How far back can you trace your family?

Question

Not a question per se, I'm purely interested to know.

Answer 1

start with an outline

and a very large blackboard surface

and several pieces of chalk

Answer 2

I can trace a line on my moyhers side to the year 50 and on my fathers adopted side to the year 1000

Answer 3

Paternal to the 1700's UK.  Maternal to the Mayflower.

Answer 4

One of many maternal lines definately back to a birth circa 1510.  Another maternal line possibly back to the same period.  Most other maternal and paternal lines peter out sometime in the 1700s, a couple later than this in the 1800s mainly due to things like a fire at the church where the records were kept which I can't do anything about.  I'm digging around in the 1300s where I think my maternal line would still have probably been, but they were poor and aren't recorded in the documents I've seen.  The rich and well-off are always better recorded than the peasants.  Those of us that are lucky enough to be descended from the gentry can usually get further back than me, but the 1500s is probably my limit, even if I'm still researching my tree in twenty years time, which I probably will be.

Answer 5

My aunt traced back our lineage to Robert and Thomas Winter of the Gunpowder plot.  I was dubious until I found out that they were the poor fools who thought it was a good idea to dry the gunpowder in front of the fire after it got wet in the rain during their escape .  One was blinded by the resulting explosion.  Yep...don't think the family IQ level has increased much since 1605!

Answer 6

Back to 1511 and believe it or not my family on my fathers side originated "as far back as I can trace" 3 miles from where I now live yet we have been scattered around the country quite a bit. I also found that we had a change of name (slightly) in the early 1800s.

Answer 7

My personal and direct lineage only works back to Poland in the 1800s, and to be honest, I am intimidated by the language issues in finding records for that area.  I have spent 25+ years, working both my former husband's and current husband's ancestry (and find that they are actually distant cousins).  One standing joke is that I'll trace anyone's history that walks within 20 feet of me, if they don't run fast enough.

Even though he isn't "mine", one of my favorites is Ed Clapper, who was murdered in the Nevada desert in the late 1850's, and buried there in haste. 130 yrs later.. erosion led to his remains being unearthed, and identified, including a forensic facial reconstruction by the Smithsonian. After the investigation (murder having no statute of limitations), the local historical society arranged his belated funeral and proper reburial with tombstone and all.  We believe we found some relatives of his, who actually came for his services.

Everyone's family has fascinating stories, no matter how 'far' you succeed in going back. I do get attached to persons I deal with, even when they are not technically mine.

edit- as for 'best'.. everyone is good to open and share fun and interesting goodies. For this one, you get to flip a coin. Everyone deserves a thumbs up, which I'll do.

Answer 8

at least to the time of saint patrick! senior branch related to a highking and the the Ui Neill! The highkings "marshalls" btw .

Answer 9

one side back to 1850 and the other back to 1700.  That of course doesn't mean the entire family to back then, just the fathers and their sons back that far.  More recent ones the families are all listed.

Answer 10

have traced my dads family back to 1462 when Johannes Haiggues (or something similar) arrived in west Yorkshire from Denmark

Mum's name is drake so she is convinced she is directly descended from Sir Francis Drake.

And i am actually adopted so technically can trace only back to me!!

EDIT - how cool - thanks to above post have also realised i am a family twig - luckily I was succesfully  grafted onto a great family tree

Answer 11

My brother has traced our paternal family back until the year 1745, is has taken 7 years to achieve this and what a revelation.  Children born "on the other side of the blanket" cousins marrying cousins, one murder and quite a few in the workhouse for debt.  No unclaimed money from this family.

Ah well, back to work on Monday.

Answer 12

not very far back at all, but yesterday i found out that my gr8, gr8 gr8... grand mother (white) was married to a malatto in slavery.. and her signature is carved on the walls on one of our museums ... so that is it. lol.. thta was probably the 15th century or something.

Answer 13

I can trace my paternal grandmothers family back to the French Revolution. They were nobility named De 'Arth. They escaped to Britain and changed their name to Death. (YUK) My grandmother surname was Death until she married my Grandfather.

Answer 14

I have gone back to the 600 on my Cresswell side, many of our family members were in the dooms day book & also connected to the royal so that help a great lot,

on another branch in india i have managed to go back to 1600's so a very big difference, but church's out their have records dated back even further..

in the uk if you know where your family were born earlier then that helps because you can trace them through baptisms,

like my Salmon lot were from Essex & now we have gone back to 1530 so things are looking up on that side too & great to find so many family members all new distant cousins..

Genes reunited is a great help & find my past.com has brilliant records you can check BUT the best place for help is the mormons, thats a must for anyone to check out..

im now on the 800 YES 800's not 1800's on my Meadows side too,

Great stuff

Answer 15

I traced my dads side to the 1600s! As my dad is Scottish, I belong to the Stewart clan

Answer 16

I cant find any... :'(

Answer 17

On my Mother's side back to 1779, and on my Father's side back to the early 1600's from the Paul family in Germany.

Answer 18

On my paternal grandmother's branch, back to the baptism of a Walter Lee 1562 Newton St. Cyr, Devon, s/o Thomas Lee.

The shortest is maternal grandfather, where I can't find the baptism for his Dad, circa 1831.  He said he was born in Bath on the Census records, but no trace anywhere there of a baptism so I can't be sure who 2x Gt. grandfather is, although I have a likely candidate.

I have had my matrilineal DNA tested and that takes me back some 17,000 years to a Clan Mother they have called "Una" whose origins are East of where Moscow is today.

The person alive today who probably has the longest Family "Tree" is a schoolmaster in Cheddar, Somerset, who has been found to have DNA matching stone-age skeletons found in the caves in Cheddar.

Answer 19

Hi I have traced my family back to the Magnacarter  AD 1215

Answer 20

not far at all, I can only rememeber meeting my great grandparents

Answer 21

On one direct line i can trace mine back to 1695. On other lines not so far back.

Answer 22

family traced back to the 1580s. not bad going. didn't do the work myself. another family member did some years ago

Answer 23

Ive traced my Daughter's side back to 1300 with Richard Metiarewe in Stour Provost Dorset.He is her 17th Great Grandfather.

Over the years the name has changed  considerably Meatyard,Metyard,Metyer,Mitchard

Answer 24

400 or so years ago on my dad's side according to a family tree we own, they are from Armenia. On my mother's side, i can only trace back a few generations, but i know that the place in the Hebrides of Scotland she originates from, was where Norwegian Vikings settled. So that goes back a fair few hundred years i suppose.

Answer 25

I can't trace it at all. I was adopted, and I've never met my mother and father, never mind anybody else! My family tree is a twig.

Answer 26

On my dads side( we are Cajun/French) we found a member that was in Napoleons army don't remember the date exactly,not really proud of that, he wasn't a good person! and my moms side (Italian) they went all the way back to the late 1600's. It was very interesting

Answer 27

With the help of my father and grandmother, I traced my line on his side back to the Civil and Revolutionary Wars.

Answer 28

Into the 18 hundreds when one side came from Cornwall, England to Moonta Bay to mine I dont know about any other part of my family.

Answer 29

1600s on my moms moms line (but parts of that go back to the 1200s)

1700s on my moms dads line

1800s on both of my dads parents, they came from germany and its hard to find records for them