Family trees- rooting out interesting ancestors

[Furbish Islands]

Does anyone know where I can search birth, death, and marriage certificates from the USSR?

[Pax Nerdvana]

We seem to have a disproportionate number of people related to gangsters.

Which is not too surprising. We're all connected if you go back far enough.

[Estonland]

My maternal great-grand uncle was a militia commander in the Cilician Theatre of the Franco-Turkish War(1919-1921).
My paternal great-great-grandfather was a mufti who served in Edirne(a pretty large city at the time).
Thats about all of my interesting ancestors. Luckily both sides of my family have well-maintained family trees, some going back seven-eight generations.

[The New California Republic]

The one interesting family I supposedly have some relation to is the Kennedy Family, but who knows if my grandpa is correct or just making some shit up on that one (lets hope it's true?)

The best thing to do is to research it yourself rather than leave it in limbo. My maternal Grandmother told me about a rumour that her side of the family was Jewish, that she had heard it from her parents, etc, etc. She even told me a specific Jewish name that she had been told about. During researching my complete family tree, I did some extensive research in that area. Going back about 8 generations, I found no Jewish names whatsoever, not a shred of evidence of any Jewish heritage. Research your Kennedy connection, even if it proves to be untrue it is still very satisfying to put the rumour to bed once and for all.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

Does anyone know where I can search birth, death, and marriage certificates from the USSR?

Don't know if this helps
https://www.archives.com/genealogy/family-heritage-russian.html

[Holy Tedalonia]

The one interesting family I supposedly have some relation to is the Kennedy Family, but who knows if my grandpa is correct or just making some shit up on that one (lets hope it's true?)

The best thing to do is to research it yourself rather than leave it in limbo. My maternal Grandmother told me about a rumour that her side of the family was Jewish, that she had heard it from her parents, etc, etc. She even told me a specific Jewish name that she had been told about. During researching my complete family tree, I did some extensive research in that area. Going back about 8 generations, I found no Jewish names whatsoever, not a shred of evidence of any Jewish heritage. Research your Kennedy connection, even if it proves to be untrue it is still very satisfying to put the rumour to bed once and for all.

Considering the relationships he was in... if it turns out to be true, it is likely scandalous.

[The New California Republic]

Does anyone know where I can search birth, death, and marriage certificates from the USSR?

Usually whatever specific country of the former-USSR has its own records. There are some records for Russia here: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Ru ... gy_Records

[The New California Republic]

The best thing to do is to research it yourself rather than leave it in limbo. My maternal Grandmother told me about a rumour that her side of the family was Jewish, that she had heard it from her parents, etc, etc. She even told me a specific Jewish name that she had been told about. During researching my complete family tree, I did some extensive research in that area. Going back about 8 generations, I found no Jewish names whatsoever, not a shred of evidence of any Jewish heritage. Research your Kennedy connection, even if it proves to be untrue it is still very satisfying to put the rumour to bed once and for all.

Considering the relationships he was in... if it turns out to be true, it is likely scandalous.

I don't trust any family tree that doesn't have a bit of scandal in it.

[Nordengrund]

Both sides of my family can be traced back to Scotland. My dad’s side came from the Highlands, and from what I have been told about one of my ancestors, he sounded very stereotypically Scottish. Our surname supposedly comes from the name of the clan he was apart of. He left or was kicked out and his descendants settled in what would become West Virginia. Also, unlike most of the clan, he was Protestant instead of Catholic.

My mom’s side were Ulster Scots who lived in Northern Ireland, though they probably lived in Scotland at one point. They supposedly arrived as immigrants from England and settled in South Carolina. There’s also some French, German, Cherokee and possibly Jewish on her side as well. I don’t really know where the French came from, as they could have come directly from France, or maybe they are descendants of Normans living in England, but my French side is also pretty solidly Protestant, so they could have been Huguenots at one point, or originally Catholics who later converted to Protestantism.

Supposedly I have one ancestor that was half-Cherokee, and my great great grandma was supposedly “half-Jewish”, or at least one of her parents was Jewish.

[Farnhamia]

Both sides of my family are from non-English speaking lands and only came here in the 20th century, so I can't go back very far. I have done research for in-laws and friends and some of the results turned up were interesting. Another thing I did, since I've lived in several old houses, has been to research the people who lived there before me. City directories and census data are great for this.

[The New California Republic]

Both sides of my family are from non-English speaking lands and only came here in the 20th century, so I can't go back very far.

Yup. In countries that don't have particularly good record keeping in terms of census data, birth and death certificates, etc, then it can stop the growth of a family tree very quickly; especially if religious institutions in the country also don't keep records of marriages and the like.

[Pax Nerdvana]

Both sides of my family are from non-English speaking lands and only came here in the 20th century, so I can't go back very far.

Yup. In countries that don't have particularly good record keeping in terms of census data, birth and death certificates, etc, then it can stop the growth of a family tree very quickly; especially if religious institutions in the country also don't keep records of marriages and the like.

I guess I'm lucky that some of my relatives on my dad's side kept good records. I can trace my dad's side back to at least the 19th century.

[The New California Republic]

Yup. In countries that don't have particularly good record keeping in terms of census data, birth and death certificates, etc, then it can stop the growth of a family tree very quickly; especially if religious institutions in the country also don't keep records of marriages and the like.

I guess I'm lucky that some of my relatives on my dad's side kept good records. I can trace my dad's side back to at least the 19th century.

Because of the meticulous record keeping in the UK I have traced some of my family back to the 12th. It is a bit of a lottery in terms of some countries, and means that it is family documentation alone that offers any hints for tracing ancestry, but even those can only go back so far, as most families do not make a habit of keeping birth certificates etc of grandparents or further back.

[Shayla]

I supposedly am related to Mary Chilton, a person on the Mayflower.

[Farnhamia]

I guess I'm lucky that some of my relatives on my dad's side kept good records. I can trace my dad's side back to at least the 19th century.

Because of the meticulous record keeping in the UK I have traced some of my family back to the 12th. It is a bit of a lottery in terms of some countries, and means that it is family documentation alone that offers any hints for tracing ancestry, but even those can only go back so far, as most families do not make a habit of keeping birth certificates etc of grandparents or further back.

On one of the trees I did for a friend, I got to a point where a previous research said, "We have no documents to tell us if Person B is the son of Person A. The names are close and the place is the same but it would be a leap of faith to make that connection." Naturally, I made the leap and ended up in the 8th century among kings and dukes and Viking princesses.

[Pax Nerdvana]

I guess I'm lucky that some of my relatives on my dad's side kept good records. I can trace my dad's side back to at least the 19th century.

Because of the meticulous record keeping in the UK I have traced some of my family back to the 12th. It is a bit of a lottery in terms of some countries, and means that it is family documentation alone that offers any hints for tracing ancestry, but even those can only go back so far, as most families do not make a habit of keeping birth certificates etc of grandparents or further back.

Cool. I'm not too sure about the state of recordkeeping here in the States though.

Because of the meticulous record keeping in the UK I have traced some of my family back to the 12th. It is a bit of a lottery in terms of some countries, and means that it is family documentation alone that offers any hints for tracing ancestry, but even those can only go back so far, as most families do not make a habit of keeping birth certificates etc of grandparents or further back.

On one of the trees I did for a friend, I got to a point where a previous research said, "We have no documents to tell us if Person B is the son of Person A. The names are close and the place is the same but it would be a leap of faith to make that connection." Naturally, I made the leap and ended up in the 8th century among kings and dukes and Viking princesses.

Ok, that is awesome.

[Stretchington]

Because of the meticulous record keeping in the UK I have traced some of my family back to the 12th. It is a bit of a lottery in terms of some countries, and means that it is family documentation alone that offers any hints for tracing ancestry, but even those can only go back so far, as most families do not make a habit of keeping birth certificates etc of grandparents or further back.

Cool. I'm not too sure about the state of recordkeeping here in the States though.

For the most part I've had a pretty easy time finding records in the states going back to the 1840s-1850s, but any further back and it gets pretty hairy.

[Pax Nerdvana]

Cool. I'm not too sure about the state of recordkeeping here in the States though.

For the most part I've had a pretty easy time finding records in the states going back to the 1840s-1850s, but any further back and it gets pretty hairy.

That would make sense. A lot of records were probably lost one way or another.

[USS Monitor]

My grandparents worked on the Manhattan Project.

[Farnhamia]

My grandparents worked on the Manhattan Project.

Tom Lehrer's joke about that was, everyone who worked there was a spy.

[Pax Nerdvana]

My grandparents worked on the Manhattan Project.

That is so cool. You have relatives who were a part of history.

[Stretchington]

I believe one of the first direct line ancestors in the US in my tree albeit on one of my mother's lines would be #36 on this map.
http://www.ctgenweb.org/county/cofairfi ... ttlers.htm

[AquilaJordyn]

I've done quite a bit of research on my family myself. As a history nerd, I have to admit I got really excited by it all.

My mother's friend is a historian with the same last name as me who did research on both of our families. We've always wanted to know if we're related, and while she didn't in her research find if we were related, she did find out we're related to a man named: Nicholas Jacques Pelletier. He's a great great something Uncle of mine who was essentially the test dummy for the French Guillotine, and people shouted at his execution: "Bring back the gallows." they booed the man's execution.

My Uncle made a family tree on Ancestry and found my Grandmother on my Father's side is related to all of the First-Reich Emperors. Charlemagne, Louis II the Pious, The Pepin line. We're also related to William the Conqueror, a few dukes & counts of Burgundy, three roman senators of Narbonne ( In Southern France) and some Gallic chieftains of Narbonne. My dad's paternal side of the family hails originally from Normandy France, but they came there from Scandinavia, as the Norman vikings who settled Normandy, the "north men", were from Scandinavia, while his mothers side lived in Southern France since pre-roman times, and eventually married into the royal family at some point or another. (If I recall, they married a Pepin). I'm also through my dad's mom related to four Saints, namely Charlemagne's wife, Clothild, Charlemagne himself, Saint Beggas of Austrasia, and Saint Arnulf of Metz, who is the patron saint of brewers, something I think is pretty funny. I have this picture of my Great grandfather on my Mother's Father's side who was from Bavaria dressed in lederhosen, with his arm around his brother's shoulder's on a keg. It's a pretty meme'able picture honestly. He was also of Eastern European Jewish descent, which, as it turns out, I'm more Jewish than I am actual German.

I myself took an ancestry DNA test, and apparently among other things, my maternal grandfather was Sicilian without knowing it, and maybe also a little Greek. On top of that, he was Hungarian and Finnish. My maternal grandmother was Irish, which we knew, but I neglected to tell her according to the test, I think we're about as English as we are Irish. Our family moved from England to Ireland before coming to America; we had originally lived in Ireland, but 'polluted' the blood pool a bit while in England. Which was a good idea on my part because her family lived in an area that rebelled against English rule. My Fathers mother was on top of being of Occitain blood, a little Castilian (Central Spanish) and I think it's ode to her that my test suggest I might have some middle eastern and north African descent in me. It's not much, less than 3% combined between both of those regions. Through my paternal grandfather was well, who would've guessed, French, but also Flemish, Scandinavian, and I think perhaps English, just considering the historical Norman invasion of England, that might explain a bit. See, I was raised to think I was German, French, Irish, and Quebecoise, so I don't know how to account for the fact that 61% of my genetics match up with the British Isles. My Irish grandmother was only supposed to be half Irish. I'm not sure exactly, but my family is either more Flemish than we think or is either more English than we think. That or we're Breton, I'm not sure. One of the most unsatisfying things about these DNA testing sites is you don't get precise results, or rather can't. Because if you're from Northern France or Holland, then you're in the same gene pool as people from England.

[The Free Joy State]

I had limited luck tracing my family tree. My English side did own some land in the 1790s, but pissed it away by the 1830s. I have a Welsh side that I couldn't trace further than running into the Welsh version of "John Smith" (there were at least 2000 possible births for the two possible years of birth I had from the marriage and death certificate respectively, and "born in Wales" didn't help -- I only had limited free access to the ancestry website).

I apparently have Irish heritage, too (according to family legend), but I didn't manage to trace that (there are a few illegitimate births, and a lot of children that might not be their fathers' biological children in my family tree; and a few marriages where the woman had a forename but no surname listed once we get back to 1840 or so -- which makes searching harder).

All in all, the ancestry I found is very run-of-the-mill.

[Major-Tom]

The one interesting family I supposedly have some relation to is the Kennedy Family, but who knows if my grandpa is correct or just making some shit up on that one (lets hope it's true?)

The best thing to do is to research it yourself rather than leave it in limbo. My maternal Grandmother told me about a rumour that her side of the family was Jewish, that she had heard it from her parents, etc, etc. She even told me a specific Jewish name that she had been told about. During researching my complete family tree, I did some extensive research in that area. Going back about 8 generations, I found no Jewish names whatsoever, not a shred of evidence of any Jewish heritage. Research your Kennedy connection, even if it proves to be untrue it is still very satisfying to put the rumour to bed once and for all.

I'll have to. Usually gramps is the one with all the family tree charts (it's been his fascination ever since he retired). I'd have to ask him to see his research.

If I did have that relation, it would explain my bad luck.