Is about 300 years the limit? (eyes, last name, German, history)

[Alandros]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

What a great site! I did a quick test...typed in a couple of names of ancestors and boom....verification of my own research. (Which includes using Richardson's books.)

Thanks for posting that. It will be a ton of fun to explore.

If you ask nicely he will also do a dump of all the ancestors of a specific entry in his database into a big text file. It's really great if you want to check if your ancestors include a certain notable European person of a specific name (such as looking up the Magna Carta sureties).

I'd also recommend again this google group if you're interested in this stuff:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!fo...alogy.medieval

There's pretty much daily activity and collaboration of research, including posts from Douglas Richardson from time to time. I am by no means a researcher into that area (just a scavenger of others work) but it's really fascinating to see a post from someone like Douglas with all the sources and deduction work and then a variety of responses challenging or support it based off other data. It's really an impressive field of research.

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by Alandros

I'd also recommend again this google group if you're interested in this stuff:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!fo...alogy.medieval

Genealogy porn! Thank you!!

I'm very much interested now that I found the gateway ancestor(s) to England. I'm also researching links to Jamestown (solid) and the Mayflower (which will probably need DNA verification.)

[twnxn]

I am Taiwanese-American (born in the US, but parents were born in Taiwan-so a second generation American). The furthest I have been actually trace back is 8 generations back. My father's side of the family has been in Taiwan for 8 generations. The first person from my father's side of the family moved to Taiwan from Longxi County (now Longhai County), Zhangzhou prefecture, Fujian Province, China to Taiwan. Thus, my estimate would say that was 200-225 years ago. This is per an "ancestry tablet" our family has and also we have a painting of my ancestry from my father's side of the family to move to Taiwan. He was a Qing Dynasty imperial military scholar. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qing_dynasty He had the military version of the "juren" 舉人 degree or called a "wujuren" 武舉人 See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperi...n#Degree_types and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperi...y_examinations

However, by legend I am supposedly (and it is actually mentioned on my ancestry tablet) descendant of Chen Yuanguang (Tan Goan-kong), a general and official during the Tang Dynasty in China. He lived between AD 657 to AD 711. But, this is according to legend and mentioned in my ancestry tablet, but it does not necessarily trace all my ancestry back to him. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Goan-kong and See: http://houseofchinn.com/History(3).html

[fritos56]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

What a great site! I did a quick test...typed in a couple of names of ancestors and boom....verification of my own research. (Which includes using Richardson's books.)

Thanks for posting that. It will be a ton of fun to explore.

Now i tried a few of my family names but no luck. My relatives in Nuremberg keep the family history book,and I discovered that there is abook about my father's family or at least the name, in the stae archives in Hamburg. Would love to go too Nuremberg and see the book, just got to save up money.Due to wars,fires,floods,etc. many records get destroyed. Many families may go back more than 300 years, but the records have disappeared.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by fritos56

Many families may go back more than 300 years, but the records have disappeared.

They all do!

The devil is indeed in the documentation!

[maus]

Originally Posted by twnxn

I am Taiwanese-American (born in the US, but parents were born in Taiwan-so a second generation American). The furthest I have been actually trace back is 8 generations back. My father's side of the family has been in Taiwan for 8 generations. The first person from my father's side of the family moved to Taiwan from Longxi County (now Longhai County), Zhangzhou prefecture, Fujian Province, China to Taiwan. Thus, my estimate would say that was 200-225 years ago. This is per an "ancestry tablet" our family has and also we have a painting of my ancestry from my father's side of the family to move to Taiwan. He was a Qing Dynasty imperial military scholar. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qing_dynasty He had the military version of the "juren" 舉人 degree or called a "wujuren" 武舉人 See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperi...n#Degree_types and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperi...y_examinations

However, by legend I am supposedly (and it is actually mentioned on my ancestry tablet) descendant of Chen Yuanguang (Tan Goan-kong), a general and official during the Tang Dynasty in China. He lived between AD 657 to AD 711. But, this is according to legend and mentioned in my ancestry tablet, but it does not necessarily trace all my ancestry back to him. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Goan-kong and See: History (3)

8 generations is a definite great start. That would be really great if you ever could piece your direct linage bck to Chen Yuanguang. I don't know much about ancestry in that part of the world, but I find it fascinating that some Chinese can trace back more than 10 generations (or many more to the BC era).

[SFBayBoomer]

Originally Posted by SVTLightning

My Paternal Side went back to the 700's. most of the work was done by others but I was able to follow their footsteps and was surprised!

You can't just follow their work. It may be full of inaccuracies.

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by fritos56

Many families may go back more than 300 years, but the records have disappeared.

Records are funny things... All of my dad's WWII service records were destroyed in the 1973 National Archives fire. But I've seen the documentation for my great-great-grandfather's Civil War pension. Less than 100 years between the two.... and it's the older records that have survived.

[crossover]

Originally Posted by sirron

I've traced several lines back to the early 1700s and a few to the late 1600s. I suppose I'm lucky to find this much.

Has anyone else gone any further? Many of my searches end overseas. A few have been baffling, as in, "Mother unknown", or no records outside of census data. What a fun project!

i got a few lines on my mom's side from the 1500's late 1400's

[twnxn]

Originally Posted by maus

8 generations is a definite great start. That would be really great if you ever could piece your direct linage bck to Chen Yuanguang. I don't know much about ancestry in that part of the world, but I find it fascinating that some Chinese can trace back more than 10 generations (or many more to the BC era).

I've actually just hired a company called My China Roots see: My China Roots | Find your roots & ancestral village to help me dig deeper. I've been exchanging e-mails with the founder, Huihan Lie who has an interesting background (born and grew up in the Netherlands, but family came from Indonesia and before that from Fujian Province, China). The tricky thing about records from that part of the world- East Asia is that they are written in Chinese. My comprehension of Chinese characters are limited so that is where this company steps in. They will look for something called a Jiapu (family tree) or Zupu which is a Clan record/chart.

One site that has lots of information is https://familysearch.org/ which is actually run by the Mormon Church- though the keep records of all people, not just Mormons. What stands out with them is that they have also genealogical records not just from North America and Europe, but also Asia and other parts of the world.