It’s been over two years since we asked the first 20 questions about your ancestors. Which you can find HERE. Then in 2018, we asked 20 more questions and a few about you that you can find HERE. Now in this anniversary month of our original questions, we’ve thought it would be fun to ask more questions about your ancestor and a few more about you. I hope you’ll join in the fun.
THE QUESTIONS
- Which ancestor had the most children? It can be a couple or a single person.
- How many years have you been working on your genealogy/family history?
- Do you collaborate with other genealogists on your family history?
- Have you hired a professional genealogist to work on your family history? Even if it was just a small branch of the family.
- If you have family heirlooms what’s your plan for their future?
- How many DNA companies have you tested with or transferred to? Have you tested at all the 5 major companies?
- Do you have an ancestor that had a successful business? Is it still in business?
- How long ago was your last “genealogy/DNA happy dance?”
- Did you ever discover that a friend was also a distant cousin?
- Do you have a genealogy brick wall? Do you think you will be able to use DNA to work past it?
- If money wasn’t an issue; where would you go to do genealogy research?
- Do you ever feel like you’re the only person researching your family?
- Why do you think you’re interested in your family history and other family members might not be?
- Do you intend to write about your genealogy/family history findings?
- Did you ever make a genealogy mistake that caused you to have to prune your family tree?
- If you’re into DNA which would you say you work on more? Genealogy or DNA? Or about the same?
- Do you think that your genealogy is ever really done?
- Did you ever search an ancestor’s name on the internet and you were surprised at what you found?
- Do you ever feel like your ancestors are nudging you in the right direction in your research?
- If you could give one piece of advice to someone new to genealogy, what would you tell them?
[…] Thompson-Jennings posted 20 questions on her Hound on the Hunt blog three weeks ago – see Even More Questions About Your Ancestors and Maybe A Few About You (posted 27 […]
[…] posted 20 questions on her Hound on the Hunt blog three weeks ago – see Even More Questions About Your Ancestors and Maybe A Few About You (posted 27 June). 2) We will do these five at a time – Questions 16 to […]
[…] Thompson-Jennings posted 20 questions on her Hound on the Hunt blog two weeks ago – see Even More Questions About Your Ancestors and Maybe A Few About You (posted 27 […]
[…] Ellen Thompson-Jennings posted 20 questions on her blog last week – see Even More Questions About Your Ancestors and Maybe A Few About You (posted 27 […]
[…] Ellen Thompson-Jennings posted 20 questions on her blog this week – see Even More Questions About Your Ancestors and Maybe A Few About You (posted 27 […]
1. My paternal grandmother was one of 19 children. 14 of them survived infancy.
2. 20 years.
3. I sure do! I’m in regular contact with several other family members who are researching.
4. No. No professionals have been paid to help me yet.
5. Most of my heirlooms are small items: china, crystal and jewelry. My daughter will get them some day.
6. I’ve tested with one, have a test kit with a second that I haven’t submitted yet and have transferred to 3.
7. In the mid 19th century, a granduncle was an innkeeper in Norfolk. The inn is still in business, although it hasn’t been in the family for more than 100 years.
8. In May I met my grandmother’s first cousin, her daughter and two of her cousins for the first time. It was amazing!
9. No, not so far.
10. I do have a brick wall. My maternal grandfather’s mother was from Sweden and there is very little known about her. I really hope to smash that wall with DNA; so far I’ve gotten some promising links, so we’ll see.
11. Ireland, no question.
12. I know I’m not.
13. I think it’s mostly a personality thing; I’ve always had an interest in history, have the patience to scroll through hundreds of records in a sitting looking for that needle in the haystack and a deep-seated need to know more. For my other family members, there’s a superficial interest but a lack of willingness to take the time and spend the money if someone else will do it for them.
14. I do. One day I’ll have it sorted out well enough to write about it. In the interim, I’m doing scrapbook layouts about individuals.
15. Oh my gosh, YES! I had 4 generations of a Nottingham family that didn’t belong to me and the way I found out was through obtaining my maternal grandmother’s father’s birth record. His parents weren’t who I’d thought they were through census research, so it was quite a surprise.
16. Right now I use genealogy to confirm DNA.
17. No. There will come a point where I’ve gone as far as I can, but there will still be lots of things left unknown.
18. One of my maternal great-grandfathers has one of those “family” names… common first name, uncommon surname. The perfect Google search terms! What I discovered was that one of his cousins with the same “family” name had been a well-known merchant seaman who married into the Storm shipping family. He was the captain of the SS Harvest Shiel when it went down with all hands in heavy seas off Land’s End, Cornwall October 14, 1885. He was 52.
19. I do sometimes feel my ancestors know I’m looking for them and that they approve. And I do think there’s an unseen hand at times.
20. Begin with what you know. Talk to the elders in your family, and write down or record what they tell you. Don’t take other people’s research for the Gospel… make sure you can verify any information independently. And don’t give up!
Jan, You have some interesting answers. For #10, you might want to consider transferring your DNA to MyHeritage as they have many customers from Sweden and other Norwegian countries so you may get more connections for your mystery.