I didn't want to do the DNA either with my ancestry. Didn't have to anyway. Ancestry.com wasn't any good to me, except for one photo. I got a bit from my dad's side of tge family, but I got most of my information from Births, Deaths & Marriages. It was so much easier to trace backwards by the certificates. This gave me, limited, information on the parents, their jobs & where they came from. So I could trace from my Grandmother, Grandfather to there parents, then from my Great Granparents, to my Great, Great Grandparents etc. I have done books on my both sides of my ancestry. I spend a long time doing the research, & wven though at times it was frustrating, I loved it. I could only go so far back on my Irish side as the records only had what County they came from. Trying to find more information was difficult as lots of records were lost due to a fire in the Irish archives. You really need to know the church they were baptised etc, but I don't have that information. But in the end I found out that both my mum's & dad's ancestors came to Australia in the same generation. Around the Gold rush era. So I traced 8 lines for each parent. Incredibly, on my mum's side, I found that all 8 lines are Irish. Mum thought her line was predominantly English. No English at all. On my dad's line, one line is Welsh, rwo are English, two are German & three are Irish. So out of the 16 direct lines, 11 lines are Irish. And as I said, all 16 lines came to Australia in the same generation. That being my 2 times great grandparents. Some of the surnames changes in spelling due to either misunderstanding of pronunciation or spelling. Irish Breslan, became Brosnan, Irish Scullion became Scullin & German Stutz, became Stitz (which was due to fear of persecution during WW1). The only claim to fame or point of interest, is that my great, great Uncle, James Scullin, who was Prime Minister of Australia (1929-1931). With my research, I also went to the National Archives of Victoria & got access to wills & rates books. At my local library, I also looked up paaenger lists, old phone books, census, cemetery records. I have visited, all but a couple of, the graves & properties of all my ancestors that came to Australia. I have even been to some of the churches they got married in. Even though the properties have changed over the years, or a few gravestones were missing, I have photos of the properties & gravesite etc. I felt quite emotional visiting the gravesites & thanked everyone of them for being my ancestor. It has been an amazing experience & I hope to try to later investigate to see if I can find anymore information as I did get some paperclipping from newspapers. But I really hope to go back further into generations prior to those that came to Australia. I have delved into this a little & found some minor information, but I would really need to concentrate solely on this to attempt more. I hope you find your ancestry Cathey. As you can tell, I have a passion for it. It took me several years of investigation on & off. I spent many trips driving to country towns & going to their archives for information. But it's been worth all the time & effort.
My family can be traced back to thrle early settlers in Bern, Switzerland. My Great great grandfather was a public official and owned a grocery store in Bern, thus the name Bernthal as my mother's
maiden name. On my father's side, my grandfather was born to Lithuanian Jewish folk, my grandmother to German Jews. 6 of my Grandfather's brothers came over to America and worked as tailor's, grocers, and were in other trades. My Grandfather was a meat cutter and owned his own meat store. I remember him sending is prime cuts from Chicago when we were living in Denver, Colorado. My father was studying to be a doctor, and supporting his larger family when he caught TB and was sent to the mountains for the fresh air. He eventually sold surgical supplies instead. Mom was a top secretary for Detroit Edison company. Mom and Dad met at a social event at the Universalist-Unitarian church in Denver Colorado.
Love sharing our family history with my grandkids. Luckily my great grandmother Flora put it in a book. Sharing her story about being born in a covered wagon on the way to Oregon always delights them. Wish she was here to tell the stories herself.
Wonderful poem. I love learning about our ancestors. My grandparents came from Missouri and homesteaded north of Gillette, Wyoming in 1915. My sister and I own their ranch now.
Cathey I’m wondering where in Missouri your Mom’s family came from? My grandparents were raised around Boliver, Missouri. The stories from their homesteading were so interesting and I’m quite sure my grandmother was a much tougher lady than I am. I truly enjoy your talented writing and thank you for sharing.
I didn't want to do the DNA either with my ancestry. Didn't have to anyway. Ancestry.com wasn't any good to me, except for one photo. I got a bit from my dad's side of tge family, but I got most of my information from Births, Deaths & Marriages. It was so much easier to trace backwards by the certificates. This gave me, limited, information on the parents, their jobs & where they came from. So I could trace from my Grandmother, Grandfather to there parents, then from my Great Granparents, to my Great, Great Grandparents etc. I have done books on my both sides of my ancestry. I spend a long time doing the research, & wven though at times it was frustrating, I loved it. I could only go so far back on my Irish side as the records only had what County they came from. Trying to find more information was difficult as lots of records were lost due to a fire in the Irish archives. You really need to know the church they were baptised etc, but I don't have that information. But in the end I found out that both my mum's & dad's ancestors came to Australia in the same generation. Around the Gold rush era. So I traced 8 lines for each parent. Incredibly, on my mum's side, I found that all 8 lines are Irish. Mum thought her line was predominantly English. No English at all. On my dad's line, one line is Welsh, rwo are English, two are German & three are Irish. So out of the 16 direct lines, 11 lines are Irish. And as I said, all 16 lines came to Australia in the same generation. That being my 2 times great grandparents. Some of the surnames changes in spelling due to either misunderstanding of pronunciation or spelling. Irish Breslan, became Brosnan, Irish Scullion became Scullin & German Stutz, became Stitz (which was due to fear of persecution during WW1). The only claim to fame or point of interest, is that my great, great Uncle, James Scullin, who was Prime Minister of Australia (1929-1931). With my research, I also went to the National Archives of Victoria & got access to wills & rates books. At my local library, I also looked up paaenger lists, old phone books, census, cemetery records. I have visited, all but a couple of, the graves & properties of all my ancestors that came to Australia. I have even been to some of the churches they got married in. Even though the properties have changed over the years, or a few gravestones were missing, I have photos of the properties & gravesite etc. I felt quite emotional visiting the gravesites & thanked everyone of them for being my ancestor. It has been an amazing experience & I hope to try to later investigate to see if I can find anymore information as I did get some paperclipping from newspapers. But I really hope to go back further into generations prior to those that came to Australia. I have delved into this a little & found some minor information, but I would really need to concentrate solely on this to attempt more. I hope you find your ancestry Cathey. As you can tell, I have a passion for it. It took me several years of investigation on & off. I spent many trips driving to country towns & going to their archives for information. But it's been worth all the time & effort.
Wow, Christine, you have put in a lot of work to learn about your heritage!
My family can be traced back to thrle early settlers in Bern, Switzerland. My Great great grandfather was a public official and owned a grocery store in Bern, thus the name Bernthal as my mother's
maiden name. On my father's side, my grandfather was born to Lithuanian Jewish folk, my grandmother to German Jews. 6 of my Grandfather's brothers came over to America and worked as tailor's, grocers, and were in other trades. My Grandfather was a meat cutter and owned his own meat store. I remember him sending is prime cuts from Chicago when we were living in Denver, Colorado. My father was studying to be a doctor, and supporting his larger family when he caught TB and was sent to the mountains for the fresh air. He eventually sold surgical supplies instead. Mom was a top secretary for Detroit Edison company. Mom and Dad met at a social event at the Universalist-Unitarian church in Denver Colorado.
Very interesting history, Pam! Thanks for sharing!
Many of our families came from landing in ships from England, Scotland and Ireland. We are the results of a melting pot.
We are indeed.
Love sharing our family history with my grandkids. Luckily my great grandmother Flora put it in a book. Sharing her story about being born in a covered wagon on the way to Oregon always delights them. Wish she was here to tell the stories herself.
What a blessing to your family that Flora wrote that record to pass down!
Wonderful poem. I love learning about our ancestors. My grandparents came from Missouri and homesteaded north of Gillette, Wyoming in 1915. My sister and I own their ranch now.
My mom's side of our family came from Missouri, too, and homesteaded in Wolf Creek, Montana. How wonderful that the ranch is still in the family!
Cathey I’m wondering where in Missouri your Mom’s family came from? My grandparents were raised around Boliver, Missouri. The stories from their homesteading were so interesting and I’m quite sure my grandmother was a much tougher lady than I am. I truly enjoy your talented writing and thank you for sharing.
I will see if I have that info!
I just loved your poem just perfect
Thanks so much, Halina!