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Does anyone know of genealogy sources that can lead back to ancient times, because I've traced part of mine back to the Franco-Prussian War. I don't know about my local library, I'll look there tommorow.
Dan/Anastasios of Sparta/Gaius Statilius Rusticus/ Gaius Germanicus Augustus Flavius Romulus Caesar Tiberius Caelius (Imperator :twisted: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_twisted.gif" alt=":twisted:" title="Twisted Evil" />:twisted: )
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As far as I know there are very few cases of accurate genealogies reaching back to ancient times. If I am right in assuming that you derive from migratory European stock then you would need to trace the provenance of your clan and determine whether they belonged to any of the noble families of Europe. For the most part long, detailed genealogies were a luxury of the upper classes. Unless you are able to count some fairly significant royalty or otherwise outstanding personas among your ancestors, there is little hope of tracing your family history back to anything even vaguely approaching ancient times. Without visiting the "old country" to peruse surviving archives and church records, most of us peasants lose the trail of our European roots at some point shortly before our families made the trip across the pond.
Joseph Pietrykowski
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant
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Dan,
My wife has done a lot of research into both our families & she suggested you try Ancestry.com. She says there are resources available through there that are difficult for the average person to access other ways. Many of the families that came to America in the early years were wealthy enough to keep family records. She has traced her family back to before 800 AD but says she questions the accuracy of most of the information beyond that. It is surprising how many historically important ancestors you can uncover. She has traced her family back through the Norman invasion (or as she calls it the retaking of the homeland) with realitively little effort, when you are able to get back that far there is often another couple hundred years available. But although she frequently harangs me with tales of being descended from Romulus & Remus she too admits ancient times are a tough time to verify. Ancestry.com has memberships available by the month which makes it easier sometimes as it can be an expensive outlay at one time. If you have any questions about it just ask.
Maius/Bill
Marcus Petronius Maius
LEG XIIII GEMINA COH VI
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Bill Lund
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Quote:Ancestry.com has memberships available by the month which makes it easier sometimes as it can be an expensive outlay at one time.
Good idea Bill.
Dan, you might check with the genealogy section of your local library before dropping any cash for your own Ancestry.com membership. They might have an account free for patrons to use. I know that my library does.
Joseph Pietrykowski
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Quote:She has traced her family back to before 800 AD but says she questions the accuracy of most of the information beyond that.
Wow! I've enjoyed trying to trace my family but am happy if I can reach the 1700s. Was pretty boring though.. one side was London, London, London each generation and the other was Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Aberdeen going back into eternity. They seemed so settled in the area I probably come from Picts 
I have a large Irish branch but other than knowing they were from Ireland I've got no idea where abouts 
I'm afraid I dont know any ancient genealogy websites. I used familysearch, free bmd for the UK, genes reunited and ancestry.
Kat x
~We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars~
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Quote:My wife has done a lot of research into both our families & she suggested you try Ancestry.com. She says there are resources available through there that are difficult for the average person to access other ways. Many of the families that came to America in the early years were wealthy enough to keep family records. She has traced her family back to before 800 AD but says she questions the accuracy of most of the information beyond that. It is surprising how many historically important ancestors you can uncover. She has traced her family back through the Norman invasion (or as she calls it the retaking of the homeland) with realitively little effort, when you are able to get back that far there is often another couple hundred years available.
Hi Bill,
As a historian I must say that 99% of these 'ancestry projects' are completely useless. Most of the time, those who are able to find direct ancestors either somehow 'add a link' to an important family, but most of the time it's pure wishful thinking. medieval genealogy was both an art as well as a political tool, and the ability to create a link from your family to an important earlier family would mean you had better chances of making a land claim stick in court. It did not mean that such a link actually existed.
The sad thing is that too many people researching this happily ignore this, in order to 'link back to Charlemagne'. In truth, most of those family lines dies out at some point, and too many 'accepted genealogies' on the internet are created only because there is a name connection. Most serious studies would throw such results out of the window. 
I guess if you don't take it too seriously, it can be a very nice hobby. :wink:
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I don't know if I could find old lutheran records from Germany, but I have traced my ancestry back to Alsace. I made a web a while ago on where my ancestors could have been, tacking note of every war and mass migration, I have theorized that from germany, they could have been captured roman soldiers, or Germanics. I don't know if I descend from celts though, because of my Irish grandmothers prominent nose (not to stereotype), but I have theorized that brits who descended from roman invaders could be an explanation. It is even possible I could have some vicking blood in me, but as far as I know, I'm Irish, French (alsatian), and mostly German.
Dan/Anastasios of Sparta/Gaius Statilius Rusticus/ Gaius Germanicus Augustus Flavius Romulus Caesar Tiberius Caelius (Imperator :twisted: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_twisted.gif" alt=":twisted:" title="Twisted Evil" />:twisted: )
Yachts and Saabs are for whimps!
Real men have Triremes and Chariots 8) <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" />8) !
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I'm not sure if it was on this list or another, but I read somewhere about a Yorkshire student who fooled his professor about his ancestry. The professor claimed that his student 'for sure' was a local, based on his local name. The student insisted that his grandparents were odessa Jews who had changed their names, at which the professor made an embarred retreat..
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Dan.
This family tree research wonderful thing.I one and a half years search well the Gaulish/after my Germanic ancestors.I found my ancestors who fled from Treveri tribe / from Julius Caius Ceasar revenge/ after battle Alesia.I have an easier thing because Vallus is my name on all of the world rare. Vallus this is Treveri harvesting machine or messor.
I wrote a study about this research.
He is the most important thing that you should recognize accurate data by your grandparents. Godd idea the Ancestry.com website. I have another idea. This is Ellis Island. In this website found all emmigration people passenger list. The name and a place of birth are indicated on the side. If you have fortune the data are written punctual. If the data are then it is possible to search it in churches. If I can help in something for you very with pleasure I do it.
Vallus István <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=" " title="Very Happy" />
A sagittis Hungarorum, libera nos Domine
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Hi Dan,
I have done exstensive research on my family history, and have actually found relatives who lived where my grandmother lived when she was born, and remember her as a baby. It is a great hobby, that can lead to a lot of frustration. Unfortunately, we can never be positive about our geneology, because we arent in the past, but I can honestly say that I am 99.9% sure of my research. I have used many different resources, including census records, church records, military records, etc. You can get many of these records from the government (both federal and state). I have used a few websites, including www.ancestry.com and www.familysearch.org
Both of these sites are pretty good. The familysearch one is the LDS Church one. As was previously stated, some people just click because they want to believe. But it is true that many people when they get far enough back, hit royalty. I traced my ancestry back to 69A.D. through English, Scottish, and French nobles. I have documents of my family coming over to America to in the 1600's, and other documents, but none of it is definitive. I don't think that I will ever be able to prove it, but maybe someday someone will be able to prove it.
Hope this helps.
Andy
Andy Pierucci
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A distant relative of mine hired a professional geneologist to trace the family line. My dad has copies of the results; they'd traced us back to a Norman chap named Bartholomew de Boynton, who took over a Yorkshire village of the same name in 1067. The family line is split up into 3 lines, I think, and I'm not sure which one we fall into.
It's fascinating, to be sure, but I can't help but wonder how many of the documents that the geneologist found were wholly accurate. People sometimes altered their documents, changed names or misspelled them, things like that. A thousand years of that and who knows what you've got.
---AH Mervla, aka Joel Boynton
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Well, you've got me beat...For some reason, our family tree has been kept since around the 1500's, but like you Joel, we can trace our beginnings aback to about 1092 AD to a guy named Sir John de Holcombe...fought in the Crusades with Richard the Lion Heart. At some point this Tudor mansion, Holcombe Court (obvious from the name) was owned by my family:
http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/data/001567a.jpg
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Magnus/Matt
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That's so neat Matt, and cool photo of Holcombe mansion!
Wow, wished I could trace my ancestry that far. All I know is that my dad comes from once-wealthy Chinese merchants, and my mom's family is peasant Filipino stock. Boorring!
I keep wishing that one day I'll find out that one of my ancestors was a heroic native warrior, fighting off the Spanish invasion or something.
Sara T.
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Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
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Kat x
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