Advice on Tracing your Family Tree

[Robert Hutton]

Writing things down may seem silly, but when my computer crashed with 15,000 names, it was only because I wrote things down and NEVER THREW ANYTHING AWAY, that I was able to rebuild my tree on a nother computer and another two independent sites.

What is not written by hand is copied and filed today. If starting out, make your file alphabetical and organize as you go. I got a filing cabinet four years after I really needed one and wished I had bought one at the outset, but one learns from one's mistakes and not everyone has room for a four drawer filing cabinet, but my research now needs that and more.

The home office is grateful for the Family History Department and its budget for the generous donation of office space and eternally free file folders.

WE can all learn from those who have experience beyond our own.

[Bluehawk]

Being not only a noobie, but also an American - yes, "in search of his family Scottish ancestors" this topic is high on my list of grandfatherly interests.

A "wee" story in this regard:

Like most families and, I imagine, absent ANY sort of proof whatsoever it was passed from elders to sons and daughters that the BELL family were Irish. Turns out, we were somewhere in the vicinity of Ulster for a fairly short period of generations, having come thence from Scotland, and hence to the British Colonies further west - thereafter known as The United States (which have been Federalist and remain disunited since conception).

What little genealogy existed was written on paper in the ole familiar Family Tree format which took us back no further than the late 1700s in time and no more eastward than Virginia. Word of mouth being what it is, that was all we had to go by - that and the unstoppable resurgence of persons having decidedly RED hair being amongst us.

Whenever I did have the presence of mind to ask one of the elders, prior to their permanent involuntary membership in the choir eternal, they simply repeated what was on that tree, if they remembered that much. Were they alive today, then both sides might be more inclined to get serious about the matter.

Fast Forward to the 21st century and personal computers and Ancestry.com - which I have labored with these past two months. To date, from the four inevitable stems my two daughters and I have entered in excess of 15,000 related and somewhat-related and not at all-related individuals stemming back from our bitty twigs to their stout limbs and branches as far as, in some cases, 5-8th century Europe and British Isles, etc.

The Bells remain a troublesome group, however. Yet, we've managed to follow the data base back to one Matthew Bell of Kirkconnel born in 1652, and joining the choir from Antrim in 1688. His son, also a Matthew Bell, was born Irish.

Assuming the veracity of Ancestry.com's data and our attentiveness to details along the way, getting this far back as been a blessing.

Any opinion's o'er there in Scotland as to how reliable Ancestry.com might be or not be in an endeavor such as ours?

p.s.
I did, in fact, touch your soil one time in person - landing at Edinburgh on my way from London to Montreal in 1968.

[Polwarth]

I have no views on Ancestry.com

All I would say is that many Americans use the LDS records and quote them as 'gospel'. They aren't! Anyone can claim anyone else as an ancestor - and then it makes it difficult to actually work out what or who are 'real'....

I'm lucky - most of my family have been buried no more than a couple of hundred miles from my home. I really do sympathise with foreigners trying to work out their ancestry!

Good luck with your research.

[Bluehawk]

The data base we've been using has a purely American heritage program and an International one to supplement that - from which Americans using it derive whatever can be obtained by access to all the records, LDS being one which is included from time to time, available to it.

Interestingly, birth, marriage, death and probate records from various parts of Great Britain and Europe are abundantly provided, along with Peerage and Royal Families-related information and something called the "Millenium File Record."

For certain levels, one might say, of Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish family history where the individual was or married into the aristocracy then about 25% of the time we find stories or more detailed narratives about their lives. Those, of course, are fascinating to an American for whom any tradition lasting 200 years is practically ancient, and rare by definition.

In my personal case, I too still live in the town and region where the maternal line has lived since the early 1800s - which is a big help in that the graves are here within 100 miles or so, and several family members are still around to ask questions of.

Looking back upon my one foray into England, with a side trip north to Leiston for the purpose of visiting A.S. Neill at his Summerhill school, my self-guided tour of Westminster Abbey pretty much cemented a requisite cultural humility most of my fellow countrymen have not experienced, evidently. So, living within close proximity to truly ancient relatives must be quite something.

Originally Posted by Polwarth

I have no views on Ancestry.com

All I would say is that many Americans use the LDS records and quote them as 'gospel'. They aren't! Anyone can claim anyone else as an ancestor - and then it makes it difficult to actually work out what or who are 'real'....

I'm lucky - most of my family have been buried no more than a couple of hundred miles from my home. I really do sympathise with foreigners trying to work out their ancestry!

Good luck with your research.

[HBlanton]

Greetings to all here!

I am 56 years old, and finally persuaded the Judge to open my sealed adoption records, which was held at Miami-Dade County, Florida USA, where I was born. Spiritually I knew all along where I was from. My 37 marker yDNA and mtDNA tests also confirmed this.

Now that I know I am a Blanton, I have traced from landing in America, certain relatives in 1654 - however, also the origin of the family:

I found the crest, which is believed to have been granted to the Blanton Family in 1508 under the reign of King Henry VII. Originating in Lancashire County, England. It is said that their relatives were of the Clan Campbell. Sir Colin of Lochow, was knighted in 1280 and his descendant Sir Duncan was created a peer by James II of Scotland in 1445 becoming Duncan Campbell of Lochow, Lord of Argyll, Knight, 1st Lord Campbell. Colin Campbell (c. 1433–1493) succeeded his grandfather as the 2nd Lord Campbell in 1453 and was created Earl of Argyll in 1457. The 8th Earl of Argyll was created a marquess in 1641, when Charles I visited Scotland and attempted to quell the rising political crisis (and the fall-out from the event known as The Incident). With Oliver Cromwell's victory in England, the marquess became the effective ruler of Scotland. Upon the restoration, the marquess offered his services to King Charles II but was charged with treason and executed in 1661. His lands and titles were forfeited but were restored to his son in 1663, Archibald, who became the 9th Earl of Argyll.

This is all I have researched thus far outside the U.S. I know there are "Blanton's" in the UK today, so I keep looking for cousins and descendants!

Harry

[kakha]

Dear all

Sorry if i am starting this subject not at wright place, but still if any of you is interested or just had heard any information regard Georgian and Scotish roots and similarities with these two nations please respond.
As i have checked on DNA forum Georgians and Scots have almost same DNA and that was surprise to me. Besides i had a friend a lecturer in history locally here in Georgia, Tbilisi and he was saying, that Scots, Spanish (especially Basks) and Italians , portugese (all these are Iberians) have roots from Georgia, Caucasus.

All these Iberians i know OK, but Scots were really surprise to me. So if anybody has any information or just interested in this issue (with similarities of two Georgian and Scot people) please answer me, here or pm.
By the way, from archaic period there are clans in mountains of Georgia as well.

Thanks in advance

[maxkirk]

Originally Posted by kakha

..... DNA forum Georgians and Scots have almost same DNA .....

Hi .
Many Scots have distant Scandinavian ancestral roots , and the 13 century Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson records that some of the Norse peoples have origins in the North Asia / Black Sea region , so the DNA linkup is not at all surprising .