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

[Andy]

Liked Sporran's comments on Gilkrist Makurerdy "dollop of wishful thinking". Most of this information can be found in a wonderful wee book reproduced here: http://members.tripod.com/~quoddybelle/ ... Curdy.html

Some provenance for Part 2 of the book is on my Rathlin site at http://rathlin.info in the Resource section under Elmer D. E. McCurdy's "Historical Geneology [sic] of the McCurdy Family" part two. Indicating that many lines have basis in fact.

J.A.I. and Shane McCurdy are about the only two people I know who can prove links to Pethric "of the Cairn", supposedly Gilkrist's three or four times great grandson. If you have the readies I bet either would be up for a DNA test to see if there is any relationship.

The furthest I've managed to get back with proof (so far) is Thomas Preston of Tyrone who was born about 1627 and died in 1705 and Johne McRannald and his wife Katherine McIlstalke born in the late 1640's in Inveraray, my 8 times great grandparents.

Johne and Katherine's son, also John, born 1672 moved to Ireland where he became a very wealthy farmer and miller in Cloghog, Tyrone.

[DavidWW]

Hi Sheila

All my ancestral connections are Scottish.

On three lines I'm back to the late 1600s, but only on a tentative basis via OPR records.

Davie

PS A Scottish death record in the first decade or so of statutory registration in Scotland, starting in 1855, of someone of a guid age, as long as the informant had the required info, will take you back easily to a birth in the second half of the 18th century, a marriage a few years before that, maybe quite some years before that, along with births of the parents of the deceased back to first half of the 18th century.
dww

[CatrionaL]

Hello Sheilajim

I agree with you that success stories are encouraging.

My direct ancestry has, so far, proved to be Scottish on all four sides, so I feel thoroughly spoiled as far as research is concerned.

On one side, I've not got back far, 1750/1780. Ever tried working out how and which of the MACLEODS and MACDONALDS in the island of Lewis are related? Then the Aberdeenshire ancestors didn't often marry!

On the other side, I have a LIVINGSTON/CALLANDER marriage in BEATH in Fife in 1699. Then there is a BLAIR/LAIRD mariage in KILMACOLM, Renfrewshire in 1722.

Recently I've started working downwards towards the present day on some lines. A second cousin on the Aberdeenshire side did a fantastic job of "tracking down" the descendants of all of my great grandfather's eight children.

All the best with your research.

Catriona

[sheilajim]

Hi Again Everyone

It was good to hear from all of you.

I agree with Heather K that it would be nice to know how they lived. I am pretty sure it wasn't as well as we live today. It is too bad that we can't find out more about their personal lives though. I don't even have a picture of my Scottish Grandparents, never mind GtGrandparents! It seems than when my mother came to Canada, she didn't bring many pictures with her. She told me that she had lost all of them at one time and apparently few if any were sent after she arrived there.

To Catriona. Aren't those McDonalds a pain? Why are there so many of them? I still can't find my GtGrandfather' John MCDonald's Death, though I am pretty sure that he died before 1930. Between 1901 and 1930.

Another thought, though probably it should be on another post. I was entering data on GenesReunited, when I thought "Do I really want all this information going out on the Internet?"

Unfortunately, there are some people in society who spoil things for us all.

How do some of you think about this?

All the best,

Sheila

Researching: Boyd, Kennedy, Moran, McLaren, McKinnon, McDonald, Langan, King, McKee, McVeany

[Anne H]

Hi Sheila,

I have a Scottish side and an Irish side and haven’t gotten back that far with most only going back to the late 1780’s/1790’s. I have 3 lines on the Scottish side with a couple of generations in the waiting for confirmation that will take me back to about 1725. The Irish side is unfortunately stuck around 1790 with not much hope of getting any further.

To compensate for the lack of knowledge of how my ancestors lived I “google” a lot and find out as much as I can. I have a good idea of living and working conditions in Coatbridge and still gathering information for the other areas. I used to wish I lived in the 1800’s…now I don’t!

As to your questions on the Internet…I had the same apprehension about putting info on GenesReunited and only put in name, date of birth and date of death. I’m not that keen on that programme anyway and haven’t updated it for about a year or so.

Regards,
AnneH

[DavidWW]

Hi Again Everyone

It was good to hear from all of you.

I agree with Heather K that it would be nice to know how they lived. I am pretty sure it wasn't as well as we live today. It is too bad that we can't find out more about their personal lives though. I don't even have a picture of my Scottish Grandparents, never mind GtGrandparents! It seems than when my mother came to Canada, she didn't bring many pictures with her. She told me that she had lost all of them at one time and apparently few if any were sent after she arrived there.

....snipped.......

Sheila

Researching: Boyd, Kennedy, Moran, McLaren, McKinnon, McDonald, Langan, King, McKee, McVeany

Unless you are fortunate enough for family correspondence to have survived you won't know exactly how your own direct ancestors lived, but you'll find plenty books out there which go into detail on the lifestyle of similar poeple, sometimes in the area of interest.

Davie

[sheilajim]

Hi Anne & Dave

Good Ideas from you two.

I will be searching the Internet and looking for books on the subject.

Regards

Sheila

[mocam]

I have managed to go back to 1600s with my McNiven side of the family they were from Inverary in Argyle I have also found a lot of connections in my search through genes reunited Its a great feeling to get a connection and to be able to provide someone else with all your info once youve got the genealogy bug theres no stopping us






other family names Kennedy Connor McNiven Campaigne Reilly Grant Keenan Trench Strachan Tinney Cameron areas (Bothwell ) Blantyre Linlithgow Cambuslang Argyle Inverness

[mallog]

Sheila & AnneH Glad to hear your reservations about Genes Reunited. I was beginning to think I was the only one. It is a great idea but I don't feel like putting everything down. It's bad enough just posting your email address on the web.
Most of my lines back to middle of 1700's

[Hil]

.........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

I completely agree Heatherk, while names & dates are great to find, I love to know what kind of people they were & what they did etc.
I was in touch with a lady a couple of years ago, who lived opposite my g-grandfather in the highlands when she was a child. She told me everyone in the village called him "pop". It's things like this that I find very rewarding