I am making my family tree, do you find it exciting to know your ancestors?

[Julie4]

I've just started lol

On my mother's side, this is my grandfather and my uncle during the Second World War. Unfortunately, my uncle died in Indochina during the Second World War at the age of 28.

And my great-grandmother who was born in 1896. I haven't gone any further for the moment.

[Lliam]

I think it's really interesting.

I had gotten into tracing my genealogy years ago. Then a second cousin, who was my parent's age, gave me a complete genealogy of my paternal relatives. They arrived in the U. S. in 1850. So there have been a whole lot of offspring and spouses since then. I have that entire tree and have extensive graphs with names, dates and other details.

I can trace my dad's side back five generations and have portraits of every generation going back to my great, great grandparents. That one is a copy of a daguerreotype taken in the mid to late 1850s or early 1860s.

I know what county and parish in Ireland they lived in before they emigrated. There is even a book called A Farewell to Famine that tells the story of how they came to America. Their names on listed on the ship's manifest. The story is fascinating and dovetails with what little I already knew about their arrival in the U. S.

I've been to Ireland and visited their parish of origin, I've done genealogical searches, and even hired genealogical agencies, but there don't seem to be any records of them in Ireland, so I can't trace back any further than 1795 when my great, great, grandfather was born.

My great, great grandparents settled as farmers. My great grand parents continued that. They and their children expanded the farms and I have cousins today who are still there. They are very successful farmers.

One relative fought in the Spanish-American war. And it was apparently a big deal that another one went to the 1904 World Fair (Louisiana Purchase Exposition) in St. Louis.

I know that my great-grandfather moved away and became a cop for a while in a big city.

My grandfather had an interesting life. At one point, he helped with the building of the Panama Canal.

My dad fought in Europe in WWII.

I know that my family name traces to high kings in ancient, pre-Christian Ireland.

I have some records of my mom's family going back to the 1850s in the U. S. But those records aren't as complete.

I did an "Ancestry" search and have gotten a few more details.

[nightdrot]

Actually, yes, I have done a bit if exploring of my family background and I do find it interesting and exciting, to use your latter term. Particularly as I am American and so we are a bit of a mishmash of everything.

You cannot know who you are until you learn where you are from. (Something missed by a number of people who answered this question, apparently.) So I connected to one of the sites that facilitated exploring your family heritage and it has gone from there.

It turns out that I am of Italian, German, French - yes, that's right, I said French - Polish, Spanish and Canadian (both French and English Canadian) background. On the Italian side, I - this won't surprise you to learn about me, I'm sure - I am from the aristocracy. Grant, not the House of Savoy or anything, but I'll take it where I can get it!!

In fact, my Italian ancestors were on the wrong side of the House of Savoy and so when Italy was unified, they fled to the USA. So here I am - at least part of me.

It is fascinating to learn and you do get some insight into where your family's views come from and other things that helped to make you, you. Lots of fun.

Oh, by the way, shhhhhhh, I will never tell anyone that you are not 100% French. That will stay our little secret!

[Julie4]

Really exciting. How far back did you go? Now I understand better your sensitivity to the monarchy (just kidding).

Well, you know, I consider myself 100% French lol, even if my ancestors weren't. But I confess that if one of my ancestors fought Napoleon I couldn't stand it 😂

But as Marc Bloch, who is also not 100% French, wrote during the Second World War

"I never claim my origin... But perhaps those who will oppose my testimony will seek to ruin it by calling me a "metèque" . that France, finally, from which some would gladly conspire to expel me today and perhaps (who knows?) will succeed, will remain, come what may, the homeland from which I cannot uproot my heart. I was born there, I drank from the wellsprings of its culture, I made its past my own, I breathe well only under its sky, and I have endeavored, in my turn, to defend it to the best of my ability."

[nightdrot]

On the second point, not to worry, I think you are as French as French gets - and I mean that as a compliment, In fact, I greatly admire your love of country. It is not a thoughtless patriotism, but one that is deep because not just emotional, but intellectual.

Moreover, it is not a jingoistic patriotism. You love your country and yet you respect other countries and the love people have for their countries. All i can say is that your mom and dad raised you well.

Now, you were French or Portuguese, I can't remember. (Yes, that was a joke.)

As for me, partly it just started from me listening to family members tell stories and things. That sort of captured my interest. Intellectually, Tory that I am, I have always believed that you cannot know who you are if you don't know where you came from. So the family talk had an appeal from the start.

Then, about 5 years ago I discovered a website called Heritage. Now you know I am NOT a computer guy, but this site seemed easy enough to use and so on a lark I signed up for it. It has traced my family heritage so far back to the early 19th century. To be sure, there are gaps and I don't suggest that I have every jot and tittle of my family history, but there is a quite a bit there.

Anyhow, that is where I am a. It is kind of a hobby and I don't pursue my family history doggedly. However, when Heritage sends me some information, I take the time to look it over.

[Julie4]

Ah yes I see, computing has many advantages lol. You should switch to the iPhone ( I'm teasing ) 😂

Thanks for sharing this here.

I hope you are doing well. And give my regards to your family. 😊

[nightdrot]

Best to you and yours too!!

Oh, as far as an I-phone... NEVER!! They will bury me with my flip phone and with a wistful look on my face for the days when the phone had to be dialed - as opposed to pushing buttons (EWWWWWW!) - and was on a cord in the kitchen.

The world was never better!!

[BaronReagan]

It's astonishing that in this day and age, when so many people proudly display their origins, Julie is so keen to be considered entirely French.

@Julie4 are you ashamed of your origins?

[nightdrot]

@BaronReagan Well, I don't want to speak for her, but I have gotten to know her on this site pretty well. She is VERY proud of being French and of her country, but I think her remarks about her ancestry were meant more as humor than to be taken seriously.

[Julie4]

No, I'm not ashamed of my origins. Spain also has a great history, but it's not mine. I wasn't brought up in Spain, to love this country, etc. But it was France that made me who I am.

I was born in France, so I'm French, I was brought up to love this country, its history, and France gave me everything.

If you ask me which side I'm on between Charles Quint and François Premier, my heart is on the side of François Premier.

[midnightmoon05]

Hard to say…borned in China… so 💯 Chinese to a peasant family. Most China were peasants that time. can’t trace back any further…However, we are also the Hakka people which means guest people. Translates to nomads. They are all over the world…

my parents immigrated to NY in the 80s…so pretty much a New Yorker. But I have moved 11 times…. My hubby calls me the nomad … since he was in the same house for 35 years till I got him out of that town.

[Potteplante]

I find it very interesting.

As a kid, I'd spend hours and hours on Íslendingabók "Icelandic book" - where I could trace my ancestry back too 1340.

Makes me sad I can't enter it anymore since I've changed my nationality and therefore no longer got access to it.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

I never felt like a strong mission to learn it a the deep level. I might be lazy or something. I never really saw how it will make a difference to how I see myself.

The immediate is very interesting my case being biracial and half-White American n my mother's side and half-Asian Japanese on my father's.

My grandfather on the mother's was a paratrooper in WW2. My grandfather on my father's side was a soldier fighting for Japan.

I can keep going but I shared it a lot on this site already. But it's kind of funny in my case being biracial with ancestors fighting on opposite sides of WW2.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

One thing I found kind of disappoint on my Japanese side is that my ancestors were apparently all rice farmers. No cool samurai or ninjas there. That side, at least, was all peasants.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

* kind of disappointing

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

The immediate side has always been interesting but not so much to understand myself but to understand my parents and family. I got this sort of thing where I really want to understand myself but I never saw my lineage beyond the immediate as a big part of it.

[Julie4]

Haha , that's very interesting, but do you consider yourself American or Japanese? Of course both are part of your identity, but which side do you feel you belong to more?

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

That's a serious psychological complex for me. I was born and raised in Shizuoka, Japan, originally, and even the kids there called me "Amerikajin" even though I knew nothing about America and never set foot there yet given the subtle differences in my looks from pure Japanese and my very obviously Caucasian mother.

Then I went to America, starting with vacations, later lived there from high school and beyond, and everyone called me "Japanese" even though I have a second citizenship there (dual-citizen) and have the American mother and some white features.

So I never really felt like I belonged anywhere. Or maybe everywhere! I got some hang of social skills over life and clicking with at least some people around me, making friends, getting along. But I can't really say these days like I feel as though I belong one way or another anymore.

One part of me wants to say Japan but another part America. I'm fragmented.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

Besides being biracial and biethnic and dual-citizen and all that, my parents also divorced when I was young and moved all over the place. My mother went back to the US and kept moving all over the place (first Tennessee, later Florida, later California, later South Carolina), then not long after my father moved to Singapore and later Hong Kong.

So I was just the new kid in school all the time! If I made any friends, I would be saying goodbye to them forever a year or two after as I moved to a new place, new country sometimes, new school.

So I had this nomadic mindset for ages like, "Where is home?" What does that even mean? What does it even mean when people ask me where I'm from?

I think I found closest approximation to it in my wife. It became a person rather a place. My wife is the closest idea I've ever found in my life to "home".

[midnightmoon05]

I am glad you found your home sweet home. In your wife’s arm…most beautiful!

[KostasKouvalis]

I have before for a school project, but I don't really care about it to be honest. It doesn't benefit me in anyway. I pretty much know everything about my immediate family. I don't really care about more distant relatives. My dad will overemblish anyways. I'm more curious about my DNA, just because of all the different nationalities that invaded our country.

Have fun though. Let us know when you're finished. Is that why you were asking if that one relative looks German?

I have just the perfect soundtrack to inspire you, though I know you're gonna hate me for it...

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JvcEP0EjqIc

[Julie4]

😂😂

[NathanDavis]

my extended relatives already started this a few years ago... so I have an idea of where we came from, and why

personally, I don't care to know...

my great-grandma always said.. don't ask, you're Texan, that's it... don't you worry about else... lol

[RavVid]

I think so. It can help you understand the times more broadly to understand an ancestors life. I was fortunate an ancestor did this early 1900's so I have back to the 1700's without effort on my part. So i have focus on the history they lived in.

[msc545]

I didn't necessarily find it exciting, but I did find it necessary since I was adopted as a child and when I started doing this I had absolutely no idea who any of my relatives, including my biological parents were. Through DNA I discovered these things but it was not easy and it took a long time. Genealogy is very difficult as I discovered and very technical. At some points, particularly in the search for my biological father, I hired a professional genealogist because it was taking up too much of my time and I didn't nearly have the knowledge to do it accurately.

[Jessica405]

I have been digging up ancestors for about 15 years. A never ending task! I have 2 commissions at the moment for other people.

[Julie4]

How far back did you go?

[Jessica405]

Carry on the good work. Talk to as many relatives as you can. Record all family traditions like Aunty Flo was a pilot. There is usually some truth in these. Dive into census returns. They tell you so much. A snapshot of your ancestors.

[Jessica405]

It becomes even more interesting when you do a DNA test.

[Jessica405]

I am following all branches. Some go back to the late 1500's. Some stop at 1600's. Many only into 1700's..

I also search siblings at elach generation and their children.

I am helped greatly by my brother. He is excellent at getting proofs.

[AviatorTom]

It's great you are doing this. Discovering where we come from can be very interesting. I am our family genealogist, and have info on more than 200 ancestors, going back to the 1600s. Lots of interesting people and events in the family tree.

Best of luck... and enjoy it.

[Julie4]

Oh wow impressive

[CriticalCatDad123]

Yes. My mom showed me a newspaper clipping of my great grandfather who was on a bowling league. She claims he looks like me, but I honestly think he looks a lot like Joseph Gordon-Levitt with glasses. We also have a cabin on my moms side that’s been in our family sense The Great Depression!

[purplepoppy]

I've learned stuff from talking to grandparents but I've never dived into the archives.

[KostasKouvalis]

Like those traditions you wrote about on Literotica ;)

[purplepoppy]

Still live and well

[TommyMountainFigure]

I am a firm believer in the saying, you cannot know where you are going without first knowing where you came from.

So to answer your question.. Yes absolutely!

[molonski2]

I put my DNA into ancestry , I dont have the patience , but I met a cousin so it was certainly worth it.

[OfMiceandMen]

I am Metis decent on father's side and Irish on my mothers.

[OtterMan68]

EVERYONE should know their roots.

I find it sad when I ask people about their ancestry and they don't even know what country their ancestors are from.

[gorydetails]

I was heavy into creating a family tree years ago. I traced my family back to the 1740s in the US

[RyanEC]

That’s really cool actually.
I know a good amount of my family tree as well.

[Julie4]

How far back did you go?

[RyanEC]

I know I my family were aristocrats in Scotland from around 1000-1700.

[SotiCoto]

Nah. I'd probably be worried about them being Anglo-Saxons.

[Iron_Man]

I’m 100% Swedish.

[Julie4]

And American now , no?

[Iron_Man]

I moved to America when I was six months old I was born in Portugal Azores on the military Air Force Base. My dad was a fighter pilot and the US Air Force his parents were Swedish and they moved to America my father was born in Florida USA

[Iron_Man]

In…:

[Julie4]

And do you consider yourself American or Swedish?

[Iron_Man]

I’m American, but my blood lines are 100% Swedish

[Julie4]

I see

[Iron_Man]

Yes …:

[Anonymous]

YOU'RE NOT REALLY FRENCH. YOU HAVE Spanish ANCESTORS, AS YOU YOURSELF HAVE ALREADY WRITTEN.

YOU'RE NOT REALLY FRENCH

YOU'RE NOT REALLY FRENCH

[laly520]

yes

very interesting

[eagle1951]

i know my moms side