Do You Know Who Your Ancestors Are?

American Quilter | May 14, 2010 | American Quilter

[American Quilter]

Now that so many ancestry records have been digitized, it's amazingly easy to start tracing your family tree. I'd never done it, but I watched this season's TV show, "Who Do You Think You Are?", and they kept referring to ancestry.com. So on a whim a few weeks ago I logged onto that site , and I've been amazed at what I've found. My mother's father's mother's family line goes back into the late 1400s in France, via many generations of French Canadians--who knew??? One of my dad's grandfathers came to the US to escape the Potato Famine in Ireland, and the other was apparently paid by his wealthy father-in-law to leave Ireland before the authorities arrested him for his anti-English revolutionary activities.

I've started wondering if I may be related to any of my fellow FReepers. Do any of you have any ancestor stories you'd be willing to share? My family has history in Quebec, St. Paul MN, Jasper County IN, Iroquois County IL, and the Seattle area (including the Olympic peninsula), but I'd love to hear from other FReepers regardless of whether we turn out to be related.

[truth_seeker]

“Yes, the name misspellings can be a hoot..”

I don’t believe there is such a thing as standardized spelling, during the times of America’s settlement.

I have ancestors whereby brothers would spell their surname differently during their lives.

And where a person would spell his surname different ways, during his lifetime.

Starratt, Starrat, Starat, Sterrett, Sterritt, etc.

From the Scottish village of Stair, Ayrshire...via Derry Ireland, Boston MA (1718), Nutfield/Londonderry NH, Falmouth ME, Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Monticello MN, and thence by car to SoCal in 1928 with three generations aboard. In a nutshell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stair,_East_Ayrshire

[little jeremiah]

All human beings, no apes or monkeys. Or amoebas.

[Eva]

Most of my grandmother's family became railroad men, also, but the census that I was referring to was probably right after the civil war. The rail road didn't reach them until much later. One of my grandmother's brother was an engineer for the train down in Panama that they used to build the canal.

I have an interesting train story, too. After a big flood, maybe the Johnstown flood, a farmer who lived along the train tracks reported that a cemetery in the town up river had completely washed out and that two graves, or grave stones of the Lane family landed in their field and that once a week when the train went by two three men would jump off the train and put flowers by the stones. I knew right away that those men had been my grandmother's brothers and that the graves were of their maternal great grand parents. So, I solved the mystery for the farmer. I love genealogy, maybe because my grandmother's family has been in this country so long and they lived such long lives that the stories were all passed down by word of mouth.

[American Quilter]

There are Cotes in my wife’s line. We have some pictues of some. Lavoie (de la Voie and variants) and Prince, Oulette, Lessard, and a whole mess of hard to spell names. Most from the area on the south shore of the St. Laurence near Rimouski and on her mom’s line, Acadia near what is now Annapolis in Nova Scotia. Around Ste Anne de Beaupre NW of Quebec City as well.

Oh my goodness!!! It appears our ancestors lived in the same general area. Mine were also on the south side of the St. Laurence River, ranging from Quebec City in the south and proceeding north through Isle d'Orleans, Montmagny, Cap-St.-Ignace, L'Islet, St-Jean-Port-Joli, Ste-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Ste. Anne de la Pocatiere, Riviere-Ouelle, Kamouraska, Riviere-du-Loup, L'Isle Verte, Trois Pistoles, and ending in Rimouski.

Yes, some day I am definitely visiting Quebec to see all of those places!

As for names, my tree includes Cotes, Ouellets, and Delavoyes, as well as Dubes, LeClercs, Vaillaincourts, and many others. Would Mrs. Andyman be interested in swapping specifics? I'd be glad to give her the name of my family tree on ancestry.com, and if she'll do the same, we can see where they might match. This is very exciting--I must say I didn't think I'd really have this kind of luck when I posted this thread!

[DocRock]

My Grandmother pulled out a detailed family history through her father. They had ancestors buried in Jamestown in the very early 1600’s... before the Pilgrims landed.

[PROTESTBYPROXY]

I had a similar experience. My father's family came from Lincoln shire, England in 1799. He was one of many Quaker farmers who came at that time. I found out that through a so many great grandmother, I was related to Earl of Sidmouth who became Prime Minister is 1804. I am the proudest of my father's side who were farmers until my dad left the farm.

[PROTESTBYPROXY]

My ggggGrandfather being a Quaker living in Georgia during the Civil War kept jumping the line to the north because he was a pacifist. The family became Methodists in 1870 but I believe my son was the first in my family to be in the service.

[Andyman]

Here is the link to our tree on RootsWeb:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=airriess_family

You can click the letters to see the first letter in the last name. We have a tree on Ancestry too, but I do not have an account. I keep my Ancestry tree so i can carry around my tree on my iTouch.

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/17810273/family/pedigree

Here is a pic of a pic of the old church in Kamouraska, where my wife also has some ancestors:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyairriess/2725699403/in/set-72157606505167094/
Here are some shots of the area around Becancour, a little south of Quebec city, but it gives you a good idea of the countryside and the beautiful churches.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyairriess/sets/72157606756814169/

[Andyman]

Matilda Cote b: in Amqui, Quebec d: 1 JUN 1949 in St. Luce, Quebec

[American Quilter]

Hi Angcat!

[American Quilter]

I should talk to my mom more about this and my aunts and uncles (there are ten siblings) living to get as much as I can before they start dying off.

Yes, I wish I'd done more of that. Little things they tell you can be very helpful when you're trying to find their parents and grandparents in census records, etc.

[American Quilter]

Footnote.com—I will! Thanks for the tip.

[Grunthor]

Just this afternoon I did find some records that showed my grandpa was born “around” 1915. He’d be 95 this year. I miss him.

[American Quilter]

Many sad stories. I discovered a 21 year old cousin who died Nov 1918 from the Spanish Flu ... the day after his one year old daughter died from the same disease.

Yes, that is sad. I've noticed on many of the older census records that they asked women to report how many children they'd had and how many were still alive. There are so many answers like 10/6.

[American Quilter]

A warning about this ancestor searching...it is addictive!

It sure is! And I'm loving it.

[American Quilter]

The Cornell family that founded the university? That’s interesting!

[American Quilter]

That IS funny!

[American Quilter]

I don’t, but maybe someone else here will!

[American Quilter]

That is a GREAT story!

[American Quilter]

Wow! Those Pilgrims...so nouveau riche!