How far back can the average person trace their family history? or you?

Question

This may seem like a strange question, my family history is a little jumbled, so I was curious if most people can trace their family like: "this man was married to such-and-such, and his daughter married that such-and-such..." and so on.... I'm always shocked when people can talk about their family history and how far back some people can go, and know the names and stuff. So how far back do most people know, can some people trace back to renaissance days or whatever...?Or is that stupid?

Can you trace your family's history back far? Or have you ever?

Answer 1

I've only recently started to trace mine, but have got as far back as the 1720s so far

Answer 2

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Lisa and John are right... talking to your family members is a great place to start. Ask them what they know about your ancestors - your grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-granparents, and so on. Whether they know a lot, or a just little, the information they can give you is your starting point. They may have stories and personal memories of your ancestors that you won't find anywhere else (and which will be lost once they're gone)... so recording what they say is a great idea. Wendy is also correct. Once you've gathered what you can from your relatives, it's time to look for documents that will verify what they've told you... and fill in the blanks so you can go back further than what they remember. This means looking for records that were created by or about your ancestors during the time they were living. Your ancestors don't have to be famous in order to find information about them. Even the most ordinary, average people did things throughout their lives that got written down. For instance: They got married; and there's a record of their marriage at the courthouse. They had kids, who may have been baptized, had birth certificates, or school records. They bought and sold property, and paid taxes. They had jobs; and they may have served in the military, held a public office, or served their community as sheriff, county clerk, or mail carrier. They belonged to churches, clubs and social organizations. Every 10 years (in the US), they had their names recorded on the Federal Census, along with various information about them and their family members. If they came from somewhere else, you might find their names on a ship's passenger list, immigration or naturaliztion records. When they died, they may have left a will; had an obituary, a death certificate, a tombstone... all of which can give you a lot of information about them and their famiy. A lot of these records are still around; you can find them at county courthouses, archives, libraries, and various government agencies. You'll find some (but not all) online at genealogy websites. These records can tell you a lot about your ancestors' lives, and give you clues about who their parents were and where they came from. That's how genealogists are able to trace their family trees back many, many generations. If it's some of your direct ancestors who were famous, you'll run into them as you go backward. If your famous person is some sort of cousin... you'll have to trace the famous person's ancestry as well, to see if you have a common ancestor.

Answer 3

I have found that if your family owned land you can trace them back without too much difficulty. Land deeds were written records from the earliest of times. Also, because they had an estate they made sure their children's births were recorded and their marriages were recorded. They also had Wills which named their heirs. They paid taxes which were also recorded.



If they didn't own land it's much more difficult as you have to rely on census information. In the US the census is available from 1790 to 1930 however it's only valuable as a genealogy tool from 1850 to 1930. Prior to 1850 only the head of household is listed which doesn't help much. After about 1880 more and more people started registering their children's births - prior to 1880 it was rather hit or miss. Many death records show the names of parents and are valuable however, deaths were not recorded often prior to 1870.



So, if you're in the US and you're grandfather or great grandfather was born prior to 1930 you can find him in the US Census which will give his father's name and you can just keep tracing your family backward in time through the census.

Answer 4

Within about 3 months of starting my research, I found a sixth cousin on Genes Reunited, that had information on my father's line going back to 1708. I have spent the last two years confirming that information, as well as broadening my tree.



1708 is still the furthest I've got in my direct line, but I've gone back to about 1740 on entirely my own merit. I don't drive, so if the records aren't online, local to me, or in London (which for me is easily accessible), then I can't get hold of any further information. That's the point at which I'm stuck now.



I've spoken to people who have got as far back as the kings, or more realistically, to around 1400, but I wouldn't say this is normal. The average time seems to be the 18th century (1700-1799). But it also depends on how determined you are, and how much money you're willing to spend.



I'm lucky to have rare names in my tree though, so I'm 99% sure that the guy with the same name IS my guy. And it may sound obvious, but if you have John CARTER (eg), and he had a son called Hallows CARTER, look for Hallows in the census returns. It will be so much easier to pin the right family, rather than scouring through lists of John CARTERs.



Remember that if someone provides you with loads of information about your family, you HAVE to back it up with your own research. I made a rookie mistake of taking someone's research for gospel, and it caused me to spend 6 months and around £50 researching the wrong line. Never again will I make that mistake.

Answer 5

Generally, if you can get back to the 1400's you're doing extremely well. It depends upon the lines you research. The ancestors who could read and write are more likely to leave documents in their wake.



My English and Dutch lines go to the early 1400's; but the French and Irish Catholic lines are brick walled at 1840; and my Scottish family tree is a pile of rubble in the 1720's.



Seek and you might find. Good luck.

Answer 6

It depends. I've a friend who is a Greek-American, and I've been able to trace her family only as far back as her great grandparents. I have a cousin, whose father is a Norwegian-American, and using conventional web sites, such as Ancestry.com, I've only been able to trace his dad's side of the family back to his grandparents. That's not to say these records don't exist; they just haven't made it to any of the online web sites I usually access (quite possibly because they aren't in English, French, or German).



Most people who live in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom and have done so for many generations, however, can fairly easily trace their ancestry back to the mid 19th-century because census records go back this far. In the US, all family members (if they are white) are shown back to 1850, but most African Americans unfortunately probably aren't listed until 1870. Census records before 1850 list the male head of the family only; the first census was in 1790, and it mentions only male heads of the household, so the researcher has to have a few clues where he or she is going. I suppose the most interesting trend I've noted is that for the most part family groups moved together from other countries and within the United States. This made my ancestry easier to trace.



In some of my family's lines, I've been easily able to trace my ancestry back to the mid-17th to the early 18th-century in both England and Scotland because the parish records seem to be intact. Some of my paternal grandfather's ancestors, I've even been able to trace back to the Middle Ages because of a tie in to the House of Stuart, which came as a surprise.



Actually, I think I've lucked out because I've run across distant cousins who were members of the Latter-Day Saints Church, so they had already done of a lot of my "leg work" for me, and in many cases this includes having the actual documentation. Accordingly, participating in family web sites has been a big help, although I still have a way to go in some instances to find immigrant ancestors or to determine at what date they came to the United States.



I've also had the fortune to trace some fairly unusual last names, for example, Macquarrie, Box, and Keesee (an American corruption of the French La Cage), even if my surname is Smith. Usually, all of the above living in the United States in each case trace back to an original immigrant or at most perhaps a pair of brothers. The Smiths I've been able to trace back to about 1800 in Massachusetts, although census records note that my great great grandfather's dad was from New Hampshire. I'll probably have to be satisfied that I've traced them that far.

Answer 7

All my ancestors are from England, it pretty easy to get back to around 1800 because civil registration started in 1837 and useful censuses in 1841, finding anything earlier than that is the luck of the draw.



I think you would be very lucky indeed to trace your family back to the renaissance, some people must get these amazing family trees by creative interpretation of records.

Answer 8

I was lucky, 1636 in America and 1200s in Wales on my Dads side , only 1900 on Moms side

Answer 9

It's uncertain and there are in fact more than one answers to the question..