Just curious if anyone has ever done some research on their ancestry and had any revelations?

Due to the research of our great aunt, we've decided to scour through the available records and have DNA tests done. The results were not at all what I expected. We haven't yet received the DNA tests back, but the new records we've found made a fairly significant change to what we thought was our family heritage.

We thought we were mostly German, Austrian and a little French. Turns out that's somewhat true if you count countries that were part of the previous Austrian Empire.

For the most part, the great grandparents on both sides of the family were either Ukrainian or Romanian Jews that left for the U.S. a few years before things started getting culturally dicey (to put it mildly) in those regions. The only exception is my grandmother on my dad's side, still working to dig up records on her background. Now I have a whole different cultural heritage to explore, which is so cool, with more to come.

My DNA is currently being processed at Ancestry.com Trail! My best friend was born in Germany and as far back as they recall they were German, but it turns out they were 65% Scandinavian and 30% English. What a ruckus that's caused for her relatives!

I should be Austrian and German, so we shall see!

What I'm finding by running through naturalization applications in comparison to census records is that "Austrian" for some folks that came here prior to the Austrian Empire being dissolved in the early 1900's was the catch all by immigration for many people that originated from present day countries of that empire which encompass Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro.

Isn't that crazy? It seems to have been dependent on where they came over and who the immigration officer was at the time. We think one of my grandparents came over by way of Canada and then applied for naturalization about 3 years later. One record was stamped Austrian, but the hand written application stated that he was from Zolochiv, Ukraine.

I have no way to go back to any of my ancestors. All records are lost.
My parents came here right before I was born. My grandmother was killed in a concentration camp and I can't even find those records.

Very interesting Trail! How are you tracing it back? I've had friends who do genealogy for a living try to track mine further and hit dead ends early.

A combination of an Ancestory.com subscription who have a surprisingly intuitive front-end reference interface into a number of record archives and the copies of the actual documents that my great aunt has so far dug up.

So far, I've only been able to go back to the great grandparents on the paternal sides of the family. One grandmother has nearly no records that we can find, the other has just the opposite, but many of the records are confusing so it's hard to narrow down. It's going to be difficult to find anything on the Ukraine side of the family. Apparently, many of the records were intentionally destroyed during the occupations there, but we're still looking for contact points. We've got a possible contact point in Romania, but still waiting for a follow-up confirmation.

THat's great you got somewhere with at least part, Trail! I have no US connections, and my sister went to Austria this past SEptember and try to find my grandmas grave and church records but came up empty as well. My mom had eleven brothers and sisters and can't find anything on them either. They were poor and in the valley in Wels, Austria and much was done at home.

If I can offer a word of caution, don’t accept that any genealogy site has all the records they say they have, I regret to tell you they don’t. My great grandfather served in South Africa as a soldier in the Boar War. I have his medals on which are engraved with his name, regiment and his army service number. I gave the details to one of the largest sites in England and the search came back with no info because they had drawn a blank in their search.
Later I visited his regimental record office and in five minutes had everything I wanted.

I don't think anyplace can have everything, and I certainly don't expect them to. I don't pay for anything, I have a friend that has multiple places she uses and she does it free for me. My relatives were in the war too and the records are in limbo somewhere. If it's not in the US, it's sketchy at best.

Obviously I can’t speak for America but the armed service records are a good place to search if you have a relation who served. Most in the UK can be done online for a relatively small fee. Apart from their complete record of their service there is also the name of their next of kin which gives you another link in the chain.

German military records are very difficult to obtain. I have no family history in the US. I am first generation here.

As you can see here it states how most records were destroyed.

Hey T.M.! It sounds like you’ve found a cool new hobby! I suggest you check out Ancestral Quest software at http://www.ancquest.com/index.htm . I assume you have also discovered www.familysearch.org . My paternal line goes back to Switzerland, my maternal line back to France, way back. Lots of English, Irish, and Scottish mixed in. It is a rare previlege for me to be able to associate with those who have the Chosen and Elect of God blood running through their veins.

Albert

"It is a rare previlege for me to be able to associate with those who have the Chosen and Elect of God blood running through their veins."

Just who are they, Albert ??

Good question Mad. All of us, to one degree or another. I think all Boomers qualify.

Albert

That's good news, Albert