Forests, Mountains and Monsters

Move back to Europe? I wasn't aware you lived elsewhere.
I'm still tracking down my European geneology. It's a log tougher than I could have imagined. At the moment I'm trying to find a famous author I'm supposedly related to and how I'm related to him as well as a Welsh prince. Wish me luck. I don't blame you for disowning Australian ties. Even though I was born in the U.S. I refuse to claim myself as a true American. I am nothing like these people. I belong back home over the seas.

SkieShauphen wrote:

Move back to Europe? I wasn't aware you lived elsewhere.
I'm still tracking down my European geneology. It's a log tougher than I could have imagined. At the moment I'm trying to find a famous author I'm supposedly related to and how I'm related to him as well as a Welsh prince. Wish me luck. I don't blame you for disowning Australian ties. Even though I was born in the U.S. I refuse to claim myself as a true American. I am nothing like these people. I belong back home over the seas.

How do you begin to trace your ancestry? (Sorry for being off-topic, I just really want to find out).

Envy wrote:

How do you begin to trace your ancestry? (Sorry for being off-topic, I just really want to find out).

Best to start talking with your grandparents. I sat one day down with my late grandmother and asked her how many siblings did her parents have, their names etc. and as we started she would tell me where they went how many children they had, names etc. I have written all of it down and made a family tree that goes 5 generations back. I talked also with my great grandparents so I have learned a lot about how it was living around 1909 till now.
When you have such info, then you can go and search for the birth, death certificates, wedding certificates and other historical documents. Going to the national library is also a good idea. You can search newspaper articles if you know that in some your ancestors were mentioned etc. It all depends how much info do you want. A good way would be also going over your surname and it's meaning. Example: I know the meaning of my surname and that it was derived from a nickname that was given to a noble family...

black_magnolia is right... and the more specific details you can get from your living relatives, the better, especially if you have a somewhat common family name. If you can get dates of births, deaths, marriages, etc. along with people's full names, you'll have a much better chance of finding the info you're looking for. But even then it can be an exercise in frustration.

Both of the above comments are right. At first I just attempted to search online for my family tree. It proved worthless at first. When I finally sat down with my mother, my grandparents on both sides and one of my uncle's I was able to figure out a lot about close family. From there I made a better online search and I have yet to get to a hall of records or a good library to search for anything more. I'm still looking for that writer and prince...
It also helps to get your family's original name. My last name now is not the same as it once was. It was misspelled during the immigration. So once I found out the original name (at least I think I have it now) I was able to find quite a few roots. There is no way to be entirely sure that I am truly related to the people I discovered without seeing birth records and the like. So it's a hard and patient journey. But one day I'll finish the tree and everyone from now on in my family will know our heritage.
That's something that makes me proud. I may not be able to ammount to much out in the world, but within my family I can make quite an image of myself.

Ah right, thanks.

My grandparents on my mother's side are both dead. >.< I was most interested in my heritage on her side, seeing as I know my father's side have kept a family tree spanning a fair few generations back to Chinese royalty (not that uncommon :woohoo: ). I think I'll still give it a go. There are elders on her side that are still alive, but they live in a different country and speak a Cantonese dialect I find hard to understand. :S