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Position:Home>Genealogy> Where can i look up the bigining of my family name and trace it down to me?


Question:You don't trace your name. You trace your ancestors starting with yourself and working back documenting everything as you do.

Very likely not everyone with your family name shares ancestors with you. Surnames were not taken or assigned in Europe until the last melennium. In England most people had one by the end of the 14th century.

They were based on (1) being the son of someone (2) their occupation (3) where they lived and (4) some characteristic about them.

Sons of John frequently became Johnson, JOnes or Johns but you can imagine how many men named John that had sons that either became Johnson, Jones or Johns.

Occupational names were miller, smith, fisher, baker, taylor, barber, carpenter, wright, clark(clerk), etc etc etc. There were lots of men in those occupations.

Men took the name of the town or castle they lived close to and they weren't all related that did.

Some men who had brown hair took the surname Brown along with lots of other fellas named Brown.

When they got through legitimate sons of the same man could each have a different surname but they could have each shared their surname with others with whom they were not related.

Your ancestry pyramids as you go back. In 10 generations you can be directly descended from over a thousand people. In 20 generations you can be directly descended from over a million people.

However, it pyramids even greater going down the line of descendancy than going up the line of ancestry. If you try to pick someone out with your surname and work down from him, you can really get lost.

A lot of people who get too interested in a surname get taken in by the peddlers of surname products like coats of arms (misnomer family crest). The coats of arms they sell frequently are valid and the family history that comes with them is usually valid but the coats of arms do not belong to everyone with that surname nor does the family history apply to everyone with that surname.

You start by getting as much information from living family as possible, particularly your senior members. Tape them if they will let you. It might turn out they are confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant story telling might be very significant. Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death certificates. Find out if the family has any old family bibles. Depending on the religious faith baptismal, first communion, confirmation, marriage certificates can contain valuable information.

Go to your public library and find out what all they have. They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com you can use.
Ancestry.Com has lots of records. They have all the U. S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet. They have U.K. censuses also.

Just don't take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on ANY website, free or paid. The information is subscriber submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. Even when you see the same information repeatedly by many different subscribers on the same people that is no guarantee at all it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying. Use the information as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.

A Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church has records on people all over the world, not just Mormons.
You need to find out their hours for the general public by calling them or checking their free website at FamilySearch.org. In Salt Lake City, they have the world's largest genealogical collection. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee.

I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell. I haven't heard of them doing that to anyones else either. They are just very nice and helpful.

While you are at your library and the Family History Center, you will probably have a chance to talk with other researchers who can give you some great tips and advice. Most of us learn things by sharing experiences.

Good Luck!


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: You don't trace your name. You trace your ancestors starting with yourself and working back documenting everything as you do.

Very likely not everyone with your family name shares ancestors with you. Surnames were not taken or assigned in Europe until the last melennium. In England most people had one by the end of the 14th century.

They were based on (1) being the son of someone (2) their occupation (3) where they lived and (4) some characteristic about them.

Sons of John frequently became Johnson, JOnes or Johns but you can imagine how many men named John that had sons that either became Johnson, Jones or Johns.

Occupational names were miller, smith, fisher, baker, taylor, barber, carpenter, wright, clark(clerk), etc etc etc. There were lots of men in those occupations.

Men took the name of the town or castle they lived close to and they weren't all related that did.

Some men who had brown hair took the surname Brown along with lots of other fellas named Brown.

When they got through legitimate sons of the same man could each have a different surname but they could have each shared their surname with others with whom they were not related.

Your ancestry pyramids as you go back. In 10 generations you can be directly descended from over a thousand people. In 20 generations you can be directly descended from over a million people.

However, it pyramids even greater going down the line of descendancy than going up the line of ancestry. If you try to pick someone out with your surname and work down from him, you can really get lost.

A lot of people who get too interested in a surname get taken in by the peddlers of surname products like coats of arms (misnomer family crest). The coats of arms they sell frequently are valid and the family history that comes with them is usually valid but the coats of arms do not belong to everyone with that surname nor does the family history apply to everyone with that surname.

You start by getting as much information from living family as possible, particularly your senior members. Tape them if they will let you. It might turn out they are confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant story telling might be very significant. Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death certificates. Find out if the family has any old family bibles. Depending on the religious faith baptismal, first communion, confirmation, marriage certificates can contain valuable information.

Go to your public library and find out what all they have. They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com you can use.
Ancestry.Com has lots of records. They have all the U. S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet. They have U.K. censuses also.

Just don't take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on ANY website, free or paid. The information is subscriber submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. Even when you see the same information repeatedly by many different subscribers on the same people that is no guarantee at all it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying. Use the information as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.

A Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church has records on people all over the world, not just Mormons.
You need to find out their hours for the general public by calling them or checking their free website at FamilySearch.org. In Salt Lake City, they have the world's largest genealogical collection. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee.

I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell. I haven't heard of them doing that to anyones else either. They are just very nice and helpful.

While you are at your library and the Family History Center, you will probably have a chance to talk with other researchers who can give you some great tips and advice. Most of us learn things by sharing experiences.

Good Luck!

familytree.com,
ancestry.com,
familysearch.org,
rootsweb.com,
and
genealogy.com

You need to do it the other way around - for example I have the surname Pollard in my Tree. From a village in N. Devon where unfortunately it is a fairly common name even in the small number of people in the village, and the favoured first name is John.
I can assume that they may all be related somehow in the distant past but how do I pick which is my direct ancestor even 4 or 5 generations back? And where did the first Pollard in the village come from since there are Pollards in North and South Devon?
So - put yourself at at the bottom of the Tree - draw a line up to your father plus his date and place of birth.
Then a line up to your grandfather, plus his date and place of birth; a line up to his father, plus date and place of birth and just keep going as you discover more ancestors.
You are unlikely to find the first owner of your name unless he was of a noble family who bore a coat of arms. Not many of us get back past the late 1500's.

You cannot do genealogy by last names or tell what your family history is by last names. There are many reasons people end up with the last name they have and often it has nothing to do with the origins of the name. Perfect example is the slaves. They did not have surnames when they came here, and many times adopted the surnames of their owners........so now there are tens of thousands of slave descendants carrying around last names that have nothing to do with their heritage or where any of there ancestors came from. Other things, like occupation, is a source of last names as well. Smith came from someone who was a blacksmith......but was he a blacksmith in England, Germany, or Ireland? Some names came about by relationships, such as Johnson. That name came about from someone who was the son of John. Well how many people named John do you suppose had sons? And many last names have multiple sources.........came from different countries at different times for different reasons. And, many names changed as people immigrated around the world. AND, your name only represents ONE line of your family tree (your father, his father, then his father, then his father.....) It does not take into account all the other lines of your family tree that do not share your name but ARE a part of who you are and where all your family came from.

You need to begin with you & work backwards.

http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/
Fuzzy, here is one (of many) tutorials on how to research your ancestry/ family tree. What you are suggesting to do, is beyond useless.
Example.. using DOCUMENTATION.. you look for a record of your father's parents, and for your mom's parents. You know IMMEDIATELY and with no guessing, that this is actually YOUR family/ relatives. Next, you do the same with those persons (grandma will have a different last birth name, since she comes from her own family).
Every single step back that you go... you will ALWAYS be certain that you are finding your own ancestry.
Not to mention.. for most names, there is NO record of who might have been the "first" person with that name. And people with the same name, won't always be related.