This community and our ancestors

My paternal grandmother's family is my Mayflower side (and lots of US Presidents, of course), but my mother's parents were both 1st generation European Jews from Russia and Ukraine and my dna is 50% European Jewish! I wish everyone would do their dna and genealogy to show how diverse we all are, learn about the struggles of our ancestors, seeing the humbling circle of life in the records (ex: birth, marriage, children, death, etc) and most importantly...how much we have in common, too. 

@dlarel

I agree wholeheartedly. If you have seen it, there is a great show on PBS called 'Finding Your Roots'. The host is Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Harvard professor. He explores peoples' ancestry through records, family stories, etc., then does a DNA test. One of his messages is exactly what you describe - how diverse we all are - and he demonstrates it through DNA. He also does some really fascinating genealogy with African Americans, often being able to get farther back in their line than one would expect. One of my favorite episodes is from Season 1 - episode 9 with John Legend and Wanda Sykes. You learn that Wanda Sykes is a direct descendant of a woman that came to Virginia as an indentured servant in the late 1600s. There are some other great episodes as well - you learn that Larry David (actor/director) and Bernie Sanders are actually close cousins (they even look alike) and Bill Maher and Bill O'Reilly are actually cousins as well (this one was a little strange!)

Posted by: @cindy

 

What I find highly interesting in this conversation are the number of lightworkers here who are descendents from founding families-especially given the current environment/circumstances. Something tells me it's not a coincidence.

 

Nope, not a coincidence.  There must be something to this,

I have many ancestors who were present in this country before the American Revolution.   My great (many x's back) grandfather was the brother-in-law of Pres. James Monroe.  President Monroe married his sister.  The Great-Great grandparents of James Madison were my direct ancestor grandparents as well.  

It's a mixed bag because these same families owned slaves.  

Through DNA, I have also discovered I have African and Native American lines as well, a small smattering.  This would go along with the family oral history which said one particular line was either Cherokee or Portuguese. Melungeon people often referred to themselves as Portuguese and were often a mixture of European, African and Native American (usually Cherokee) people.  I may never know the actual story of this particular line but once again, I am amazed by the connections I have found.  How ancestors in one family line actually interacted with ancestors in a different family line centuries ago and their descendants later married each other  2 centuries in the future.

It is fascinating.

@lovendures A friend told me to look into the melungeon people when I mentioned to her that I have both Nigerian and Native DNA (scant, but it's there). My maternal grandfather's line is Southern Indiana/Kentucky, so that is not at all out of the realm of possibility, even though we can go back only about two or three generations on his side.

My husband is also descended from a Mayflower passenger, but I can't remember which one ... I'll have to look into that.

@jeanne-mayell  Thank you for starting this thread!  I have been fascinated by family history since I was a child and have continued it as a hobby.  I've gotten quite deep into it and even help manage some small DNA-related surname forums (fora?)   

I wonder a lot about if and how our ancestors might connect with us, or even BE us (reincarnated) in some cases.  Some of my ancestors seem to want to hide--- then are other times I have gotten wild clues out of nowhere that lead me to exciting discoveries.  Looking forward to discussion. 

@lovendures   I have at least two Mayflower ancestral families.  One was James Chilton's family, and  I can't recall the other right now. 

@saibh

Mine is Nigeria, one other African country with I can't remember off the top of my head.and Native American.  Mine was near the Cumberland Gap area, not in Kentucky but right next door.  

@ana I too have wondered if my ancestors have helped me discover information about them.  Sometimes I wonder if I am being guided to a missing link.  Some things I have known about and others are surprising finds.  Others are simply unknown.  Since many of my ancestors are from the Virginia area, many records have been lost because of the Rev. War, the War of 1812 and Civil War. Many court houses and their records were burnt to the ground during these wars.  I have however found some records back in England ( Pre-Rev. War) which is really cool.  

Simply amazing. And not a coincidence. That so many descendants of the 135 souls on that ship 400 years ago, should gather in this community now, seems a strong message. They came to birth a new world and we are helping to birth one now. I wonder if some or many of them are spirit guides for this group?

@lovendures @ana

I've done genealogy work for 40 years all because my mother asked me to help her by doing some research at the state archives.  That's all it took.  I was hooked.  

Many years ago, before we could do genealogy research online, I was corresponding with a distant relative in Michigan.  She told me about searching for family headstones in a cemetery, growing extremely frustrated because she couldn't find them.  My relative was there on a snowy day, wandering through this cemetery, when suddenly the sun broke through and a beam of sunlight illuminated the headstones of our ancestors.  I definitely think they were watching over her.  

How cool is that?

@2ndfdl

I am descended from Peter Bulkeley through marriage to his first wife Jane Allen and their son Thomas Bulkeley.  I would love to go to the UK and see where the Bulkeley's lived.  I've made genealogy trips before to see where my ancestors lived and it's always been so rewarding.

Genealogy makes history come alive when you can see your family connection to certain time periods and locations.  I don't do much research anymore (overdose), but always enjoyed going down that rabbit hole.  

@bluebelle

That is VERY cool!

My mom had cousin who did a bunch of Genealogy research for decades, went to the library, the old microfiche way.  Growing up she loved to listen to thee "Old relatives" tell stories and because she did she had interesting knowledge of family life and history including her grandmother and aunt who hidden on a hillside, watched a battle of the Civil war take place behind their home.  I can't even imagine that.  

There is a family bible which went back to a certain relative of my fathers.  I  had no idea where to go from that female relative and surprise surprise, there was a book written by a researcher who listed the line depending to that relative but not any further.  It was so cool to have that bridge to the next hundreds of years.  

On a side note, I have a close friend who discovered she had a 1/2 brother she didn't know about.  Born before her parents were married and not known to her dad ( former girlfriend was the mom)  so a DNA search can bring out some skeletons in a closet too.

I love this!

I have always loved history in general, and I have always been interested in my family and where they came from.  It is less about family pride (although I am proud) and more about connections.  We are all connected, if not by ancestors than by events.  Further, it is amazing how things change yet remain the same.  We who still live now and our ancestors faced the same challenges.  We are born, we have families, we have occupations, jobs, hobbies, skills, etc., we see/experience war, poverty, conflict, etc.  Everything comes full circle.

But it is important to research EVERYTHING!  In our family, there was mention of being related to a member of the Cherokee nation (she is listed in one of our family bibles.)  While we did eventually confirm that we were related to her, we learned that it was through marriage only, and that we descended from my ancestor's previous wife (still unnamed) through her oldest child.  But it took a long time to find the truth.

Even now, we are still researching and trying to fill in the gaps.  Thankfully, the DNA tests we got helped.  My father's family surprisingly stayed in the same area in Britain for centuries before they moved to America.  My mother's family mainly came from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.  However, we learned that approximately 28% of my mother's DNA indicate a strong link to Scandinavian heritage, around the time of the Vikings.  But it makes sense to me, despite the fact that we can find almost no records from that time.  I am the odd one in my family because I am the only one with green eyes, on either side.  I stand out during our family get-togethers when I am surrounded by my father's family (every single one of them have blue eyes, I kid you not), and my mother's family with their brown eyes and grey eyes.  But my Celtic/Viking heritage would explain it, so it's nice to know where my family trait comes from.

But it is good to know this information.  I love sharing it, and I hope the rest of you enjoying sharing it as well.

@allyn

Excellent points on the research, Allyn! I've been doing genealogy for about 10 years now and regularly encounter 'family trees' where folks just put a name in, without bothering to cross reference dates, locations, census data, etc. I only put a name in my tree if I am super certain that I can substantiate through numerous records that the person is definitely who I think they are. The further back you go the harder it is. I actually don't bother much with research and records much beyond about 1600 -- because I have no access to the original documents or even images. Mostly we're just relying on someone else's research which is often unreliable for a variety of reasons.

I too have a family story of Native American (Lennies Lenape). I tried but couldn't verify anything through records. Finally the DNA test confirmed that I have trace amounts (<1%) of Native American DNA. We know the family line - but not the name of the Native ancestor. Maybe someday I'll discover it - although sadly it is unlikely.

The whole genealogy process is fascinating. For me it is kinda like doing a massively complex jigsaw puzzle!

This is fascinating. I wonder if ancestry is more important for some than other. I always feel deep connections with the elders and interested in family lineage.

From a little lineage book my father carried out of China with him, I learned that my ancestors settled in China during the last dynasty when the Manchurian invaded China and invited the Mongolians to join them by marriage. Our Mongolian tribe was the tribe of the first empress of Qing Dynasty. I had thought myself to be Chinese until I turned 50, when I traveled into a remote mountain region on the island I grew up, and saw the resemblance between my mother's side of the family and the aboriginal people living there. My husband who had been to 78 countries in the world during the 80s and 90s was nodding his head enthusiastically when I made the discovery. He told me he was always secretly amused when I called myself Chinese. He could tell I have little Chinese in me. Instead, he likes to call me a pillager squared -- Mongolian and probably Maori -- and my son usually jokes that he is a pillager cubed, adding Vikings to the mix.

All these facts probably explain why I always felt like an outsider in the crowded Chinese city I grew up and why my dark skin was looked down by other "Chinese"; and why I feel so much at home in Arizona. I often am mistaken for Navajo outside the Native American communities. The Native will see immediately I do not have the same mannerism.

I have learned a great deal about history in general by searching my family history. Amazing things I never knew about in the past.  It has also provided excuses to visit historical places my ancestors walked and lived like Jamestown, Williamsburg and Philadelphia.  In fact, a riing of an ancestor which was a seal for letters and documents was recently found in a Jamestown dig and we had visited the exact dig.  Makes you wonder how it was lost to time, only to be found centuries later. I was able to visit 2 churches my ancestors attended too.  One in Wilmington DE and the one in Williamsburg VA.  Another ancestor was the first surveyor for Yorktown, VA.  Walking those streets made me feel very connected to him.  

Perhaps the most powerful connection was one I made unknowingly.  At 19, I traveled with my parents to England and we took a trip to Stratford Upon Avon and Warwick Castle.  While at Warwick I was totally enthralled. I couldn't have been more excited and in awe than a child at Christmas who opened the very present they had dream of receiving.   Even my mom years later commented on how she watched my amazement at the castle and its grounds.  About 10 years ago I discovered a proven ancestor had been the owner of the castle, before it was expanded to its more current state.  That was a stunning revelation to me.

I was researching Buies from Scotland, and ran across an interesting story. It wasn't my Buies, but I kind of wished it was. These four Buie brothers had to leave Scotland in a hurry. They couldn't take anything including family. They would stop along the way in the American travels to grow a crop then move on. One of the brothers was blind. He played the bagpipes, and he'd go walking. When he got lost, he would stop and play the bagpipes until somebody came to get him. Just seemed like a feel good story. 

@mamaly

What a harrowing story.  You would never have known of this event had the story not been published.   It gives you a window to what your ancestors went through from their neighbor's/famliy menber's own story. 

Wow.  Heartbreaking.  

@elaineg

That is an amazing story even if it wasn't your family.  I have also learned much by reading stories that "might" be family ancestors but are not in the end.  They still paint a vivid picture during a time they lived and give a window of a life that was.

What a great thread this has become.