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I find it interest that many experts claim if you go bak many are decendents of royal familes in europe. I use to beleieve those sites until my wife found they listed ancestors that she knew were false at the time because of her family having extensive tree handed down thru family bibles.tht si why unless its theu reaserch i really don\'t believe much.
Fortunately for us, we did not have to rely on the research of others to trace our lineage on our Grandmothers side. We had documents, royal decrees, and a slew of assorted other things that proved our direct lineage.
Not a big surprise, but when researching my maternal side to find out what European country they came from, I found that one them was listed as PS (Patriotic Service) in the Revolutionary War. That's when it dawned on me that I really was American!
My grandmother always said that Bond Street in London was named for her family. Through research I discovered that the Bond Street named for our family was in a small town in TN. Just a bit of a difference.
I found that looking through the old censuses online was a great source of info. It told me occcupations, year they left their country for the US, etc etc. Through a distant cousin I found online I saw the wills of ancestors and what they owned - including people
Yes, I found that old family lore of having white and 'mulatto' ancestors was actually true. Before then,
I took anything my family said about our family history with a grain of salt.
I wasn't terribly surprised as my mother talked about family history back generations as if were yesterday. I also didn't have to do much research as there were already family associations in place.
There were a few things that were particularly of interest. Family homes (now museums) being the oldest surviving in both Ct and Mass, a monument to the founder of NH, Quakers having to declare themselves legally dead to avoid hanging, published minister from the 1500's and the youngest graduate of Oxford, and roots back to Scandanavia (don't know why that surprised me), the ususal Indian raids and relation to presidents. It tends to make history all the more fun.
The only one I'm stuck on is my Ggrandmother who was born in Mobile during the war as records were sparce. Can't find her maiden name. I'm in possession of the family bible and there are a lot of old photos in there of relatives who moved west (Chicago, Oregon) some with names and others not unfortunately.
My paternal grandmother's family was from CT and MA. Her grandparents were both born in CT in the late 1700s and her father was born in MA in the 1820s. My problem with researching is that the last name was very common, Thomson later changed to Thompson, and so many different counties/townships that I have NO idea where to look for them. I do have a partial record from an old family Bible but it's not much help. I THOUGHT I might have found them at one point but am still not sure.
I just found out a few days ago I have royal lines in my family (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England). I'm currently working on my Irish/Scottish lines (MacMurrough/Murchada, O'Toole, and Bruce), and will do more of my English/Welsh lines later.
I just found out a few days ago I have royal lines in my family (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England). I'm currently working on my Irish/Scottish lines (MacMurrough/Murchada, O'Toole, and Bruce), and will do more of my English/Welsh lines later.
My mom's family is related to the Bruce line. Carruth, now Carruthers. My birth mom's family was Douglas and they were friends of Carruth(ers). Small world, huh? I had a book with a LOT of the history of those clans in Scotland but I let my mom send it to her brother in Australia and I don't think I'm going to get it back.
In addition to discovering that my husband and I are distant cousins, I was also surprised to discover that my mother is a descendant of a family that arrived on one of the first ships bringing settlers to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and that she is also descended from two of the families involved in the Salem Witch Trials. Although a terribly sad time in colonial history, I must admit that this knowledge sparked a great number of very funny, albeit somewhat unkind, family jokes.
My mom's family is related to the Bruce line. Carruth, now Carruthers. My birth mom's family was Douglas and they were friends of Carruth(ers). Small world, huh? I had a book with a LOT of the history of those clans in Scotland but I let my mom send it to her brother in Australia and I don't think I'm going to get it back.
Not sure how reliable this distant cousin is, but he says our Bond ancestors came from Virginia and the mother's maiden name was Carruthers.
Not sure how reliable this distant cousin is, but he says our Bond ancestors came from Virginia and the mother's maiden name was Carruthers.
I wonder if the Carruthers he's speaking of was from Scotland or England.
My mom just recently told me the story of how they ended up in Australia. They were from England and had relatives that came to the US in the early 1900s and settled in PA. Her family decided to join them here but something happened that they couldn't so they migrated to Sydney, Australia instead and that's where my mom was born. I don't know of any Carruthers here before then but I've never researched for them in the US. But there are plenty of people with that last name around.
I told her it's probably a good thing her family didn't come here back then because if they had it's doubtful she'd have ever met my dad and married him! They met during WWII when he was in Sydney on R&R but I guess he was there quite often between Pacific campaigns.
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