Quote Originally Posted by Freedom
cassies mom, the best way to figure out your family tree would have been to ask your grandfather. And his cousin.

Lots of names were altered during the trip through Ellis Island. And the family bible was the only record in many countries which did not maintain registries. (England being a major exception, with Somerset House which recorded births and deaths for eons!)

I interviewed my grandfather when it was almost too late; as it is best to be able to ask TWO people so they can agree, correct each other. I was able to verify most of what he told me, with a distant relative in the "home land," who was also aged. I now have 6 generations!

I have googled myself, just to make certain it is all accurate. And to get corrections made, where needed. sigh. It never used to be this complicated before the internet!
My dad is one of four children. The "grandkids" are now in our 40s and 50s and we started recording as much information as we have between all of us. I don't know how much more information we can retrieve about my paternal grandparents, which is why we're trying to put down as much as we can for their great grandchildren. On my mom's side she has a cousin who researched and found a ship's manifest with my great grandfather's name on it. My mom's cousin had a copy made of it for my mom. It's hard to read because the original is so old, but the handwriting is beautiful. It tells each of the passengers, their ages and where in Europe they started out. So, that's what I know about my family. We're Czech, Polish and we just found out about 3 years ago that my paternal granddad was probably Ukrainian. When I was little I wanted to be Irish or German or Italian, like every other kid at school. (Being Polish I tell everyone I'm made out of dumplings and I bleed brown gravy!)