, to about 1840. As my last attempt, I put a post up on a genealogical forum. This week, I heard back from my second cousin, twice removed, who I had, up until this point, no idea even existed. She provided me with information on about 50 people from her branch of the tree. After connecting those dots, I had quite a bit more to work with, so I did some more research. Once again I hit a dead end, this time at 1837. Three more years back is good, but not a whole lot.
I did some random googling, and found a different forum, so I posted on there yesterday. Lo and behold, this morning I get up and I have three replies. Three! This is unheard of! This time they weren't relatives, but they were still able to provide me with more information. I've now discovered that the reason I couldn't find anyone prior to 1837 is because I was looking in the wrong district. In about 1835, my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather decided to move, thereby separating the family and making it next to impossible for me to find him before that. Now that I know where he came from, I was able to track down his parents and siblings, adding another 10 names to the tree. Now I know back to 1806, impressive no?
Furthermore, I've got a lead that might push it back to 1780, if my hunch is right. I'm waiting to hear back from another person on the forum. Here's a tidbit: if I am right, then my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was a bastard child, with two other siblings, both from different men. Additionally, his father was a convict!! Wouldn't that be exciting though? We'll just wait and see...
Unfortunately, not all of the genealogical records are online yet, so the process is somewhat slow. Last January I worked on them for a bit, and got as far as I could with the online stuff and what I knew, to about 1840. As my last attempt, I put a post up on a genealogical forum. This week, I heard back from my second cousin, twice removed, who I had, up until this point, no idea even existed. She provided me with information on about 50 people from her branch of the tree. After connecting those dots, I had quite a bit more to work with, so I did some more research. Once again I hit a dead end, this time at 1837. Three more years back is good, but not a whole lot.
I did some random googling, and found a different forum, so I posted on there yesterday. Lo and behold, this morning I get up and I have three replies. Three! This is unheard of! This time they weren't relatives, but they were still able to provide me with more information. I've now discovered that the reason I couldn't find anyone prior to 1837 is because I was looking in the wrong district. In about 1835, my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather decided to move, thereby separating the family and making it next to impossible for me to find him before that. Now that I know where he came from, I was able to track down his parents and siblings, adding another 10 names to the tree. Now I know back to 1806, impressive no?
Furthermore, I've got a lead that might push it back to 1780, if my hunch is right. I'm waiting to hear back from another person on the forum. Here's a tidbit: if I am right, then my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was a bastard child, with two other siblings, both from different men. Additionally, his father was a convict!! Wouldn't that be exciting though? We'll just wait and see...
posted by Haley @ 12:07 p.m.
