Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Who do you think you are?

Have you guys seen the new show "Who do you think you are"? I have to admit I watched the first episode just because it featured Sarah Jessica Parker. I LOVE HER! It turns out this is really a great show.  In that first episode Sarah's family was traced back as far as the 1600's and it turns out she had family that was accused of witchery back in the Salem Witch Trials. This weeks episode featured Lisa Kudrow. It was a really moving episode because she had family that died during the holocaust. Just hearing how they were treated and eventually murdered was horrific.

I've spent the last few days on geni.com & ancestry.com researching my family history. 
So far I haven't uncovered a lot BUT I did find out I have a great uncle who died in WWI. He hadreceived two medals of honor before dying in battle over in Italy. I found out he is actually
buried there because they didn't return the bodies then like they do now. I've also made it 
back as far as my great, great, great grandparents on my mom's side. I haven't found much on my dad's side yet but I just found out my aunt has a lot of that info so I plan on meeting with
her soon. Have any of you guys researched your family tree? any advice?


Bob Out


5 comments:

Sonya said...

Bob, I've been working on my family tree for ages. I would highly recommend talking with the oldest family members that you have still living. Even if you don't know them personally, have your parents or cousins introduce you. Most older folks LOVE sitting down and helping you. They may not think they have any info at first, but the more you talk with them, the more you can uncover.

Don't trust everything you find online. Sometimes it can point you in the right direction for further research, but don't trust it until you can verify it yourself.

If you're really going to get into it, get some inexpensive genealogy software to help you keep track of your data and its sources.

It's a lot of work, but it can be a lot of fun, too. Enjoy!

robertga99 said...

Great Advice!
Thanks, Sonya!

TOY COUTURE said...

I haven't taken the time to research my tree but this is all very intriguing to me. I'm sure your Aunt is full of valuable information to help you dig deeper...make sure you update us on what you discover!

Little Miss Sunshine State said...

My brother has traced our Mom's family and was able to do a family tree back to the 1600's...from France to Canada to the US. He also uncovered some info on my Dad's family (Acadians) that were exiled from Nova Scotia in the 1800's.

Some of the exiles, like my family ended up in Massachusetts. Some other families went as far south as Louisiana (Cajuns).

My brother joined a few online genealogy groups that were for people who shared the same last name as some of our ancestors. They were all willing to share information.
In some cases, tracing ancestors is easier through church records. Because there were so many home births, there weren't always birth certificates, but in many cases there are baptism records.

robertga99 said...

Thanks, LMSS!

I've noticed the further I go back that there are chuch records instead of birth certificates. It's so interesting, isn't it?