Genealogy and Family Trees – How far back can you go?

[eskimo2]

I’ve asked my parents to give me what they know about their family trees.  My dad gave me what he knew; mom is still working on it.  I joined ancestry.com for a month to research what I can.  Three of my grandfather’s grandparents came up as dead ends.  I found out quite a bit about the fourth however.  I can trace that family back to four of my great great great great great great grandparents to the 1740’s.  Pretty cool stuff.  I have 12 more great great grandparents to research now…
My wife has a tree from an uncle that goes back on her father’s side to someone who died in 1549.  

So, how far back can you go?

[DiabloTX]

On my father's side to around 1880, immigrated from Germany.

My mom's hasn't been researched in a while.  Don't remember how far back they go.

[Treize69]

Pre-Mayflower. One branch, pre-Columbus.

The German-Swiss side of my Dads family is intermarried with Bavarian nobility between about 1750 and 1850. My Great-Great-Grandfathers (the one who immigrated here from Switzerland) grandmother was listed in the family records as "Freiherren von Schleissen".

We can also trace my Grandmothers family in England (she emigrated here in 1946) to pre-Norman Britain.

[MrBill]

Dad always said his side of the family was German ... however the family tree has been traced back to Robert of Blandford, born County Dorset, England in the year 1490. Nothing of Roberts line can be documented but it is believed he was descendent of French Norman dating to 1066.
After family side trips to Belgum, Germany and Austria, William "The Emigrant" (1636 to 1695) settled in Surry County, Virginia. After spreading out to the Carolinas and Tennessee my fathers direct line moved to "Ole Choctaw Agency" in Oktibbeha County Mississippi in 1831. My father moved to California in 1936 and I to New Mexico in 1990.
Mom's line is just word of mouth, but her grandmother came to America from Peru, in 1888, and claimed to be of Inca decent. Mom was the first to marry outside the Indian clan linage that came from Peru.

[lasersailor184]

You need to be very careful.  A lot of people attach a lot of worth to someone they've never met.

[Elfie]

I have no idea how far back I can go but a distant relative on my Dad's side got stuck in an outhouse for 3 days during a blizzard in '49 I think it was. Just how bad would that suck?

[texasmom]

I've got mine back to 1540 ~ France.
I've heard tell of some real pirates. Had a very interesting time learning about that branch.

[BlueJ1]

Ive known some people that their family tree is more like a lightning rod then a tree.

[BlueJ1]

Originally posted by texasmom
I've got mine back to 1540

Fixed!  


Kidding Ma'am.

[Airscrew]

Furthest back I've seen was an Edward or Robert Treadwell 1609 England.  We havent made all the connections yet.  There are some Treadwells in the French Indian war, Then a split with the Treadwells during the Revolution, some stayed and others loyal to the crown went to Canada.   So far we have only traced back to 1848 in South Carolina, everybody kinda lost interest after that.   I did find some that served both sides in the Civil War, and then WW1 and WW2.

[DieAz]

Originally posted by eskimo2


So, how far back can you go?

I'm guessing if I really wanted to I could go to the time of Norse Runic texts.

to 1066 A.D. easy enough when Sir Richard (father) and Sir Thomas (son) went to Hastings with William the Conqueror . to 300 A.D. when Rollo invaded Normandy might be spotty. in Norway before 300 A.D. maybe. dunno.

if any of my Norse distant kinsmen want to look and see how far back the name goes. the original spelling of my Family name is Tryggvi. phonetically it is the same today as it was couple thousand years ago. the spelling changed in Normandy and then again in England and yet again when we hit North America in the late 1600's. sounds the same though.

from the name Tryggvi comes about 23 (maybe more) different spellings and split off families. some are kind of a real reach to see it. it changed a little then alittle more then again so many times it is nothing like the original name, and phonetically not even close.

the main problem in Norway in those times (B.C.) was adding son of (and dottir as in daughter of), as in Tryggvason. back and forth and names passed down from either parent. though if you come across a Clan with a lot of the name used, it is most likely Kinfolks.

yes, I'm a Viking.
anyway enough rambling on this subject.

[Treize69]

I feel your pain DieAz, my grandmothers family name (Buzzard) has changed a LOT in the last 1,000 years too- closest I've seen in the old spellings to the modern one is "Boussard" from the 18th century back to about the 14th.

[eskimo2]

Originally posted by DieAz
I'm guessing if I really wanted to I could go to the time of Norse Runic texts.

to 1066 A.D. easy enough when Sir Richard (father) and Sir Thomas (son) went to Hastings with William the Conqueror . to 300 A.D. when Rollo invaded Normandy might be spotty. in Norway before 300 A.D. maybe. dunno.

if any of my Norse distant kinsmen want to look and see how far back the name goes. the original spelling of my Family name is Tryggvi. phonetically it is the same today as it was couple thousand years ago. the spelling changed in Normandy and then again in England and yet again when we hit North America in the late 1600's. sounds the same though.

from the name Tryggvi comes about 23 (maybe more) different spellings and split off families. some are kind of a real reach to see it. it changed a little then alittle more then again so many times it is nothing like the original name, and phonetically not even close.

the main problem in Norway in those times (B.C.) was adding son of (and dottir as in daughter of), as in Tryggvason. back and forth and names passed down from either parent. though if you come across a Clan with a lot of the name used, it is most likely Kinfolks.

yes, I'm a Viking.
anyway enough rambling on this subject.

Far out!

How do you know this?  Is it something that someone in your family researched or have records been handed down through the generations?  

I’m totally new at this and am looking for methodology and resources if anyone has a clue.

[Mickey1992]

Fortunately I have some distant cousins still living in Germany.  They have traced things back to Hans Hinrich CARSTENS born 13 NOV 1766 in Hemslingen, Germany.

My Swedish ancestors I have traced back to Erik Nilsson SKAGERBERG born 1746 in Ekeberg, Sweden.

My Irish ancestors I have traced back to Richard MCCORMICK born about 1773 in Ireland.

Unfortunately I have gone back about as far as I can go.  I spend most of my time filling in the gaps.

[DieAz]

Originally posted by eskimo2
Far out!

How do you know this?  Is it something that someone in your family researched or have records been handed down through the generations?  

I’m totally new at this and am looking for methodology and resources if anyone has a clue.

to the 1600's close family members researched (even made it all into a book).
 to 1066 and 300 a distant kinsman in Ye Ole England had old records and researched it a couple of years ago. I was doing my own research and ran across him. then used his info as clues to do more research. I found out we were Norse before he did. lol he got as far as we are from Normandy and went Yay.  I dug deeper to get the 300 and before info. I didn't tell him my findings. wanted him to find it on his own. to be kind of a cross check verifying kind of thing. he finally found it.

only thing I can tell you is be prepared to spend long hours and days digging. it can be very frustrating. try to find others in your extended family digging too.
look long and hard at everything you can find. some clues may be subtle. some may be glaring.

you just might be like a close friend of mine. 3 generations ago, the name changed completely and no one here has any idea or clue at all what it might have been before. only thing known is from Germany by the way of Spain. that tells me something in itself but I kept my mouth shut about what it tells me. I'm sure since we in this Game you may have an idea what I mean.  

just saying is all.

Best of Luck to you all in your searches.
I gotta get in bed.

laters *Poof*