Family Search Experiences

by Multiple Submitters

I recently asked some site visitors about their attempts to research any of their family tree.

If so I asked them how they went about it. Here are a few of the responses that were received:

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I've looked up both my maternal and paternal ancestors. When researching my dad's side, I was able to trace the males back to Ellis Island (they're listed on the registry), however they changed their last name when they arrived to this country in order to avoid the discrimination against Italians that was rampant at the time.

In researching my mom's lineage, it got a little darker, haha. I called my cousins, aunts, and uncles. One of my cousins in California happened to be working on a similar project. We shared our findings with each other and found that our moms' parents were actually 3rd cousins...not exactly the type of thing you want to find out...from your cousin, haha.

So long story short, I hit a wall while tracing both lines that I was just unwilling to move beyond. I learned a valuable lesson about family pride.

Veronica from Altoona, PA


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Yes, I once tried to do some research on my own family tree. It was a rather exciting experience and I learned a lot about the family and myself too. I grabbed a few sheets of paper and began by interviewing the oldest persons in my family and asked them about any family members they remembered.

My grandfather’s testimony was so interesting and rich with human depth that I even wrote a 90 page memoir about his own sentimental affairs and the time he spent fishing at sea.

After having most of the oldest persons interviewed, I asked my parents to check the info I had gathered and tell me about any mistakes. I got to know that my mother’s great grandfather Hilário Cacum participated in an historical event in 1910 by being one of the fisher men that helped the Portuguese Royal Family on their exile to Brazil.

Once I had the name Hilário Cacum, some research at the local library was obligatory and I got a good and accurate bulk of information about that part of the family. I still have a few gaps in the tree, but I’m still searching.

Ernest from Southfield, MI


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When I Searched Through My Family Tree It was back in 2007. My brother send me a link to sign up to a website geni.com, where we can relate to our family members online. I signed up with the website and was quite interested at the style of its functioning.

I could add my parents, grandparents, great grandparents etc., as well as my children, grandchildren, siblings, spouse etc. on to my profile. In the last four years or so, our family tree has grown pretty large and has nearly reached a thousand members!

Initially, when we were adding my immediate family members, it was quite interesting to do. I knew everyone I was adding. But, later as my third cousins and fourth cousins started joining, it became a bit confusing to understand the relationships.

Right now, we cannot be sure about some of these relationships, due to the lack of people who know the exact relationships between our grandparents, great grand parents and their parents.

Faye from Unadilla, Nebraska

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