How far back has anyone gone on their Geneology? .....

[Linda]

Hi Sheila

I have got back to 1660 on my mother's side of the family. I was doing quite well with it then a 3rd cousin and I found one another and with the information that he provided for me, I was able to get to where I am now.

Now on my father's side, that is a different story. I am stuck on c1782 and just can't seem to get back any further. We are Gordon's and are from Dundee and the problem is that there are so many Gordon's from Dundee, I don't know where the link is. I'm sure that many of the ones that I have come across are related in some way, but as yet I am still chipping away at that brick wall.

Linda

[davran]

.........However my goal isn't how far back I can get or even how many of my relatives I can find, but how much about them I can uncover.
HeatherK

Yes, I totally agree. My father-in-law died recently and we have been going through his photos and paperwork. A sore point really, as dad-in-law refused to look at them because they 'made him feel sad'. However, we found a letter to him from Alice (don't know who she was!) who told a tale of her childhood when she and her brothers went to stay with relatives in the country. Three-year-old Freddy 'fell into the muck at the back of the lav in the garden'. They had to cut his clothes off and burn them. Six months later he died of diphtheria, which the doctor said was caused by the muck going down his throat! (Sounds a bit unlikely after 6 months).

[sheilajim]

Hi All

Without letters, etc., we can't know what individuals were really like, but maybe we can get some insight of what they were like by reading the local papers and Kirk Sessions. If we are lucky enought to get hold of these papers, they should give us a glimpse of the society that they were living in.

So far I have got back to a marriage in 1763, so I imagine the couple was born about 1743.

People who are able to trace their ancestors back to the 1600's are very lucky.

Regards

Sheila

Searching: Dun,McDonald, McNab, Key in Stirling. Boyd,Kennedy,Jamieson,Mckee,in Renfrew and County Derry. McKinnon,Campbell in Mull. Also searching Moran Langan

[Melmax]

I have been very lucky to be able to write to a Lady (who is not on the internet yet) who had been doing "Ireland Surname" Genealogy.

The earliest birth date on her pages was 1677! Since she does not have access to the internet she must have done some really hard work.
I have double checked lots of it! Now I need to visit Scotland to check the rest!

Here are some of the names
Ireland, Findlay, Herd, Birrel, Anderson, Bisset, Mackie.

I really must get this information in order just in case it never gets published as a whole.

I've got so much I don't know what to do with it!
If only the other lines were so easy!


Melmax

[hudggy]

I have got back to 1579 in Ruthwell Dumfries and 1592 in Glasgow. The worst I find is trying to find relatives in Ireland.

[dollard]

My Burns line arrived in Glasgow in 1855 from Belfast. They had been in Ireland for many generations after leaving Scotland in the 1600 or 1700s. I can trace them back to 1750 in county Down but no farther. I don't think I'll ever know when and where they came from in Scotland. I can trace my Buchan line back to about 1750 in Perthshire but I don't think I'll ever get any farther.
Cousins have traced my English line back to the 1500's but back before 1700 it isn't definite in my opinion.
I've traced quite a few of my French Canadian ancestral lines back to the 1500's. The Catholic church kept very good records so everything is well documented.

[emanday]

I have been very lucky to be able to write to a Lady (who is not on the internet yet) who had been doing "Ireland Surname" Genealogy.

The earliest birth date on her pages was 1677! Since she does not have access to the internet she must have done some really hard work.
I have double checked lots of it! Now I need to visit Scotland to check the rest!

Here are some of the names
Ireland, Findlay, Herd, Birrel, Anderson, Bisset, Mackie.

I really must get this information in order just in case it never gets published as a whole.

I've got so much I don't know what to do with it!
If only the other lines were so easy!


Melmax

I'm at a with an Ireland ancestor who married into my (father's) Stewart line. Got their marriage details and her birth date and place, and her father's name but no mother's name. I really would like to follow this line back further as we'd always thought that there were only Irish ancestors on my mother's side. I seem to have hit that on her and her father.

[Davie]

Hi Dollard,
I am doing some research into the Burns family from The Calton (the Glesga wan, no the posh Auld Reekie parish) at the moment.
With Gordon , Devlin, McNaughtan and McGlone connections.

For the rest o yeese.
I have been researching my own Family, McNaughtan and McFarlane, (whatever spelling) for over 10 years.
I have followed in the footsteps of uncles and older cousins, who passed on their endeavours before the advent of the internet
The furthest back I have got with any certainty is the birth of John McNaughtan, in the parish of Killin in 1787.
I would be interested to know how, and where, anyone else has got their information from.
As far as I can gather, yer ancestor would have to be some sort of dignitary, afore ye can trace yer ain kin, pre 1750.
Hoping to be educated on this.

Davie