Do you spend most of your time on one branch of your tree?

Question

For my fellow genealogists...do you spend most of your time researching one side or even one grandparent's side only?

I spend 95% of my research time on my mother's father's side. They were in NY and Canada for centuries and kept far better and accessible records than the other 3 grandparents who came over from Italy in the early 1900's. I find that the stories are much more fascinating on my maternal grandfather's side anyway.

Answer 1

yeah well I always am doing my dad's side because they came from different places like Brazil and Canada. But my Mom's side is dull it's just England folks :D

Answer 2

No.

Yes, in the sense that I work on the shortest branch and nothing else for a while.

Note,it isn't just the family history that you need to research, but the locality history as well to understand some of the why.

We are looking forward to an upcoming Worst Jobs in History program on seaweed burner because that is what some of my ancesors did before they came to Australia.

Last night on a sea eagle progam, there was a quick reference to the lead up to the Highland Clearances and how that contributed to the demise of the sea eagle in Scotland. Relevant as that was something that happened to the above ancestors. It makes "family history" so much more interesting.

Answer 3

Sometimes I spend more times on my father's side, because my mother told me she does not know too much about her side. Only that her mother died in 1929 in the WV poorhouse from a bite from her father. But I am still researching things on her side. I have went all the way back to both of my father's grandparents. His dad's and mother's parents.

Answer 4

Right now, yes. I have a grandmother on my father's side who was adopted. I have been aided greatly in recent weeks by an awesome genealogist who has helped rekindle my desire to learn her story. I suppose once I get that last branch figured out, I may redistribute my time spent more evenly.

Answer 5

Actually I am spending more time trying to track the difficult side of my family right now. Most of the research on one side of my family has been completed back to 1735 I think it was. But there are still many branches to explore!

Answer 6

Like Wendy says, we all have a line that really "grabs" us; however, we all also have dry spells when we are unable to find any information on a given line. When this happens I just pick another line that I am curious about and work on that one for a while. Many of my breakthroughs happen when I haven't worked on things for a while and come back to the information I do have with a fresh perspective. It is funny how that happens.

Answer 7

No I am a Tennessean we have plenty of fascinating names and stories. Fathers Heath, mothers Depriest related kin O'Neill, McDonald, Campbell, McCoy, Daniels. Bird's,Marshall, Smith, Montgomery, Denton. Spencers. We have plenty of stories and good fights in our names. And we are part Chickasaw as well. I figure since they are great fighting men they can add a few stories to the family history as well. I am a fairly good mix of American and proud of all the blood that runs in my veins.

Answer 8

Many researchers have one line that "grabs" them, and they become the authority on that family, collecting anything they can.
I actually spend more time here, to see what walls I can break down for someone.. then go on.

Answer 9

I would love to spend any amount of time on my genealogy; however, I do not know where to begin since I was raised in an orphanage. I find genealogy fasinating and wish I could do mine.

Answer 10

Oh, yeah, for the simple reason I cannot find as much info on my Dad's side...