How far back can you trace your ancestors?

[curupira]

I've been into genealogy for many years, but quite helpful were a few relatives who had already written a few books, which traced some not so distant ancestors to known characters from XVIII century Brazil, and from these people it was not too difficult to trace back to the first settlers.

An example of what happened to me: upon researching my genealogy, I traced my ancestry back to my great grandfather (Antonio Moreira Junior). I went to the town he was born (a very small town lost in the interior of Brazil by the way - no more than 2000 inhabitants and with only two streets - take into account my great grandfather was born in the rural area of that town). I looked for his obituary, found it and then looked for the name of his parents. Later I found three books, by close relatives, with his name Antonio Moreira Junior, and the name of his brothers and sisters listed. From their names it was easy to go back much further back in time, since it was already recorded and registered by other peoples in the past. I traced my ancestry to Baltazar de Morais de Antas (1535-1600), a settler of very early Brazil (XVI century). 15th generations between me and him (Brites Rodrigues Anes was the daughter of a Portuguese couple who settled in Brazil according to Pedro Taques de Almeida Paes Leme, our main genealogist from the XVIII century).

15 generations between me and Baltazar de Morais de Antas:


1st generation Baltazar de Morais de Antas * Mogadouro, Mogadouro, Trás os Montes c. 1535 + Santos, São Vicente c. 1600 c/c Brites Rodrigues Anes

2nd generation Ana de Morais de Antas c/c Pantaleão Pedroso (Pantaleão was the son of Estevão Ribeiro Baião Parente & Madalena Fernandes Feijó de Madureira, they came to Brazil also in the XVI century)

3rd generation Maria de Morais c/c Francisco Ribeiro (born in Viana do Castelo, he died in a bandeira in the Guairá, where he made his testament)

4th generation Sebastiana Ribeiro de Morais c/c Vittore Antonio de Castronuovo (he was from Naples, Italy)

5th generation Francesco Ribeiro de Morais c/c Ana Lopes Moreira (daughter of Gaspar Gonçalves Ordonho & Ana Moreira)

6th generation Sebastiana Ribeiro de Morais c/c Gaspar de Godoy Colaço (son of João de Godói Moreira & Eufémia da Costa Mota)

7th generation Maria Pedroso de Morais c/c João Correia da Silva (great grandson of Amador Bueno, the Acclaimed)

8th generation Escolástica de Morais c/c João da Cunha Ataíde

9th generation Maria Cândida da Cunha Ataíde c/c Francisco Joaquim de Andrade

10th generation Rosa da Cunha Andrade (fazenda do Aquenta Sol, farm of Aquenta Sol) c/c Manoel Caetano Fortunato da Cunha Ataíde

11th generation Teodora da Cunha Andrade c/c Antonio Moreira da Silva Cunha

12th generation Antonio Moreira Junior c/c Eliza Rosa de Barros

13th generation Conceição de Andrade Moreira

14th generation my mother

15th generation me

This is the genealogy of Baltazar de Morais de Antas, it goes back quite a great deal in time (plenty of information on him in the link below), it goes back to the early days of Portugal:

http://www.buratto.net/doria/AntasMoraes.pdf

[Diërker]

1 BC.

[Pleurat]

Very srz here... till 400 years ago.

[Vasa]

Year 1691 is as far as my family have traced it atleast.

[Peyrol]

1225

[Germanicus]

1846 ...for a Brit that is quite good, most families left the villages and hamlets for work in the industrial revolution, subsequently people hav to look for old church records.
The British censuses are only good for 1890s really, occasionally you can go back further if you have an unusual surname such as mine.

[Atlantic Islander]

Pretty far, one of my distant cousins is a genealogy nut and he put together a tree.

[Damião de Góis]

My family isn't into genealogy. I only know until my great-grandparents.

[Furnace]

Someone in my family traced it back to the 1600s or so, church records before that are hard to find they say.

[Pontios]

1400s.

[CrystalMaiden]

Late 1500s.

[Benacer]

I suppose I could hunt for my ancestors someday. Both my parents' families come from Minas Gerais, but I really just know of them up to my great grandfathers.

[Loki]

1225

An uninterrupted genealogical line?

Anyway my paternal line is unbroken since 1596, it's even online.

[Illancha]

Very far back is a good way to put it.

[Swearengen]

..

[Peyrol]

An uninterrupted genealogical line?

Anyway my paternal line is unbroken since 1596, it's even online.

No, unfortunately not...but venetian republic was very bureaucratic as state (they were merchants and bankers), they registered everything...i hope to discover more ancestors from the venetic side of my family.

[Smeagol]

1600s, back to Britain on my mom's side.
1800s on my dad's side.

[alb0zfinest]

To about late 1700s.

[Blackout]

Never asked, so i dont know. http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww359/gajeebant/bth_SunglassesSmiley.jpg

[justme]

Hmmm I trace it back to late 1800s, but my uncle and can trace it even further back... My family has told be that history passed down from generation to generation we do not know of where we actually originate, it was passed down from generation to generation long before 1800s that our roots are from Kosovo, we native people of Kosovo.

[wvwvw]

1400s.

If you're Pontic Greek as you claim and you can trace your ancestors as far back as 1400 (yeah right! :laugh:) you should take a DNA test.

[Pontios]

If you're Pontic Greek as you claim and you can trace your ancestors as far back as 1400 (yeah right! :laugh:) you should take a DNA test.

Almost every Pontian from Pontus or that area in general can trace their ancestors for hundreds of years... It's nothing new... My ancestors weren't refugees in Greece in the 1920s...

[StonyArabia]

I can trace my maternal ancestry all the way really to the 13th century. I can not trace the ancestry of paternal lineage that far and many of the records were destroyed by the Russians, so most of it was based on oral stories sadly.

[Equilibrium]

20th century.. :p

[Ice]

I can only go back to 1860. If i believe the oral stories I go back to the 1600ies.


1400s.

Komenos or Palaiologos :)

[Jackson]

Most of them, the early-mid 19th century. So enough to tell where the families were from and what they did, as a number of them went on the move to cities or towns...and met other people who had done the same thing for the most part. So a lot of my ancestry is from groups of rural people who moved to the city, married into other families who had done the same, and then moved on again a generation or two later. The earliest any line of mine goes is a Norman connection via Cheshire, goes back to John le Belward in the 1080s. Another older one is on my mother's mother's line, going back to Kent in the 17th century. Most of the rest are 1800+ as far as i can recall.

[Smaug]

1870's on my mother's side and 1880's on my father's side.

[curupira]

Are you related to any famous Arab clan?


I can trace my maternal ancestry all the way really to the 13th century. I can not trace the ancestry of paternal lineage that far and many of the records were destroyed by the Russians, so most of it was based on oral stories sadly.

[StonyArabia]

Are you related to any famous Arab clan?


Yes my mom is from this House, the House Al-Rashid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Rashid

our independent state

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate_of_Jabal_Shammar

The Emirate of Jabal Shammar was finally terminated with the Saudi campaign of late 1921. The Emirate surrendered to Saudis on November 2, 1921, and was subsequently incorporated into the Sultanate of Nejd. Today many of the Jebalis of the Shammar live in Syria and Iraq due to the exile commanded by the Sauds and British.

[Dandelion]

Early 20th century. ;)

[curupira]

Yes my mom is from this House, the House Al-Rashid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Rashid

our independent state

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate_of_Jabal_Shammar

The Emirate of Jabal Shammar was finally terminated with the Saudi campaign of late 1921. The Emirate surrendered to Saudis on November 2, 1921, and was subsequently incorporated into the Sultanate of Nejd. Today many of the Jebalis of the Shammar live in Syria and Iraq due to the exile commanded by the Sauds and British.


^ Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

[Roy]

1775-1800 on both sides of my family without use of records; thanks to help of my great grandmother who remembers some very old stories about her ancestors.

[TJames]

I've gone back to around 1500-1560 on all my sides, i have also gone back to King Alfred the Great but whose to say its trustworthy considering it was over 1000 years ago, sometimes records can be hard to trust.

[Kiyant]

Only to the 19th century.

[Jonik]

1837 Aglona, Latgalia (GGG-father)
http://www.lvva-raduraksti.lv/en.html

[Jackson]

Actually there is two lines i can trace back to the end of the 20th century. Apparently my mother's mother's maternal family go back to Kent in the 17th century and one of the families on my father's side goes back to 1695 in Norfolk. I can't remember the details of the Kentish line though. Pretty much every other line goes back to the 19th century, mostly middle and early, and at least one that only goes back to the late 19th century.

Edit: Also i have a line from Cheshire that goes back to the Norman aristocracy in that area from the 1080s. :D

[FaeAus]

1066 (Norman Conquest of England) :)

[Mans not hot]

I can trace my ancestors back to Genghis Khan, the legendary Mongol warrior and conqueror who launched an empire that reached to half of Europe.

[Armatus]

1540s on my paternal side, got lucky, nearly all data of german lineages before 1648 got destroyed in the 30-yrs War. The earliest line i'm aware of is the (noble) line of my fathers mother, which dates back to 745, but the genealogy is pretty controversial and not clear in the early years.

[Germaniac]

Paternal grandfather's line: 1600s (there's a possible ancestor from the 13th century-knightly)
Paternal grandmother's line: late 1800s
Maternal grandfather's line: 900s (nobility)
Maternal grandmother's line: 1100s (nobility)

[Äike]

Anno Domini 1381

[Kiyant]

Me
Cavit(my father) 1967
Nedim(Grandad) 1910
Mehmet(Great Granddad) 1880
Ruslan(Great great Grandad) 1843
Atilla(Great great great Grandad) 1817
And someone of my Ancestors had the name Serifgil (Because thats my families/clans name) Dont know the date

[Rudel]

For all important branches and uninterrupted : XVth century.
For major branches : reliably up to the middle XIIth century, at least on the paternal line. Possibly the XIth century, but that's conjectural. Most likely linked to a good chunk of the nobility of the County of Bar, could probably go down to the Dark Ages if not for major lack of records.

[Tropico]

1822 Spain. Potentially 1800 France.

[Loki]

For all important branches and uninterrupted : XVth century.
For major branches : reliably up to the middle XIIth century, at least on the paternal line. Possibly the XIth century, but that's conjectural. Most likely linked to a good chunk of the nobility of the County of Bar, could probably go down to the Dark Ages if not for major lack of records.

:lol:

[Aurora]

1600's on both sides of my family.

[Dombra]

1600´s on my fathers side

I know that some French came to Åland in the 1700´s, hence my second second surname :cool: That's all "ancient" I know in my mothers family, but I think there are some of my family in Finland who has done more research

[Leadchucker]

Maternal side only to late 1800's ( Do you know how many Daffyd Morgans there are in Wales?)
Paternally back to about 1100 AD in Britain, specifically London and East Anglia then to Virginia in America around 1675.

[Rudel]

:lol:
What's so funny ? Does my lineage put you off ? Are you laughing just for the sake of being a childish retard all over again ?

As for the records (since it should be mentioned, "Internet genealogy" is pretty much crap), I've had hard time to gain access to the more ancient ones, before parish registers (pre XVth-XVIth century), but I've managed to grab some stuff over time.
Still waiting on the charters from the library of the abbey of Saint-Mihiel though.

[Stanley]

Tracing your ancestry back to, say, the 1500s requires knowing several thousand ancestral lines. That's all but impossible. I think people are answering to the question: how far back is your farthest traceable ancestor?

I haven't personally done much genealogy research. Growing up I was always told and thought of my ethnic background as "Irish, English, and Swedish", as that's what my family identified by. Looking up my family's surnames on google years ago corroborated that and it wasn't until I got a little more inquisitive a few years ago that I got the real picture. I found out the parents of my maternal grandfather's mother were from Luxemburg and that my "English" grandfather was of colonial American descent and mixed with other British and German.

I signed up for the ancestry.com free trial and mostly piggybacked on what other users had, particularly for my colonial ancestry, and searched a few records confirming the Irish/Swedish/Luxemburgian origins of my Midwestern immigrant ancestors from Europe, most of whom were born in the old country in the mid-to-late 19th century. I can't trace these ancestors any farther back.

For my old-stock American descended grandfather, I can trace 1/4 back to mid-1800s Indiana and the remaining 3/4 to various locations on the colonial east coast or Europe, to the 1600s or 1700s, depending on the line.

[Dombra]

Even if you trace it way back it is probably not fully accurate. You cant tell who was the real father :naughty:

[Stanley]

Even if you trace it way back it is probably not fully accurate. You cant tell who was the real father :naughty:

Makes you wonder what fraction of people carry the wrong surname.

[Loki]

What's so funny ? Does my lineage put you off ? Are you laughing just for the sake of being a childish retard all over again ?


I just find it hard to believe your claims, that's all. Especially in light of some of your other posts.

[Maleficent]

My paternal side has a large family tree mapped out and also family history written in a book going back at least 600 years. All in the exact same Christian village in Palestine, so no idiot can claim my father's family is not indigenous there. In terms of ethnicity, a lot of this is unfortunately very much 'fabricated Ghassanid' due to being Arabized along with the Arab-Nationalism/Pan-Arabism of the area, plus the Ghassanids were the elite of the Levant at many points in history causing many Levantine Christian families to fashion their family trees with a 'full Ghassanid lineage', but alas, none of that matches up with their phenotype, and most importantly, their genotype results. They are most definitely indigenous Levantine/ancientIsraelite. Also, unfortunately it is just very much a direct paternal family tree. Both of my grandparents are on the tree because they are part of the same greater family clan as they are technically distant cousins. It would be nice if I could trace my father's direct maternal lineage very far back in time like I can his paternal. Luckily I can trace my father's direct maternal line back to his great-great-grandparents(based on what my grandma remembers of her maternal family history)or I wouldn't have been able to figure out how a third cousin on 23andme with my dad's mtdna is related to my father and I. I'm also very curious about my dad's direct maternal line(far back in time) since his mtdna peaks/originates in the Caucasus(specifically Dagestan). Alberta speculates my father could be direct maternally descended from Mardaites because of this. My paternal family tree surnames are Arabic(from Arabization by the Ghassanids) and Hebrew(pre-Arabization). There is also a family legend that my father is descended from three brothers who got into a fight so the first brother stayed in Palestine with his wife and kids, the second brother went off to what is now Lebanon with his wife and kids, and the third brother went off to what is now Syria with his wife and kids; so a whole nother branches of his family that has already been there in Lebanon and Syria for many centuries. My paternal side first emigrated here to different parts of the New World(North and South America)in the late 1800s, and here in the US, they first went to Tennessee, but now they are mostly in Texas and California.

On my maternal side, some of the lines I can trace as far back as the 1500s and 1600s(so very ColonialAmerican, and I can even trace a bit before arrival in America). The vast majority of these lines are tracing back to Ireland, England, and Germany of course. I am noticing a pattern with the German lineage, most of the lines are Bavarian; whereas there is not so much of a pattern with the Irish and English ancestry. Most surnames on my maternal side are English, German, and Irish of course; and to a lesser extent Scottish, Welsh, French, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, and Norwegian. Here in America, the vast majority of my maternal ancestors were originally in Virginia, and to a lesser extent New York. Before finally my recent maternal ancestry being in Missouri/Kansas, and now Texas and California.

[Rudel]

I just find it hard to believe your claims, that's all. Especially in light of some of your other posts.

As a rule of thumb, in France you can most of the time trace any given linage back to the XVth century without issues (XVIth century for the unlucky ones), except for specific cases (archives destroyed etc).
My own family's a branch of a more ancient one, and I've lucky enough to find enough occurrences in armorials, contracts, charters etc. to go back to the XIIth century, with more certainty XIIIth century.
Getting further in a fairly unbroken line is rarely possible, as the availability of records relies a lot more on locations, prominence and luck.

I don't see what's wrong with my other posts.

[noman.rasheed]

Hi,

I am Muslim and I do believe in Prophets. So I traced my family tree back to Prophet Adam (Peace Be Upon Him).

[greatchampion]

I traced my dad's linage back to the 1600s. Valentine Alt was the first of my paternal ancestor to come to America back in 1731 and branched out the family all across Pennsylvania until my G-G-G-G Grandfather moved to Ohio and later Indiana. I'm pretty sure my Great-Great-Great Grandfather was orphaned because of the Civil War. It has him and his sister adopted(Living with) his Maternal Grandparents and Mother in the 1870s census. My Grandpa's mom side Remillards came from Quebec but didn't get too far on the side. My Paternal Grandma's family are Descended From English colonist that moved into the Kentucky area after the Revolutionary war.

My moms side is quite recent to America, immigrating from Prussia just before the Franco-Prussian war. My Moms paternal Grandmother never immigrated to America as she was visiting the U.S from Austria-Hungary and ended up getting stuck because of World War 1 and later World War 2 but by that time she was shacked down. Sadly it took her almost half of her life to get into contact with her family, mainly her sister because of the mass deportation of Ethnic Germans from what is now Serbia(She was from Klek) into Germany and the Cold war(Her sister and her family lived in East Germany).

[Fincher]

A blacksmith named Francisco from the 1300s, supposedly.

[The King, I am]

From my mum's side all the way back to numidian times and my dad is 100% danish (you couldn't place him anywhere else in the world) so i would say all the way back to the viking age.

[Han Cholo]

Around middle 1800. Probably could go further back, but I do not really care much about this issue.

[Bloodsport]

I've traced them to the late 1700's on my Dad's side :)

[Aurora]

My maternal uncle recently told me that our ancestor Forest Hancock who was a trapper was the first American to meet Louis and Clark on their return from the West.

[Geminus]

At one line up to 1550.
It's quite hard to find something before the 1618-1648 period in Germany, as a lot of records were destroyed in the 30 years war.

[Prisoner Of Ice]

Makes you wonder what fraction of people carry the wrong surname.

I suspect all of them do, given enough time. There's also adoptions, babies stolen/switched etc.

[noman.rasheed]

It's done :)

https://googledrive.com/host/0BzLoaWq4rx1fTERfMEtiYVlyc1U/FT.html

[Loki]

It's done :)

https://googledrive.com/host/0BzLoaWq4rx1fTERfMEtiYVlyc1U/FT.html

Oh come on, please tell me you're not serious :)

[noman.rasheed]

Oh come on, please tell me you're not serious :)

lol, why?

[Loki]

lol, why?

1. How do you know all that stuff?

2. You obviously think Adam was a real person. Most people would disagree with you.

[noman.rasheed]

1. How do you know all that stuff?

2. You obviously think Adam was a real person. Most people would disagree with you.

1. Jewish scriptures, Islamic Historians, Muslim scholars
From Tribe Quraysh, I found it on a paper which was 150 years old from by uncle.
2. I know lot many would disagree. Even I do disagree with them but still read and appreciate what they post. :)

[paksaltopam]

1600s on the Italian side. early 1800s on every other side and only 1900 on the Lithuanian side because he was a sketchy fellow who liked to change his name.

[Anglojew]

To the House of King David.

[Eckhart]

800 - 1100's

[paksaltopam]

800 - 1100's

I always wonder how some people trace back so far!

[Eckhart]

I always wonder how some people trace back so far!

Strong family name and tradition preserved and inherited generation by generation.

My family's coat of arms can be traced since 800's , even before the teutonic knights order.

[paksaltopam]

I've met many confused Americans of Lithuanian ancestry on 23andme. Though usually variation of written forms of names is not the only reason. They wonder whether they have Polish or Lithuanian ancestry.

My Lithuanian ancestor has a Polish last name so I am one of those confused! My Lemko ancestor was from Poland, but it wasn't until after much research that I realized that she wasn't Polish at all.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Currently my paternal ancestor up to 1710 who shows up in a 1750 census with four children at the age of 40. He or his father apparently adopted the name of a local hamlet as his surname. Up until that time there is no record of anyone with my surname.

[paksaltopam]

Until 1918 all surnames were written in Polish. That is, they were slavified to a varying degree.

Well that could explain it! He signed his name Piotr Baranowsky (and sometimes Baranowski). And then later changed it to Baran and then just Baron.

[Ouistreham]

I know all my 2,048 ancestors who lived in the late 17th century, with their addresses and occupations. I didn't have to do much research for that since nearly all lineages were listed of www.geneanet.org, I just had to check by comparing to the digitalized parish registers (in France most are available for free online).


As a rule of thumb, in France you can most of the time trace any given linage back to the XVth century without issues (XVIth century for the unlucky ones), except for specific cases (archives destroyed etc).
Going back to the mid-16th is in most cases fairly easy. More than half of my ancestry is from Normandy (with a few from neighbouring parts of Maine), most people in the area, even the humblest farmworkers, could read and sign their names to the records, which were therefore remarkably accurate and reliable. But I cannot find anything prior to early 16th century other than hypothetical dates of birth.

In Brittany, old registers are much flimsier, illiteracy was overwhelmingly widespread still in the 18th century, and the priests were barely more literate than their parishioners who weren't much able to check the accuracy of the records.

1/4 of my ancestry is in Lorraine, and here I have a problem, cause of the Thirty Year war that was an atrocious chaos. Lots of people were killed or had to flee their villages without being recorded. Many records prior to 1640 disappeared, the majority of parishes became fully depopulated at some point, it seems they recovered only in the years 1660 to 1680. Hence a number of uncertainties .

[Vias]

My francoitalian line, which would be my father's side, from his grandmother. I can trace it as back as the 13th century AD.
Anyone else around 300 years back, give or take 20 years. And that's without any research on the matter. I'm sure I could trace it further back with proper research.

[Methusalem]

Till Adam and Eve.

[Nehellenia]

Thanks to Constantine the Great, circa 272AD, pretty far.. Charlemagne is every European's grandpa though.

[Nehellenia]

My direct maternal line, Gerberga, Countess of Provence born 1060AD and her mother Stephanie of Marseille.

[paksaltopam]

Traced my Danish line back to Charlemagne. Bow to me peasants.

[InperatoreBT]

1389

[wvwvw]

Traced my Danish line back to Charlemagne. Bow to me peasants.

:worship: :cam:

[Nehellenia]

:worship: :cam:

hello cousin :p

[rhiannon]

Further back on my dad's side than my mom's.

I have a copy of the document that traces my dad's family surname all the way back to 1649...right when they first got off the boat from the British Isles. So call that Old Stock American. Being that my father baptized us into the religion he was raised in...Episcopalian...that makes us full blown WASPs on that end.

His mother's side I know very, very little of. My dad's mother was German/Irish. My paternal great grandmother was born in Germany is all I know. Great grandfather was Irish. I have his surname as my middle name....Byrne!

Mom's mother's side was Canadian....grandma came from Toronto, originally. Somewhere in this line the name Burgoyne shows up....not that far back. Yes, to those who know American History it is the same Burgoyne line that produced General Burgoyne who fought on the wrong side of the American Revolution lol. That's as far back as I know on her side.

My maternal grandfather's side settled in California around the same time my dad's family would have....1840s or thereabouts. His surname was Lloyd...a super duper common Welsh name....one of the older Welsh names so I've heard. Have no idea when they first came to America, though. Oddly enough, my hubs' sister married a dude with the surname Lloyd as well, so both hubs and his sister have married into the same name. LOL!

[Celxon]

I can trace back to both Jamestown and Plymouth in colonial America. I can trace further back in the British Isles. I'm one of Somerled's descendants. There are only about a million of us left.;)

[MrPsyLovesYou]

My great-great grandparents (late XIX century) is as far as I can trace back my ancestors. Although I've been interested in doing some extensive research in my genealogy. For my paternal side the only sources available mention a french ancestry and it's supposed my last name (not so common) trace its origins in the surrounding area of Zamora, province of Leon, Spain.
Maternal side: the most accurate theory is about a predominant crypto-jewish or "converso" origin in the family. I'm supposed to be descendant of the sephardic jew families who came to New Spain (Mexico) in the colonial era, around the XVI-XVII century and settled in what is nowadays northeastern Mexico (my city, Monterrey, was founded by jews). Almost all the surnames in this side can be commonly found in the Inquisition records of people targeted for being jews. There's also a lost black element (from the african slaves in the colonial era) in my mother's genealogy, some physical features are still noticeable in my generation.

[Empecinado]

Generally to 1500s, in some lines to 1240s.

[Arcadefire]

50 BCE. People from my linage responsible for spreading Buddhism in Tibet.

[Proctor]

Millions and Millions of years ago.

[albosomething]

on my mothers side 1700 , fathers side 10 generations.. dunno years

[Caismeachd]

1700's but I haven't tried too hard to trace them. Only census reports.

[Oneeye]

1600s for many lines

[Pjeter Pan]

Both family sides up to 400-500 years. Maybe more I have to ask my grandparents

[zhaoyun]

Luckily due to excellent Chinese record keeping, I can trace my ancestry back to the Tang Dynasty, about 8th Century AD.

[Loki]

I have an uninterrupted paternal genealogy since 1596 in Holland. I will make a thread on it. It's all online.

[GrebluBro]

I know people till 7 generations back...

[Constantine]

Charlemagne & Ragnar Lodbrok

[Rædwald]

1743 on my Paternal side. I haven't done much research on my Maternal side.

[Rudel]

1/4 of my ancestry is in Lorraine, and here I have a problem, cause of the Thirty Year war that was an atrocious chaos. Lots of people were killed or had to flee their villages without being recorded. Many records prior to 1640 disappeared, the majority of parishes became fully depopulated at some point, it seems they recovered only in the years 1660 to 1680. Hence a number of uncertainties .

I do have the same problem for some of my ancestors, though I tracked a number of them after they went to... Franche-Comté.

[Vojnik]

With little research I have traced my paternal side of the family going back to the late 1700's from the mountain regions of today's northern Greece. But I believe I could go deeper if I tried harder, which I will one day.

[Stefan_Dusan]

Per family legend, oral tradition, and tree, we ultimately trace to 1292 to a man named Milosh. I however am trying to trace even before this even though obvious records in this time frame are hard if not impossible to find. One key I have is my very very rare and old (one of the oldest in Europe) haplogroups, clean I2.

This is all paternal obviously. As much as it's weird to say, I'm not so much interested on my mother's side. This is cultural but whatever.

[dude]

1700's

[Luovatus]

For sure back in the late 1500´s. The churchbooks earlier than that were lost in wars with Swedes and Russians :flame

http://www.kolumbus.fi/hannu.j.asikainen/kirkot/keskiajan_kivikirkot/palkane1.jpg

[Mazik]

Only to the 19th century.

[Linebacker]

To 1944.Reason is the dirty commies burned all the archives when they made the coup.

[Stefan_Dusan]

To 1944.Reason is the dirty commies burned all the archives when they made the coup.

No one ever asked your grandparents who their parents were? I find this so weird, one should be able to go back at least 4-6 generations just from memory alone.

[Xanthias]

more than 800 years

[armenianbodyhair]

To the beginning of the universe obviously.

[Shuffle]

My mother's side to the 17th century, but records in Germany mostly don't go beyound because of the 30 years war, my father's father side also to the 17th century, they were mostly from Lorraine and Palatinate where the war was also terrible so no records before, my father's mother side 19th century, since they were Danubeswabians and serbian authorities are not really cooperative in the place where my family used to live!

[Linebacker]

No one ever asked your grandparents who their parents were? I find this so weird, one should be able to go back at least 4-6 generations just from memory alone.

After the communist coup some people just disappeared and their past was erased.Those were usually people who opposed communism and its 'glory'.My grand grandparents were one of those people probably.

[Pjeter Pan]

No one ever asked your grandparents who their parents were? I find this so weird, one should be able to go back at least 4-6 generations just from memory alone.
Bulgarians aren't tribal like us.

[josio]

I can trace my paternal ancestry to cca 1730.

[roro4721]

All my great-grandparents were orphans of the Armenian Genocide. Some didn't even know their last names so that's pretty much as far back as you can get with my family

[StonyArabia]

On maternal side I descent directly from Queen Sheba

[random]

To Kara Yülük Osman and Kara Yusif.

[Dictator]

I don't know, it is too boring. :/

[random]

On maternal side I descent directly from Queen Sheba

I can trace my ancestry to Asena.

[curupira]

On maternal side I descent directly from Queen Sheba

Interesting. How? Is King Solomon insolved?

[Isleño]

I've been into genealogy for many years, but quite helpful were a few relatives who had already written a few books, which traced some not so distant ancestors to known characters from XVIII century Brazil, and from these people it was not too difficult to trace back to the first settlers.

An example of what happened to me: upon researching my genealogy, I traced my ancestry back to my great grandfather (Antonio Moreira Junior). I went to the town he was born (a very small town lost in the interior of Brazil by the way - no more than 2000 inhabitants and with only two streets - take into account my great grandfather was born in the rural area of that town). I looked for his obituary, found it and then looked for the name of his parents. Later I found three books, by close relatives, with his name Antonio Moreira Junior, and the name of his brothers and sisters listed. From their names it was easy to go back much further back in time, since it was already recorded and registered by other peoples in the past. I traced my ancestry to Baltazar de Morais de Antas (1535-1600), a settler of very early Brazil (XVI century). 15th generations between me and him (Brites Rodrigues Anes was the daughter of a Portuguese couple who settled in Brazil according to Pedro Taques de Almeida Paes Leme, our main genealogist from the XVIII century).

15 generations between me and Baltazar de Morais de Antas:



This is the genealogy of Baltazar de Morais de Antas, it goes back quite a great deal in time (plenty of information on him in the link below), it goes back to the early days of Portugal:

http://www.buratto.net/doria/AntasMoraes.pdf
Adam and eve.

[michelle]

A relative of mine claims to have traced it back to Ethelred the Unready (b.968) but I'm not so sure about the reliability of that. He says he's been very careful and had certain dates/people/facts checked by professionals, though, whatever that means. If it's accurate, I'm rather closely related to the Tudors I guess...

[Kale]

I can get back to great-grandparents. The "official" records on all kinds of databases (ancestry.com, Franco-American society, some other random one my library subscribed to) all have inaccurate information so I can't get any further.

[Armand_Duval]

Up to the second half of 1800's.

[Queen B]

About 500 years from my mother's side, about 400 from my fathers side.

[Linet]

About 600 years or abit more, for both sides http://yoursmiles.org/tsmile/mama/t6211.gif

[armenianbodyhair]

Over 9000 years

[Aredhel]

About 100 years for both sides

[Vidå]

To the 1600s on both sides

[Vorpal]

nowhere, and I dont give a fuck tbh, maybe a little

[aimar]

1830/50 +/- all Portuguese from Viseu, Aveiro and Guarda districts, but mostly Viseu

http://www.travel-images.com/portugal-sens.gif

[Óttar]

On my maternal side, lines go back to 1631 when Englishers landed at Boston and Braintree. One line, the Bostwicks, go back to Hengist and Horsa the first Anglo-Saxons to reach Britain. Another goes back to an Italian village called Ferentino in the 12th century. On my dad's side, my German great-grandparents left Elsass or Lothringen (now Alsace-Lorraine in France) in the 19th century, and the Irish side goes back to Laois in Ulster and Galway in Connaught.

[1stLightHorse]

On my paternal side, maybe like early 1600's.

They were farmers and soldiers in the British military from Gloucestershire before coming to Australia.

There are 9 men from my paternal line who served in the Gloucester regiment (now defunct) in the Napoleonic wars, against the Chinese at the Battle of the Imjin River where 750 Glosters held off 10,000 Chinese, the Second Boer war and many many more conflicts that the British empire was involved in.

When they arrived in Australia as farmers, they carried on the soldiering tradition too and were all in the 1st Light Horse Brigade (2nd light horse regiment) during world war 1 where they charged at Turkish artillery on horseback at Beersheba, they captured the city within one hour even amidst superior turkish firepower. My great grandfather fought in both Palestine and Egypt, charging at machine guns on horseback where he suffered chronic lung & throat problems from a gas attack. Of course, this didn't stop him and he demanded to be sent back into battle which is what happened.

They made a movie about this cavalry charge:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7dm_nbjNjE

When he returned back to Australia, he started his own farming business again as he did before. Growing strawberries and other fruits in a place called Bald Hills, where there is a street named in honour of him. He could hardly breathe anymore but got married and had 2 sons and 3 daughters and educated and raised them all. This was before any government handouts were available.

[Fernando Romero]

Paternal side: 960 AC (I'm descedent of Teresa Henriques, daughter of Dom Henrique de Borgonha)

Maternal Side: 1100s

[Styrian Mujo]

1897.

[Äijä]

Early 1500s, potential to find more by travelling to Sweden.
Direct paternal line, small nobility commanding cavalry, mention of the king granting more lands for good service against Russia.
The lands are still in the family, only thing left to do is to test DNA and find out who are still related by blood to each other.

[curupira]

This is the signature of Baltazar de Morais de Antas, I just found out it:

http://i61.tinypic.com/315lr8g.jpg


I've been into genealogy for many years, but quite helpful were a few relatives who had already written a few books, which traced some not so distant ancestors to known characters from XVIII century Brazil, and from these people it was not too difficult to trace back to the first settlers.

An example of what happened to me: upon researching my genealogy, I traced my ancestry back to my great grandfather (Antonio Moreira Junior). I went to the town he was born (a very small town lost in the interior of Brazil by the way - no more than 2000 inhabitants and with only two streets - take into account my great grandfather was born in the rural area of that town). I looked for his obituary, found it and then looked for the name of his parents. Later I found three books, by close relatives, with his name Antonio Moreira Junior, and the name of his brothers and sisters listed. From their names it was easy to go back much further back in time, since it was already recorded and registered by other peoples in the past. I traced my ancestry to Baltazar de Morais de Antas (1535-1600), a settler of very early Brazil (XVI century). 15th generations between me and him (Brites Rodrigues Anes was the daughter of a Portuguese couple who settled in Brazil according to Pedro Taques de Almeida Paes Leme, our main genealogist from the XVIII century).

15 generations between me and Baltazar de Morais de Antas:

1st generation Baltazar de Morais de Antas * Mogadouro, Mogadouro, Trás os Montes c. 1535 + Santos, São Vicente c. 1600 c/c Brites Rodrigues Anes

2nd generation Ana de Morais de Antas c/c Pantaleão Pedroso (Pantaleão was the son of Estevão Ribeiro Baião Parente & Madalena Fernandes Feijó de Madureira, they came to Brazil also in the XVI century)

3rd generation Maria de Morais c/c Francisco Ribeiro (born in Viana do Castelo, he died in a bandeira in the Guairá, where he made his testament)

4th generation Sebastiana Ribeiro de Morais c/c Vittore Antonio de Castronuovo (he was from Naples, Italy)

5th generation Francesco Ribeiro de Morais c/c Ana Lopes Moreira (daughter of Gaspar Gonçalves Ordonho & Ana Moreira)

6th generation Sebastiana Ribeiro de Morais c/c Gaspar de Godoy Colaço (son of João de Godói Moreira & Eufémia da Costa Mota)

7th generation Maria Pedroso de Morais c/c João Correia da Silva (great grandson of Amador Bueno, the Acclaimed)

8th generation Escolástica de Morais c/c João da Cunha Ataíde

9th generation Maria Cândida da Cunha Ataíde c/c Francisco Joaquim de Andrade

10th generation Rosa da Cunha Andrade (fazenda do Aquenta Sol, farm of Aquenta Sol) c/c Manoel Caetano Fortunato da Cunha Ataíde

11th generation Teodora da Cunha Andrade c/c Antonio Moreira da Silva Cunha

12th generation Antonio Moreira Junior c/c Eliza Rosa de Barros

13th generation Conceição de Andrade Moreira

14th generation my mother

15th generation me

This is the genealogy of Baltazar de Morais de Antas, it goes back quite a great deal in time (plenty of information on him in the link below), it goes back to the early days of Portugal:

http://www.buratto.net/doria/AntasMoraes.pdf

[Icel]

English records are so well kept and thorough that it's common to be able to trace back five hundred years for many people, perhaps even slightly longer.

I can trace my maternal side back to 1579 before I have to speculate with uncertainty. In 1579 there was a major plague epidemic that wiped out a third of Norwich's population which makes things a bit blurry. In 1665 there was another plague, the Great Plague of London, but it appears that my family survived both plagues remarkably. I can only assume that before 1579, considering my family were involved in shipping then, they were port operators who had prospered since the Normans arrived in 1066 (destroying Anglo-Saxon Norwich) because the Normans had transformed the coastline into a centre of Norman power and a prosperous shipping station.

In the English civil war my family were roundheads (parliamentarians). They were ironsides (cavalrymen siding with Oliver Cromwell) within the Norfolk militia, and representatives at the Eastern Association. Before that my family had a long history of shipping, port maintenance, and barley and oats farming. Through the 18th and 19th centuries their successful farming practice grew and they became large estate owners, diplomats and explorers.

[Prince Of Macrobia]

1700s

[Okirus]

1750.

[LOCOMANDANTE]

My great-great grandparents (late XIX century) is as far as I can trace back my ancestors. Although I've been interested in doing some extensive research in my genealogy. For my paternal side the only sources available mention a french ancestry and it's supposed my last name (not so common) trace its origins in the surrounding area of Zamora, province of Leon, Spain.
Maternal side: the most accurate theory is about a predominant crypto-jewish or "converso" origin in the family. I'm supposed to be descendant of the sephardic jew families who came to New Spain (Mexico) in the colonial era, around the XVI-XVII century and settled in what is nowadays northeastern Mexico (my city, Monterrey, was founded by jews). Almost all the surnames in this side can be commonly found in the Inquisition records of people targeted for being jews. There's also a lost black element (from the african slaves in the colonial era) in my mother's genealogy, some physical features are still noticeable in my generation.

Puras mamadas, por qué siempre aparecen bestias melanicas dizque mexicanas en estos foros?

[Scandalf]

I had a dream. I had a previous life as a mercenary in the 1500's killed on top of a tower durring a siege in one of the Italian Wars. I wasn't even Italian, I was either Scott or French... I only remember that I was an artillerist of some sort and anguished of dying so far from home.

[Empecinado]

This is one of the oldest:

http://www.laverdad.es/murcia/prensa/noticias/200804/20/fotos/011D7LORP1_1.jpg

http://www.laverdad.es/murcia/prensa/noticias/201012/26/fotos/5550382.jpg



He was the Alcaide (warden) of Lorca, a fortified village in the dangerous border with Granada. He enjoyed participating in raids against the Moors and take fortresses, and always fought with arm rolled up so was known as "the one with the rolled up arm." His most famous action was when pierced with a spear the horse's neck and the body of an Algerian prince at once:

http://www.laverdad.es/murcia/prensa/noticias/201012/26/fotos/5550389.jpg

I discovered it recently and am trying to find more information about him.Due to the low population then existing in the area from which they came some family lines, of less than 1000 inhabitants, is relatively easy to find "famous" and old ancestors there.

[Ivan Kramskoï]

Late 19th century ...

[Nehellenia]

mid 700AD officially

[alfieb]

1100s, to Pisa, Tuscany. Not my direct paternal ancestors, mind you, but ancestors nonetheless.

[Empecinado]

mid 700AD officially

That's really far!

[Ulla]

1100s, to Pisa, Tuscany. Not my direct paternal ancestors, mind you, but ancestors nonetheless.

How do you know that? Do you have any documented genealogical records?

[glacier]

I can trace my maternal line back to the 1850s, to Kent, England. Paternal line traces to Swabia 1880s as well as Cumbria 1840s.

[alfieb]

How do you know that? Do you have any documented genealogical records?

I don't personally, no. I only have documented records going back to the 1700s available offhand. However, my relatives do. :shrug:

[Nehellenia]

That's really far!

Norman descendants of Charlemagne, pretty standard ;)

[Itarildë]

Only know as far as my great grandparents on my mother's side, unfortunately.

[Pendragon]

This graphic below shows my ancestors that I found by year of birth (per decade).
Thus, the oldest are born around 1520.

50247

[sonofthedutch]

On my maternal side, we can trace my grandfathers side down to the 1600s, and they only ever lived in North Brabant. My maternal grandmother, we can trace them to some sort of minor royalty in Brabant, 1500s.

My paternal grandfathers family, is very mysterious. 1800s is as far as I have gotten. I know that they have lived in Devon, England. My paternal grandmother, can be traced back to the 1700s in Utrecht.

[Sehnsucht]

My great grandfather on my mother's side is my only German ancestor, but I can trace his ancestry to the 1600's.

[Merida]

The furthest back i've been able to trace some ancestors is 1780.

[Peikko]

1600s, but it might be possible to go further with extra effort.

[Isleño]

To 1644 Canary Islands to an ancestor named Don Juan González Rodríguez. He had the title of "Don"and was a man of importance but I don't have the complete history on him yet. I seem to can not make a connection with Iberia yet, so this tells me I descend from the old stock of the Canary Islands.

[Partizan]

Some distant relative who I am descended from the same direct paternal line traced our ancestry back to 1700's. Since he dead before I could meet him, I have only broad info about my that part, what I know is my direct paternal line is originally Shia/Qizilbash from Azerbaijan and embraced Sunnism later, when they came to today's Meskheti region in Georgia(where we Turks call as Ahıska). Despite my paternal line is Ahıska Turk with some Azerbaijani Turk background their marks can be found in various parts of Georgia, it seems our family holded important positions in both Safavid and Ottoman eras. Because we know that one of our direct paternal ancestors had a Madrasah in today's Tbilisi(this connection helped my relative to reach more info) and also I found my "family title" in a document about the resistance against Russian aggression to Batumi during Crimean War. It seems again one of my direct paternal ancestors(or a distant relative) was came to Batumi for this mission, because it wrote him and some Ottoman officers organized locals against the Russian army. Anyway, those ancestors of me came to modern Turkey in 1877-8, as a consequence of Russo-Ottoman War.

My mother's paternal line also seem interesting, thanks to my Greek teacher in university, I finally found Greek name of the town they came. They came from Sidirokastro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidirokastro) (Which Turks call as Demirhisar or Demirkale) in First Balkan War. I can trace back to 3 generations only but since there is a possiblity about that, my grandfather's grandfather was a land owner/agha there, perhaps I can find some documents in Ottoman archives.

About the rest, nothing really interesting :lol: Like most of Central Anatolians, my mother's maternal line's ancestry is not well documented. What I know is, they've always been notables of Konya and my grandma's father was even a subject to funny stories of Konya due to his lechery and sense of humor.

About my paternal grandmother, her mother was an Ahıska Turk like all of our neighborhood in Artvin but her father came to Artvin in WW1, from Erzurum's Aşkale district when he was just a toddler. He and his mother fleed the city when Russians and Tashnak Armenians occupied there and his father was killed during the clashes. So, it is hard to trace it back.

[curupira]

On that line, the oldest ancestor I have managed to "see" via pictures was exactly my great grandfather Antonio Moreira Junior:

Antonio Moreira Junior:
http://i57.tinypic.com/4ucr5i.jpg


I've been into genealogy for many years, but quite helpful were a few relatives who had already written a few books, which traced some not so distant ancestors to known characters from XVIII century Brazil, and from these people it was not too difficult to trace back to the first settlers.

An example of what happened to me: upon researching my genealogy, I traced my ancestry back to my great grandfather (Antonio Moreira Junior). I went to the town he was born (a very small town lost in the interior of Brazil by the way - no more than 2000 inhabitants and with only two streets - take into account my great grandfather was born in the rural area of that town). I looked for his obituary, found it and then looked for the name of his parents. Later I found three books, by close relatives, with his name Antonio Moreira Junior, and the name of his brothers and sisters listed. From their names it was easy to go back much further back in time, since it was already recorded and registered by other peoples in the past. I traced my ancestry to Baltazar de Morais de Antas (1535-1600), a settler of very early Brazil (XVI century). 15th generations between me and him (Brites Rodrigues Anes was the daughter of a Portuguese couple who settled in Brazil according to Pedro Taques de Almeida Paes Leme, our main genealogist from the XVIII century).

15 generations between me and Baltazar de Morais de Antas:

1st generation Baltazar de Morais de Antas * Mogadouro, Mogadouro, Trás os Montes c. 1535 + Santos, São Vicente c. 1600 c/c Brites Rodrigues Anes

2nd generation Ana de Morais de Antas c/c Pantaleão Pedroso (Pantaleão was the son of Estevão Ribeiro Baião Parente & Madalena Fernandes Feijó de Madureira, they came to Brazil also in the XVI century)

3rd generation Maria de Morais c/c Francisco Ribeiro (born in Viana do Castelo, he died in a bandeira in the Guairá, where he made his testament)

4th generation Sebastiana Ribeiro de Morais c/c Vittore Antonio de Castronuovo (he was from Naples, Italy)

5th generation Francesco Ribeiro de Morais c/c Ana Lopes Moreira (daughter of Gaspar Gonçalves Ordonho & Ana Moreira)

6th generation Sebastiana Ribeiro de Morais c/c Gaspar de Godoy Colaço (son of João de Godói Moreira & Eufémia da Costa Mota)

7th generation Maria Pedroso de Morais c/c João Correia da Silva (great grandson of Amador Bueno, the Acclaimed)

8th generation Escolástica de Morais c/c João da Cunha Ataíde

9th generation Maria Cândida da Cunha Ataíde c/c Francisco Joaquim de Andrade

10th generation Rosa da Cunha Andrade (fazenda do Aquenta Sol, farm of Aquenta Sol) c/c Manoel Caetano Fortunato da Cunha Ataíde

11th generation Teodora da Cunha Andrade c/c Antonio Moreira da Silva Cunha

12th generation Antonio Moreira Junior c/c Eliza Rosa de Barros

13th generation Conceição de Andrade Moreira

14th generation my mother

15th generation me

This is the genealogy of Baltazar de Morais de Antas, it goes back quite a great deal in time (plenty of information on him in the link below), it goes back to the early days of Portugal:

http://www.buratto.net/doria/AntasMoraes.pdf

[LightHouse89]

1500s England, France and Germany.

[Norman]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_of_Hesbaye
800

[LightHouse89]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_of_Hesbaye
800

Really you can trace back that far? How do you do that? Hahahah the oldest ancestors I have are the Mussetts from France that once supported Joan of Arc in her fight to rid France of Norman-English control....as a result they were afew brothers who were granted lands in the Loire valley for their service to the French king at the time. Later on the same family became protestants and somehow escaped the massacres on Huguenots there in the 1500s and arrived in England...from there they moved to the colonies.

[Norman]

Thanks Buddy.
but honestly, I don`t know. My Grandpa and my dad did all the work. I am just showing off.
I presume it helps if you have an aristocrat here and there in your tree and of course they key are the churches.
At a birthday I got the heraldic sign of my family with a copy of the tree inside the back.

My take away is: Europe has always been ruled by germany :cool:

Looking arround this thread, 1500 isn`t that bad either.

[Itarildë]

Managed to trace my mum's dad's lineage back to the early 1800's. We have not moved very far at all. What's amusing is that every single maiden/surname name is of Anglo Saxon origin!

[Germanic King]

Really you can trace back that far? How do you do that? Hahahah the oldest ancestors I have are the Mussetts from France that once supported Joan of Arc in her fight to rid France of Norman-English control....as a result they were afew brothers who were granted lands in the Loire valley for their service to the French king at the time. Later on the same family became protestants and somehow escaped the massacres on Huguenots there in the 1500s and arrived in England...from there they moved to the colonies.

Your ancestry is very similar to mine :)

[blogen]

Early 20th century, since the Hungarian State Archive has obscure and chaotic microfilms* without real and useful (online, f*ckin online in the 21th century) registers. That institution its own interactive museum. :cussing

*If somebody is younger than 60-80 years old, than that was a middle 20th century archiving method before the computers and birth of Jesus Christ. (http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/Microfilm)

[Norman]

Interestingly, as I wanted to print a version for my dad (he went till Louis VII)
the german page is quiet different. So I have to correct myself.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertiner
636

As there is a difference between the english and german wiki-records I guess it
has to be taken with a grain of salt.

[Unome]

The beginning of the universe?

[Seraph of the End]

Not far back. On paternal side 5 generations. I know names of my great-great-great grandparents, but I don't know when they were born and when they died. All records/archives have been destroyed in previous wars (churches were also destroyed in every war = all documents burned) so it's impossible to find anything. My grandparents, however, knew something about their ancestors (they live in rural area so it's normal to know that stuff) and they told me everything they knew. One part of my father's maternal line came from Croatia (Dalmatia) in 19th century, and the rest of them are from Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, they are originally from Montenegro but it's not known when they moved to Bosnia.

On maternal side I know my great-great-grandparents (mother's maternal) and great-grandparents (paternal side). I never tried to research more about them (only asked my grandmother) but I will try to find something more in the future. They were all born in the city where I live ( so it shouldn't be too hard to find at least something) but some of their ancestors came from Croatia.

[Hevo]

All the way to Childeric I.

[mvbeleg]

I can trace my father's mother's mother's lineage to the early-mid 1300s to Omptaborg at the village of `t Zandt (now in province of Groningen of the Netherlands).

http://omta.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Omtadaborg-1672.jpg


They moved-on to the areas around Bremen and Hannover about 200 years later to escape the burden of Spanish rule.

[Sacrificed Ram]

I'm getting lift on Maleficent/FairyQueeny tree.

http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?91784-How-far-back-can-you-trace-your-ancestors&p=2016221&viewfull=1#post2016221

[uuiiioo]

I've gone back to the 18th century in some parts, and early 19th century in most parts.

I actively research my family tree, as well as others. Also because my surname is pretty rare, I could (and most likely am) connected with a noble family which descend from a king, so, <13th century? I've been trying to work some of it out to find any connection.

Most of my ancestors are either Welsh, Irish or English. I do have one line on my mother's side from Sweden though; my great great great grandfather. Currently doing a lot of research on him as his name has changed 1-2 times haha.

[Goujian]

On paternal side, probably about 1,500 years ago. But even further than that is speculation. I'll ask my father do so some research, he says our genealogy book is in a library somewhere in China. I was also planning on purchasing a DNA test for myself to verify claims about their Y chromosomal haplogroup so it's either:

1) Bona fide descendants
2) Probably changed their surname and forged a pedigree to avoid detection or mask their presence, but that I hear was long before they arrived in Zhejiang or Fujian.

I haven't asked my mother about her paternal side. I don't think they have a genealogy book either. Her surname is a typically northern Chinese surname even though she says her paternal side are Shanghai natives, that is they lived there long before there were migrant settlers moving in during the mid 19th century.

[Drakoblare]

1600s, I don't think its possible to go back any further :'(

[Germanicus]

My surname is unusual for the area I live in, it originated in Lancashire, 1786 is the furthest I can find in city records.

[D´Sanglard]

Xvth century

[Longbowman]

1200s I believe. Definitely pre 1600.

[Jackson]

If we're talking about the earliest of any lines (rather than of all lines) then i can get back to about 1060, although most lines currently 'end' (i'll track them further if i can) between 1700-1820 ish. Some go back to the 1600s, a lot to the late 1700s, and some more to the early 1800s. The least known about is my direct paternal line which i can go back with certainty to about the 1850s, but prior to that it's unclear.

[Longbowman]

If we're talking about the earliest of any lines (rather than of all lines) then i can get back to about 1060, although most lines currently 'end' (i'll track them further if i can) between 1700-1820 ish. Some go back to the 1600s, a lot to the late 1700s, and some more to the early 1800s. The least known about is my direct paternal line which i can go back with certainty to about the 1850s, but prior to that it's unclear.

Yeah I can only trace my father's family back to the 1800s and my grandfather's memories.

[firemonkey]

Some to 17thC Some to 18thC Others to 19thC. Direct parental line to 1810.

[Katariina]

My first American ancestors were from 1600s (England) on my mom's side. My latest American ancestor is my father lol.

[StonyArabia]

All the way to Ishamel

[Jägerstaffel]

1500s.

[Shiels]

My paternal line is traceable only to the mid 1600s, due to surname spelling irregularities at that time.

My family name has actually changed several times since the aforementioned irregularities and most likely, several times before the aforementioned irregularities.

The surname I carry, Skiles, is, more or less, only present in America. However, it is recorded that, before Skiles, my first American ancestors went by Shiels, Shiells and Shiles. That strongly suggests, together with the earliest known given names and early affiliation with the Church of England, an ultimately Norse-Gael ancestory. Albeit, depending on the variation, by way of either Scottish lowlands or Ulster.

Shiels is a Hiberno-Norse variation of the O'Siadhail name that seems to trace back to Donegal, one place where Norse and Gaels lived side-by-side for a time. Shiells is the Lowland Scots equivalent of the name, being a Lowland Scots word that came from Old Norse referring to a type of shepherd's hut. So, in other words, Shiells is what is called Foriegn Gael. O'Siadhail's meaning is a bit more obvious. And Shiles appears to simply be an Anglicized variation which was first used, in regards to my family, by one of my paternal ancestor's wives who herself was English in heritage.

Complicating the matter, some have speculated and claimed that Skiles came from Germany, a place where neither it nor the variations known to be used by our ancestors are found, no less from a time when Germany didn't even exist yet.

So, with certainty, we are able to trace our paternal ancestors to mid-17th century America, to colonial Maryland and Virginia which, it should also be noted, were mostly British in terms of their settlers, and Scottish in particular in the case of Virginia. Beyond that, study of linguistics seems to offer the best clues as far as tracing our ancestors is concerned, through which, I am comfortable listing medieval Ulster, and Scottish lowlands along the Irish Sea and Solway Firth, as ancestral homes.

[SupaThug]

Unfortunaly the furthest I can trace my ancestry back are my venetian great great great granparents,(GGGmother was from Venice,GGGfather was from Verona)

[Sacrificed Ram]

Some whore house in Jericoh.

[Gooding]

Generally, only back to the early to mid 1700s ( which is a reason why I'm quite willing to entertain the thought that I've had Nordic ancestors who moved into the British Isles a little bit before their descendants moved to the American Colonies. I've always entertained the fancy that the United Kingdom was something of a " melting pot" of its own before the United States appropriated the term). :)

[Bobby Martnen]

1450s

[ChocolateFace]

One of my relatives traced our mutual (his paternal) line of descent all the way back to the 1100s. Although the family origin has been traced to around 100ad, the next thousand years is not documented clearly until the 1100s.

Another relative traced our mutual (my paternal line) to the 1700s possibly before that not entirely sure

[Tyler Danann]

Middle-Ages, before that the ice-age and before that the Golden Age...

[Skjaldemjøden]

The earliest ancestor I can name is an individual called Grumme who died around 1302 or so, but I can't really claim the glory of tracing him for myself. My tree simply merged with another researcher's tree around 1690, and she (RIP) has the credit for all the rest. I haven't tried verifying her work beyond a few generations because it was too exhausting, but what I did crosscheck was correct. Kudos to those of you who did the whole thing on your own.
Generally, I've reached at least around 1750 with all my Danish ancestry, but I only have complete vital records (i.e. birth, communion, marriage and death dates) for early 19th century individuals.
I will probably pursue my earlier ancestors later on in life, but for the time being I find it to be too demanding. At some point around 1720 in the Danish church records this becomes the most coherent kind of writing you'll encounter:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4QRxHmmljS3M-LEZ1ZIJgKVoWkT-HCdfY9DD_qeq1Q=w400-h530-no

[Longbowman]

On the Internet alone I can trace them to Portugal in the 16th century, but I know a family tree exists that goes back further centuries.

[DRUM]

Paternal line 17th century, my dad did the research in his 20s, he did an good job, recorded interviews with the elders. I hope I can go further back, I have to visit the churches and hopefully the records weren't destroyed.
Maternal line early 19th century, it's kinda hard to go further back cause my grandfather, grand-grandfather and grand-grand-grandfather died relatively young and couldn't pass the information onward. There is still hope though, the side branches probably have information.

[Mr Moi]

Reliably, 1600s... Following ancient geneologies 2nd century AD

[Trogdor]

From my maternal side, I know my ancestry up to my great-great grandparents (where they lived, stories about them, etc.)

My father rarely ever mentions his side of the family.

[adsız]

Official records from 1830 .

[Sacrificed Ram]

If we restrict only humans, I can say the Omo Valley.

[Unome]

The beginning of existence?

[Sacrificed Ram]

The beginning of existence?

GODDY?

[Nurzat]

16th century ancestors on both sides but known direct ancestors, uninterrupted, only mid 19th century

[Drakoblare]

Late 1600s. No info about where we were before that, but most likely, the palace of Ancient Sparta.

[saulgoodman]

Only upto grand parents



fail

[Queen B]

I managed to get a photo of the family tree of my mother's father side - the one that our immediate family got as heirloom. There are older parts of our ancestry somewhere around.
It has only records from 1700 to 1920 something, and I noticed 2 things.
1) They were producing like rabbits
2) Most of the names of the family clearly go for more than 300 years :lol:
http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n548/vasoulitos/famtree_zps699vhg8c.jpg

[Hithaeglir]

1718.I'm still working on it.

[Journeyman26]

1694... from the church records/gravestones outside the same damn church in the same little village in the Lunigiana.

[Ballist]

Great grandparents, I am very interested to know more. Maybe when I go to KS, I'll go to like a mosque or something and see what I can find.

[Dylan]

My family isn't into genealogy. I only know until my great-grandparents.

Geneology isn't that interesting for Europeans I guess (It's more of an Americas hobby)

[Dylan]

I can trace in 1 instance back to 1490 from my French-Canadian side. But in most instances up until around 1600 where I have completed lines. For Italy I have only back until about 1840. For Ireland about 1820. I know I have a 13th great grandmother from Spain, a 12th great grandfather from Switzerland etc. I almost traced back my lineage to Charlemagne, but the person wasn't a blood relative, so that wasn't the case :(

[adsız]

I got my family records of the first census taken in 1830 before Ottoman Empire colapsed .

[Sacrificed Ram]

Ananias of Damascus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananias_of_Damascus), Jesus disciple that healed Paul (Saul) apostle.
http://catholicsaints.info/wp-content/uploads/Ananias-of-Damascus.jpg

[Hecate360]

I've been able to trace one lineage all the way thru England, where they entered during the Norman conquest, and from Normandy back to Trondheim, Norway. Another lineage goes through Scotland and, again, traces back to Scandinavia. Another line goes through Wales, while another goes all the way to Ancient Sachsen. So I'm pretty thrilled to be able to trace that far. This is tracing my maternal grandmother's patrilineage. I haven't been near as successful with any other side of my family.

[Shah-Jehan]

solid till 17th/18th century.

[Prisoner Of Ice]

The earliest ancestor I can name is an individual called Grumme who died around 1302 or so, but I can't really claim the glory of tracing him for myself. My tree simply merged with another researcher's tree around 1690, and she (RIP) has the credit for all the rest.

Yeah, same here. Well, my aunt though did the initial work. Generally you eventually hook onto someone else or trace to some remote town which is probably where they lived forever.

[Prisoner Of Ice]

I've been able to trace one lineage all the way thru England, where they entered during the Norman conquest, and from Normandy back to Trondheim, Norway. Another lineage goes through Scotland and, again, traces back to Scandinavia. Another line goes through Wales, while another goes all the way to Ancient Sachsen. So I'm pretty thrilled to be able to trace that far. This is tracing my maternal grandmother's patrilineage. I haven't been near as successful with any other side of my family.

Now that's a cool lineage/.

[Gooding]

I've got my earliest ones traced to the seventeenth century and I've got ancestral DNA tests done to supplement the paper information. Most of my information is on my mother's side of the family ( both sides) while I've got some information of my paternal grandmother's grandparents and more information on my paternal grandfather, who seems to have been largely of English stock with some German mixed in.

[Dylan]

solid till 17th/18th century.

Iran and Bengal India?

[Shah-Jehan]

Iran and Bengal India?

Bengal region and Delhi/North India though ancestor is probably from Isfahan in Iran or Herat in Afghanistan.

[Dylan]

Bengal region and Delhi/North India though ancestor is probably from Isfahan in Iran or Herat in Afghanistan.

that's really cool, I didn't know it was possible to record that far there.

[Marshmallow Fluff]

I was gifted some genealogy information from one of my distant cousins on my maternal side. He presented me his work up until the early 1500's. He stated that the earlier information wasn't on his computer.

I've been learning how to utilize the Rippikirjat, which his a Finnish communion record book. Once a year the families would go for Communion services. At the time they would record the members of the family. Unfortunately, the Rippikirjat only goes back to the 1700's. The earliest ancestor that I've found was born in 1701. However, I feel ecstatic to discover 7 generations that bore my surname.

I've decided to make genealogy a life long commitment. I'm hoping to pass the torch on to my future children and they will continue my work.

[Final_Frontier]

As far back as the apes that sit in the trees, some apes look celtic with their blue or green emerald eyes, and other apes look more exotic with their darker eyes,.........however i notice they are all just animals staring sadly down at me from the trees, none of them care where they are from because they know they will all become extinct one day anyway if humans continue to hate one another for stupid things such as simply what colour each others eyes are..........

[Murri]

Paternaly, as far as to 1121 in the early 12th century, with my prime clan ancestor, Murr Deti serving as a knight commander in the Principality of Arbanon with center in Kruja, due to his fine services he was awarded a small estate on the banks of the Adriatic Shore, however the lands were soon flooded and the settlement(now city) obtained the name from it, Mamurras(Ma muer) which means that the sea took away his fief, he later moved into the Puka highlands and with the recent expansion they moved further into Tuzi and the highlands around.

Maternally, I hail from the Kushneni clan of the Mirdita region(core of the principality of Arbanon) with ancestry to a blacksmith known as Gjin Biba who lived around Kruje somewhere around 1254..they later settled in the villages around Ulqin and started intermarrying with the larger and stronger Berisha clan..

I have a genealogic tree since the 14th century with only Albanian names, and I was told that even before that my clans had only Albanian names in their genealogic trees to as far as 950!

[Unome]

To the origin of existence

[Southerner]

It is rumored that my mother's side descends from Marcus Antonius. Family legend or not, it is still quite cool. I did find some cool family trees showing our descent from Julius Caesar. There is also hard proof of descent from the Prophet Samuel through a prominent Ashkenazi rabbinical family.

[Pony]

direct paternal line: mid 1800s
direct maternal line: my mother

ancestor not counting nobles/royals: late 1500s in the Rhineland
counting nobles/royals/famous: I think it's 300 something, some Roman Senator, honestly at this point I find it very uninteresting because he is an ancestor to a lot of Europe.

[Old Brazilian]

I can go back to XVIII century Portuguese man who came to Brazil because of the Gold Rush! :p

[Berahthraban]

If Geni.com got it right, I can trace my ancestors back to 1548 before christ. I seriosuly doubt that though :D But I think that I for sure can trace it back to around year 0 or a few hundred years before that. This sounds pretty ridicolous but it is true, a lot of people are related that far back in time.

[Dylan]

If Geni.com got it right, I can trace my ancestors back to 1548 before christ. I seriosuly doubt that though :D But I think that I for sure can trace it back to around year 0 or a few hundred years before that. This sounds pretty ridicolous but it is true, a lot of people are related that far back in time.

Most Europeans are related numerous times over once you go that far back.
Lets say you were born in 2000 AD and you want to know how many ancestors you had in 1000 AD
You would divide 1000 (2000 AD - 1000 AD = 1000 Years) by 25 (~the average age of a parent when having a kid)
1000 divided by 25 = 40
40 generations
Since you have 2 parents and this is exponential you do 2^40 = 1.0995116e+12
1.0995116e+12 ~ the number of ancestors you have who were alive in ~ 1000 AD

Of course this is wayyyyy more than the number of people who were alive back then or even today. This is due to duplicate ancestry.
For this reason, almost every European and white person in general descends from Charlemagne who died in 814 AD and had enough children for his line surely to not have died out.

[Dominicanese]

Let's see

My native ancestry (only 9%) came via the bering striat from East Asia, and possibly some Oceanian and Pacific Islander crossings

My SSA West African ancestry (25%) came via slavery from the West coast of Africa forced to put in ships by the Portuguese then sold to the Spanish to go into Hispaniola

My European ancestry (60%) came via the Portuguese and Spanish Conquistadors that were first in Hispaniola in the early 1500s took the gold left and few stayed, while most of my ancestors came from Canarians around the late 1680s in large numbers from The Canary Islands from "The Tribute of Blood" to populate the Islands and forced to go through a horring 3-4 months of voyage across the atlantic while sleeping with the goats, cows, horses and their manuers, eating out of sacks of decaying food, raw meat and possibly worms/roachs in em, then some of their relatives probably died on board due to the harsh voyage, once they got to Hispaniola they got into agriculture, hotel workers, and fishermen (while most of my family and their descendants are or were farmers), some were prisoners, rebels, and pirates.

3% North African, def of Moorish and Berber ancestry from when they invaded Iberia

[Berahthraban]

Most Europeans are related numerous times over once you go that far back.
Lets say you were born in 2000 AD and you want to know how many ancestors you had in 1000 AD
You would divide 1000 (2000 AD - 1000 AD = 1000 Years) by 25 (~the average age of a parent when having a kid)
1000 divided by 25 = 40
40 generations
Since you have 2 parents and this is exponential you do 2^40 = 1.0995116e+12
1.0995116e+12 ~ the number of ancestors you have who were alive in ~ 1000 AD

Of course this is wayyyyy more than the number of people who were alive back then or even today. This is due to duplicate ancestry.
For this reason, almost every European and white person in general descends from Charlemagne who died in 814 AD and had enough children for his line surely to not have died out.

Yes, for sure. The difference is how much we are related to certain individuals, which is very relevant. For example, person A could be a direct descendant from Charlemagne while a random European could be related to him very very far away, so little that it doesn't "matter".

[Murri]

Let's see

My native ancestry (only 9%) came via the bering striat from East Asia, and possibly some Oceanian and Pacific Islander crossings

My SSA West African ancestry (25%) came via slavery from the West coast of Africa forced to put in ships by the Portuguese then sold to the Spanish to go into Hispaniola

My European ancestry (60%) came via the Portuguese and Spanish Conquistadors that were first in Hispaniola in the early 1500s took the gold left and few stayed, while most of my ancestors came from Canarians around the late 1680s in large numbers from The Canary Islands from "The Tribute of Blood" to populate the Islands and forced to go through a horring 3-4 months of voyage across the atlantic while sleeping with the goats, cows, horses and their manuers, eating out of sacks of decaying food, raw meat and possibly worms/roachs in em, then some of their relatives probably died on board due to the harsh voyage, once they got to Hispaniola they got into agriculture, hotel workers, and fishermen (while most of my family and their descendants are or were farmers), some were prisoners, rebels, and pirates.

3% North African, def of Moorish and Berber ancestry from when they invaded Iberia


Wait, what? My prime ancestor lived in the principality of Arbanon when Charlemagne lived, how can Albanians trace descent to Charlemagne?

[Annie999]

The oldest I could track is one of mi italian great grandparents that arrived very early to Uruguay. I wish I could go back more than that but dont know how :(

[Lawalye]

Wait, what? My prime ancestor lived in the principality of Arbanon when Charlemagne lived, how can Albanians trace descent to Charlemagne?

90% of european are descendants of Charlemagne but it's probably only West Europe, if you have some aristocrats ancestors you're likely to be.

[Murri]

90% of european are descendants of Charlemagne but it's probably only West Europe, if you have some aristocrats ancestors you're likely to be.

Nah, they were some simple landlords, knights and mine workers..

[Watch_Owl]

They were probably poor dirt people in Spain hundred of years ago. My native-american ancestry were somewhere in Mexico. I'm not sure anything beyond that.

[Lawalye]

Nah, they were some simple landlords, knights and mine workers..

Small aristocracy mixed with middle aristocracy who mixed whith high aristocracy, so you're sure to be.

[Raikaswinþs]

Mother's side: 1334.

Having Solares in the following provinces: Burgos, Palencia, Santander, Vascongadas,

My granfather is strong in heraldry and genealogy and traced his own and his wive's genealogy as far back as the XIVth century on his wives side, and not too far off on his own. My granny is a direct descendant of Peter the Ist of Castile.Which is quite cool although it is speculated that a % of Old Castilians close to 2 digits can claim the same. Her family has Casas Solariegasin various points of Northern Old Castile.It is after all, an old and sparsely populated country of Hidalgos..

Abuelo's family originates in the Basque country. At the time of the Spanish civil war, his father (A Liutenant of the Spanish Army) was stationed in the Spanish Riff. He was born in Alhucemas. During or shortly after the war, when he was a toddler, they were relocated to my hometown where he has lived ever since. He met my granny when they were 15, and they have been together ever since. His family never quite approved of this union. I don't know the whole story, but at some point he became stranged from his family, the majority of whom live in the Basque country today, barely one to two hours drive from his home town yet he has no contact with them.

The only thing certain is that there was something of a military tradition of the family and that they originate from a Coastal basque town although nowadays mostly living in Gram Bilbao with only one niece living in our town.


Father's side:

Having Solares in the following provinces: Badajoz, Avila, Vascongadas

I have talked to the mother of my grandfather about her grandfather. Their family came from Avila in the late XIXth century as wool merchants and married into the daughter of one of the richest landowners in town. I broke a naming tradition dating at least from the first bearer of my surname that came from Avila but my father is at least the 5th of his name. This side of the family is mostly made of merchants and landowners which until very recently owned many acres of olivetrees, several farms with all sort of crops, pig farms and horses,a comercios de ultramarinos and even a lake.


Abuelo married a woman who was the daughter of the town's mayor at the time the Spanish War broke in. Her family also originates outside the pueblo with her father only arriving as a child, the son of a Basque who was likely a veteran of the last Carlist War. As far as I am aware, when he grew up and before he became the town's mayor, he married the mother of my granny, who was also a local landowner with plenty of land. In her family there's a tradition for hunters and bullfighters ,with her brother being the last of a long lineage. His traje de luces is still on display on his house's main hall.

[Valmont]

Mom's side: 1350

Dad's side: 1540

[Murri]

Small aristocracy mixed with middle aristocracy who mixed whith high aristocracy, so you're sure to be.

They weren't even aristocracy, they were blacksmiths, mine workers, knights and so on..I don't mind it at all though

[Wadaad]

1300s...

[Raikaswinþs]

1300s...

Muslim Calendar or Kaffir Calendar?

[Wadaad]

Muslim Calendar or Kaffir Calendar?

Oh, thank you sir for correcting me...My patriarch's birthdate would correspond to about the 520s on the Hegira Islamic calendar.

I was referring to the kafir gregorian innovations in my previous post

[LightHouse89]

Middle Ages actually [well 14th century end of middle ages].

[Raikaswinþs]

Oh, thank you sir for correcting me...My patriarch's birthdate would correspond to about the 520s on the Hegira Islamic calendar.

I was referring to the kafir gregorian innovations in my previous post

you guys are stuck in the 1430's...

[StonyArabia]

Much older, but I am descendant through my from the Third prince of Jebal Shammar, which was dismantled by the British in 1921, in which most of the people were expelled from their homeland into Iraq and Syria. There is some Howeitat blood in her, a tribe that is found in Jordan, Arabia, and the Sinai, her great-grandmother being such, don't know the clan, but probably Ibn Jazi a clan that's found in Jordan, since that where my great-great grandmother came from. I had some ancestors fighting in the Arab revolt of 1916, but there was no royal connection in that line. As for my paternal side it goes to 1800's to pagan North Caucasians, and they were recently Islamized at the time which lead to the entrance of Balkar and Crimean blood through my paternal maternal great grandmother, who mixed with the Shaspug Circassians. This can be seen in my genetic results, so anyone who accuse of having a schizophrenia can lick it. Basically I trace the maternal side quite a bit, and the paternal to the 1800's or so some of the records were lost due to the Russian conquest. I also cluster in midpoint between North Caucasians and Bedouins on McDonald test for example, and there are similar results on gedmatch.

[Lawalye]

They weren't even aristocracy, they were blacksmiths, mine workers, knights and so on..I don't mind it at all though

Knights were noble.

[Wadaad]

you guys are stuck in the 1430's...

Well the Hebrew calendar is in the 5700s or so...and yet there's still not this:

https://www.supermotors.net/getfile/292517/fullsize/history-of-the-world-jews.jpg%20alt=

stop thinking 'progress' is linear.

[Lawalye]

I can go back to the roman era on some lines but it's based on aristocratic origin and unlikely to be true especially with all the adulteries among them and it's too far away to have any importance, my closest illustrious ancestor is Baldwin, emperor of Constantinople and all the counts of Flanders.

I stopped to enrich my genealogy tree with far away ancestors and only focus on closer ones