I'm looking to learn about the race of my ancestors - white, blonde hair, see details, inc. last names?

Question

All I know about my families surnames are:
Akerman
Franks
Smith

I am looking to find out where my ancestors origionated from. We are all blonde or red-haired with button noses, blue eyes. Pair-shaped women, very pale skin and short stature (around 5"2 for the girls), curvy figures and small feet, but unusually strong, particularly large upper-arm muscles and a constitution able to deal with alcohol, drugs and other inhibitiors in high levels; no allergies common to the family, and no history of heart disease or any other serious illnesses or hereditary conditions.

Answer 1

First, start with what you know. our parents names, dates of birth, wedding dates marraige dates, births of all children, etc then work backwards. Next do your grandparents... get as much information as you can. Ask family members about stories of the family, get copies of marraige, birth and death certificates(this should be done on everyone you can get it on) and then keep going. Repeat the task over again.

You may find that last names of immigrants were changed when people immigrated to the states because american could not pronounce them. (My family had this happen) If that does happen then continue to follow the trail. You will eventually find out where you are a decendant from.

Your description sounds as if you may be from Ireland(the red hair) or possibly northern Italy (the light eyes, short stature pear shaped upper body strength etc. )

You can try your local Genealogical society too they may have much of what you are looking for already in the archives and have access to it in Utah where it is all stored.

Good luck.

Answer 2

It's hard to specify and pinpoint where your ancestors originated from. But considering your family surnames and physical features, I can assume at least some of your ancestry lies in Great Britain.

Akerman sounds like a German last name. Smith is definitely of English origin. Franks can be Ashkenazi Jewish or maybe just English.

Answer 3

Go up to the Humanities Dept. of your city library and ask for the librarian that specializes in Genealogy. They should be able to direct you in the right direction. I have Smith on my mother side and we all have the button noses and reddish hair. That is the Irish side of us I was told if that helps. We have a little french as well and most of us are short.

Answer 4

Sounds to me like you are northern European, possibly German. We have many Ackerman's around here (spelling is similar to yours) and they are German, mostly Mennonites. Do the older women have drooping upper eyelids. That is another good sign for German and Finnish, Swedish descent. These people are usually very healthy, as it sounds your family is. I am German with blonde hair, green eyes, and no health problems at all at 46. I also have very large upper arm and calf muscles, able to lift what a lot of the men at my gym can lift.

Answer 5

I honestly love dirty blonde hair it looks really pretty

Answer 6

Sounds similar to the Schrute lineage. Does your family produce thirsty babies? Anyone ever volunteered as a sheriff's deputy?

Answer 7

The best way I know for you to learn about your roots is to:

Build your family tree on line.
You can use a paid site like:
http://www.ancestry.com/

OR You can do this for free on:

http://www.tribalpages.com/

Start with yourself, and then attach living family members.
Find out all you can about you family from living members, then attach it to your tree.
Now it is time to look for historical records and attach the info to your tree:

It is ALL about census records, and other historical records!

You might get lucky and others may have done some work on your family tree. Google family members names i.e. "Mary Smith" + "family tree"

Free sites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=27399&o_lid=27399

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.findagrave.com/

Genealogy message board:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards/newguide/?board=history

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ab-genealogy&nav=messages&lgnF=y&msg=90.1

http://boards.ancestry.com/

http://www.gensource.com/common/search.cfm

http://messages.yahoo.com/yahoo/Family___Home/Genealogy/

http://genforum.genealogy.com/

http://www.genealogyforum.com/messages/

http://www.progenealogists.com/messageboards.htm

http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/boards.php?boardId=56406&func=2&channel=aol+research+and+learn&refresh=true

http://boards.rootsweb.com/

ECT.
The time may come when you want more information than you can find for free. When this happens you can back up your "tribalpage" tree to your computer on a "GEDCOM" file
you can then go to (I think it is the best subscription site)

http://www.ancestry.com/

Upload your "GEDCOM" file
and start to work!
You might need to make a few adjustments to your tree to make it look better

Answer 8

DNA testing?