Family genealogy

[Cowboy]

I've known for a while my maternal Grandfather I knew growing up wasn't biologically my grandfather. My mother was a wartime baby in WW2 and she didn't know until she was in her teens. Well recently I decided I wanted to know my biological grandfathers name and I got it this morning. Elmo Augustus Canter he died at 65 years of age in 1982 in Reidsville, NC. Kind of cool what you can find.

 

[Cowboy]

So apparently the grandfather I knew didn't serve at the same time as my biological because they were both in WW2.

 

[Cowboy]

 

[GymB]

How did you identify him?

 

[Chuckman]

That' very cool! When I was in college, 1987, I found out my mom had an out-of-wedlock son before she met my father, she was in her late teens, gave the boy up for adoption. She never mentioned it, ever. I always wondered about tracking him down, decided what I don't know won't hurt me.

 

[Cowboy]

How did you identify him?

I knew my mother had a half sister and found out her maiden name. I called the clerk of court in WV and they gave me her fathers name my Biological grandfather.

 

[JakeH]

@BBD280 and I have done a decent bit of research on our paternal grandfather’s side, predating the revolution but things get murky after that. Combination of ship records not being that great and, from what we can tell, our ancestor that made it over here being pretty poor. Our paternal grandmother’s side is very well researched though, going way back to when the family was still in Scotland.

 

[Cowboy]

That' very cool! When I was in college, 1987, I found out my mom had an out-of-wedlock son before she met my father, she was in her late teens, gave the boy up for adoption. She never mentioned it, ever. I always wondered about tracking him down, decided what I don't know won't hurt me.

So you don't want to know your half brother is Elon Chuckman or maybe Donald J chuckman is your half brothers dad?

 

[Millie]

That' very cool! When I was in college, 1987, I found out my mom had an out-of-wedlock son before she met my father, she was in her late teens, gave the boy up for adoption. She never mentioned it, ever. I always wondered about tracking him down, decided what I don't know won't hurt me.

Though my biological parents were dead by the time I sent in my papers, I do have brothers and sisters and they have lots of kids......it's nice to know they're there.

 

[Ferrisfan]

That' very cool! When I was in college, 1987, I found out my mom had an out-of-wedlock son before she met my father, she was in her late teens, gave the boy up for adoption. She never mentioned it, ever. I always wondered about tracking him down, decided what I don't know won't hurt me.

Not specific to the Chuckman line, but my situation is that I am the boy who was given up for adoption.

 

[Cowboy]

Not specific to the Chuckman line, but my situation is that I am the boy who was given up for adoption.

It was probably for the better. Not everyone but most people adopted go to a better situation. Have you ever wanted to know your biologicals?

 

[chiefjason]

There is some cool stuff in the digging. Got 3 relatives at the Battle of Kings Mtn, one at Cowpen's, and 2 at Ramsour's Mill. One of my possible family started Parker's Fort in Tx. Several movie characters based on that family and other folks. I've done some tracking of families movements through Europe in WWII based on their units order of battle. Keep digging if you have time.

 

[Chuckman]

So you don't want to know your half brother is Elon Chuckman or maybe Donald J chuckman is your half brothers dad?

....or Meth Chuckman, or Grand Wizard Chuckman. It could go south a dozen ways.

But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. My mom kept it buried for a reason. Not even my sister knew until I found out.

I love genealogy, though.

 

[Cowboy]

....or Meth Chuckman, or Grand Wizard Chuckman. It could go south a dozen ways.

But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. My mom kept it buried for a reason. Not even my sister knew until I found out.

I love genealogy, though.

Joe Dirt Chuckman might be fun to hang with man. Life's garden Dig it.

 

[SSgt75]

When I started searching back in the 90's all I had was my great-grandmother's family bible. Plus, my mom and dad were still alive then and could give me some information. Took lots of trips to Portsmouth, VA to do on-site research (no internet back then). Now, with so much data available on the internet and DNA data bases you can find out lots of stuff. Some that you might not even want to know. I've discovered a lot of "relatives" I didn't know about and they didn't know about us. A couple of really good stories, but too long to post here about finding 1st cousins.

 

[Chuckman]

When I started searching back in the 90's all I had was my great-grandmother's family bible. Plus, my mom and dad were still alive then and could give me some information. Took lots of trips to Portsmouth, VA to do on-site research (no internet back then). Now, with so much data available on the internet and DNA data bases you can find out lots of stuff. Some that you might not even want to know. I've discovered a lot of "relatives" I didn't know about and they didn't know about us. A couple of really good stories, but too long to post here about finding 1st cousins.

I remember as wee lad going to the state archives of Virginia and North Carolina with my mom and with my aunt to do family research. Hours upon hours upon hours. Upon hours.

 

[Ferrisfan]

It was probably for the better. Not everyone but most people adopted go to a better situation. Have you ever wanted to know your biologicals?

I know their names, and have reached out to them. They have no desire to meet me which is just "whatever" to me, but I'd like to know how many half-siblings I have out there.

I definitely ended up in a better situation, so I am nothing but grateful.

 

[Cowboy]

I know their names, and have reached out to them. They have no desire to meet me which is just "whatever" to me, but I'd like to know how many half-siblings I have out there.

I definitely ended up in a better situation, so I am nothing but grateful.

My ex wife never met her father until she was 18 and he had never known. So he didn't care and was probably skeptical as all get out.

 

[Variable]

I've known for a while my maternal Grandfather I knew growing up wasn't biologically my grandfather. My mother was a wartime baby in WW2 and she didn't know until she was in her teens. Well recently I decided I wanted to know my biological grandfathers name and I got it this morning. Elmo Augustus Canter he died at 65 years of age in 1982 in Reidsville, NC. Kind of cool what you can find.

I did the Family Tree thing online. What i found was a butt load of sadness and struggle. It is amazing how many people died young a hundred years ago. It wasn't quite Little House on the Prairie for my people. One thing is for sure. We live in the best times ever. Always remember that. As bad as it is today, it is a Golden age compared to the not so distant past.

 

[SSgt75]

I know their names, and have reached out to them. They have no desire to meet me which is just "whatever" to me, but I'd like to know how many half-siblings I have out there.

I definitely ended up in a better situation, so I am nothing but grateful.

My dad's brother changed his name, got married, had two kids in the 1950's. When I located them one was deceased and I had a very nice conversation with the other. She was totally shocked and said finding this out was like finding out you were adopted - that your parent wasn't really who you thought he was. She was very nice and thanked me for all the information I sent her. On the other hand - my dad's sister went to live with her mom when my grandparents split up. Dad and his brother lived with his dad (and my great-grandmother). For years we were told our grandmother was dead and he didn't know where his sister was. When I located her sons I called the one I could find a phone number for. First question I asked was "Did your mom ever talk about her brothers?" He said "Mom didn't have any brothers." Well, needless to say that conversation got a shock out of him. I sent him copies of photos and all the ancestry data I had compiled. He even had his brother do an Ancestry DNA and it showed us as 1st cousins. Haven't heard anything else from him. I guess some people just can't handle the truth. If my research is wrong I want to know so I can get it right. The author of a book on great-grandmother's family upline got it wrong on who she married. I found the book in the NC Archives in Raleigh and was reading it for research. When I contacted the author about the error he got all pissy and said it couldn't be wrong because that was what in the record book in XXXX County. I may have to make a trip to XXXX County with her family bible and get the record corrected. Besides, I lived with her until she passed in 1960 and KNOW who she married. Genealogy can be so much fun.

 

[Remshooter]

Back when I was a wee one, before the internet, my family on my Fathers side, had a crazy aunt that had the notion that we were heir to the Mark Hopkins fortune. She would show up at Christmas every year with these huge family trees all rolled up to spread out on the table to prove how much closer we were to all becoming multi millionaires. Each year, same story, and everyone would give her like a hundred bucks to go away and continue her research. Running joke in the family, was wait till our ship comes in with the Hopkin's money. Back then genealogy was family bible, birth certificates, tax records and lots of leg work. Amazing what you can do with a couple key strokes and a DNA swab now. To be honest, believe I was in college when the state of CA finally closed out the estate and took the money Believe that may hold a record for the longest unclaimed inheritance and I am sure there were a hell of a lot of people besides the crazy aunt trying to prove they were kin.

 

[Crazy Carl]

Several of my much older relatives on my dad's side on both sides of the pond have traced our roots back to some very minor, late 16th century German noble.

Earliest birth record is my great grandfather x7 (& coincidentally also named Carl) born in 1705 in Baden, Germany. I've got access to all the birth, death, marriage, kids, etc. data, I don't have access to the more comprehensive "old" data currently, but am talking to a cousin there to rectify that.

I've found a few pics of my great grandpa x2 & even one of his father, which is pretty wild to me.

Lost family members on both sides of both world wars. On this side, every generation has served in every conflict since WW1. I was amongst the 4th generation to do so & we've got a couple in the 5th doing it right now.

 

[jodyisaacs]

That' very cool! When I was in college, 1987, I found out my mom had an out-of-wedlock son before she met my father, she was in her late teens, gave the boy up for adoption. She never mentioned it, ever. I always wondered about tracking him down, decided what I don't know won't hurt me.

Same but different here. I found out in my late 20s that my father was not my bio dad. He passed away when I was 13, and my mother promised him she would never tell me. Taking biology, genetics, the fact they met 6 months before i was born, and were married exactly 1 month before i was born. and other things, I kinda figured it out. Also, after my father died, most of his family wanted nothing to do with me. I assumed it was because my mother was and is bat guano crazy. My mother denied, denied, denied... until she finally didn't. I tracked down my bio dad, half brother, and half sister. I have NEVER contacted any of them. They know nothing about me, as my bio father allegedly told my mother to "take care of it", when she told him she was premiers. They don't even know I exist. I know his name, address in Big Stone Gap, VA, his phone number... you name it. I'm even fb friends with my half sister. She has a daughter that looks just like my daughter. I will never contact them. I see it as too big a disruption in their life, and I dont know that I want the possible rejection. It would cause my mother undue stress, which she don't need with her heart condition. I don't speak to her either. Have spoken twice in 9 years, because she hates my wife, and can't keep her trap shut. I am an only child, and that means she has 1 granddaughter. She can't even behave and be respectful to be able to see her. My daughter, being almost 14, has no good memories of her either. I am good. I need nothing from no one...

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[Chuckman]

My dad's grandfather immigrated from Finland; my dad was the oldest of 6, and his dad went to Montana to work, and his mom gave them up when they were young children to the county whereby they all went into foster care.

Mom mom, I can trace her father's side back to Jamestown. In fact, my grandfather many times removed, had land on the James River in Virginia where there is a historical marker:



Her mom's side, I have no idea.

I really wish I could find out about my paternal grandmother's family, and my maternal grandmother's family.

 

[Ferrisfan]

My dad's brother changed his name, got married, had two kids in the 1950's. When I located them one was deceased and I had a very nice conversation with the other. She was totally shocked and said finding this out was like finding out you were adopted - that your parent wasn't really who you thought he was. She was very nice and thanked me for all the information I sent her. On the other hand - my dad's sister went to live with her mom when my grandparents split up. Dad and his brother lived with his dad (and my great-grandmother). For years we were told our grandmother was dead and he didn't know where his sister was. When I located her sons I called the one I could find a phone number for. First question I asked was "Did your mom ever talk about her brothers?" He said "Mom didn't have any brothers." Well, needless to say that conversation got a shock out of him. I sent him copies of photos and all the ancestry data I had compiled. He even had his brother do an Ancestry DNA and it showed us as 1st cousins. Haven't heard anything else from him. I guess some people just can't handle the truth. If my research is wrong I want to know so I can get it right. The author of a book on great-grandmother's family upline got it wrong on who she married. I found the book in the NC Archives in Raleigh and was reading it for research. When I contacted the author about the error he got all pissy and said it couldn't be wrong because that was what in the record book in XXXX County. I may have to make a trip to XXXX County with her family bible and get the record corrected. Besides, I lived with her until she passed in 1960 and KNOW who she married. Genealogy can be so much fun.

Both my biological family and my adopted family have weird genealogy things that make it hard to track*. My biomom had me from a short fling with man X. She later married man Y. She divorced man Y, and then her sister married man Y. So I don't know if the children that I think are linked to man Y are my half siblings, cousins, or a mixture of both. Man X had another child from another short fling before he got married and had kids with his wife. The woman from the fling is someone I discovered from DNA testing. That level of embarrassing past is likely why they don't want to speak with me.

Meanwhile my adopted dad had a kid from an affair with his secretary. I've actually had online discussions with her even though I am in no-way related to her (kind of feels like a half-sister though). My adopted dad's father did a similar thing that the family recently discovered through DNA testing.

The moral - don't dive into DNA testing and genealogy unless you are prepared to handle what you may find.

* based on some unconfirmed detective work on my part.

 

[Crazy Carl]

I did some digging on some German genealogy sites & discovered that a branch of my family wandered off to Romania in the 1860s & there are several of "us" still there. Thinking about trying to reach out to them. I certainly don't speak Romanian, but almost all ethnic Germans there still speak German, so that could be fun.

Also found out from an aunt, some of my great grandmother's people (my paternal grandpa's mom) were French Huguenots that came here in the 1600's. Her people & her mother in law's people are from the Alsace-Lorraine region along the French & German border & were alternately French or German depending on the situation there. That whole region got beat up for years, beginning with the 30 Years War to the French Revolution, and both the Austro-Prussian & Franco-Prussian wars.

Which is why my dad's people started coming here in the 1850's, 1870's & 1890's.

Same aunt has done a ton of work on Ancestry dot com & just told me today she some info on my maternal grandfather's side. I know absolutely nothing about them, as my mother burned or threw away any scrap of evidence she could find that her father existed & I haven't spoken with either my egg donor or plastic, gold digger, alcoholic sister for several years. My aunt Barbara (paternal uncles' wife) however, isn't such a sociopath & it turns out her father & my grandfather had been good friends since my mother & her were in grade school. That would be nice, as he passed when I was only five. I only have a couple of fond, but fading memories of him- teaching me to milk his goats & he & his even crazier brothers blowing up an old shed one Fourth of July.

I know some folks don't care about that kind of stuff & I get that. Having moved around so much as a kid, then for several years in the Army, it gives me a sense of "roots", which I find oddly comforting.

 

[gc70]

Genealogy can be tremendously fun.

My wife spent time at the National Archives and found a letter one of her ancestors apparently wrote while he was drunk in which he told off his employer. She also found the response letter in which George Washington fired her ancestor.

 

[fieldgrade]

Also found out from an aunt, some of my great grandmother's people (my paternal grandpa's mom) were French Huguenots that came here in the 1600's.

Huguenots are good stock, even if we are Frogs.
Margaret de Conde, French Huguenot, came with her husband, whose name my grandad, dad, I, and my son all share, in about 1720 by way of Barbados and Ireland after escaping the bad things happening to Protestants in France earlier. Landed in Wilmington, NC, originally from La Rochelle, France.



Some of my mom’s people, also Huguenots came from the same La Rochelle about 1690. Lived here north of Mt Pleasant SC.

And worshiped here. I attended a special sort of homecoming service a few years ago, all in French.

 

[Crazy Carl]

Huguenots are good stock, even if we are Frogs.
Margaret de Conde, French Huguenot, came with her husband, whose name my grandad, dad, me, and my son all share, in about 1720 by way of Barbados and Ireland after escaping the bad things happening to Protestants in France earlier. Landed in Wilmington, NC, originally from La Rochelle, France.

View attachment 218775

Some of my mom’s people, also Huguenots came from the same La Rochelle about 1690. Lived here north of Mt Pleasant SC.

And worshiped here. I attended a special sort of homecoming service a few years ago, all in French.

View attachment 218773

Very cool. Per 23andme, I'm mostly a mix of Black Forest German/Alsace French & Irish, with a splash of NW European mutt thrown in.

 

[fieldgrade]

Oh, and apparently my SC low country predecessors had an affinity for dueling.
A lost art that our generation misses greatly.

 

[fieldgrade]

I’ve got a chair in my living room from when it was new in this family home in probably 1840. Dad’s side. Close to the Cape Fear River.

 

[gc70]

Genealogy also has strange twists.

One of my relatives "was intimate" with the 29-year-old wife of the 56-year-old homeowner where he was boarding. The homeowner confronted my relative, who shot and killed the man. Luckily, my relative was convicted of murder and went to prison. I say my relative was lucky because he did not get to marry the woman, who was hard on her five husbands; she shot two, my relative shot one, one was killed in a car wreck and the last one disappeared while she was in prison.

The Woman

 

[Crazy Carl]

I’ve got a chair in my living room from when it was new in this family home in probably 1840. Dad’s side. Close to the Cape Fear River.

View attachment 218783

Dude, that is awesome. I spoke with my grandmother today & she is going to give me everything she has- the extra large "scroll" lining out the tree to way back, along with several photos from way back, including some WW2 & earlier pics of my great-great grandad, my great grandparents from in their heyday & my grandfather. Also documents in German, that she's never had translated, so I'll get that honor. Grandma's 90 & wants to make sure the torch is passed to the right person, so it looks like I'm about to become the family genealogist.

Dunno if you saw my post about a German friend from way back tracking me down, but he was able to contact my cousin Andreas. His dad's cousin was the guru over there, but passed in '91. His wife however, is still alive & a very sweet lady. I'm hoping he can put me in touch with her & see if can get a download of all the German info, including a copy of our family's coat of arms.

Slight detour- If I can get a copy of that, I'll be getting it as part of a full back piece featuring a Holy Roman Imperial eagle.

I don't have the details yet, but my grandma's peeps are Irish & apparently settled in Missouri in the 1830's, but split along blue & grey lines during the War of Northern Aggression & there's been no contact between them since then until recently when one side reached out to the other. I tend to think of "my people" as hard-bitten Krauts who came here in the 1890's to scrape a better life out of the soil, but it's very cool to learn that some of my other forebears have likely been getting it done since the War of Independence. I'm really looking forward to digging into that.

Need to find out how to track down every one of us who has served & find out period of service, branch, rank, campaigns & whatnot. I take it as a point of pride that so many of us from each generation have sworn that great oath & signed that blank check.

 

[Crazy Carl]

Genealogy also has strange twists.

One of my relatives "was intimate" with the 29-year-old wife of the 42-year-old homeowner where he was boarding. The homeowner confronted my relative, who shot and killed the man. Luckily, my relative was convicted of murder and went to prison. I say my relative was lucky because he did not get to marry the woman, who was hard on her five husbands; she shot two, my relative shot one, one was killed in a car wreck and the last one disappeared while she was in prison.

Definitely. Plenty of skeleton's in our family closet to go around. I have an uncle on my mother's side, one of my dad's cousins & one of my cousins that have done, or are doing time for murder. Haven't heard of any infidelity oopsies or scandals, but just for grins, I hope the spread of DNA testing reveals something juicy. Not to hurt or scandalize anyone, just for my own twisted curiosity.

 

[fieldgrade]

Dude, that is awesome. I spoke with my grandmother today & she is going to give me everything she has- the extra large "scroll" lining out the tree to way back, along with several photos from way back, including some WW2 & earlier pics of my great-great grandad, my great grandparents from in their heyday & my grandfather. Also documents in German, that she's never had translated, so I'll get that honor. Grandma's 90 & wants to make sure the torch is passed to the right person, so it looks like I'm about to become the family genealogist.

Dunno if you saw my post about a German friend from way back tracking me down, but he was able to contact my cousin Andreas. His dad's cousin was the guru over there, but passed in '91. His wife however, is still alive & a very sweet lady. I'm hoping he can put me in touch with her & see if can get a download of all the German info, including a copy of our family's coat of arms.

Slight detour- If I can get a copy of that, I'll be getting it as part of a full back piece featuring a Holy Roman Imperial eagle.

I don't have the details yet, but my grandma's peeps are Irish & apparently settled in Missouri in the 1830's, but split along blue & grey lines during the War of Northern Aggression & there's been no contact between them since then until recently when one side reached out to the other. I tend to think of "my people" as hard-bitten Krauts who came here in the 1890's to scrape a better life out of the soil, but it's very cool to learn that some of my other forebears have likely been getting it done since the War of Independence. I'm really looking forward to digging into that.

Need to find out how to track down every one of us who has served & find out period of service, branch, rank, campaigns & whatnot. I take it as a point of pride that so many of us from each generation have sworn that great oath & signed that blank check.

I did see your post about your German friend recently. That’s great that those long lost lines of coms can get reconnected.

I have tried to get my wife and her brother to take more of an interest since my two boys will know a lot of history on my side, but little to none on my wife’s side. My BIL is a stand up guy and somewhat of a pillar in the community, but he takes zero interest and has told me as much. While my in-laws were alive I had to stay after them just to write down the full names of their parents and grandparents since neither my MIL or FIL had any more living siblings or other family in the past thirty years. I knew once they were gone the only records I would have of them are the four generations of a few family gravestones near the old family farm.

I got interested in all this when my first son was born and got the family name, and I had recently moved back to eastern NC where there is much history of my dad’s side. After I dug a bunch of stuff up (pre-internet, and searching at courthouses and graveyards) I told my dad and he said, “Oh, well, you’ll be interested in a copy of this exhaustive family history my cousin had researched and typed up, back in the 80’s.”

Now he tells me, lol. Anyway, the internet makes it a lot easier to find missing pieces, but one thing I have noticed, old family records and family history are often recorded by OLD family members, and they start making obvious mistakes, so you have to sort it all out.

 

[Pack72]

Genealogy also has strange twists.

One of my relatives "was intimate" with the 29-year-old wife of the 56-year-old homeowner where he was boarding. The homeowner confronted my relative, who shot and killed the man. Luckily, my relative was convicted of murder and went to prison. I say my relative was lucky because he did not get to marry the woman, who was hard on her five husbands; she shot two, my relative shot one, one was killed in a car wreck and the last one disappeared while she was in prison.

The Woman

I'd love to see an episode of "Finding Your Roots" where a celebrity found out that she was in their family tree.

 

[9outof10mms]

I was poking around looking up my family name and came across this site: https://www.familysearch.org/en/

I believe it's where people that have paid for genealogy reports can post their info for others to find. I was able to trace my folks back to 1300's Switzerland (eventually Germany starting in the 1500's), then to my 5x grandfather who immigrated from Germany to PA in 1771. The coolest part of my research was finding out he fought in the Revolutionary War--not seven years into living in a foreign land. Northampton County Militia, 4bn 7co. Research on PA militias during the Revolution appears to be nearly as difficult as calculus, so I can't find much info easily. But I went from "knowing" we had no history in the War, to someone in it.

 

[SSgt75]

One of the hard parts of doing on-site research in the South is that so many courthouses were burned during the War of Northern Aggression and all the records destroyed. Also, churches that held old records of births, marriages and deaths have burned down or the old records lost when new churches were built. I've hit several stone walls from both. And if the records are gone there is no way to put them on the Web.

But there are rewards too. Holding a 200 year old book of names of people who have died and sometimes seeing whole families wiped out by an epidemic is very sobering. I was looking at a cemetery map and found the "family plot" where several people I was researching were buried. There were others buried there that weren't part of my research. Found out later they too were married into the family so they rated space in that plot.

 

[Crazy Carl]

That was something I noticed, rooting around online. My great-great grandfather was one of 12 children, only 4 of which lived past the age of 3.

 

[gc70]

I was poking around looking up my family name and came across this site: https://www.familysearch.org/en/

You found the public genealogy website of the Mormon Church ... and Mormons are BIG into genealogy.

You can go to a Family History Center at select Mormon churches for more extensive access to online records and the Family History Library has a lending program in which you can borrow from an incredibly large catalog of printed family history material.