Family Genealogy

[Kovu]

Okay, so, I've always been super jealous of people who can trace their family back to the 1600s or who can say they had relatives on the Mayflower/fought in the Revolutionary/Civil/1812 war. Meanwhile, our family history can basically be summed up as "we came into Ellis Island, they changed our last name, now we don't know who we were." So, with that in mind, this year, my mom and I have made a resolution to try and trace out our family genealogy.

We've done some beginning research, however, we haven't really been able to find out much. We're wondering if, when they immigrated here, their name was butchered beyond recognition. (For privacy reasons, my mom doesn't want our name posted on the internet and I can't say I disagree with her lol).

I was wondering if any of ya'll have any experience with tracing genealogy, particularly if our name is a product of mistranslation. We've toyed around a bit with MyHeritage and Ancestry, but the results aren't what we were hoping for (there's pretty much nothing). Any suggestions ya'll can offer on possible other avenues we could take would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance 

[Halichoeres]

That's a tough problem. Depending on the country of origin, you might be able to find some records on their government web sites--but maybe not. I have a cousin who has done extensive genealogical research on one side of the family (the Northern European side), so I got curious about the other side (Mexican and Iberian), but hit a brick wall because nobody in the family had any birth records before 1950, when my dad, as a teenager, took his whole family to get birth certificates. And my grandparents have only provisional estimates for their birth dates! So on one side I know of people landing in New York back when it was New Amsterdam, but I don't even know how many first cousins I have on the other side, nor the names of my great-grandparents. It's frustrating. And my surname definitely has various spellings, having apparently originated on the border of Portugal and Spain, in areas long occupied by the Umayyad Caliphate. Ever thought of doing 23andMe?

[tyrantqueen]

My dad did our family tree and he used lots of online websites to get info. It was subscription based so he had to pay.

I can't recommend anything since you're in the States and the process is probably completely different, but I imagine there are websites you can utilise if you really want to find something out.

[Kovu]

Thanks for the tips guys! Much appreciated. We plan on trying out a few more websites, but we're hesitant to get too excited since the other ones haven't turned up much yet.

Halichoeres, we've thought about 23andme. What we do know is that my great grandparents left Eastern Europe prior to 1920 and that's about it.

By the way, if anybody else wants to share their adventures in genealogy or what they've managed to uncover about their family history, feel free to share! Personally, I've always found this stuff fascinating!

[Halichoeres]

It's frustrating that there's so little information, and what there is can be so hard to find. Good luck in your search!

[Kovu]

Thanks bro! Our biggest question is finding out their original country/city/village, and if we can figure out why exactly they left to begin with, icing on the cake! I'm sure it's going to be super frustrating to figure out, but hopefully it'll pay off in the end!

[Newt]

Good luck, Kovu!

I've often been tempted to look into my family's genealogy but have not yet taken the plunge. Some older relatives on my maternal grandmother's and grandfather's sides have traced those parts of the family back to their motherlands - Scotland and England respectively. My great aunt Martha Jo had a family tree she had lovingly drawn by hand showing not only our family, but how it was (somewhat tenuously) connected to all the important families - the Windsors of England, the Washingtons of Virginia, and the Lees of Virginia. 

My father's side, on the other hand, is mysterious to me beyond the last few generations; I don't know where they lived before they settled the Piedmont and Appalachia. I remember being assigned in elementary school to ask my parents about our ethnic background and report on it. My father's long list of nations who had contributed to our illustrious family I accepted at face value, not knowing him (and his tendency to make things up when confronted with a question to which he does not know the answer) as I now do. I'd like to learn the truth of my ancestry.