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Just got interested. Traced someone on dads side back to a marriage record from Virginia dated 1806. I am finding less for my wife's family so far. There used to be a tree mom had. Hope it is in stuff down stairs. I do recall one branch was hanged as horse thieves.
I have a letter written from Vance county MO in 187? telling Mr. Peel his son Richard was at their home bedfast 2 weeks with typhoid so they would know. I havent pinned that story down yet.
Another story, if I can find it tells about smallpox going through a town taking whole families, parents leaving orphans.
Family seems to be Iowa, Missouri, Illinois so far.
This endeavor makes ne lonesome

Hit up your local Mormon church. They have people that will help you for free. You can join several different online genealogy sites as well. Some are free, so aren't.

I play around with it some too.

Check out familysearch.org and relativefinder.org after that.

Sometimes you hit a wall that can't be climbed. My great grandfather outlived 3 wives and was married to a 4th when he died. All 4 were named Mary and he had kids by at least 3 of them, maybe all 4. There are no records as to which Mary bore what kids. You only have a 25% chance of getting the right g-grandmother and there are almost no records beyond any of them.

Jeepers, Grandpa was a playa!

I have a tree that dates back to 1714. The time, effort, research and the drawing of the tree had to be incredible.

Second that. Once you can get back a few generations on familysearch, it will likely fill in the rest. I've got some branches going back to medieval Europe. Can't attest to accuracy, but it's probably as accurate as one could expect.

Yes, I've also used familysearch and relativefinder. Also try, I think it's called Obit.com and there is a newspaper.com(?).

I don't even know if I believe this--through people have said the farther back you go, royalty and the rich kept very good records (through the church) of birth, death, marriages--on familysearch.org I followed one branch of my family back to 150 B.C....yeah, like I said, I don't know if I believe it? LOL

Anyway, one question. I'm stuck on a grandfather that immigrated from England, around 1880's. I can't "jump the pond". All record in the U.S. say only, "born in England". I can't find any other notations on place of birth for this grandfather. Anyone know a way to trace him...his wife's info says her was "born at sea". So I'm stuck one both. Any help?

I've traced mine back a good ways. Interesting stuff. One of my distant ancestors was married to a native American woman. Her people named him Man that tells tales. I'm 100% sure I'm related to him.

My wife has had good success with her family in Ireland using the site https://www.findmypast.co.uk. It's gotten her military records of an ancestor serving in the British military in India in the early 1800's.

Amazing. Reminds me of a song....

I'm Mary the 4th I am, Mary the 4th I am I am
I got married to the old guy next door, he'd been married 3 times before
And every one was a Mary, he wouldn't have a Suzie or a Pam
I'm his 4th old gal named Mary, Mary the 4th I am!

My wife has had good success with her family in Ireland using the site https://www.findmypast.co.uk. It's gotten her military records of an ancestor serving in the British military in India in the early 1800's.[/quote]

Thanks, Pugs, I'll take a look at that site.

To the tune of Henry the VIII by Herman's Hermits?

My Mom's side is fairly well mapped out clear back into the 18th century when they came across the Atlantic. One of my cousins has it all archived.

My Dad's side is a fuggin mess with a bunch of widowing, remarrying, and is only really partially tracable to the mid 19th century. They're also not tight knit at all, and spread out all over the country. I remember the only time I really met relatives from his side was at funerals, and they're pretty much all dead up to Dad's gen now. When my Dad's dad died, a great uncle I had never met showed up. My Dad hadn't seen him since the early 60s and didn't even know he was still alive... real tight knit.

A lifetime of study here, I have mine starting around 1650 in North America.

A couple things.....I don't think it matters which Country, Canada/USA, but alot of People lived up here then went to the USA for whatever reason, and vise-versa. I have shared info with people around the USA doing the same as myself.

The Catholic church kept pretty sharp records, but the fur trading companies like...the Northwest company, Hudson bay company, kept impeccable records of their employees, those combined with the Catholic church records (baptisms, marriage) are available to the public online.

We did the DNA thing, found all kinds of family members

The very reason I will not do any DNA tests.

I'm lucky in this regards.....

My first ancestors got off at Jamestowne in 1607, on my grandfather's side... and on my grand mothers side they were here BEFORE 1619 in Virginia also....so a lot of that has been researched for a long time...my mom and her sisters were all both Daughters of the American Revolution, and Daughters of the Confederacy..

I am 17th generation in this country, or both of those sides...others that came into those lines, were here before the Revolutionary War...

My earliest ancestors were here 160 years BEFORE the Revolutionary War...

after that, I am descendent of a lot of people from Scotland, Ireland, Wales that just kicked out of the British Isles...

and sprinkle that with some Scandanavians ( Norway and Sweden), and then Germans... with some Stray French, that actually went to England in 1066, as they were Normans & Vikings...

Heavily Northern European, with one or two Indians and a few Jews, tossed in for Good Measure...Swedish Jews at that...

My ancestorage that got off at Jamestowne, are traced back in general to the Norman Conquest, and direct descendant, earliest with birth records at the local church ( which is actually still in Existence) in 1189 and 1193...

but we still believe we are mostly descended of people who were kicked out of Europe instead of immigrating on their own...

Your a talker eh?😅

My brother was working on the family line. There was a family story that we had some Cherokee in us from some relative marrying into the tribe. I'd have been about 1/32. At the time, being a breed wasn't something you bragged about. My brother then found some evidence, unprovable, that the Cherokee might have been Freedman Cherokee. That's something altogether different and would have been even more disreputable. 5 years ago, I had my DNA tested and no sign of either Indian or Freedman showed up. I guess that was just one of those family legends with no basis for it.