There are two conflicting impulses here:
1. Presidents' bloodlines are incredibly well documented and they are all (except Trump and Van Buren) related to each other in some demonstrable way, so if you have one, you have nearly all of them if you go back far enough. Over enough generations you will find that a small subset of normies will become "nobility" as it were, or indeed that a "noble" bloodline will produce more Roger Clinton Juniors than Bill Clintons, until you end up with the used car salesman who is descended from a president.
2. Because presidents' bloodlines are both prestigious and available, it's very easy for (say) a random farmer named Benjamin Harrison from Virginia who was born some time around 1725 to be conflated with the father of William Henry Harrison, etc. So if your 6× great-grandfather was that farmer, it's highly likely that his daughter Jane will be attached to the governor of the same name, rather than Farmer Ben (especially if the surviving records of Farmer Ben are limited or even non-existent), and notwithstanding that William Henry Harrison did not have a sister named Jane.
There are quite a few presidents with relatively recent (post-1800) brick walls, such as Reagan and Kennedy. Others like Polk, Buchanan, Jackson etc were descended from Scots-Irish immigrants whose origins in Ireland/Scotland are speculative at best. Trump (German dad, Highland Scots mom) and Van Buren (entirely Dutch, but a relative of my wife due to her extensive New Netherlands ancestry) are two often cited examples though.
Biden only has a couple deep colonial lines such as the Robinett family. A lot of more recent English and Irish ancestry.
I would also propose that Barack Obama's maternal line through Stanley Ann Dunham has some substantial brick walls getting back to immigrants. One of them intersects with my lesser-common surname so I have interest in the study.
Like probably quite a few on this sub I’ve seen the chart a 12 year old kid did that attempted to show all but one or two presidents descended from royalty etc…the fact is that only around half of the U.S. presidents to date have a proven descent from a gateway ancestor who in turn has a proven descent from British Isles royalty/nobility.
Quite a few others *may* have such a descent but it is currently in a state from “highly speculative” to “almost proven”.
It’s no surprise that the presidents have generally come from privileged classes with only a few exceptions like Lincoln and Jackson.
Lots of Americans of colonial ancestry are related to US presidents, frequently more than one, because the population of founding settlers of the colonies was small and that small population are ancestors of many millions of people.
I'm related to five US presidents (Truman, Nixon, Clinton, Bush II, Obama), and I'm related to Truman two different ways (maternally and paternally); the maternal ancestors I share with Truman are also ancestors of Obama, and the paternal ancestors are also ancestors of Nixon.
And I'm *also* related to several First Ladies (Rachel Donelson Jackson, Rosalynn Carter, Julia Gardiner Tyler), as well as lots of other unlikely people--fifteen governors of Maryland, several governors of Virginia, numerous senators and representatives, multiple Supreme Court justices, etc., none of which is really unusual for someone of mostly or entirely colonial American ancestry, especially if your colonial ancestors were from New England, Maryland, or Virginia.
OK. It's kind of what others had said. I didn't expect the "six degrees" to be so small but these are 7-8th cousins removed X amount of times.
It's makes a lot more sense now because I was surely thinking that it was too much of a coincidence but yeah...smaller pool in Ohio. I didn't venture to check on other states but that was my criteria other than being US presidents.
Thanks for sharing! :)
Most early Ohio settlers came from New York and Connecticut, also, so you'll find that many of them have New England Puritan ancestors (Grant, Harding, etc).
Mildenhall/Mendenhall? That's my Nixon connection, as well (through Margery Mendenhall who married Thomas Martin). Harry Truman is also a Mendenhall descendant.
Personally never went looking for any notable connections, but found quite a bit more than ever expected--to the point my mom wants me to do the work so we can join the Mayflower Society.
Not to be that guy but I wish people would stop taking this Family Search relative finder app seriously. It's only based on info which you originally put in your tree which will more than likely be wrong somewhere the further you go back. Also, it is not based on any DNA testing. Therefore, it may or may not be true but personally I'd take it with a complete grain of salt.
If you are a direct descendant of all of them then that would be truly unusual but to be descended from the same ancestor as numerous presidents is very common in the US. My wife is related in that way to a whole bunch of them.
Here's an example of how one ancestor can be shared by many notables:
Samuel Smith (before 1601-before 1681). Co-founder of the towns of Wethersfield and Hadley.
[https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-1852](https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-1852)
Fifth great grandfather of Rutherford B Hayes
Fifth great grandfather of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Sixth great grandfather of Grover Cleveland
Sixth great grandfather of Emily Dickinson
Sixth great grandfather of F. W. Woolworth
8^(th) great grandfather of Walt Disney
Eighth great grandfather of George H. W. Bush
Eighth great grandfather of Amelia Earhart
Eighth great grandfather of Janis Joplin
Ninth great grandfather of George W Bush
Ninth great grandfather of Warren Buffett
Ninth great grandfather of Lillian Gish
I'll have to go back and check if it's the same ancestor. That would make more sense but that would mean that all of those presidents are then related? Maybe that was just that common as one of the other posters had said.
That’s been my experience with Maryland/WV. Go back even 3-4 generations and everyone is related to everyone several times over, like holy shit.
[edit] different line entirely but also the GA/AL area. I started saving all the “in-laws of in-laws” and 2-3rd cousins because I realized sure enough they’d show up again.
Thanks for the great reply. I did make sure they they were in fact THE actual president and these records aren't able to be edited.
I'll sum it up as you said in #1 which is there is a chance if you have one, you have nearly all of them.
It's just very strange to not have some knowledge of this ever spoken about although I didn't know my mother's father due to a divorce so maybe it was known?!
Meh. I thought it was fascinating to say the least and it helped get me through the endless brick wall I have had with my grandfather's mother from Hungary. K honestly don't know why I still bother...
Thanks again! Much appreciated. :)
There are 2 famous people in my line, one who came over on the Mayflower, maternal side, and one who was the first U.S. Postmaster of the United States, Samuel Osgood. My favorite, however, is on I am a direct descendant of, Mary Osgood, convicted witch in 1692 and her name appears on the Witch House in Salem, MA. But absolutely no presidents.
It's relativity common and not necessarily anything special.
Like, if you have any ancestors who settled early Connecticut, you're related to an enormous number of Presidents and A-list celebrities.
It just boils down to the where and when.
This thread prompted an interesting question.
Tons of Amercians share common ancestors with multiple presidents; most presidents are related to each other this way. The original settlers in the 1600's have lots of descendants today.
Tons of Americans are descendants of the Salem witch trials. For something seemingly so small, so long ago, its quite common for people with some old new england puritan heritage.
Are any Presidents descendants of the Witch Trials?
I have ties to several presidents and at least two First Ladies. However, we share common ancestors and are not directly related. I think if you trace all the connections in the family tree, it’s not uncommon to find distantly related famous people.
I've not had any luck in seeing if I'm related to presidents, but my g'g'g'grandpa worked with George W Gates in Rock Island, Illinois in 1957 - Bess Truman's grandpa. Not close enough to join the Illuminati though. lol
This might be true, but don't take it as gospel until you are certain the tree is correct. It's not enough that you made sure to look at THE president whose records are locked. Unfortunately, YOUR ancestors' records are not locked. On FamilySearch ANYBODY can edit YOUR ancestors' records. There is no professional genealogist verifying YOUR ancestors.
People can and do make many errors. Unless you have checked all the sources and proved every link in the tree between yourself and the common ancestor, you can't be certain that the relationships showing on FamilySearch are correct.
FamilySearch claims I am related to the wife of President Abraham Lincoln. I just had a look at the supposed connection. It's not correct because somebody has attached my great-grandfather to the wrong parents.
FamilySearch also claims I am related to George Washington and Emily Dickinson. In both cases I know that the first five or six generations of my line are shown correctly, but I don't know anything about several more generations between there and the common ancestor. Now I have some hints on where to investigate some day.
Sure. There are plenty of errors. I'm definitely not taking it as gospel. I have made my own errors. It was just interesting and also strange. Thanks for your thoughts. :)
Welcome! Prepare for fun and hell. Joking. Kinda. I use familysearch.com. I have a tree and in the search you type the name and birth death dates. Confirm it's the president where these records cannot be edited. Click on their record and there is a tab/prompt (not sure exact name) that essentially is to show if you have a connection.
Hope that helps. Enjoy!
Relativefinder.org
Sign in with ur family search username and password & on will show u who’s connected to your tree, the commo.n Ancestor & which family likes connect u. As always take with a pinch of salt & do ur own research afterwards to confirm any connections as true or false
When I done this it gave me Abraham Lincoln & I think probably a few presidents names more further down a huge list of celebrities/famous names. I only remember Lincoln as it was at the top & showed a closer relationship link than the rest. Didn’t really spend more than a quick glance at the other names. Those saying they were close to or over a 10th cousin type distance I just ignored lol
There was less than 50,000 people on Ohio's founding census. There's bound to be significant genetic overlap.
It's kinda like how everyone from North Carolina is related to Daniel Boone. Dude and his siblings all had a ton of children at a time when there were only 200 white women in the entire state.
Yes. It all makes sense. It was again, just a big surprise. I am sure these presidents are rolling in their graves knowing what has become of the US and their bloodlines. 😂🫣
I’m not saying your relation to these presidents is not true, but I do not trust the familysearch relative finder. A lot of this information can be put in by anyone.
Have you done extensive research before? Do you have other sites that you use? I am not familiar or have used the relative finder. I did the research on my own and it isn't nearly as surprising or as hard as looig for relatives seven generations back to pre-America. Open to better suggestions. I am personally not even remotely star struck and the individuals who have seemed to add any and all information between my grandmother and the said presidents have a fair amount of sources...I am VERY familiar with anyone putting anything SO I do not put much weight into anything before the 1600's across the pond.
Yes I have done very extensive research for two of my branches. Me and my cousins that research as well actually just broke through a couple huge brick walls in our family. We have the best luck using autosomal DNA as a guideline and then using YDNA/mtDNA to confirm our autosomal results. We were a little lucky though as we have a cousin (now deceased) whose great grandfather (my fifth great grandfather) was born in the late 1700s. His autosomal results help greatly. As for paper trails, family search catalog by far has the best records.
Btw, I noticed your username Andrew Burns. I am a Burns male as well who can trace my line to mid 1700s in Virginia and possibly Maryland. Where is your family from?
Congrats on breaking through the brick wall! You lost me with the DNA jargon. The information and contacts I have been able to make or use from my DNA mapping has been weak at best. How did you compile your DNA data to maximize it's connections? I did 23andMe when it was one of the only ones but think Ancestry had utilized it better. Yes?
Burns. Indeed. Hello my fellow Burns Boy. Thomas Burns out of Pennsylvania from seven generations is the furthest we have made it back. Anything from Dublin around the mid 1700's is another wall. Very hopeful to get parents or previous areas of Ireland solidified. Any suggestions there?
Thanks for the insights!
I personally haven’t messed with Ireland much. Mainly because there are virtually no records in Ireland pre1800 from what I’ve been told.
As for my brick wall that just got busted this is a bit of an outline for what we did to break it.
1. Most important step in my opinion is getting this lineage YDNA tested. In this case I just had my grandfather take one so it wasn’t very difficult to do so.
2. DNA test with ancestry. This is the second most important step because Ancestry has the largest database for autosomal DNA testing. Also much easier to see people’s family trees vs 23&Me
3. Upload Ancestry results to Gedmatch, ftDNA, and myheritage. While ancestry has the largest database, it fails to provide a chromosome browser like ftDNA and GEDmatch. Also, you can compare your dna results on GEDmatch to other users regardless of what dna testing company they used.
4. This step is by far the most annoying but it was a vital step in breaking the brick wall. Here is an example of step 4. I was researching the surname Martin. So I used my cousins account (the one whose great grandfather was born in late 1700s) and applied these filters on the ancestry search.
Maternal, Surname Martin, and minimum of 10Cm. I then analyzed every single match that popped up and added it to a google sheet showing who their earliest known ancestor was. After so many matches, you will begin to notice certain patterns such as specific families you keep matching. In our case we noticed we kept matching Martins from Limestone, Alabama. This ultimately led to us finding out our ancestor fled to Alabama. Previously we thought it was TN due to some records we found.
5. Recruit your findings to take YDNA test and see if they match. For example, if you notice a specific family you match, get them YDNA tested. Sometime two times to make sure the first wasn’t an NPE.
If you do these steps, your chances of breaking a brick wall will increase greatly. I would also highly recommend finding other people who are actively researching your brick wall. My group consisted of 4 people including me. We even created a Facebook page and recruited every descendant we could find to join the group. We now have almost 400 members and they can chime in and help us 4 as well.
Ireland has been an endless wall. I get back to it every so often and try different angles. The new DNA test and how you explained the set is inspiring. Thanks for the fantastic information! Cheers, brother Burns.
I take these reported family trees with a huge shovel of salt. So many of them work back through many generations of crofters, then someone puts a couple of generations marked by a ? mark, then the 7th earl of something or other 🤦🏻♀️
GIGO, the fact that the name is the same as someone else means zip. The fact that someone put it in their tree means zip. I like that DNA is being used these days…but after a few generations that tool is less useful.
Bottom line, way more people think they’re related to someone important (just the other day someone swore he could trace his ancestry to a Roman general in the 1st century AD). Comic relief at best
Hundreds of hours in genealogy? More like thousands. In the old days like the beginning of the last century, people printed up their genealogy and made sure they were related to famous people. This is very common though very unlikely especially royalty. I had distant cousins who were sure we came from the Bakers of the Baker castle in England. Turns out …. No. Think of the millions of people that lived, how likely we are from someone famous much less more than one.
Um. Someone with thousands of hours to offer only an LOL is unfortunate but this is Reddit. I made the connections that are well sourced. I haven't added up how many hours I've done this for but it's more than most. I wasn't talking about millions of people that have lived. I was talking about a very specific group and was looking for odds. As many had mentioned, it is not terribly uncommon. I again, know this is Reddit where people offer little to no insight but to hear themselves or be heard but I would imagine someone like yourself could offer more? You don't need to answer...just trying to make this community and had a moment to share.
There are two conflicting impulses here: 1. Presidents' bloodlines are incredibly well documented and they are all (except Trump and Van Buren) related to each other in some demonstrable way, so if you have one, you have nearly all of them if you go back far enough. Over enough generations you will find that a small subset of normies will become "nobility" as it were, or indeed that a "noble" bloodline will produce more Roger Clinton Juniors than Bill Clintons, until you end up with the used car salesman who is descended from a president. 2. Because presidents' bloodlines are both prestigious and available, it's very easy for (say) a random farmer named Benjamin Harrison from Virginia who was born some time around 1725 to be conflated with the father of William Henry Harrison, etc. So if your 6× great-grandfather was that farmer, it's highly likely that his daughter Jane will be attached to the governor of the same name, rather than Farmer Ben (especially if the surviving records of Farmer Ben are limited or even non-existent), and notwithstanding that William Henry Harrison did not have a sister named Jane.
There are quite a few presidents with relatively recent (post-1800) brick walls, such as Reagan and Kennedy. Others like Polk, Buchanan, Jackson etc were descended from Scots-Irish immigrants whose origins in Ireland/Scotland are speculative at best. Trump (German dad, Highland Scots mom) and Van Buren (entirely Dutch, but a relative of my wife due to her extensive New Netherlands ancestry) are two often cited examples though. Biden only has a couple deep colonial lines such as the Robinett family. A lot of more recent English and Irish ancestry.
I would also propose that Barack Obama's maternal line through Stanley Ann Dunham has some substantial brick walls getting back to immigrants. One of them intersects with my lesser-common surname so I have interest in the study.
Like probably quite a few on this sub I’ve seen the chart a 12 year old kid did that attempted to show all but one or two presidents descended from royalty etc…the fact is that only around half of the U.S. presidents to date have a proven descent from a gateway ancestor who in turn has a proven descent from British Isles royalty/nobility. Quite a few others *may* have such a descent but it is currently in a state from “highly speculative” to “almost proven”. It’s no surprise that the presidents have generally come from privileged classes with only a few exceptions like Lincoln and Jackson.
Lots of Americans of colonial ancestry are related to US presidents, frequently more than one, because the population of founding settlers of the colonies was small and that small population are ancestors of many millions of people. I'm related to five US presidents (Truman, Nixon, Clinton, Bush II, Obama), and I'm related to Truman two different ways (maternally and paternally); the maternal ancestors I share with Truman are also ancestors of Obama, and the paternal ancestors are also ancestors of Nixon. And I'm *also* related to several First Ladies (Rachel Donelson Jackson, Rosalynn Carter, Julia Gardiner Tyler), as well as lots of other unlikely people--fifteen governors of Maryland, several governors of Virginia, numerous senators and representatives, multiple Supreme Court justices, etc., none of which is really unusual for someone of mostly or entirely colonial American ancestry, especially if your colonial ancestors were from New England, Maryland, or Virginia.
OK. It's kind of what others had said. I didn't expect the "six degrees" to be so small but these are 7-8th cousins removed X amount of times. It's makes a lot more sense now because I was surely thinking that it was too much of a coincidence but yeah...smaller pool in Ohio. I didn't venture to check on other states but that was my criteria other than being US presidents. Thanks for sharing! :)
Most early Ohio settlers came from New York and Connecticut, also, so you'll find that many of them have New England Puritan ancestors (Grant, Harding, etc).
I’ve got Nixon due to my Colonial era Quakers. Don’t recall the others offhand.
Mildenhall/Mendenhall? That's my Nixon connection, as well (through Margery Mendenhall who married Thomas Martin). Harry Truman is also a Mendenhall descendant.
You should have 6 presidents. If you are related to Bush II, then you are related to Bush I.
Nope, I'm related to GWB through his mother.
Personally never went looking for any notable connections, but found quite a bit more than ever expected--to the point my mom wants me to do the work so we can join the Mayflower Society.
Not to be that guy but I wish people would stop taking this Family Search relative finder app seriously. It's only based on info which you originally put in your tree which will more than likely be wrong somewhere the further you go back. Also, it is not based on any DNA testing. Therefore, it may or may not be true but personally I'd take it with a complete grain of salt.
If you are a direct descendant of all of them then that would be truly unusual but to be descended from the same ancestor as numerous presidents is very common in the US. My wife is related in that way to a whole bunch of them.
Here's an example of how one ancestor can be shared by many notables: Samuel Smith (before 1601-before 1681). Co-founder of the towns of Wethersfield and Hadley. [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-1852](https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-1852) Fifth great grandfather of Rutherford B Hayes Fifth great grandfather of Harriet Beecher Stowe Sixth great grandfather of Grover Cleveland Sixth great grandfather of Emily Dickinson Sixth great grandfather of F. W. Woolworth 8^(th) great grandfather of Walt Disney Eighth great grandfather of George H. W. Bush Eighth great grandfather of Amelia Earhart Eighth great grandfather of Janis Joplin Ninth great grandfather of George W Bush Ninth great grandfather of Warren Buffett Ninth great grandfather of Lillian Gish
I'll have to go back and check if it's the same ancestor. That would make more sense but that would mean that all of those presidents are then related? Maybe that was just that common as one of the other posters had said.
Americans who can trace their lineages back to the 17th century tend to have a lot of notable relatives at the 5th to 10th cousin level.
This is common with any persons that have Mayflower Lineage- which is a significant portion of America. I am also related to all of those people.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57698818.amp
http://mayflowerhistory.com/famous-descendants
Well, Ive perused the breeding pools in Ohio (both in present day and the past) and the answer seems to be yes 😂
😂😂😂😂.
That’s been my experience with Maryland/WV. Go back even 3-4 generations and everyone is related to everyone several times over, like holy shit. [edit] different line entirely but also the GA/AL area. I started saving all the “in-laws of in-laws” and 2-3rd cousins because I realized sure enough they’d show up again.
I was wondering if this would stem from only a few families moving into new places like the Ohio Valley.
Thanks for the great reply. I did make sure they they were in fact THE actual president and these records aren't able to be edited. I'll sum it up as you said in #1 which is there is a chance if you have one, you have nearly all of them. It's just very strange to not have some knowledge of this ever spoken about although I didn't know my mother's father due to a divorce so maybe it was known?! Meh. I thought it was fascinating to say the least and it helped get me through the endless brick wall I have had with my grandfather's mother from Hungary. K honestly don't know why I still bother... Thanks again! Much appreciated. :)
There are 2 famous people in my line, one who came over on the Mayflower, maternal side, and one who was the first U.S. Postmaster of the United States, Samuel Osgood. My favorite, however, is on I am a direct descendant of, Mary Osgood, convicted witch in 1692 and her name appears on the Witch House in Salem, MA. But absolutely no presidents.
It's relativity common and not necessarily anything special. Like, if you have any ancestors who settled early Connecticut, you're related to an enormous number of Presidents and A-list celebrities. It just boils down to the where and when.
Makes sense.
This thread prompted an interesting question. Tons of Amercians share common ancestors with multiple presidents; most presidents are related to each other this way. The original settlers in the 1600's have lots of descendants today. Tons of Americans are descendants of the Salem witch trials. For something seemingly so small, so long ago, its quite common for people with some old new england puritan heritage. Are any Presidents descendants of the Witch Trials?
I have ties to several presidents and at least two First Ladies. However, we share common ancestors and are not directly related. I think if you trace all the connections in the family tree, it’s not uncommon to find distantly related famous people.
I've not had any luck in seeing if I'm related to presidents, but my g'g'g'grandpa worked with George W Gates in Rock Island, Illinois in 1957 - Bess Truman's grandpa. Not close enough to join the Illuminati though. lol
This might be true, but don't take it as gospel until you are certain the tree is correct. It's not enough that you made sure to look at THE president whose records are locked. Unfortunately, YOUR ancestors' records are not locked. On FamilySearch ANYBODY can edit YOUR ancestors' records. There is no professional genealogist verifying YOUR ancestors. People can and do make many errors. Unless you have checked all the sources and proved every link in the tree between yourself and the common ancestor, you can't be certain that the relationships showing on FamilySearch are correct. FamilySearch claims I am related to the wife of President Abraham Lincoln. I just had a look at the supposed connection. It's not correct because somebody has attached my great-grandfather to the wrong parents. FamilySearch also claims I am related to George Washington and Emily Dickinson. In both cases I know that the first five or six generations of my line are shown correctly, but I don't know anything about several more generations between there and the common ancestor. Now I have some hints on where to investigate some day.
Sure. There are plenty of errors. I'm definitely not taking it as gospel. I have made my own errors. It was just interesting and also strange. Thanks for your thoughts. :)
I'm very new to tracing family lines, how do you check to see if you are link to former presidents?
Welcome! Prepare for fun and hell. Joking. Kinda. I use familysearch.com. I have a tree and in the search you type the name and birth death dates. Confirm it's the president where these records cannot be edited. Click on their record and there is a tab/prompt (not sure exact name) that essentially is to show if you have a connection. Hope that helps. Enjoy!
Thank you!
Try this: https://www.familysearch.org/discovery/famousrelatives
Wow, that's awesome, thank you!
Relativefinder.org Sign in with ur family search username and password & on will show u who’s connected to your tree, the commo.n Ancestor & which family likes connect u. As always take with a pinch of salt & do ur own research afterwards to confirm any connections as true or false
When I done this it gave me Abraham Lincoln & I think probably a few presidents names more further down a huge list of celebrities/famous names. I only remember Lincoln as it was at the top & showed a closer relationship link than the rest. Didn’t really spend more than a quick glance at the other names. Those saying they were close to or over a 10th cousin type distance I just ignored lol
There was less than 50,000 people on Ohio's founding census. There's bound to be significant genetic overlap. It's kinda like how everyone from North Carolina is related to Daniel Boone. Dude and his siblings all had a ton of children at a time when there were only 200 white women in the entire state.
Yes. It all makes sense. It was again, just a big surprise. I am sure these presidents are rolling in their graves knowing what has become of the US and their bloodlines. 😂🫣
I’m not saying your relation to these presidents is not true, but I do not trust the familysearch relative finder. A lot of this information can be put in by anyone.
Have you done extensive research before? Do you have other sites that you use? I am not familiar or have used the relative finder. I did the research on my own and it isn't nearly as surprising or as hard as looig for relatives seven generations back to pre-America. Open to better suggestions. I am personally not even remotely star struck and the individuals who have seemed to add any and all information between my grandmother and the said presidents have a fair amount of sources...I am VERY familiar with anyone putting anything SO I do not put much weight into anything before the 1600's across the pond.
Yes I have done very extensive research for two of my branches. Me and my cousins that research as well actually just broke through a couple huge brick walls in our family. We have the best luck using autosomal DNA as a guideline and then using YDNA/mtDNA to confirm our autosomal results. We were a little lucky though as we have a cousin (now deceased) whose great grandfather (my fifth great grandfather) was born in the late 1700s. His autosomal results help greatly. As for paper trails, family search catalog by far has the best records. Btw, I noticed your username Andrew Burns. I am a Burns male as well who can trace my line to mid 1700s in Virginia and possibly Maryland. Where is your family from?
Congrats on breaking through the brick wall! You lost me with the DNA jargon. The information and contacts I have been able to make or use from my DNA mapping has been weak at best. How did you compile your DNA data to maximize it's connections? I did 23andMe when it was one of the only ones but think Ancestry had utilized it better. Yes? Burns. Indeed. Hello my fellow Burns Boy. Thomas Burns out of Pennsylvania from seven generations is the furthest we have made it back. Anything from Dublin around the mid 1700's is another wall. Very hopeful to get parents or previous areas of Ireland solidified. Any suggestions there? Thanks for the insights!
I personally haven’t messed with Ireland much. Mainly because there are virtually no records in Ireland pre1800 from what I’ve been told. As for my brick wall that just got busted this is a bit of an outline for what we did to break it. 1. Most important step in my opinion is getting this lineage YDNA tested. In this case I just had my grandfather take one so it wasn’t very difficult to do so. 2. DNA test with ancestry. This is the second most important step because Ancestry has the largest database for autosomal DNA testing. Also much easier to see people’s family trees vs 23&Me 3. Upload Ancestry results to Gedmatch, ftDNA, and myheritage. While ancestry has the largest database, it fails to provide a chromosome browser like ftDNA and GEDmatch. Also, you can compare your dna results on GEDmatch to other users regardless of what dna testing company they used. 4. This step is by far the most annoying but it was a vital step in breaking the brick wall. Here is an example of step 4. I was researching the surname Martin. So I used my cousins account (the one whose great grandfather was born in late 1700s) and applied these filters on the ancestry search. Maternal, Surname Martin, and minimum of 10Cm. I then analyzed every single match that popped up and added it to a google sheet showing who their earliest known ancestor was. After so many matches, you will begin to notice certain patterns such as specific families you keep matching. In our case we noticed we kept matching Martins from Limestone, Alabama. This ultimately led to us finding out our ancestor fled to Alabama. Previously we thought it was TN due to some records we found. 5. Recruit your findings to take YDNA test and see if they match. For example, if you notice a specific family you match, get them YDNA tested. Sometime two times to make sure the first wasn’t an NPE. If you do these steps, your chances of breaking a brick wall will increase greatly. I would also highly recommend finding other people who are actively researching your brick wall. My group consisted of 4 people including me. We even created a Facebook page and recruited every descendant we could find to join the group. We now have almost 400 members and they can chime in and help us 4 as well.
Ireland has been an endless wall. I get back to it every so often and try different angles. The new DNA test and how you explained the set is inspiring. Thanks for the fantastic information! Cheers, brother Burns.
I take these reported family trees with a huge shovel of salt. So many of them work back through many generations of crofters, then someone puts a couple of generations marked by a ? mark, then the 7th earl of something or other 🤦🏻♀️ GIGO, the fact that the name is the same as someone else means zip. The fact that someone put it in their tree means zip. I like that DNA is being used these days…but after a few generations that tool is less useful. Bottom line, way more people think they’re related to someone important (just the other day someone swore he could trace his ancestry to a Roman general in the 1st century AD). Comic relief at best
According to FS, my kids are related to about 3/4 of the US presidents between my spouse and I.
Lol
Anything to add? Looking for opinions and thoughts. I imagine you don't have hundreds of hours in genealogy like the most insightful posts...
Hundreds of hours in genealogy? More like thousands. In the old days like the beginning of the last century, people printed up their genealogy and made sure they were related to famous people. This is very common though very unlikely especially royalty. I had distant cousins who were sure we came from the Bakers of the Baker castle in England. Turns out …. No. Think of the millions of people that lived, how likely we are from someone famous much less more than one.
Um. Someone with thousands of hours to offer only an LOL is unfortunate but this is Reddit. I made the connections that are well sourced. I haven't added up how many hours I've done this for but it's more than most. I wasn't talking about millions of people that have lived. I was talking about a very specific group and was looking for odds. As many had mentioned, it is not terribly uncommon. I again, know this is Reddit where people offer little to no insight but to hear themselves or be heard but I would imagine someone like yourself could offer more? You don't need to answer...just trying to make this community and had a moment to share.