While working on my family history, I had hit a wall at my great-grandfather on my dad's side. Or so I thought. After getting re-involved in family history work, and starting a genealogy class in Sunday School, I decided to look at correspondence that was over 30 years old. I re-read the letters and copied information that I had received all those years ago. Low and behold I found the names of my great grandpa Olson's parents.
When I added those names, which was the missing link, that whole side of my family showed up. As a matter of fact, I got into new.familysearch.org the other day and spent literally hours tracing back the lines to see if I could find the "end". I never did. I clicked on the family tree option to do this. When going back very far, sometimes most of the temple work has been done, (like back 150 -200 years,) at least that is the case for my Norwegian lines. When finding names that need temple work performed, I added them to the temple ordinance list. BUT when I got back really far, alot of work needs to be done, but more information is needed first. That is going to be almost impossible for me to do, I think, because how do I find out information for people born in the 14th and 15th centuries or even further back for instance? Anyway, while trying to find the "end" and giving up, I have to tell you that I found someone who was born in the 500s! I can hardly believe it. Some of the names where a hoot. One man was call so and so the "haughty and stingy". Someone else was "the just". One woman was called "the fair". I also noticed lots of "king of Scotland" or "queen of Scotland" Who knows what it all means, but it was certainly entertaining.
I didn't know that genealogy work could be so much fun!
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4 comments:
Those names are a hoot! How fun to find a huge line like that! I have found that same experience on my mom's side of the family. There is no end to the names or work being done on either side for her. How fun! Now for my dad's side! :)
Love you! and good luck!
Good luck with that..It does never end, does it?
How fun! I am hoping for a similar breakthrough on one of my lines. Do you have any idea how many Joseph Wilsons there are in the world? I know--Olsons are the same way. But I'm not giving up. I'll find the right one. I'm so glad you found your link. That's what new family search is all about!
Just so you know, you are relieved of responsibility for anyone who was born before 1500. There is a special department of people who handle all that.
That's a relief to know. How do you know that??
My grandmother on my Mother's side was a "Smith". Talk about a common name, and I don't have anything about that line past my great grandfather. I'm hoping to find more information with census records, etc. Plus all my mother's side has been here (as far as I know) since before the founding of the country. So I have both extremes..relatively recent immigrants (Norway) and long time residents. It should be interesting to say the least.
The thing about Olsons--is that the name only exists as long as the father's name is Ole. My grandfather's name was Ole O. His father was Ole B--and his father's name was Ola Olson Midtun (last part is the farm name, I think. then Ola Nilsson, then Nils Person, then Per Nilsson. You get the idea. Kids have their father's first name plus "datter" or "son". Way back, I can hardly pronounce the names.
What an adventure!!
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