Grey Dog
New Member
Hello everyone,
I was actually kind of "driven" here by the "almost" shutting down of a very well known forum (not going to name them, but I think we all know by now).
Anyway, as genealogy is one of my hobbies (linux and foreign languages are my other hobbies)... I thought I'd give genealogy-specialists a go.
Basically I am just looking for an asynchronous but active community.
I am researching Surnames such as Fallin (a variant of Fallon), Lilly, Becker, Quinn, Murphy, Costello, Rohm, Scweingrueber, Johnson, Simmons etc. etc.
I'm particularly interested in Irish Immigration to the "middle colonies" from about 1650 to 1740 (middle colonies being Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia for the most part). I am also interested in German immigration to St Louis, Missouri in 1848.
I have been something of a fan of genealogy since the 1970s but didn't really get going good until after 1987. I was fortunate enough to have personally met and interviewed my relatives who were born from 1885 to 1916 and so I was lucky to get some information and write it down and hold on to it until I could do some proper research. I was also lucky that some census mistakes ended up being clues.
Example? one of the 1870 to 1900 Censuses in Arkansas for my "Fallin" family line said that the head of household was born in Tennessee, Civil war records indicated he was born in Tennessee, but 2 of the census records stated Virginia as place of birth and on one it had Pennsylvania scratched out and then Virginia written in after.
What I found out later on was that he was born in Maury County Tennessee in 1841 but that his father was from Pittsylvania County, Virginia and they had moved to Tennessee by 1830. The other clue was ... old southern naming conventions, because his name was Edward Townes Fallin, turns out, his mother was Ann Elizabeth Townes and his parents, Annie Townes and Littlebury Fallin were married about 1829 (or before, I'm just doing this off the top of my head right now).
Anyway ... I found out a lot just from mistakes that turned out to be hints and because of family legend and lore, and then a lot of time researching and double checking my work.
Then, a few years ago, my brother submitted a ydna sample and from that it was proven that we had dna connections to Pittsylvania County and that we had dna connections to western and northern Ireland. So, the dna ended up solidifying my paper trail.
We do have pictures from the 1800s which I hope to be submitting here soon. Mostly from my Surname (Fallin) side.
Anyway, it has been a real roller coaster ride, this genealogy thing, and now I'm kind of just "coasting" but I still have fond memories of my earliest discoveries. Fun times they were.
I was actually kind of "driven" here by the "almost" shutting down of a very well known forum (not going to name them, but I think we all know by now).
Anyway, as genealogy is one of my hobbies (linux and foreign languages are my other hobbies)... I thought I'd give genealogy-specialists a go.
Basically I am just looking for an asynchronous but active community.
I am researching Surnames such as Fallin (a variant of Fallon), Lilly, Becker, Quinn, Murphy, Costello, Rohm, Scweingrueber, Johnson, Simmons etc. etc.
I'm particularly interested in Irish Immigration to the "middle colonies" from about 1650 to 1740 (middle colonies being Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia for the most part). I am also interested in German immigration to St Louis, Missouri in 1848.
I have been something of a fan of genealogy since the 1970s but didn't really get going good until after 1987. I was fortunate enough to have personally met and interviewed my relatives who were born from 1885 to 1916 and so I was lucky to get some information and write it down and hold on to it until I could do some proper research. I was also lucky that some census mistakes ended up being clues.
Example? one of the 1870 to 1900 Censuses in Arkansas for my "Fallin" family line said that the head of household was born in Tennessee, Civil war records indicated he was born in Tennessee, but 2 of the census records stated Virginia as place of birth and on one it had Pennsylvania scratched out and then Virginia written in after.
What I found out later on was that he was born in Maury County Tennessee in 1841 but that his father was from Pittsylvania County, Virginia and they had moved to Tennessee by 1830. The other clue was ... old southern naming conventions, because his name was Edward Townes Fallin, turns out, his mother was Ann Elizabeth Townes and his parents, Annie Townes and Littlebury Fallin were married about 1829 (or before, I'm just doing this off the top of my head right now).
Anyway ... I found out a lot just from mistakes that turned out to be hints and because of family legend and lore, and then a lot of time researching and double checking my work.
Then, a few years ago, my brother submitted a ydna sample and from that it was proven that we had dna connections to Pittsylvania County and that we had dna connections to western and northern Ireland. So, the dna ended up solidifying my paper trail.
We do have pictures from the 1800s which I hope to be submitting here soon. Mostly from my Surname (Fallin) side.
Anyway, it has been a real roller coaster ride, this genealogy thing, and now I'm kind of just "coasting" but I still have fond memories of my earliest discoveries. Fun times they were.
Thanks!
