Are You Ready To Find Out More About Your Family Tree?
By villageanne
@villageanne (8553)
United States
March 13, 2007 8:54pm CST
I have always had an interest in my genealogy. When I was in grade school, it was customary to do your family tree each year for class. We would go to the local cemetaries and do tracings of the tombstones of deceased family members. This just increased my interest in my family. I would go to my Grandparents and ask questions about their family. I was interested in the color of eyes and hair along with the height and medical problems of my ancestors. I am so thankful for this desire that I had when I was young. Now I am even more interested but I have alot of good info that most people do not have. For example, do you know what color your great great great Grandmother had? I do, mine had red curly hair. To me that gives me more of a connection to my ancestors.
It may be too late for you to find out what color the eyes and hair was of your ancestors but it is not too late to start recording that information for your granchildren and great grandchildren.
Genealogy is so much fun and it is a great way to bring famies closer together. Family Tree Maker is offering a free magazine subscription called The Family Tree Maker Magazine. You can get your free subscription at this link:
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/magform.html?Welcome=
It is a great way to start connecting with your family. I have also posted a couple other discussions that will help you do get your genealogy started.
Grandparents handwriting http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/807132.aspx
Stories of Grandparents http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/685345.aspx
Making A Family History Scrapbook http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/659229.aspx
How To Make A Family Tree CD http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/659205.aspx
I hope you have fun with your family getting to know your ancestors. Good Luck
7 people like this
18 responses
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
14 Mar 07
the topic has always interested me, but I don't have any money to pay for sites. I know nothing of my family before 1916 when they came to canada from england.
3 people like this
@patgalca (18394)
• Orangeville, Ontario
15 Mar 07
My family came from England to Canada as well! My father's parents were both from England (though relatives came here long before they did) but met in India where my grandfather was stationed during the war. My father and 2 older siblings were born in India. They moved here when my father was one year old.
2 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
1 Jun 07
Most of the sites are free. Try this one http://www.familysearch.org
1 person likes this
@terilee79720 (3621)
• United States
14 Mar 07
Hi villageanne,
I love Genealogy. In fact I have a website up about it.
I have been researching for almost 40 years and guess what?
There are things you can search for that actually tell you what color of eyes or hair, or complexion.
If they were male you can always go for the military papers or draft or military registration. If they are female there are things like birth certificates or maybe diaries.
Usually, there are ways of finding out everything there is to know, but I bet you know that.
3 people like this
@mari61960 (4893)
• United States
15 Mar 07
Your response was copied by wang007 on page 2. I have reported him to mylot and rated him with a - . I hope everyone that reads this does the same. He's doing this in every discussion he responds to.
2 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
24 May 07
Tammy,
I just submitted another discussion on family history too. You may want to check it out also.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
24 May 07
Tammy,
Here is the link to my other article. It will help you alot
http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1099337.aspx
@royal52gens (5488)
• United States
14 Mar 07
I have used a Family Tree Maker program for many years. I just keep upgrading it. Currently, I am running Version 11.2 and I love it.
2 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
14 Mar 07
This is for a free magazine not the software
1 person likes this
@royal52gens (5488)
• United States
14 Mar 07
I got the magazine for about a year (free). Then I did not get it for a long time and started to miss it. I contacted them and got one free issue. Now I have the paperwork on my desk to subscribe for about two years. It is a good magazine.
2 people like this
@ladylily29 (323)
• United States
14 Mar 07
Hi, I love to trace my family as far as I can. I started out with very little info and found out some of my family has alot of Native Americans in it, and that my Conley side is the ones responsible for Ireland and Scottland. I thought how neat.But I have found nothing on my Blanton side and my Reynolds side. It's like they never was real. How crazy is that. I figure there is something somewheres on them.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
24 May 07
Many times it can be like that. Have you checked the Ellis Island records. They can be accessed at familysearch.org
They are records that tell what ships immagrants were on and when they got off at Ellis Island. Great sorce to use as a starting poing
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
15 Mar 07
Thank you for the links to your discussions. I am passing them along to my mother who is also a member of MyLot. She has been working the family tree. Any help she can get with it is always appreciated. Thank you!
1 person likes this
@samtaylorskykierajen (7977)
• Canada
23 May 07
I was never that intersted in finding out more about my family tree but this is something that has intersted my dad for years . These links you have would be interesting to check out though just to see . As I get older , I think it would be nice just to have to show my children their background and would be rather intersting just to see what one finds .
Thanks I will have to check these out and will have to send them on to my dad for sure as this is something he would be very intersted in seeing as he has tried for years to find out more and it always ends up costing him money .
1 person likes this
@dhouston (417)
• United States
15 Mar 07
Good resources. My family has always kept good records and known our roots (English, Scottish, Irish and a bit of German). One of my cousins is now keeper of the family Bible that an ancestor started in the late 1700s and is full of complete records down to my grandfather's generation, when the pages got too full for more. One of my brothers majored in history in college and has written a family history with meticulous records going back to the Middle Ages including to a knight who rode in William the Conqueror's army. Most of the lines end well after that time as common people did not keep records, nor were they even literate to do so, in those days. One line was broken in 1723 when an ancient church in Scotland suffered a fire, destroying all parish records. We believe that but for the fire, we could probably identify our ancestors back to the time the parish was founded, possibly to the earliest days of Christianity in Scotland. The family in this line were all common working people, but the churches kept excellent records on all parishioners regardless of class so everybody whose heritage lies in countries with ancient Christian roots has a chance to find ancient records of family births, marriages and deaths. Another good resource is census records, which in both Britian and Germany are old and well maintained.
1 person likes this
@chaygylmommy (2470)
• United States
15 Mar 07
WOW! Thanks for the links. My mom has traced our heritage back I think thru my great great grandparents, but that is it. I will have to check into these links and see if we can go any further. I have always been interested. :)
1 person likes this
@hikarushidou (843)
• Philippines
15 Mar 07
I am happy for you that you still have grandparents to ask about your roots and ancestors. I would also love to learn about where my family tree extends but my problem is both my 4 direct grandparents are deceased already. Even if they told me something about our relatives in the past, it isnt enough to really track them all down. Sigh...
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
14 Mar 07
I never thought about my family geneology until 4 years ago when my last living grandmother passed away. I realized then I didn't know anything about my "family". I've been doing mostly online research and it's been great fun - I've even met a couple of my distant cousins that I didn't know before. I've been able to find many things about my family I didn't know before and I think has helped me find out about myself. One of the biggest finds was I have all my life been told I'm German/Irish/Hillbilly (my father is from back hills of Kentucky). Well, I also have a lot of English (including a distant uncle who was a famous writer) and I have a lot of Cherokee Indian blood.
Sometimes it's exactly like playing detective and it's thrilling when you "solve a case" or find a "missing link".
1 person likes this
@monica1981 (466)
• United States
14 Mar 07
My stepmother became very interested in my dads family tree. She traced it back to something like the late 1400's. She actually has a binder that she keeps that is ffull of our geaneology and family history. I think it's kinda cool.
1 person likes this
