04-06-2022, 03:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-06-2022, 03:27 PM by Michigan Swamp Buck.
Edit Reason: For Clarity
)
I have the family book and research notes from my father's side and a number of stories recorded in the late sixties (recorded by my dad) spoken by my great aunt on my mother's side and other material about her family. That was a great thing to do back then, a hi-fi stereo recording of my great aunt reciting my mother's family stories from the civil war to present, thanks Dad!
Developing an interest in the family roots late in life and having wasted any opportunities to get the stories from my relatives while they lived, I worked on the family tree on Ancestry.com.
I got the free month and worked feverishly to build up the tree. After the free trial, you can edit it and build it up still, but without the website's resources. So I explored other historical and genealogy websites and added more information and even paid for a month once to get new stuff from Ancestory.com.
After combining the ethnic make-up of both families I determined a few things, one important one was my mother's family didn't have Blackfoot Indian blood from a great aunt like they believed. I found out that my ethnic make-up is basically 1/4 English, 1/4 Scott/Irish, 1/4 Czech, and 1/4 German.
After finding out all that, my 1st cousin (mother's sister's daughter) got the DNA test done. It was always assumed she was 1/8 or 1/16 African blood from her father, but it turns out not only there is zero African blood, but no Native American blood either. So that helps verify my research by eliminating a couple family stories that weren't true.
It's amazing how much information is available online and I encourage others to make their family tree and then decide at some point if a DNA test will help fill in the blanks. The history alone is worth the effort. I have two ancestors from the Mayflower on my dad's side and a founder of Jamestown on my mom's side. Lots of Revolutionary war and Civil war involvement as well. The things you will learn will place your family firmly within the history of our nation and others in the Old World.
Developing an interest in the family roots late in life and having wasted any opportunities to get the stories from my relatives while they lived, I worked on the family tree on Ancestry.com.
I got the free month and worked feverishly to build up the tree. After the free trial, you can edit it and build it up still, but without the website's resources. So I explored other historical and genealogy websites and added more information and even paid for a month once to get new stuff from Ancestory.com.
After combining the ethnic make-up of both families I determined a few things, one important one was my mother's family didn't have Blackfoot Indian blood from a great aunt like they believed. I found out that my ethnic make-up is basically 1/4 English, 1/4 Scott/Irish, 1/4 Czech, and 1/4 German.
After finding out all that, my 1st cousin (mother's sister's daughter) got the DNA test done. It was always assumed she was 1/8 or 1/16 African blood from her father, but it turns out not only there is zero African blood, but no Native American blood either. So that helps verify my research by eliminating a couple family stories that weren't true.
It's amazing how much information is available online and I encourage others to make their family tree and then decide at some point if a DNA test will help fill in the blanks. The history alone is worth the effort. I have two ancestors from the Mayflower on my dad's side and a founder of Jamestown on my mom's side. Lots of Revolutionary war and Civil war involvement as well. The things you will learn will place your family firmly within the history of our nation and others in the Old World.