Hobbies?

[CelticBanshee3]

Ive been thinking of doing some research into my ancestral tree.  Which is your fav site to get started?   My daughter took a blood sample from ancestry.com and it didnt seem right, as it didnt line up with family lore on either side!

Your daughter would only be able to trace her direct maternal line. Males have both mitochondrial DNA and a Y chromosome, so they can trace both their maternal and paternal ancestry. So it really depends on which line you are researching. I use Ancestry.com mostly because of access to the census, compiled family history, newspapers, and old military records. Getting started is easy, just start with yourself and work you way out, Mother & Father, Maternal Grandparents and Paternal Grandparents, where and when they were born, married, buried. My ancestors moved around a lot. I have quite a few gaps left to fill. My goal is to find when we first crossed the pond and from where.

There may be too many horse-thieves and bastards in my fam, so I expect some dead ends!

Oh, yeah, you will come across some interesting characters. Example, my GG Grandfather is the only person I've come across in the census whose occupation is listed as "Loafer", in 1850. By 1860 he has disappeared, his wife has died, and his mother is raising his 5 children. He is one of my loose ends I am trying to find. Just a couple of years ago we had a cousin show up that no one knew about. He found us through DNA.