Family tree thread

[Liffrea]

I don't know if there is any call for this. I thought it might be an idea to create a thread for those of us reasearching their family history. Ancestry is, of course, important to us Heathens.

I will start with a query of my own. My great grand mothers maiden name was Lawless. From what I can find on the internet the surname is Irish. Does anyone know if this is true? It would fit some of the facts. She came from Salford in Manchester, which apparently has a large Irish community. Apparently though it originated in Wales and was taken to Ireland during the 9th century by Welsh fleeing from Viking attack. As I said I am unsure of this so if anyone knows different I would appreciate any help.

[Thomas]

I have no idea sorry. You could try using the name search facility on http://www.ancestry.com I have an ancester on my grandfathers side (his grandad) who has the name "Law" which I know is Scottish. Almost cognate with "Lawless"....maybe there is a connection?

I have a family tree that goes back only as far as the 1800s on my mothers side of the family but I guess it is a start. I definitely know there is a Scottish and Irish background to my families from both sides.

Thomas

[Liffrea]

Well been on the blower to my auntie (on my mothers side) and her granny was Irish. So it looks like Gaels on both sides. Bloody Hel!

Cheers for the info Thomas. It could be Scots as well. Its possibly Hiberno-Norse.

[Liffrea]

The plot thickens. My aunt recollects another possible Irish grand-parent from Cork. Whilst her other Irish grand-mother married a Scotsman surname Paterson. My great grand-mother on my dads side is Mary Lawless. Which will make it a bugger to trace, practically every other Irish girl is called Mary.

Score card reads at the moment 2-3 eigths Irish, 1 eigth Scottish, and 4-5 eights English. Need to update my ethnic profile at this rate!

[Sigurd]

Hmmm.... I realised that something was incompletely and wrongly researched on one side (took a stepfather instead of father who had illegitimate son only about 3 generations back), so I have start again tracing my ancestry. So far I have only gotten to the point that is unlikely that my ancestors came from anywhere that is south of Southern Tyrol, west of Switzerland or east of Prussia. Seems like this makes me a basically "pure" Middle-/North-European.

[beowulf]

I've got my paternal family tree whence I get me surname traced back 15 generations to 1575 in London. Through my dad I'm pretty solidly "Anglo-Saxon" far as I can tell though I suspect some Scotch Irish infusion as well.
I've got my mother's dad's family tree to 1819 here in Ky. don't know before that. My mom's a Girten which the family thinks is German though the name occurs in England as well. The Girtens are very catholic so my guess is they come of German catholic origin. My great-grandfather Girten had a disease called Raynaud's syndrome which docs told the family often runs in families of German or Germanic origin. Pretty rare. Also lotsa Irish catholic 'n English names married into the Girten family.

[Liffrea]

My mothers maiden name was Tagg, which I thought might be German, but is actually Old English. It means goat herder.

[beowulf]

My mothers maiden name was Tagg, which I thought might be German, but is actually Old English. It means goat herder.

Hmm. My suspicion is that Girten is either old English or German for "garden" or "gardener" or perhaps "girtler" or "girdler" which means belt-maker. Dunno. :confused:

[Liffrea]

Hmm. My suspicion is that Girten is either old English or German for "garden" or "gardener" or perhaps "girtler" or "girdler" which means belt-maker. Dunno.

Sounds more Dutch to my ears.

[Liffrea]

As a matter of interest how do folks count their ancestry? What I mean is how many generations back do you consider to be important to your identity?

[Sigurd]

Hmm. My suspicion is that Girten is either old English or German for "garden" or "gardener" or perhaps "girtler" or "girdler" which means belt-maker. Dunno. :confused:

Now that I see this It is vaguely in my mind. I responded on your PM but I'll type the response to this one here. In the telephone register of my hometowna woman named Girtl or Gertl exists (cant recall properly); and one of my ex girlfriends' surname was "Gürtler" so if this links to Girtler and then goes to Girten then this is well possible that the name comes originally from around Southern Germany or Austria.

[Scramaseax]

These are most or all of the names I know are in my family tree:

Adamson
Atkins
Baker
Boyer
Brown
Burke
Carmichael
Dare
Davies
Dover
Dye
Ewanson
Fowler
Georgeson
Greig
Harris
Haynes
Hills
Jamieson
Jeffery
Kettle
King
Kingsford
Lloyd
Lobb
Manson
May
Menlove
Moffat/t
Noaks
Omer
Osbourne
Patin
Pitts
Reid
Ritchie
Roberts
Robertson
Rogers
Sclatter
Smith
Soper
Thompson
Treveal

[Liffrea]

Wow. How many generations is that?

Mine up to now are, with branches:

Stevenson, English
Tagg, English
Lawless, Irish
Jackson, English
Breedon, English
Russell, English/Welsh not to sure
Roberts, Welsh
Bettinson, English, this branch goes back to Flanders
paterson, Scottish/Irish

[Scramaseax]

Wow. How many generations is that?

It's 12 generations including me, but I don't know all branches back that far. A few branches I know 11 generations, then progressively down till a few branches I only know 5.

I also forgot Shannon from that list.

[redneck]

I Think sow do we have eney ulster here that can help me im a gann and my antis welch moms a mullin thanks for stareing this redneck :cool: ;)

[Hengest]

Liffrea, is Breedon a common name in your area? I have a colleague called Dave Breedon from your neck of the woods.

[Liffrea]

Liffrea, is Breedon a common name in your area? I have a colleague called Dave Breedon from your neck of the woods.

Unsure. It was the married name of my Irish G-grandmother. I think it may have been Leicestershire. Cambridgeshire way.

[Liffrea]

The Breedon's in my family came from Newark way. From what I can gather they were "horse dealers" along with two other families, related to them, the Delaney's and Clarke's.

[Liffrea]

Updates:

Goodlad,English
Windle,English
MacLean,Scottish-relations of Patterson (who are a sept of MacLaren)
Clarke/O'Cleirigh,Irish- from Cork
Delaney,Irish-from Cork

[battleax]

These are most or all of the names I know are in my family tree:

Adamson
Atkins
Baker
Boyer
Brown
Burke
Carmichael
Dare
Davies
Dover
Dye
Ewanson
Fowler
Georgeson
Greig
Harris
Haynes
Hills
Jamieson
Jeffery
Kettle
King
Kingsford
Lloyd
Lobb
Manson
May
Menlove
Moffat/t
Noaks
Omer
Osbourne
Patin
Pitts
Reid
Ritchie
Roberts
Robertson
Rogers
Sclatter
Smith
Soper
Thompson
Treveal


Thats pretty cool. My hope one day would to have researched a list as long as that.

Here is some of my tree

Becker=German
Loutitt=Orkney
Northey=England
Mobeck=Norway
Olson=Iceland
Trimble=Ireland

[Asgard]

I want to make a tree for mij son but how do I started?
can any one tell me that?

[Scramaseax]

I want to make a tree for mij son but how do I started?
can any one tell me that?http://misbach.org/pdfcharts/. Download one of these, print it out and fill it in.

[Son Of Odin]

well.. .first thing you do... (if we go out from the fact that you start looking for your grandparrents from your fathers side (as an example))

so.. write down your fathers name
above that, write down your fathers parrents name (your grandparents)
above that write down your grandfathers parrents and grandmothers parents
and continue from there

Good luck its not easy to do, here are some tips i have been using along the way:


You can find out these by checking (if they are not living anymore) into the funeral letters
after that.. check at churches your 2nd generaton grandparents could have been (if they where christian) ..and check out registers of burialgrounds and also the city halls (gemeentehuizen) know a lot of that in the birthhistory lists
(geboorte registers)

[Sigurd]

I havent gotten quite far on the real research I have currently gotten these, direct linedly

Southern Tyrol is now Italy but has ever since mankind lives been inhabited by Austrians and their predecessors. (Dammit we should nay have lost WWI...)

name rough geographic origin of relatives

Schernthaner Middle Austrian; name delves from Old High German!!! (mine lol)
Gruber Southern Tyrolean;
Welteke Northern German;
Schuchter Southern Tyrolean;
von Khälßberg Eastern Austrian;
Rojacher Middle Austrian;
Stockel Northern German;
Obersky East Prussian; not sufficiently researched
Hohenegger Southern Tyrolean

the research has been on ice for the past 4 weeks. will be updated tho ;)

the main issue for so few names is that the female lines are insufficiently researched... especially on my fathers side; but I will update on that especially he said he will copy out the family trees for me. just still waiting for that.

[damonrunehammer]

I will start delving more deeply into mine:
Keiffer (Kieffer)-German
Smith-English
Antill-Norwegian/Danish?
Mitchell-Scottish
McGee-Irish
I plan on taking a trip to the local library.. we have a great geneology team there which will be a great help.. I am also going to talk to family members..

[onionhead1112]

my last name is Cobb traced back to a man named either Semer or Semour(e) Cobb arrived "in the Carolinas" in early 1700's or 1699 or was born in 1699 we are not sure. has anyone here with the same last name traced their ancestry back to this gentleman or to one of his direct family members?Ive written to a few people from England but none were related.We know he came from England (south?or nort east?) from census records so Ibelieve he was born in 1699 and arrived later . the name is rare here in usa and also not so common in england either I believe. any info if possible would be appriciated. thanks.
Maternal great grandmother was kirpatrick or Kirkpatrik.
Mothers Madien name was Garten, traced back to 1700s, by my grandfather (RIP)they arrived quite early as well they are related to some of the other Gartens of various spellings in usa.maternal grandmother was Braun changed to Brown during wwI because of anti german bias at the time.
Paternal grandmother was Slough Not sure of the spelling, was said family was from wales but donot know anymore of them.
Mostly interested in the Cobb side of the family.

[Outdoorsman]

Surnames on my list so far:

Dahlen - Norwegian
Selvig - Swedish?
Keller - German
Stehno - Czech
Toepke - German

[mrsdragon]

My sister and I have worked on our family history for 25 years. Recently I stated doing my husbands family but ran into a couple of snags including people getting hysterical because I was prodding.... Now I'm looking forward to what they apparently have to hide ;)

One name I have run into a snag with is Archur. Its "supposedly" French, but one of my French pals couldn't find anything for me. My husbands grandfather was adopted and he insisted that this was his original name... I haven't been able to get across state to investigate any further yet.

If anyone needs Michigan Research done, just let me know... I'm planning a trip to the state library sometime late fall, early winter.

[Odinskind]

I was born with surname Burton, my father married my mother soon after I was born my surname was changed to Patterson
More kin surnames that I know of are Smith and Clarke. Anyone looking for a free surname search should check out www.houseofnames.com . The first Burtons that came to Vinland was in 1624 in Virginia(where my family is from)I just moved from Richmond Va to Kentucky. I don't know how true this searches are on the internet but I found out alot of interesting thing's about Burton's, Patterson's Clarks,and Smiths. It said I was the desendent of Kings of England and of Norway,(pretty cool). It's kinda wyrd that my whole life I've had a thing for runes and midevil weapons,before I even knew what they really were( well runes I mean) I believe it has something to do with the blood of my ancestors flowing through my veins.
William I (c. 1028 – 9 September 1087), was King of England from 1066 to 1087, and as Guillaume II was Duke of Normandy from 1035 to 1087. Known alternatively as William of Normandy (Fr. Guillaume de Normandie), William the Conqueror (Fr. Guillaume le Conquérant) and William the Bastard (Fr. Guillaume le Bâtard), he was the illegitimate and only son of Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, and Herleva, the daughter of Fulbert, a tanner. Born in Falaise, Normandy, now in France, William succeeded to the throne of England by right of conquest by winning the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and suppressing subsequent English revolts, in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.

No authentic portrait of William has been found. He was described as a big burly man, strong in every sense of the word, balding in front, and of regal dignity.

Well thats all from Wikipedia(cool site) I supossed to be related to these folk.
Ves Heill!!! :swinghamm

[Odinskind]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Halfdan more on William the "Bastard" bloodline!!

[Liffrea]

You need to be careful with these websites to be honest, or at least research more. For example one of my ancestors is supposed to have been Cynric the second king of Wessex. I prefer to stick with what I can verify.

Patterson hey? Interesting my great-great-grandfather was a Patterson as well from Perthshire. His family are a sept of the clan MacLaren.

Some of William the Bastard’s cutthroats were my ancestors as well. My name Stevenson is Anglo-Norman from landowners in Scotland. And the Lawless’ were Cambro-Normans who took part in the Norman invasion of Ireland.

[Thulinist]

Mine so far;

Carlson: Swedish (my last name)
Amundsen (Norwegian)
Bibby (English)
Woodhouse (English)
Smith (English) (1/32)
Dixon (English)
Hughes (Wales maybe?)
Leaver (Isle of Mann)

That's my father's line, with Swedish from Karlshamn, Norwegian from Nes, the English from various places.

My mother's line hasn't been researched too much, but is meant to be mostly English. She is from Doncaster, her mother the same, her father from Stratford-upon-Avon.

[MacQuiston]

MacQuiston - Scottish, Descendents of Viking settlers
Young - English / Anglo-Saxon
Tree - English / Norman
Zomerfeld (Sommerfeld) - German/English / Anglo-Saxon
Siery - Polish? German? No idea..
Chirillo - Italian / Calabrian

All I know, but even these names tell me very little :(

[Liffrea]

Surnames on their own can only give you a rough guide. They don't necessarily mean much on there own.

[Star of the North]

I just joined this forum after lurking and reading for a few weeks. I've also recently joined the Odinic Rite, but have been immensely interested in Scandinavia for as long as I can remember. So that's my introduction, haha.

I was given a rough outline constructed by my grandfather a few months ago, and recently followed up the names starting from me and going as far back as possibly Freyr, as accounted by the Heimskringla. This makes a great amount of sense, since the occupations my grandfather listed next to many of the names between 1300 and 1860 are either "farmer" or "priest," but anything beyond Ottar Ogentheowsson isn't set in stone.

But after I solidify my dad's dad's side with a fair amount of certainty, I want to start on my dad's mom and my mom's parents, since they were all almost solidly Irish, English or Welsh. I thought that I could share thoughts and soak in opinions here when I get to that portion. I could maybe post the rough outline, without regional details, of what I have so far.

Thanks!
Mike

[Nordraserei]

Dittmer (north German/Danish)
Bradshaw (English)
Dunlap (English/Scottish)
Andersen (Spelled the old Norse way but is from my English side)

[forever united]

i started tracing my family tree but didnt get to far, my grandmother was adopted and my grandfather is canadan-french, although i did get a little farther on my fathers side, but i can only trace back so many years because upon arival to amercia the changed there last name, well shortened it from what it was (the name is not remembered now) to King, and they seem to jump off the earth.

[Æthelweard]

Willetts (Gloucestershire)
Averiss (Gloucestershire)
Senescall (Lincolnshire)
Cox (Co.Clare. Ire)
Renard (Liege, Belgium)

Thats immediate family for the last 100 yrs.

[hrolf]

I know my father has a much more complete family tree than I do, but from what I know, I have these:

Scutt (my last name), believed to be Dutch (Schutt)
Green, Irish
Antonietti, Italian
Bekker, Danish
Danielsen, Norwegian
Schmidt, Dutch
Day, Irish, I believe

There are many more known to my father, but these are the ones I know personally.

[jesse]

here are some of mine .. i dont know many name's
my family dont want to talk about it :confused:

luijken
hinten,
aerts,
van zundert,
stes..
as far as i know ar luijken and stes belgium name's and the rest dutch

[Guntram]

As a matter of interest how do folks count their ancestry? What I mean is how many generations back do you consider to be important to your identity?
Hmmm, I've never had the chance to know my mother's dad ... and my other grandpa hired hundreds or thousands of turks as "Gastarbeiter" - so I do not count that generation as important to my identity. :mad:

The first "prominent" guy here in Brandenburg with an older variety of my family name was a fraudulent christian priest. I do not need him for my identity. ;)

No, for my identity two generations are enough - my parents and me.

[Jason Schultz]

Singer - English (Anglo Saxon, Devonshire), German
Stewart - Scottish
Axford - English
Schultz - German
Loucks - French, German
O'Riada - Irish

Research is continuing on my family history, but for the most part I am English and German. All names on this list, save for O'Riada, is on my mother's side.

[Jason Schultz]

Some more information on some of the names in my Line:

Singer - English (Anglo Saxon, Devonshire), German
Stewart - Scottish (Gaelic Stiùbhard) Said to have been traced back to Robert the Bruce. Sounds too good to be true, but I'll investigate further.
Axford - English
Schultz - German
Loucks - German (United Empire Loyalists of German ancestry who settled in Upper Canada village after the American revolution. http://www.uppercanadavillage.com/tour15.htm )
O'Riada - Irish

[Scramaseax]

I made this chart, based on where my ancestors were born. Most of the question marks I know their names and can infer their birthplace based on other records, but I only included flags for those I had a record of birthplace. I only did 7 generations because it gets too big (apologies for the wide post!):
http://i2.tinypic.com/r9fwc8.jpg

[Scramaseax]

As a matter of interest how do folks count their ancestry? What I mean is how many generations back do you consider to be important to your identity?I just read part of the Laws of Manu, which, while obviously not Teutonic, is Indo-European circa 200 CE. 9:186 says, translated by George Bühler: To three (ancestors) water must be offered, to three the funeral cake is given, the fourth (descendant is) the giver of these (oblations), the fifth has no connection (with them). This appears to mean that only three generations back were important. Although it doesn't seem to make sense because the fifth generation would still be connected to two of the three that the fourth is connected to.

[Gwynyvyr]

I guess I lucked out on the geneology thing here...
My Uncle George is...you got it, a Geneologist.
I know more about my family than I think anyone would ever want to, :lol: .
I think Uncle George got into geneology originally because he wanted to prove we were related to somebody royal or famous. Now, I think he does it for the travel! he has traced us back to some ridiculously far ago time. I'll have to ask him for a copy of the book he had printed out about my dads side of the family.
What I do remember from his long stories at family reunions and what is in my baby books and the info from my maternal side::
McCourry
McLeod
Stuart
Buchanan
O'Donnell
Duive (thats Irish, not French, sometimes spelled Duieve, depending on source)
Lloyd
Woody
Barker
Bryan (Daniel Boones wifes brother)
MacSweeney (later changed to Sweeney)
Dunder (now this one is way back and U. George says it is German, but my dad always argued it was Swedish, I dunno..U. George says the Dunder was BORN in Sweden, but his parents came from Germany...mid-1700s, I think)

And we have one stubborn Iroquoi Native American in the mix on my moms side.Which probably explains why my mom has hardly any gray hair at the age of 73!

I resemble my moms mom..She was from Donegal Ireland and emmigrated here
with her parents when she was around 12.

Anyway, Uncle George has traveled to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany and Sweden tracking all this down.
He self-published the family history (McCourry) and gives out the book at all family reunions.My mom has my copy. I'll have her send it out to me. (Shes on East Coast)

[Sigurd]

Some names were apparently misspelt...lol

Anyway, here's as far as I've gotten by now. Sorted into Maternal and Paternal and then alphabetical. All are in direct line.

Maternal:
Bangert
Becker
Curtze
Kesting
von Khälß
Kleinschmit
Krantz
Langenheim
Oberski
Pentzel
Rojacher
Schernthaner
Schluckebier
Schultze
Seifert
Stöcker
Suden
Welteke

Paternal:
Erhart
Falch
Frank
Gruber (x2)
Haas
Heis
Hendl
Hochenegger
Kranebitter (x2)
Krug
Leitgeb
Malauner
Maurer
Nagl
Partner
Regensburger
Reindl (x2)
Scharmer
Scheiber
Schrott
Schuchter
Streng
Tappeiner
Walcher
Zingerle

[Sigurd]

To add to above list,

Tauscher
Thoma

both paternal

[Galloglaich]

I don't know if there is any call for this. I thought it might be an idea to create a thread for those of us reasearching their family history. Ancestry is, of course, important to us Heathens.

I will start with a query of my own. My great grand mothers maiden name was Lawless. From what I can find on the internet the surname is Irish. Does anyone know if this is true?

Nothing like joining the thread a little late, but I hope this helps:
Edward MacLysaght traces the name back to the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland and gives it's origin form the Old English "laghles", meaning outlaw. The name is numerous in counties Dublin & Galway. Although it was one of the Tribes of Kilkenny, it has no close association w/ that city. So the name was Anglo-Norman in origin, but after a few generations, there would be some native Celt mixed in there as well.

On a related, but slightly different note; one thing I have picked up on in my years of researching Scottish and Irish geneology is to be careful of taking published lists of clan & sept names at 100% face value. Due to the way the patronymic system of naming worked, many of the same names occurred simultaneously in many clans in many different places at the same time. The switch to one inherited surname among families did not occur in all regions at the same time. If your last name is MacDonald, does that guarantee that you are of Clan Donald stock? No, it makes it highly likely, but all it really guarantees is that the last person to have a son before the switch to inheritable surnames was introduced was named Donald. The name Patterson was brought up. The most common assumption is that Scottish Pattersons "belong" to the Clan MacLaren. Most probably do, but the name occurs amongst the MacGregors, Lamonts, and others as well. Some names are more distinct and can be more reliably said to have a certain origin. Also, many Gaelic names were Anglicised during different periods. Say your family had the Gaelic occupational name of Gowan (or MacGowan for the male offspring), meaning Smith. At a certain point the name could be changed to Smith. Allowing for time and migration, would your ancestors down the line know that they were of Gaelic stock, or would they just assume they were English because they bore the surname "Smith"?