some good news

Hello all. I'm in the States visiting family and my brother has just informed me that before my grandfather passed away, he got names and dates from him. I never even knew that he had asked!!

He also found a web site that traces the family tree (according to the info he was given) back to the 1600s, but he couldn't remember how long we've been in the States or anything.

I know I need to confirm this information, but I'm very excited to have some information "fall into my lap!"

dont you just love it when info falls in the lap? Well I have good news myself, I have met up (online) with about five new cousins in the past two weeks! Two of the sent me a whole buch of info. And both of them have info back to the 1600's! So I am busy attempting to add the info, plus make more confirmations.

Oh Sheyen, that's wonderful!! I'm still awaiting the info, but I hope my brother emails soon! Wouldn't it be nice, if our research were this easy for every branch of the family?

Yeah, tell me about it! Especially when my husbands grandmother told me *I did the research on my own, you can do it on your own.* Um I see a problem here, the only names I know are her husbands name and her name, and THATS it! Hubby has no clue of birthdays or where they were born or anything, so one day when I was talking to hubby's mother, I asked her and she gave me a few details, within three days, I had info back to the 1700's on his grandfathers mother's side. Heh, I am soooooooo sneaky!

Don't feel too bad, Sheyen. My 3rd cousin told me that her uncle (or great-uncle) told her: "I have information that you can have - after I'm gone!" She believes some of it includes our common lines!

Just some thoughts on where people who don't pass on info are coming from:

Some of us have been "burned" when giving out too much info. I've had cousins copy my tree, changing it to suit themselves and inventing info to fill in blanks, and publish it (including me - a living individual last time I checked!) on the web.

I have some cousins who were unhappy that I didn't just turn over the results of 30+ years of hard work. (We won't mention expense.) I gave them some info, I suggested gaps that they might help to fill in (where they have access to local or regional sources that I haven't been able to consult), and so on. But apparently they didn't want to do any research; they just wanted a 15-generation tree handed to them.

I've had 7th cousins send me gedcoms with thousands of names. I appreciate it, especially for any details and sources relating to our connecting ancestors. But the stuff I dug out myself means a lot more. I "know" the people I've followed through ship records, church records, land records, pension records, etc. --- the ones someone sends me are just names unless I do the research on them.

And on the other hand, some info is a mixed blessing. :-) I started out interviewing (in person, by phone, by snail mail) all living relatives I could find, the oldest first. I got some good information. I got some close information (surname not quite right, dates off.) And I got some very wrong information. It took a long time to find out which was which, and in some cases I'm still looking.

I've had new-found relatives send me a tree, on which I've spotted obvious errors. When I asked about sources, it usually turned out that they'd "found it on the web." Or sometimes they found it in "a book." There's a book (a book! must be true!) that says that my GGG-grandfather's cousin was born in 1620 --- that was the only way the author could fit him into his family tree. A tiny problem is that he died in 1823. :-)

Hmmmm, that's about two hundred years old. I'll bet he looked good for his age. Grin.

I know the struggles. My great aunt has virtually tons of info in her head but when I asked her to help out she told me no that's she's already done it twice!! Of course, neither of her daughters have released the info to me, so I'm scrounging on my own. Oh well.

I did a little research in the states, but still have tons to do. I plan on working on it a little each week, instead of a week at a time a few times a year. I forget where I'm at and what I've been doing!! lol!

Does that great aunt (are you using the US term or the British one?) have any living siblings, or cousins, or are there children of siblings or cousins? There's more than one way. . . .

One of my best sources, whose information turned out to be solid gold, was a woman I'd never heard of. I wrote to the small town library to ask if they might have any records on my father's father's family. The librarian sent me a list ---"from a book my mother-in-law has" --- of a couple and their children, and in the middle of the list was my grandfather. I phoned to ask what book her m-i-l had, and the answer was "her family Bible." (!!) Her mother-in-law turned out to be an unknown relative. She sent me pictures of my gr-grandparents & told me about visiting her grandaunts and granduncles
when she was a child. (She was born 1899, died 1977. I found her just in time.)

Actually, she has a brother and two sisters, however she is the gem. The sisters don't know or remember and neither does the brother. She's my grandmother's sister and unfortunately, my grandmother passed away over ten years ago. I'm going to write to her daughters and ask for the information again. HOpefully, something will pan out from that. I'm not too hopeful though, I've asked for it before.

well like i said, all i wanted was a bit of info, I dont want all of her work (after all the fun is in the search!) But she wouldnt even tell me her birthdate and her parents names! That is all I wanted, I didnt want her notebooks or anything, shoot, when someone offers me big packets like that, I just say thank you, but I just need a couple of names, and can go from there. But since hubbys mom was able to give me a bit of info, I used that, and got his grandfathers side, now back to the 1100's course that is included in a packet his cousin from England sent me, now I am going to read thru it, and do my own searching. But hubbys mom only knew her mothers maiden name, and there are a buttload of Dooley's in the Cleveland Ohio area, where she was born, and with her still alive, lol, I cant get info, soooo, will have to wait on that one, but with my grandmother who was adopted, and recieving two packets in the past month (one from a cousin on my side, one on hubbys) I am busy searching and confirming!

Keep trying before it's too late. My 94 year old aunt promised at Christmas she would write me a letter about my orphaned grandmother's family line. Unfortunately she died in May! No letter. I'm still digging though. I'm for freely sharing info among all the relatives who are interested and I've been working on our tree for 30 years. Unfortunately not that many are interested. I don't quite get folks who want to withhold info like it's a big secret since we share the same ancestors. I've found the more I spread it around the more links I get back from unexpected places.