This question is for Genealogists?

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Townie

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How far back have u gone on ur family tree?? and how much time have u put into it??

(Always wondered because a lot of you always help people out, so u gotta be pretty damn good!)
 
I have over 27,000 people on my family tree. I started in 2001. Reliably I can go back as far as the 1400's. Before that, it gets iffy, but you can use some educated guesses. Of course, that isn't for all branches of my tree, just certain ones who kept really good records (mainly wills, land deeds, and immigration records). Some I can only go back three or four generations, not even into the 1800's. If you luck out and connect to a noble line, you can go back quite a ways, 'cause they ALWAYS kept records, to prove they were noble.
 
On my father's side I've gone back 7 generations (his family had the common decency to own property and register births and marriages so it only took a few years to track them all down. My mother's side was a great deal more difficult as she was taken from New York City and put into a foster home in North Dakota when she was 3, but I have - at long last -found who her parents were and where they were from (took me 10 years).

I generally work on genealogy about 10 to 12 hours a week. It's much faster now that many things are available online such as the census, land records, marriage records, death records and some birth records. I used to have to trudge up to the Genealogy Society and to the public library and look at microfilm. Very time consuming.
 
It might be funny, but my personal lines are from Poland in the late 1800s, and I have backed off from trying that one too much. My ex's family is solid early US, and that has kept me busy for 25+ yrs, without 'finishing' all of it. The family joke is that when we divorced, I got custody of both the kids and the ancestors. And he didn't blink an eye at that.. I know them better than he does. When I remarried, I was delighted to find my mother in law shares my interest.. and quickly found that my ex and present hubby are 7th cousins. My son in law and my daughter also share an ancestor in common. I have a "favorite" county in Texas, where I collect info on all known pioneer settlers. And, of course, I spend what time I can here, for the challenge of "can I find what this person needs?".. and when I can, hopefully, that gives not just the answer to that, but opens up their motivation.
What I am trying to say.. is that my goal isn't how far back I go, but I passionately love the process of problem solving, no matter whose line it is, or if it is in the 1930s or 1750s. Every quick one that I do, gives me a chance to learn about something new. The ones that already have a family tree online, kind of bore me.. I want to see if I can find the link without someone else having done so. I would much rather suggest to you, HOW you can find the answer, instead of giving you the answer. Because you (or someone else) will take that experience, and apply it to the next brick wall.
The absolute most satisfying to me.. are the persons who are the brick walls, and it takes going beyond the simple things. You will find your James Moore, and you'll have that feeling of WOW, I DID IT!! That is the feeling that gets you hooked.
 
well to the 1500s i think.it is awesome. i spent 2-3 years on it. i have some dukes in my family and i am related to a president's wife and Pocahantas
 
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