How far can you go back?

[ryanmercer]

I've made it back to the mid 1800's on my Paternal side... and that's probably as far as I'll ever get there. A big chunk of my maternal side was done by my grandmother's maternal side and that gets me back to the late 1700's.

[Guest Godless]

It all depends on what kind of resources you have available. My mom has traced her ancestry back to the Mayflower. One of her friends has traced her ancestry all the way back to the 13th Century.

[ryanmercer]

It all depends on what kind of resources you have available. My mom has traced her ancestry back to the Mayflower. One of her friends has traced her ancestry all the way back to the 13th Century.

I wasn't asking how far it is possible to go back... I was asking how far can YOU go back :)

[Guest Godless]

I wasn't asking how far it is possible to go back... I was asking how far can YOU go back :)

Ah, well, Mayflower on my mom's side (probably a few generations sooner). Not sure about my dad's side.

[Jbs2763]

my dad's mom we got back to the mayflower, his dad we got back to 1792, mom's stuff we have going back to the 1600s

[ryanmercer]

I wish I could get us back that early on either side.

[Jbs2763]

new.familysearch.org is really good for that.. you get to a point with a shared ancestor, it merges

[ryanmercer]

new.familysearch.org is really good for that.. you get to a point with a shared ancestor, it merges

Oh trust me, I've gone back as far as possible. I've spent years working on it... the biggest issue on the paternal side is... a lot of records were destroyed in arson when people wanted the courthouse moved tot he county seat but couldn't get it done without burning the building down, with everything inside. The maternal side, there have been people on that side (dozens, if not hundreds) and they just can't go back any farther due to the horribly common name of the farthest back they've got.

[Seanette]

My ancestors hide.

My family tend to be stubborn, difficult, and obstructive when alive. No, death doesn't mellow them any.

[susieSA]

My grandparents on my mother's side have gone as far back at the 1400s.. I am sure that if I were to go to the country &town that many of them were born, lived & died in I would find a whole lot more.

On my dad's side not very far as all due to not being sure where my great grandfather was born & what my grandmother's given name was. Working on that one..

[Iggy]

A cousin of mine has found our common ancestor on our maternal side, married in 1213, in England.

He has gone back farther-but as yet he hasn't physically verified those earlier dates. He will have to go to France to do that.

For the ancestors who came from England, he has verified them all. His verifications are in fact when he sees the actual document and he either copies it by his own hand, takes a picture of it, or receives a true copy of it.

He is not a member of the Church, matter of fact he does not believe in God, Jesus or the Holy Ghost. Yet he is the family genealogist. He is obsessed by it.

[goofball]

My ancestors hide.

My family tend to be stubborn, difficult, and obstructive when alive. No, death doesn't mellow them any.

That reminds me of something my Grandpa said when I asked him why his family did not have any family reunions. He said there would be way too many fights, although I think he used the words fisty-cuffs.

As for tracing back my family has some back in the 1300s and others not nearly that far. Still working though

[Soul_Searcher]

I'm jealous of anyone who can get back that far. How can you get names without a census? How do you do it?

[Iggy]

I'm jealous of anyone who can get back that far. How can you get names without a census? How do you do it?

Every other year my cousin goes to England, Norway, Wales and tracks down the information at the parish church where our/his ancestors were born.

He takes pics of the headstones, and of the parish records. He talks with the locals there, and he always gathers the stories regarding our peoples. Tape recorders, camera's, and the ability to listen, really listen to what the people say.

He transcribes all this, enters it into his own version of a Family Tree, and then sends me a print out, and copies of the pics.

Three years before I left the Oregon coast, cousin told me that a bunch of our ancestors left South Dakota and moved to Oregon/Washington. They worked for the railroad and in the timber industry. He told me that I should be able to find the graves of my direct line in Tillamook OR. I went on line to see if the cemetery's had anything on line. Not all of them did. So I took the short trip to Tillamook, and went to the cemeteries. I was lucky that day- there was someone in the office at each cemetery, and they were BORED so they helped me find my ancestors.

The books that they looked up the names in, also had little tidbits of information written in them. They made copies and gave them to me, then helped me to find the headstones, where I took pictures.

A couple of months later cousin came to visit me. He lives in South Dakota. 100 miles from No and Where. I took him to the Tillamook cemeteries. At his suggestion, we went to the local newspaper, found some information there. Then we went to the Court House. Hit the mother lode there. Also found a distant cousin too!

That small branch of the family were loggers. So they went to where the work was. A few branched out of logging and went to work for the railroad.

Have you heard of making a time line on each person in your family? I use the Excel program. The column headings are: dd/mm/yyyy; Location; Event; Remarks and Verification. Under dd/mm/yyyy you start with the family members birth date. I'll use my Grandma. DD/08/1899.You put in each year (yes it will get rather long- but you need each year noted there). I bold the census years and fill the line with yellow. Now I add information as I know it. Marriage, births of children, grandchildren, historical events. If I have copies or even the originals of records (birth, death, marriage) I make note of it under the heading Verification. Also in the event column, I note their 10,20,30, etc. birthdays.

These time lines help you to narrow down where you can obtain the verifications- the birth, death, marriage, etc. records you need.

This time line was suggested to me to help me sort out my ancestors from a boot box full of old letters. Those letters contained a treasure trove of information.

Thanks to the internet you can also look up what was happening in the world. In 1962 there was the Seattle's Worlds Fair. My Grandmother was 63 years old. Also my Grandmother went to the Chicago World's Fair. Had to look up that date, 1933-1934. She was 3 years old when the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane. She was 58 years old when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.

Add these historical markers to your time lines. Makes your ancestors more than just names and dates.

[Ghost_Rider]

with me its sort of ironic

Moms side is like near the 1200's. My great Aunt did all the work and made it to a book.

Dads side. late 1800's due to a court house fire.

The thing about geneology is the things that you learn about your family. I have both presidents and statesman on one side...and bootleggers on the other..sort of humorus.

[goofball]

I'm jealous of anyone who can get back that far. How can you get names without a census? How do you do it?

Through old books from the ol' country. My dad knew a book dealer who would gladly track all the books he could for him. Once my dad gleaned the information, did the work, the records were then put online.

[Elgama]

we have managed until around 1690-1710 on some lines some due to illegitimacy are stuck in early 1900s

-Charley

[Sean1427]

Each branch is different. On my maternal side, some go to the Mayflower via Salem. One branch on my father's line were early Quakers/Friends, which makes finding records easier and I can get back on some lines to the late 1600s in Wales. Another paternal branch is a royal line, but while the genealogy on royal lines sounds impressive, royal genealogies are not reliable. Yet it is documented that the castle in Luttrellstown, just outside of Dublin, Ireland, and Dunster Castle in Somerset, England, were in that particular branch for about 500 to 600 years. Who's who in the family is a different story. It's sad when it's easy to document the castles but not the residents. But then it comes to my paternal great grandmother--if she hadn't moved to MO about 1890 with my great grandfather, her second husband, I might not even know who she was. I know she was married before, and I know who two of her children from that earlir marriage are. But I can find nothing more about her life before 1890, a part of her life that's simply lost in the fog. And 1890 is really not that long ago.

[Wingnut]

I haven't done a ton of work myself, but my dad has. On his side, we've got back to William the Conqueror, born circa 1028. There are a few holes, but the line is there.

[Hemidakota]

I've made it back to the mid 1800's on my Paternal side... and that's probably as far as I'll ever get there. A big chunk of my maternal side was done by my grandmother's maternal side and that gets me back to the late 1700's.

Back 1300s...Shockly, I found out after the fact, my wife (through her mother side) and I are 5th cousins (Windsor family).

English have great records...my dad side, now, this is serious problem. 1700s only.

[FunkyTown]

16th century. I know this, because I logged in with my parents and grandparents and found that most of my work is done and has been done on my grandparents side by somebody in Seattle.

Turns out I'm probably not alone in my family.

[BenRaines]

860 AD on my mother's side following my mother's mother's line.

Ben Raines

[Dravin]

Looking at Family Search both my Dad's and Mom's lines tie back into royalty ( I imagine most do at some point) which makes things easier so those particular forks... okay I gave up following them back once I crossed over from AD to BC.

To be fair though:

* It's just a few spurs on the line, the work back to that point on either side isn't comprehensive.

* It's just following things back on Family Search, I can't vouch for the accuracy of anything and some of these are just names with birth and death dates (sometimes ranges and sometimes not even death dates) and not much else.

Less cheaty answers would be my Dad's line can be traced back to Gloucester, England to about ~1580 or so and my Mom's to Vase, Sweden 1635.

Edited July 4, 2010 by Dravin

[Elgama]

you have to be careful with Royal lines though, many of them were tweaked to prove their divine right to rule:)

[Dravin]

you have to be careful with Royal lines though, many of them were tweaked to prove their divine right to rule:)

Yeah, that's why I made a point of not trying to claim any particular accuracy. Supposedly I'm related to Emperor Constantine, I'll wait for the post resurrection family reunion to get my hopes up (or down considering the whole Council of Nicaea thing).