Found some family history

[Adam Wetherington]

At my wife's suggestion I perused through an old family history book we have on my Grandmother's side of the family...This thing is massive and was always a little confusing for me to figure out but this time we made good headway. Turns out, my first ancestor to come across the pond came over in 1679 from England!!! Landed in Jamestown and over the generations they moved south through the Carolinas and Georgia and finally into Florida. It's got records showing his descendant's service in NC militia companies in 1754 and militia's and the Continental Army in the Revolution and later on more descendants service including my GrGrGrandfather in the FL Cav during the War of Northern Aggression. Pretty cool! I'm a real American I reckon!

[2 Locks]

That surely shines that does

[pathfinder]

2nd generation Polish decendent,so good on you!

[mario]

Having recently delved into that stuff for my family as well as my wife's family, I find it pretty cool.

While my wife's family has been here for quite a time (1771 in Polecat Creek, NC for example), I just celebrated the 100th anniversary of my Mom's side coming to the US (arrived in NY from Ireland a few days after the Titanic survivors) and the 50th anniversary of my Father's side (arrived in 1962 escaping Castro's Cuba).

My wife's family left no written records and my family left most of those behind, we have decided to write a family history for any further generations.

We did find out that her GGGrandfather fought as a member of the 33rd Wisconsin Infantry during the WBTS and another may have been a Unionist from Kansas (she hates it when I call her "Red-Leg"  :lol:


Mario

[Adam Wetherington]

That's funny, Mario.

One of my Grandmother's cousins married into my wife's family but we can't quite figure out exactly how. We didn't figure it out until my grandmother and her and everyone else who would be able to shed light on it was gone but my hometown was pretty small and there was lots of marrying going on between a relatively few large families that were in the area back then...nobody stood up at our wedding and complained so I guess we aren't that close of cousins...LOL!!

[Adam Wetherington]

Did some digging on my grandfathers side and sure enough, I can trace my roots back to at least the 1720's in NC...pretty much the same story with ancestors in the militia, RevWar service, CivWar, and a gradual migration south through the Carolinas, Georgia, and into Florida by the late 1800's.

Pretty interesting stuff this family history research is.

[huntinguy]

That's pretty cool. Now you can join the "Sons of the American Revolution." The DAR is pretty well known but not so much the SAR.

That is something My daughter and I are going to work on this summer. Family tradition on my moms side says we go back that far (well, a good might farther, so they say. Never can be too sure about oral traditions).

My maternal grandmothers side was of the northern bent, maternal grandfathers side was of the southern bent... explains a lot....    :happy

Ya just have to love history.

also, now if you want to do reenactments you have a close personal persona... super cool  

[rickevans]

This is something that I would love to investigate. Where and how did you guys start out?

[Riley/MN]

Try Ancestry.com

[mario]

Yup. Ancestry.com

Found all sorts of stuff. Disproved a few family stories, as well.

Biggest issues for us are 1/2 my family lived for a couple generations in a Communist country (Cuba), blocking off access to a bunch of records and my wife's family didn't keep records and knows little (my FiL can't tell you his grandfather's name...) about anything.

Prepare to get the "brain pain", though. When you start finding info that contradicts itself (birth-dates, in particular), it can get mighty annoying...


Mario

[rickevans]

Thanks friends. Off we go....

I come from quite a tight-lipped bunch my self. I once tried to ask my Grandad about his Pa, who was full blood native american indian type. He would NOT discuss it at all.  According to my GR-Grandmother, I come from a long line of horse thieves and whiskey distillers...

[huntinguy]

Rick, that's funny. According to my Gmother, my Gfathers side was is in the rope and lead business - stretching, from one end or the other... and shipping and receiving of the other...  

how did I start all this... A phone call from the old country.

For the other side, I started emailing family and then checking public records. All of which I have done on the putter.

Once you get into the 1700's it starts getting pretty iffy. You run into is things like this http://www.famousamericans.net/johnsevier/ and his brother, or uncle, spelled the name differently...

[Adam Wetherington]

Thanks friends. Off we go....

I come from quite a tight-lipped bunch my self. I once tried to ask my Grandad about his Pa, who was full blood native american indian type. He would NOT discuss it at all.  According to my GR-Grandmother, I come from a long line of horse thieves and whiskey distillers...

My GrGrGrandfather recieved a "plantation and the horse he rode off on" in his daddy's will who, interestingly recieved "a 9 year old negro boy, Cesar, to do with as he pleases" in his daddy's will.

[Gordon H.Kemp]

Glad to see there are several members who are interested in family historys . I had intended to post some directions and suggestions on pursuing  our ancestors. The Wife spent over 40 years researching our lines so I think I,ll post the article that I prepared about 4 years ago. Ressearch today is much easier then some 40 or 50 back. Not to rain on anyones paraade , but in order to qualify for membeship in the DAR and SAR certain documents are required to prove and verify your relationship to a known faamily member that served in the AR. I,ll try to get some information posted within the next week or so. In the meantime keep on digging.
 

[rickevans]

Thanks Gordon. Looking forward to your paper.