What do you know about your ancestors from 200 years ago?

Question

If nothing, why? I'm trying to discover what information about average people typically survives over time.

Lots of great answers so far...this one is going to be tough to choose. Thanks!

Answer 1

My family is Scot-Irish that came through Ky after the Rev War and settled, they married the German settlers, and native americans.I know what some did, where they worked. Some had schools and towns named after them. I have doctors and preachers in my family. I have a murderer in my family from the 1800's, I had an uncle who was beheaded in his sleep by his slaves. Pocahontas is my 15th great grandmother and also a cousin, Ethan Allen, and Daniel Boone, are cousins. (everyone knows what they did)

Answer 2

I know very little. I do know where my name came from and generally how it evolved into the various forms it now takes. When we get down to specific people I have very little information at all.

WHY?:
I have nothing but excuses, no real reasons. I grew up 3000 miles from the bulk of my relatives. My parents were simple hill people, not stupid, just not well educated (Dad never finished 8Th grade). Stories were scarce and those I did hear I neglected to record. I really have no one to blame but myself. Now both are gone and the rest of the family is still 3000 miles away. Add to that, I don't want to say, "I don't care" because it is simply to strong of an expression. I guess I just consider other aspects of my life to be more important. I don't have a lot of money to throw around (who does?) and what cash I do have is allocated to things other than tracing ancestors.

I'm glad you asked the question. I have known about the situation for decades but until today I have not put it into words. Thanks, I think I'll keep a copy of this for reference in the future.

Thanks again, you may not realize it but I think I got more out of this than you did.

Answer 3

I have traced my father's and mother's families (so they are mine, as well) back to the early 1700s when the first ancestors came to the colonies. I know where they lived, who their children were and most of their descendants; these total 14,000 individuals descended from two men born in the middle 1700s.

This proves nothing, but in my case it demonstrates that there is quite a bit of information available about our ancestors, but one must be prepared to look for it, spend time and money finding it. It is not always organized for easy digestion and in some cases it is literally buried in courthouse basement archives. My own research took me 15 years with trips to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.

The most informative information came from courthouse records of property transfers, acreage sales, probate and wills, etc. Census information was not of much use until the mid-1800s when more detailed census information was recorded.

So, there is really quite a bit of information available; not all of it has found its way to the Internet so you must go and dig it out yourself. Beware of the on-line services, many have no 'primary' information, just lists and tables of the original legal entries. The LDS files are voluminous, but anyone can deposit records in their files. That doesn't mean the LDS files are correct.

Answer 4

I know nothing about my ancestors from 200 years ago. I imagine that they were too busy herding goats and making cheese to learn how to read and write, thereby excluding them from official registries outside of the blessed Catholic Church. If I looked hard enough, I suppose I could find an old family bible that has all births and deaths recorded in the margins of a specific passage of the old testament.

Answer 5

Well lets see here One ancestor signed the West Jersey Compact dated 3 march 1676,settled in Uppland,chester co,pennsylvania before the charter was given to Penn for the province of Pennsylvania he assisted in the layout of the public roads from Philadelphia to Lancaster,Pennsylvania help to shelter the new immigrants in the winter of 1681 was a constable on the pennsylvania frontier colony of Brandywine. Have the wills of his father and grandfather and great grandfather from England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I there fun to read b/c there in old english at least the English language of that time. Have one ancestor that brought his whole family to America from Scotland in 1732 all 70 family members. They were typical men of there time just thrived in new enviroments with a chance to promote themselves and their families.

Answer 6

some have been present day conflict squaddies, others have been Quakers and anybody replaced into finding for brand spanking new land to settle. some have been tailors, blacksmiths and census takers. some have been preachers and instructors. maximum, if no longer all, farmed to 3 degree. some made moonshine and others have been woodcarvers. I certainly have some that ventured west raising farm animals, cain and different mischief with the Earps. it is suited - i'm a Clanton descendant.

Answer 7

They lived in either Tennessee, Kentucky, or North Carolina, having (for the most part) immigrated from the Highlands of Scotland in about 1790 or from Northern Ireland about 1750, or else they still lived in Northern Ireland. Although they lived in the American South, they didn't own slaves. They were farmers who married several times, their wives dying in childbirth. Records indicate that they could read and write, but they were not highly educated.

Answer 8

I could write a book about most of my ancestors. There are very few who remain an enigma. The better we get at researching, the more we realize it's not about filling in blanks on a form with birth, marriage and death dates. It's really about finding out who each of our ancestors was and preserving their legacy for future generations.

Want to hear about my ggg-grandfather who smuggled runaway slaves into Canada from Port Huron? How about my great, great-grandfather's cousin who was a very famous poet and author, who got the entire family exiled from France, but reconciled with his homeland and ended up with a state funeral. I could also tell you about the 12 year old girl who married the 21 year old soldier in Montreal in the mid-1600s and had 11 children. Her husband was captured by the Iroquois and held for several months. She was pregnant at the time and he wasn't released until the baby was several months old.

Then there's the really cool ancestor who was only 17 when he came to Canada as a servant to the Jesuit priests. He was with three of them traveling to Sault Ste. Marie to build a new mission when they were captured by Indians. He was tortured by having his finger cut off with a shell and then pulled off. But the sinewy nerve wouldn't cut, so they kept pulling and pulling until it broke. His whole arm was swollen and immobile. The three priests were eventually killed and are known as the Martyrs of Canada, but my ancestor earned the trust and favor of the natives and 2 years later was released back to his community.

Finding the stories of my ancestors is what really is addictive IMHO about genealogy...and having the ability to pray for each of my ancestors by name in hopes of meeting them in heaven one day.

Answer 9

Well, on one family line, Davis Blake Carter wrote a book called "The Story Uncle Minyard Told." Uncle Minyard was the youngest of 10 children of a my ggggrandparents, Braddock Harriss and Avey Handley.
It is told in story book fashion but it records the Harrriss family trek from Virginia, to North Carolina, to South Carolina, to Georgia, to Alabama to Texas.
One amusing incident is my gggggrandfather was accused of attempted rape. His future father-in-law came upon him kissing his future wife. His future father-in-law didn't want him for a son-in-law. He went to trial and my ggggggrandfather had to be excused from jury duty as he couldn't
sit on his own son's trial. They found him guilty and put him on a back of a wagon with a sign around his neck stating he had attempted rape and drove the wagon around the town. Later his future father-in-law gave in at the behest of his future mother-in-law and his wife to be and they got married.

Then I had some ancestors that left Ireland after the Uprising of 98. Two of my many times great uncle fought for the Rebels and the oldest,because of family obligations, fought for the crown and he was killed. The reason they left Ireland is they were heartsick of all the bloodshed. My father's mother and brothers were not Catholic as living in the South the family became isolated from other Catholics but they remained "green" in attitude. They always had a sense of frustration in talking about the outbreak of the troubles after Treaty of 1921.
My grandmother would sing "Let Erin Remember"
and she would sing "the emerald gem of the western world was set in the claw of a strange." and hold up her hand like a claw and say, 'that's England."

Answer 10

Only on the Irish side. I can trace the Nickel family back to the city of Gorton, County Tyrone, in 1740...but on the German side, all's I know is me father was from New Jersey.