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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488 |
I never wondered enough about my own ancestry to really dig. Stories about some of my more immediate ancestors were interesting and I have dabbled just a bit, but ran into dead ends quickly and lost interest.
I was wondering about an old acquaintance just the other day and searched a site or two to see what I could find out. While I was looking around I saw a link to a site I had never heard of: familysearch.org
It turns out that the LDS church runs and maintains this site. You can register for a free account and hop on it and ride. I think I know why they do it but I won't say why because I am not sure it's correct. Anyway, I got curious about it and started looking for some closer relatives who have passed on, but who I knew well. My own mother's info was incomplete and I saw that I could add to it, so I did. Then I looked to see what my biological father's family tree looks like. His father's mother, my great grandmother once sent me a Christmas gift which I still have. That was in 1971. I never saw her as she lived in Pennsylvania and never came down to Texas. Anyway, I started looking at her ancestry because I knew nothing about her.
I was amazed at how far back the records go. One branch was documented as far back as around 800 AD (I know...that's just almost unbelievable). I backed out of that branch and went up another one, and then another and another, and what I found blew me completely away: I saw David I king of Scotland, Henry III, and numerous other lesser known royalty. Needless to say, my jaw was on the space bar of my keyboard. I did not count how many generations back that was, but it has to be around forty or so.
When you think about it, when you have umpteen great, great, great, great, great, great, great (etc. etc.) grandfathers, it stands to reason that you're liable to run into something like this. If you're curious enough, give it a try and see if you can find someone famous or notorious in your own ancestry. I'll bet about half of you would find something similar if you looked around enough. There's no telling what you'll turn up.
Don't be the darkness.
America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.
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Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 10,103 Likes: 15
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2019
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One of my father's cousins traced their family tree to Scotland in the 15th. Century, to Ireland, South Carolina, and Tennessee by the 1820s, including a South Carolina officer in the Revolutionary war who might have been at the battle of King's Mountain. He's buried in a little country church yard in SC. Two of my distant relatives walked 40 miles to Nashville to enlist in the Army of Tennessee in the 1860s. I found one of their names in the Dickson County Tennessee property tax records from the 1880s, so at least one of them survived the war.
Ignorance can be fixed. Stupid is forever!
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488 |
...including a South Carolina officer in the Revolutionary war who might have been at the battle of King's Mountain. I've been told a very similar story about someone in our family tree, and that the main character of Mel Gibson's "The Patriot" was based on him. I have not been able to corroborate that. Maybe I'll go snooping a little more and get lucky.
Don't be the darkness.
America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488 |
I just found William the Conqueror in my family tree. Unreal.
Don't be the darkness.
America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,554
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,554 |
My Dad's brother Benton researched their family genealogy back to 1683 when John Nesmith from Scotland landed in New Jersey. Our family name exists in several variations as Naismythe, Naismith, Nesmyth, Nessmyth, NeSmith and probably others I am not aware of. Some of the family came to the South over the years, my bunch in Alabama. Uncle Benton lived in California for a while then retired and lived in Texas until he died. I believe that the family name goes back quite a few years in Scotland. My Mom's family are Blands of S ottush descent and Burkards of German, so I'm typical Scotts-German blood. Great grandfather Burkard was a German immigrant and worked as a butcher in Cullman Alabama near here. Cullman was a settlement started by JohannG. Cullmann for German settlers, incorporating in 1878. Some of the local churches held services in German language until World War 2 ended that. Cullman is a twin city with Frankweiller Germany and has Oktoberfest celebration each year. Great grandfather never taught any of his children the German language, preferring to leave the old life behind.
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 19,677 Likes: 21
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 19,677 Likes: 21 |
Assuming there were no adoptions or oopsies along the way lol.
MAGA
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 19,101 Likes: 4
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 19,101 Likes: 4 |
My aunt ( mother’s sister) is into that.
Traced that side of our family back to the Mayflower…
She’s also fascinated with old wooden churchs.
Dave
�The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.� Lou Holtz
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Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,148
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,148 |
Lots of good stuff there. Because it can be modified, they sometimes mess up. They had my mother dead while she was still alive.
The cow is where you are, the bull is where you want to be.
No one gets something for nothing unless someone else got nothing for something.
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488 |
Assuming there were no adoptions or oopsies along the way lol. No doubt. We know of quite a few oopsies in the family tree. My aunt ( mother’s sister) is into that.
Traced that side of our family back to the Mayflower…
She’s also fascinated with old wooden churchs. I can't find any connections to the Mayflower, but there are a few who arrived here during the early 1600s. Some who fought the Revolution, too. Lots of good stuff there. Because it can be modified, they sometimes mess up. They had my mother dead while she was still alive. It's amazing they have as much as they do, and there just has to be mistakes when dealing with so much information.
Don't be the darkness.
America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 38,960 Likes: 16
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 38,960 Likes: 16 |
"We're each out $15,000."
"And we have to go on long trips in a Winnebago."
And we're not Romanovs."
"We're descended from thieves and whores."
Last edited by 5sdad; 01/26/24.
Not a real member - just an ordinary guy who appreciates being able to hang around and say something once in awhile.
Happily Trapped In the Past (Thanks, Joe)
Not only a less than minimally educated person, but stupid and out of touch as well.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,399 Likes: 35
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,399 Likes: 35 |
My Dad said, if we knew it, probably descended from riffraff. Who left money behind in the old country?
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 67,836 Likes: 13
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 67,836 Likes: 13 |
some of the stuff amateur genealogy sleuths come up is hilarious. Seems like almost everyone is linked to royalty. lol
Sam......
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,340 Likes: 6
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,340 Likes: 6 |
I am offspring of Edward I, KOE
9th G.Grandson of Susanna North Martin, a Salem Witch
Cousin to Jeremy Swift that played Spratt on Downton Abbey, maternally
Cousin to Henry Herbert, current owner of Highclere Castle, IE: Downton Abbey, paternally
A Soldier that rode with Sherman, and a Soldier that fought them...through paternal grandparents
Cousin to BHO, through his mama of course.... you can't pick and choose!!!
Cousin to Dr Edward Maynard, I have one of his earlier rifle creations, we also wear the same last name..
Maynard MASS., settled by the earliest Maynard immigrants....
Alas, none left me Title or great wealth...........
As grandma said: '...where we've come from don't much matter, it's where we are going that matters...'
Last edited by Muffin; 01/26/24.
"...A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box..." Frederick Douglass, 1867
( . Y . )
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,399 Likes: 35
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,399 Likes: 35 |
My great, great, great grandmother split rails with Lincoln?
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 13,295 Likes: 5
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 13,295 Likes: 5 |
Your split tail split rails?
Let's Go Brandon! FJB
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488 |
some of the stuff amateur genealogy sleuths come up is hilarious. Seems like almost everyone is linked to royalty. lol All I'm doing is following the branches that are already constructed. I put none of it together except to link my own mother to her parents, and that's not part of dear old dad's lineage anyway. Look at your own family tree and go back 40 generations. That amounts to over 1 billion ancestors. Odds are good there's someone very notable there---IF you take the right paths to find them. 2^40 = 1,099,511,627,776
Don't be the darkness.
America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.
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Joined: May 2016
Posts: 61,013 Likes: 72
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 61,013 Likes: 72 |
some of the stuff amateur genealogy sleuths come up is hilarious. Seems like almost everyone is linked to royalty. lol All I'm doing is following the branches that are already constructed. I put none of it together except to link my own mother to her parents, and that's not part of dear old dad's lineage anyway. Look at your own family tree and go back 40 generations. That amounts to over 1 billion ancestors. Odds are good there's someone very notable there---IF you take the right paths to find them. He has his ancestors on ignore.
I am MAGA.
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,488 |
some of the stuff amateur genealogy sleuths come up is hilarious. Seems like almost everyone is linked to royalty. lol All I'm doing is following the branches that are already constructed. I put none of it together except to link my own mother to her parents, and that's not part of dear old dad's lineage anyway. Look at your own family tree and go back 40 generations. That amounts to over 1 billion ancestors. Odds are good there's someone very notable there---IF you take the right paths to find them. He has his ancestors on ignore. Could be genetic, too.
Don't be the darkness.
America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,399 Likes: 35
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,399 Likes: 35 |
I can't see that it would change anything.
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 4,728
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 4,728 |
Horse thieves in mine. Tried following Drake Lanning Dismore Frack Peal Hamilton with varied success Wife's Wilson Clough Gay is all the names we know. Iowa Indiana Missouri Oklahoma Pennsylvania Virginia
Found slaveholders and abolitionists. I think I owe myself reparations.
I calle myself Flemish Jew redneck American
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