I found this new breakdown just the other day, and assumed that Parent 2 was my dad, as that side shows that is where my little bit of Welshness comes from and I know he had a Welsh grandfather.
I have never done the DNA thing, but I have recently found out that several generations back, on my paternal grandmother's side, there is German ancestry. On my paternal grandfather's side I stongly suspect there is Welsh ancestry as many generations lived on the border. Unfortunately for my research, the surname is too common to make verification easy.
On my mother's side they were well and truly English as far back as I can go. But maybe a DNA test would say something different.
Ancestry has updated its ethnicity estimate again. I have lost my Scandinavian component, which has been reassessed as Northern isles / Orkney and Shetland.
I am now 83% Scottish, 12 % Irish and 5% English / North West European.
Well, my Scandinavian component increased substantially. However, it still does not show my Pilgrim or Puritan past in my American migration. It does show how the family that landed in Jamestown migrated West, though.
@Gramps49, are you descended from any of the original Jamestown colonists, or from later arrivals?
Sorry I have not followed this thread closely. To the question of whether I descended from the original Jamestown colonizers, yes I believe so.
On my paternal grandfather's side I stongly suspect there is Welsh ancestry as many generations lived on the border. Unfortunately for my research, the surname is too common to make verification easy.
A common trouble around Wales! I remember trying to research a soldier who'd put both his initials in his name when he signed the photo... Even with those, tracking down a Jones in the South Wales Borderers proved impossible.
On my paternal grandfather's side I stongly suspect there is Welsh ancestry as many generations lived on the border. Unfortunately for my research, the surname is too common to make verification easy.
A common trouble around Wales! I remember trying to research a soldier who'd put both his initials in his name when he signed the photo... Even with those, tracking down a Jones in the South Wales Borderers proved impossible.
Which is why, at roll call in Welsh regiments, it is said soldiers called Jones, Evans, Williams, etc., responded with their number as well as their names - 'Jones, D 13172', 'Evans, J 2249' and so on. If only your soldier had put his Army number on the photo as well as his initials!
Ancestry has updated its ethnicity estimate again. I have lost my Scandinavian component, which has been reassessed as Northern isles / Orkney and Shetland.
I am now 83% Scottish, 12 % Irish and 5% English / North West European.
Well, my Scandinavian component increased substantially. However, it still does not show my Pilgrim or Puritan past in my American migration. It does show how the family that landed in Jamestown migrated West, though.
@Gramps49, are you descended from any of the original Jamestown colonists, or from later arrivals?
Sorry I have not followed this thread closely. To the question of whether I descended from the original Jamestown colonizers, yes I believe so.
Do you by chance know which one(s)? I’m curious whether we may be kin.
Last week I spent time tracing my family heritage from Henry V Tudor all the way back to Beli Mawr, King of the Britons, in 130 B. C. E. Ancestry.com got me to Henry V, but then I went further back through WikiTree and AncientWalesStudies.com. I have to admit some of it might be conjecture in that there are no original documents, just legends. Enjoyed the deep dive.
Last week I spent time tracing my family heritage from Henry V Tudor all the way back to Beli Mawr, King of the Britons, in 130 B. C. E. Ancestry.com got me to Henry V, but then I went further back through WikiTree and AncientWalesStudies.com. I have to admit some of it might be conjecture in that there are no original documents, just legends. Enjoyed the deep dive.
I think it's pretty fair to say that Beli Mawr is mythical. There was no king of the Britons in those days; the Britons were a shifting group of tribes often at war with each other. Beli was allegedly the father of Lludd Llaw Ereint, who is derived from a pre-Christian God. His earlier name was Nudd, cognate with the Irish Nuada, which goes back to Nodens, a Celtic healing god.
Has anyone been in the 1921 Scottish census? I've got in today (having been unable to retrieve my old login, which is a bit of a bum, though I only had a few credits left), and have tracked down those few of mine who were still there. Sad story - my gt gt grandfather was clearly estranged from his 2nd wife (he records himself as a widower), and living a county away, where he died in 1930.
On the other hand, the "missing" daughter from his children turns out to have had a respectable-sized brood, which increases the chances of a descendant surfacing and just maybe knowing what happened...
I've also tracked down a family tale from Essex, and found a new source for Essex stuff (the Essex Newsman newspaper, available in the British Newspaper Archive and on FMP) that I fear may prevent me from doing anything useful for the next decade! Had anyone else heard of Boy Scout Fire Brigades? I hadn't! And all of this trying to keep Mum occupied...
I've dipped my toe in. I've found my grandfather, but my grandmother, who had an extremely common name, was a domestic servant in 1921, and I think trying to find her might prove expensive.
Tempting, but no longer have free access to ancestry , also Mum was Bev born in 1922, so wouldn’t gain much info there. Could potentially gain more info on the grandparents, I suppose.
I found my Great Grandfather Alexander Allison in Glasgow and his family. They were easy to find as I know his father and single siblings names and that they all lived together. I was fairly sure of their street too.
It was really interesting to find out their exact jobs in 1921 and this census even lists their employers. Father Robert was a retired boiler maker who had worked for Allan Line shipping company. Alec was an Engineer fitter for Barclay Curle ship builders. His twin Agnes (Nan) was working as a dressmaker at Pettigrew Stephen which was the largest department store in Glasgow. His other brother and sister were working at smaller companies as an Iron Merchant and 'Clerkess' which it is hard to find much out about. It has been interesting to learn about the shipping companies and department store where some of my ancestors worked.
Eldest sister was doing home duties - unlike her father her previous employment was considered irrelevant to the census takers, even though she probably worked until around 1919 when her mother died.
Aunt Nan (as we knew her) was listed as two years younger than her twin brother. I wonder if the census taker misheard? She was the only one of the family I knew and I feel like I have vague memories of her, but they may be based on family stories and photos as I was less than a year old when she died.
Today, I found out that Baron Richard Rich, Lord Chancellor to King Edward VI is my 14th grandfather. Problem is, he is also known as the most evil person in the 16th century. I had to look him up. He was involved with the prosecution of Roman Catholic bishops in the 1550s. Mentioned in The Man for All Seasons.
Hmm, my 12th great grandfather is suppose to be William Cecil who served Elizabeth I though as Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer not Lord Chancellor (through a line that married down and into Wales). However he probably has hundreds of thousands if not millions of descendants.
On a more discovery note, recently discovered what happened to my great great grandmother's first cousin. He was almost 60 years younger than her and after his mother died shortly after birth (and his father not much later) she and her never married daughter raised him. My grandmother who knew of him and may have met him a few times when she was very young always wondered what had happened to him. Turns out he married and emigrated to Australia.
Today, I found out that Baron Richard Rich, Lord Chancellor to King Edward VI is my 14th grandfather. Problem is, he is also known as the most evil person in the 16th century. I had to look him up. He was involved with the prosecution of Roman Catholic bishops in the 1550s. Mentioned in The Man for All Seasons.
If he's who I think he is, he has a monument in Saffron Walden church (Essex, UK, as I know you are living in "forn parts") that looks disconcertingly like a pinball machine.
We have quite extensive "family trees" of my paternal grandfather's family, as several members did a lot of digging 20+ years ago. However, we found absolutely nothing on my paternal grandmother - until a couple of days ago. It turns out that Holland has made its Civil Registers available - there must have been a massive uploading job sometime after 2016 - and they not only registered births, marriages and deaths, but when citizens moved. Moral: worth searching again a few years later if you hit a dead end! (also noticed some baptismal registers)
My question is: can anybody recommend software to help me put all this in graphical form - draw the trees, so to speak - that does NOT then promise to fill in the blanks, send me weekly emails when they think they have found another relative etc etc?
My question is: can anybody recommend software to help me put all this in graphical form - draw the trees, so to speak - that does NOT then promise to fill in the blanks, send me weekly emails when they think they have found another relative etc etc?
My question is: can anybody recommend software to help me put all this in graphical form - draw the trees, so to speak - that does NOT then promise to fill in the blanks, send me weekly emails when they think they have found another relative etc etc?
Last night, on PBS' Finding Your Roots, one of the guest was Angelas Davis, a key person in the Black Power movement when I was in college. They told her she was a descendent of the Brewster family that came to the American colonies on the MayflowerStory Here
This afternoon, I had to check. Lo and Behold, The Brewsters were also part of my family. In other worrds, Angela and I are cousins, though distantly.
I was recently looking at my great-grandmother's siblings and found that one sister died in childbirth, aged 19. This saddened me out of all proportion - not sure why.
On a happier note, I had an email from Family Search today that tells me I am Jane Austen's 14th cousin. But I imagine most of the country is 14th cousin to everyone else.
In my research about my family, I found my forefather to America came over to America in the 1630s because he was afraid the king was wanting his head. I never knew why. Well, I have been reading Robert Harris' historical novel Act of Oblivion which talks about the Civil War in England, when Republicans killed King Charles and Royalists reinstated his son, Charles II to the throne. It helped me understand why the King may have wanted my forefather's head.
It also talks about New Haven being an unauthorized colony, and how it was forced to become a part of the Connecticut colony.
It suggests what lead up to the American Revolution too.
And explains why our Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
Act of Oblivion deals with the hunt for two Republican colonels who had escaped to the United States once King Charles II came into power.
I would suggest this as a reference for those who are wondering why their families immigrated to America during the 1600s.
Ancestry has issued the latest update of origins. I am now 1% less Irish, and 1% more Norwegian, so no real change - I'm still 78% Scottish. My husband and mother likewise have very small changes, both losing a percentage or two of Irish.
However, Ancestry have also produced Traits. I did my DNA test for Ancestry purely for genealogical purposes, and I'm discomfited by Traits. The three Traits don't seem to be particularly interesting - on a scale of 1-4 between Lark and Night Owl, I'm a 3, on a scale of 1-4 on tendency to nap, I'm a 3.
I looked at mine last week.
Heart rate recovery was somewhat optimistic.
Morning person...I am much more of a morning person than my trait graph shows!
Naps. Nope. All wrong. Naps are a very rare thing for me.
My Scottish keeps dropping and my Swedish keeps growing. I started out mostly Scottish and German which is what the family thought as well and now it is all over the map.
Today as I was just half a mile away, I drove past the tiny two up, two down cottage where my great-great-grandparents lived and brought up 12 children and three of their grandchildren, including my grandfather. Fortunately the older ones had already left home by the time those grandchildren were born.
Traditionally the family were agricultural workers, but later worked on building the railways. Some moved north to work down the Yorkshire pits or in the steel works, whilst others worked in the Nottingham lace industry.
All very English.
My grandfather broke away even further by becoming a Salvation Army Officer. He got married in the Methodist Church once attended by William Booth before he founded the SA ( now a cinema).
I did one of those DNA tests and have found out that I am roughly 60% English (from the south-east area) and 40% Welsh. Pretty much what I thought. Life has been rather manic lately so I haven't had much time to investigate the 3rd and 4th cousins it has found me.
Most interesting thing I have found out is where my great-grandfather was born in 1862. It was in a small Gloucestershire town, though as an adult he moved to East London and most of his decedents ended up in Southend. My cousin, also a great-granddaughter, however has by total coincidence ended up in the same town. When I told her the address she went and found the house and sent me a photo.
Well, my sister has finally sent me the results from her tests, some 7-8 months on *and has asked me if I know any of the people it suggests as connections!!!!* Ok, So you've taken the test, submitted it to a body with a database of gazillions of people, got matches *and a message from someone enquiring about the link* and 8 months later she gets round to asking me about them!!!!! FFS! As it happens, one is her first cousin, who hasnt spoken to any of us for 20-odd years, but I haven't a scooobies about the others.
I'm just flabbergasted that she has had the opportunity to make contacts, and has at on them for months before asking me.
I have had a couple of second cousins get in touch with me. We grew up together, but after our respective grandparents passed, we lost contact with each other.
I've just looked up the prices for a FindMyPast sub and... **** me! Given that I would like to download the entirity of three parishes, plus my crowd, I think it might still be cheaper to do what I did for the 1911 census and go to the National Archives on London and print it off there!
I can see that to track down the mysterious connections to my sis that I'm going to have to do the test myself, and take out an Ancestry sub... how much are you going to cost me, sis?
Most interesting thing I have found out is where my great-grandfather was born in 1862. It was in a small Gloucestershire town, though as an adult he moved to East London and most of his decedents ended up in Southend. My cousin, also a great-granddaughter, however has by total coincidence ended up in the same town. When I told her the address she went and found the house and sent me a photo.
Many years ago my aunt and her husband bought a house in a small village in Dorset. Unknown to them, her brother was also in the process of buying a house at the other end of the same village.
My cousin and I independently looked into the family history and found that a branch of the family had lived in that part of Dorset for generations.
It isn't far from where my father unexpectedly died, and was buried, either. As if that side of the family was being "called home" centuries later.
Our family history has come full circle. My convict ancestor was assigned to the Australian Agricultural Company north of the Hunter River in the late 1820's. Over generations, the family moved around the regions before settling in Sydney. I came north over 40 years ago for work and stayed. My oldest son now lives a stone's throw from where our great-great-great-great grandfather began his life in Australia.
Last night, I came up with an ancestor that was listed as a Master Bencher of Gary's Inn, back in the late 1400s. Now I know what a bencher is, and I know that Gary's Inn is one of four Inns in London that a person practicing law in a British court has to be a member off, lake a state bar association in the United States, I take it. What I would like to know though, is how these Inns in effect became legal bars. Inns have a long history of welcoming travelers. I am thinking these four inns would welcome lawyers who traveled to London to argue a case before the King's court.
Do you mean Gray's Inn, @Gramps49? Wikipedia is your friend when it comes to early history of the Inn. More here on the Inn as a medieval lodging for lawyers and students studying law.
Do you mean Gray's Inn, @Gramps49? Wikipedia is your friend when it comes to early history of the Inn. More here on the Inn as a medieval lodging for lawyers and students studying law.
Just found out I am a descendent of Sir (Saint) Thomas More. He was a good friend of Erasmus; wrote a polemical treatise against Martin Luther; debated Tyndale. He was eventually hung for snubbing the wedding of Henry VIII and Anne Boylen. He is my 14th great grandfather. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_More
@Gramps49 Thomas More is one of the most unforgettable characters of the Reformation and so much more than you might think. We studied More's fictional fantasy Utopia at school and he can be thought of as a proto-sci-fi writer and complicated humanist. I first became fascinated with More when watching reruns of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons (1966). For a long time I thought of him in a positive light, the disobedient but scrupulously honest chancellor of Henry VIII, and then read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall in which Thomas Cromwell views More as a wicked heartless Catholic enforcer of torture for apostates and a hypocrite who destroyed the life of Cromwell's mentor, Cardinal Wolsey. It's all partial and fictional in Mantel's recreation but the more ambiguous and humanly flawed Thomas More seems to be, the more he interests those studying church leaders, politicians and statesmen.
He's the antithesis of you as descendant in some ways: he not only opposed the Church of England (along with a divorcing king), he was anti-Lutheran, anti-Calvinist and opposed William Tyndale's translation of the Bible into English. What a discovery in your family tree!
What do other subscribers to Ancestry make of the "traits" which are being foisted upon us?
Are they accurate for you?
I find I have no idea whether some are accurate or not as I have no sense of what the "average" is. "Pet ownership" for example, puts me two thirds along the line towards "more likely to have a pet." That may be correct, as I've had four cats, but I have no concept of how many pets constitutes "average" pet ownership. The same goes for "more likely to remember dreams" - I have no idea what the average person's experience of remembering dreams might be.
In terms of appearance, Ancestry reckons:
No cleft chin (correct)
Blue eyes (correct)
Average number of freckles (correct)
Fuller facial hair (definitely not!!) (post menopause I have acquired a single wiry hair on my chin, which I tweezer out as soon as it starts regrowing; I do not regard that as "fuller facial hair")
Light skin tone (correct)
No unibrow (correct)
Unlikely to have all four wisdom teeth (wrong)
Slightly wavy hair (correct)
Index finger longer than ring finger (wrong)
Alcohol causes facial flushing (correct)
Just found out I am a descendent of Sir (Saint) Thomas More. He was a good friend of Erasmus; wrote a polemical treatise against Martin Luther; debated Tyndale. He was eventually hung for snubbing the wedding of Henry VIII and Anne Boylen. He is my 14th great grandfather. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_More
Ah, the patron saint of lawyers. Very cool, @Gramps49!
@North East Quine, I haven’t checked the traits out. I’ll plan to do that.
Comments
On my mother's side they were well and truly English as far back as I can go. But maybe a DNA test would say something different.
Sorry I have not followed this thread closely. To the question of whether I descended from the original Jamestown colonizers, yes I believe so.
A common trouble around Wales! I remember trying to research a soldier who'd put both his initials in his name when he signed the photo... Even with those, tracking down a Jones in the South Wales Borderers proved impossible.
Which is why, at roll call in Welsh regiments, it is said soldiers called Jones, Evans, Williams, etc., responded with their number as well as their names - 'Jones, D 13172', 'Evans, J 2249' and so on. If only your soldier had put his Army number on the photo as well as his initials!
Suddenly a reference in Gaudy Night makes even more sense!
At risk of being frightfully rude, @Scots Lass, did you see Gaudy Night on the book thread last year?
It's going to be fascinating comparing her results to mine.
I think it's pretty fair to say that Beli Mawr is mythical. There was no king of the Britons in those days; the Britons were a shifting group of tribes often at war with each other. Beli was allegedly the father of Lludd Llaw Ereint, who is derived from a pre-Christian God. His earlier name was Nudd, cognate with the Irish Nuada, which goes back to Nodens, a Celtic healing god.
On the other hand, the "missing" daughter from his children turns out to have had a respectable-sized brood, which increases the chances of a descendant surfacing and just maybe knowing what happened...
I've also tracked down a family tale from Essex, and found a new source for Essex stuff (the Essex Newsman newspaper, available in the British Newspaper Archive and on FMP) that I fear may prevent me from doing anything useful for the next decade! Had anyone else heard of Boy Scout Fire Brigades? I hadn't! And all of this trying to keep Mum occupied...
It was really interesting to find out their exact jobs in 1921 and this census even lists their employers. Father Robert was a retired boiler maker who had worked for Allan Line shipping company. Alec was an Engineer fitter for Barclay Curle ship builders. His twin Agnes (Nan) was working as a dressmaker at Pettigrew Stephen which was the largest department store in Glasgow. His other brother and sister were working at smaller companies as an Iron Merchant and 'Clerkess' which it is hard to find much out about. It has been interesting to learn about the shipping companies and department store where some of my ancestors worked.
Eldest sister was doing home duties - unlike her father her previous employment was considered irrelevant to the census takers, even though she probably worked until around 1919 when her mother died.
On a more discovery note, recently discovered what happened to my great great grandmother's first cousin. He was almost 60 years younger than her and after his mother died shortly after birth (and his father not much later) she and her never married daughter raised him. My grandmother who knew of him and may have met him a few times when she was very young always wondered what had happened to him. Turns out he married and emigrated to Australia.
If he's who I think he is, he has a monument in Saffron Walden church (Essex, UK, as I know you are living in "forn parts") that looks disconcertingly like a pinball machine.
My question is: can anybody recommend software to help me put all this in graphical form - draw the trees, so to speak - that does NOT then promise to fill in the blanks, send me weekly emails when they think they have found another relative etc etc?
I use Gramps https://gramps-project.org/blog/ Its a desktop app
Thanks for the reference. I am always looking for extra sources to help fill gaps. I like that it is even named after me.
This afternoon, I had to check. Lo and Behold, The Brewsters were also part of my family. In other worrds, Angela and I are cousins, though distantly.
On a happier note, I had an email from Family Search today that tells me I am Jane Austen's 14th cousin. But I imagine most of the country is 14th cousin to everyone else.
It also talks about New Haven being an unauthorized colony, and how it was forced to become a part of the Connecticut colony.
It suggests what lead up to the American Revolution too.
And explains why our Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
Act of Oblivion deals with the hunt for two Republican colonels who had escaped to the United States once King Charles II came into power.
I would suggest this as a reference for those who are wondering why their families immigrated to America during the 1600s.
However, Ancestry have also produced Traits. I did my DNA test for Ancestry purely for genealogical purposes, and I'm discomfited by Traits. The three Traits don't seem to be particularly interesting - on a scale of 1-4 between Lark and Night Owl, I'm a 3, on a scale of 1-4 on tendency to nap, I'm a 3.
Has anyone else had their update?
I looked at mine last week.
Heart rate recovery was somewhat optimistic.
Morning person...I am much more of a morning person than my trait graph shows!
Naps. Nope. All wrong. Naps are a very rare thing for me.
Oh, well!
42% English, Northern European
26% Germanic
12% Scottish
12% Irish
8% Swedish and Danish
2% Finish
I went through the traits. Interesting. Mostly spot on.
Filled out DNA Survey--asks more than a medical history form for sure.
I have been working on my family tree about a half our every evening. Now have over 50,000 names.
New DNA Thru Lines have helped me find some unknown grandparents into the fourth generation.
I will never get done, I know.
Traditionally the family were agricultural workers, but later worked on building the railways. Some moved north to work down the Yorkshire pits or in the steel works, whilst others worked in the Nottingham lace industry.
All very English.
My grandfather broke away even further by becoming a Salvation Army Officer. He got married in the Methodist Church once attended by William Booth before he founded the SA ( now a cinema).
Most interesting thing I have found out is where my great-grandfather was born in 1862. It was in a small Gloucestershire town, though as an adult he moved to East London and most of his decedents ended up in Southend. My cousin, also a great-granddaughter, however has by total coincidence ended up in the same town. When I told her the address she went and found the house and sent me a photo.
I'm just flabbergasted that she has had the opportunity to make contacts, and has at on them for months before asking me.
I can see that to track down the mysterious connections to my sis that I'm going to have to do the test myself, and take out an Ancestry sub... how much are you going to cost me, sis?
Many years ago my aunt and her husband bought a house in a small village in Dorset. Unknown to them, her brother was also in the process of buying a house at the other end of the same village.
My cousin and I independently looked into the family history and found that a branch of the family had lived in that part of Dorset for generations.
It isn't far from where my father unexpectedly died, and was buried, either. As if that side of the family was being "called home" centuries later.
Am I close? Can someone enlighten me.
That's it. I misspelled the name, Thank you.
That's what I thought.
@Gramps49 Thomas More is one of the most unforgettable characters of the Reformation and so much more than you might think. We studied More's fictional fantasy Utopia at school and he can be thought of as a proto-sci-fi writer and complicated humanist. I first became fascinated with More when watching reruns of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons (1966). For a long time I thought of him in a positive light, the disobedient but scrupulously honest chancellor of Henry VIII, and then read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall in which Thomas Cromwell views More as a wicked heartless Catholic enforcer of torture for apostates and a hypocrite who destroyed the life of Cromwell's mentor, Cardinal Wolsey. It's all partial and fictional in Mantel's recreation but the more ambiguous and humanly flawed Thomas More seems to be, the more he interests those studying church leaders, politicians and statesmen.
He's the antithesis of you as descendant in some ways: he not only opposed the Church of England (along with a divorcing king), he was anti-Lutheran, anti-Calvinist and opposed William Tyndale's translation of the Bible into English. What a discovery in your family tree!
Are they accurate for you?
I find I have no idea whether some are accurate or not as I have no sense of what the "average" is. "Pet ownership" for example, puts me two thirds along the line towards "more likely to have a pet." That may be correct, as I've had four cats, but I have no concept of how many pets constitutes "average" pet ownership. The same goes for "more likely to remember dreams" - I have no idea what the average person's experience of remembering dreams might be.
In terms of appearance, Ancestry reckons:
No cleft chin (correct)
Blue eyes (correct)
Average number of freckles (correct)
Fuller facial hair (definitely not!!) (post menopause I have acquired a single wiry hair on my chin, which I tweezer out as soon as it starts regrowing; I do not regard that as "fuller facial hair")
Light skin tone (correct)
No unibrow (correct)
Unlikely to have all four wisdom teeth (wrong)
Slightly wavy hair (correct)
Index finger longer than ring finger (wrong)
Alcohol causes facial flushing (correct)
Has Ancestry got other Shipmates "traits" right?
@North East Quine, I haven’t checked the traits out. I’ll plan to do that.