Today is the last day to try out this site for free for 3 days. This is a very expensive genealogy site and if you're up to it you can find out quite a bit in a short time. I lcreated an accont (with no credit care required mind you) and was instantly given 5 generations of my surname. Now I just have to get past the brick wall that everyone else got stuck at and gave up on!
Good Luck to me!
Full Version: Ancestry.com
Thanks for the tip. I signed up for the free trial period after reading your post and I found SO MUCH stuff that even an avid genealogist like myself had not come across before - like my grandfather's WWI draft registration - his actual hand written application form where he listed himself as being "stout" and "portly" which gave me a chuckle 
... and that he had red hair (I always knew him as being bald!). Aside from that - I found a ton of information. Great tip. Thanks for sharing it!
... and that he had red hair (I always knew him as being bald!). Aside from that - I found a ton of information. Great tip. Thanks for sharing it!
Glad it worked for you (despite all the typos in my first post). 
I logged back in later and traced my maternal grandmothers lineage all the way back to the year 200AD! Weird.
And, it included folks like Henry II of England, William the Conqueror, and William Ironarm! Very interesting stuff.
I logged back in later and traced my maternal grandmothers lineage all the way back to the year 200AD! Weird.
And, it included folks like Henry II of England, William the Conqueror, and William Ironarm! Very interesting stuff.
wow, a sad, glad, mad, bummed day today.
first a little story to tell you as to why.
my brother is big into ancestry and family history and he came across something today.
my grandparents on my dad's side were married in the mid 1920's and had my dad in 1928 in california. my grandfather passed away in 1932, and he was told my grandmother was killed in a car accident in nebraska a year later, hence my dad was raised by his grandparents. my grandmother was young, born in 1909, and was too young to be married, let alone raise a family, plus she had a california wild streak in her. anyway, to make a long story shorter, we've always been told she had died in the accident and had searched records to no avail to see where and exactly when it happened.
so today my brother came across records (that weren't on the interent before) of her passing away in sacramento in 1984. obviously, the news of her dying was covering up the fact that she basically gave away her son to be raised by my dads grandparents (my fathers side). probably she was too young, probably didnt want to raise a family as a single parent. its really sad, my dad died in 2001 not knowing his mother was still alive until she died in 1984 (thinking that she had been dead since he was 5), i grew up never having ever met her, and she died never ever having met her grandchildren or her great grandchildren. sad indeed. well at least we finally know and now i'd like to dig further to at least find a picture of her and maybe find out what happened.
first a little story to tell you as to why.
my brother is big into ancestry and family history and he came across something today.
my grandparents on my dad's side were married in the mid 1920's and had my dad in 1928 in california. my grandfather passed away in 1932, and he was told my grandmother was killed in a car accident in nebraska a year later, hence my dad was raised by his grandparents. my grandmother was young, born in 1909, and was too young to be married, let alone raise a family, plus she had a california wild streak in her. anyway, to make a long story shorter, we've always been told she had died in the accident and had searched records to no avail to see where and exactly when it happened.
so today my brother came across records (that weren't on the interent before) of her passing away in sacramento in 1984. obviously, the news of her dying was covering up the fact that she basically gave away her son to be raised by my dads grandparents (my fathers side). probably she was too young, probably didnt want to raise a family as a single parent. its really sad, my dad died in 2001 not knowing his mother was still alive until she died in 1984 (thinking that she had been dead since he was 5), i grew up never having ever met her, and she died never ever having met her grandchildren or her great grandchildren. sad indeed. well at least we finally know and now i'd like to dig further to at least find a picture of her and maybe find out what happened.
Pleasantly surprised to find this thread. I'm a serious genealogy hobbyist, so hello fellow nuts.
I keep an annual subscription to ancestry, so if anyone has a big-old nasty brick wall and really needs a peek in ancestry, I'll have a look for ya!
Kent, that story you posted broke my heart. I hope something good comes from the knowledge you gained about your grandmother last year. Perhaps there are other relatives that you can connect to? Or it might be comforting to have someone photograph her headstone for you (assuming she has been buried).
I keep an annual subscription to ancestry, so if anyone has a big-old nasty brick wall and really needs a peek in ancestry, I'll have a look for ya!
Kent, that story you posted broke my heart. I hope something good comes from the knowledge you gained about your grandmother last year. Perhaps there are other relatives that you can connect to? Or it might be comforting to have someone photograph her headstone for you (assuming she has been buried).
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