26 Comments

  1. i should do this- i find it all really fascinating, too! and your great grandmother was beautiful!
    happy birthday to you!!!!

    1. Yes you should. I’m sure your kiddos will appreciate it one day if you do

  2. I am working on our family tree with Ancestry right now too. It is so interesting isn’t it? And the historical fiction? Yes! I come up with all sorts of fun stories for my ancestors. My husband’s family has been traced back to the 1500’s in Germany and mine to the 1600’s in England and Ireland. I’m working on filling out more personal stories about my grandparents now. Thank you for sharing your tips!
    Have a great day : )

    1. That is wonderful! I want to find out so much more and get into the personal stories too.

  3. neat! I know my paternal grandfather took great care in assembling the family lineage as far back as Europe, but I’d be curious to see it all listed!

    1. It’s so cool to see it all put together in a tree. You should do it too. You won’t regret it.

  4. Mary Casper says:

    Happy Birthday Julia! I am adopted and found my Birthparents and 3 siblings through Ancestry and Ancestry DNA and another great website, 23andme.com.

    1. Oh Mary that gave me goosebumps. How awesome is that?

  5. Thanks, Julia, for this great tips! And Happy Birthday to a fellow Aquarius (or Aquarian?). Anyway, I say that only because I don’t meet too many people whose birthdays are in February. Mine was the 2nd. And I also had a Dicke Oma, but she was a wonderful character–had a sling shot and pebbles by her window so she could pop the pigeons who were making a mess in the Hof.
    Hope you have an exceptional day and year.

    1. Happy Birthday to you too. I know lots of people with birthdays in February, including my mom who’s birthday is two days after mine.

  6. I’ve worked on my family’s genealogy off and on over the years. Finally getting back into now that I’m an empty nester. Tip #4 is so true. I found my great grandfather, Einer, listed as Ida in a census when he was a child. Thankfully I had the names of his parents and siblings to confirm that was actually him with his family. While taking into consideration that his family was from Denmark, and who knows the census taker’s heritage, it’s easy to understand the misunderstanding. You definitely have to take things with a grain of salt.

    1. Yes, they just sounded it out most of the time upon arrival in Ellis Island because they couldn’t write and that’s when the names got butchered by someone else who wasn’t sure how to write it.

  7. I think this is so interesting although I have not researched my family. I bet you enjoy the show, “Who Do You Think You Are”. I love watching how the famous research their family tree..

    1. Oh I love watching that show too.

  8. Happy Birthday!!! Totally awesome that your great-grandfather was director of transportation in Berlin and introduced the double-decker buses! Now I totally want to dive into all this too!! =)

    1. Thanks Claudia! You should, your dad was just saying last night that you were interested.

  9. Wishing you a day of happiness and a year of blessings. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. My sisters and I are doing genealogy. It can be fascinating and frustrating,too at times.
    Marilyn

    1. Thanks so much Marilyn. It is totally frustrating at times. I have a photo of a person in my tree and CAN NOT figure out what the name is. I had so many people look at it already but it’s just such a chicken scratch and nobody can read it.

  10. Happy Birthday Julia. Now which pretty lady is your great grandmother in that group picture?

    1. It’s the one in the middle with the big lips and beautiful big collar, dressed not in black 😉

  11. aussiebushgirl says:

    Happy Belated Birthday, Julia! Wishing you a fabulous birthday month. How wonderful to get to share it with your beloved father!

    Thanks for all the research pointers. You know, when you’re on the other side of the spectrum such as I am, as a voluntary Indexer for Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, My Heritage.com, Billion Graves, Find-A-Grave, it leaves very little time for personal research, which is why people like you make people like me so happy and grateful for these tips! Thanks buddy! ~ heather x

    1. Oh how cool that you do that! Maybe you have some other tips.

  12. Love that your doing all this research–that’s awesome! I got on Ancestry.com once and immediately got overwhelmed and lost–I should give it another try. My uncles is very into genealogy and recently reported that we’re related to Benedict Arnold….so I guess it’s not always good news 😉

    1. LOL Gretchen, maybe not always the news you expected but it’s still cool 😉 and interesting. You should give it another try. A lot has changed.

  13. My sister just reached out to me about us researching our ancestry together and I would love to do a dna ancestry kit.

    1. Yes that DNA kit sounds really interesting. I’d love to hear your story if you do it Darnetha.

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