Genealogy and family history

[superbatranger]

So, I'm doing a family tree project for Anthropology, and out of curiosity, I decided to ask my mom if she knew more about her family. She told me to email her uncle. I did just that, and he sent me a 30 page long family tree dating back to 1735. According to what he found, my family can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire to the Tur Abdin region of Turkey in the city of Mardin.

So, this leads me to the main topic. In learning about your family's history, what have you guys discovered?

 

[Lucem712]

Epicness, I did a small amount of researching into my surname and found it originated from a providence in Barcelona, Spain (the irony of being a Real Madrid fan, Lol) and even had a Duke once.

I know on my mother's side, my great grand father was half Apache/ half Spanish and basically stole my rich great grandmother.

That's right, just rode up on horseback and stole her. Woohoo! Who says chivalry is dead!

 

[superbatranger]

Epicness, I did a small amount of researching into my surname and found it originated from a providence in Barcelona, Spain (the irony of being a Real Madrid fan, Lol) and even had a Duke once.

I know on my mother's side, my great grand father was half Apache/ half Spanish and basically stole my rich great grandmother.

That's right, just rode up on horseback and stole her. Woohoo! Who says chivalry is dead!

We could all learn from your great grandfather.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Some bloke traced my family back all the way to the Middle Ages and guess what; we came from the area we're still living in today. How dreadfully dull.

But then he told us that we descended from friggin' knights who pretty much ran this place. Awww yeeeaaaah!

 

[Chemical Alia]

I don't even know as far back as my grandfather on my father's side. It was only just recently that I think I found out what my dad's biological family name is. On my mother's side, I have a cousin who is familiar with the family history and traced it as far back as few hundred years in Germany, but I haven't seen any of it myself. He's a pretty quiet and private person, so it's hard to bring it up.

 

[Lucem712]

Epicness, I did a small amount of researching into my surname and found it originated from a providence in Barcelona, Spain (the irony of being a Real Madrid fan, Lol) and even had a Duke once.

I know on my mother's side, my great grand father was half Apache/ half Spanish and basically stole my rich great grandmother.

That's right, just rode up on horseback and stole her. Woohoo! Who says chivalry is dead!

We could all learn from your great grandfather.

Indeed, I should publish a book called "How to get the woman of your dreams in 5 easy steps!"

[li]Step one- Locate dream partner[/li]
[li]Step two- "Purchase" strong stallion (Preferably one that matches your awesome mustache)[/li]
[li]Step three- Ride up on horseback[/li]
[li]Step four- Take your beloved around the waist with your muscular arms, passionately (That way they don't mistake you for a ruffian)[/li]
[li]Step five- Speak romantically in Spanish until your partner falls madly in love with you. [/li]

 

[WhyBotherToTry]

I'm not sure aout my mother's side but my father's family used to be the nobility in one of the counties in Northern Ireland.

 

[the rye]

I can date my family history to the Norman invasion of England, i am descended from a long line of aristocracy, one of the aristocratic families i can directly trace my bloodline to are the Boleyn family, specifically Mary Boleyn (who was a mistress of Henry VIII).

 

[GrimTuesday]

Well, on my dads side were a bunch of minor lords in England and Scotland, which was kind of cool. My moms side of the family have been in the US since before it was a country. The Finnish side of my mom's family came during the same time the Dutch held New Amsterdam (New York) and the Irish side came over some time later. Although one interesting thing about the Irish side is they were actually very wealthy, until that bastard (not really) Lincoln freed all the slaves and my family just kind of got poorer from there.