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I've done some generic research on sites like Family Search and Ancestry about my family but haven't really come up with anything that I already don't know. I'm wondering where I should begin to really start to delve into my family tree?
I'm Hungarian on both sides and from what I've been told my paternal great-grandmother came over to America as a teenager via Brooklyn; family stories indicated that she never knew exactly how old she was or when her birthday was, either- which is really weird when you think about it. Oh, and there's been some talk about us having some Romani background as well, which I find fascinating. My maternal grandfather also fought in WWI (he was a lot older when my mother was born) and from what she told me he used to run a brothel in Indiana! He also had a son from his first marriage (married 3 times, each wife died) and that son (my mother's half brother) wasn't even discovered to exist until my mother was into her 20's. She doesn't know anything about him except that she was told he had a drug problem and that his name is Harold Smith- I know, how much more generic can you get, right?
Anyway. I was hoping for some suggestions and ideas on where to start this search and also some insight on what sites are worth paying for. I am also considering getting a DNA test to see what my lineage really is like- what places are reputable and provide good results? TIA everyone!
I'm assuming that your maternal grandfather served in the US military during WWI. Most service records from that periods were destroyed in a fire back in the 70s, but you should check with NARA to see what they have: World War I Records
Have you really exhausted all leads with the free sites? For example, with Find-a-grave you could search all of the surnames in your family to find burial locations of (possible) distant family members: Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records
What about ancestry.com's message forums for specific surnames or locations?
I've done some generic research on sites like Family Search and Ancestry about my family but haven't really come up with anything that I already don't know. I'm wondering where I should begin to really start to delve into my family tree?
I'm Hungarian on both sides and from what I've been told my paternal great-grandmother came over to America as a teenager via Brooklyn; family stories indicated that she never knew exactly how old she was or when her birthday was, either- which is really weird when you think about it. Oh, and there's been some talk about us having some Romani background as well, which I find fascinating. My maternal grandfather also fought in WWI (he was a lot older when my mother was born) and from what she told me he used to run a brothel in Indiana! He also had a son from his first marriage (married 3 times, each wife died) and that son (my mother's half brother) wasn't even discovered to exist until my mother was into her 20's. She doesn't know anything about him except that she was told he had a drug problem and that his name is Harold Smith- I know, how much more generic can you get, right?
Anyway. I was hoping for some suggestions and ideas on where to start this search and also some insight on what sites are worth paying for. I am also considering getting a DNA test to see what my lineage really is like- what places are reputable and provide good results? TIA everyone!
If you're not getting significant results from FamilySearch or Ancestry.com, it's unlikely you'll find a wealth of records with any other singular website. Ancestry.com is the biggest online records database and FamilySearch is the biggest free online records database. Unless there is a Hungarian digital archives or other website specific to a local area your ancestry in is or specific to a certain type of record (like newspapers), you're not going to find a better online source than these two.
If all your branches have fairly recent immigration, that may be why you're not finding much online - in terms of foreign records online, availability is very hit and miss. You may have to take your search offline and start writing letters to Hungary.
However, I am wondering if you're just not utilizing Ancestry.com and FamilySearch the best way you can. You say you've been told your paternal great grandmother came over to America as a teenager via Brooklyn - so have you found her immigration records? What time period did she supposedly arrive? You say you haven't come up with anything that you don't already know - but can you list what you did find so we can have an idea of whether there might be more on Ancestry.com or FamilySearch that you might have missed?
As for DNA, if you just want to take it for the ethnicity results, I wouldn't strongly recommend it. The ethnicity percentages are only estimates based on each company's sample groups. I've test with AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and FTDNA - they are all reputable companies but they all have different sample groups and therefore give different ethnicity percentages. The truth is that DNA is not bound by political borders which have greatly changed over time anyway. Many ethnic groups of Europe are too genetically similar to tell apart. As a result, the DNA categories are often very vague and cover a large area and people get frustrated that the results aren't more specific. If you are entirely Hungarian, most likely your results will come back mostly Eastern European with some smaller percentages in surrounding areas which are likely either ancient components of your Hungarian ancestry or just statistical noise that doesn't mean anything. You could get some unexpected results but if you do go through with it and it doesn't wind up telling you anything new, don't be surprised.
That said, if you're determined to go through with it and you all you want is your ethnicity results, AncestryDNA is a good option - they provide a lot of info on each of their categories. For example, they will tell you that the average native of Eastern Europe is about 82% Eastern European and other regions commonly seen in natives of Eastern Europe are Italy/Greece and Western Europe. So you can compare your results to the "norm" for people from that area. They also give a detailed history of the people of that region.
However, the real benefit of DNA is with the cousin matches it produces. By collaborating with DNA matches, you may be able to find out more about your family tree. But for this, I would not recommend AncestryDNA, I'd recommend FamilyTreeDNA, because they have a chromosomal browser and a "matches in common with" tool. AncestryDNA has neither, 23andMe does have a chromosomal browser but to use it, you have to invite each of your matches to share their genomes. I do have to also point out though that FTDNA allows you to transfer your results from another company to them for $69. So you could test with AncestryDNA and then transfer it to FTDNA and get the best of both worlds.
And whichever company you do test with, I always recommend upload your data to GEDmatch.com - it's totally free so you have nothing to lose. It allows AncestryDNA testers to use a chromosomal browser and it allows you to connect with matches from all three of the companies (but obviously only with people who have also uploaded to GEDmatch).
A good way to start is by talking to your relatives. Ask them what they know about the family. They may have pictures and other information that your parents don't have. I would.recommend RootsWeb for a database and forums to try to and connect with other people's trees and interact with other who are also searching the same surname. RootsWeb is always free. GenForum also has a database that you can search by surname, state and county. There are individual family websites, just google your surname and family website.
If you don't find something doing that, I will be really surprised. There are as lot of family information on the internet. Of course information has to be verified by a reliable source.
I don't know where you live or what specifics your surname tells or I might know other resources that would help. I started out with a few names and dates of my husband's family written on a scrap of paper. His heritage was Hispanic and they were from New Mexico. From there I learned that Catholics kept very good records and they were translated into books I could buy. So different resources for different people.
I've done some basic research with names and birth dates and the like but I haven't really delved too deep into the family tree- it's always held my interest and lately I'm wanting to really start to get it all down on paper and create a history for my children.
From what I've been told, my maiden name/family name was changed when my paternal grandfather's family came to the USA- apparently they shortened and possibly even changed the spelling the last name to "Americanize" it. I only have a few relatives left who would be able to tell me anything and those are my dad's sisters- all of the elder family are now dead and gone.
I was also told that my paternal grandfather had 16-17 siblings and that the family lived, I think, in PA. I don't think that very many of my grandfather's siblings survived past a younger age- I do know he had a few sisters left over and I think the last one just died last year (have to ask my mom about that one, she knows more about my dad's family then he does). Perhaps I can contact the sisters families and see what they can tell me.
I do think I found my paternal great-grandmother's immigration record on FamilySearch and it actually had the name of the couple she came to work for as a servant. That was a really interesting find, as I didn't know she came over as a servant. I was even contemplating trying to contact the descendents of the family she used to work for to just get a glimpse of what her life was like back then but I doubt I would get too much information, as that was 100 years ago.
It all just fascinates me, to be honest! Thank you for the input so far!
Start with what you know & work back generation by generation. Make a chart with names & when / where they were born (approximate birth years if you don't have exact years.)
BTW, it's not at all unusual for immigrants (& even native born Americans) to not have known their exact birth years. Yes, it sounds odd to us, but was quite common for people from some countries especially. People from the Russian Empire, Austro Hungarian Empire would often not know birth years, as opposed to people from the U.K., for example, where precise records were kept going quite far back.
If you had family in NY try: www.fultonhistory.com It's a free site of old digitized newspapers & the dates come closer in time that the LOC database. This database has also been adding newspapers from outside NY lately.
Remember to search the name both backward & forward because it will appear that way in obits, city directories & other things, i.e. "John Smith" & also search "Smith, John"
Search names in googlebooks. Lots of genealogical items there, i.e. some old city directories, many smaller towns in the U.S. produced town histories circa the 1890's & a lot of them are on googlebooks.
Have you searched census, naturalization records, vital records? Perhaps you're not finding things because names were mispelled in the digitized indices? Try doing a non-exact search on either first or last names.
I've done some generic research on sites like Family Search and Ancestry about my family but haven't really come up with anything that I already don't know. I'm wondering where I should begin to really start to delve into my family tree?
I'm Hungarian on both sides and from what I've been told my paternal great-grandmother came over to America as a teenager via Brooklyn; family stories indicated that she never knew exactly how old she was or when her birthday was, either- which is really weird when you think about it. Oh, and there's been some talk about us having some Romani background as well, which I find fascinating. My maternal grandfather also fought in WWI (he was a lot older when my mother was born) and from what she told me he used to run a brothel in Indiana! He also had a son from his first marriage (married 3 times, each wife died) and that son (my mother's half brother) wasn't even discovered to exist until my mother was into her 20's. She doesn't know anything about him except that she was told he had a drug problem and that his name is Harold Smith- I know, how much more generic can you get, right?
Anyway. I was hoping for some suggestions and ideas on where to start this search and also some insight on what sites are worth paying for. I am also considering getting a DNA test to see what my lineage really is like- what places are reputable and provide good results? TIA everyone!
Since you mention your paternal great-grandmother came to America as a teenager via Brooklyn, depending on what year she entered the USA she may come via Ellis Island. So you should check the Ellis Island website which gives free access to passenger ship manifests which could add some information about her if she is listed there.
Since you mention your paternal great-grandmother came to America as a teenager via Brooklyn, depending on what year she entered the USA she may come via Ellis Island. So you should check the Ellis Island website which gives free access to passenger ship manifests which could add some information about her if she is listed there.
Depending on what year she arrived you may find her on the Ellis Island Database, or the Castle Garden database. Both of these can be searched through: www.stevemorse.org
Keep in mind that the old passenger manifests are hard to ready & many names got mispelled when transcribed into the indices.
Ancestry also has these records (sometimes with names spelled differently for the same person on the same manifest !) Ancestry is availalbe for free on many public library computers.
Agree. However, I have had good luck with that site.
Also, fultonhistory has been adding newspapers from outside of NY recently.
I've actually found some items on fultonhistory by searching for an ancestor's address.
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Want to start researching my family
