Genealogists

[SunCoastSooner]

Do we have any amateur genealogists of their family's histories in the house? I have a lot of cool individual discoveries in mine but that's not how I wanted to start the thread.

I started in about 2000. I was doing post-graduate studies in Pennsylvania at the time with my then fiance still at OU. I wasn't old enough to drink at bars (barely) and drunkenly watched "Braveheart". I recalled my grandmother going to it with me at the theaters and her stating that it was family legend that my father and I descended from people who fought along side William Wallace and Douglass but nobody was really sure what was real other than on that side of the family we were definitely mostly Celtic stock from Scotland and Wales. I was curious how much of it was true and the likes. Wondered if I could even get that far back (doubtful).

At the same time I never knew my biological mother very well. Some memories from childhood, I know my sisters, and have met some cousins. Other than that I didn't know anything except that my grandmother was definitely a Choctaw American Indian who was literally the last person on earth to fluently speak a dialect of the Chickasaw language she grew up speaking as well as English.

The journey of discovery for each branch of my grandparent folk have been different and similar all at the same time.

In the process of starting my research early on I came across a second cousin on my mother's side who had already been doing research and gave me a starting off point. He has since passed but his son is passionate about it as well. My mother's family is the most glaringly different tree you can imagine. I know more about her father's line than any other line by far and away. Over the years adding her antecedents has been close to data entry as much as actual research; there is a wealth of information about that vein of the family. My maternal grandmother is the opposite. As an American Indian we know who her grandparents were and it stops.

My father's line, who I am more interested in anyway, has been a journey. The Civil War Era is frustrating to put it mildly. I can concretely trace one direct relative on that side of the family out of the era through her family and the crazy thing is that I can only trace her because she was an illegal immigrant from Montreal, Canada (Scot, not French). I have another person nailed down to one of two individuals I am pretty sure. Apparently being a miscreant runs in my family as during the Civil War much of my father's family was either a first generation/ second generation child or spent the era on the move from the federal government, as confederate guerrillas, and on the run from the Feds/Pinkertons. Those who weren't directly involved in such activities were harassed due to their relations to those who were. Tracing them through Illinois/Indiana/Missouri/Kansas/Oklahoma/Iowa has been a bitch. They weren't famous enough to have wikis today and you'd be surprised how very fucking little is known about the people who aren't focused on by HistoryHD at 6 am . . .

Anyway, I was curious if anyone else here did the same and figured this could create for some good discussion. Also thought posters like mv and papa are into the Civil War era stuff.

[smackaholic]

I used to jack it to I dream of genie reruns. Does that count?

[Roger_the_Shrubber]

SCS,

The wife is the genealogist for her library, takes several classes a year.( She's the Director) If you PM with some info, I'll have her do the research. She has access to all the databases, and it's free. It's pretty amazing the things she can find.

Turns out, the stories my Dad told me about being related to Daniel Boone are true. Like 6 greats uncle. And I have the family tree on both sides traced back to pre-revolutionary times. But the Indian side...it's a toughy. Same problem here. Mom's family from North Alabama were Cherokee but the government didn't keep records of Amerinds that far back.

[BSmack]

Christ almighty. Shubber is spread sheeting people after they die.

[Roger_the_Shrubber]

Funny, B. In a pointless kind of way. Never made a spreadsheet about members. Miss Conduct did, and she sent it to me,( 14 years ago) not that I gave a shit. Never figured out why she did, though. Definitely weird.

We're talking genealogy here.

[Wolfman]

Genealogy is interesting. The LDS keep a lot of information that is available. I only have information past great grandparents on maternal grandmother Smith's family tree. I'd be more interested in family history. Things like why people moved to where they settled. What work they did. Things like that. I was fortunate to have known my paternal great grandfather Otto Kuhn. He was a tool and die maker for Borden company. Loved baseball, we went to some Syracuse Chiefs games. I'd go on walks with him and he'd stop at some old friend's places and they spoke German. Great way for them to gossip in front of inquisitive kids. My Dad was the last to speak German. I've put together a 4-5 generation tree for my own kids and grandkids.

[War Wagon]

My father emigrated from Scotland with his family in 1928 when he was 12. They settled in New Jersey. My mothers dad came over from Germany in the 1880's, they settled in Kansas.

My wife's father was from Denmark while her mother was half Cherokee.

My daughter seems to have inherited the best traits from her lineage with damn few of the weaknesses so I feel good about that. There's a city in Australia that bears my family surname, she and one of her cousins plan to visit there someday. I hope I'm alive to see the postcard.

[Roger_the_Shrubber]

BigO,

The LDS has absolutely the BEST genealogy records out there. We won't go into why, but their records make it very easy to trace.

And WW,

It's really cool how many Cherokee descendents there are. Pity it is so very hard to go past the 20th century. My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

[Dasher]

If you PM with some info...

Nice try, weirdo. How about I BM you instead. A fresh, hot swirl to add to your backyard collection.

[BSmack]

As for my Genealogy, I have Potato Famine Irish, Germans who migrated to both Pennsylvania and the Bahamas, a Canadian branch and a couple of branches that go back to the Plymouth and Dorchester settlements. Because of my puritan ancestors I can claim a direct lineage to William Brewster, Richard Mather and Humphrey Atherton and a not so direct dink to more historical personages than it is possible to enumerate. It has been an interesting study so far. I look forward to doing more in my retirement years.

[War Wagon]

It's really cool how many Cherokee descendents there are.

Especially when one of them is/was your mother-in-law and tough as nails. She would do anything to help her family. Among other things, I never lacked for socks or underwear... or a new furnace.

We lost her, suddenly, in June. Bone marrow cancer does not fuck around. 2 weeks and she was done.

RIP Naomi.

[Python]

My wife has an appointment with one next week. I don't trust guys who get paid to look at hoo-hoos all day. Just seems weird.

[Smackie Chan]

Rack Py.

[smackaholic]

2rd the python rack!!!

[SunCoastSooner]

My father emigrated from Scotland with his family in 1928 when he was 12. They settled in New Jersey. My mothers dad came over from Germany in the 1880's, they settled in Kansas.

My wife's father was from Denmark while her mother was half Cherokee.

My daughter seems to have inherited the best traits from her lineage with damn few of the weaknesses so I feel good about that. There's a city in Australia that bears my family surname, she and one of her cousins plan to visit there someday. I hope I'm alive to see the postcard.

I have a good chunk of my father's side from Scotland. One branch in particular that originated from Ayrshire. Weirdly enough, that branch come via Australia and New Zealand, including one escaped convict.

My mother's side is at best description, Indian, Indian, Indian, and English. Her mother is a Choctaw, that lineage is barren beyond my great grandparents. My maternal grandfather's antecedents were a mix of English, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Cherokee. A bunch of sprinkled in squaw from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia. I haven't run into any cases of "immigrants" on her side of the family, at all. All of her branches descend from American Indians or colonists. It's kind of crazy. A ton of direct antecedents who served in the Civil War for the confederacy from Alabama and Texas (specifically the Texas 1st Cav and 3rd infantry). A ton of both enlisted and officers in the Revolution, including the prominent Wade family of Virginia and through them I descend from the Lords of Baskerville (Sheriffs of Hereford) and Brereton (it was my direct ancestor who sent his cousin of the same sir name to court and was executed after being accused of having an affair with Ann Boylen). The Wades came from the same man who captured Guy Fawkes, interrogated him, and unraveled the Gun Powder Plot. Others were just indentured servants.

As for my Genealogy, I have Potato Famine Irish, Germans who migrated to both Pennsylvania and the Bahamas, a Canadian branch and a couple of branches that go back to the Plymouth and Dorchester settlements. Because of my puritan ancestors I can claim a direct lineage to William Brewster, Richard Mather and Humphrey Atherton and a not so direct dink to more historical personages than it is possible to enumerate. It has been an interesting study so far. I look forward to doing more in my retirement years.

I have a few back to the Plymouth and Dorchester as well but have only really delved into the Chases thus far as I was only able to confirm a pair of father and son who descend from them through New York after the father left for Nova Scotia with the Loyalists.

SCS,

The wife is the genealogist for her library, takes several classes a year.( She's the Director) If you PM with some info, I'll have her do the research. She has access to all the databases, and it's free. It's pretty amazing the things she can find.

Turns out, the stories my Dad told me about being related to Daniel Boone are true. Like 6 greats uncle. And I have the family tree on both sides traced back to pre-revolutionary times. But the Indian side...it's a toughy. Same problem here. Mom's family from North Alabama were Cherokee but the government didn't keep records of Amerinds that far back.

I may end up taking you up on that offer someday. I've always been most interested in my grandfather because of the relationship we had when I was a kid but his family is very difficult. There's an old family legend that my third great grandfather couldn't let go of the Civil War after the South had lost out of Missouri. He may have ridden with William T. Anderson. Some say he was killed at Wilson's Creek or Rocheport. Other family members claimed he survived, fell in with Shelby's Army and fled south in Price's retreat. Others claim he just went off the reservation with other confederate gorillas into Oklahoma like Stand Waite. One thing is for sure, his son was born in 1861 at the outset of the war and at the least description by family who lived long enough for me to hear about was a hellion and at worst an outright outlaw. I am fairly certain he died some time between 1910 and 1930.

[H4ever]

BigO,



It's really cool how many Cherokee descendents there are. Pity it is so very hard to go past the 20th century. My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

Not hacking on anybody but why so many claim Cherokee for any Injun heritage? It's not like they were a huge tribe. You rarely hear people claiming they are part Crow,Flathead, Sauk, etc. If anyone's looking for cool Indian tribes to claim heritage to, I suggest you go with Shoshone or Chickasaw.

That said, I'm German, Irish and maybe some small percentage of Bohemian and Dutch some have said... not sure on the last two. Oh, and Black Irish from the waist down

[BSmack]

I like finding out how my old timey relatives got themselves offed. So far I have one who was killed by a broken ships spar in a storm, another who dropped dead on the steps of the Livingston County Courthouse, one was killed in a fire wagon and trolley crash as he was answering a fire call and, oddest of the lot, Humphrey Atherton was killed when his horse collided with a cow. I'm looking for more. Thinking of doing something akin to Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation," but with my dead relatives instead of Presidents.

[H4ever]

I like finding out how my old timey relatives got themselves offed. So far I have one who was killed by a broken ships spar in a storm, another who dropped dead on the steps of the Livingston County Courthouse, one was killed in a fire wagon and trolley crash as he was answering a fire call and, oddest of the lot, Humphrey Atherton was killed when his horse collided with a cow. I'm looking for more. Thinking of doing something akin to Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation," but with my dead relatives instead of Presidents.

Genealogy is definitely full of cool stories. My Great-Grandmother's brother was a safe-cracker/bank robber. One of his teenage sons was shot and killed by a local sheriff during a failed caper. Their father (great-great grandfather) was hung for cattle rustling. Kind of interesting since a number of us are in law enforcement past and present.

[smackaholic]

I'm half dago, well, 1/4 italiano, 1/4 siciliano on mom' side. Dad is english/german/scot/french/????. Gramps even told me that grandma might have had a bit of jew in her. My grandfather had a geneology book that traced his family back to late 1670s, NJ. Forget which town as this was before the 20th century method of address via exit number.

[SunCoastSooner]

BigO,



It's really cool how many Cherokee descendents there are. Pity it is so very hard to go past the 20th century. My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

Not hacking on anybody but why so many claim Cherokee for any Injun heritage? It's not like they were a huge tribe. You rarely hear people claiming they are part Crow,Flathead, Sauk, etc. If anyone's looking for cool Indian tribes to claim heritage to, I suggest you go with Shoshone or Chickasaw.

That said, I'm German, Irish and maybe some small percentage of Bohemian and Dutch some have said... not sure on the last two. Oh, and Black Irish from the waist down

There's a number of reasons so many people descend from the Cherokee. One is the simplest reason in that there were more of them. The Cherokee were easily one of the three largest Indian nations east of the Mississippi when the colonists landed. The Cherokees also made contact with White people much earlier than most tribes and intermarried more often. The third reason is as much theory as anything but it appears that tribes in Georgia and the Carolinas (Cherokee and Lumbee) were not as affected as other tribes by the epidemics that ravaged North America; some theorize they had long since had contact with Europeans and had a stronger immunity to those diseases built up already than tribes further east and further north. It was much the same for tribes in Nova Scotia who were much less ravaged by plagues than their brethren in New England and further west.

[SunCoastSooner]

Genealogy is interesting. The LDS keep a lot of information that is available. I only have information past great grandparents on maternal grandmother Smith's family tree. I'd be more interested in family history. Things like why people moved to where they settled. What work they did. Things like that. I was fortunate to have known my paternal great grandfather Otto Kuhn. He was a tool and die maker for Borden company. Loved baseball, we went to some Syracuse Chiefs games. I'd go on walks with him and he'd stop at some old friend's places and they spoke German. Great way for them to gossip in front of inquisitive kids. My Dad was the last to speak German. I've put together a 4-5 generation tree for my own kids and grandkids.

Most of my family's migration has been a rather simple reason for moving, land. Most of it is second sons moving on where land was available.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Gramps even told me that grandma might have had a bit of jew in her.

Oh, Zayde Moishe! Quite the lady's man he was!

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

trev, have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a little bit of Jew in you?

[Goober McTuber]

My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

2/3? How is that even possible?

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

2/3? How is that even possible?

"Oh trust me...It's entirely possible."

Sincerely, Irie

[Rudolph]

My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

2/3? How is that even possible?

Easy. 4 of her six grandparents were Cherokee.

I'm telling Santa to put a calculator in your stocking this year

[mvscal]

It's really cool how many Cherokee descendents there are.

Suspicious more likely.

My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

Probably because they weren't Cherokee and you've been looking in the wrong place. History (and geneaolgy) is a minefield of centuries and even millennia old bullshit. Sifting through it is a challenge for even the most experienced.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

History (and geneaolgy) is a minefield of centuries and even millennia old bullshit. Sifting through it is a challenge for even the most experienced.

Yes, but how will you ever know that you're actually royalty or descendant from nobility...

[mvscal]

Just make it up. In fifty or so years, nobody will ever know for sure.

[smackaholic]

yup, just make it up. it worked wonders for Sen. fauxcahontas.

I really do hope the dems run that fraud.

[mvscal]

My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

2/3? How is that even possible?

How many sixteenths does that work out to?

[Goober McTuber]

My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

2/3? How is that even possible?

Easy. 4 of her six grandparents were Cherokee.

I'm telling Santa to put a calculator in your stocking this year

How do you have 6 grandparents? Stuff that calculator up your ass. Surprised to find out that Sirfuckafist is running a reindeer troll.

[BSmack]

OK, this is weird. I was inspired by this thread to hit some research sites for some newspaper accounts on some now dead relatives. What do I stumble upon but the wedding announcement for my paternal grandfather's first marriage. Now I knew he was divorced when he met my grandmother. Something about her being a whore. But I didn't know when he tied the knot. Now I do. It was exactly 80 years ago TODAY, December 22nd 1934. Talk about your dumb stupid coincidences. Happy Anniversary Grandpa. And thank you step grandma for being a whore so that I could like get born and all.

[SunCoastSooner]

It's really cool how many Cherokee descendents there are.

Suspicious more likely.

My Mom's mom was 2/3 Cherokee, but even finding her grandparents is nearly impossible. Pity.

Probably because they weren't Cherokee and you've been looking in the wrong place. History (and geneaolgy) is a minefield of centuries and even millennia old bullshit. Sifting through it is a challenge for even the most experienced.

Yeah, I have been at this for over a decade now and learned my lesson about jumping to conclusions or not working back through all the documents. I have ancestors who are from the West family in colonial Virginia and their records are a mess. I didn't think I would ever figure it out and then someone hired an actual professional to sort through it all and they shared there information with other people doing research on it.

I was told for years that I'm Choctaw, no other explanation. Turns out my maternal grandmother's parents were Choctaw but my grandfather has had Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Cherokee squaw crawling in and out of the gene pool for centuries.

As far as nobility

[SunCoastSooner]

I thought I might be able to get our resident Civil War historian MV in here and see if he could offer us his take on the First Battle of Vera Cruz, Douglas County, MO/Ozark County, Arkansas, and the Alsup Feud, from a historians perspective?