Genealogy, and deciphering a will

[linz06]

Thanks guys so much for the help!!!

I have made some headway so far Yesterday I printed out the sheets and tried to read, and today I'm looking at them on the computer, full size, and it's much easier to see how some letters are written. Now understanding the S's and some other letters, I see what I thought was "thosfell" is actually "Vessell" ... "the good ship or vessel called the Martha and Mary". He did own a ship!

Since my last try with fake words, I realized:

Onsiont = Ensient, which means pregnant. His wife was pregnant while he was writing this will. I know they had just one son.

Fuhr = Such... Lol it took long enough to figure that one out! But the S looks like an F!

I also sent these copies to a woman I met last year online while doing research, with whom I share common ancestors. I totally forgot about her until last night! This ancestor is also common to us She e-mailed me back, pretty amazed that I found this! She said she has done some work with old English documents before, and she'd do her best to come up with a translation in the next few days. Jackpot!

I am just so excited about this!

[143julz]

This thead has my intrest now....i want to know more, keep it update as you find out, LOL

I have an aunt in MA that has traced back to the late 1800's early 1900 in Poland..She passed all her findings on to each living family member so we can pass it to families and keep it going, so interesting..

[yorkieusa]

Originally Posted by linz06

Thanks guys so much for the help!!!

I have made some headway so far Yesterday I printed out the sheets and tried to read, and today I'm looking at them on the computer, full size, and it's much easier to see how some letters are written. Now understanding the S's and some other letters, I see what I thought was "thosfell" is actually "Vessell" ... "the good ship or vessel called the Martha and Mary". He did own a ship!

Since my last try with fake words, I realized:

Onsiont = Ensient, which means pregnant. His wife was pregnant while he was writing this will. I know they had just one son.

Fuhr = Such... Lol it took long enough to figure that one out! But the S looks like an F!

I also sent these copies to a woman I met last year online while doing research, with whom I share common ancestors. I totally forgot about her until last night! This ancestor is also common to us She e-mailed me back, pretty amazed that I found this! She said she has done some work with old English documents before, and she'd do her best to come up with a translation in the next few days. Jackpot!

I am just so excited about this!

You'll get the hang of it. "S" does look like an "f". If you ever look through old census records, you'll see that a lot. The old documents are fun to read. I have many years of genealogical experience, so I've seen a lot of fun and different things over the years.

[yorkieusa]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

I love stuff like this, love it! I'm obsessed w/ British History and read about it in some form or other, every day. The nuances in the writing back then (and the structure) can be very tough to decipher, compared to our writing. But how COOL that you have actual documents!!!

I've looked at different ancestry search things....but never know which one I should go with to help me find my ancestry info.

The best site is ancestry.com. It's costly, but worth it. You can purchase an international membership and have lots of fun. You can meet other people researching the same families. That's always interesting, too.

[linz06]

Originally Posted by 143julz

This thead has my intrest now....i want to know more, keep it update as you find out, LOL

I have an aunt in MA that has traced back to the late 1800's early 1900 in Poland..She passed all her findings on to each living family member so we can pass it to families and keep it going, so interesting..

That is really cool! My family has had a lot of research done, there is even a published book that references them My parents have binders full of information at home, but we just haven't been able to find out anything more from overseas!

One of these days I'd like to go backwards from my mom's side too. My grandma came from Hungary when she was just a little girl, and she has some information like her parents' passports, and I found records of the ship they came in on, but I'm sure she still has many relatives in Hungary and I'd love to go there someday and find them!

[yorkietalkjilly]

Love it! So fascinating to dig into all that old history and get a feel for what it was actually like for your relatives.

[Lil Sis]

I did my family tree... it was my passion before having a Yorkie!! just kidding.. but there was a time I was really into the research.

Anyway... I traced back to 1066 england on one side. Also many family "stories" proved to be untrue.. I was always told I was Polish, Royalty (of course ) and I have a piece of pottery that has been handed down for generations that is from our "royal family"... well...well not quite true lol

[linz06]

Originally Posted by Lil Sis

I did my family tree... it was my passion before having a Yorkie!! just kidding.. but there was a time I was really into the research.

Anyway... I traced back to 1066 england on one side. Also many family "stories" proved to be untrue.. I was always told I was Polish, Royalty (of course ) and I have a piece of pottery that has been handed down for generations that is from our "royal family"... well...well not quite true lol

Wow! That is really far back! It's amazing you were able to find records that far!

Lol that's funny how stories get passed on! The stories I've heard from my family are all true so far, but I haven't heard any stories from further back! Everything else (from the arrival in Canada) has records, journal entries, etc, for proof!

[gaijingirl]

The LDS church website is familysearch.org. You can also go to the locations page to find a family serch center near you. You can get access to records and free, personal help there. I know my grandma used to volunteer to read microfilms and got used to reading that difficult writing they had back in the day. So, I'm sure someone there can help with reading the documents.

My dad has a huge family and nearly all the work has been done on their genealogy up to the 1400's...at least, I believe...my mom's side: Her side is what I am working not. Not so much yet
My mom's family also came over from Hungary and settled in Saskatchewan. I feel like I might need to actually go to SK find some of these records

[linz06]

Originally Posted by gaijingirl

The LDS church website is familysearch.org. You can also go to the locations page to find a family serch center near you. You can get access to records and free, personal help there. I know my grandma used to volunteer to read microfilms and got used to reading that difficult writing they had back in the day. So, I'm sure someone there can help with reading the documents.

My dad has a huge family and nearly all the work has been done on their genealogy up to the 1400's...at least, I believe...my mom's side: Her side is what I am working not. Not so much yet
My mom's family also came over from Hungary and settled in Saskatchewan. I feel like I might need to actually go to SK find some of these records

Wow that is neat! Do you know which part of Saskatchewan? I think most of the people given land were sort of ordered by where they were from, which is why there are some towns and areas that are predominantly Hungarian, Ukranian, etc. My family settled near Mistatim, and there was (and is) a large Hungarian population around there.