Woohoo!!! Finally!!! (genealogy related)

[Lyric]

I am a genealogy lover. I enjoy researching my own ancestors, and I have a family history file that dates back into the Middle Ages in Europe.

My domestic partner (Deb, or ThinkBlue1966 here) knows hardly anything about her family. She knows the names of her grandparents, but nothing more. So I've been doing some research here and there, trying to find out more information for her. Today, I had a massive breakthrough--I found her 4th cousin who was able to give me detailed records about Deb's family beyond her grandparents! So many amazing things--for example, on her father's side she is directly descended from men who fought in both the Civil and Revolutionary Wars. Her father's mother was Jewish, which none of us knew until recently. Her grandfather's family came from Scotland--"Dees" is their ancestral name.

I'm so excited! I can't wait until she gets home so I can show her all of this. Is anyone else here a genealogy lover? :)

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Congrats.

I've had the pleasure of extending family trees for others and it's a lot of fun.
And to answer your question, there are quite a few who share your interest and some of us post in this forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=331

[lynne]

2. Congrats! I'm a Family History buff -

- so I can appreciate how exciting those break-through's are and how frustrating those brick walls are! BUT nothing feels better than making several generations of progress at one time and opening up a bunch of new lines.

Good Luck!

[Jimbo S]

3. Cool

I've done an extensive amount of research myself, but haven't found anything as exciting as your discoveries.

[Patiod]

4. Stick with the Middle Ages

I helped my mom with a major geneology project, and it was fun. Although she went through a period where she was digging up a lot of distant relatives, and some of them were pretty awful. The rest of the family keeps reminding her of one particularly obnoxious relative she unleashed on us. Stick with the Middle Ages - those relatives can't bring their kids to a family reunion where they try to sell phone service to everyone at the picnic.

Unfortunately (well, unfortunately for the geneologist in me) I'm adopted, and my biological mother has NO INTEREST in geneology. But she will sometimes throw out frustrating tidbits. Like I mentioned that SO and I had seen "Patton" one night.
"Oh, we're related to him"
"To who?"
"To Patton"
"You're kidding? How?"
"Oh, I don't know exactly. I remember my mother mentioning it, but I'm never really got into that stuff."
Oh, great, so I'm related to a famous meglomaniac, but no one knows how.....

Unfortunately, the names I have are too common to allow me to go off and do it on my own.

[photogirl12]

5. Congrats!

I am a major genealogy buff. I have researched almost all of my family back to the "home country". I wish I could have a breakthrough like that in my boyfriend's family. His mother's family was forced out of Germany during WWII and most of his family died in the concentration camps. His father's family was a little easier since they were English and Dutch.

[catmandu57]

6. Most people can't get beyond their grandparents

My wife can't and she doesn't care, I can get to N. Ireland in the 17th century, after that the trail goes cold. I was looking at the Mormon genealogy site recently and found it to be full of inaccuracies. Stuff I knew for a fact, names, dates, locations were totally wrong, and for fairly recent history at that.

[Guava Jelly]

7. I am a geneology lover

I can trace my family back to the 1800's before I hit a brick wall
Http://www.shivelyfamily.com
Is my family geneology webpage that I created after my mom died

[XNASA]

8. My MIL is also descended for the Scottish "Dees".

Which I suppose makes both of my sons a quarter Dees.

Small world.

[Lyric]

9. I actually have a huge update for this story

Last night we got an e-mail from Deb's 4th cousin, who gave her (based on his research) a very thorough pedigree stretching back faaar into the Middle Ages. We were in for a massive surprise. My dearly beloved is *directly descended* on her father's side from King James IV, of Scotland--and through him, all the way back through Scottish royalty, and even the English Tudor dynasty. She is a descendent of one of his daughters.

I've taken to calling her Your Royal Highness in jest. But seriously--how cool is that? 17 generations back, she's descended from royalty. :)