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I am now in my mid forties. I was always curious about my family history. But really did not dig deep until maybe about 5 years ago. I knew nothing about my specific family history beyond my grandparents. I am an American, American born, both of my parents are from Taiwan. It was 5 years ago that my cousin in Taiwan gave me a copy of something called an "ancestry tablet" (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_tablet) which is common in Taiwan during "Qingming Festival" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingming_Festival
NOTE: I do not engage in ancestor worship. The ancestry tablet listed all the names of my male ancestors on my father's side for 6 generations from my 5x great grandfather to my grandfather and their spouses names. Plus, my uncle had a painting of my first father's side male ancestor in Taiwan. He was dressed in a Qing Dynasty uniform (similar to this: CHINESE SCHOLAR-OFFICIALS AND THE IMPERIAL CHINESE BUREAUCRACY | Facts and Details). So, that made me more curious to ask my uncle about him, our family line. Turns out he was a Provincial Imperial Military Scholar during the Qing Dynasty (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperi...y_examinations). Then also have a genealogist also research our line beyond Taiwan (they came from a small walled-village within Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China- 8 generations ago). He visited our ancestral villages. They were listed on the ancestry tablet and also the tombstones of my great, great grand father; great grandfather and grandfather. So, the genealogist actually visited the village to spoke with people there, gather information. Many of the villagers were actually well-versed in the martial arts- so some interesting stuff.
1994 when my father mentioned the last person from my grandfathers (His favorite aunt) generation was ill and might die. She lived and I got info from her, meeting her several times.
I became interested when I learned that my great-grandparents were European immigrants. That made me look into our old photo albums, letters and discover more about the country they were born. I also decided to visit the country (Austria) this summer to collect any records about my ancestors there, I've already found this article with tips but I'll be very happy to hear any advice on such trips from an experienced traveler/family history researcher!
I was always interested and frustrated as a kid that we didn't know more history and that no one else seemed interested. My mom's family had some interest but my dad's family had no curiosity. As an adult, I had an employee who would not shut up about his various ancestors and I got a little more interested. I already volunteered at our state archives as a correspondence researcher so I started looking there and found a treasure trove and clues on where else to look. There was a LDS family research center near my house so I would start looking at reels of microfilm. The hard part was trying to decipher old German script, and surprisingly, I found a few things to narrow down my search in Pomerania.
My grandmother was Irish and I travelled to Ireland last year just before the pandemic and visited with a researcher at the EPIC immigration museum in Dublin. They mostly confirmed what I was already thinking and supplied additional evidence to back it up. My Irish ancestors were from County Kerry in the far west ('wild west' as it was called by Dubliners). We stayed a few days far out on the Dingle peninsula and could hear the waves crashing and got a feel for the area. I went to the small ancestral village (Scartaglen) and saw what was there and looked at the cemetery -- not much was there after 175 years. My ancestor left there around 1845 for the "big city" of Tralee just in time for the Famine. I have learned more after coming back home and having seen the area helps me to understand distances and the lay of the land.
I would recommend the EPIC museum in Dublin for anyone going to Ireland in search of family roots. Its focus is on immigration and tells the story of how, why, and where the Irish have spread out across the globe. For a fee you can visit with a professional genealogist in the adjacent research center. Other countries might have a similar genealogy research center that would be helpful.
Surprisingly to me, I have no real interest in going to old 'Hinter Pomerania', west of Gdansk in Baltic Poland, where my paternal line lived for centuries. It was ravaged during WW2 and ethnically "cleansed" and not much is left that would interest me other than a church or perhaps a few examples of old Prussian manor houses. I can see much of what is there by spending a while on Google's street view.
In college, I had to prepare my family tree. I spoke to Grandparents to get information.
2 years ago, my daughter set me up with Ancestry.Com - I found out I have an ancestor that was on the Mayflower!
Only a few years ago, alas. Should've started long ago, when the older generations
were still around and able to provide first-hand information. Some of the questions
I have now will never be answered.
Wouldn't say that I've ever been particularly interested in most of my family tree, but I was always curious to find out more about my father's birth, as my mum once told me, over 40 years ago, that he was illegitimate, and ashamed of it all his life. Last month I finally got round to getting a copy of his birth certificate, and from that found that the man named on the certificate as my father's father had served as a sailor in World War 1. (he was married to my father's mother, so it wasn't a case of my father being born or conceived before his parents married.) As I dug deeper it became clear that he was very, very unlikely to have been the father of my father, because of the dates when he enlisted and when my father was born. My father's mother had been in service (a maid or servant), became pregnant, and was sent away to the other end of the country to have the baby. So going any further back on that side of the family is pointless, as none of them are blood relatives to my siblings and I - all we got from them was the surname.
The man named on my father's birth certificate as his father ended up abandoning his wife, my father's mother, a few years after the end of WW1.
I'm very pleased to have finally sorted out some facts, though it will probably never be known exactly who my father's father was.
Wouldn't say that I've ever been particularly interested in most of my family tree, but I was always curious to find out more about my father's birth, as my mum once told me, over 40 years ago, that he was illegitimate, and ashamed of it all his life. Last month I finally got round to getting a copy of his birth certificate, and from that found that the man named on the certificate as my father's father had served as a sailor in World War 1. (he was married to my father's mother, so it wasn't a case of my father being born or conceived before his parents married.) As I dug deeper it became clear that he was very, very unlikely to have been the father of my father, because of the dates when he enlisted and when my father was born. My father's mother had been in service (a maid or servant), became pregnant, and was sent away to the other end of the country to have the baby. So going any further back on that side of the family is pointless, as none of them are blood relatives to my siblings and I - all we got from them was the surname.
The man named on my father's birth certificate as his father ended up abandoning his wife, my father's mother, a few years after the end of WW1.
I'm very pleased to have finally sorted out some facts, though it will probably never be known exactly who my father's father was.
Have you done DNA? If not you should, it's the only way you will answer that mystery. You have to upload your DNA everywhere. Buy from Ancestry to see matches. If nothing good 23 and me. My Heritage and FTDNA are free uploads, you pay for extra tools. I don't pay at FTDNA, my heritage has the best DNA site and it's world wide. Ancestry has the largest database so start there. It goes on sale for $59 or you can find it cheap on ebay.
I have a 2nd cousin with the same story but the birth certificate is blank like I thought it would be. His grandmother was also hired help, we figure whoever she worked for or met someone. Our great grandparents raised him. There are "stretched names" on his marriage application. It's my great grandfathers name but the last name is spelled phonetically. The mothers maiden name that was put was actually her mother, my great grandmothers maiden name. The kicker is my cousin didn't know until I told him. I had found all of the records that I knew had wrong names because I knew his grandmother. Of course his father knew he was illegitimate or some other story, otherwise he wouldn't have lied on his marriage license.
None of my 2nd cousins knew our great grandparents names. One set didn't know their grandmothers maiden name. She still hasn't entered it into her tree at Ancestry or my heritage.
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