Comments on: Who Do You Think You Are? Returns Friday

By: BEE

BEE — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:30:44 +0000

Virginia #68
Thank you – that’s good to know. I saw something written on another Naturalization petition, but didn’t know what it was all about.
I’m just glad some of my ancestors settled in Pennsylvania and the whole document is there to read, instead of just a card with a name and a few dates as in other states.

By: Holly

Holly — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:31:13 +0000

Wow I am really surprised at the negative comments regarding “Who do you think you are.” I think the program is just wonderful. I absolutely love watching them trace there roots and travel and learn about their families. I don’t care who they are. I would love it if it was John Doe. Just makes me want to see what I can find. Keep it up. I think its awesome.

By: Carol A. H.

Carol A. H. — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 03:46:52 +0000

#68 Virginia:

I found your post very interesting. I’m going to copy it and save it as a reference for my research if you don’t mind. Thanks.

By: James W Cummings

James W Cummings — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:16:30 +0000

While I think 300.00 a year is a lot to spend on Ancestry.com (I have the World Deluxe)and have two ancestral trees “My Cummings Family ” and ” Cummings of Dixmont , Maine ” and have benefited by gaining access to several records , military,census,various migration records and most recently Maine birth, death (1607-1922) and Marriage (1705-1922)records (the originals are kept at the state archives and could be obtained as certified copies at 25 dollars each. so if You could even locate the record on the microfilm which would generally take me 15 to 30 minutes I could get a dozen copies and pay as much as a full year World Deluxe subscription costs. Genealogy has always been a costly study and Ancestry.com even at these prices is a comparative bargain.

By: Virginia

Virginia — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:45:54 +0000

#67 Bee
Thought you might be interested in the following:
After 1907, marriage determined a woman’s nationality status completely. Under the act of March 2, 1907, all women acquired their husband’s nationality upon any marriage occurring after that date. This changed nothing for immigrant women, but U.S.-born citizen women could now lose their citizenship by any marriage to any alien. Most of these women subsequently regained their U.S. citizenship when their husbands naturalized. However, those who married Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, or other men racially ineligible to naturalize forfeited their U.S. citizenship. Similarly, many former U.S. citizen women found themselves married to men who were ineligible to citizenship for some other reason or who simply refused to naturalize. Because the courts held that a husband’s nationality would always determine that of the wife, a married woman could not legally file for naturalization.(6)

Happily, Congress was at work and on September 22, 1922, passed the Married Women’s Act, also known as the Cable Act. This 1922 law finally gave each woman a nationality of her own. No marriage since that date has granted U.S. citizenship to any alien woman nor taken it from any U.S.-born women who married an alien eligible to naturalization.(11) Under the new law women became eligible to naturalize on (almost) the same terms as men. The only difference concerned those women whose husbands had already naturalized. If her husband was a citizen, the wife did not need to file a declaration of intention. She could initiate naturalization proceedings with a petition alone (one-paper naturalization). A woman whose husband remained an alien had to start at the beginning, with a declaration of intention. It is important to note that women who lost citizenship by marriage and regained it under Cable Act naturalization provisions could file in any naturalization court–regardless of her residence.(12)

By: BEE

BEE — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 21:04:19 +0000

Hi Betsy #57, Barbara wrote exactly what I would have written when I saw your post. I assume you are talking about creating a tree on the ancestry website, not Family Tree Maker. It seems that each time something is posted about one, the subject turns to the other, and it can get confusing.
I started out about 8yrs ago with the basic ancestry.com subscription, and over the years, added to it until I now have “World Deluxe”, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.
The information I have found is priceless, and feel is worth every penny I pay. Yes, there are “brick walls”, but compared to driving to the nearest National Archives, or writing to various places for information, it’s a small price to pay. I recently saw a document with the signature of my grandmother who died long before I was born. Because of an incorrect date on my grandfather’s naturalization papers, my American-born grandmother had to apply for citizenship – what a thrilling find! I also found the birth and death record of my husband’s aunt. He went from barely knowing her name and about when she was born and died, to having an exact record, all without the long drive to that state, or having to write for the information and paying for a “search”, since he thought she lived a couple of years, not the two short months that the records showed.
I’ll try not to repeat too much of what Barbara wrote, but I agree about using “old search”. Also, you might consider keeping your trees “private”. You can always change it, depending on what your needs are. My trees have always been private, but you can contact someone through the ancestry website, and people can contact you. If it’s someone that you would like to correspond with directly, then you can exchange email addresses. I met a second cousin and various other people this way, and it has been very rewarding.
Barbara pretty much explained the process: you start a tree by naming someone as the “home person” – I started with my deceased father, and of course, added my deceased Mom, so that gives me both sides of my family on that tree. I created a separate tree for my husband in the same manner. As I found each census, I added all siblings, and that adds to information as you go back in time. I always check out “hints” hunting for maiden names, but never automatically add any information to my tree by “clicking” on it. Also, be sure to actually look at each document to be sure the information matches your relative. It’s amazing to find that no matter how uncommon a name is, there is someone out there, born about the same time, with the same strange name! The WWI and WWII Draft records are a big help with name and dates, although I’ve found more then one person with not only three different birth years, but days and months as well, although I know for a fact it’s the same person. They just didn’t pay attention to birth dates – I found a five year difference between the ages that my great-grandparents thought they were and documents we later found.
Do you know the years your ancestors came from Austria? If you have a ships manifest that said they came from “Austria”, do you have the name of the town? Your “tree” can pinpoint the location if it’s spelled right, and not just a “village” name, but there are other sources to find locations.
During a certain time in history, people from the southern region of Poland also came from “Austria”, so it helps to know where in “Austria” your ancestors actually came from. Ethnic names can be difficult to track {actually, any name can be}. Often times, the names on the 1930 census aren’t necessarily the ones they used on a previous census, but the more you know about a family, the easier it gets. If one name doesn’t bring up anything, try their siblings. An earlier census might have their ethnic names – “Jan” rather then John, etc – which would give you a clue to what their name would be on a ships manifest. If you find that the family had “boarders”, check out all those names on the immigration records. People from the same village often came in groups, and you might find family members you didn’t know about, so examine all the documents you find.
So far, other then the manifests, there isn’t much information to be found on ancestry for the area I’m researching – I don’t know about areas, but as Barbara said, that can be for a later time, and Monika gave you some good information about foreign sources. So have no fear and join the rest of us in our “addiction”!

By: Monika

Monika — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 09:43:06 +0000

#57
I am Austrian born, but came to the USA in 1964. Did most of my genealogical research in Austria without “leaving the ground” as you put it. (God bless the Internet!) In Austria, all birth, marriage and death records issued prior to 1938 are still with the individual churches (and in some regions, like Styria and Carinthia, in Archives). So, the secret is to know where in Austria your ancestors came from! Then it is really easy, because most churches are very helpful. Also, these records will not only give you the birth (or marriage date) of your ancestor, but the birth record will give you the names of the parents AND the grandparents of this ancestor. So, three generations in one record. After 1938, you have to contact the Recorder’s Offices and–for Privacy Law reasons–you will have to prove that you are related to the person whose records you are seeking! Then, there are also equivalent sites to our “findagrave” in Austria. Again, depends on where in Austria you are looking! E.g., the Vienna Magistrate has a website that lists approx. 95% of all the graves in Vienna. Then, there is a thing called “Meldezettel”. You can order these through the FHC of the LDS Church. If you tell me where in Austria, I may be able to help you further!

By: lawson

lawson — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 01:07:58 +0000

I love the show, love it love it. # 14 I say AMEN TO YOU. I would love to see the subcriptions down. They are really high, same with genealogy.com. Have they all gone crazy? but I do love to research and find more out about where I came from,and I feel good to see others find their roots also, even the stars!

By: Karla Mason Bergen

Karla Mason Bergen — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 05:38:04 +0000

I watched last night’s episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” with Tim McGraw researching his family history. His 8th great-grandfather’s name, Jost Hite, sounded familiar. I checked my own family tree on Ancestry, and guess what? McGraw’s 8th great-grandfather was my 7th great-grandfather! Guess that makes me and Tim McGraw distant cousins. As a country music fan who has seen him in concert several times, I am beyond thrilled!

I love this show and think the interest in family genealogy that it has stimulated is great. While some of the posters on this thread have complained about the cost of ancestry.com, I actually think it is quite reasonable. There are very few hobbies that one can pursue for less than $20-$30 a month.

Dr. Karla Mason Bergen
Omaha, NE

By: James W Cummings

James W Cummings — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 04:56:57 +0000

I liked the way the Tim McGraw episode opened with his talking to his father`s elder brother Hank about his father and grandfather and going through the old family pictures as so many of us used to do before the computer age. I used to hear so many ‘ handed down’ stories about fairly recent ancestors sopme appatrently true and it made me want to know more about them.