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Trace my family tree


 

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How to trace my family tree by lovemylife99

"eye-opening. race is an illusion. ethnicity and culture truly define us."

How I did it: ancestry.com (paid membership), lots of old family records, some road trips to my ancestor's town libraries and cemeteries, and lots and lots of patience. 

it was an odd experience for me personally.  i started off thinking i was African-American.  but in the end i discovered i was over 60% white as a result of lots of plantation rapes.

Really dismantled my personal image.  But I guess self-discovery is part of the goal???  I don't know. Some things are better left unknown.  Especially if they stir up lots of difficult emotions.

Lessons & tips:

  • rely the most on primary research (look at original census records, not just the summaries that many companies provide.  they are quite often VERY wrong)
  • librarians are your friend!! they are there to help. use them! 
  • be cautious on message boards. do not sacrifice your personal safety in the hopes of getting more info on your past.  identity burglars regularly patrol genealogy boards for overly eager victims.  dont give out too much info to strangers!!
  • be prepared to discover things about your family you may not have wanted to know (criminals, rapes, incest, abandonment and etc often pop up when people are researching. be prepared to deal with this)
  • your relatives are all liars. they may not even know it, but every family stretches the truth about their origins in a natural attempt to make themselves more interesting.   
  • there is truth in every lie... but the truth is most often the simplest version possible.  remember that! 
  • If you are an American, be prepared to be surprised about your racial origins.  If you think it would bother you to find out that you aren't the race you thought you were, then don't bother.  Slavery did some funny things to our ancestors and "passing" did even more.  It can be a wild ride.
  • you are the same person at the end of this road as you were at the beginning.  knowing your past won't complete you.  it will just satisfy your curiosity.  you are not your ancestors. you are you!!!  

Resources: ancestry.com

family cemeteries
family bibles
local libraries with genealogy departments


17 people found this helpful
 

Sep 26, 2008, 05:00AM PDT | 3 comments | 13 cheers



More "How I Did It" stories

CCheney

It took me
1 day
It made me

How I did it: i just did it and it worked yeah and umm ok blah blah blah weeeeeeeeeeee fdfdfffffffffffffffffffdddddddddddddddddddddddddddffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffdddddddddddddd Read how I did it…

Aug 10, 05:32PM PDT | 0 comments


LouieATX back in Thailand!

It took me
7 days
It made me
surprised

How I did it: I spent a week tracing my family tree back on Ancestry.comMy family helped me get 3-4 generations back and then Census data and emigration records along with other researchers notes were enough to trace some of my ancestors back dozens of generations. Read how I did it…

Jul 12, 03:14AM PDT | 0 comments | 5 cheers


philip_jones is writing an outline for a screenplay

It took me
2 months
It made me
feel rewarded

How I did it: I created an account  on Geni.com and invited my family members.We all added what we knew. It's not complete, but it's a pretty good background of our family.Next steps we will start doing some more research and fill in the ancestors that no one knew. This is going to be even more rewarding. Read how I did it…

Apr 23, 08:33AM PDT | 0 comments


elnefous is on a mission

It took me
3 months
It made me
happy!

How I did it: When my grandmother passed away, direct families as well as distant ones, attended the funeral. That's when my dad introduced me to our relatives and I took note of their names, etc. I started asking more, too. Meanwhile, my brother had already opened an account in a family tree website (which was very helpful!), so we let our relatives know about this and posted up everyone's details!From there, the branches grew and even though you can … Read how I did it…

Mar 28, 03:38PM PDT | 1 comment | 1 cheer


MartinCura

It took me
1 month
It made me
think; know more

How I did it: You could say... I am curious. I breeded the idea and wanted to know more about my family, not the closest, but the big family. You may say I haven't completed it FULLY, but I've done pretty much, that has set ways for all my family to communicate, which I think was my main aim.I started by asking my father, mother, uncle, grandfather and grandmothers, all who I could came close to in my vacations (where most of us go to the same place) a… Read how I did it…

Feb 16, 07:47PM PST | 6 comments | 5 cheers


→ See all 9 "How I did it" stories

People doing this:

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    People doing this are also doing these things:

    Entries

    darkness_rules_u

    me as a whole. 3 days ago

    I have a family that is split right down the middle. My dad’s side wont tell me anything about my mom’s side of the family, and my mom doesn’t remember anything about my dad’s side. I’m not quite sure what to do. so I am going to look online to see what I can find.

    Nov 17, 06:56PM PST | 0 comments


    Biz

    traces 3 days ago

    my grandmother, the matriarch of the family, is getting older. she’s always telling stories about people in my family, many of whom i don’t know. i know a lot more about my dad’s side of the family than i do my mom’s (which is good, because everyone on my dad’s sides have passed), but i should be writing it down, i should have a pen and pad out whenever i’m around her.

    Nov 17, 04:48PM PST | 2 cheers | 0 comments


    paul_in_the_uk

    Untitled 6 days ago

    This is an ongoing activity, which is full of brick walls.
    I have research back to around 1670, and have found over 470 people i’m related to..

    You can always find out more, so it is never ending, but so rewarding.

    Nov 15, 03:57AM PST | 0 comments


    herbert2it

    trying to find all history on my family 1 week ago

    tree

    Nov 11, 04:19PM PST | 0 comments


    Gerardo838

    Homework 1 week ago

    rember to due project

    Nov 08, 08:06PM PST | 0 comments


    123jean

    my family tree 1 week ago

    i think it is a fine way to trace your ancesters that you never knew

    Nov 08, 01:14PM PST | 0 comments


    laurencarter9

    Untitled 2 weeks ago

    hi everyone!!!!

    Nov 04, 05:33PM PST | 0 comments


    swankswede13 is feeling better

    Untitled 2 weeks ago

    I don’t know much about my family history at all. I barely even know my grandparents’ stories. Anything earlier in history than that is way under the radar right now. I’d like to change that and learn where I come from.

    Nov 02, 12:58PM PST | 0 comments


    4Jayro

    Untitled 2 weeks ago

    i am going to do it!

    Nov 02, 12:45PM PST | 0 comments


    NoeWard

    Family Tree 3 weeks ago

    All i want to do is find my familt

    Oct 27, 04:35PM PDT | 0 comments


    → See all 360 entries

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