Ancestry / Genealogy

tres

tres

tres

Soldato
Joined
16 Oct 2007
Posts
7,447
Location
UK
Has anyone delved into their ancestry using something like Ancestry.co.uk or Myheritage?

I signed up for a free trial. It's so addictive, and fascinating. I can't imagine how laborious and difficult it would have been prior to the digital age.
I've got about 1200 in my family tree. The earliest direct lineage is to a viking Jarl of Orkney in the 900s AD. Some french and Irish royalty.
My surname origin is from a bunch of London criminals who enjoyed lots of time in a workhouse.

Interested to hear what you've found.
 
Have you done the DNA part?

My mother already does her side of the family tree, and that's fairly big.

I was interested in knowing my Dad's side but it became nothing but stumbling blocks. Firstly we didn't do this whole DNA/family tree thing until after my Grandma had passed, but what it has told me if that I have a bunch of family in Northern Ireland who we already knew about anyway but they have no interest in helping me, or even knowing us after my Grandma basically up and left them when they were young, she met someone else and then had my Dad. It also taught us that my Grandma took a secret to her grave, in that the person who was on his birth certificate, whom we knew about as Grandad (he died before any of us kids were born), wasn't actually his real Dad. It turned out he is half Asian of some kind and my Grandad was white, still not 100% sure where from but yeah, zero clue or indication on who he was, so pretty much dead end after dead end for me.
 
I have Pictish DNA and my surname is derived from a Pictish village that was situated in Perthshire. Ancestors in the 16th century fled Scotland to Ireland in the wake of religious persecution only to return again to take part in the Jacobite Rebellions. After that, some returned to Ireland while my forebears stayed in Scotland. If you ever visit Donegal, you'll likely run into my long lost relatives.
 
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got a family book that someone started yonks back, has found people back to about 1540. has the family coat of arms in the front, which isn't as snobby as it sounds as i believe it's not as rare as people seem to think. never looked into it myself, there's a couple of interesting bits i recall from a flick through, like one of our ancestors being on HMS Hood when it went down. didn't even know you could do DNA stuff from those sites.
 
wolfie138 said:
got a family book that someone started yonks back, has found people back to about 1540. has the family coat of arms in the front, which isn't as snobby as it sounds as i believe it's not as rare as people seem to think. never looked into it myself, there's a couple of interesting bits i recall from a flick through, like one of our ancestors being on HMS Hood when it went down. didn't even know you could do DNA stuff from those sites.
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I haven’t found a coat of arms, but we do have a family tartan and used to have a castle, but that was turned into a mansion which was demolished in the 60’s. Sadly my ancestors appear to have had heavy involvement in Jamaican sugar plantations, which they would have no doubt staffed with African slaves.
 
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Dis86 said:
Yes and no. It had the British monarchs however the descends of the original Irish kingdoms held a tenuous role. This finally came to a complete end in 2003.
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King of England held the personal title of King of Ireland until 1801 (if memory serves) given to him by the Irish Parliament in 1297. Lordship of Ireland might have been given by the Pope, but the King of Ireland was a title for over 650 years.

Didn't know Irish Kingdoms still had a role for that length of time though. Must look it up.
 
My dad does this on both sites and loves it. Always saying you're related to x, y or z.. I just figure none of them really provided much in the way of inheritance so why should I bother :cry:
 
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