DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Anyone Ever Traced Your Relatives? (Genealogy)

Has anyone ever traced your family tree or set out to find out something about a relative? The church gave us this real nice leather bound bible and it has a in-depth section for your family tree. My mom only could give me so much info so I set out to find more information on my relatives and decided to try and find more info than just a name.
Last week I was talking to a WWII vet on the phone at work for almost 45 minutes about the war and he fought in the same area as my Grandpa. It got me thinking about the time my grandpa spent in the war. My father died when I was a kid and my Grandpa helped raise me and was a big part of my life so I set out to try and find more info on what he did and see if I could find some of his war buddies.
I am a huge history buff, especially World War II. I have come across a lot of cool stuff and am wondering if anyone else knows some other places to look. I know a lot of you also had grandpas, fathers, or yourself served in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, ect so I figured if someone else has set out to do this they could give me a hand and I would share some of the sites I have come across.

One real cool thing is I found a website for the Americal Division he served in. Unfortunately right now I don't have the unit he was in, just the division. I have found a MB on there and have been talking to some WWII vets who didn't know him but also trained at Ft Wolters and fought in the PI and occupied Japan. All of them love telling me stories of what it was like for him there and have sent me pictures.

Anyways, if you want to see enlistment cards for everyone that served in WWII, POW's in WWII, wounded and KIA from Korea and Vietnam, you can search a database at the National Archives:
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/
They also have millions of records and pictures to look at if you want.
http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/
Records of ground combat operations, wounded/KIA, ect from Vietnam
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-list.jsp?cat=WR28

To request copies of military service records and links to request medals and ribbons:
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrecs/
WWII Links:
http://www.fsu.edu/~ww2/links.htm

I had some relatives on the German side and I found this site:
http://www.feldgrau.com/

You can research your relatives starting with marriage licenses. Most county sites have access to things like this and it's a good start if you don't know say your great great grandmothers maiden name and so on. Here is the one for Cuyahoga County and it goes all the way back to 1810:
http://probate.cuyahogacounty.us/ml/

I have !...so far ive found out that I am John the 8th. and that I still have relative's in Aust. Germany.

It is very neat to look up where you came from, Like I found out my great great granfather went in to the black forrest, and never came out

Interesting, my grandma's name on her marriage license is Concetta, when she writes me checks on Christmas and birthdays it says Constance.

Weird stuff.

My aunt's into the whole family tree business, supposedly there's a link to Joe DiMaggio somewhere on my dad's side but we can't put it completely together.

My other's grandma's maiden name is based off of Tancred, an Italian warrior, and I hear that if you say the last name in Italy you're treated like royalty.

Ohh really, I have relatives from the Black Forest too and Stuttgart. I recently discovered a few distant cousins were in the German Army during the war. One was a Captain in recon and unfortunately 2 were in the SS. One was a corporal that drove Generals around and the other I don't know what he did. I am going to try and see if I can find some records for immigration to see if I can find where and when my relatives came here. I was the first born son of my father to be born here and I know where he was born in Greece but I have no clue when and where he came into the US. Maybe I can find more info about him next. Like I said above he died when I was 8 and I really don't have a lot of info.

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Anyone Ever Traced Your Relatives?

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In West Virginia they spend a whole 15 minutes on it

Jim thome is like my 3rd. cousin too...My grandmother on my mother's side was regina thome...I thought that was pretty cool I allso had relatives in wwl and wwll .

Ohh wow that is pretty cool. Tell him he's a jerk for leaving Cleveland.

On my mothers side of the family I have traced the line all the way back to the 1500's in Germany . The family has been here since the early 1700's and her mother's ( my grandma ) family has been here since the 1600's due to a land grant of 30'000 acres in Virginia . My Grandfather's people were Injuns from Tenn. so they have been here a little longer . As for my dad...well it seems hillfolk in W.Va weren't too happy to cooperate with the govment folks and records as to their whereabouts are slim. I do know that the name originated in Wales but other than that it is a mystery.

I do know my uncle on my mothers is Charlie frye's moms cousin. We did have family reunions and I remember Charlie being there when he was around age 3-4....

I think my family is related to him. But there is famous author with my same last name spelled the same exact way.

His name is George Thiedt. (Thee - t)

This is one of his books.



I thought that was really interesting that we had the same exact last name, and we have never even met.

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Anyone Ever Traced Your Relatives?

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I traced my brother once...

I think it is something we all do at one time.

Both my mothers family and fathers migrated here close to the same time. Her's came in to Savannah from Germany in 1755, and it can be well documented back to the 14th century before we run into blocks.

My dads is a bit of a problem...I run into a block with a family member in Maine around 1770...I can make some logical assumptions that would allow a trace even further back than mothers, but you have to find proof....you can't assume or guess at such stuff....his side were trappers who moved in and out of Canada and either records were lost, not kept, or the family destroyed them because Caleb(my ancestor in question) had a eye for Indian women and ended up having children with one or several, so I am afraid I am at a dead end on that one. When I trace back the person I am 90% sure is his brother, I can trace the parents entering the colony around 1760, back to around 1300 easily as records are easy to follow.....but...that 10% screws up the whole deal.

I thought the title of this thread was "Anyone Ever Traded Your Relatives?" and I was anxious to see how that works...

My Uncle's done a lot of research on my Dad's side. He's traced as far back as the Mayflower. It's pretty cool stuff to know, and he's come across some great pictures that go back 4 generations(great-great Grandparents). I've tried to find stuff on my Mom's side, but have not had too much success. This is an interesting site that might help you out:
http://www.findagrave.com/

Good luck with your search.

I've not done much geneology, but my mother-in-law has and my father-in-law's family has.

I do know that my M-I-L is related to FDR. I also know that my F-I-L's family is decended from Germany artistocracy. If that particular type of government was still around, I would currently be the Countess von Henckel der Donnersmarck. Bow and curtsy to biotches!

As for my family, my Mom's side is so weird, I have no idea where to go, beyond my great grandfather. No one knows his real name. And on my Dad's side, it's just a bunch of Italians. LOL!

j/c

Anyone Ever Traced Your Relatives?

Well,the FBI were able to trace one of my cousins down a couple of times,but other than that......................

My mom actually did some research and somehow she found out where a couple of her cousins live in Sweden.

After a few emails...............she decided to take a trip to Europe and she actually went to Sweden and spent a couple of days visiting her cousins.............she has often said that is one of the best things she has ever done!

I am bumming a little now.................my 97 year old aunt just passed away today...............I will miss her for sure.............the sweetest lady in the world!

She had a good life for sure.............when I was not driving here absolutely nutz as a child!

My mom also has one of those bible with the bloodline thing. It goes back so many generations of people I don't know. And when my grandma passed away I got a suitcase full of pictures (yes suitcase!) of people related to me. I have no idea who they are, but these pictures are super old. It's kind of cool. I just wish people would label the backs of their pictures so I would know who I was looking at.

It is quit frustrating when looking at pictures..............you know these people are your relatives..................aunts............uncles...........grandparents......
whatever!

You really feel like you need to know.........hopefully you have a family member you can sit down with and go through each picture...............I actually did that a week ago up in Ohio............it was very cool.

Label what you can, and then pass them down to a child or niece or nephew when it your time to pass them along.

If your family line is cloudy at this point, be the one to clear things up for future generations of Evedawgs.

Somebody in each family needs to be the one to carry the family crest.....might as well be you.

Funny you should bring this up I was just trying to decide whether to start such a project. I know Case Western Reserve has an extensive library of records and used to offer classes on Genealogy.

Yep, I traced my family back to find out I'm related to Anne Hutchinson!!

Starglow, sorry to hear of your Aunts passing

I may have to check Case out. I do know they had a ton of cool pictures of Cleveland and old files from when the city was started. I looked thru them one day. My grandpas family were from Pennsylvania so I am going to have to somehow start there.

If anything I am having a real fun time talking back and forth to the vets. A couple have passed my e-mail onto a buddy to see if they knew him and now they have started writing me. It's very cool to hear what it was really like in the jungles fighting the Japanese. These guys really were "The Greatest Generation"

It says here that Tupac Shakur is my uncle.........hmmmmmm. Must have made a typo.......

Tupac is still alive and living in Canada under the name Filippe Leghorn

BTW how the kid doing? Eating any better?

Hell no she ain't. Don't know what to do with her.

I actually was planning on doing an update tomorrow night for her first birthday. Which is Thursday.

Ohh awsome, congrats! Congrats on her birthday, not the no eating. Have you tried different formulas? Does she at least when she is sleeping? That sux

hehe, funny thing, well not at the time but my oldest decided to try and change the baby's diaper Not a pretty picture but she is sweet and tries to help out.

Oh we've tried every formula and bottle, sippy cup and nipple there is.

She only drinks still when asleep. She fights us even then, but eventually stops and will start to drink. Unfortunately she's got another cold. Seems to get one every other month. So she's congested and isn't drinking as well because I think it's hard for her to breath out her nose and drink. I hear all the snot in her nose when she sucks, then after like 10 seconds she shoves the bottle out her mouth, opens her eyes, then goes back to sleep. It's worse on her then average babies because it's harder to get her to eat, and she doesn't eat enough as it is. Then last week and the weekend she was coughing a lot, and if she drank a bottle and started to cough, she'd gag or something and she'd throw up. Poor thing loses so many calories from puking it back up. She'd be at least 2 pounds heavier guaranteed from all the bottles she's thrown up since she was born. Well what can you do. We just keep trying to feed her and get what we can in.

Aww poor little peanut It should be easier once you start communicating where she can tell you whats wrong, ect. I know it was torture with Ali b/c she wouldn't eat at first and used to throw up all the time. She would scream bloody murder a few hours later cause she was allergic to even soy The baby is too but we caught that fast b/c of experience. With Ali it took us 2 months of no sleep to realize it was the formula. Hang in there though,,things can only improve

Cool subject Lee

I stumble across genealogy family tree stuff while i'm surfing from time to time. Staggers me that half of America is related to Henry VIII and Captain Morgan of Rum fame.

My late uncle researched ours a little i think and he traced us back to Captain Henry Morgan, apparently theres a link with the Burgoyne family from Tredegar, Sth Wales where my dad's family hails from. Bunch of crazy gypsies when my uncle chased 'em up so left well alone.
Also whilst researching he found the grave of my dad's grandfather on the continent, who died in WW I . He lasted in that hell right from the start of it and was killed in action a few months shy of the end apparently. The amazing thing is, his name was inscribed on the cenotaph in Tredegar right under their noses for all those years and they were totally unaware of it as the daughter (their mother my gran) had sat on info. for years without telling them.

I've got a letter written by someone back in Scotland with a bit of a rundown of names and places. I also have both of my Dad's parents birth certificates. My Aunt has actually been back to the house where her Mom grew up in Perthshire. It looks the same though the upper floor was raised it is hard to tell from outside.

So I have a good start I just on that side of the family. My Mom's side is harder because she never as had as much info so I don't have as much to go on. I know she had a grandmother who came from Holland (we still have her wooden shoes) and her Dad's family was from Bavaria. I'm not sure where I'd start with them since there was also a anme change at some point.

I know it would be interesting and fun to give it a try just not sure I've got the time right now.

I've been doing genealogical research since 1988 and it is a fun hobby.

I was able to figure how my nae came about. Given name is my grandfather's given name.
My middle name is mt grandmother's maiden name.

My aunt "Betty" was actually Myra Elizabeth

Most famous relative is my, 3rd cousin 3 times removed, "Belle" Boyd.
She was a spy for the Confederacy during the Civil War. At 17 she ran across a
battlefield under fire to deliver intelligence to General "Stonewall" Jackson.. Just ruined her skirt.

the largest database of genealogical info is the IGI [International Genealogical Index]
developed by the Mormon Church. It is free to use and you don't have to be a
Mormon to use it. It's the place to start to look for people born before 1900.

You can also search 5 other Dbs at the same time.

I served as the genealogist for my Scottish clan for 10 years. Here's some tips to get started.

Capitalize surnames: William BOYD. Reed Lake BOYD etc

use only maiden names for women when known.

Wm BOYD married Elizabeth COFFEY NOT Wm BOYD married Elizabeth BOYD
you won't find married names in records such as birth certificates and marriage records.

I have a LOT of Williams in my tree. I know who is who by their spouses MAIDEN
name.

In a different branch of the family I have 3 brothers marrying three sisters. talk
about confusing.

Dates: ALWAYS use the abreviation for the month. 6/5/1884 can be June 5th or
Jul 6th but Jun 5, 1884 is very clear. Another thing Jun 5, 84 tells you nothing. Is it
1684, 1784. 1884 or 1984. YOU might know but anyone looking at the record won't..

There are several good programs for doing your family tree

PAF - Personnal Ancestry File
FTM - Familytreemaker
TMG - The Master Genealogist

Google on any one of the titles. There are others but I've used all three of these
and all have pros and cons. The first 2 have few differences. TMG is for people who
like detail and documentation.

If anyone would like some assistance getting started contact me off the board.
I will also give some advice if you have a brickwall or two giving you "headaches"
LOL

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I'm originally a Mountaineer Wheeling to be exact.

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Can you tell me , when you get devorced in WV......Are you still brother and sister? .....J/K