VDB - My personal genealogical "provenance" that wasn't!

I’m a golfer myself. Really cool to see that you have that connection. I have friends in Lithuania I chat with, and I was planning a trip through Europe before the virus.

 

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Well, I hope you get to make that trip in the near future. Exploring the world and seeing how folks live gives improved context to everything. The golf event is played at Squirrel Run in Plymouth MA. It's about a 2 hour ride from where I am, but we put together a 4-some and pack the golf bags. My friend is a very solid golfer who prefers longer courses, but his father is almost 90 and still enjoys going and meeting up with old friends of the community. He will still contribute to the round and the fact a good number of the holes are Par 3, he was able to reach most of them with a wood or hybrid. We missed last year's event, but hopefully we'll make the trip again this year. Always a good time and great reminiscing.

 

I love playing with seniors. Most of the time they kick my butt and teach me a lesson about my swing tempo. I don't have the core I used to

 

I've been doing genealogy off and on over the past fifteen years and made some interesting things. I think of it as detective work and enjoy it. I've found that, unfortunately, on both parent's lines former slave owners. However, I recognize that times were like that. I am happy knowing I have a direct ancestor who fought against the British in the Revolution.

 

My step-grandfather is a descendant of a Virginia colony tobacco farmer! They eventually did have slaves, a total of 4 full time apparently. Home making slaves mostly, everything else apparently was contracted.

The same step-grandfather is related to William Clark- so every first born since was given the middle name Clark, if they didn't have it as their surname.

I also have a small number of Revolutionary war folk, not direct descendants but members of their family.

 

That's exciting John!!

 

Another coin connection perhaps...Cool stuff!

 

And that one is actually true! Hahah

 

I have a friend whose great-great grandfather (might be another great in there) was an Ohio infantrymen in the Civil War. He was part of Sherman's March to the Sea. Ever since, every generation has a middle name of Sherman. Seems that it was customary. I also visited Gettysburg a few year's back, the 150th anniversary. I went to the point where Lee overlooked Pickett's charge...there were only about 4 of us, but we started across the field. On that day, the park allows folks to march across to the Highwater Mark. Next to me was a man, dressed in a Confederate uniform and carrying a muzzleloader. As we 4 walked across, I assumed that the man was a reenactment actor. He said no, but that on every occasion of the Charge where the Park Service allowed folks on to the field, an ancestor would do the walk in the honor of their great-great grandfather. Every one of those folks shared their grandfather's/father's name. I remember my daughter looking at me with great surprise. The uniform he was wearing was his great-great grandfather's as was the muzzleloader.

 

I haven't been to Gettysburg, but I used to know the Gettysburg address by heart as a child. Lincoln was my childhood hero, I was a loner and read a lot about him through elementary and middle school.

That is really incredible

 

Lincoln is an interesting person...and I read the GBA a few times a year...to remind me of important obligations as an American...and to inspire me to be a better writer. You picked a good hero.

 

I joined the Sons of the American Revolution based on my ancestor s service, then learned they accept anyone who has an ancestor who might have done nothing but lent a horse for the cause. Mine actually served for 159 days.

I had to buy a replica of a $5 sovereign coin to remember my great grandfather by. He had received the coin as part of his earnings for being a bodyguard for Jefferson Davis, when the war was ending and he was dismissed. Paid directly from the Confederate treasury which was being carried with them while Davis was fleeing.

 

I couldn't agree more. truly an American president

He inspired me in an incredible number of ways. He gave me the confidence to do the right thing. My father raised me to have integrity, tell the truth, and to ponder the circumstances. I used to have political aspiration, it's still there but not as realistic.

oh, and I don't mean to make it political, so don't come at me

 

Interesting connection. As I kid, I once dreamt what it might be like to trace back to a Revolutionary or Civil War relative. But mine came much later.

 

Attended Boys State as a high schooler and learned about politics. I had no interest before or after. But it was the missing piece of Civics that was fading away in high school and for that, I'm grateful. But I've always been a fan of history...I've read and continue to study the subject, especially American History. It's why I'm astounded by the leaps we've made with the advances in research and access. I get to relearn the things I knew pretty well. And I'm happy about that.

 

Yep, I will say that civics in high school now is absolutely horse crap. I witnessed it first hand!

 

This is a fascinating story! Greeks have different name endings, too, depending on gender. Most Greek names end with an "s"--if you're male. The female name will drop the "s" and end with the vowel before it (usually but not always a long e for eta), or with the genitive form of the name (usually -ou). You can also sometimes tell from the name ending, what part of the country they are from. For example, names ending in -akis are (or were at one time) from Crete; names ending in -ides are usually from Asia Minor. -ides means the same as -poulos, that is, "son of"...and a lot of times, last names are connected to occupations and some families changed their last names long ago for that reason. I've told the story here before how my maternal grandmother's father and uncles were key in the liberation of Crete from Ottoman rule in the late 19th century. But I just wish I could trace her family back further. I get a block prior to about 1850, the year my great-great grandfather moved. I know where they originally came from but that's about it. I'd also like to trace my grandma's mother's family as she had a well known (but common) maiden name and we might be related to another famous person from the same area. There are streets and memorials in the Chania, Crete area named after some of my grandma's known relatives.

 

My wife of 51 years is a French Canadian too - I'm not - and we've been in States since 1973. I tell her that her English is coming along nicely. lol

 

Better than getting hit, Peter! Stay with your plan!

 

Since everyone's telling their genealogical journey, I'll share mine. I was really into doing the research 15 years ago before I was married and had a child. My mom's side is Polish and one of the hardest things was figuring that side out. Name spellings change and no one knew where anyone was actually from. Once I figured that out, I was able to get Catholic Church records from the LDS church. Fortunately they're written in Latin instead of Polish. I'm good with languages and I was able to figure out a lot of Latin based on my Spanish and English knowledge. It's interesting to finally figure out who an ancestor was and then go back in time and make the connection between that person's parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. My ancestor left Poland, which was then part of Austria, right before World War I, supposedly to avoid conscription into the army. Fortunate that he did as he almost certainly would have been killed and my grandfather wasn't born yet at the time, so there would have been no me.

The most interesting thing I found in my research was seven ancestors on the Mayflower. Supposedly ten percent of Americans were descended from a Mayflower passenger, which is amazing considering 52 people survived the first year.