Family Trees

Merika · 02-03-2005, 10:32 AM

Twinkle's story made me wonder what all we know about our Family Tree's. I've never done one......even though I bet it would be great fun. This is where my family is from. My Dad is from the second generation of the Chesser family who lived here. The house is now a part of a state park. They still have annual family reunions there.....but I haven't went in years.

I TOLD you I came from Swamp People and you guys thought I was kidding!!! HAHA!

Have you ever traced any of your family back or attempted to find anything about them online?

Star · 02-03-2005, 11:29 AM

i haven't done a family tree. my uncle is in the process of doing one. i told him that i would like a copy of it when he's finished with it. should be interesting where my roots come from on my dad's side of the family anyhow.

my grandfather did one on my mother's sadie of the family. there are so many last names associated with his it's unbelievable! I haven't looked at all the books yet. i should ask my mother to bring them down so i can read them the next time they visit.

It would be a lot of work and investigating to do a family tree.

darkangelism · 02-03-2005, 11:42 AM

my mom has my family done out really far, and i have met a lot of my 3rd cousins.

Merika · 02-03-2005, 01:37 PM

It's amazing how much stuff you can find online. Most of the geneology sites have a 2 week free trial. They have even archived all the names of when people came thru Ellis Island decades ago.

I probably wouln't spend a lot of time on it....but it's interesting to check out a fact here and there.

twinkle · 02-03-2005, 01:48 PM

On my mom's side I think I could go as far as the third generation.

Dad's is much more complicated. For instance, his father had lots of siblings (7) and they had their kids (dad's cousind) who also have kids now - woow, that would be really hard to track.

His mother was a widow when she married my grandfather - don't know where she came from or the story behing that.... Anyway, dad's family has always been a bit more weird.

My grand grand father - as I've said before, total mystery.

Merika · 02-03-2005, 02:18 PM

Wouldn't it be fun to go back in time a week and check out your past relatives?

twinkle · 02-03-2005, 02:42 PM

Are you kiddin' me? I would looooove to do that.

Or at least discover old photos of them... I only have one photo of my grand grand mother when I was a little girl

.

Merika · 02-03-2005, 03:00 PM

If you went back to the original town where they lived...surely there is someone there with additional pics or information.

I'm lucky in that my Dad's family is very well documented due their original home now being a part of a state park. They even have a book out on the family, with pics, which is in the gift shop. They are the UGLIEST people I have ever seen. HAHA!

twinkle · 02-03-2005, 03:03 PM

I don't care, ugly, pretty... never saw anything but my grandparents pictures.

I don't come from a very united family. And is true today also!!!

Merika · 02-03-2005, 03:41 PM

Who knows? Maybe if we had the chance to go back and meet them....we wouldn't like them at all. It would be my luck that somewhere back in time someone in my family was the village idiot or something and I've been chosen to carry on the tradition. HAHA!

twinkle · 02-03-2005, 04:21 PM

I thnk I'd understand a whole lotta a things about me, as I am now. You know what they say: "it's all in your genes!". I'm sure that genetical predisposition plays a huge role in how we are behaving!!!

Duke · 02-03-2005, 06:52 PM

I've thought about linking with some geneoligy sites but haven't as of yet.

The problem with my families is that there was abuse, alcohol, murder, jail, etc., so I'm not that willing to check up on them. It'll prolly read like some third generation rap sheet. I actually had a great aunt who attempted to burn down a civic building and died in jail on a hunger strike. One murder on each side of the family along with murmerings of rape and child abuse. I hope someone burns my family tree down.

Merika · 02-03-2005, 09:22 PM

GEEZ Duke.....that's not a family....that's a mini-series.

I'm glad you and your daughter are changing the previous direction of the family.

Duke · 02-03-2005, 10:25 PM

Ya pretty sick huh?

I think it's part of the many reasons this site is here, it's kind of a new direction for me and a cleansing of the soul. I try my hardest to break every possible family tradition there is with my daughter and hope to continue. It was great because we were talking tonite and I told her gramma was coming to visit this spring during her school break. She was excited because her mom usually lets her stay with us the whole time and she's happy to see gramma but more happy because she gets to spend the time with dad. She's the only girl in my life that knows exactly the right thing to say at exactly the right time and I love her for it, among many other things that is.

Ayla · 02-05-2005, 04:12 PM

On my mom's side I we can count 6 generations (including those living), up thru my granny's family. On my mom's dad's family we can count only 4. It wouldn't be hard to do a family tree on that side of the family as most of the elders are still alive. I know some of the family names though.

My granny was a Branham, her mom was a Short, and her mom was a York. My Grandpa's mom was a Frazier also. My grandma's dad was some kind of foreman for the old school railroad back in the 1800's. They had a HUGE old house and was large landholders as well. Family gossip has it that my Granny actually doesn't belong to her mom, but was raised as such and that actually my grandpa had a mistress that had a baby and didn't want it so my great grandmother took her as her own. Of course that's something that we'll never know.

On my dad's side of the family I'm not so sure. My dad's dad died when he was 17 and I wasn't born until he was 40. His mom died when I was 4 months old. I know my dad's mom was a Frazier before she married and I know that on my dad's dad's side they were ran out of colonial Virginia for bootlegging tobacco. ( They didn't pay taxes on it.) That's how dad's family came to be in Kentucky.