Does anyone know anything about geneological research?

[Redwolf]

I’m trying to learn the origin of my mother’s maiden name, and I’ve hit a major brick wall. To begin with, the name is also a common word (“Strength”), which hampers internet searches somewhat. The bigger problem, however, is that the name seems to have originated in Alabama (and, in fact, most Strengths still live there)…presumably the name was changed from something else at some point, and no one seems to know from what or by whom, or how the people who became “Strengths” ended up in Alabama (let alone where they came from)!

As this is the only part of my family history that is remotely traceable, I’d love to trace it, but I feel like I’ve hit a major road block. I’m not particularly into compiling a family tree, really…I’d just like to have some idea of where my ancestors came from before they were here.

Any thoughts?

Redwolf

[Cynth]

I heard something about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints having some sort of huge database that, I believe, anyone can use. I believe it is on the Internet. I could be wrong. I think that they would be able to give good advice on how to proceed, at least, since that sort of research is something they do alot of—and I would imagine they would have something like that for sure on the Internet.

[MarkB]

You do have a problem Redwolf! The best I can suggest is some how get a hold of as many original documents (microfilm copies) as far back as you can get i.e. census information, family bible type information, birth records, obituaries, or any public document such as wills etc, or anything else you can get your hands on. Even ask the local public library in Alabama in the area that you suspect, civil war records are good place to look, land holding documents, business records and directories.

It has been my experience and others that I work with assisting genealogists every day, that some how maybe the name was spelled wrong, or that the original people or census takers didn’t know how to spell it (it might be a foriegn language name) and it was spelled phonetically.

See if there are any genealogy societies in that area of Alabama.

If you have an idea when they arrived in the Americas try ship arrival lists for port arrivals and see if they are in there.

If you have an Ancestry.com account, post there and see if anybody else is looking. http://www.ancestry.com/

Try Cindi’s List: http://www.cyndislist.com/

Rootsweb: http://www.rootsweb.com/

Lord knows that genealogy ain’t a straight line!

Hope this helps

MarkB

PS: it’s maddening, frustrating, tedious, hair pulling, caffiene drinking, boring, exhilarating, puzzling, wrong turns, time consuming, and sometimes just darn right screaming, very long hours, days, years.

[susnfx]

Here’s the LDS Church’s site, with lots of info on research and their database. They have one of the largest, if not the largest, genealogical libraries in the world:

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp

Susan

[Walden]

If I’m not mistaken, The Weekenders knows some about genealogy research.

[Redwolf]

It is intensely frustrating, especially as all I really want to know is what (presumably) European country they came from. You know, like Nickels know their surname is German and O’Malleys know their surname is Irish. And it might be interesting to learn why there are so many Strengths in Alabama! All the sites I’ve found so far (and they are few) are primarily interested in who’s related to who, and there’s no discussion of the origin of the name at all. The one site I found that has a discussion forum (which I thought might be a good resource for that kind of question) is pretty inactive…last post was a couple of months ago.

I keep hoping I’ll run across someone who knows something about the name, as I’m really not all that interested in geneology, per se…that is, I’m not interested in compiling a family tree or getting in touch with distant relatives.

Thanks for the LDS link, susnfx (and for the suggestion, Cynth)…their search engine appears to be down for maintenance at the moment, but I’ll try it again tomorrow. Thanks for the other links, MarkB…I’ve tried most of them, but nothing much has come of my search so far.

Redwolf

[Will_O_B]

@will o'b

You may not want to do a family tree, but I don’t know how you can get to the root (which is: what was the original family name and where did they come from) without digging for the information.
Will O’Ban

@markb

From: Dictionary of American Family Names, Patrick Hanks Editor; Oxford University Press 2003.

Strength Possibly Scottish, Black lists the surname Strengthie, also giving and example of Strength used as a byname in the 18th or 19th century: a James Stuart known as Jamie Strength.
MarkB

BOY DO I HAVE EGG ON MY FACE NOW, OR WHAT. In all seriousness, though, thanks, Mark. I obviously wasn’t aware or didn’t think of the bood. Anyway, instead of years of painstaking (yet fascinating) research Redwolf seems to have the info she was after. Now I just wish there was an equally quick and painless way for telling what Irish port the O’Bans left from, and what American port they arrived
at, and what ships they took . . . Oh well. :roll:

Will O’Ban

[Wombat]

I think I have a book on how to go about this sort of research lying around somewhere. If I can find it I’ll post details.

[avanutria]

Send an email to Sunnywindo; I don’t know how often she gets online these days but she’s very knowledgeable about genealogy.

[Flyingcursor]

What’s all this have to do with rocks?

Oh…geNEology.

[Wombat]

I found the book I alluded to earlier. It might prove a useful resource in interpreting things you find in your search.

The Oxford Dictionary of Local and Family History, by David Hay.

It seems focussed on Britain and Ireland but it could still be helpful. There is a related longer work entitled The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History. It would be worth searching to see if someone has done a similar job for America—it would be very useful in decoding documents you find in your search.

[MarkB]

From: Dictionary of American Family Names, Patrick Hanks Editor; Oxford University Press 2003.

Strength Possibly Scottish, Black lists the surname Strengthie, also giving and example of Strength used as a byname in the 18th or 19th century: a James Stuart known as Jamie Strength.

MarkB

[anniemcu]

@Redwolf

I’m trying to learn the origin of my mother’s maiden name, and I’ve hit a major brick wall. To begin with, the name is also a common word (“Strength”), which hampers internet searches somewhat. The bigger problem, however, is that the name seems to have originated in Alabama (and, in fact, most Strengths still live there)…presumably the name was changed from something else at some point, and no one seems to know from what or by whom, or how the people who became “Strengths” ended up in Alabama (let alone where they came from)!

As this is the only part of my family history that is remotely traceable, I’d love to trace it, but I feel like I’ve hit a major road block. I’m not particularly into compiling a family tree, really…I’d just like to have some idea of where my ancestors came from before they were here.

Any thoughts?

Redwolf

Hiya Red,

edited - LOL! I guess I should have read the rest of the replies before I added mine. It was so totally useless, given the rest, that I’ve deleted it.

[The_Weekenders]

@Will O'B

@will o'b

You may not want to do a family tree, but I don’t know how you can get to the root (which is: what was the original family name and where did they come from) without digging for the information.
Will O’Ban

@markb

From: Dictionary of American Family Names, Patrick Hanks Editor; Oxford University Press 2003.

Strength Possibly Scottish, Black lists the surname Strengthie, also giving and example of Strength used as a byname in the 18th or 19th century: a James Stuart known as Jamie Strength.
MarkB

BOY DO I HAVE EGG ON MY FACE NOW, OR WHAT. In all seriousness, though, thanks, Mark. I obviously wasn’t aware or didn’t think of the bood. Anyway, instead of years of painstaking (yet fascinating) research Redwolf seems to have the info she was after. Now I just wish there was an equally quick and painless way for telling what Irish port the O’Bans left from, and what American port they arrived
at, and what ships they took . . . Oh well. :roll:

Will O’Ban

Not sure if you mean that you just can’t find the actual ports of records or whether you are unsure of name origin. If the latter, see below. If not, ignore it. There are some massive ship record sources available in large libraries, I remember going to UC Berkeley and looking through giant blue bound books of ship departures/arrivals…

Will, no chance your family had some tie to Oban in Scotland? . My other quick guess would be that its an O’ Behan. Behan seems to sometimes end up as Bean so Ban doesn’t seem a far off possibilty.

Looks like Red did get her answer, too…

[Will_O_B]

OK. I was up VERY late last night typing all of these ideas for what Redwold might want to consider in her search – a very l-o-o-o-o-n-g list of ideas, I might add. This morning I see Mark’s very succinct post and go, “Rats why didn’t I think of that.” So just a minute ago I took a quote from my l-o-o-o-o-o-o-n-g post and a quote from Mark’s subsequent post and created a new post. Only thing is, it replaced my l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-n-g post. Oh well . . . it’s probably for the best. The original post didn’t really say anything (sort of like this post). And besides it was . . . 'er . . . not very short. whew

Will O’Ban

[MarkB]

From:The Surnames of Scotland; Their Origin, Meaning, and History, By George F. Black, Ph.D.; The New York Public Library, Astor, Lennox and Tilden Foundations; Frist Printing 1946, Fourth Reprinting 1974;

Page754:

Strengthie. Janet Strengthie in Kirkcaldy couldn’t agree with her husband, 1663 (PBK., p 64. James Stuart, a Border Gypsy who died in 115 year, was known as Jamie Strength’ (Brockie, Gypsies of Yetholm, 1884).

PBK: The presbyterie book of Kirkcaldie, 1630-1653. Kirkcaldy, 1900.

Google for: Gypsies of Yetholm: (Scottish Gypsies)

http://www.scottishgypsies.co.uk/yetholm.html

Yetholm: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/ROX/Yetholm/

Gypsy Memorial: http://www.discovertheborders.co.uk/places/213.html

No wonder they just showed up in Alabamba…they’re gypsies! Probably on the lam from revenuers!



MarkB

[Will_O_B]

@The Weekenders

Will, no chance your family had some tie to Oban in Scotland? . My other quick guess would be that its an O’ Behan. Behan seems to sometimes end up as Bean so Ban doesn’t seem a far off possibilty.
Looks like Red did get her answer, too…

Weeks, thanks for the info. I don’t want to take over Red’s thread. I had thought about this a while ago and will probably create my own thread for questions that I have. You raised some good points. I hope that you can help me out when I get my thread up and running in the next day or so. Thanks.

And congratultions to Redwolf.

Will O’Ban

[Redwolf]

Yay! Go raibh míle maith agaibh, a chairde!

Redwolf

[Wombat]

Very interesting. It looks like I might not be the only one around here with a touch of Scottish Gypsy and traveller heritage.

[fancypiper]

genealogical research links