Research my genealogy

Last summer I finally really started delving into this goal, and actually accomplished quite a bit! I spent many hours in graveyards last summer, lol. Unfortunately, I think I burnt myself out a bit and haven’t done much these last few months. But, I have made progress!

Before computers, it was a lot harder. Unless you could pay someone or were willing and able to travel, it was hard to complete.

I have done a lot of searching in the last 6 months or so. I’m researching both my maternal and paternal side. I have loads more information on my maternal side. I keep hitting brick walls with my paternal side; my paternal side is “older” than my maternal side, so there is really nobody left to go to.

You can’t just use one program…you have to use federal, state, county, city records in order to track your family. Mine evidently moved a lot! lol

I’m really enjoying it, though. It’s hard work if you take it seriously. To those of us with the desire to find our roots, it’s well worth the time and trouble.

MAJOR goal. Haven’t worked on this since before there were computers!

Have a lot of cool information! Check out the website for the historical society of the town you grew up in.

my father’s side of the family is a complete mystery.

I researched my Swedish side in this last year and it’s truly been amazing. There’s so much those church records tell you…even if you’re like me and don’t speak Swedish! I used GenLine and it truly worked wonders. I completely recommend it. Now, I’m not back to “Adam” yet in any of my anscestral lines, but I think I’m going to mark this “done” for now since I don’t know if this is something you can ever really complete in a finite way.

Story goes like this:

My Grandfather is an Almeda. But he wasn’t always one. He was originally an ALMEIDA (with an “i”) but as he was growing up, he dropped the “i” from his surname – not really sure why. My Lolo was very random :)

So, am I suppose to be researching “Almeida” or “Almeda”? I guess either way, it’s probably the “same” anyway.

http://www.surnameweb.org/Almeda/surnames.htm

The Almeda side does anyway…

http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/almeda-family-crest.htm

I have done this, going back to the early 1800s and, despite other links to old Scotland, I believe I have found another interesting thing: my mother’s mother’s mother’s (my great grandmother’s) family to be eventually related to the Ralston family, the same people (the particular man with the family name …) who founded the Ralston Purina pet food company :-)

My great grandmother’s maiden name was Sutton, she later married Frederick Fraser, then after he died, she re-married another man, with a last name of Moser. Anyway, the family my great-grandmother grew up in was likely related to the man who founded the Ralston family business :-)

I love Ancestry.com!
http://www.Ancestry.com/

Anyone here know how to work with GEDCOM or PAF / Mormon genealogical databases? Some of my family are mormon as well… and I really want to learn more about how to research even further back. Until the past 2 years, my Great Aunt Dawn (who was my great grandmother’s daughter – she is also my grandmother Thelma’s sister, who is my own mother’s aunt) – she has been doing all of the genealogy in our family, but I took over some of that, since then.

In my last visit to my dad we talked about people on his side of the family. Here’s the story;

My Dad’s grandparents were both German. They left Germany after WWII and went to Chicago. There they worked as a butler and a maid for a rich family. Then they moved to New Jersey where my great-grandfather started his own landscaping business. My Dad’s dad was born in New Jersey where he met my (soon-to-be) grandmother. Before they were married, my great-grandfather moved his family to Pheonix. The Air Conditioner was just starting to boom and my great-grandfather wanted part, also they moved for health reasons. My grandfather (still not married) moved back to New Jersey when he was only 15 to be with my grandmother. When she was of a legal age to get married (18), they wed. He was 20. My Dad (the oldest) and his first brother and sister were born in New Jersey. They all moved to Massachusettes when my dad was only 11 (1969). They then had a second daughter.

All I know from here is that my Mother is also for Mass and that’s where they met. They were both in the military so I was born in Fort Riley, Ks.

My Grandfather was full German and my Grandmother was 3/4 English and 1/4 Welch.

So now I know half of my descent!