Author Topic: Geneaology - Anybody into it?  (Read 33515 times)

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Offline whiffleball

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Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« on: July 21, 2011, 08:42:21 AM »
I just started on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.  I'm hitting walls on a few and am finding tons of misspellings that are complicating matters.  Links to other sites any researchers have found helpful are appreciated.

I did discover a relative who deserted the Confederate Army and enlisted with the Union.  It's disappointing to have a deserter in the family even if he did eventually serve.

I also found another relative who was alleged to have served with a NC unit during the Revolutionary War.  I need to find out where I can get my hands on concrete proof of his service so I can begin the process of joining DAR.  If anyone has information on how to do this I'd love to hear it.

Now that I've started it has become addictive and time consuming.  Luckily, on Ancestry I'm finding some interesting stories behind the names.


Offline franksolich

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2011, 09:00:53 AM »
I've been into family history since I was in the fifth grade, and made my first family tree.

That was a long time ago, and I'm really hesitant to say how much I've accumulated.

However, I couldn't be of any help when it comes to such research on the internet; all of mine was, at first, using the U.S. Postal Service, and then as the years and decades rolled on, I found myself simply using Mormons to do the work for me.

Since family research is a commandment, and obligatory, for Mormons, they're all very good at it, and probably even better than professional genealogical researchers (not bashing the professionals; the ones I've used have all been very good, but--).

If, at the moment, there was a Mormon--any Mormon--handy to me, I'd have him or her on the "payroll," looking up this or that.
apres moi, le deluge

Offline CG6468

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2011, 09:03:57 AM »
Yep. It's an obsessive hobby of mine. I started about 20 years ago, and my family tree, including that of my wife, now numbers about 7400 individuals, going back to 1550 or so.

Germany and Ireland are difficult countries for me to find much information. A lot of German records were lost during the wars. In Sweden, the government stopped keeping records and turned it all over to the Lutheran Church, which kept exact and detailed records of births, deaths, emigrants, etc. But you have to know Swedish, and the local church proves invaluable if you know it....  ::)

I use Family Tree Maker 2010. I don't like the new Family Tree Maker programs; I still can't figure out how to find the total number of surnames like the older versions.
Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline CG6468

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2011, 09:05:55 AM »
However, I couldn't be of any help when it comes to such research on the internet; all of mine was, at first, using the U.S. Postal Service, and then as the years and decades rolled on, I found myself simply using Mormons to do the work for me.

The LDS site doesn't have a LOT of the information found on Ancestry.com. But the LDS site is also free.
Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline franksolich

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2011, 09:14:22 AM »
The LDS site doesn't have a LOT of the information found on Ancestry.com. But the LDS site is also free.

My main problem is with military records; for some reason, no one seems to be able to find the service records of long-ago relatives of mine.  It's kind of important because there haven't been many servicemen in the family, recent or long ago--and so it's sort of a distinction, a relative having been in one of the services.

The one that nags me the most is the record of a great-aunt; a record which seems to exist nowhere even though I have her service number. 

Since this is a public forum, normally one doesn't post personal information for the world to see, but in this case, the individual was born in 1899 and died in 1974, and so no harm could possibly be done either her or myself, and so I'm putting it up.  (She had no children either.)

Her service was during the second world war.  Her serial number was N-757299.

I'd really like to know her service record, because she was a pretty impressive person.
apres moi, le deluge

Offline CG6468

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2011, 09:24:55 AM »
I have the same problem, Frank. Just today I sent a request for a copy my wife's father's service record (WWII SeaBee), and for my uncle (Army, WWII, Africa). If those prove fruitful, or even hopeful, I'll try for my deceased 1st cousin's (b 1938, d 2001), and for another cousin who was killed in WWI at Soissons, France.

We have as much as available for my wife's grand uncle, who was taken prisoner by Confederates in the Civil War.

You might try sending for a copy of your great-aunt's service record. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Onward & upward! I add about 8 - 10 names each week.

Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline whiffleball

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2011, 11:30:31 AM »
Frank, you'd think St. Louis would have your aunt especially with the provided SN unless the records were part of the fire or got lost (which happened to a few of my health records).  I've found Military.com to be helpful when looking for vets.  I found a friend I served with and never thought I'd hear from again by posting on their forum.  Might be worth a try.

Offline whiffleball

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2011, 11:32:53 AM »
Yep. It's an obsessive hobby of mine. I started about 20 years ago, and my family tree, including that of my wife, now numbers about 7400 individuals, going back to 1550 or so.

Germany and Ireland are difficult countries for me to find much information. A lot of German records were lost during the wars. In Sweden, the government stopped keeping records and turned it all over to the Lutheran Church, which kept exact and detailed records of births, deaths, emigrants, etc. But you have to know Swedish, and the local church proves invaluable if you know it....  ::)

I use Family Tree Maker 2010. I don't like the new Family Tree Maker programs; I still can't figure out how to find the total number of surnames like the older versions.

Have you had any luck with finding records for Revolutionary War relatives?  Sounds like you've done well with Ancestry.com.   Have you used Footnote.com?

Offline franksolich

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #8 on: July 21, 2011, 12:03:10 PM »
Frank, you'd think St. Louis would have your aunt especially with the provided SN unless the records were part of the fire or got lost (which happened to a few of my health records).  I've found Military.com to be helpful when looking for vets.  I found a friend I served with and never thought I'd hear from again by posting on their forum.  Might be worth a try.

I've never tried St. Louis, but if I did, yeah, probably they would.

It's a matter of priorities, and so I never got around to it.

But when I first heard about how wonderful, how great, all these genealogical sites on the internet are, I thought for sure I could find her that way, and so gave it a try.  Despite that I had all this other information, including her social security number, I've never been able to find her on the internet, in any genealogical site.

So I put it on the back burner until something motivates me to contact St. Louis.
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Offline CG6468

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #9 on: July 21, 2011, 12:28:35 PM »
Have you had any luck with finding records for Revolutionary War relatives?  Sounds like you've done well with Ancestry.com.   Have you used Footnote.com?

All of our relatives came here way after the Revolutionary War.

Never heard of Footnote.com. I'll check it out.
Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline whiffleball

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #10 on: July 21, 2011, 01:42:07 PM »
Another question comes up.  How would I go about finding a list of Knighthoods or whatever?  I've just found an ancestor who was knighted for some reason in the 1500s and lived in Orlingbury, Northamptonshire, England.

Somebody stop me!  I'm getting nothing else done other than this searching!


Offline CG6468

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #11 on: July 21, 2011, 02:13:32 PM »
Somebody stop me!  I'm getting nothing else done other than this searching!

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger!  :lmao:

I have no idea of Knighthoods, though.
Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline Boudicca

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #12 on: July 21, 2011, 02:36:16 PM »
Whiffleball,
I had to quit genealogical research, after 10 years of it basically consuming my waking hours when the kids were in school.  First of all, run, don't walk, to your nearest Family History Center.  They're all over the country and the world even, run by the Mormon church, and they can order any of over 2 million films from their underground granite vault in Salt Lake City, for, last time I was ordering in 2005, $5.50 a film.  The volunteers can be anyone from a fairly sophisticated researcher to a novice-eventually if you keep at it you'll know  more than most of them in regards to navigating your way around the system.  Their Family History Library is online

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp


I filled out forms, years ago, and went through the National Archives to find out information on various military members in my and my husband's families.  Try this addy for info:
http://www.archives.gov/research/military/genealogy.html


For those immigrant ancestors who came through Ellis Island, here's the link for free lookups.  However, considering the intake officers misspelled the crap out of my Hungarian great-grandmother's name, to the point where her last name, which began with a "C" was written with a "G", and of course they plain old chopped off half of the last names of some people with long names, well, still the link can yield results, sometimes.

http://www.ellisisland.org/


There are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of genealogy sites out there...check Cyndi's List for starters.  Begun over a decade ago, it's a clearinghouse for links to sites specific to a myriad of special genealogical interests.


I can't stress enough the importance of NOT relying on what someone else posts online without doing your own research.  I have seen a multitude of bad info out there on my dad's family line, and I know it's bad because I read the Virginia court order books and have seen with my own eyes where so and so had died ten years before he supposedly had such and such child.  After awhile you learn to quit fighting with people online who would rather just cut and paste some bad info rather than go do the work themselves. :argh:

I would never been able to pursue this hobby-obsession-without the full time financial support of my husband.  And, it can be expensive especially when you shell out a thousand here and there for a pro when you hit a brick wall.  I've had both good and bad results with hiring a researcher, but I knew going in that it was a gamble. 

Good luck with your research.  I have Revolutionary War and Civil War ancestors, but was never into joining the DAR so I couldn't advise you on that-but the Family History Centers would be able to-most of the ladies and gents when I would go in were interested in that sort of thing.

Before I go, hmm, try genforum.com

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacvgs2/Articles/Research/genforumboards.pdf
Sneaking into a country doesn't make you an immigrant any
more than breaking into someone's house makes you part of the family.
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Offline whiffleball

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #13 on: July 21, 2011, 05:03:09 PM »
Thanks much Boudicca!  You're so right about the bad info; I'm finding far too much conflicting stuff that I know can't be right.

I want to do the DAR thing for my daughter and granddaughter.  Hopefully, it may help with a scholarship for the little one some day.

Offline Boudicca

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #14 on: July 21, 2011, 08:42:57 PM »
Thanks much Boudicca!  You're so right about the bad info; I'm finding far too much conflicting stuff that I know can't be right.

I want to do the DAR thing for my daughter and granddaughter.  Hopefully, it may help with a scholarship for the little one some day.

I can totally see where DAR membership would be good for a scholarship.  Neither one of my kids were interested in college, so I'm not sure if I was lucky or not.  considering how much it costs. :o

I can't recommend finding your local Family History Center enough!  Link for you here

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhc/frameset_fhc.asp?PAGE=library_fhc_find.asp


I am getting revved up myself, just chatting online about this.  I'm almost scared I'll end up immersed 24/7 in my search again.  It was so engrossing for years that I would actually DREAM about ancestors.  The best part of finding out our family history was being able to share it with my Dad a few years before he died, and arranging a huge family reunion in Scott county, VA, for our family (cousins and my Dad's nieces and nephews from an earlier son of his father's).  Yeah, reading back in the parenthesis, it's confusing as all get out, but as you progress, you will find yourself looping the loop about connections.  I discovered, for example, that George Washington was my seventh cousin, seventeen times removed.  It's crazy, the world of genealogical research, but it's something so damn rewarding if you do it to trace your ancestors back in time.  I've gone back to Odin on one line :lmao: seriously through royal lines some shmuck eventually decides he's the son of a god and that's how he becomes "legit".  Other lines, can't break out of the 1800's, so it all depends on many factors, mostly LUCK.  Of which, I wish you much thereof.

For me, the journey to discovery was always more interesting than the culmination of research on any particular branch on the family tree.

You can pm me if you have any more specific questions; I would be happy to help you as best I can, bearing in mind the last year I did serious research was 2005.
Sneaking into a country doesn't make you an immigrant any
more than breaking into someone's house makes you part of the family.
(Poster bolky from thehill.com blog discussion)

Offline whiffleball

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #15 on: July 22, 2011, 04:48:16 AM »
I did find the local search group, but you have to call for an appointment, which I will.  And thanks for the PM offer as I will most likely take you up on it.

Small world: most of my earlier ancestors are from Scott County, Goochland and Pittsylvania, VA.

Offline Boudicca

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #16 on: July 22, 2011, 04:12:57 PM »
I did find the local search group, but you have to call for an appointment, which I will.  And thanks for the PM offer as I will most likely take you up on it.

Small world: most of my earlier ancestors are from Scott County, Goochland and Pittsylvania, VA.

Scott county, VA, wow, last time I was there for a family reunion they still didn't have a single hotel in the entire county. 
Given how small, population wise, the county is, it's quite possible we're related somehow.  PM me, and as I said, I'll try to help you as best as I might.
Sneaking into a country doesn't make you an immigrant any
more than breaking into someone's house makes you part of the family.
(Poster bolky from thehill.com blog discussion)

Offline FreeBorn

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #17 on: July 26, 2011, 03:32:44 AM »
I just started on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.  I'm hitting walls on a few and am finding tons of misspellings that are complicating matters.  Links to other sites any researchers have found helpful are appreciated.

I did discover a relative who deserted the Confederate Army and enlisted with the Union.  It's disappointing to have a deserter in the family even if he did eventually serve.

I also found another relative who was alleged to have served with a NC unit during the Revolutionary War.  I need to find out where I can get my hands on concrete proof of his service so I can begin the process of joining DAR.  If anyone has information on how to do this I'd love to hear it.

Now that I've started it has become addictive and time consuming.  Luckily, on Ancestry I'm finding some interesting stories behind the names.


Hiya wiffleball. I'm sure you must be seeing by now that you have gotten yourself into an endeavor with no foreseeable end. My dad has been a genealogist for over 30 years now. For many years he held monthly seminars at the Buffalo N.Y. public library to help people get started with their own quests. He got into it long before the internet existed and according to him most of his work is still done without the internet. It takes a lot of sleuthing and a lot of learning as you go. He tells me he didn't begin to feel like he was very good at it until he had been doing it for several years.
I highly suggest and I am positive he would offer you the same advice, that you join your local genealogical society.

 http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/

If you happen to live in a small town in a rural area you will have to look that up in the biggest city nearest you. You will find them there. Likewise I suggest you consider joining the Civil War Round Table as well.

http://www.civilwararchive.com/RNDTABLE/webtable.htm

Even if you don't fancy yourself as a Civil War buff and even find it tediously boring or uninteresting it is at these functions that you will meet many of the people who are themselves into genealogy and you will bit by bit learn the art of genealogy from; A name here, a unit history there, and through them meet more people who will prove important and valuable in your quest.
I cannot overstress the importance of joining your local chapters of these organizations and actually attending their functions as opposed to participating strictly online. As I stated before, dad's been doing this for decades before the internet existed and still most of the information he locates is done without the internet. Most of what you seek does not exist in cyberspace. You have to physically go and root it out yourself in dusty old ledgers in creaky backrooms of county seats, in far flung church rectories and find it literally carved in stone in cemeteries.
Mom & dad have been over to Ireland and Scotland about a dozen times over the past 30 years or so and each time dad finds more information on more ancestors. Gives my mom fits. She wants to go see the sights and shop and he's spending endless hours for days on end poking around old graveyards and yuking it up with the Vicar in some itty bitty village in the middle of nowhere. But that's where the information is.
Most people can flesh out their family tree back to about the mid 19th century but that's about it. Records are scant before that. Records were simply not kept on "common" people before that time, usually records older than that were kept only for clergy, nobility and career military officers, people of importance and means.

If you have any elderly folks remaining in your family it is important to glean as much information from them as possible and record it in writing. We have boxes full of old family pictures, daguerrotypes, tintypes, sepiatone photographs of people we know are our ancestors because of obvious family resemblance but many of them we don't know the correct names to put to those faces. There may well be people you are related to who you do not even know exist who share common ancestors with you, cousins many times removed, etc. As your skills improve and your lists of known ancestors grow you may be able to look them up and find them. Dad has done that and discovered such things as family bibles full of names and dates that were handed down and as families grow and through subsequent generations such heirlooms are "lost". Of course they aren't really lost but if your great great grandmother, say, handed down her family bible to her daughter, and her to her daughter and so on, well, not everybody gets to have it and as the family grows and branches out more, connections are lost. You very well may find "lost relatives" who have more information for you.

You will hit dead ends too, as frustrating as it is, it will happen. Many people changed their names upon arriving in America. For the most part this was done to "Americanize" themselves and lose heavy ethnic overtones. Very common with all nationalities. The Irish did it because they were roundly despised by many for being catholic and if your name sounded too Irish you couldn't find work, feed your family, etc. Germans did it because of WWI. Many changed their names to leave behind their previous lives in Europe so as not to be pursued for outstanding debts or being wanted for other crimes. If "Jim Haskins" killed a man in a barroom brawl in London he sailed to New York or Boston and became "Tom Jones" and never looked back.

My first wife was of Polish ancestry. Her grandmother spoke Polish fluently even though she was born here. Her parents were born in Poland. She was raised speaking Polish in the home. When she married and had children her husband, my ex wife's grandfather forbid her to teach them Polish because "we're American now"! My ex didn't know much of her family tree and my dad helped her out a lot with her family history, mostly when gramps was off at the hunting camp because he wasn't too keen on it. In the early 20th century Buffalo had a very large and diverse population of all nationalities, largely because it was at the terminus of the Erie canal and immigrants from New York City/ Ellis Island naturally found themselves there due to it being the major route westward and a major port on the great lakes. Buffalo had more than thirty daily newspapers printed in Polish in those years. Dad was able to find her family names in several of them on microfishe in the library and make copies which her grandmother could then read and translate.

I'll get back with more later~



"How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin; And how do you tell an anti-communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin." ~Ronald Reagan

Offline whiffleball

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #18 on: July 26, 2011, 06:27:56 AM »
Thanks so much for that FreeBorn!  You Father sounds fascinating and someone I'd like to spend time with even if you aren't my family.  I love hearing stories of ancestry and sleuthing.  What a gem of a Dad!

I'll be using the NGS, but the Civil War Roundtable doesn't have Co A, 25th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry listed (that I could find).  According to a family researcher who looked in the National Archives I had one relation who served with the 25th, however briefly.  I'll need to research the Union in KY which is where he ended up after deserting the Confederacy.

I've found that Ancestry.com is pretty good for about 150 or so years back, but them some of the names seem confused with the information provided because I'm dealing with some terribly common names.  I did see some original census data from the Appalachians and was surprised to see so many immigrants from Poland and Hungary.  Things must have been bad for them to come all this way to the back breaking work in the mines. 

Everywhere I look online there's another site that sounds better than Ancestry, but I have to watch my spending.  I did find a small LDS research center near me. I will have to make an appointment to see what I can find there.

Offline FreeBorn

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #19 on: July 26, 2011, 07:28:46 AM »
At first all he could do was obtain a sampling of copies which contained the names he was looking for for my ex to bring to her grandmother to read over. She could then point out things to my dad to look for, what the words like "births", "weddings" and "obituary" look like in cyrillic Polish print, etc. and he could better locate important listings. Her grandmother didn't know very many important dates for sure. Still, he couldn't read Polish and spent endless hours poring over microfiche files trying to spot names but did find several listings with dates. That is what counted. Finding dates of when children were born, when weddings took place, dates of deaths. Now he could look elsewhere like census records and find more information. A lot can turn up that way. Several children who died very young who my ex's grandmother never knew had existed because they died before she was born and her parents, aunts and uncles had never spoke of them. This uncovered a lot of people and put dates to names, etc. so he could begin to look further back to previous generations in Poland. He did obtain several documents from Poland after requesting them by writing to government agencies and the catholic parishes in the old home towns once they were determined. Everything he received was of course in Polish. My ex's grandmother could read the older records just fine, up to the 1940's. Even though she and my ex's grandfather were American born their parents had been born in Poland in the 1870's/80's. She grew up speaking Polish and her mother taught her to read it and write it, she was perfectly fluent as was gramps but he would never admit it. The problem with any records from Poland dated after WWII was that she could not read very much of them being that this was a very different Polish and heavily influenced by the Soviets. It was just not the same language. Some, not much, of the old records were in the older style Polish but much of it had been revised post WWII. Wholesale change enveloped Poland with Soviet occupation. That pretty much dead ended any further research with family lines in the old country and my ex's grandmother passed away not long after that. Gramps stuck to his "I can't make it out, I don't understand it anymore it was so long ago" routine. He outlived her by more than ten years not passing until he was 99. You might run into some of that, my dad says it is unfortunately fairly common. For whatever reasons they have some older folks want the past to stay in the past, no matter what.

There are surprisingly detailed histories of union Civil War units in hardbound volumes recorded mostly in the years immediately following the war. These are to be found for the most part in the libraries of county seats throughout the northern states (Confederate records are much less well documented) although in rural areas those volumes may have been removed to central collections in the libraries of larger cities. For example there are dozens upon dozens of bound volumes on the shelves of the Buffalo public library of union units from all over western New York which have been collected from the surrounding rural counties over a hundred years ago. From company and regimental size right up to corps and army histories. They contain muster rolls, lists of the names of all who served in those units. If you know the name of an ancestor who served then and what their hometown was at the time you may find them listed in the rolls. Usually all the men who enlisted from a small rural town did so all together at the same time and served in the same unit.

That's how we found out so much more than we had previously known from word of mouth handed down family history about three of our ancestors who were in the Civil War. We knew a little but not much. Delving through those volumes of their units histories, once dad had determined what exact units they had been in we could read pretty much day by day accounts of their entire service recorded there in great detail. One, my great great great grandfather was named Patrick Jones, born in 1830 in Franklinville N.Y. in rural Cattaraugus County. By the time the war started he was an attorney. He was commisioned a Major and raised a company of volunteers at Franklinville as was the practice at the time, being a prominent man of that town and outfitted them, heavily out of his own pocket and with donations of the rest of the town's business community. They marched 150 miles east to Binghamton and together with other groups from across New York's southern tier were mustered into the 154th N.Y. Volunteer Infantry Regiment, part of the famed "Irish Brigade". Then on to Washington and into history. They proved to be worth their salt in many skirmishes and major engagements throughout the war. Patrick Jones was promoted to LtCol. during the war and in April 1865, after Lee's surrender he was brevetted Brigadier General (a very common practice of the day) dad has that document, signed by Abraham Lincoln.
The other two were a father and son duo named Sinon from Scio in neighboring Allegany County. The younger was 18 years old and not surprising he enlisted. What is surprising is his father enlisting with him at the age of 48 as a private, but he did, leaving behind his wife and eight year old daughter. They served together and saw action continuously in several states from 1862 through 1864. When at Resacca Ga. on the first day of the battle there while approaching the confederate positions, side by side, the father was killed outright and the son shot through the foot which was amputated the next day. Their Lieutenant screwed up. The order was for him to "march his men across this field and halt them at the treeline, taking up a position there". The Lieutenant marched his company through the treeline into the next field in plain view of the confederates who were positioned in the next further treeline which the Lieutenant mistook as his objective and they received a volley from the confederates. The son would himself live only to 1870 when he was killed when a tree fell on him in a logging accident back home in Scio. My guess is he couldn't get the hell out of the way fast enough with only one foot. Scio is also the hometown of marine Cpl. Jason Dunham, posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for stuffing his helmet over and falling upon a grenade saving several of his fellow marines in Iraq.

Network with any and all relatives you have and document everything you can to get started. Be sure to ask about old letters folks may have from generations past, they can reveal a lot too. We have one letter which surfaced out of my grandmother's attic after she passed away and we cleaned out the house. It was a letter home from another Civil War soldier ancestor who was at Gettysburg but did not take part in the fighting (though his cavalry unit did) because he was in a field hospital at the time. I remember my dad's brother before he passed away saying it had something to do with hay fever or some respiratory sort of thing. He wound up captured by the retreating confederates on July 4th 1863 and was marched south with them for several days until he and another man could break away. They were pursued by men with dogs until they came upon a shed and found turpentine which they used to douse rags tied to their feet and they lost their pursuers. A harrowing story. He wrote that letter from yet another field hospital once they found union troops to let his family know he was o.k. It was dated and postmarked July 10th 1863 but had several more postmarks and did not arrive at his parent's home in Salamanca N.Y. until three months later.

So, wiffleball like I said get involved with some groups who are actively engaged in genealogy and you will learn much more than going just by the internet. Getting into genealogy is like getting a puzzle for Christmas but the first year all you get is the empty box, with no picture on the lid. Little by little you get a piece and then another a while later. Now and then you luck out and hit the mother lode and you get several pieces all at once. Eventually the picture begins to take form. This isn't a hobby, it's a lifestyle, a magnum opus and you never actually reach the end.

Good Luck!!!


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Offline CG6468

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #20 on: July 26, 2011, 09:50:02 AM »
Buffalo, Tonawanda, and a few small towns like Springville, Gowanda and Collins, are and were the stomping grounds for my wife's family. They were also in Cattaraugus County.

I've never visited the Erie County Historical Society or the County Clerk's office; I want to get back there this summer to do some more research. The names I'm researching there are Herrmann, Carney, Ryan, Pitkin, Cavanaugh, Poh, Pfalzer, and some others.
Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline whiffleball

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #21 on: July 26, 2011, 11:55:19 AM »
A cousin compiled this story about my CW relative:

He enlisted in the Virginia Cavalry on 21 July 1863.  He was newly married and 18 years old.  In early 1864 the Cavalry Company is camped near his home.  According to family tradition, one night he walked out of camp for what is now unknown reasons.  In the National Archives in Washington, D.C. there is a record of a him, Pvt., Co. A, 25th Reg't, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate).

In 1864, probably late October or early November, he and his wife decide to make the long, hazardous journey to Kentucky.  To get past the Confederate soldiers who were on the lookout for deserters he shaved off his beard and dressed in some clothing belonging to his sister-in-law.  Twin babies had been born to the couple about seven months earlier so, in appearance, it must have looked like two young mothers with babies as they traveled along the road.  Evidently the stratagem worked as it got them through the Confederate Lines even though they were stopped several times before they got out of Virginia.

The couple traveled by horse and wagon.  The prolonged, difficult journey proved to be too much for the twin babies as they died and were buried near the headwaters of the Little Sandy River in Kentucky.

The couple arrived in Kentucky in early 1865.  He reported to Union Headquarters and was sworn into the Union Army. 

Offline vesta111

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #22 on: August 10, 2011, 09:07:40 AM »
Just happend to run into a woman at my doctors office with the same name as my maiden name.

Things got interesting when her husband asked me if I was the side of the family that were pig thieves and Rum runners in the past.

Oh You Betcha, we were river rats, fought the British and took down the South, built the Subs that fought the Germans and lost some family in Nam.

Nice guy and a small world both his sons worked for the State with my SON.

Never know when one will run into a relative out of no where, best place is the local liberty for census reports, birth and death records, in the area a family member lived in.    Land titles and check the oldest newspapers for any mention of a family name.

One word of caution do not look for the wealthy in past family, try to track the poor and one will get more information from their life, Good Luck.

Offline Wineslob

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #23 on: August 10, 2011, 05:31:29 PM »
Quote
One word of caution do not look for the wealthy in past family, try to track the poor and one will get more information from their life


No problem here, I just look up "clam diggers from Highlands".   :lmao:


My wife has been able to trace my side back to the early 1800's in the NY/NJ area. We could go back farther but a direct relative left the US* in the 1760's for Nova Scotia and we can't find any death records to link the early 1800's with his sons when they came back to the states.

*Yes, they were Tories.
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Offline Celtic Rose

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Re: Geneaology - Anybody into it?
« Reply #24 on: August 10, 2011, 07:32:10 PM »
A cousin compiled this story about my CW relative:

He enlisted in the Virginia Cavalry on 21 July 1863.  He was newly married and 18 years old.  In early 1864 the Cavalry Company is camped near his home.  According to family tradition, one night he walked out of camp for what is now unknown reasons.  In the National Archives in Washington, D.C. there is a record of a him, Pvt., Co. A, 25th Reg't, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate).

In 1864, probably late October or early November, he and his wife decide to make the long, hazardous journey to Kentucky.  To get past the Confederate soldiers who were on the lookout for deserters he shaved off his beard and dressed in some clothing belonging to his sister-in-law.  Twin babies had been born to the couple about seven months earlier so, in appearance, it must have looked like two young mothers with babies as they traveled along the road.  Evidently the stratagem worked as it got them through the Confederate Lines even though they were stopped several times before they got out of Virginia.

The couple traveled by horse and wagon.  The prolonged, difficult journey proved to be too much for the twin babies as they died and were buried near the headwaters of the Little Sandy River in Kentucky.

The couple arrived in Kentucky in early 1865.  He reported to Union Headquarters and was sworn into the Union Army. 

Quite a few of my ancestors lived in Carroll County, Virginia.  My Great-Great-Great Grandfather served in the 18th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War, as did his brother, though his brother apparently defected and joined the Union eventually.