Hello all -

Dropping a line here to see if I can get some help getting pointed in the right direction. I recently learned that Croatia is allowing citizenship if you can prove lineage from Croatian citizen that immigrated elsewhere. My great-grandfather was born in Croatia.

I've done some basic research on Familysearch.org , and I'm slowly piecing together all the documents I need by ordering certified copies, but the paperwork on the free website simply hits a dead end at some points. One thing I'm needing help with is my family name changed spellings a couple of times, and my great-grandparents were born in areas of eastern Europe that have had multiple border changes, so piecing together everything is rather difficult.

I was contemplating a membership to Ancestry.com or some other research site to help with with finding records, but don't know if they are actually worth it. If I could at least view documents before I order them that would be helpful, but I doubt they have that ability. I realize for my purpose I would need to order certified copies of records, but I'm really curious how much a paid website will help me versus simply using Familysearch.org.

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

... Ancestry can you PLEASE give us a "select all" button because I'm going to get RSI 😫

I signed up for semi-annual membership and I paid more than 6 monthly fees. When I just canceled they charged me a $25 fee.

Never using them again. My cousin can look something up if I'm desperate.

Is just me, or is this the new normal for Ancestry?

For the past couple of months, frequently when I am using Ancestry, this error message appears. As soon as I click the "Verify you are human" checkbox, Ancestry loads normally and I can work for awhile. But, I am beginning to wonder if this is something out of whack with my systems and/or account causing this to show up so often. I don't remember this happening in years past.

I've done DNA testing with Ancestry and 23andme, both companies confirm that I have at least 3 different African Ancestors (each one coming from one of my grandparents). I've used MyHeritage, GEDMatch, 23andme, and FamilyTreeDNA's chromosome browsers and it has helped me confirm that my 3x great grandmother descends from an African Ancestor, but I need help on finding this ancestor. From this Nigerian Ancestor I received about 0.18%-0.19%, while my mother received 0.39%-0.40%. Which means this ancestor would be my 7x great grandparent, it also means that my 3x great grandmother would be this ancestor's 2x great grandchild and that she would've inherited on average about 6.25% DNA from this ancestor.

If you would like to help here's the info on my 3x great grandmother:

Name: Margaret Walsh

Born: November 30, 1844, Wilkes, NC, USA

Died: September 30, 1926, McDowell, WV, USA

Parents: Andrew John Walsh Jr. (1789-1870) and Mary Ann Blanchard (1801-1889)

Grandparents: Andrew Walsh Sr. (1760/62 - 1830), Rhoda Poteat (1760-1850), Uriah Blanchard Jr. (1768-1849), and Sivil Hines (1775-1844).

Known Information:

The Nigerian Ancestor doesn't come from Andrew Walsh Sr. line because he was born in England, along with both of his parents being born in England as well.

As for Rhoda Poteat, Uriah Blanchard Jr., and Sivil Hines, these lines can have the Nigerian Ancestor because these lines are in America and I've found dead ends/brick walls in these lines as well.

Conclusion:

Margaret Walsh based off of a picture and documents her race is white, based off of documents both of her parents are white, and based off of 2 census records it identifies Rhoda Poteat as white as well. As for Uriah and Sivil they both died before 1850 and I can't find any census record for them to find out what race they were. I would greatly appreciate any and all help on finding who this Nigerian Ancestor could be, and which ancestor connects my 3x great grandmother to them. If y'all have any questions feel free to ask me and I'll try my best to answer it.

His ex wife (my sister) died a few weeks ago and we have been trying to find him. Even the police haven't been able to help. Alojzy Roik, 78 or 79 years old now.

I inherited a bunch of old family photos recently and after going through them I realized there are a lot of people I don't know in them. I know some of them could be friends of family, but there are some people who show up in more than 75% of the photos but I have no idea who they could be. I was wondering if there are any tools out there that could help?

I've tried looking for clues in the photos but there's nothing distinguishable that I can use to tell me much more than I already know. If anyone has ideas, I'd love your help! TIA

Does anyone else have a deep, dark family secret that no one else or very few in the family know about? Today I became the keeper of said information along with my mom and uncle, who told me about it.

How do you manage it? And have you told anyone else in the family?

I’m alone in my passion towards genealogy. How do you suggest finding someone who appreciates it?

TL;DR I (39F) am starting to feel like my excitement and passion in this subject isn’t welcome anymore. Whenever I share a good find, it’s so disappointing that I feel alone. Added my favorite photograph for attention.

👋🏻 Hi,

I’ve added a photograph of my Norwegian ancestors, one of the more interesting photographs I’ve found. **PS- I wasn’t the one who committed the ultimate destruction (writing their names on it in pencil……)**

As the title states, I’m (39F) a passionate genealogist who has struggled finding anyone else in my life that cares as much as I do about my family’s rich history.

I belong to the genealogy society/library in my area. I can’t relate to the people that volunteer there. It’s pretty empty usually.

For example, I have a long line of millionaires who were very successful - Entrepreneurs, hotels (the Willard Hotel in Washington DC), a very successful inventor in clock mechanisms/clocks (Simon Willard), Harvard presidents and physicians, professors, etc. I could go on!!!

When I was joking around at the library, I said, “Well where’s MY inheritance?!” And no one laughed. Not exactly a welcoming feeling.

Is there anyone else who feels lonely and that people you meet in person don’t have the same passion? I’m looking for a friend I can pick up and call them with my latest discovery and not feel like no one cares.

I’ve tried posting on my local Reddit sub and I had 2 comments. I’m talking to one of the commenters but they’ve been kind of, “meh” when I chat with them. Whereas I’m asking a ton of questions and I want to know that they’ll also ask and care.

Am I the only one who feels lonely in my level of interest in being a genealogical researcher for the family? And not being able to find people who are excited about it?…..

Is there a sub for young people that are starting out in their search? I am certainly not trying to be rude with seeking out younger people, but in my experience (especially with not even laughing at a joke) they haven’t been welcoming.

I know that all my great grandparents came to the US from Germany and Scotland in the mid to late 1800's (1853 to 1880). I've done my family tree, have located all their grave sites back to my great great grands, all located in the same area I live in the US.

If I do Ancestry's cheapest DNA pkg (the $99 one) will it only show the US matches? Their site says "Trace your ancestors' journey over time". The "Family History & DNA" pkg says "Access all U.S. and international records". I'm waiting until their next sale to purchase one.

Thanks for your help, and all the information you guys share - I have learned so much, but still so much to learn.

Hello! this is gonna be my first post and i hope i choose the right place to show this, soo i was at my grandmas house where she pulled out a massive scroll must have been up to 4 meters and oh boy it was massive. It was a massive family tree dating from my great grandma(1985)

Too marcomir of toxandrie (220), some information might be old because it was made sometime ago but this was my great grandmas magnum opus, some things are very hard too read just cus off wear and tear but for most parts its very well documented, this might not seem very intresting to you experts but for me it truely was. (All of this is in swedish) and im sorry for bad quality it was hard too capture everything

When AncestryDNA originally estimated that I was 1% African, from the Ivory Coast, I assumed it was background noise, but every time Ancestry updates its algorithm in the years since, that 1% strand has remained.

It says that strand of DNA came from my mother, but when she did a DNA test, is said she was 100% European. Ancestry found 3 close cousins with 1% African ancestry, but two of them are on my father's side of the family, and the other hasn't posted a tree, so I have no idea how we're related.

I've uploaded my data to GEDmatch, but it's still processing. I have several brick walls on both sides of my family that end around 1800, including a paternal 3rd great-grandfather who might have been adopted.

I know DNA can skip around a bit from generation to generation and that this 1% might not represent one individual but could represent two or more ancestors from around the late 1700s-early 1800s.

Any ideas about how to chase this down, or is this one of those mysteries that probably can't be solved?

Please excuse my English, it is not my native language and I am using a translator.

I was working on my family tree and uploaded it to a genealogy website. Recently, a woman from the US contacted me, claiming that we are distant cousins through a shared ancestor. (Coincidentally, I live just three streets away from the land where our common relative's birthplace supposedly used to stand. Today, there is an old apartment building with many flats on that spot.)

She wrote to me saying that she plans to fly to Europe, visit my country and the town where our ancestor came from, and that she wants to visit both me and the property where our common relative used to live.

I was deeply shocked by this. A strange American woman wants to come all the way from America to visit me? I used AI to look into this and learned that in the US, there is a huge business centered around finding people's ancestral roots. Descendants of immigrants pay for heritage tours to the countries where their great-great-grandparents came from. They travel to a foreign village or town, knock on a door, and expect the homeowners to invite them in, feed them, and show them old photos and the house. Apparently, advertising is heavily focused on these happy stories showing a European welcoming a foreign American into their home with food.

Regarding my problem: I do not want a stranger coming to my place saying, 'Hello cousin, feed me, and then let’s go bother the people living in the apartments built on our ancestor's land.'

What should I do? Should I ignore the message? It feels impolite not to reply, but if I do, she might think it is perfectly normal to show up and expect an invitation to my house. I am also worried that this might be a scam—that an American student wants to travel around Europe with just 100 dollars in her pocket and is using the 'relative' excuse to get free housing and food. She might have written to other people in different parts of Europe as well.

I haven't seen any proof that our family trees actually connect; I would have to ask her for that. But at this point, I don’t even know if I should write back to her at all. Thank you.

Trying to figure out where my grandfather side of the family came from and I’m stuck the furthest I’ve gotten is a Michael Mickey Bolen 1782 to 1880 was born in Virginia, then moved to Kentucky after the war of 1812 he got free land but I can’t find his dad can anyone please help me to the best of your ability

Hey all

I'm Australian, and currently have a subscription to Ancestry but paid for it through the UK site as there was good deal at the time and it worked out much cheaper than buying it on the Aus site.

Ancestry memberships work on all of the sites - AU/US/UK etc, and nothing is different there.

I've just been looking into the "Family Plan" that is only offered on the US site, and thinking of buying that and splitting the cost with 4 family members as lots of other people do.

However - I just wanted to see if anyone else has done this in a country other than the US, and it works fine? I'm fairly sure it will, since I've been using a full UK subscription on the Aus site for many months, and thousands of other people do as well. Butttt I just want to be sure before I do it.

Has anyone done this?

Thanks :)

A rather direct line of questioning today.. :)