Tracing Family roots

[brandycr]

Umm...as a former genealogical librarian, I would advise not putting too much stock in something like this. The best way to find your family's history is research it yourself. Your local public library and/or genealogical society can help you get started.

Just remember: document, document, document, and do not accept family stories at "face value". Genealogists are generally very helpful people, but they do not suffer fools who do not provide sources for their claims.

I can't tell you how many relatives of Robert E. Lee I met whilst working at a Civil War Battlefield: if he does have that many descendents, when did he ever have time to fight the Civil War? :mrgreen:

Cheers,

Todd

oh always double and triple check just use it as a resource to connect my lines to others who are related to my people so to speak.Never trust others research.

[CameronTaylor]

A noble pursuit oh Blood-thirsty, Celtic-haired, Amazon-Flaming Goddess,
I was fortunate that my older sister was given an assignment in high school to trace the family tree.
Dad's side was relatively (ok, no pun intended) easy going backward - California, Quebec, France
Mom's side is where the fun starts - Scots-Irish, German, Russian.
I know about the Scheibler plaid, I wonder if those Ruskies were weavers too ....
A two-tone Snodgrass and Green kilted skirt coming to kilt and beer night ?


CT - just a thought

[Cawdorian]

There are a surprising amount of records available form the Dept. of Vital Statistics of the various. Death Certificates are readily available. I recently obtained a copy of my great grandparent's Death Certificates from Kentucky, they both died in 1925. The Death Certificates listed the names of their parents as well as the birth dates, death dates and the place of burial of my Great Grand parents..

The cost of obtaining these certificates is very reasonable and provides a primary source of documentation.

The LDS Family History Centers can provide microfilm copies of census records and many other records. You don't have to be a member of the LDS Church to use these centers. They are located in most larger cities.

The best place to start your family history is with you own older relatives, most of the are happy to share the information and stories they remember with you. One of my wife's Aunts had an old bible with loads of information in it she had gathered over the 80 plus years of her life. She has always been the best source of information on my wife's family.

Happy Hunting,

[Big Paul]

Another fantastic research center is the Allen County Library in Ft. Wayne Indiana. It is the largest genealogical repository outside of Salt Lake!

I found a ton of information on my family line there!

[Mike1]

I would VERY strongly advise giving up that line of inquiry.

Take a deep breath and re-read my post. I wasn't working the genealogical angle of anything, I was referring to a GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. Do you see me making any reference to any family names in my post? I was simply explaining that her search for Skidhamyrr or Skida Muir might be made easier by using the name of the area as it is known today, Skitten Moor.

Take a second look at the lassie's comment, where she (not I) highlighted the word 'where' -

I've all but given up hope finding out where (specifically in Caithness) "Skidhamyrr" or "Skida Moor" were....

She knew the name referred to a place, rather than a family, and I gave her a direction to look into. The area has also been known as Skida Myre and also as the Moss of Wester.

I would VERY strongly advise remembering Scottish PEOPLE lived in Scottish PLACES and your explanation of how to perform proper genealogical research is utterly useless in locating those places.

[gilmore]

Take a deep breath and re-read my post. I wasn't working the genealogical angle of anything, I was referring to a GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. Do you see me making any reference to any family names in my post? I was simply explaining that her search for Skidhamyrr or Skida Muir might be made easier by using the name of the area as it is known today, Skitten Moor.

Take a second look at the lassie's comment, where she (not I) highlighted the word 'where' -

She knew the name referred to a place, rather than a family, and I gave her a direction to look into. The area has also been known as Skida Myre and also as the Moss of Wester.

I would VERY strongly advise remembering Scottish PEOPLE lived in Scottish PLACES and your explanation of how to perform proper genealogical research is utterly useless in locating those places.

Why bother locating places that one's family likely has no association with?

[Scratchy's Lass]

Thank you, Mike1 and All, for the info, tips and pointers. I appreciate it!

True, I did not post the entire 'life story' of info that we do know about the previous generations on both my parents' sides; that really wasn't the reason for or behind my post, nor was 'wasting everyone's time with fancifull stories'. My reading of the existing posts did not give me the impression it was a "Post Your Proven Ancestor Facts" thread and had it, I wouldn't have posted.

Certainly it may mean absolutely nothing, the Skidhamyrr/Skida Muir/Skitten Moor angle. OTOH, knowing that many centuries ago people sometimes took their names from where they were born or lived, the name similarity was just too interesting to ignore.

For whatever reason, perhaps stemming from the conflict between both sides - which lasted until nearly everyone was dead - exploring family histories was never important at my parents' level. What little we were told as kids was hardly more than a few lines of summary and was related by my father as though it were humorous.

He seemed to think that his father having had the family "traced back" was silly (and a goofy attempt to find a connection to someone 'important'), and in that vein told me about the 'criminals and sheep herders' - which are terms he used in his summarization of the report given to his father. Do keep in mind that my maternal grandparents despised my father from 'day one' and the rift between the sides existed since my Mother's college days and my parents' dating each other (much to my Mother's parents' horror). Additionally, my paternal grandfather was NOT a 'nice man' throughout his life, and there was a lot of unresolved pain between my father and his. Thus, when the result was 'criminals and sheep herders', my father appeared to feel that such a result 'served grandpa right'.

Both sets of grandparents, and family members before them have long since died. While technically "still living", my father suffers from advanced Parkinson's Disease and other severe illnesses and has been in care facilities since a few months after my Mother died in 11/2004. I sincerely doubt he would be able to tell me anything I have not already heard over the years, since 99% of the time he not oriented to place or time (and sometimes doesn't even know who we are). I handle his medical affairs and medications, my local sister handles his finances and legal matters, but in-person communication is difficult at best.

There is an Anderson/Coté "family bible" (that's so old it's literally falling apart, so we don't handle it often) which contains some manner of hand written family history, but my sister has it on the other side of the valley and it's not like she can e-mail it to me at 2 in the morning when I decide to poke around online in a 'researchy' frame of mind

Apparently my paternal grandmother did some dabbling in tracing back, years ago, and later my mother picked up the task - resulting in some written family tree diagrams. I may have a copy of that buried somewhere in the boxes of papers which still populate my living room, but even 2 & 1/2 years since her death it's very emotionally difficult to sort through that stuff.

It's my understanding that shortly after we lost my Mother's, my sister was contacted by members of the Coté line (our Anderson, maternal side) inquiring about that old bible. Her words were to the effect that 'they are pretty hot to get their hands on it', but we were a very emotional place at the time and didn't respond other than to cordially thank them for their sympathies.

I've never asked anyone to track down info or pursue 'theories' and such for me, nor have I posted any inquires on the various 'geneology' websites. At such time as I assemble the details we DO have, I might do the latter although I am usually very cautious what personal information I make public - especially online.

It is also true, however, that I love to research - and when something sticks with me (of whatever nature), I just have to find the answer, if even eventually

So, while I have yet to launch a full-scale investigation into my family histories using scientific techniques it is an activity that I muck around with from time to time with the info I have when something rekindles the passion (and in view of the Net, sometimes WAY past bedtime )

Thank you again for the leads!
m

[gilmore]

...
Certainly it may mean absolutely nothing, the Skidhamyrr/Skida Muir/Skitten Moor angle. OTOH, knowing that many centuries ago people sometimes took their names from where they were born or lived, the name similarity was just too interesting to ignore.

For whatever reason, perhaps stemming from the conflict between both sides - which lasted until nearly everyone was dead - exploring family histories was never important at my parents' level. What little we were told as kids was hardly more than a few lines of summary and was related by my father as though it were humorous.

He seemed to think that his father having had the family "traced back" was silly (and a goofy attempt to find a connection to someone 'important'), and in that vein told me about the 'criminals and sheep herders' - which are terms he used in his summarization of the report given to his father...

Nothing wrong with having criminal ancestors. I find them usually much more interesting that law abiding citizens who behaved themselves. One of my favorites is a Theophilous Hill who in the 1790's cruelly and wantonly murdered a man in Camden County, Georgia, then escaped to East Florida, which was Spanish at the time. I have a photocopy of his arrest warrant, offering a reward of 50 pounds in specie for his capture.

[Mike1]

Why bother locating places that one's family likely has no association with?

Uhhh, geeee, that's a good question. Hmmm, let me see, why did I help her locate Skitten Muir? (Which was actually no bother at all, but thanks for your concern.)

Oh yeah, now I remember. I 'bothered' because she asked. I'll post the quote again and I'll try to type more slowly.

I've all but given up hope finding out where (specifically in Caithness) "Skidhamyrr" or "Skida Moor" were....

I hope that didn't go by you so quickly this time and that you can see she was asking W-H-E-R-E Skida Muir is located. Makes no difference to me if it has any relationship with anyone's family, she was asking where a place might be located and I was able to help her.

You can continue trying to steer the discussion away from that simple fact, but from where I sit you are only making yourself look silly. If one is to adopt your blinkered line of reasoning, then there is no need for geography classes in our schools. Why did those teachers force me to learn about the Orient, when it has nothing to do with my family? Why did I enjoy visiting the Grand Canyon, when it has nothing to do with my family? I thought Disneyworld was fascinating, but my name isn't related to Disney's in any way. Come to think of it, I'm away to eliminate the Tech Questions forum. That section has nothing to do with anyone's family, so why bother with it? As another has pointed out to me, it is a wonder that we've managed to get along so well around here without you pointing out how wrong we've all been.

I'm not sure if you crawled out of the wrong side of your kip, didn't get enough coffee or what burr it is you seem to have under your saddle, but I don't need you ankle-biting me. Go nip, snarl and make nuisance of yourself someplace else, aye?

Certainly it may mean absolutely nothing, the Skidhamyrr/Skida Muir/Skitten Moor angle. OTOH, knowing that many centuries ago people sometimes took their names from where they were born or lived, the name similarity was just too interesting to ignore.

Here you are correct, there may be absolutely no connection. But if you have learned a bit about a historic area of Scotland, then you have been made slightly richer in knowledge and it truly wasn't a waste of anyone's time.

[gangreenfootball]

Thanks for the info. I just checked out this site and can't wait to use it