Anybody else do a lot of family genealogy?

[A1food4u]

not me... I'd be the only man alive to find out there was no one of any particular interest in my familty tree

 

[Lizard King]

Just got a pic of my great grandfather off the boat at Ellis island. My FIL loves this shit, he has my family back to 1800's in Italy

 

[rawdeal]

Just got a pic of my great grandfather off the boat at Ellis island. My FIL loves this shit, he has my family back to 1800's in Italy

Vito Andolini, from Corleone?

 

[Kluso]

I look like a dago, despite being Irish and a 1/4 Polish. My 23 and Me came back 78% British Isles (Irish) and 22% Eastern European (Polish) even had my Polish DNA narrowed down to Zakopane Region which is the site of a mountain where my surname comes from. I have met some of my dad's cousins (online) and a buddy from work turned out to be my 2nd cousin IRL.

Small world! Sometimes that shit blows my mind. Like when you run into someone you went to high school with when you’re on vacation or visiting relatives in another state. So weird.

 

[MR. BMJ]

What I would encourage most of you to do, especially those who are not interested in this stuff, or care much about it, is to at least try and gather what you can find for your kids, who may be interested in it at some point. My reasoning for this is because every generation that passes by and dies, is a book of information that is gone...even if the were POS's. Find out what you can now, especially from the oldest members of the family because once they are gone, stories and 'word of mouth' goes with them, unless they recorded it down on paper. It may not mean much to you personally, but future generations in the family will thank you greatly for it.

There are pieces, some large, that I was able to gather from family, who are now deceased, that if i never got that information from them, there is no way in heck i would have ever found it researching...well, anything.

Find out as many names as you can, what they did as their professions, any wars or military they served in, where they lived, spouses, kids names (both living and deceased), and family stories they remember.

If you can find old pictures, or any for that matter, name and date them on the back. If any family passes away, make sure their pictures and documents stay in the family, or to you, and not in the trash can.

 

[Littleguy]

I was left at the Sisters of Providence the day I was born and spent 14 years at the Hutton Settlement ......lol
No idea where I came from or WTF I am.
But alas "WE" identify as a BADASSED MOFO!

 

[Littleguy]

What I would encourage most of you to do, especially those who are not interested in this stuff, or care much about it, is to at least try and gather what you can find for your kids, who may be interested in it at some point. My reasoning for this is because every generation that passes by and dies, is a book of information that is gone...even if the were POS's. Find out what you can now, especially from the oldest members of the family because once they are gone, stories and 'word of mouth' goes with them, unless they recorded it down on paper. It may not mean much to you personally, but future generations in the family will thank you greatly for it.

There are pieces, some large, that I was able to gather from family, who are now deceased, that if i never got that information from them, there is no way in heck i would have ever found it researching...well, anything.

Find out as many names as you can, what they did as their professions, any wars or military they served in, where they lived, spouses, kids names (both living and deceased), and family stories they remember.

If you can find old pictures, or any for that matter, name and date them on the back. If any family passes away, make sure their pictures and documents stay in the family, or to you, and not in the trash can.

Honestly brother, I wish I DID have some idea who my parents were/are and if I have any siblings, I watch movies sometimes and wonder what it would have been like to have a real and steady family.
The Waltons type of thing looks awesome,,, hahah but WTF wasn't for me I guess.

 

[MR. BMJ]

Honestly brother, I wish I DID have some idea who my parents were/are and if I have any siblings, I watch movies sometimes and wonder what it would have been like to have a real and steady family.
The Waltons type of thing looks awesome,,, hahah but WTF wasn't for me I guess.

Well, if I were your parents, i'd be super excited to meet and reconnect with you, and i'd be even more honored and proud to have you as my son. You have done very well for yourself, and you served the country...and outside of breaking most of the bones in your body body, like 10x each, hahaha....you are killin' it man. You are an honorable man with high integrity.

@jipped genes was adopted too, just like you. He did the Ancestry dot com DNA testing, and he found his maternal mother, a couple brothers, and I think a sister....probably some cousins too I imagine?

You could always send in a sample and see what comes up. Even if you do not ever meet them, or want to follow suit with pursuing them, just learning about your blood relatives and their history would be interesting. There is also the chance they are no longer living, but you may have brothers and sisters who could be super thrilled to know they have a brother, a kickass one like yourself. Maybe they wish the same as you do? I'd use Ancestry, they have the largest database, and you do not have to get a subscription from them to have a tree. A subscription just offers you documents to look and read over. Their DNA is kind of separate, and matches will come up if other members of the family have done it as well.

Do it man!

 

[jipped genes]

Well, if I were your parents, i'd be super excited to meet and reconnect with you, and i'd be even more honored and proud to have you as my son. You have done very well for yourself, and you served the country...and outside of breaking most of the bones in your body body, like 10x each, hahaha....you are killin' it man. You are an honorable man with high integrity.

@jipped genes was adopted too, just like you. He did the Ancestry dot com DNA testing, and he found his maternal mother, a couple brothers, and I think a sister....probably some cousins too I imagine?

You could always send in a sample and see what comes up. Even if you do not ever meet them, or want to follow suit with pursuing them, just learning about your blood relatives and their history would be interesting. There is also the chance they are no longer living, but you may have brothers and sisters who could be super thrilled to know they have a brother, a kickass one like yourself. Maybe they wish the same as you do? I'd use Ancestry, they have the largest database, and you do not have to get a subscription from them to have a tree. A subscription just offers you documents to look and read over. Their DNA is kind of separate, and matches will come up if other members of the family have done it as well.

Do it man!

Yes sir, I opened it up and it showed my mother and 1/2 siblings. Also tons of people way down the genetic ladder that I am related to like 2nd and 3rd cousins.

 

[Littleguy]

Well, if I were your parents, i'd be super excited to meet and reconnect with you, and i'd be even more honored and proud to have you as my son. You have done very well for yourself, and you served the country...and outside of breaking most of the bones in your body body, like 10x each, hahaha....you are killin' it man. You are an honorable man with high integrity.

@jipped genes was adopted too, just like you. He did the Ancestry dot com DNA testing, and he found his maternal mother, a couple brothers, and I think a sister....probably some cousins too I imagine?

You could always send in a sample and see what comes up. Even if you do not ever meet them, or want to follow suit with pursuing them, just learning about your blood relatives and their history would be interesting. There is also the chance they are no longer living, but you may have brothers and sisters who could be super thrilled to know they have a brother, a kickass one like yourself. Maybe they wish the same as you do? I'd use Ancestry, they have the largest database, and you do not have to get a subscription from them to have a tree. A subscription just offers you documents to look and read over. Their DNA is kind of separate, and matches will come up if other members of the family have done it as well.

Do it man!

Brought a tear to my eye brother, Thank you!

 

[DF]

The wife & I both have done the Ancestry thing its interesting. If your not up for family "secrets" you may not want to do it.lol

Before my Dad passed he told us that the woman we knew as his mother/our grandmother was his stepmother. After my dad passed my sister took it upon herself to find our grandmother ect...... Come to find out my dad had a full brother we knew nothing of & we had first cousins that we never met ect.....

The details of that are pretty fukd up how all this happend. crazy stuff

 

[DungeonDweller]

Maybe 15 years ago I had a paid membership at Ancestry.com and did some work on the tree. It awesome how much stuff is online, like scans of immigration records, census documents, and draft notices.

About two years ago my brother bought me and my sister the DNA kits for Ancestry.com so that was fun. I just noticed a few months ago its matched us with other people who have taken the test, like our aunt, a cousin, and....... an unknown person who is a cousin.