Found out a couple of days ago that I had a distant family member pass away that I had never met before. I read his obituary and he seemed like a really nice person that I wish I would have gotten to know. I tried to find some of his family members online, but no luck. Lately I realize that most families are growing distant and nobody seems to care about each other at all. Sorry, Im just rambling.

Do the DNA thing, you will be like Wifey, find a brother and niece you didn’t know you had

Last family reunion I had 60 cousins there. I would think it would be difficult to stay close to very many.

If you hit the lotto,you'll have more relatives than you can stand.

it also crossed my mind that if i was able to get a hold of anyone that they would think im trying to make personal gain and tell me to bleep off

When I was young I could not care less about my family history, but time changed me. I remember my Grandpa said that I reminded him of his Grandpa who was a blacksmith and wagon maker. I did the family history thing and traced my dads side back to the 1700s when 3 brothers came from England. I read my ancestors will online . Unbelievable! Some of the family went to Texas and one ran for Vice President of the US. It’s ok to reach out. Good luck!

once you get past second or third cousins, it's pointless

Before she passed, we had mom do a DNA test. We waited too late to do one on dad, but a cousin had one of dad's sisters do one. My wife loves researching stuff like that and it's amazing what you can find.

My mother and father grew up in opposite corners of TN and settled in GA where I was born and live. Dad was the oldest and all of my cousins on his side were born after I was grown so I really never knew them. Mom was the 2nd' youngest and most of my cousins on her side were grown and married by the time I was born. That and living 6-8 hours away meant I don't really know most of my cousins. Mom had nieces and nephews only a few years younger than her. I met a couple for the 1st time at her funeral.

Never knew much family beyond my first cousins. Funny, there was a girl I was friends with in my class at Navy “A” school, found out while home on leave afterwards that she was my mother’s cousin’s daughter.

I have 3 cousins on my dad's side, but I lost count on my mom's side

We've reached out to one side of our family[dads grandmother] and they basically said F-off.

They're up in the Erie PA area.

Dad said that even with his grandmother being an integral part of his growing up he cannot remember ever have meeting a single other person from her side of the family.

She was very successful after her husband died-started a business during the depression as well as doing books for multiple Co's.

Maybe one day someone on their side will have interest.

I'm indifferent about my immediate family and uninterested in the rest. My wife and kids are my tribe, beyond that, I care more about my dog.

Dad told my wife."We weren't sentimental people," when asked about his ancestry. Life was hard. They looked to the here after above all. Genealogy is interesting though. But kinship is different.

Here's a good place to explore past relatives.

It can be somewhat surprising what you find there.

https://www.findagrave.com/

Bullseye

My wife is very heavily into genealogy, and have traced her ancestry back to some very interesting/well known people in history.

In fact, it seems that one of my family members worked for her family member during King James’ reign…..after all these years nothing has changed! 😁 memtb

My maternal grandma was 1 of 13 - mom has 70 some cousins that side alone. Another 15 or so on her fathers side.

No point even trying to keep up with that.

I thought this was another Virginia thread, Locking up Family Members.

My bad.

Be very careful when submitting your DNA.

KYHillChick has been hot and heavy on the genealogy thing for 20 years or more. She's now taking in clients. Her specialty is African-American folks with slavery complications. However, her first love is digging up our families. She's got my lineage back to the 1600s.

About a decade ago, she decided we should both get swabbed. She hoped it would fill in some blanks.

About 2 weeks after I sent in my swab, I started realizing my mistake. I've told this story before: Dad was the real-life Sparky on M.A.S.H. He ran the depot in Seoul that serviced the field hospitals in Korea. One of his stories was about delivering nurses out to these units. He and a buddy would requisition an ambulance and pick up the women at Kimpo and ferry them out. They stocked the ambulance with an ample supply of Frozen OJ/Pure Medicinal Alcohol mix. Dad said he did his best patriotic duty delivering the nurses to the units properly drunk and pregnant. The women were happy for it. They were scared witless and the only way they could get out was through pregnancy.

All of a sudden, I realized I was opening myself up to all kinds of trouble; I had potentially all manner of half-brothers and sisters out there with birthdays from 1946-48. I waited. Luckily, Dad was not as patriotic as he thought. So far, no one has come forward.

HOWEVER . . .

Every so often, I'll get a hit on my DNA and get contacted by someone with a close match. None have been that close, but a previously unknown love child of one of my uncles showed up. I also had a hit that looked to be a distant cousin. One of Dad's aunts had a son that ended up working in the CIA. He made his bones doing security checks for the FBI back during the war in connection with Oak Ridge. A love child of his contacted us from rural Tenessee. I also got a hit from somebody in Argentina. Lessee: German lineage, a bit older than me in Argentina? No, I ain't answering that one. Im Schweineauge, mein Führer!

MIL is one of 11. Not sure my wife could tell you how man cousins she has on that side.

No way I'm swabbing myself into the DNA database.

Don’t fret……they already have it! 😉 memtb

My dad was one of 11 surviving children, my mother one of 9. I have 73 first cousins, quite a few I’ve never met. Would be more, but a sister of my father married a brother of my mother, lol.

I got cuzzins that’s aunts n uncles as well family tree is fuqkd on that limb

one of my uncles, my mom's oldest brother had 19 kids, I still don't know most them except for 3 close to my age.

they are distant relatives for a reason. Keep em that way

I would never, ever, recommend anyone do that....

If I'm not missing anybody, there is 54 in my immediate family counting my Mom and Dad. Cousins 1st and second? Couldn't begin to add them all up. Know some of them well, others I can recognize and know who's family they belong to, but struggle with remembering their names.

I have decided to take mud boggers advice

Your dna is later sold to china which uses it to develop deadly biological weapons that asians will be immune to. Truth or fiction….

The space lasers will get you first.

Old news but 23andme was hacked and access was gained to information of over 7 million people.

There were 13 kids in a family on my maternal grandfather's side with the surname "Boone"- - - -as in Daniel. I've kept up with a couple of the boys from that family intermittently since the 1950s- - - -even found out many years later that one of them had dated the same woman as me, at different times. Haven't heard from any of them in the past 15 years or so.

I ran into a friend of mine today and I was telling her about my relative passing away. She told me that when her father passed away several years ago, his first wife came to the viewing and asked her if she would like to meet her two daughters from the first marriage to her father. She politely told her no and walked away from her. She said she didnt know why she did this, but she just didnt want to meet them.

If you pay close attention you'll find that by reading Obituaries all the nice people are dying.........

Got an uncle that I’m older than.

Knowing the people who own 23 and Me ,"hack" was hardly necessary. The fine print nobody reads no doubt gave them whatever rights they ever wanted.

About 5-6 years ago I didn’t DNA thing. I dispelled the notion that g g g ma was full blooded Cherokee. The extended family didn’t like that i shot down that family legend.

5 years ago i was contacted by a lady who ended up being the illegitimate daughter of a great uncle. That story ended up turning out well. She was united with her two half brothers who embraced her as family.

I had the privilege of being the first family member that she had ever communicated with, talked to or seen. She was fortunate enough to have a happy ending and see a hole in her life partially filled.

I have a cousin that found his real dad through dna testing. It went very well. Gained a couple half sisters too.

The Mormons can set you up on all sorts of family history and who are your relatives.

Met a guy here in town about 5 years ago, who was from Texas. He was descended from a person from the Revolutionary War, by the name of Israel Meadows and he knew he was from a Greenbrier County in Virginia and with his older brother, he was recruited into the Virginia Militia at a place called Peterstown Va. He knew that they had fought at the Battle of Point Pleasant on the Ohio River in the Revolutionary War. That is as far back as he knew his Ancestorage.

Israel left Virginia after the Revolutionary War, and went and settled in Kentucky. Then his descendants left Kentucky for Missouri, and later family migrated to Oklahoma and finally down to Houston Texas area. That is where he had been born and raised.

He gave me a business card. He lives here in town. I did a little research and found what I had expected all the time we talked. Israel was the second son, of a family who had 16 children. Israel left Greenbrier County VA in the 1790s for Kentucky. His older brother Francis inherited the family farm when their parents died.

Sent him a short note via the mail. I am a descendant of the older brother Francis who ended up inheriting the farm in what was then Greenbrier County VA. That was 7 generations ago. His and my direct family roots are from the first settlers at Jamestown in 1607. Which was 10 generations back at the time of the Revolutionary War. So we are both 17th generation in this country, and descended of the 25 or so people who survived the first two years of the Jamestown settlement.

In the note I pointed this out, and gave him my phone number and address to contact me. He never did.. gather he had no real interest in his family history, enough to contact me.

But our ancestors being brothers 7 generations ago, would make us 7th cousins. Evidently no interest at all.

Was kind of disappointing to me. Blood is blood. But seems few people really have any interest in something like that.
Or he just found it hard to believe. I've ran into a few other folks here in the Rogue Valley, that I was related to going way back in the early history of our nation. Some respond, but drift away fairly slowly and are gone to oblivion once again.

Guess I take it a lot more seriously than many people do. Found several people here on the campfire that I am distantly related to also.. going way back to colonial Virginia, and some of its earliest days.

Our grandparent were sure spanking every night and every chance they had. 11 kids is a lot.