Are most people not interested in family trees?

[iluleah]

it must be something in the water on the east coast

Definitely!  Oh, I forgot to mention the tobacco smuggler in 1884

Now you are just showing off 

[Ruskie]

Op hasn't been back here since the 10th, maybe he's lost interest in Rootschat 

Dawnsh

He is very active on the FTDNA Forums

Kim
[/quote]


Is he still looking for answers about his "sort of" cousin? 

[genjen]

I am very biased towards my Dryden line in Whitby.  They appear in the Whitby Gazette many times -
rescuing people who fell in the harbour
fighting with and swearing at their neighbours
being drunk and disorderly and appearing in Court
drowning 

To be fair, Whitby hasn't changed much over time!

[coombs]

I tend to be more biased towards some lines than others.

I am very biased towards my Dryden line in Whitby.  They appear in the Whitby Gazette many times -
rescuing people who fell in the harbour
fighting with and swearing at their neighbours
being drunk and disorderly and appearing in Court
drowning 

Ancestors who lead very fruitful lives will always be more interesting than ones who never ventured more than a mile from their birthplace and were a labourer all their lives. Although they are still an ancestor, and they helped feed the country with their ag lab work.

[tillypeg]

To be fair, Whitby hasn't changed much over time!

    

[coombs]

What is also interesting is when you find that your parents moved to a part of the country where they have some ancestors from. To a non genealogist, 1750 may seem a long way back to them but to me alone, I see 1750 as quite recent. I suppose as you can get back to the 1500s on some lines which makes 1750-1800 seem more recent.

[BumbleB]

I consider 1750 quite a good way back.  Of my 4 main lines I've only got one definite pre-1700 - and that is a 1699 baptism - the others I can only get to mid 1700's with certainty.

[Sinann]

I consider 1750 so far back it's an unreachable dream.

[genjen]

What is also interesting is when you find that your parents moved to a part of the country where they have some ancestors from.

I went to school in Redcar and believed, until very recently that I had no historical connection to the town. My mother's family came from the Yorkshire Dales on one side and Staffordshire and Co. Durham on the other. Until a brick wall fell down and I found that my 3 x great-grandmother was born in Redcar! I now find that I have family links all the way down that bit of the coast to Robin Hood's Bay. I was a bit chuffed to discover this!

As far as how far back seems a long way, well, that particular line was stuck in 1856 for a very long time so the fact that I am now back to the late 1700s seems to be a massive achievement. But in other lines, I have gone back relatively easily to 1600 then, with a bit of a leap of faith but no concrete evidence, I believe I can claim a link to someone born in 1543. When you think about what was happening in the bigger world at this time, it seems like a very long time ago - and I just wish I could prove it!