Family Tree

[ithildyn]

So one of the things I've been doing to keep myself distracted is genealogy. I've been working on my family tree on and off for 15 odd years, not really getting anywhere, and not paying for an Ancestry.com membership, just using the free version. For my birthday last year, I think it was, Nin got me the DNA test thru Ancestry, and after I got the

Comments

[ericadawn16]

I was going to suggest the software I use but when I looked for a link, it turns out they stopped supporting it in 2013. I don't really look that much anymore because Ancestry bought everything up and I refuse to pay.

However, it sounds like we're related, squee!

[ithildyn]

Cool!

[em_kellesvig]

Hey, we're related! Couple times, maybe. :D Through Robert the Bruce, King John and his son the Duke of Pembroke, and Eleanor too! If you go back far enough, you'll find you're one of many (many!) of Charlemagne's descendants and through him, the Caesars.

It's really great fun, isn't it? I got stuck with the Pembrokes and the need for an international membership, which I just couldn't afford. Fortunately, my cousin Catherine had done most of the work on that side of the family and I was able to selectively merge our two trees (just the line we had in common).

The ones I found really interesting were the Swiss merchants who spent a couple of years in England: they had a couple of kids while in London so those births show up in the London records. Then they went back to Switzerland. It was very confusing to have those names pop up in both places under the same date until I realized they were the same people, just gone traveling. :)

[ithildyn]

I hit Charlemagne a few months back, and have gone back a few generations randomly. I did one back to the Frankish kings to BC times, which was pretty wild.

Sometimes, it makes my head hurt, especially when you realize the people whose hints you're viewing have dates all messed up, like the mother dying several years before their child was born. Usually, I'm too tired to try and sort it out, so I pick some other branch to fiddle with :D

[spockside]

Wow, cool!

[ithildyn]

It has been fun!

[det_munch]

that sounds really interesting. Apparently my library has Ancestry.com and it's free to use

[ithildyn]

Yes, there is a free version, that's what I used the last ten years. It's a good place to start.

[det_munch]

No, they have the paid version but patrons can use it for free

[ithildyn]

Don't know how that's possible as the subscription- paid or free - is tied to your name/family tree. If it's in the library's 'name' how can you add to your personal tree?

[jedimasterstar]

I've been thinking about doing this myself. It sounds like it would be interesting.