Genealogy

[Lloyd Danforth]

I could just offer my services for some Silver or Salsa, but, although I know much of the national and international research sources that other Genealogists know, my expertise is in New England.
I'm still willing, but, anyone with online skills and who is willing to pay to use some databases, can do their own Genealogy. 

Some of my liberal friends think its elitist and, of course unfair to people who don't know who one or more of their parents are.

Some people have no interest in it until they get older.  I have always loved it, but, I am an anachronism, should have been born 100 years earlier, an era where I would have, probably, been shot for laziness, or, Desertion.

I realize that being descended from  Three Mayflower Pact Signers  and 4 bucks will get me a  cappuccino.

For me it is like being a Private Eye, but, no car chases and I don't get shot at.

If anyone is interested, I can post some basic stuff to get you started in case you haven't figured it out on your own to go to the cemetery and copy dates off the family stones.

[error]

That's $4.32 damnit, they have a meal tax on COFFEE.

I have no family stones to copy the dates off of, that I know of. Finding those would probably be a place to start, yes?

[Dreepa]

That's $4.32 damnit, they have a meal tax on COFFEE.

I have no family stones to copy the dates off of, that I know of. Finding those would probably be a place to start, yes?

It is amazing how much info you can get on your family tree.
My wife swears she is related to Pochohantas.  She has her family tree way back.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Pocahontas trumps my Mayflower Guys

[Dreepa]

Pocahontas trumps my Mayflower Guys

If it is true.....

[Lloyd Danforth]

That's $4.32 damnit, they have a meal tax on COFFEE.

I have no family stones to copy the dates off of, that I know of. Finding those would probably be a place to start, yes?

If you still have any grandparents, find out what you can about them, their family, and their spouses family.


In this country a death certificate has, theoretically, been issued for everyone who has died since about 1912.  Earlier in some states.  A Death Cert. supplies the facts of the death and information about the deceased, usually, provided by a relative. Age or date of birth. Place of birth. Name and place of birth of parents.


I guess it is sometimes issued at state or county level, but, it is usually issued in the town or city where the person died, whether home, hospital or rest home.  DC's are not always accurate.  My sister messed up when supplying info for my father's DC.

Once you have the date of death, if you can get to the community where your ancestor lived you can go to the library and look at microfilm copies of the local papers for a few days following their death for their obituaries.  They can be very informative, sometimes naming people(Cousins, Married daughters?) from out of town(Home town?) predeceased spouses and children.  My great grandfather, Abner Francis Tilton, a Merchant Tailor in Hartford,  was know in town as 'Sam'.  I found this in his obituary. I have had luck sending $10 checks to libraries and getting them to send me copies of Obits when I can't travel there.

Some towns and cities had directories which sometimes gives names, ages, trades and places of business for each household member.

Censuses are available from 1790  to 1930 online.
Up to 1860 or so they only name head of household and tabulate number of males and females in age groups.  Later censuses get nosy and give specific info on each member of the household.  In some of the databases you can research everyone with your name in one city and look for cousins or uncles.

Lets say your father or grandfather wandered off and you had no knowledge of his parents, but, you knew where one or more full brothers or sisters lived/died. Obviously, their background is the same.

If your family are new to the US and even if they are not you can visit the Church Of Latter Day Saints, The Mormons, online and click on research.  The Mormons have collected birth, christening, marriage and some death records of something like 800 million people from all around the world. The records have been available on microfiche, in libraries and LDS centers, but, all of them are online now.  They were using computers early to record their findingss and were ahead of the curve concerning Y2K.

[Quantrill]

I've been doing genealogy since the 7th grade.  It helps that I had a paternal and maternal grandparent that each were involved in genealogy.  A couple months back I spent a crap-load of money  (to me a "crap-load of money" is >$100 ) to get on ancestry.com   There is a LOT of information there and my problem now is finding time to do more research. 

Has anyone thought of doing the DNA testing?  I'm leary of it for privacy reasons, but at the same time if it could help trace my roots then I almost feel obligated to do it...

[Lloyd Danforth]

I am curious, but, trying not to leave my DNA around with my name attached to it.

[KBCraig]

DC's are not always accurate.

Even when accurate, they're not always accurate in the way needed for genealogy.

My father's home when he died was Hatfield, Polk, Arkansas. But the DC reflects the hospital where he actually died: Texarkana, Bowie, Texas. The closing of small hospitals means people seldom die where they actually lived. This is a quandary for genealogy; the actual place of death helps with the record search, but "the place where living when died" is what is traditionally used, because that is where the person's family ties are likely to be found.

Kevin

[eques]

I only know my family tree back to my grandparents, really... my mother's parents hail independently from Hungary (they met in Canada).  I know a little more on my father's side, but not much.  My paternal grandmother died before I was born, and people don't really talk about her, much less her family.  My paternal grandfather is still around, but he doesn't know much more than that his parents were immigrants from Galecea in the early 1900s.  He was born in 1924 and both of his parents were dead by the time he was 4, I think.

"Pyrich" isn't exactly a common surname, but there's little guarantee that I'm very closely related to other individuals who share my surname due to naming practices commonplace in Eastern Europe such as taking on your village name as your surname (granted, most people within an Eastern European village around the turn of the 19th century would probably be related, but there's really no guarantee).

[Spencer]

This site is a great resource for genealogy links: http://www.cyndislist.com/

[Lloyd Danforth]

Cindi's is the  most comprehensive site for links

James. Here's a Pyrich:



Michael Pyrich
   1943 
Residence
16 SEP 1943
Location:    Johnstown, Cambria, PA


Go here: http://www.familysearch.org/

Type in Pyrich in the last name place and hit search.  I got a bunch from what appeared to be Prussien or someplace. However there were some who died in the usa and are on the soc security death index.  If you find an ancestor on  the ssdi you cane generate a letter and for about 26 bucks get a copy of the original application for SS #.  Very informative with a signature.  I used to order them more often when they were only 7$, but, they went up overnight

[eques]

Yeah, I think that's probably my grandfather (unless that's a death certificate).

[Lloyd Danforth]

It is in someones family history at ancestry.com.  He was residing there at the time.

[Lloyd Danforth]

If you go to the family search site and type in Pyrich, down in the SSDI area are some more Pyrich's from that same town.