We visited Ellis Island when we were in New York this past spring, and it got me a little interested in genealogy. Bought some software the other day, and signed up for a trial subscription to Ancestry.com.

Within an hour or so, I had found some really cool info like a scanned image of my grandfather's WWI draft registration card, and several images of census forms with family info from 1910, 1920 and 1930. Also found a picture of a general store my great-grandfather had in Rayne, LA starting from 1884.

I've gone back 6 generations on my side of the family, with some more data coming soon. Will start on my wife's side next.

Anyone else done any of this?

Tons of it, have my Father's Fathers side back to 1790, his Mother's side back to 1774. My Mom's Father's side back to 1665 and somewhat limited on her Mother's side (only back to around 1850 or so. There was a book written on my Mother's Father's side. So this was an easy link, didn't have to work hard at all on this side. Digging into my Father's Fathers side was the most fun, even went to meet some of my 3rd cousins (in NJ and Ireland). What I like the most about this, is all the stories that you have when your done. After I did a few months of research, I would go talk to my parents. It was amazing the stories that they remember that were told to them when they were small. It was well worth the cost of sending in requests to the state every month for over five years. As you go back, it gets harder and harder to prove the lineage.

Fred.

Parents are into it since dad retired.On there third book about different parts of family.Mom is in the DAR and daughters of the war of 1812.,several stuff like that.Real good library in Houston for geneology is the Clayton library.Has the censuses and marraige, wills,all kinds of records from all over the country.

the only geneology thing i'm intersted in is the one National Geographic is doing that's changing the way we look at how the world was populated by humans over the past 40,000 years from a population of MAYBE 5000 individuals scattered around the earth and seperated by some yet to be identified major catastrophic event that wiped 99% of all humans out to the 6 BILLION or so we are at now.
but i tend to think big picture.
i could care less about my 3rd cousin's great uncle's great grandfather that came over from the mother land in the cargo hold of a slave ship or whatever.

Found the manifest with my grandmother's (my mom's mom) name when she sailed from Europe in 1907. She sailed from a port in the old Austria/Hungarian empire, 3rd class on Nov 23rd and arrived in NY on Dec 20th. It was so amazing. A window into the past....seeing where that side of the family began their life in America. I'm still working on finding info on her future husband and also my Dad's side of the family. Fascinating stuff.

i could care less about my 3rd cousin's great uncle's great grandfather that came over from the mother land in the cargo hold of a slave ship or whatever.

Have some issues do we? ;)

That's pretty cool, man. About 20 years ago my aunt started looking into our background. She traced it all the way back to two brothers in Holland in the 17th century. One came here, the other stayed in Holland and eventually posed for Rembrandt in one of his paintings.

One guy I used to work with researched one ancestor who turned out to be a scam artist, counterfeiter, and thief during the Civil War. I think they ended up stringing him up somewhere.

You never know what you're going to find.

the only geneology thing i'm intersted in is the one National Geographic is doing that's changing the way we look at how the world was populated by humans over the past 40,000 years from a population of MAYBE 5000 individuals scattered around the earth and seperated by some yet to be identified major catastrophic event that wiped 99% of all humans out to the 6 BILLION or so we are at now.
but i tend to think big picture.
i could care less about my 3rd cousin's great uncle's great grandfather that came over from the mother land in the cargo hold of a slave ship or whatever.

Ya know, I used to feel the same way. But I feel I owe it to my kids, plus with everyone getting older, if someone doesn't capture it now, it will only be harder in the future...

Here are some images that won't matter to you, but are cool to me...

Grandfather's WWI draft card (http://www.gigem.com/RobertKapsinowDraftCard.jpg)
Great Grandfather's general store (http://www.gigem.com/MervineKahnstoreRayne.jpg)
1930 Census showing other family info (http://www.gigem.com/NewHaven1930Census.jpg)

A good historian is a guy who is suspicious of it.

Count me in. I've been at it for a few years. My liniage goes back to Christopher Lobengier, a Pennsylvania Representitive that attended the signing of the Declaration of Independence and later an officer in the Revolutionary war. I'm in the process of joining the SAR now.

What's really cool is when I go back to Pa., I always discover something I never knew about my family and the rich history of Western Pa. I grew up looking at at Colonel Edward Cook's farm. An old stone house that everyone said George Washington stayed in. I've found out it was true on a trip to Mount Vernon. It was the 1st stone building west of the Alleganies and still stands strong. I used to play baseball & softball on some fields near by that were called, 'the racetrack' on Cook's land. I never questioned once while I was growing up why it was called that. In the early 1900's, when board racing was popular, there was a huge track built there that drew people from Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland, hundreds of miles away. All of this in my back yard and I never knew about it. I found some pictures and newspaper articles in the local library. Every weekend had at least one fatality and speeds reached 100 MPH on motorcycles and cars in the 19 teens. That's AMAZING! To me anyway.

I personally don't see how anyone could not be facinated with history, especially the kind that deals with your origins and surroundings.

I've traced my family back to 1640. I found several in the Confederate army, one even with the same first and last name as myself (too cool):thumbsup:. There's also a good chance the Gen. George Custer is one of my reletives also, not that I think he was to bright. It can be real interesing. If you know their name this link might help you check on Civil War veterans.

http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.htm

Silly question here, but, would this also work with family from Mexico? Or is it pretty much for family that is here in the US?

I've traced my fathers fathers side back to Ireland in 1845. I am working on my fathers mothers side but have hit a dead end with my great grandfather. Another good source is you local LDS (Mormon) Family Research Center, most large citys have one with links to the main site in Salt Lake City. I have been using the one in Casper (the local ones specialize in the City and States where they are located) when I travel there. The folks are most helpful, even tracking down stuff that I can't during the one day a month I'm there. Also they have Ancestry accounts that you can use so you don't have to pop for the $95 a year fee. All they ask for is small reimbursment for paper and that you share any information you have with them. And they do not try to convert you, but do ask if you are a member of the church and ask you to sign a log so they can show that the place is being used. Good luck.

My wife does genealogy, and for you newbies, a good place to start is http://www.usgenweb.org find the state you need, then find the county and there will be someone to contact for lookups.
Another excellent site is http://www.cyndislist.com She has links to everything genealogy related. Both sources are free.
My wife does Manitowoc county, WI and her website is http://www.2manitowoc.com

I have done it off and on for years now. I read a lot of philosophy from others, and most of it made sense. One of the things to watch out for, is when you talk to older relatives to get information, they will likely sweep any skeletons into the closet, and not tell you the truth if the truth isn't good.

Still, it's one of the best starting points. Older relatives will help you a lot for a few generations maybe. But sometimes they are in error, so start with what they say and then try to prove it. I proved my grandfather wrong on his birth year with a census. But without his info I may have never have found it.

If you're going to put a lot of time and effort into it, you have to be willing to accept the truth, no matter what it is, or don't even bother doing the work. Some of the bad stuff is what keeps it interesting, but once in a while you'll uncover some dirt that stuns you.

I'm "off" the hobby right now due to something I found that stunned me and I don't like it one bit, but I can't change it. Several other things came up that really muddied the waters, like a great great grandfather having 5 wives, and his mother having an illegitimate child by a guy that didn't even pass on his last name to the boy. Stuff like that makes you wonder what a last name really matters?

One other thing that has puzzled me is that we put so much emphasis on who the father of a child was, and maybe we should be looking harder at the mother than the father? Afterall, the mother is the only guarantee of lineage.

We are basically going on who mom said was the father on the birth certificate. How far can you trust that? And the further back you go, the more chance for error. So I don't put a lot of meaning into someone that says they traced their ancestors to the 1400's or whatever.

I can't wait to see if they ever start yanking up bodies for a DNA test as part of this hobby. I know it's happened already for famous people, but I wonder if it will ever get there for a common part of this hobby?

Maybe I think too much?

Steve