How many generations or years can you trace your ancestors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am really into genealogy. I've been doing it on and off for 30 years. The farthest back I can go is about 1800 which is a 3rd great-grandparent for me. This is because all of my ancestors are Ashkenazi Jewish, and records are more difficult to find much earlier than that. Last names weren't used (unless wealthy/well-known) until about 1800 give or take, and there are no church records. They moved around a lot, etc.

Having said that, I know at least the first name of all 16 of my 2nd great-grandparents. And there are still records to be found in Europe. Some are being digitized and put online as we speak. I also like to dig deep into each person's life even if I cannot go back very far. I also go wide - with grandparents' siblings, great-grandparents' siblings, etc. I love learning how my family fit into history - it's amazing. I have learned so much about history and my family. I have also connected with lots of distant cousins around the world - even if it's just a brief email or a Facebook friend.

We recently had my son's Bar Mitzvah, and his third cousins were there (not because of my genealogy; my husband is friends with his 2nd cousin). I looked at the picture of my kids and his kids and thought, "Wow, their great-grandfathers, born in the late 1800s, were brothers. Could they have guessed that their great-grandsons would be celebrating a Bar Mitzvah together?"

Anyway, the answers to this question have been interesting, even the ones who say they have no interest. Because I am so fascinated with it, it baffles me that others have zero interest in it. But I know that is the case. My sister has little interest in genealogy, and other genealogists say the same thing about their families. We have concluded that each family has one person who is the keeper of the stories. I like the responsibility. And every once in awhile I find out a neat fact or find a cool photo that even my sister thinks is interesting. Happy hunting!

+1
I can’t imagine someone not being at all interested in finding out about the people responsible for their existence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to know what paperwork the person claiming to trace family back to 1100 has. That made me laugh so hard.

There is paperwork. One line of my family can be traced to the 900’s.

This assumes none of your maternal ancestors was unfaithful. Quite an assumption over 1,000 years. It is a wisd man that knows his own father...

[Anonymous]

So far, I’ve traced one line of my mother’s family back to the mid 1550s in France, and one line of my father’s family back to the late 1790s in Ireland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really into genealogy. I've been doing it on and off for 30 years. The farthest back I can go is about 1800 which is a 3rd great-grandparent for me. This is because all of my ancestors are Ashkenazi Jewish, and records are more difficult to find much earlier than that. Last names weren't used (unless wealthy/well-known) until about 1800 give or take, and there are no church records. They moved around a lot, etc.

Having said that, I know at least the first name of all 16 of my 2nd great-grandparents. And there are still records to be found in Europe. Some are being digitized and put online as we speak. I also like to dig deep into each person's life even if I cannot go back very far. I also go wide - with grandparents' siblings, great-grandparents' siblings, etc. I love learning how my family fit into history - it's amazing. I have learned so much about history and my family. I have also connected with lots of distant cousins around the world - even if it's just a brief email or a Facebook friend.

We recently had my son's Bar Mitzvah, and his third cousins were there (not because of my genealogy; my husband is friends with his 2nd cousin). I looked at the picture of my kids and his kids and thought, "Wow, their great-grandfathers, born in the late 1800s, were brothers. Could they have guessed that their great-grandsons would be celebrating a Bar Mitzvah together?"

Anyway, the answers to this question have been interesting, even the ones who say they have no interest. Because I am so fascinated with it, it baffles me that others have zero interest in it. But I know that is the case. My sister has little interest in genealogy, and other genealogists say the same thing about their families. We have concluded that each family has one person who is the keeper of the stories. I like the responsibility. And every once in awhile I find out a neat fact or find a cool photo that even my sister thinks is interesting. Happy hunting!

+1
I can’t imagine someone not being at all interested in finding out about the people responsible for their existence.

A friend of mine grew up in an abusive household. Ran away at 18. Has zero interest. Not everyone thinks alike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People don’t realize that once you go back five generations or so you have very little genetic inheritance from any one ancestor.

I have not gone back further than my grandparents, because honestly, who gives a shit?

Yes, but without that ancestor you wouldn’t exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to know what paperwork the person claiming to trace family back to 1100 has. That made me laugh so hard.

There is paperwork. One line of my family can be traced to the 900’s.

This assumes none of your maternal ancestors was unfaithful. Quite an assumption over 1,000 years. It is a wisd man that knows his own father...

Well obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some family back to Colonial America and almost all, with one exception, were in this country well before the Revolutionary War.

Nonsense.

Why nonsense?

I'm in the same boat. Virtually all lines arrived prior to the revolution, going back to the very late 17th century.

A lot of people did move to early colonial America and pretty much stayed in the same place for multiple generations and intermarried with families in the same region with the same origins. Then people could migrate westwards for new farms and often travelled in groups with other migrants from their old communities.

A perfect example is my paternal line. They were German Anabaptists who came to Pennsylvania in the late 17th century in a big group of other Anabaptist immigrants and first settled in Lancaster County. Stayed in the same part of Lancaster for a few generations, and then moved, with some of their neighbors, who they were related to through intermarriages (big families with lots of children), to York County, and then the next generation to Franklin County, and then stayed put for the next few generations. But once more always marrying within the same Lutheran/Anabaptist heritages as that was the dominant heritage for their regions. No matter what line I trace through, it's the same story. I do have a bunch of weird-sounding German last names in my ancestry that's almost only found in certain parts of south central Pennsylvania. They're not even found in Germany anymore!

Then you have my maternal line, which is almost entirely Virginian of English/Scots-Irish heritage but with similar patterns of movement.

These were all plain, quiet small town people and farmers.

I am the one that posted above about tracing back to Colonial America. I think some feel that is bragging or something of a status grab. I was told by my great grandmother that our family goes way back but I think she would be surprised. The man she married, my great grandfather, ancestry was easily traceable to pre-revolution time simply through find a grave links. What led me to do more research was simple, I have always loved history and when given a chance to discover the history of my family it was something I was drawn to.

So, how do I feel about ancestors that came over and helped settle towns in Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland etc.? I admire their courage, some did good things and unfortunately others not so good. Doesn't change a thing about how I feel about myself and certainly doesn't make me feel special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Five or six generations in Poland. I could probably do more if I could read Polish or Cyrillic. It's peasants all the way down.

The language and alphabet aren’t the hard parts — reading the handwriting is. I swear most were written in the dark.

Absolutely. Poland is so difficult! Sometimes mixed Polish and Cyrillic, in cursive. Sometimes German and Latin church records. Too many people named Stanislaw. Too many Lewandowskis!

Everybody in my family is named Stanislaw, too!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to know what paperwork the person claiming to trace family back to 1100 has. That made me laugh so hard.

Glad I gave you a good laugh. Like I said, my mom is into that stuff. She got it from ancestry.com. There’s William FitzGerald born 1098 in Berkshire England Born 1098, his parents Geraldus DeWindsor born 1070 Berkshire England and Neat Verch Rhys born 1073 Llandyfeisont Wales. I have no clue where the records came from.

Latest it goes back is Trancred DeHauteville born 1045 in Normandy France. I have no clue if these are correct, but it’s what ancestry says. I’m 4th generation born in DC as well.

So in other words you know nothing. I cannot tell you how much crap there is out on ancestry.com family trees. You have to check as there are standards to abide by and that’s assuming the info in documentation is all legit in the first place. People always want to believe that ancestor x with the same name x are one and the same. SMH. Until you have done your work, you have nothing.

I’d love to hear about families that have documentation on old scrolls — India, I think. You can visit the keepers and add your name when you visit.

That's coming across a little mean-spirited, PP. PP's mom did some research with the tools available to her for fun, and PP thinks it's kind of fun and admits that they have no idea if it's all correct. No need to criticize how inadequate their research has been.

And anyways, by your standards ("and that's assuming the info in documentation is all legit in the first place"), then your own documentation is worthless, too. No one knows anything!

I’m the PP and you are right. No one knows for sure based on paper. And the so-called “meaness” I as intended. I cannot tell you have much misinformation is out on sites like Ancsstry.com. I’ve done family research for about 25 years. So many people “copy and paste” trees without checking the sources propating the errors all over the Internet (so many sites like myheritage, take free info from elsewhere like ancestry.com and geni.com). I’ve sat in archives and family history centers listening to professionals frustrated by people who have changed or added errors to the pros public trees.

It is a fun hobby for some, but it can be frustrating dealing with people of widely varying standards of research.

Yes, I agree that there are some very amateurish researchers on Ancestry.com .