O! Horror!

[lethearen]

I've been poking around on ancestry.com, and found that they have some tools to make preliminary tree-filling really fast by letting you borrow and build upon what others have already found. I know that I still have to verify, but it gives me direction and makes the whole task seem less daunting. So anyway. I found a hypothetical paternal line starting with my mum's pop back to 1634...

In Edinburgh. Scotland.
Not Ireland.

My illusions from growing up have been shattered! Why have we always been told we were Irish? Why was my Great Grandpa Max called "Pat" if he wasn't Irish?! So many questions! But that's half the fun of genealogy, right?

At least now I guess I'm officially more "entitled" to wear the kilt than I had been before!

[beloitpiper]

I've been poking around on ancestry.com, and found that they have some tools to make preliminary tree-filling really fast by letting you borrow and build upon what others have already found. I know that I still have to verify, but it gives me direction and makes the whole task seem less daunting. So anyway. I found a hypothetical paternal line starting with my mum's pop back to 1634...

In Edinburgh. Scotland.
Not Ireland.

My illusions from growing up have been shattered! Why have we always been told we were Irish? Why was my Great Grandpa Max called "Pat" if he wasn't Irish?! So many questions! But that's half the fun of genealogy, right?

At least now I guess I'm officially more "entitled" to wear the kilt than I had been before!

He could still very well be Irish even if your family was in Scotland in 1634...that was a long time ago and people tend to move.

[Rex_Tremende]

Well, 1634 was a while ago, you know. That makes you, what? 1/512th Scottish?

Regards,
Rex.

[Ozark Ridge Rider]

You didn"t say how many generations it was back to 1634, but in my case it is 11 back to that time.

Since the number of ancestors double every generation back, you probably are at least to the generation which had 512 or 1024 ancestors - in the same generation.

If you could trace all of them, I bet a whole bunch of them would be Scottish. And Irish, and probably several others.

[Rex_Tremende]

Since the number of ancestors double every generation back, you probably are at least to the generation which had 512 or 1024 ancestors - in the same generation.

In my case, I have at least one repeat, so I lose one whole branch of genetic input somewhere. Not quite sure how to to the math on that one, but there's a good chance that I'm my own second cousin, six times removed.

Regards,
Rex.

[Ozark Ridge Rider]

In my case, I have at least one repeat, so I lose one whole branch of genetic input somewhere. Not quite sure how to to the math on that one, but there's a good chance that I'm my own second cousin, six times removed.

Regards,
Rex.

At some point, you always run into that. One pair of my great-great-grandparents were second cousins. And you don't have to go all that many generations, doubling as you go, to reach a number greater than all the humans who have ever lived.

And the maxim about contact can be used with the Scots and the Irish: "When two different people come in contact with each other, they may trade, they may fight, but they always breed." That's been true for a long time.

[SteveB]

BeloitPiper - I have some of those Hume ancestors in Down. We may be very distant cousins, or we may not.. Names and spelling do not have any semblance of standardization until around 1940. This is even worse when an English clerk wrote down a name spoken in Gaelic, Scots, or Scots Gaelic. I have spent years on these. After many painstaking research visits, I have come away with someone other than my family. What you find on Ancestry.com is only what has been submitted by people and is not verified. Always beware.

Paul-
You probably have the most reliable data there is from the certificates that you have collected. Ancestry has not been able to produce much from Scotland, as the owners of the information are not willing to give it away without some compensation. You will be better served at the National Library and the Register Office. My lineage through Ireland to Scotland is through the official records, none of which have made it to Ancestry.com.

It has taken over twenty-five years of research to trace my mother's side of the family. It is here that I have a lineage back to the MacNeils of Barra.

The possibility of my father's side being a Lamont is the next theory to either prove or cast to the dustbin.

[BroosterB1]

I too had the same thing occur, we always thought we were Irish, heck the boat left from Dublin so we had to be Irish right? Nooooooooooooooooo, not the case. Started looking at name registry's no, not there. Northern Ireland, nope not there either. Finally, when about to give up, on a flyer looked at Scotland...Bingo!

Doing some back tracing (going the other way from the past forward) finally found the two brothers who had left Scotland in 1747, made their way to Dublin and appeared on the ship registry that coincided with the information we had going back to Boston 1748. Also found a whole bunch of folks with the same surname that went off to places like New Zealand, Australia, the Argintine and Mexico. Seems like some of the oral history was right, some appears to be fantasy, the family name is Scottish not Irish.

Family tradition says they were impressed soldiers, research say they were missionaries. Family tradition say they "threw down their muskets, one went north on went south". My research says they were assigned to different missions.

Next step is to contact folks from Aberdineshire see if there is any familial resemblence. Then of course a trip to the homeland, for research purposes mind you. Is not the internet great?ith:

[lethearen]

You didn"t say how many generations it was back to 1634, but in my case it is 11 back to that time.

Since the number of ancestors double every generation back, you probably are at least to the generation which had 512 or 1024 ancestors - in the same generation.

If you could trace all of them, I bet a whole bunch of them would be Scottish. And Irish, and probably several others.

Eleven here, too. I'm not putting too much faith in it at this point. Along another line I can theoretically trace to 1500 in Yorkshire, England. It is fun, though

Sorry to hear you're stuck, Paul Something's there, just hiding out of sight from you!

Rex, 1/512 Scottish beats 0/512 Irish But who know at this point. First step of a journey

[Paul]

You just made me re-regitester for a trial!
None of my grandparents are on it sadly