Tracing Family roots

[gilmore]

i wasn't sure where to put this so monteraters please feel free to move it. ok so to start off i was trying to make a fammily tree for my family and I. I got my cousin involed and what we uncovered was more than a can of worms to say the least. we have now traced back to 500 A.D. yes that number is correct. we have come from many lands , England where my family still holds title to a castle and much land. Germany although i can find no living relatives there. ireland and france. well that a mix of people if i have ever seen one. my cousin has found pictures of some of the family that are quite old i hope to get a copy soon to share . we also have came across a picture of the ship Hope that my family was on to come to the USA. Has anyone else traced there roots back this far ? Or i am the only one absessed enough to do such a thing. its been a long 3 years tracking all the informaion. lol

to be cont.

Sorry to disappoint you, but there just aren't any reliable genealogical records for anyone much earlier than a few generations before Charlemagne, around 800 AD, and those are only of the royaly and aristocracy of course. Virtually everything prior to that is legend, myth and conjecture. As are quite a few genealogies after that time.

[arrogcow]

And just cause someone else says that you have a connection, doesn't make it so. My mother has been doing our family tree for years, and doesn't believe it unless she has authentic documents in her hand. She has found many errors in other people's reconing. To date my earliest verifiable ancestor is 1664, but some of the fanciful ones get me back to Longshanks (which now gets me kicked off of X-marks)

Adam

[gilmore]

And just cause someone else says that you have a connection, doesn't make it so. My mother has been doing our family tree for years, and doesn't believe it unless she has authentic documents in her hand. She has found many errors in other people's reconing. To date my earliest verifiable ancestor is 1664, but some of the fanciful ones get me back to Longshanks (which now gets me kicked off of X-marks)

Adam

It's an unfortunate fact that the further back you go genealogically, the more time you spend sorting out other people's errors rather than doing original resarch, but that's just the way it is.

As to Longshanks, many if not most people now living in Scotland are probably also his descendants. His grandson's, Edward III's, are certainly well into the millions. A genealogical wit once called him "the father of the British middle classes."

[Livingston]

And just cause someone else says that you have a connection, doesn't make it so. My mother has been doing our family tree for years, and doesn't believe it unless she has authentic documents in her hand. She has found many errors in other people's reconing. To date my earliest verifiable ancestor is 1664, but some of the fanciful ones get me back to Longshanks (which now gets me kicked off of X-marks)

Adam

And mine shows the same along with about 18 different Kings of Scotland and the Picts. So, I have one tree for fun and one that I'm sure of...just doesn't go back as far.

[Kilted KT]

And just cause someone else says that you have a connection, doesn't make it so. My mother has been doing our family tree for years, and doesn't believe it unless she has authentic documents in her hand. She has found many errors in other people's reconing. To date my earliest verifiable ancestor is 1664, but some of the fanciful ones get me back to Longshanks (which now gets me kicked off of X-marks)

Adam

don't worry, I'll be with you in exile.

I've managed to validate my liniage back to Fergus MacErca, who died around 404 AD.

Oh, and BMakay, here is your Trump. One of Fergus's decendants in my line was Kenneth MacAlpin, King of the Picts. here is his wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_I_of_Scotland

[NewKilt]

I'm really just in the beginning stages of tracing back my roots. On my mother's side my great, great, great, great grandfather, John Kennedy Sr. was born in Scotland around 1730. Immigrated to northern Ireland as a youth because of religious persecution. Then immigrated to New Jersey while the US was still colonies. Captured during the French-Indian War, and sent to prison in France. Released in a prisoner exchange, went to England, married an English lady and returned to New Jersey. His son, John Kennedy Jr., was a British loyalist and moved to Georgetown, Ontario, Canada. A move back to the US (Ohio) eventually took place with my great grandfather, George Benjamin Kennedy.

All I know about my birth father's side at this point is it's German ancestory. It's indeed addicting tracing back your roots.

Darrell

[pipesndrumsnun]

That is amazing how far you were able to trace your family. We have mine only up to the mid-1700s...Alexander MacArthur from Isle of Skye, Scotland. I'd like to know more, but have been unable to find much information.
I've seen a post on X-Marks where someone (don't remember the name, unfortunately!) has a Clan Arthur Clan Crest (MacArthurs and McArthurs, as well as many variations!) as their avatar...maybe we are related?!

[Graywolf]

Be very suspicious of royal bloodlines. During the late middle ages they were often made up to justify the ruler's claim to the throne. Be especially leary of bloodlines that lead to Charlemagne. Everyone who wanted to claim royalty latched onto him as the firat Holy Roman Emperor. I myself have seen "family trees" linking me as a direct descendant of Kenneth McAlpine. These may or may not be true. In fact, Duke of Argylle during late the middle ages had a family tree tracing his lineage back to Adam and Eve. They are fun, but do not put too much stock in a tree unless you have done the research yourself and have copies of the documents, birth, baptismal, death certificates, etc.

[brandycr]

Sorry to disappoint you, but there just aren't any reliable genealogical records for anyone much earlier than a few generations before Charlemagne, around 800 AD, and those are only of the royaly and aristocracy of course. Virtually everything prior to that is legend, myth and conjecture. As are quite a few genealogies after that time.

thats how i found my lines royal records got lucky.

[gilmore]

<<<Quote:
Originally Posted by gilmore
Sorry to disappoint you, but there just aren't any reliable genealogical records for anyone much earlier than a few generations before Charlemagne, around 800 AD, and those are only of the royaly and aristocracy of course. Virtually everything prior to that is legend, myth and conjecture. As are quite a few genealogies after that time.



thats how i found my lines royal records got lucky.>>>

Let me be clear: even the royal lines prior to a few generations before Charlemagne are legend, myth or conjecture. In other words we know to a reasonable degree of certainty who Charlemagne's immediate ancestors were. We do not, however, know who were the ancestors of those people. They cannot be reliably connected to anyone earlier. From time to time various people have made up all sorts of fanciful stories about descendancy for them from Adam, various Norse, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, etc, but they simply are not creditable, i.e., the stories fall apart under scrutiny. There are no valid, reliable genealogies going back earlier than the 700's AD.