Retracing the steps of your ancestors.

[michaelskis]

In this thread, many of you mentioned that you know some of your ancestral heritage. Many of those in North America came over from some other part of the globe.

Parts of my Dad’s side of the family were from a small chain of islands of the west cost of Ireland. Well I leaned that they have never been very populated, many of the structures have been unchanged for centuries or longer, and they have a limited tourism industry. So, I am going to look at traveling there in a few years (and after more research) to retrace the steps of my ancestors, maybe stand on land that they may have owned or cared for... maybe even sit in a pub that they may have and a beer in.

Have you ever traveled back to the Towns, Cities, and Villages that your ancestors came from? What was it like? Did if feel like home?

[cch]

As far as actual locations, I'm only aware of where some of my ancestors resided, after arriving in the states. I have no idea where in Europe they lived, other than which countries. I do know that when my maternal grandfather's relatives first came to the states they settled a town called New Paltz, NY. My mother's maiden name was Elting, and when I checked out New Paltz online, I found that the local library is the Elting Library, the rec building on the SUNY campus there is called Elting Gymnasium, and there is a little museum called the Dubois-Elting House. I find this all pretty neat, being as I've never met another Elting in my life and always thought it an uncommon name.

[cololi]

We went back east with my grandmother a few years ago. We were trying to find her grandparents home outside of Columbus, OH. We drove around this fairly rural area We couldn't find any street signs so we stopped and asked someone who was out getting their mail if they knew where the address was. Amazingly, this was the next door neighbor. She walked us over to the house and introduced us sto the owner and immediately my grandmother recognized the place (it wasn't visible from the street due to some large trees). The cool part of the story is that they had lived there for about 40 years. A few years before this, they had remodeled it and found a quote scribed on the wall that was covered with wallpaper. The quote was from Abraham Lincoln about a man being proud of his home and a home being proud of the man who lives in it. Under the quote, was my grandmothers, grandfathers signature with the date of 1874 under it. They had preserved it and incorporated it into their wall. I put the quote on my dining room wall at my house. That is my ancestoral story.

[Zoning Goddess]

The most I've done is the tour around Sarasota where my dad grew up, and seen the towns/houses in PA where my mom is from (on family trips when I was a kid). Mom has her family history, from Scotland, and she and my dad checked out her ancestral hometown about 35 years ago, but I've never been. I don't have a clue what country my dad's family came from.

I guess I've never been all that interested.

[Cardinal]

My grandfather was born in Milwaukee. Several years ago I crossed the Cheddar Curtain to visit this city. Though much has changed in the past century, there are vestiges of the old world left there. I was so impressed I eventually relocated to the Land of Cheese.

[Michele Zone]

I lived in Germany for a time and met some of my German relatives that I hadn't seen since I was 2 (or less) and didn't remember. After that, I stopped feeling like a cultural "orphan" and was more able to emotionally/psychologically move forward with my life.

[Luca]

Including parents, places my direct family has resided in:

Brussels, Paris, London, Liverpool, Tenerife, Barcelona, Kansas, Birmingham, Milan, Eritreia, Jeddah, etc.

[Planit]

My Aunt searched our family history and got it back to England and Wales. About 10 years ago, I went to England and took a day to go over to Pontypool, Wales. It was vey interesting to look around and enjoyed it quite abit, however I had no information on addresses to tie a house (or pub) to go see.

[jmello]

I plan to visit mainland Portugal soon with my wife. Much of my mom's side of the family is from the Açores, but there is not much to see there and it is very expensive so Lisbon and the Algarve will have to suffice.

The other part of my mom's side originated in RI, as a union between a native-American of the Narragansett tribe and a red-haired Scottish Quaker. They lived on the same island that I grew up on.

I have already been to Wales, where much of my father's side originated. I also plan to head to Dallas, GA someday to see where they emigrated and settled in the US before moving to NJ and later RI.

[Maister]

Come to find out Bear's and my family come from the same neck of the woods - the Poland/Beylorus border region. We're probably cousins and don't know it.

[Gedunker]

I got the opportunity to go to Denmark with my mom and see the places that were important to her from her childhood and youth, and to hear her describe being hit upside the head by a teacher who thought mom was sassing her. As they say: it was priceless.

[Mud Princess]

I've had little success tracing my own family, but the highlight of the trip to Ireland that my husband and I took in May was visiting the ancestral home of his Irish relatives. A visit to the South Mayo Family Heritage Centre allowed us to obtain copies of birth, death, and marriage records of his 2G grandparents, as well as a map that showed the part of County Mayo where they lived. It was well worth the approximately $100 we spent. Interestingly, we found this area greatly resembled the region where my husband grew up; maybe that's why his immigrant ancestors settled there in the first place. Michaelski, there is probably a Family Research Centre that covers the part of Ireland that you describe - it would be worth a visit! You should be able to find this information online.

We also located some distant cousins, descendants of the siblings that my husband's great-grandmother had left behind in Ireland. That was just incredible. One cousin still farms the family homestead, and we got to see what's left of the stone house where his great-grandmother and her siblings grew up -- just a pile of rocks now. And there are 2 pubs in the family! It was quite a trip.

[cololi]

Another resource is the LDS church (You don't even have to be baptized to use it!). they have a massive ancestoral database. Pretty sure it is online. Some of my inlaws used it and traced their ancestors back to London, and no one on their side of the family is mormon.

[wahday]

Another resource is the LDS church (You don't even have to be baptized to use it!). they have a massive ancestoral database. Pretty sure it is online. Some of my inlaws used it and traced their ancestors back to London, and no one on their side of the family is mormon.

The Mormons are on a quest/mission to document every person and put them in the database. Although, by being put into the system, they DO consider this induction into the church - they call it "posthumous baptism".

The way it works is that they have stations in the libraries where anyone can enter new information. Some Jewish groups have been offended by this and asked for names to be removed, but gosh darn if someone doesn't keep putting the likes of Albert Einstein and the Marx brothers back in there...

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/West...g.the.dead.ap/

[Suburb Repairman]

My parents have been back to about the early 1600s on some tree branches in visiting the sites of the ancestors. Our family has been in Texas for a long time, dating back to the early 1800s. Probably to coolest thing I've gotten to see is the building in St. Louis that once housed my ancestor's cigar factory during the 1800s. My folks have been all over the British Isles and taken pictures of the houses ancestor's lived in where they are still standing.

The LDS church is an outstanding resource, especially once you start getting pretty far back.

[cololi]

The Mormons are on a quest/mission to document every person and put them in the database. Although, by being put into the system, they DO consider this induction into the church - they call it "posthumous baptism".

The way it works is that they have stations in the libraries where anyone can enter new information. Some Jewish groups have been offended by this and asked for names to be removed, but gosh darn if someone doesn't keep putting the likes of Albert Einstein and the Marx brothers back in there...

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/West...g.the.dead.ap/

Every one knows the mormons are on a mission to convert the world. The baptism for the dead thing is just one of the quirky (yet very offensive to some) beliefs. Based on my research of my ancestors using that site, I do not believe that there is any indication that my ancestors have been posthumously baptised (none of my living family members are mormon, at least not in my immediate, or extended to my aunts, uncles, cousins).

[Lee Nellis]

I grew up within a few miles of the homes of grandparents so I have always known that country. When I drove from California to New York to start this job two years ago, I was able to stop at Nelliston, NY, which is where my paternal ancestors first settled in the New World. I was able to see the church they attended and (from the outside only) an historic taven that was owned by my direct ancestor's brother.

[Trail Nazi]

I haven't gotten to travel to the places from where my family came from yet. But in doing some research for the new baby's name, I discovered some of my husband's family in one of the jurisdictions that I was working for. In fact, my main contact was one of the County Commissioners. It was very strange because the gentleman started naming off names that I didn't even mention and that is how we discovered we were cousins - distantly, but still related.

[noottamevas]

Once on a survey I was working on, the neighbor brought out her abstract to see if it would help me. It went clear back to the original land patent from the government. The first name on the abstract was my ancestor. I was surveying part of my ancestors farm from 1830. Even better, attacted to the back of the abstract was signed a copy of his will. Listed all his children and most of his grandchildren.