Post: #1

Any of you guys ever get into researching your family history? Does anyone have any tips on databases to look at?

I've been digging through census records, but I get the impression there are more comprehensive databases out there.

Post: #2

I did a lot of research which led to getting one of my citizenships. I didn't find census records very useful, although my family was never in US. Other sources you can try:
- passenger lists from migrant ships
- naturalisation indexes and records
- cemetery records
- Catholic baptism and marriage records
- vital records from 2-3 generations back and older are sometimes available online or on microfilm in State libraries

I found cemetery records and passenger lists by searching Google, not using any specific site.

Specific sites to try:
ancestry.com - usually they have trial period for a few weeks so if it turns out to be useless, you can cancel the subscription.
familysearch.org is run by the Mormons. They sent their volunteers all over Europe to scan vital records and church archives. Much of it is available online for free.

If there's a record in Italy, you can write to the State archives (Archivio di Stato) if you know the details like the name, comune, approx. date (they have decennial indexes of everything) and they'll look it up for you - saves a trip to Italy or hiring a researcher. They might have something similar in France.

Post: #3

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is also good. Of course, it only goes back less than a century.

http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/ssdi/

JewishGen is good too, especially if you have ancestors spread out from all over the place.

http://www.jewishgen.org

Post: #4

The thing about family trees is this.

Only research your Mother's side of the family - and her mother - and her mother.

Since within a few generations - you cannot be sure if the father got cuckolded along the way. And that throws everything off.

This is the same reason that being Jewish is passed down from your Mother.

Also - I did a long post in this general area which makes a few points I have never heard anyone mention before.

It might be of interest:

/thread-34392-...#pid685538

Post: #5

(04-07-2014 01:28 PM)cardguy Wrote:  The thing about family trees is this.

Only research your Mother's side of the family - and her mother - and her mother.

Since within a few generations - you cannot be sure if the father got cuckolded along the way. And that throws everything off.

This is the same reason that being Jewish is passed down from your Mother.

True, but it's still worth investigating for anyone who doesn't have an EU citizenship. Many European countries have "blood right" citizenship laws: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_sanguinis
Italy is the most extreme example - if you have any Italians in your family tree who were in Italy in 1861 or later, then you have a good chance of getting Italian citizenship. The only strike-out is if one of the ancestors took on another citizenship (naturalised) before the next in line was born. Officially, mothers could only transmit citizenship since 1948, but it's very easy to challenge that rule in court.

There's also the matter of nature vs. nurture... until the last 50 years, fathers had a very strong influence on their kids, even if the kids were adopted.


I agree with what you wrote in the other thread, too. I've seen it happen with two of my grandparents - they were mentally capable but unable to look after themselves physically. The best option is to either die when your health starts to go, or have enough cash for a few full-time carers. I'm working on the second option.

Post: #6

Are there certain ethnicities where tracing your genealogy online would be more difficult or impossible? My parents are from a poor part of another country.

Post: #7

In my country and culture, genealogy is critical to mate selection. Having the proper lineage is essential...and living up to(and exceeding the accomplishments) of your ancestors is paramount.

You either advance or die. There is really no middle ground to speak of. Stagnation is seen as death. It is a competitive, and merciless form of soft eugenics.

In fact, here is a video that perfectly captures the mentality:





If you ask any male in my country/culture.. what do they want?

This cogently summarizes what their answer will be:





regards,

Nemencine

Post: #8

(04-07-2014 03:37 PM)Earth Wrote:  Are there certain ethnicities where tracing your genealogy online would be more difficult or impossible? My parents are from a poor part of another country.

Well my dads grandpa came from a poor part of another country (NW Romania, bordering Hungary to be more precise), and I was able to uncover that from an old World War 2 registration document found at a local library's historical database. So you won't know your genetic history until you apply some effort. Family members, personal research, etc.

As for your question, yes, tracing lineages from certain ethnicities would be difficult especially if said ethnicity had been unaccounted for in demographic censuses.

Also, I've done some research on this and the most effective method I found is genetic testing. If you have the money needed to get tested, which I'm sure it requires, then you're bound to get accurate results. I think ancestry.com conducts a DNA testing procedures, as well as many others.

Post: #9

My last name is Jewish.
Period.
And yes, Im black.

Post: #10

$99 DNA tests:

http://www.23andme.com

http://dna.ancestry.com/?s_kwcid=dna+her...sch=Search

http://www.gtldna.com/ViewAllTests.htm?g...7AodbDQADA

Post: #11

When I did some digging I was surprised to find out I'm Jewish

Post: #12

(04-07-2014 08:03 AM)frenchie Wrote:  Any of you guys ever get into researching your family history? Does anyone have any tips on databases to look at?

I've been digging through census records, but I get the impression there are more comprehensive databases out there.

Using ancestry.com is great for U.S. research. It is amazing what you can find.

It offers a 14-day free trial period. Many libraries also have subscriptions for free.

Post: #13

(04-07-2014 05:25 PM)RCP Wrote:  

(04-07-2014 03:37 PM)Earth Wrote:  Are there certain ethnicities where tracing your genealogy online would be more difficult or impossible? My parents are from a poor part of another country.

Well my dads grandpa came from a poor part of another country (NW Romania, bordering Hungary to be more precise), and I was able to uncover that from an old World War 2 registration document found at a local library's historical database. So you won't know your genetic history until you apply some effort. Family members, personal research, etc.

As for your question, yes, tracing lineages from certain ethnicities would be difficult especially if said ethnicity had been unaccounted for in demographic censuses.

Also, I've done some research on this and the most effective method I found is genetic testing. If you have the money needed to get tested, which I'm sure it requires, then you're bound to get accurate results. I think ancestry.com conducts a DNA testing procedures, as well as many others.

Thanks for the reply, I've always wanted to do it but I figured it was impossible. I'll try it and see what happens. None of my ancestors spoke English, so I don't know if anything will be in an English database. I also don't read or write the language that my ancestors did happen to use.

Post: #14

My dad had some company look into it and they came back with a really detailed report. It's pretty cool, they traced the name all the way back to the late 17th century. He was a cool guy, kind of powerful and he even had a species of plant named after him.

So many generations have passed and with the harems and cuckolding that surly happened, I probably have around 0% of that DNA in me. But still! It gives you something to shoot for.

Post: #15

I would be interested to get into this.... If I could find a website online for European countries or the UK that is accurate and not trying to bleed money out of me.

Too many scams to filter through.

Post: #16

When I was young I researched all my ancestors profoundly. My interest was triggered by my 'Indo' ancestors (mix dutch and indo). Found a lot of ancestors on both sides (genealogy sources are very good in NL). Cool stuff:

-My dad side great great great great grandfather was a boss: 32 kids with 4 wives

- found descendance from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Maluku (my granddad was a bit tan). Adventurous people that went to the East and 'gamed' local women already centuries ago.

-a lot of farmers, labourers and tradesmen in Holland

-know what regions I am from

- found lines to nobility including to emperor Charles the Great (most people descend from him in the western world, but cool to find a line)

-Stories from militarian ancestors in Russia, Sweden, everywhere

- some ancestor of mine got stuck on an iceberg in Greenland, hunting for whales, but survived.

- some 'patrician' / ruling families

-intrigue and mystery in Dutch East Indies.

Most interesting are the stories: found in letters, legal documents, old books and newspapers.

It is just in some cases that you can find stories: but if you do, it is so cool. Ranging from bar fights to sinificant influence in turbulent political times.

Post: #17

Sicily has some of the most thorough ancient census records so I'm golden whenever I trace it back. Hungarian line I'm not so sure about.

Post: #18

(04-08-2014 07:02 AM)TonySandos Wrote:  Sicily has some of the most thorough ancient census records so I'm golden whenever I trace it back. Hungarian line I'm not so sure about.

My mom's side of the family is Sicilian and my father's side is heavily German. This might be interesting.

Post: #19

Yes franchise and also let me correct myself- Sicily has some of the most thorough records back to the 1400's. I considered the middle ages ancient because a number of genealogy service can only ballpark it by surname after a certain point(everybody traces back to the feudal lord, how convenient). You should be able to find other lineage that migrated there since Sicily is an island of ethnic mixing. My grandfather was dark so I wouldn't be off to guess Phoenician, Berber, Carthaginian, Jewish or the Moorish clans. In the same instance I wouldn't be atypical to draw from Norman or Nordic influences

Post: #20

I don't know for sure about Sicily, but in the north you'll usually only find records back to the first use of a surname. So for example, if you're researching the name "Cavalleri," you'll get back to a guy who called himself "Cavallero." and he would have probably been an immigrant or someone who achieved something and was granted his own surname because of it.

The main thing for me was collecting official certificates from the past 100 years, because that's what I needed to get citizenship. However, my grandmother had a family tree showing the history of her family name back to the 1600s.

Frenchie, I think Germany also has some kind of blood right citizenship law, so it may be useful to research that side as well if your goal is a passport.

Post: #21

The mormons have a tradition of genealogy: find them on familysearch.org. You can maybe 'find' your ancestors there in a lot of countries, but I would not say it is very reliable. If you find a connection through the Mormons, you always got to find evidence yourself. Find the link here: https://familysearch.org/

Post: #22

(04-07-2014 06:22 PM)Mrs. Chocolate Wrote:  My last name is Jewish.
Period.
And yes, Im black.

Post: #23

(04-08-2014 07:47 AM)frenchie Wrote:  

(04-08-2014 07:02 AM)TonySandos Wrote:  Sicily has some of the most thorough ancient census records so I'm golden whenever I trace it back. Hungarian line I'm not so sure about.

My mom's side of the family is Sicilian and my father's side is heavily German. This might be interesting.

Then why do you call yourself frenchie? Why not "Guido" or "The Hun"?

Post: #24

(04-08-2014 11:02 AM)Tail Gunner Wrote:  

(04-08-2014 07:47 AM)frenchie Wrote:  

(04-08-2014 07:02 AM)TonySandos Wrote:  Sicily has some of the most thorough ancient census records so I'm golden whenever I trace it back. Hungarian line I'm not so sure about.

My mom's side of the family is Sicilian and my father's side is heavily German. This might be interesting.

Then why do you call yourself frenchie? Why not "Guido" or "The Hun"?

Last name sounds very french. Has an accent aigu on it and everything.

It was also a nickname from high school. I use it for a screen name. I understand you've been deceived, but it'll be ok.

Post: #25

My grandather on my mothers side did this and traced our family back to the 1300s at which point the line went cold. Granted, he was in a particularly good position as a professor in history and with tons of friends in academia and churches.

As I understood from him, if you're from a christian family, the way to go are marriage, death and baptist records in churches. These might be in the churches themselves, might have been digitalized or might be in museums, public or national libraries.

Good luck with it, who knows what will turn up.