Go west, young man
December 10, 2006 12:17 PM Subscribe
Where did your ancestors live in 1840? 1880? 1920? A nifty little map showing how names traveled across the US.
Wow I missed the earlier thread so thank you for pointing both out to me!
posted by dog food sugar at 12:37 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by dog food sugar at 12:37 PM on December 10, 2006
I didn't see the earlier thread, but knowing the family history to 1776 this map is extra not informative. I know they travelled from staten island to Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana. Through all 3 time frames all of those states are the second highest concentration with the exception of New York which is always the highest concentration. I was hoping my branch of Cooks would have a noticeable impact. Not so much. *sadness*
posted by Phantomx at 12:50 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by Phantomx at 12:50 PM on December 10, 2006
"We are programmed to survive. We have the ability to develop in any way necessary to ensure that survival."
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:52 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:52 PM on December 10, 2006
I can actually see my paternal side of the family travelling westward finally ending up with a large concentration in Washington state, which is where my paternal great-grandparents and my grandfather is from. Cool!
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:59 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:59 PM on December 10, 2006
It won't let me click through to the records without signing up for a free trial, blah.
posted by thirteenkiller at 1:07 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by thirteenkiller at 1:07 PM on December 10, 2006
Wow, my name is badass:
Alan
English and Scottish: of Celtic origin and uncertain derivation (possibly a diminutive of a word meaning “rock”). It was introduced into England by Breton followers of William the Conqueror, most notably Alan, Earl of Brittany, who was rewarded for his services with vast estates in the newly conquered kingdom.
Gonzalez
Spanish (González): patronymic from the personal name Gonzalo, a personal name of Visigothic origin, based on the Germanic element gunþ ‘battle’.
mendoza
Basque: habitational name from several places in the provinces of Arava and Biscay called Mendoza, named with Basque mendi ‘mountain’ + otz ‘cold’ + the definite article -a.
posted by portisfreak at 1:22 PM on December 10, 2006
Alan
English and Scottish: of Celtic origin and uncertain derivation (possibly a diminutive of a word meaning “rock”). It was introduced into England by Breton followers of William the Conqueror, most notably Alan, Earl of Brittany, who was rewarded for his services with vast estates in the newly conquered kingdom.
Gonzalez
Spanish (González): patronymic from the personal name Gonzalo, a personal name of Visigothic origin, based on the Germanic element gunþ ‘battle’.
mendoza
Basque: habitational name from several places in the provinces of Arava and Biscay called Mendoza, named with Basque mendi ‘mountain’ + otz ‘cold’ + the definite article -a.
posted by portisfreak at 1:22 PM on December 10, 2006
So anytime I see anything about genealogy I instantly think Mormon*... but this time I was wrong...
Because the company is based in Utah, some mistakenly believe that it is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons"). This is an incorrect assumption; according to the company's Public Relations Senior Manager, Peggy Hayes (as of January 2006), the company is privately held and the LDS Church has no stake in it. However, many of the LDS genealogical research centers called, "Family History Centers" (FHC), have publically available computers that offer Ancestry.com for no charge.
*Mormons (or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they prefer) are crazy about genealogy, because you know they believe in proxy postmortem baptism.
posted by wfrgms at 2:18 PM on December 10, 2006
Because the company is based in Utah, some mistakenly believe that it is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons"). This is an incorrect assumption; according to the company's Public Relations Senior Manager, Peggy Hayes (as of January 2006), the company is privately held and the LDS Church has no stake in it. However, many of the LDS genealogical research centers called, "Family History Centers" (FHC), have publically available computers that offer Ancestry.com for no charge.
*Mormons (or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they prefer) are crazy about genealogy, because you know they believe in proxy postmortem baptism.
posted by wfrgms at 2:18 PM on December 10, 2006
My last name means urban, but in 1880 100% of my ancestors were farmers?!
posted by j-urb at 2:45 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by j-urb at 2:45 PM on December 10, 2006
So that's where they were hiding...
No, they're hiding here. I always knew there was something wrong with Ohio.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:52 PM on December 10, 2006
No, they're hiding here. I always knew there was something wrong with Ohio.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:52 PM on December 10, 2006
So that's how he got to Mordor. Who'da thunk he'd started in New York.
posted by TimeTravelSpeed at 3:42 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by TimeTravelSpeed at 3:42 PM on December 10, 2006
Meh, I find ancestry.com to be not very accurate for my name and others.
posted by desuetude at 4:06 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by desuetude at 4:06 PM on December 10, 2006
I found ancestry.com to be completely accurate for my name, desuetude. Not a single tgyg anywhere.
posted by tgyg at 4:38 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by tgyg at 4:38 PM on December 10, 2006
This is incomplete -- I know for a fact there were more than 20 households in Pennsylvania in 1840.
The catch is that not all of the censuses are available and of those that are not all are transcribed and digitized. In any case, this is just a little toy to get people to consider signing up for Ancestry.com. If you're actively and regularly researching your family's genealogy it can be worth it, I understand, but I haven't yet found it necessary. Real genealogy requires paper documents, not family trees, anyway.
posted by dhartung at 5:12 PM on December 10, 2006
The catch is that not all of the censuses are available and of those that are not all are transcribed and digitized. In any case, this is just a little toy to get people to consider signing up for Ancestry.com. If you're actively and regularly researching your family's genealogy it can be worth it, I understand, but I haven't yet found it necessary. Real genealogy requires paper documents, not family trees, anyway.
posted by dhartung at 5:12 PM on December 10, 2006
Wow, I thought my family was the result of a random voyage to ontario, but there's a lot of us in New York as well. I think the branches are from the same European migration.
posted by tehloki at 5:16 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by tehloki at 5:16 PM on December 10, 2006
This is hilarious. My family never gets out of the single digits. (1840: "NY: 3 - 4". That's it.) We could have "traveled across the US" in a pickup truck.
posted by SPrintF at 6:42 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by SPrintF at 6:42 PM on December 10, 2006
The DNA tests they can do are pretty cool. If I was concerned with my ancestory, I wouldn't look too far.
posted by j-urb at 7:35 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by j-urb at 7:35 PM on December 10, 2006
Ancestry.com has scans of handwritten census records. Those are cool.
posted by thirteenkiller at 8:06 PM on December 10, 2006
posted by thirteenkiller at 8:06 PM on December 10, 2006
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posted by The corpse in the library at 12:17 PM on December 10, 2006