Anyone else around here into genealogy??? I really just started getting into it. Since the only grandparents I have left are on my mom's side, I started there and have actually found out quite a bit so far. I did do some research on my grandpa on my dad's side and found out my great-grandpa was a police officer for the city of Toledo back in the 20's and 30's.
Genealogy
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Been investigating on my ancestry for over 15 years now. Turns out genealogy is a disease for which there is no cure, heheh. So far, I've got nearly 3000 direct ancestors in my database, a little less than half of them documented. Of couse, that being said, a wise genealogist once said that any ancestry much older than 200 years or so is likely to fall "somewhere between probable and mythical."
Quite a coincidence, frost. My great uncle was a Toledo cop at the same time. He used to tell great stories about Kennedy and Licavoli.
posted by prairieson on Feb 03, 2010 at 10:07:34 pm #
Me too.
Started as you did and started going back. Found my "founding father" on my dad's side going all the way back to him coming over on the boar from Ireland (his father was Irish, and mother Scottish) in the late 1590's.
http://genforum.genealogy.com is a great site, while the main site can be useful, I've found a lot of people by using their forums and getting in touch with real life extended family members.
Hope that helps.
Oh hear that one of the US's best genealogy libraries is in Fort Wayne Indiana, which is about 2hr drive from here. A little far but doable for a day out or weekend adventure.Still looking for specifics on the place so I can go.
posted by INeedCoffee on Feb 03, 2010 at 11:29:32 pm #
Coffee,
I've used that site a few times. It's been awhile since I've been on though. Good site.
posted by lfrost2125 on Feb 03, 2010 at 11:35:19 pm #
The Fort Wayne library is indeed supposed to be the best genealogy library this side of the Mississippi. I haven't made it there yet either, sadly.
I'm assuming you have also been to the Family Search pilot records search site? http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=home
I've located a couple of people through forums as well, and found some third cousins through an obituary in a Pennsylvania newspaper. My coolest Internet find, however, was discovering photographs of my grandfather's first cousin on Flickr! I doubt that the two men even met, because the cousin was born and raised in California and his mother (my grandfather's aunt) died young. The person who posted the photos is of no relation, but he was still able to fill me in on what the man was like.
You just never know where information might turn up!
Great hobby! And what a wonderful opportunity to talk to people who are still alive.
We had a kind-of-obsessed genealogist in the family and he came up with tons of information like, "went to school in Illinois, moved to Ohio, worked in Chicago, retired to Florida" for people he interviewed.
Now that he and everyone else are gone, I would really like to know what each person's day was like, how their lives changed from childhood to old age, how they acquired and prepared food, why they chose their school/town/spouse/religion, and what they thought about the politics or economy of their day.
ME!
I don't have a lot of time for research right now, because I'm in school and working full time, but I try to do a little here and there. It's great that you still have grandparents alive to talk to; it's a great way to get information. My grandparents are all gone now and I kick myself often for not talking to them more about the family when I had the chance. I'm also working on my boyfriend's family tree and his grandmother is still with us. We're going to visit her in May and record some of the conversations.
I just joined the Lucas County Genealogy Society and I'm a member of the Ohio Genealogy Society as well. The LCGS meets once a month at the main library downtown (I believe it's the 3rd Saturday every month). The OGS annual conference is being held in Toledo this year. I'm definitely attending!
posted by valbee on Feb 03, 2010 at 08:08:12 pm #