DonnieDarko
5th Year
Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?
Posts: 312
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Post by DonnieDarko on Jul 29, 2004 0:52:49 GMT -5
i have a lot of races in my family due to marriage, but the one person that sticks out in my mind is Jesse James.
he is my great-great-great grandfather or something.
that is sweet.
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Post by potterknowitall on Aug 5, 2004 14:41:50 GMT -5
As a consequence of cleaning out my Grandmother's apartment, I'm swimming in family information - it's great ;D I've been trying to find specifics (like Marriage certificates, complete names and birthdates of Great-Grandparents) for a really long time so I could trace my family further, but now that I've finally got it - I don't know where to start!
Has anyone tried to do something like this before? And, if so, do you have any suggestions on where to start? Can this be done over the internet, or do I need to visit the libraries in the cities where the marraiges, etc, took place? I've also been looking at some of those sites which say that they can help you trace your family tree - but where does the information on those sites come from? Gov't documents? Or from other people who use the site?
Any help would be much appreciated
Oh - and I found my step-Grandfather's discharge from the Army documents. Under rank it says "Spr." which I found out to mean "Sapper" - but what the heck is a sapper?
*edit* and while on the note of soldiers - is there a way to find out what kind of activity soldiers participated in during wwii? like, where they went?
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Calantha
Gryffindor Alumni
My name is Luck, this is my song, I happened by when you were gone
Posts: 4,493
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Post by Calantha on Aug 5, 2004 22:50:46 GMT -5
Well, when I did it, I ended up going to the cities. Some of the libaries had documents, paper clippings, and so on and then a few (and maybe because they were smaller towns) sent me to their courthouse to look up property stuff. I have never tried it on the internet though. I can't help you there. Also, while I was doing it, I made sure to keep a list of every place I visited and who I talked to. Later, like, my grandmother and I ended up getting some pieces that didn't fit, we called the people we had talked to and they helped us out with it. That would be one of my major suggestions, make sure to write down everything, where you went, who you talked to, if you decide to do it like that.
Hmm, I can't help with the war part, although I would imagine there must be a website or a place you could go to or call that might help, one dealing with vetrans? Do you know what they served under?
Most of what I ended up using was from libraries, other family members, and from our own collection of information, from then on it was just like a puzzle! Do you have any other relatives, distant or not, who might have information on your family? I had one cousin I hadn't even met who ended up sending me a painting of my great great grandfather!
Also, I don't know if there is any possibility you could do this, but I know that the DAR, if you pay a certain amount of money, will trace your heritage back to the country they came from, not any farther though. My Grandmother did that as well.
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Post by En on Aug 6, 2004 15:58:02 GMT -5
www.ancestry.com lets you run free searches that give you at least a little info - try that and see if you get any clusters of relatives living all in one town, then write to the city or county clerk (or Canadian equivalent thereof) and ask what you need to do to obtain copies of death certs or burial records - burial records are usually easier to get copies of, in the States anyway, because they don't show cause of death or date of birth or other things people get feisty about giving out
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Post by Lianne on Aug 16, 2004 23:56:59 GMT -5
En, you always fiund the coolest things...
i can never manage to do anything with those things i would love to trace my tree though.
anyone related to any Canals Lewis's or Viaus? lol
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Post by Will on Aug 30, 2004 21:53:36 GMT -5
My high school is known for its diversity… among other things… -cough- But anyway, we have a special day to celebrate our diversity and it’s called International Day. Food is major part of this event since it’s tied in with culture. Food is a part of culture.
During lunch you can basically “taste the world”. There is Indian food, Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Thai, even good old BBQ. It really is very exciting.
We’ve already talked about Thanksgiving dinner and all that, but now I want to broaden the horizon. Do any of you have family recipe? A cultural dish of any kind that you’d like to share? Of maybe just something unique you ate last night?
Today I treated myself with a bowl of green tea ice cream. It may sound strange, but it tastes so good! There’s quite a few interesting “Asian ice cream” flavors like… red bean, taro root and mango. A popular drink among the Asians and now a lot of teenagers from my school is pearl milk tea. Has anyone heard of this before? ((it kind of tastes like the green tea ice cream…))
Oh hey, the Moon Festival is coming up I believe. The Chinese supermarket is selling the moon cakes…
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Calantha
Gryffindor Alumni
My name is Luck, this is my song, I happened by when you were gone
Posts: 4,493
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Post by Calantha on Aug 30, 2004 22:39:46 GMT -5
*dies out of want for mango ice cream*
There used to be a restuarant back home with mango ice cream...it's amazing...as is green tea ice cream! And coconut ice cream! Ahhhhh...what wonderful flavors! I'm also a fan of fried bananas and coconut ice cream, they accent each other well.
Where I currently am residing, they have a mexican place and that's it. To get chinese is a half an hour drive and to get indian is over an hour's drive. It's crazy that most of the people here haven't had Idian food or Thai food. Most of the kids at my school are locals, so they show me around and tell me about the traditions of southwest Virginia. It's so interesting, I just absorb it all! I don't think I've ever met an area with such friendly, caring people.
You can also tell a lot of the old "ways" still are strong in the area. Such as step dancing, fiddling, farm work and chores before playing, and even the age old stories of going to swimming holes. Sometimes I think I stepped out of an old legend when I'm here.
But it just reminded me of how traditions are different here than home. For instance, how many people back home have sunday meals? Or go fishing after church because that's what their father did and that's what their father did and so on?
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Post by hermoine on Sept 2, 2004 2:27:33 GMT -5
For instance, how many people back home have sunday meals? Or go fishing after church because that's what their father did and that's what their father did and so on? If I may barge in and say so, we have a sunday meal together. Maybe not the whole family, but my parents, brothers and I for sure.
Maybe not fishing, because I don't like fish buuuuuuttt......
I liked in that site En wrote, and can you believe it, if found this guy names Moses, and another named Jesus, with my surname. I found a lot of people with my surname, but I just can't be sure they might actually be related to me, even if from a distant way. My surname is I think of an italian origin, so you might have italian people who emigrated to all the places listed like Michigan, New York, Hawaii.
So now I'm trying to look up Maltese names, because even if someone might have immigrated to America, or somewhere else, their name would still be the same. I actually found one, but she was born in Malta, and died in Malta.
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Post by Will on Sept 2, 2004 20:54:51 GMT -5
((ack! this is going to be quick. I'm in a hurry!))
-pulls Cal into a big hug- You are so wonderful! ;D Hmmm... I've never tried coconut ice cream before. Now I want some!
You have to drive an hour to get to the nearest Indian place and about a half an hour to get Chinese?! Oi... Mexican food is good though. At least you have that?
It's always good to try new things. I can't say I'm crazy about Thai food, but I've only tried it once and that was a while ago so... You never know. In elementary school I had an Indian friend and she would share some of her lunch with us. It was really good! I've never tasted restaurant Indian food though.
So… I take it that no one has some kind of family recipe?
-gasp- Swimming holes! I can picture it now…
Wait, what site is this, ‘Moine?
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Post by hermoine on Sept 3, 2004 6:34:04 GMT -5
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Post by Will on Sept 4, 2004 1:53:05 GMT -5
Ah yes, that's what I thought. It is pretty cool... but I'm afraid it doesn't help me much...
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Post by hermoine on Sept 4, 2004 11:50:00 GMT -5
Um, might I ask why not?
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Post by Will on Sept 4, 2004 12:01:14 GMT -5
...Erm... because I don't know any of my ancestors... Just grandparents and such...
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Post by hermoine on Sept 4, 2004 12:06:59 GMT -5
Yeah, I know how you feel. It's the same way with me.
That's why I thought of checking on the site, by using Maltese names. Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing either, because there seem to be people living in America and such with Maltese names, but there's no way of knowing if they have some Maltese origin or not.
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Post by Will on Sept 5, 2004 11:52:06 GMT -5
I thought about using my grandpa's Chinese name... but then I realized I don't know his Chinese name... ((I always call him 'grandpa' in Chinese)) Besides, I don't think the site can find Asian ancestors.
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