What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like everyone's moved away from rural areas

[Anonymous]

Wonder what it was like in Spain in the 1500s the area has transformed

[Anonymous]

Through some digging I was able to find the exact plot of land where my grandmother’s grandmother lkved as a child during the Famine in Ireland. I have it circjd on a google maps. It’s not far from ma popular cycling/walking trail so I’ve thought about going and jumping the fence to stand there and soak it in. I think the land has been basically left mostly unissued even though it’s been almost 200 years now. I don’t know what happened to her father or any siblings but I think there were likely buried in a mass unmarked grave—there are a few of them in that area of Ireland from the famine.

My siblings have been to the town my other grandmother came from and see the church where she was baptized but I don’t think there’s any way to know where her family lived. It’s one of those towns where everyone has the same name basically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wonder what it was like in Spain in the 1500s the area has transformed

Spain has a ton of stuff left from the 1500s. If you know the town you can still see some of the same stuff they would have seen.

[Anonymous]

My family lives in occupied Palestine going back many generations. Yes, I have been. I think you probably have an understanding that it’s hell on earth but some of the most historic and meaningful places in the world are there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My family lives in occupied Palestine going back many generations. Yes, I have been. I think you probably have an understanding that it’s hell on earth but some of the most historic and meaningful places in the world are there.

You don't know what we think understand or that we agree with your loaded set of statements.

[Anonymous]

I visited the part of Italy where my great grandparents were from, and realized that I would not want to live there. Rome and parts of northern Italy, sure, but not the rocky south. Seems nice on Instagram, but if you look closely, there’s a reason why so many people emigrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We visited the ancestral home of our paternal line, and it was quite clear why they left. It's beautiful, but extremely remote with cruel weather. I could probably live there today in a house, but they didn't even have houses, just makeshift shelters. We actually had "good" weather for most of the time we were there except for the 1 hour when we stood literally on the spot they lived and the skies opened up and the wind went crazy. We joked that the spirits of our ancestors were mad, saying "We left here for a good reason, why are you back here????"

Tell us, where were you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family lives in occupied Palestine going back many generations. Yes, I have been. I think you probably have an understanding that it’s hell on earth but some of the most historic and meaningful places in the world are there.

You don't know what we think understand or that we agree with your loaded set of statements.

You quoting. Why do you have to be a jerk?

[Anonymous]

My family is from Mexico and I did a study abroad there in college. Lovely place and people but I have never felt a desire to move there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Native American reservation. where the members look at you confused: you're a Native Amrican?

If you were American Indian you’d know it either by your CDIB or your tribal card.

Not necessarily. My family is legally African American, but I have white and Native American —probably Muscogee Creek — ancestors as well. Due to the one drop rule, it was economically beneficial to the whites of the day to deem people like my ancestors Black, so, unfortunately, I don’t have cultural or familial ties that go back beyond African American communities in the Late 1800s. I have visited places where my grandparents and great grandparents and their extended families lived in Alabama and Georgia. My grandparents all lived in DC by 1920, so, seeing small cities and towns in the Deep South was a shock to my very urban teenaged self. I was curious about these places, but didn’t feel strong connections to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you visited the place/s from where the generations before you came? How was it --as you expected? Challenges? Could you see yourself (and possibly your family) living there?

Sometimes there is news of people buying cheap properties in other countries (think Italy or Costa Rica). Doesn't appear they are from that area but they plan to move there. What about the places from where your family moved/fled from: how was it visiting?

Mine are from Britain. Not too much cheap real estate.

[Anonymous]

I grew up on the west coast. I always felt a pull to New England. Was delighted to find out about all my ancestors from Salem, Boston and Maine. Have made several visits. In Maine found their wonderful old gravestones. I've done a lot of genealogical research and I feel like I know some of these people.

[Anonymous]

Two lines of my family are from remote Irish islands that are no longer habitable. One near Galway has a Facebook group of descendants from the island, which has been interesting to follow. Apparently you can get someone to row you over to it and see the ruins. So we couldn't live there if we wanted to, and it is clear that life there was very challenging, but stories are of happy childhoods and a close knit community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited the ancestral home of our paternal line, and it was quite clear why they left. It's beautiful, but extremely remote with cruel weather. I could probably live there today in a house, but they didn't even have houses, just makeshift shelters. We actually had "good" weather for most of the time we were there except for the 1 hour when we stood literally on the spot they lived and the skies opened up and the wind went crazy. We joked that the spirits of our ancestors were mad, saying "We left here for a good reason, why are you back here????"

Tell us, where were you?

Ireland-- Inishkea Islands, County Mayo "God help us." No longer inhabited.

I highly recommend including the Wild Atlantic Way and the Sculpture Trail on any visit to Ireland, especially if you like hiking and birding. Though when we told the driver where to take us, he said "Ach, no one goes there." You drive hours through uninhabited bog, cross an isthmus onto a peninsula, then hire a boat to the island if the weather cooperates. It's only a 4.5 hour drive from Dublin, but those directions make it remote for Ireland. It was lovely and not touristy at all.