Trace my family tree

One of my lines has now been confirmed to trace back to at least Mary, Queen of Scots (my 15th great aunt). This is her son and my connection, although I’m not sure if everyone else will be able to see the relationship info or not:

http://www.geni.com/people/King-James-I-of-England-and-VI-of-Scotland/4104684?through=6000000001217955606

EDIT: That particular line is now linked back to mid-800s. Yes that is ‘800’ A.D., not ‘1800’. That’s as far back as I can trace for now, though. :(

I’ve actually been working on this one for about a year now. I found a site called Geni.com, and started plugging away. So far I’ve added 165 of my own relatives on my mother’s mother’s side. I still have another 300 years to enter, though. My father’s mother gave me a tree for her family that goes back several hundred years, as well.

On this site, if the system finds similar records in other people’s trees, it allows you to merge them. With all the merges combined, I now have to access to over 5,000 of my ancestors. :)

The oldest ancestor I have traced so far is on my mother’s side, and he was born in the 1440’s. o.O Sir John Something-or-other, I don’t remember off-hand, and he was born and died in England.

As I continue entering more names into the database, I’m sure more branches will open up, too, so I’m pretty excited about all this. Once I’m finished entering all of my info at Geni, I’m going to set up and account at Ancestry.com, an even bigger genealogical research site, and import my GEDCOM into it’s database. Same matching thing will happen there, which will open up my tree even further!

This has been very educational and entertaining for my whole family. I just wish we had pictures of some of the really distant ancestors.

You can have a look at my family tree so far, as it stands right now:

http://www.geni.com/share?t=6000000015118059991

I have a nice software called “Family Tree Maker”. My version is a few years old, but if anyone wants a copy send me a message and I’ll upload it for you.

For those that have the money, you might try Ancestry.com. And, of course, there are professional genealogists that will do it for (a usually steep) fee.

My mother has traced hers back to a man named John Kelley who came to the U.S. from Scotland in the early 1600’s, and her aunt traced the family back to the Nordsman in the 1400’s. Unfortunately, however, my great aunt’s info got thrown away by her dumb-ass daughter.

I do know that I am also related to the Hatfield’s of KY, which were one half of the Hatfield and McCoy famly feud.

I have had the software for this for many years, but have never used it. My mother has a written account of her family back to 1600, I believe, which is very interesting. Somehow, I need to get a copy of all she has.

I also need to talk to my paternal grandmother and ask her about her childhood and family and such. She’s getting up there in age, and I have only seen her twice since I was about 15. One of those times, unfortunately, was a funeral for my brother’s step-son, Scotty.

My grandma is a good woman, though, and I do need to spend some time with her over the next couple of years. I should count this as a serious project for just that reason, if nothing else. I would it would be very interesting, though, and she could also fill in some background about my grandfather, who I never really learned a lot about. Which reminds me: I need to ask Tony to bring his pic of grandpa so I can scan it. Jenny probably has a copy, as well.