Genealogy/Your Family Tree

[Asarena]

Have you ever done research into your family tree and ancestry? Have you done a DNA test?


I've used a website to look through my family tree before, and it was interesting. Of course, I do take it with a grain of salt since it might not always be accurate. The main thing I noticed was how many repeats there were, ancestors who appeared in multiple branches of my tree. A lot of my family is from Eastern Kentucky, so some inbreeding is expected. There was one double first cousin marriage, which isn't really ideal since double first cousins share as much DNA as half-siblings. There were other first cousin marriages, but they weren't double first cousins. Of course, first cousin marriages are now illegal in Kentucky. There were also some ancestors who were part of a family that had a very rare genetic blood disorder, made worse by inbreeding, although it doesn't seem any of my direct ancestors actually had the disorder. They were probably just carriers. Also, from what I can tell, most of my ancestors were from the British Isles, with a few Natives Americans, French, Dutch, and Germans mixed in.

It's also interesting to read the stories. Like one of my ancestors who died fighting for the union army during the civil war when he was about 20 had a story talking about the circumstances of his death. He and a few other union soldiers hid in a log cabin, and the confederates they were fighting shot at the cabin until everyone inside was dead. Apparently the cabin is still there with some of the original logs and bullet holes in it. Although the most interesting part to me was that his brother was a confederate soldier and was part of that confederate regiment they were fighting that day, although it did say it isn't known if his brother was there for that particular fight or not. Kentucky was neutral during the civil war, so there were a lot of "brother against brother" cases.

I've never done a DNA test, but it could be fun

 

[Chris]

I haven't. Most of what I know about my family was passed down through word of mouth. My maternal grandparents surname is carved in a boulder in the Scottish Highlands commemorating participation in a war (no idea which), and the paternal side of my family dates their history back to the War of the Roses (and they very much disagree on who the victors were!).

The only notable thing to share is I'm related to Amy Johnson.

 

[VernalLapin]

My Granny was very big on family history. She had piles of books and documents about her side of the family’s history. Without getting into too much detail, we know some info of my dad’s side as well, based on where the last expat was born. Findagrave .com has helped me a ton. It goes pretty far back for both.

I’ve also taken a DNA test! My Granny accidentally ordered an extra kit so she gave it to me. It was cool to see the percentages broken down. I wish I knew where it was, but long story short it’s mostly German, Dutch, Irish and British. Also, since it was through Ancestry .com, it showed me people who I was related too across the country that I’d never met! And my Granny was my number one match!

 

[Midoriya]

I haven't done a DNA test and am kind of against doing that, but I know from books and talking to past family members that I have German, Polish, and Cherokee Indian in my ancestry. I believe I have Cherokee Indian from both sides, actually, so it's quite possible I have a decent amount of it.

 

[Foreverfox]

One of my aunts traced our family tree all the way back to the 1600s I think? I have it printed out! Not in the tree branch style, but in the information style. There is a known story, not just in my family but in my dad’s hometown too, that our family last name changed from one last name to the current one because there was a father and son with the name Gustaf ________ (we’re Swedish) who were both farmers and the son got fed up when there was always a mix up in their farm supply orders and mail and changed his last name! It’s wild because if he hadn’t, I would’ve had a completely different last name!

A lady who specializes in the genealogy of families from my dad’s home town even did a little blurb on the story in our Facebook group! My aunt showed it to me and I joined the group from that point.

 

[Aniko]

I have the tree but did not try the DNA test. I didn't confirm all the branches yet, there are so many mistakes in archives, but I also take it with a grain of salt, I personally know people who lied to their kids about their father or mother, it's hard to believe nobody else lied in those 500-600 years.

I have mostly French ancestors, but also Native, German, Swiss. My great grandma who was making traditional snowshoes and medicine with forest plants, was saying that she learned that from her native ancestors, but nobody believed her because she looked white with blue eyes and blonde hair. But it turned out she didn't lied.

There are plenty interesting stories, like one of my ancestor being possessed by the devil, those who fled persecutions or deportations, the ones that popped out from nowhere and changed of names a few times.
But what gets me a weird feeling is my great grandpa who died at 26 yo.

 

[thatawkwardkid]

I haven't done that sort of thing before but I've thought about it since I know very little of my dad's side. All I know is that he has a good amount of French and possibly Cuban/Puerto Rican ancestry.

From what my mom told me, on her dad's side, they're originally from Shikoku, Japan but they immigrated to Osaka in the early 1900s. But my mom's maiden name originated from the Shizuoka area so I don't know if she has any ancestors or relatives from there either. Her mom's side is from Okayama.

 

[Roxxy]

I know a lot about my mums side of the family tree. My cousin studied geniology and traced back to at least the 1800s. It is so interesting.

Sadly don’t know too much on my dad’s side but always mean to find out more. I know his sister emigrated to Canada before he married my mum so I must have distant relatives there.

 

[nightglow]

A relative did to the whole nine yards of DNA testing and family tree building. I think they used ancestry. Though the results wasn't shared with me, it wouldn't have revealed enough for me as they were my great aunt.
I've been wanting to do the DNA testing stuff but just haven't gotten around to it. I do know what a chunk of what I am through word of mouth (and finding an old Cherokee nation card in a drawer).

 

[BetsySundrop]

We had a family member trace our family back to the early 1700s, only on my mom's side though, the records were too hard on my dad's side, whereas my mom's side was easy. It was really interesting for so many reasons. Some of our ancestors were transported here, along with their families (so, ig they were poor criminals?). One had his family (8 children!) in the jail with him before being transported. We also had one who was sent to an involuntary work camp, but he escaped.

A lot were acadians who were deported to Louisiana after refusing to swear loyalty to Britain. Mostly french/irish, with some native and Spanish thrown in. My paternal grandmother's side of the family hasn't been traced. But she came from "wild, out west people" so probably more poor criminals, lol.

We did dna, and it matched up with everything. We're pretty much just cajun.

We moved around a lot, so we weren't always around our extended family. Sometimes i regret not learning cajun French from my mom, because so many of the older French- speaking relatives passed away that family visits are mostly English speaking times. I kind of miss hearing all the French chatter.

 

[Beanz]

i know my dad has researched the family tree before but he hasn’t really shared anything and all i know that our oldest recorded relative is some norwegian guy named kermit from the 1700’s or something LMAO

my family tree is all over the place just because my family is multi-racial, i’m irish and norwegian (white) from my dad’s side and on my mom’s side i’m hispanic (chile) and chinese (asian)

 

[Snek]

Oh, mine is very long and extensive! Here it is.

I am circled in red. My roots go back into the Permian period as you can see. Very long and extensive.

 

[Neb]

My parents chose an anonymous sperm donor to have me, so I have little information about my biological dad's side of the family other than that their ancestries go back to Germany, Switzerland, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England. My biological mom's side doesn't really have many interesting things about them other than the fact my great great great grandpa was a German man who worked as a blacksmith in Demark until he immigrated to the U.S. in the 1880s and bought a farm in Iowa. He had a different last name than me because my great grandpa changed his when he was adopted by his uncle.

 

[Corrie]

I've never done a DNA test but it would be really neat! I just know stuff based on what I've heard from the family. I'm scottish on both sides.

 

[QueenCobra]

My maternal grandma is OBSESSED with genealogy and has published books about it for our family. I think part of it is because she’s kind of eccentric, but also because her mom (my great-grandma Nana) was born in 1908 and an older parent. Her dad was born in the 1880s, so she was kind of surrounded by history. Plus Nana’s dad (her grandpa) was married five times so there was a lot of family coming in and out.
She also studied a lot about my grandpa’s family in Massachusetts, and it goes back pretty far, like guys who were whalers in the 1700s and a guy who drove a food wagon for the army during the Revolutionary War.
She got Ancestry DNA done and it proved she wasn’t as German as she thought, but she insists it was wrong.

We know some about my dad’s side of the family, but the Belgian side cuts off at some point and is a mystery. I do know my great-grandpa was a Quaker who converted to Catholicism, and his cousin remained a Quaker. She actually visited North Vietnam during the war and wrote a book about it, which is interesting.

 

[mayor.lauren]

my mom gets REALLY into genealogy, and was able to trace our family as far back as the 1500s! it was pretty cool, since our family now is super small and we don't really know most of them. we're VERY distantly related to a famous rock star (we think), and had another ancestor who denied george washington access to camp because he didn't have proper id on him. kind of cool!

i've had an ancestry dna done, and it was mostly what i expected it to be, but with just a couple of surprises.

 

[Kitsuragi]

i've done two DNA tests, one through 23andMe and one through Ancestry. i wasn't completely blindsided because i knew my mother was a liar, but i found out that my dad isn't actually my dad. "dad" being the man who raised me, anyways, and i still call him dad. my biological father is some random man that my mom knew for a few years, i ended up searching him down thanks to a few professional genealogists (who do it on volunteer basis!) and found out that the man who would be my bio dad is in jail. i don't know what for, i didn't look up his records and i don't care to. i don't have any interest in the guy, i just wanted to know for that sense of closure.

i did at least find some cousins and some half-siblings. finding out i'm half mexican and half native is... well, not super surprising, i look mexican, but mexican families tend to be large and closely knit. i haven't had much courage to reach out and find out more about the family im "from," they're all very spread apart and i don't know if they would have any interest in getting to know me. my bio father is a POS. i wouldn't blame them for not wanting me involved in their life because of him.

it hurts, though, because i grew up with a HORRIBLE family. i can't stress enough how bad they are, some of the people in my family deserve jail time. and my grandfather DID go to jail, rest his soul wherever it is now. but to go through all of that horrible upbringing just for them to not even being blood related to me, i feel cheated in some way. like it wasn't deserved. i mean, it wasn't deserved at all, i was a goddamn child. but extra so, considering these people are NOT my blood. blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb of course but there is no "family" for me now. not really anyways.

i half regret doing the DNA testing, half not. it's still fresh wounds because it only happened earlier this year, but it set off a horrific personality crisis for me that i'm not sure ive recovered from. i could put together a family tree going back further than what i got now, but it feels useless because these people will never know me and maybe never will. i'm just some outlier that popped up because my mom didn't feel like being faithful to my dad. i think the thing that hurts the absolute most is knowing my sister that i adore is only a half sister. it's literally JUST a label and nothing more, i'm still extremely close to her, but it hurts me in some way i just really have a hard time putting into words. a lot of the stuff i learned killed me and took the spark of curiosity and joy i had in genealogy. i've not touched my Ancestry account in months despite putting all the work into it and i'm not sure i want to anymore.

anyways that's all a very depressive word vomit to say, genealogy CAN be fun and for most people, it really is. family trees and history are so cool, if you know where you came from. but it can also open you up to a wicked amount of hurt you don't ever expect. just tread carefully.

 

[pottercrossing]

I've never done a DNA test, but my aunt has been tracing my dad's side of the tree for a while, as has my mom with hers. I don't know much about my mom's side, but I do know I have a lot of Irish and Scottish ancestors on my dad's side. The coolest thing my aunt has found so far is that we are very distantly related to Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII.

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

I don't know my genealogy, sadly. I've been asking my parents to get a DNA test for years now, but they just don't want to. I THINK I have some German and Indian ancestry, according to my dad, but we won't know for sure until we get a DNA test done.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Don’t really need to do a DNA test to see my family history. It’s pretty straight forward. Both of my parents were born and raised in Taiwan and only my maternal grandmother is not from Taiwan. She was Cantonese. From my dad’s father, there are over 100 descendants from him alone.