# How far back do you know your family history?



## dr_shadow (Feb 21, 2020)

My oldest known patrilineal ancestor was born in 1677. As best I can tell he was a peasant in what is now Stockholm County, Sweden.

How far back in time do you know your ancestry? And are you related to any  famous historical figures?


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## Drake (Feb 21, 2020)

I know up to my grandparents and that's it, lol. My parents have never talked about my great-grandparents or anyone beyond that, and I've never bothered to ask. I doubt any written records exist of them anyway.


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## Yamato (Feb 21, 2020)

I think up until my great grandparents on mom’s side. They’re mostly doctors. Western and Oriental doctors. 

As for my dad’s side. Up to grandparents.


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## dr_shadow (Feb 21, 2020)

Yamato said:


> I think up until my great grandparents on mom’s side. They’re mostly doctors. Western and Oriental doctors.
> 
> As for my dad’s side. Up to grandparents.



Are you ethnically Han Chinese?

If so, there's probably a Clan Genealogy (_jiapu_ 家譜) laying around somewhere that traces your paternal line back to some great historical character of the same surname.

Especially if you have an "imperial" surname like Liu 劉, Li 李, or Zhao 趙. People in the past loved to imagine that they were descended from some emperor or prince. To say nothing of how literally everybody surnamed Kong 孔 claims to be descended from Confucius.


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## Yamato (Feb 21, 2020)

You know, I’m not sure if I am  never really bothered to find out or ask 

My great grandparents might have had a big name back then. According to my mom and grandma they had like servants, lived lavishly and all that. And then coulda own some mountains in Taiwan.


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## sworder (Feb 21, 2020)

i believe my dad's side comes from ireland, i vaguely remember reading about it back in a book from my grandma's

i know nothing from my mother's side


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## Catamount (Feb 21, 2020)

I know very little about that, but I could say I am interested in a way. In our countries it takes a lot of effort however. I mean if you are just an average family without big names in it.


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## wibisana (Feb 22, 2020)

My Dad was High school graduate who lives and make a living as Bakso seller for a while in 1980s before stoke of luck hit him, then bad luck in 1998 (crysis)

My Grand dad from my dad was village officials, he also had some huge land. For a while he was the richest person in village.

He was also a trader or something.
Had 2 wife.
My father is oldest from the 2nd wife.


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## Harmonie (Feb 22, 2020)

All I know is that on my mom's side my great grandmother (I think) came from England in the early 1900s.


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## Whitebeard (Feb 22, 2020)

On my father's side: don't know much until the time of my great-great-grandfather who bought a plot of land where a lot of my family members still live now. He was a farrier by profession but also had a farm where the next three generations worked and expanded on. I've heard a ton of stories about my great-grandfather and grandfather. (Oldest known patrilineal ancestor died in 1665) My grandmother's mother died young and her father fought in WWI.

On my mother's side: I know tidbits about my grandfather's parents, but that's literally everything I know. As for my grandmother's family, their history goes way back but I don't know a lot about it other than them being wealthy brewers at one point that even had a family crest.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Aeternus (Feb 22, 2020)

Up until my great grandparents I think. Tbh I never really bothered asking beyond that.


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## JJ Baloney (Feb 22, 2020)

I barely know my parents and my grandparents in the first place!


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## Whitebeard (Feb 23, 2020)

Whitebeard said:


> On my father's side: don't know much until the time of my great-great-grandfather who bought a plot of land where a lot of my family members still live now. He was a farrier by profession but also had a farm where the next three generations worked and expanded on. I've heard a ton of stories about my great-grandfather and grandfather. (Oldest known patrilineal ancestor died in 1665) My grandmother's mother died young and her father fought in WWI.
> 
> On my mother's side: I know tidbits about my grandfather's parents, but that's literally everything I know. As for my grandmother's family, their history goes way back but I don't know a lot about it other than them being wealthy brewers at one point that even had a family crest.


Quite a coincidence but some family members I visited today had pictures of my great-great-grandparents with my great-grandfather and his siblings as kids, a painting of my great-grandparents when they were just married (they were actually really good-looking, damn) and more

Reactions: Like 1


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## DemonDragonJ (Feb 23, 2020)

I have traced my mother's family back as far as her grandparents (my great-grandparents), and my father's family back to the Mayflower; I do know the name of my ancestor on the Mayflower, but I shall not reveal it, here.


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## dr_shadow (Feb 23, 2020)

The materials available for genealogical research obviously differ by country.

In Sweden, it was only in the 17th century that parish churches started systematically recording the baptisms, weddings, and funerals of commoners. Those records are the usual starting point for genealogists.

Prior to that, it was only nobles who kept elaborate family trees, because those had significant political and economic implications. You wanted to know what your place was in the line of succession to this-or-that county or duchy.

This is evidenced by the fact that prior to the 20th century only nobles had surnames. Swedish commoners only had patrionyms, e.g. "Johan Andersson" - "Johan the son of Anders". 

If you should be so lucky as to be a noble, you can sometimes trace your lineage all the way back to the middle ages. But as far as I currently know I don't have any blue blood.


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## Skylar (Feb 23, 2020)

I don't know much and I don't think anyone in my family has extensive knowledge about our genealogical tree either. I don't think that desire to know where we originally came from runs in my family.


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## Garcher (Feb 24, 2020)

my brother traced back the origin of our last name to a small aristocrat who moved from the Low Lands to Franconia during the Middle Ages

Reactions: Like 1


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## Subarashii (Feb 24, 2020)

Thanks to Ancestry.com 1600's for one side and 1700s for the other
Good to know that I can become a Mormon and get my own planet because of this.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Karasu (Feb 25, 2020)

Adopted, so


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## Fëanáro (Feb 26, 2020)

Back a bit beyond the First Fleet? (Yeah, convict ancestry, and I'm sure nobody is surprised.  )


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## Nep Nep (Feb 26, 2020)

I know two sets of grandparents.


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## UtahCrip (Feb 26, 2020)

i wish i knew. one of these days i want to go bacc to africa and get in touch with my roots.

Reactions: Like 1


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## shieldbounce (Feb 27, 2020)

From the words of relatives, uncles/aunts, and my grandmother, it turns out that my great-grandfather may have been white.

So I could have a fraction of white blood in me, although most people can't really tell at first glance since it's probably too diluted by this point.


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## dergeist (Feb 27, 2020)

Family tree puts it back to around 800+ years.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Raiden (Feb 28, 2020)

About one or two generations back.


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## Kathutet (Feb 28, 2020)

I'm pretty sure my dad's alive


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## Raiden (Feb 28, 2020)

Kenneth said:


> I'm pretty sure my dad's alive



yes. .


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## Subarashii (Feb 28, 2020)

Kenneth said:


> I'm pretty sure my dad's alive


Still getting cigarettes?


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## Mider T (Feb 29, 2020)

More interested in knowing if and who my kids are!



DemonDragonJ said:


> and my father's family back to the Mayflower; I do know the name of my ancestor on the Mayflower, but I shall not reveal it, here.


Why not?


Karasu said:


> Adopted, so


So...what's your adopted family's lineage?


UtahCrip said:


> i wish i knew. one of these days i want to go bacc to africa and get in touch with my roots.


What about the other 15/16ths of you?


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## UtahCrip (Feb 29, 2020)

Mider T said:


> What about the other 15/16ths of you?



dont want to find out that i was related to some real heinous people. gonna be heated if i look bacc and find out my great great great grandpops was like a slave owner or a police office


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## DemonDragonJ (Feb 29, 2020)

Mider T said:


> Why not?



Because doing so could, theoretically, provide clues to my own identity.


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## Mider T (Mar 1, 2020)

DemonDragonJ said:


> Because doing so could, theoretically, provide clues to my own identity.


The Mayflower was 400 years ago, their descendants number into the thousands.  Nobody is going to guess the identity of you, some non famous person, from that.


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## Kitsune (Mar 3, 2020)

1693 - A physician to the Shogun


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## Sassy (Mar 3, 2020)

I am not for sure much about my family heritage or linage of ancestry, the only thing I know that was told throughout the family is that our great great great something was best friends or was good friends with Jessie James.

I know I've got polish & german in me maybe even Irish if I remember as well but I don't know anything else from that. I am looking into doing that ancestry DNA thingy cause I seriously need to find out. My great grandparents or great great grandparents of any kind unfortunately passed away back in 2000's on my mom's side so I don't know much about the family other then what has been briefly told.


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## dr_shadow (Mar 3, 2020)

Kitsune said:


> 1693 - A physician to the Shogun



You're ethnically Japanese?

Or was this like a European missionary physician?


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## dr_shadow (Mar 3, 2020)

UtahCrip said:


> i wish i knew. one of these days i want to go bacc to africa and get in touch with my roots.



Good luck. 

I'm afraid it might be complicated, though, since AFAIK the whites intentionally mixed slaves of different tribes to weaken their solidarity with one another. You probably have ancestry from multiple African countries up and down the continent's west coast.

But I'd recommend Nigeria. It's not just the continent's most populous country and largest economy, but it's also on the west coast and was ruled by the British, making it probable that at least some African-Americans descend from there. The colonial heritage means they also speak English, unlike the neighbours who speak French.

But maybe you knew this.


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## Kitsune (Mar 3, 2020)

mr_shadow said:


> You're ethnically Japanese?
> 
> Or was this like a European missionary physician?



I’m half Japanese. This ancestor wrote the first Japanese book on Western botany.


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## dr_shadow (Mar 3, 2020)

Kitsune said:


> I’m half Japanese. This ancestor wrote the first Japanese book on Western botany.



_Sugoi_! 

Do you speak the Japanese language?


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## dr_shadow (Mar 4, 2020)

Kitsune said:


> I’m half Japanese. This ancestor wrote the first Japanese book on Western botany.



Does this mean you're a samurai? 

Or could you be a court physician without being a noble?


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## Kitsune (Mar 4, 2020)

mr_shadow said:


> Do you speak the Japanese language?



I was better as a kid. Far rustier now than I can justify. 



mr_shadow said:


> Does this mean you're a samurai?
> 
> Or could you be a court physician without being a noble?



Yes, my mom’s family were/are samurai.


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## DemonDragonJ (Mar 8, 2020)

dergeist said:


> Family tree puts it back to around 800+ years.



That is very impressive!


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## Swarmy (Mar 9, 2020)

Unfortunately not much back...

I know my grand grandmother from mom's side had to flee to Bulgaria as a yound child from Greece because of some conflict but I have no idea what that conflict was... Apparently she was very closed off since while fleeing she was separated from her family and had to be raised by a foster family here... She eventually had 3 husbands, a priest, mayor and a bar owner.

As for my dad's side it's even more complicated... Apparently my grand grandmother had an affair with a young french soldier resulting in all her children having red hair which was so uncommon for the village she lived in that they were all viewed as outcasts...

So yeah lots of naughty grannies in my family tree


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## Mider T (Mar 9, 2020)

Swarmy said:


> Unfortunately not much back...
> 
> I know my grand grandmother from mom's side had to flee to Bulgaria as a yound child from Greece because of some conflict but I have no idea what that conflict was... Apparently she was very closed off since while fleeing she was separated from her family and had to be raised by a foster family here... She eventually had 3 husbands, a priest, mayor and a bar owner.
> 
> ...


I love a lil sluttiness in a family tree.


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## Mider T (Mar 9, 2020)

Also a priest, a mayor, and a bar owner sounds like the start to a bad joke.
Also also imagine being a mayor and losing your woman to a bar owner.


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## Swarmy (Mar 9, 2020)

Mider T said:


> Also a priest, a mayor, and a bar owner sounds like the start to a bad joke.
> Also also imagine being a mayor and losing your woman to a bar owner.


Funny thing is back then a bar owner was more rich and famous than a mayor...


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## Mider T (Mar 9, 2020)

Swarmy said:


> Funny thing is back then a bar owner was more rich and famous than a mayor...


I can see richer but if more famous must have been a shitty mayor.


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## Swarmy (Mar 9, 2020)

Mider T said:


> I can see richer but if more famous must have been a shitty mayor.


Mind you that was before WW2... Back then people spent more time at a bar than caring about politics. And I meant rich in the city than in the entire country which makes sense.


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## silverxangel (Mar 13, 2020)

At least 7 generations


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