Anyone do Genealogy / Ancestry?

[DRanger024]

My wife started in on hers on Ancestry.com and got curious about my side. She traced my dads side back to the Mayflower and beyond all the way back to the early 1500's in England (grandpa), Germany and France (grandma). I also have a couple presidents in my family tree (found this out before ancestry.com was a thing via my grandmother. She made a family tree decades ago. I'm still waiting for a copy of her version to see if it lines up with what the web says). We have relatives in Canada yet but seemingly none on the east coast. There is a long history of shipping boat captains on my grandfathers side and I'm sure that brought the family over the great lakes to settle on the shores of Lake Superior.
My moms side is from Finland with a tiny amount of Swedish mixed in on my grandfathers side. Grandmas family came straight out of Lapland for as far back as I can trace it. I would be 4th generation born in America for this side.
The skandinavian countries seem to be difficult to find records for. A lot of what I've found on ancestry has been church records.

Interesting stuff. We have only been at it for a week and are still working on finding documents from family members to confirm.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It's getting to be like a Mayflower Cruise reunion or something around here...

 

[Curious Hound]

It's getting to be like a Mayflower Cruise reunion or something around here...

I came over on the Titanic’s 17th voyage.

 

[RobbieD]

Are you sure? That would explain your strange mood swings...

Yes, I'm sure. But then again, I haven't ruled out menopause, either.

There are a couple cousins of current generation who don't know/care who the father was. They would be more than willing to take child support from you.
I makes doing the family tree a lot more challenging when father is ????.

How are they at cooking and cleaning, and what kind of trucks do they have? And having a boat too would be a definite bonus.

I came over on the Titanic’s 17th voyage.

OK, that makes sense. That was after it was converted into a submarine.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

I tried that family search site first, but couldn't figure out how to add anyone to the family tree.

Maybe your family tree goes in a circle? Understand that's common in the mountains... :lol:

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Sounds farfetched, but I've heard it said that the world population (maybe throughout known history?) outnumbers possible human DNA combinations. So mathematically someone has or had exactly the same DNA as you.

You got me curious, so I looked. The number of possible human DNA combinations is HUGE. The possible number given in different spots online is above 10^600, or 10 followed by over 600 zeroes, compared with "just" 8 billion people on Earth. You do run into questions about what is still "human" with changes in some genes.

 

[RobbieD]

You got me curious, so I looked. The number of possible human DNA combinations is HUGE. The possible number given in different spots online is above 10^600, or 10 followed by over 600 zeroes, compared with "just" 8 billion people on Earth. You do run into questions about what is still "human" with changes in some genes.

So . . . not hitting the lottery is genetic?

I thought it was just bad luck.

 

[JoshT]

Maybe your family tree goes in a circle? Understand that's common in the mountains... :lol:

Well, I don't know about circles, but there may have been a few loops by marriage. I haven't charted out the tree far enough to find them, but I've heard about them before. I wish I could fault it on being in the mountains, I'd much rather be living there than here.

You got me curious, so I looked. The number of possible human DNA combinations is HUGE. The possible number given in different spots online is above 10^600, or 10 followed by over 600 zeroes, compared with "just" 8 billion people on Earth. You do run into questions about what is still "human" with changes in some genes.

That's 8 billion people living. His statement was talking about ever, living or dead. I think that would be a lot more than 8 billion. Still doesn't make it a fact, but does make it more likely. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that if it hasn't occoured yet, it will eventually if this species continues long enough.

 

[19Walt93]

If you go back far enough we're all related. I grew up 1 1/2 miles from where I live now and used to joke that everyone in town was a Webster, a Stark, or their cousin- I'm a cousin. It wasn't just a joke, it turns out. My grandmother and great grandmother were born about 1/8 mile from my house. My grandmother and her sister married 2 brothers so my mother had a bunch of double cousins- all Starks- and another sister married a Webster. Four neighbors within 1/2 mile are children of 2 of my mother's double cousins- they'd be my first cousins once removed but geneticaly we're first cousins. Welcome to a small town.

 

[superj]

thats to much thinking to track that kind of stuff.

 

[dvdswan]