Genealogy, family, local and social history discussion

Hello everyone!!

Welcome to the new group focusing on family history, genealogy in the wider context of exploring our ancestors lives. I am also interested in wider issues in social and cultural history, I can also be found reading a lot of fiction (historical, contemporary, paranormal whatever!)

I look forward to discussions about what sources and books you have found useful and hints to take my research further!

Happy reading and researching!

Jenny

My name is Jenny and I have just recently become interested in genealogy. I am still in the early stages of research and am generally somewhere in the nineteenth century!

I have loved history from ancient to modern for a long time and I love also reading. Together with my new found interest in genealogy that's why I set up this group.

I am currently really enjoying Wartime Women: A Mass-observation Anthology of Women's Writings, 1937-1945 which is basically ordinary women in the UK making diary entries during the second world war. I recommend it if this is within your sphere of interest!

Look forward to discussing with you.

Jenny

My mom is really big into genealogy

I'm Kim and I started looking at family history when things cropped up regarding my sons health and took it from there, look forward to finding out how others are getting on and how they get round the problems of finding people.

I am Christa and I became interested in genealogy when I was sixteen. My great uncle's wife was visiting and gave me a file she had compiled on my grandfather's family. I found it very interesting and was immediately bitten by the research bug. That was thirty years ago, and I've been researching my family's history ever since.

Hello all, I'm Amy. I became interested in genealogy around the same time as Christa but didn't have the means to look into it further until I was 19. Four years later, I've done a lot of research and just wish digitisation of records would move faster.

Hi I'm Adrienne I've been interested in Genealogy for years, I've managaed to trace my paternal family back to 1803, I did this mostly using free internet material. I'm now trying to trace my maternal side.

Hi, I'm Anne Bradshaw, and I'm the author of a new book titled "True Miracles with Genealogy~Help from Beyond the Veil." It was a wonderful book to compile. Such fascinating stories. I've been doing genealogy since 1964, off and on. Love it. And love reading all the research miracles I can find :-)

Hello, I'm Winter. I've been tracing my roots for many years. My husband's family has been way easier than mine, but I LOVE when you finally get past a road block that might have been there for years! I've got 4 kids now and don't have as much time for it anymore, but it's still a passion!

Hi, I'm Pam. I've been doing genealogy since 1976. It is such a fascinating hobby and I've literally travelled the world because of it, visiting the places where some of my ancestors lived. It has enriched my life in so many, many ways. The biggest joy, however, has been getting others interested in doing their family trees.

Hi, I am Robin. I have been interested in genealogy for quite some time, not as long as others. I am trying to get more background information about one of my ancestors, he was Native American and he came to Hawaii in the early 1800's. I find all this fascinating to look up a person's roots. I have looked at the State Archives here in Hawaii, and although I have found lots of things, I have not been able to find a photo of my ancestor.

Hi I am Emily. I have been interested in my family history since I can remember. My profile picture is my Great grandmother who loved to read and stories of her have always inspired me to find out more.

My name is Nona. I have researched the genealogy of my family tree and related branches since 1997. During this time, I have learned a great deal about the history of the USA in the process of my investigations. I have hit brick walls several times and been able to get past them. I am always looking for books that will help me.

Hello,

My name is Marion Woodfork Simmons. I am family historian who has been tracing my family history for over 20 years. I recently self-publsihed, Memories of Union High: An Oasis in Caroline County, Virginia 1903-1969 to preserve the history of Caroline County's only high school during the era of segregation.

I just joined goodreads and this discussion group. I noticed there has not be a post in awhile. Is this discussion still active?

Hi, I'm Steve.

I write about a fictional genealogist and as such I'm interested not only my own ancestry but everyone else, too - particularly the skeletons in the closet. I think there's a mystery in just about everyone's family history somewhere. The most recent mystery I know about in my own is that I have no idea who my maternal grandfather is. He was an American GI billeted in England during WWII and I think he went back to america a few years after the war, although I have heard that he might have stayed in the UK. He left my grandmother and two children behind and no one has heard anything about him since. He was from Arkansas according to his US army enlistment records and I've not gone any further with it than that.

It's an amazing statistic that there are around 4 billion people involved in their own family history around the world. So where is everyone? :o)

Where are your books published Steve? I think the world is ready for a genealogical series.

Is anyone here involved in any genealogical societies? I am curious about how other societies run things. I am the president of a group and I am looking for some new ideas.

Emily wrote: "Where are your books published Steve? I think the world is ready for a genealogical series."

Hi Emily, I was until recently a member of the Society of Genealogists in London, but I wasn't involved personally with the running and organisation, so can't really help with ideas I'm afraid.

Thanks for asking about my writing. My debut book is called In the Blood and it's available from Amazon and other online books stores and to order through shops via the ISBN. It's also available as an eBook for the KIndle and was one of Amazon UK's 'Best Books of 2011'. It's been out since June last year and there's another on the way. I have quite a few genealogists followers on Twitter, many of which have written some great reviews for the book. Now I'm just hoping that the sequel will live up to readers' expectations, lol.

Here's the cover:

A dark secret locked in the past. A family historian trying against the odds to unlock it.

Sounds like a great book! I can't wait to check it out. It is fun to uncover small hidden information in genealogy that is enough removed from the living to not cause any more bad press, but makes for interesting reading.

Thanks for your interest, Emily. I think it's one of those areas where just about anything imaginable has occurred in someone's family history at some time, and I think that makes for great crime fiction - with a twist. If you get the chance to read it, I hope you like it. You can download the 10% sample for free at Amazon.

Hi, I'm Alex from NZ and I've been researching my own family tree for 10 years. I've also been researching other people's families via a one-place-study for the village of Wing in Buckinghamshire for 7 years, and I run the main one-place-study website at http://www.one-place-studies.org/ . I've always found the contexts in which my ancestors lived to be just as fascinating as my ancestors themselves, and it's pretty important to be learning about that wider context if you want to ever write up your family history research to share it with others!

Hi Alex, I just checked out your website. Very very cool! Can't wait to play around on it some more.
-Emily

I totally agree, Alex. Context is a big part of what brings our ancestors lives to life. A lot of my research lately has been centred around the context in which someone lived because, as you say, when writing about it, it's often essential to understand the social values and attitudes during the period in which a person lived.

Hi everyone! Nice to see this group. I'm Tammy and I just started working on my family tree this past fall. I hope to gather useful tips and reviews of material others are using in their quest for answers.

Hi Tammy,

Exciting stuff. Best of luck with your research.

HI,

I'm from is difficult for me to answer-so many places in my heart of hearts. Answering where I was "born and raised" is easier. So I'll start there. I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. 1st Generation Tennessean. :0) My family is from North Mississippi.

And that's where my research began. My aunt wanted to know who her paternal grandparents were before she died. So I'm researching the Brumley line.

I've been able to identify her grandparents but I haven't been able to determine her grandmother's maiden name.

The Brumleys didn't stay settled in anyone state and there's spotty record keeping in the 1800s.

My current questions to answer are:
1) Did William Thomas Brumley (1829-1890s?) fight in the American Civil War?
2)What is Martha C Brumley's maiden name?
3) Where in Georgia is my grandfather, Robert Ira Brumley (1874-1930), born?

So I plug along whenever I have the opportunity.

-Cynthia

Hello everybody!

I have been interested in my family history since I was 10 years old. Like Cynthia, where I am from is difficult to answer, since I am of so many different ethnicities -- but answering where I was born and raised is easier. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California: born in Lynwood, raised in South Gate, Cudahy, Rosemead and (from the age of seven to the present, with a couple of interruptions for college and grad school) West Covina.

I am a first generation California native: father born Massachusetts, mother born Arizona. Paternal grandfather born Quebec to Acadian parents from Prince Edward Island, paternal grandmother born Massachusetts to Québécois parents. Maternal grandfather born Arizona to parents from New Mexico, maternal grandmother born Oklahoma to parents from Arkansas.

My paternal grandfather's family were descended from the first Acadians to settle on what is now Prince Edward Island in 1720: my paternal grandmother's family is fairly classically Québécois, with the interesting exception of a Hessian soldier who married a Québécoise in Quebec City in 1785 and decided to settle with her in Canada: my maternal grandfather's family is New Mexico Hispano, with links to the 17th-century settlers there as well as more recent (c. 1820) settlers from Chihuahua: and my maternal grandmother's family, who settled in the Southern United States (like the Brumleys, they did not remain in any one particular state for long) is of mixed Scots-Irish, English and Welsh descent. I have from various sources a fairly good list of ancestral names, but it is hard imagining the different contexts in which my ancestors lived. How literate were they (before the 20th century, of course)? How devout were they? How did my female ancestors tolerate having so many children? What did they do for a living?

Someday I would like to write at least one novel about my ancestors. One of my distant cousins, Melvin Gallant, has written "Le Métis de Beaubassin", a French-language historical novel about the life of Michel Haché-Gallant (c. 1663-1737), the patriarch of my paternal grandfather's family, before he went with his family to settle in what is now Prince Edward Island in 1720. But there are still other stories to be told... :-)

Hi Everyone,
My name is Smadar Belkind-Gerson and I've been addicted to genealogy for about four years now. My family research and passion for genealogy has lead to the publishing of my first non-fiction book, Stored Treasures, A Memoir, which is the story of my great-grandmother's life. It's available on www.lulu.com, amazon and other websites. I devour Memoirs, Family Histories, Historical Fictions and books about genealogy. I also have a genealogy blog called Past-Present-Future filled with fun genealogy related topics. I love meeting people with similar interests. Stored Treasures : A Memoir

Hi fellow genealogists,
My name is Jim and I'm addicted too. So badly, that I wrote a novel about one of my ancestors because one tantalizing page in a history book sent me looking for facts and few exist.

If you are also descended from this person, then you'll recognize her from the title of my book--Penelope: A Novel of New Amsterdam.

Katheryn wrote: "Hello everybody!

I have been interested in my family history since I was 10 years old. Like Cynthia, where I am from is difficult to answer, since I am of so many different ethnicities -- but answ..."

Hi Katheryn,

You do have an interesting ancestry. What's the family name of the Arkansans? My grandparents lived in Wynne Ark. for awhile in the 1910's.

Currently I'm living in Louisiana and am learning some about the Cajun heritage from my friends. It's a very interesting and sorrowful journey from Acadiana in the Northeast to Cajun Country here in LA. Some still speak Cajun french and LSU has a French Department teaching Cajun French and Culture as well as Continental French.

My husband & I lived in Espanola NM for a year. My students described themselves as Nortenos if they were from families that had ancestors in NM. Recent immigrants from Mexico didn't seem to use this adjective. It was interesting teaching and working in an area where the community was mixed Nortenos and Pueblan.

It'll be interesting to hear about your progress. If you need a look-up in LA, just let me know.

-Cynthia

Cynthia wrote: "Katheryn wrote: "Hello everybody!

I have been interested in my family history since I was 10 years old. Like Cynthia, where I am from is difficult to answer, since I am of so many different ethnic..."

Hello Cynthia!

The name of my Arkansan great-grandfather was Benjamin Leroy Hogue. He was born in Plainview, Yell County, Arkansas, in 1879. His wife's name was Margaret Lavina Tedder, and she, too, was born in Arkansas. Bejamin Leroy Hogue's father, Gideon Paul Hogue, died in Saline, Saline County, Arkansas, in 1939. The family seems to have lived in Arkansas since before 1840. Other family names in that line include Holcomb, Fox, Yates and Cato. The Hogue name was originally Hogg (one of my ancestors who lived in Spotsylvania County, Virginia during the American Revolution, Gideon Hogg, seems to make me eligible for DAR membership) and it appears that the Tedders were previously Tudors (but not the royal Tudors, of course! :-D ).

None in the direct line of my Acadian ancestors ended up in Louisiana, though more distant cousins did. (Haches, Hacheys, Achees, etc. would be some of my Cajun distant cousins.) According to one family genealogist (Father Patrice Gallant), my ancestors managed to hide in the woods of Prince Edward Island when the British wanted to take them away from their land.

Norteños -- of course! Makes perfect sense. Son del Norte, after all: more recent immigrants from Mexico tend to come from further south than the (current) border states. My great-grandparents from NM went to St. John's, Arizona in the 1890s, early 1900s: my maternal grandfather was born in Arizona. My great-grandparents' names were Felipe Montaño Garcia (son of Juan Cristobal Garcia and Carmen Montaño) and Epifania Carrejo (daughter of Domingo Carrejo and Mercedes Chavez). It's kind of hard for me so far to find info on the Garcias and Chavezes -- that's what comes of having ancestors with common Spanish surnames :-)

Hope all is well --

Katheryn

I love to learn about my family past and present although I may not be strong in the researching department. I do love reading about the memories. Even seeing a name can mean so much. There is so much I would love to know but probably never will as certain things would require more of a diary and not the type that just said, "Went to town today to buy groceries." Yet even such detail is telling. Here is a link to a post I did on Family History a year ago.
http://population-we.blogspot.com/201...

Hello everyone! My name is Denise and I'm from Florida. My family tree in the U.S. stretches from Virginia to Texas with stops in every state in between. I blog at Moultrie Creek and you'll find a couple of my books added here in the group.

Hi, my name is Ginger and I'm from North Carolina. I got interested in genealogy in 2005 when my grandfather printed off his family tree maker file which was over 200 pages long! I was hooked! I have not yet figured out how my ancestors got to America, or Virginia for that matter. But I'm well on my way to mapping several lines via the use of DNA. I am always looking for new genealogy related reading material, so if you find something cool and interesting, please share it with the group. My main surname of interest is Godwin who traveled from North Carolina to Indiana, Illinois and then to Arkansas. Most of my family is from Arkansas, where I was born, but not raised. Surprisingly we have found a ton of Godwins in the US, many of whom are unrelated and likewise, they seem to all be carrying the "I love genealogy" gene because there are a ton of researchers as well!

Hi Fellow Genealogists,

My name is Karen Charlton and I have written a historical novel about our ancestor, Jamie Charlton, who was controversially convicted of Northumberland's biggest robbery back in 1810.

We discovered this Regency jail-bird lurking in our family tree back in 2004. It took years to research the two hundred year-old mystery surrounding his case, and another twenty six months to write the novel. It was published by Knox Robinson Publishing in December 2011.

If you would like to know more about my novel or our skeleton in the closet, please check out my website: www.karencharlton.com.

Best wishes - and good luck with your own family history research.

Karen Charlton

author of,
Catching the Eagle
The Missing Heiress
(Knox Robinson Publishing)

a lot of intrigue!

Sure is! LOL

Hello everyone. The Who Do You Think You Are logo caught my eye while scanning groups. I love that show. I've watched all of the US and British ones so far. I also like the Finding Your Roots PBS shows. Right now I am focusing on my ancestors from New River region of Appalachia. I have several good books to recommend if your ancestors are from this region. Looking forward to making new friends here. Happy researching! - Teresa

Hello everyone. Genealogy for me is my escape from today, my exploring and my introduction to my family who made up who I am, therefore my journey to myself. Weird...isnt it that this is also so damn frustrating, annoying, as well as fun at times.... just like the family we are or have lived with... Hi from Australia to all out there in the rest of the world who are just as crazy to come on this journey of discovery (when we actually so come across we can call a discovery)

My name is Lincoln and I am a family historian and a DNA project administrator. I currently reside in Massachusetts. My personal family research is mainly in central Texas. My one-name study project is national in scope.

Hey! I'm Tara. I come from a family of historians and genealogists, so it was natural to meld them as much as possible. A database of nothing but names and dates is empty. Context is everything.

My sister handles our family history. Since 1995, I have focused on SE Georgia (unrelated to me). I'm moving to Texas soon. I'm sure I will find something to delve into there.

I love original research. Courthouse documents, etc. Uncovering things long forgotten and fleshing the story out is what keeps me going.

Glad to find a group of like-minded people!

Hi everyone! I'm Chuck. I live in Littleton, Colorado, just south of Denver. We have a lot of good resources and archives here. I'm am currently researching my mother-in-law's Barnes family. They migrated from Tennessee to Independence County, Arkansas. My wife's great grandfather was reportedly the first white medical doctor in Sequoyah district, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

My roots are mainly in east Texas, but I can trace my Livermore line back to 1634 Massachusettes (14 years after the Mayflower)through Ohio and New York.

Your book, Steve, has been getting a lot of press here lately. I saw it reviewed in Family Tree magazine and a couple of other places too. I'll have to put In the Blood on my "to read" list.

This seems like a great group. I look forward to learning from and sharing with you all.

Chuck

Welcome Chuck

Hello,
I am Bernice L. Rocque, a long time genealogist and now author who is translating my research into stories about my family. Started writing memoir material in 2004 and have written my first book, a novella, just published in September 2012. My book, UNTIL THE ROBIN WALKS ON SNOW, tells the story of my uncle's birth in 1922 weighing 1.5 pounds and the efforts of my immigrant family (Lithuanian & Polish) and their devoted midwife to save him. My eBook is FREE today on Amazon/Kindle. Take a look if you are curious. Love to get feedback, and hear from anyone who is also writing fiction about their family. BLR

Hi Bernice,
I know of 5 (including myself) who write novels about their ancestors. See http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...

Hi everyone,
Just joined Goodreads and as genealogy is my passion thought it a good idea to join this group as well. Have been researching my family tree for over 10 years and also help run a genealogy website and forum.
Currently reading Steve Robinson's In the Blood (which I can't put down) and his next book "To the Grave" is next in line to read!

Hi everyone. My name is Teresa and I live in Pittsburgh, PA. I grew up in Delaware. I am my family historian. I am also working on the genealogies of several friends, co-workers, and family-by-marriage. My recent generations are from the New River area of NC/VA/TN and then back to Philadelphia and Massachusetts. Before that, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany, mainly. I am waiting for my DNA results to come back ANY DAY. Very excited! I have a tree on Ancestry. Look under Teresa Phipps. Looking forward to getting to know all of you. Take care and happy researching!

Hello! My name is Mirta and I suppose I've been a genealogy buff since I was a little girl. It was a hobby I shared with my father. We are Jews, most likely from Lithuania/Prussia and somehow ended up in the Ukraine. From there, joining hundreds of thousands, the families immigrated to Argentina between 1900-1910. My parents immigrated to the United States when I was 11 months old (1962). I have accumulated quite a bit of interesting information and recently, have self-published a memoir. I have found that JewishGen is a fabulous site for research. There are several good sites for Argentine research as well. Happy New Year to all and best of luck!

With Love, The Argentina Family: Memories of Tango and Kugel; Mate with Knishes

From Chapter THE FAMILY TREE:
...The postman rang our doorbell about a week later. He had a special delivery from La Pampa, Argentina. I signed for the package and hurriedly tore open the wrapping. It was a book and there was note attached.

My dear Miss Trupp,
Allow me to present this memorial keepsake of the founding colonists of Narcisse Levin in La Pampa. Your friend Liliana contacted us here at the Congregation Israelita of Bernasconi and informed us of your research. It is with great pleasure that we provide you this book and wish you the best of luck with your investigations.

I quickly skimmed through the book and found that it was written in Spanish and Yiddish. One chapter was dedicated to listing the names of the founding colonists. Even through my blurred vision caused by the onset of tears, I found my paternal great grandfathers names listed among the pioneers. I felt as if I were dreaming. I closed my eyes and said a prayer of thanks to all of those people who helped me in this quest. I wasn’t done yet, but with these recent discoveries, I felt closer to my history, closer to those voices that cried out not to be forgotten.

I took a moment to consider this irresistible need of mine to connect with these family members, now long gone. Where did the desire stem from? Was it some sort of instinctive or universal yearning to connect, to remain connected?

Sometimes I felt something close to desperation when I thought of The Argentina Family and the distance between us. Soon, I wouldn’t be able to travel back and forth with my Pan Am discount. Could “the ties that bind” be stretched across two continents without constant physical contact? Would the day come when my beloved cousins would say, “Whatever happened to Mirtita?” just like my grandparents asked about Meier, and Avrum and Berele…cousins who stayed behind in the old country?

Maybe the fervent desire to document the family’s past stemmed from my desperation of remaining part of the family’s future. The book I held in my hand contained the story of my antepasados, my ancestors. It was up to me, I supposed, to play an active role in my family’s future.

With Love, The Argentina Family: Memories of Tango and Kugel; Mate with Knishes

Hello everyone. I wanted to recommend The Seven Daughters of Eve if you are researching English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh roots. I just received the results of my maternal grandmother's DNA from 23andme and found out she is part of the "Tara" line which goes back to mainly Scotland and Ireland, particularly to the Isle of Rona. This author has a lot of great books and articles. Most of my family arrived in the US in the 1700s and migrated down to northwest NC and southwest Virginia, what is known as the New River Valley, where VA, NC, KY, and TN sort of come together. So, I have been getting a lot of books through inter-library loan that have to do with the settling of those regions. I left my list at work, however, so I cannot add it here right now. I am also working on family trees for some of my friends and that is taking me into lots of different interesting directions. One friend descends from slaves and I am finding African American genealogy to be incredibly challenging and often heart-breaking. Several of my friends' families have not been in the US for long. Their parents or grandparents were immigrants from Italy, Poland, Czechoslovakia -- not as easy as you think. Poland, Czech, Austria, etc., these geographic boundaries changed often and I can see why genealogists specialize in particular countries or time periods. Also searching my partner's roots -- he's Jewish. Many roadblocks there, many challenges. So, I'm always looking for good books to add to my library. Have subscribed to Ancestry and Family Tree Magazine. I am taking as many free webclasses as I can from Ancestry and FamilySearch.org. The classes are very informative. I learned a lot about immigration records. Some things I learned this month that I have highlighted: Jr. does not always mean "son of Sr." -- for instance, if there are two John Davis's in a town, unrelated, the older will be called Sr and the younger Jr. Then let's say another John Davis, younger than Jr., moves to the town. The Sr. John Davis may be called John Davis the elder, then the Jr becomes Sr, and the new one becomes Jr. These identifiers shift as needed. I learned this from an excellent book I just finished: The Family Tree Problem Solver by Marsha Hoffman Rising -- one of (if not the best) the best books on research technique I have read. I get a lot of great book recommendations for genealogy from Family Tree magazine which you can order from your library. I got tired of xeroxing articles and subscribed. The magazine is excellent and I've learned so much from it. Look forward to sharing info with everyone. Happy researching! -- Teresa in Pittsburgh