Comment by iwishiknewlisp

Comment by iwishiknewlisp 2 days ago

2 replies

If you are from the United States its interesting to trace back your ancestry and last name to a specific person/persons from another country.

There are tons of websites for different last names in the United States, showing history of the name. Many times the last name be traced back to a singular person, which I find especially cool since you have sprawling families all connected by one guy who made the journey over. Obviously last names like Smith won't be like this, but if you have a unique last name it can actually be quite common that one person coming to the new world connects you and everybody else in the Americas together. I find that super cool to think about and I am glad people are doing the effort to research and find this info out.

iwishiknewlisp 2 days ago

In addition, for people who were adopted and didn't know their birth parents, it can be interesting to connect with your biological family through ancestry work.

  • percivalPep 2 days ago

    My mother is adopted and 23andMe and Ancestry have both provided me with a way of connecting with relatives as far apart as Canada and Australia. Before “revealing” my connection to them I’ve stated that in doing so I may reveal information about a shared ancestor that doesn’t put that person in the best light (my mum was the result of a short affair between a married man and a much younger woman at the end of World War 2). All have stated they are ok with this and in most cases had no contact to the ancestor involved anyway.