What is my Geneology??

Question

I have always wondered what part of the world i could be originally from.. my maiden name is Newsom, which could be Irish, and my married name is Curtis. If anyone knows tell me that wouild be great!

thanks!

Answer 1

Your father was Sean Newsom, the former RAF pilot. A tall, red-headed man who walked with a limp, he ended up owning the Guinness distributorship in Hong Kong, where he married an enigmatic green-eyed Eurasian cabaret dancer. Your maternal grandparents were a White Russian diplomat, an offshoot of the Romanovs named Ivan Roamafar and a Chinese courtesan whose family name was Lim and whose given name, Cher Kun, translates as "White Jade".

Your husband's hillbilly ancestors used to play the banjo and make moonshine by the light of the moon in Perry County, Kentucky. They have been there for 200 years, marrying their cousins, poaching deer, living in cabins with tin roofs and breeding blue tick coon hounds. Most of their relatives are named Martin, Fisher and Shumate.

Glad I could help!

Answer 2

Deborah, your maiden name OR your married name is not the criteria for where your ancestors came from.  There are many names that "come" from more than one place. YOUR heritage will depend of the place of origin for the person with that name.

Just for example.. you need to use valid records to identity your gr grandfather Newsom, who happened to be the immigrant. That record will show his place of birth. If he came from England, HE is of English heritage. If you work further and confirm that his grandfather was born in Dublin.. then that shifts the history.

No one can tell you ACCURATELY where your ancestors came from, without confirming who they were. Someone may use a generic website that states Newsom is "Irish".. but that is not confirmation of your ancestry.

Answer 3

It takes a lot of research to figure out anything on your own genealogy. Geni.com is a great place to start your own family tree. There, you just add in mother, father, siblings, aunts, uncles, etc... until you have your own family tree and voila, you have your very own genealogy.  Internet searches help a lot, and old records, old bibles, talk to some of your older family members. These are all valuable resources into finding out about your family tree.

Answer 4

My own surname is extant in more than 30 countries; the pros can't even make up their mind what it means or where it originated and it is one of the most common names in the U.S. and the UK.

As to your own, you will need to do some research.  Try:

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

Answer 5

Using one of the various spellings, www.surnamedb.com says this:

Surname: Newsome

This name, with variant spellings Newsom, Newsam, Newsum and Newsham, is of northern English locational origin from any of the several places in the North and West Riding of Yorkshire called Newsham, or from Newsham in Durham near Yarm, in Lancashire near Aeston and in Northumberland. The name derives from a contracted form of the Olde English pre 7th Century 'neowan husum' meaning 'at the new houses', for example, Newham in Kirby Wiske (Yorkshire North Riding), recorded as Newehusum in the Domesday Book of 1086, appears as Newsum in the 1202 Fine Court Rolls of that county. The surname is first recorded towards the end of the 12th Century, (see below). One, Willelmus de Newsome appears in the 1379 'Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire', and on August 18th 1583 Catherine Newsome and Robert Crossfield were married in Snaith, Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Neusum, which was dated 1195, 'The Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire', during the reign of King Richard I, Richard the Lionheart, 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Surname: Curtis

This name derives from the Old French "Corteis" or "Curteis" meaning "refined" or "accomplished" and was originally given as a nickname to a man of good education. One Curteis de (of) Capella appears in the 1130 Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire. The surname is first recorded in the mid 12th Century (see below), and other forms of the name have included le Curetis (Devonshire, 1168) and Le Curtois (Lincolnshire, 1230). In the modern idiom, the name has twelve spelling variations including Curtis(s), Curtice, Curthoys, Cortes, and Kertess. On May 6th 1635, one Henry Curtis, aged 27 yrs., embarked from London on the ship "Elizabeth and Ann" bound for New England. He was one of the earliest recorded namebearers to enter America. Patrick Curtis (1740 - 1832) became Archbishop of Armagh in 1819, and advocated Catholic emancipation before a committee of the House of Lords in 1825; he also corresponded with the Duke of Wellington on the subject. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Curteis, which was dated 1166, in the "Pipe Rolls of Bedfordshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches" 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

www.familysearch.org has these varied spellings of Newsom:

NEWSOME ; NESOM ; NEWSHAM ; NEWSUM; NEWSAM; NEUSOME; NEWSHOLM ; NEWSON ; & NUSAM.

     The name is found in several southern US states; England; New Zealand; Ireland; Canada; Scotland; S.Africa;  India; Wales; Barbados (Caribbean); France; Switzerland; Germany; and Australia.

    Early listings include these : Gillo De NEWSOM--b. abt 1191, Newsom On Tyne, Yorkshire, England; his wife was born in 1196; and William Newsom --b.  1445, Newsham Hall, Lancashire, England.

  

  Varied spellings of Curtis include: COURTICE ; CURTISS ;

CURTEIS ; CURTICE ; CURTES ; COURTIS ; COURTISE; CORDTS; KORT ; KOORDT; CORDIER ; KURT;  &DE CURTIS . If it counts, I am using the spelling KURTISS for a character in a book I hope to publish some year (LOL).

    The name is also found world-wide. Two early listings are

Jane CURTIS-b. 1639, in England; and John CURTIS -b. 1480, England.

Answer 6

Deborah, Wendy and Nothingusefullearnedatschool gave you a great answer.

You have to understand also that your name is only a small part of your ancestry.  

You have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents.  That totals 30 people. As you go back the number pyramids.  If you go back 10 generations you can be directly descended from over a thousand individuals and if you go back 20 generations, you can be directly descended from over a million people.  Most of those people did not have your name.  Now, I use the word "can."  The reason why as you research back you might find a great great grandfather in one family line was a great great great great grandfather in another family line.