Geneology/Family Tree buffs?

[scott s]

I've long had an interest in my family ancestry and, after having another "old timer" slip away from the family, I finally joined one of the geneology sites (Ancestry.com) and started tracing my family tree.

I'm concentrating on direct paternal lineage right now (my father > his father > his father, etc.) and have found some fascinating, but somewhat limited information. I can trace them all the way back to England in 1407, first arrival in America, first arrival in my home state, etc.

What are some other good resources to trace lineage, war service, occupations, burials, etc. Any hints for someone new to this search?
Ancestry.com has message boards but they're antiquated, not very active or easy to navigate/search.
I thought maybe some of you guys have been down this road and can offer some pointers.
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[167luckycharm]

ScottC,
I'm in the process of searching my ancestors as well. We go back to Portugal on my Dad's side. Like you, I've searched only my Dad's lineage and found some interesting history. You can search the census from 1940 and earlier. Just hope the pages your family are listed on are written clearly and have been transferred onto pdf without fading or darkened areas.
Best of luck!
Aloha!
John
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[Spezialist]

Yes, this can be a very rewarding pursuit.
Mine has been very difficult to trace, and it's on my bucket list to complete.
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[scott s]

Another question I have is about headstones...

I've found several that belong to relatives. Some are over 200 years old and difficult to read. Some also have moss or lichen on them. What's the best way to clean them without causing further damage so I can either read them better or get a rubbing from them? Best way to get a rubbing? Charcoal? Pencil? I think I've seen people sprinkle powder or flour on them to highlight eroded letters for better reading, too.
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[Low67vdubinnocal]

My Aunt uses this http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=gen...YbMkcb4mrg She has been doing it for years. Genweb is just one of the many she uses.

[sixfootdan]

I've heard those ancestor site are pretty $$$ to get started?
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[scott s]

[Low67vdubinnocal]

besides genweb which is free. I know my aunt uses the mormon church. Shes not mormon but I guess the LDS. church keeps genealogy records on lots of others besides just mormons.

[notchback]

The site for the LDS Church genealogy is http://www.familysearch.org. Free to use for everyone.
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[vwracerdave]

[Low67vdubinnocal]

http://www.familysearch.org/ Had never used that before but it was spot on. Thanks for posting that link.

[biggene]

Kind of funny that this topic would come up this week. My wife and I were just talking about me starting this project over the weekend. I can trace my mothers family back to France in the early 1700's, but I don't even have any idea what my Grandparents on my Dads side of the family were named.
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[Rick73Super]

My niece traced our ancestry back to an 8th century Welsh king Rhodri Mawr. I traced his back to Adam. Nothing left to do.

[mark tucker]

I have a hard time tracing lines to cut stuff on without cutting my finger into parts.
my wife did a tree,lots of nuts,no fruit found. but it is neet to see all the traveling they did. I have a firend from alabama with the same last name as me, my dads family was from northern la&ark.so we thought. they started in ga&ala went to ark to find wives & brung back to ala&ga.some stayed in north la&ark. after I found this out I asked if there were many of us up there in alabama, his reply hell yes &stay away unless you want to get shot, there still feudeing,longer than the hatfeilds&McCoys(my mom was a mccoy). so some times it may be best to let the dead stay dead&lead the life you want.

[crukab]

On our last trip to Belgium we tracked down this place:

w/ my family name on it !! It is in Mechelen.
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[mark tucker]

[scott s]

[zozo]

When my first daughter was born, my wife and I asked our parents to write out a little something about their parents, their grand parents, etc to put in the baby book.

Short story is that when my father passed away, my daughter was 21 years old, and my dad was still working on his "family history". He'd gone through a "hall of records" in Germany, the LDS via mail, and various other sources that did not require computer access. I have now, more than 350 single spaced typed pages that read more like a story than a family tree. It's an interesting read to say the least, and illustrates that our family, like many others has had its' share of saints and sinners, scoundrels and victims, and all points in between.

From what he told me, as he was compiling the data, every time he read it, it prompted memories, so he'd note the margins and re-do it. The same process continued time and time again, resulting in what I have today. He also solicited input from his siblings, cousins, and other family that were still living. There's a lot to be said about knowing names and places, but when it also includes the personal touches, it becomes more a warm story than a list of facts and figures.

While I was in the Air Force, he wrote me a letter nearly every day. This went on for 20 years. I found out later that he did it because when he was in the Navy during WW II, he'd never once received a letter from home. Never. It hurt him, and he didn't want me to feel the same as he had.

When my siblings and I were growing up, we always knew our dad loved us. He told us so frequently, and treated us as a loving devoted father would. He went out of his way to do so, because when he was a little boy of about 6 years old, his mother died and he was "given" to his grandmother. She was a hard, severe woman, and according to what he said, she NEVER hugged him, kissed him, or said that she loved him. As you can imagine, being a 6 year old that had just lost him mother and essentially lost his father too (moved away - alone), it hurt him beyond imagine. Again, he was determined that his children would never feel that same pain.

That's the type of information that I treasure most. It's nice knowing where my family is from (Germany), but there's so much more to the lives of those in the tree, and it's sometimes very revealing as to why they were like they were and did what they did.

All that being said, I'd happily be blissfully ignorant of everything he wrote if I could have him back for just another hour. The day his leaf turned on the tree remains the darkest day in my 55 years.

[scott s]

I couldn't have said it better.

Many, many years ago, when all four of my grandparents were living and VHS was the dominant video format, Readers Digest suggested interviewing the "old timers" in the family. Even had a list of suggested questions. I talked to all of my grandparents about doing this, even asked them a few questions from the list, but, sadly, didn't ever get around to taping it.
They're all long gone now.

In my first post, I mentioned losing another "old timer". That was my grandfathers last surviving sibling, his younder sister. She was well into her 90's when she passed but still sharp as a tack. She lived a couple of hours away and we were all just too busy with "life" to make it out to see her. Yet another missed opportunity.
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[HankScorpio]

Anyone discover something they didn't want to know in Thierry family history?

I've heard stories of small town family trees that didn't fork as much as you would hope, or I saw a documentary once on Hitler's cousins in America. There was a lot of propaganda around the american hitlers fighting for the Allies but they still had to move and change their names after the war... Not sure I'd be excited to find hitler in the family tree.