Family Geneology?

My cousin, retired many years, spent the first 6 years of retirement tracing our family history. She has researched back as far as possible (13 generations). Appears I came from a long line of Beardsleys - They came from Stratford England in 1603 and settled in Stratford, CT. She sent me a copy of the completed book about 3 years ago. Surprisingly, at work one day a person was just running names under Google search and when he entered "Candee Logan" I turned out to be the only one in the office with her entire ancestory online.
What fascinating information and some very old pics. My grandfather died at 48 when my dad was only 4 years of age and now I have a photo of him and some of when my dad was a little boy.

Isn't geneology neat! My mom has been working on ours for 17 years now. Have so many lines and branches going everywhere, LOL.

I understand it is quite a time consuming process. Alice visited cemetarys and all sorts of archives in her research. Fortunately, unlike many families, ours settled in CT, then ended up in Schuyler Co. New York so they hadn't really spread out so far over the centuries.
I find it fascinating that I have now some knowledge of my gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-grandfather.

I agree that geneology can be very arduous, but what rewards. Learning more about our ancestors seems to make them more "human" and it reminds us that people have always been "people". Old photos give the impression our old time relatives sat around in suits on stiff chairs! I wish I knew more about my family history, but I'm afraid I've waited too long to find out.

We've got a wonderful family history.My maternal g'mother's family arrived here from Antrim,Ireland about 1750.They settled in PA and then moved westward with Gen.George Rogers Clark.They were among the first 16 families to settle Louisville,KY.

My maternal g'father's family arrived shortly after Jamestown was settled and one of my ancestors was married to the grandaughter of Pocahontas.

We can trace lines back as far as Edward the Eightling around 800 A.D. Other lines are a mystery from about 1900.
My distant cousins are the Waltrip brothers who drive NASCAR and one ancestor was secretary to William Henry Harrison.There were ship captians and horsethieves...facinating!

I am elligible to be a DAR and had ancestors who fought on both sides of the Civil War.

It really gives you a feeling of roots to know where you came from.My mother and one of her brothers have worked for about 10 years to get all of this put together and they have lots of stories and other relatives,but they refuse to speculate on anything.If they can't find a link that confirms a relative on paper somewhere,they won't use it.

haighr, that's wonderful! I also do genealogy, and you are right, it is very time consuming, but rewarding. The biggest problem I've found is proper documentation of information. Most important is to start with yourself, and work back one generation at a time, always proving each link from primary sources. Information from other people provides clues, but must always be verified. John

haighr, we have also been doing some genealogy off and on through the years and it can been wonderful or frustrating. The internet has opened up so much more of the world so fast. A couple of years age I received a box of pictures of past family members and had no idea who they all were, well, we were searching Family Tree Maker one night and there was someone related to my gr-gr grandfather. So after trading emails I emailed some of the pictures and a couple were of his father as a teenager and he knew who a lot more of the people were.

We have since been back to Mass. to visit and met a large branch of the family that are just wonderful people and we never even knew that they were there because my gr-gr father came to Calif in the 1800's.

It makes you seem more connected to the past.

That's wonderful Candee. As far as mine is concerned, it stops at the fifth. NO further info. Can you throw some light on how that was done, in brief?

Alice didn't use the internet at all to do the research. She began with her father's information (my uncle) and worked back from there. She spent hours in the library and visiting cemetaries. She was fortunate to be able to contact other relatives (2nd.3rd. cousins). I must say her parents gave a lot of info and pics before they passed on and she just took it one generation at a time. It was her nephew who put the thing on the internet and Linda O'Hallaron (a distant cousin) who now lives in Ireland has e-mailed me with info on my gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-grandfather's sister's information which is Linda's grandmother the McCutcheon side of the family. It is fascinating. My 6th generation grandfather's trade was making and repairing barrels and wooden tubs. (A cooper by trade). Linda McCutcheon has sent me a pic of a family bible that has my gr-gr-gr-gr-gr grandfather's signature and also she sent a picture of his wife's mother's gravestone.
It has sure given me a lot of pleasure and my kids are now old enough to be interested also.

My sis does all of our geneology-she is all the way back to the 1300's im related to alot of cool people in history-peter the great for one!

I keep our Family Tree Book dated 200 years ago.
Fine!

That's great, haighr! It is a fascinating hobby (obsession). You mention one of the best parts of doing genealogy, making contact with those distant cousins and sharing stories and photographs. I was very fortunate in finding a cousin in Ireland who was descended from my GGgrandfather's brother, who remained in Ireland, while GGg came to PA. Even better, my Irish cousin was the historian of my ancestral town! John

Wow the 1300's, ours stops at 1603 with Mr. & Mrs. John Beardsley. Nobody has been able to find anything further. I found it interesting that my ancestors came from Stratford England and then apparently named Stratford, CT and that is very near where our son is living now in Hartford.
Panda - you are so right with obsession.
I guess since I have very few relatives still living, it really gives me a sense of connection.

One of my ancestors was John Samuel Knisely who lived in Bedford Co., PA. His wife was Susanna Lingenfelter. John was born November 19, 1807 and Susanna was born circa 1812, just to give you an idea of the time frame.

In a day when boys were highly prized in order to help work the farm, this poor man was the father of TWELVE daughters and NO sons! I just have to smile when I imagine that poor man's face after his wife was delivered of another girl! :-D They tell me, though, that those girls worked the farm like any boy would have had to do, in addition to learning all of the finer feminine skills of quilting, cooking, etc.

I have a Mayflower line and a couple of really neat English royal lines, but the ancestors that inspire the most respect and admiration from me are the ones who came to this wilderness and cleared ACRES of virgin timber with nothing but horses, crude hand tools, and the sweat of their brow. If you've ever had to clear even a small portion of land, you know that this is thankless and backbreaking work. These people were sturdy stock, that's for sure.

Inda,I agree with you. I've got ancestors who climbed on flatboats with tiny children and came down the Ohio River.They had to start with whatever they could carry and raise a family at the same time. The Native People were none too friendly because of the military activity in the area that treated them so terribly.This was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to hardships.

I have a wonderful Christmas story about the first Christmas celebrated at what is now Louisville,KY.It's quite long,but very insightful and entertaining. I'll post it if anyone wants to read it.

Hey Melody, I want to read it so post away my friend.

I want to read it also.

Neat to hear about all your genealogy stories. I want to trace my family roots too, but want to do it right. Eveyone says...document your sources. Does that mean I have to have copies of birth & death certificates or just where the records are found? It is snowing here today so I have to do something inside for next few months since gardening is out for rest of this year.

nesandy, copies are great, but making a note of where you found the record is also good, such as what volume and page number, in the event someone else has some conflicting information it will be easy enough to verify. John

And when you have been doing it for awhile, you will find that you have developed a "Sixth sense" based on the studies you have done and what you know about your families.

Absolutely, Indashade! There are two excellent books on the subject of serendipity in genealogy, original is "Psychic Roots". Here is my favorite example: I was looking for an ancestor I THOUGHT was Hershenberger, so I wrote to one in the Wilkes-Barre, PA phonebook (a huge area). Well, I got a reply from someone who told me I really wanted HERSHENFELD, and that they knew the person, and furthermore, was related! What are the chances of what turned out to be a stranger's name, chosen at random, as it were, from a huge phone book, turning out to have the knowledge I sought, and be a relative? Our ancestors may well be helping us to 'find' them.... John