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Competition: Which ancestor would you like to meet?

  • By Esther
October 9, 2013
Competition: Which ancestor would you like to meet?

We received many photo captions for last week’s Family History Month competition. Thank you to everyone that entered.

Congratulations to Christalina Jager, winner of a Premium Family Site Subscription for her family site.

We loved your photo caption; “believing that the exhaust from those new things called cars would kill them, the ladies invented a new mask that wouldn’t mess up their makeup”.

According to the Netherlands Nationaal Archief’s bibliographic record, the photo shows women in Montreal, Canada in 1939, wearing plastic face protection from snowstorms.

This week, we’re holding another Family History Month competition to win a PremiumPlus site subscription.

Which of your ancestors would you like to meet and why?

Answer – by October 15 –  in the comments below to win.

Don’t forget to check our other Family History Month activities here.

Good luck!

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Comments

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  • Dixie

    October 9, 2013

    I want to meet the gentleman right in the middle. He seems to be the family’s center. Covered with the lovely quilt, he seems like he might be older. He well may be father and grandfather to several of the others. He probably has a lot of wonderful stories to tell.

  • Steve

    October 9, 2013

    My great-great-grandfather, who lived from 1815 until 1902 in one of the areas worst affected by the Great Famine in Ireland, in the late 1840s. The Famine caused the population or Ireland to fall from 8 million to 4 million through starvation and emigration. I’d like to know how he survived that terrible time, and what the effect on the locality was. If my investigations are correct, he also changed religion to marry – possibly giving up an inheritance – so there’s obviously an interesting story there too.

  • Adam Michael Etzweiler

    October 9, 2013

    I would love to meet Mary Ann Thigpen Hicks, who was adopted into my family on my moms side back in the 1700’s.

  • Angel

    October 9, 2013

    I want to meet great grandpa Jack Roberts. I would love to here the stories of the Old West that he lived as he traveled from Kanas to Washington as a cowboy.

  • Janet Monk nee Delves

    October 9, 2013

    I would like to meet Jock Delves-Braughtom. Believed to be my Grandpa’s cousin. A film was made about him and family information says that my Grandpa may have been an illigitimate child as he had a house bought for him on his marriage and never had to work as he received a monthly allowance from someone. No one knows who. My Grandpa’s name was Delves. I have researched but cannot find any connection.

  • margaret higgins

    October 9, 2013

    Rumour has it in my family that my great great grandfather was a coach driver for Daniel o Connell & he married Mary Moore who is some how related to Thomas Moore the poet ,so I’m greedy would love to meet either of these or both ,how interesting it would be !!

  • Cindy

    October 9, 2013

    My husbands great great grandfather from Italy – 1st in his family history to come to America. Because of this, not much info on his family on this side. Would love to be able to find more info.

  • Wini Caudell

    October 9, 2013

    My 3x great grandfather Carl Asp Svensson who brought his wife and five children under the age of 12 with him from Sweden to the US in 1869. I would ask him what prompted him to make such a difficult trip and if he thought in the end it was worth it. On the way over the 5 yr. old Augusta and 3 yr. old Svante died and were buried at sea. Such heart break and uncertainty of a new land had to be terrible! I would also like to ask him if he was happy here and if he missed Sweden. I had a dream about him and asked those very questions but all he would do is smile and shake his head. I imagine that he would do the same thing if I asked him in person. I visited Sweden in 2000 and brought back some soil. I visited his and Carolina and put some Swedish soil on their graves so they could be close to the home they left so long ago and I know in some way they missed.

  • Bonnie Beacom Jones

    October 9, 2013

    I would love to meet my Great Grandpa that came over to Canada then Michigan in 1870 from Ireland. I have made it my passion to learn as much as I can about him and his family. Been searching for over 15 years for information about him. What started my hunt was my family has a hearing loss that is very strong in my family. Did it come from him? Or from my Great Grandma? So far no luck in finding this information. I am finding out that he was not the only family member that came over to the USA. Would love to tell him also. I still own the farm that he homestead on when he came to Michigan in 1870. So he could see all the new things that help run a farm today. What a joy that would be! And to get so many questions answered from him… So see what I found so far is correct.

  • Diana

    October 9, 2013

    I would love to meet my g-g-grandfather. He and his brothers died in WWI. the pictures of them seem like they were very kind. There is something in his eyes that just makes me want to know him.

  • Barbara Kelley

    October 9, 2013

    my great grandfather he came from st michael one of the azore islands when he was only 17 supposely he was raised by his grandmother maybe had a brother who came also at some point and supposedly his mother was a concubine to the king of Portugal

  • Barbra Nehls

    October 9, 2013

    I would like to meet father and son Samuel (1706 -1780) and Robert P. (1734-1826) Morris. Their ancestors lived in Monmouth, Wales and they both lived in Monmouth, NJ. We have oral history that both knew George Washington and have newspaper documentation that our Robert Morris helped to finance the Revolutionary War. We do know that our Robert is not the signer of the Declaration, however. My family has a gentleman’s cane which is where the George Washington connection also comes in. My 2X great grandmother Mary Morris White is how the cane made it to my father, Horton W. White.

  • Lisette

    October 9, 2013

    I would love to meet my GGGrandfather,Thomas John Arpin who was sent out from London to Cape Town, in 1833, as a 13 year old boy. He was part of the “Children’s Friend Society’s” scheme to send destitute children to Africa,Canada, New Zealand and Australia, to start a “new life”.He was apprenticed to a farm in Caledon and according to reports carried out by the British Government, many of these children were ill treated.
    I would love to know who his parents were, why was he sent away? I would like to hear what it was like to be thrown into a foreign Country where your new “family” spoke Dutch!! How difficult was it for you to adapt? Did you ever have any contact from your family?
    I would love to hear his side of the story of his very difficult life.

  • Carolyn Martin

    October 9, 2013

    I would love to meet my Grandfather. I have some stories about him. He died in 1918 from the Spanish influenza when my father was 5 years old. My dad could not tell me much about him and my grandmother, (my dad’s mum) passed away in 1958 before I was born. So I know very little about my fathers parents.
    It is hard when you hear stories that you could be Maltese or Irish. I have heard both stories. It would really be nice to know where my roots came from

  • Susan Rogusky

    October 9, 2013

    My Great Great Grandfather. He was in the civil war and I have 2 of his diaries. He was near Washington when Lincoln was assassinated. They sent out a search party to find J. Wilkes Booth! Can you imagine the questions. “Seeing the whites of their eyes” in reguards to the rebels!

  • Timothy E. Danley

    October 9, 2013

    Judge Ezekiel W. Davis, great-great-great maternal grandfather (1796-1874). Judge Davis was a true pioneer. He was one of the first settlers in the Grand Rapids River Valley in 1834, living in a log cabin in what became downtown Grand Rapids, MI. He then moved to a farm at Reeds Lake where he was the first settler, living there for 30 years before moving back into town. In 1822, a Baptist Mission was located here among the Ottawa Indians, and Judge Davis worked with the Indians. He was a charter member of the first Baptist Church in 1837. He was a Justice of the Peace in 1846. He was also a tax collector and county supervisor.

  • Joie

    October 9, 2013

    I would love to meet several ancestors! One I’d like to talk to is my great-great grandmother. Her husband enlisted in the Civil War. They had moved from the city to a rural area and while he was at war, she moved the family back to the city. Or that is how the story goes. I’d like to know it that was true and how she did it when a half dozen young kids. The other ones I’d like to talk to are my 3 times great grandparents. They emigrated in the US from Germany in 1856 and their son, my 2 times great grandfather was about 4 months old, was separated from the family when they arrived. He was placed in a store window waiting to be identified by his family. I’d like to know if the story is true and what it was like to leave their home and move to a new country.

  • Marco Nicosia

    October 9, 2013

    L’antenato che mi piacerebbe incontrare è il mio antenato diretto (10 generazioni) Paolo Nicoxia. E’ nato nel 1641. Suo padre, Santoro, è morto all’età di circa 35 anni, quando aveva otto anni. Molto probabilmente, Paolo è stato un contadino che lavorava per mantenere i suoi tre figli e la moglie Martina. Viveva a Vittoria, Italia. Come molte persone del suo tempo, è morto giovane, a 31 anni. Allora, si moriva anche per un banale raffreddore, ma non ho trovato alcuna informazione sulla causa della sua morte. E’ stato sepolto in una chiesa della sua città. La sua non è una storia interessante, anche se lo dovrebbe essere perché molte persone del 1600 hanno vissuto come lui.
    Mi piacerebbe incontrarlo perché sarei interessato a farmi raccontare la sua vita e le sue esperienze. Sarebbe fantastico vederlo. La sua storia è molto umile ed è la storia anche di tanta altra gente.

    I’d like meet Paolo Nicoxia, my direct ancestor (ten generations). He was born in 1641. His father, Santoro, died when he was ~35 years old, when Paolo was 8 years old. Probably, Paolo was a conuntryman who worked in order to maintain his three children and her wife Martina. He lived in Vittoria (RG), Italy. Like many people of his time, he died when he was young, he was 31 years old. Once, people were dying for a simple cold, but I didn’t find any information of his death. He was buried in a church of his city. His story is not very interesting, although it should be because many people of 1600s lived like him.
    I’d like meet him because I would be interested if he would argue about his history and his experiences. It would be great to see him. His story is very humble and his story is the story of so many other people.
    Sorry if I I didn’t write correctly, but I’m italian.

  • Maggie Maher

    October 9, 2013

    I would like to have met my grandmother Laura.She gave birth to a baby girl in 1891, when she was seventeen and had been seduced by a middle aged married man, who was teaching her to play the piano. His wife could not have children, and when the baby had been weaned was forcibly taken from Laura by the man and his wife to be adopted by them. They were wealthy people, and emigrated to Australia. My grandma never saw her baby again. She married when she was in her thirties, and went on to have another five children. One of her sons did some research about the baby. He found out the child became an opera singer and remained in Australia for all of her life, she probaly never knew she had family in England.

  • Grandma Diane

    October 9, 2013

    I’d like to meet my great-great grandmother to exchange stories and ask her “if given the choice, would she have preferred living in “her” generation with all of the hardships it entailed, but a much closer, family oriented time; a time where children respected & hungered for the stories & wisdom that their grand parents or great-grandparents would lovingly share with each new generation that entered in. Or would she have chosen “my” generation. Along with the conveniences came families split by not only social & economic necessity, but by lack of respect, or compassion for their ancestors and a generation of narcissism, where they seem to regard ancestors as a burden on today’s society at times.

  • Jim Pethan

    October 9, 2013

    My Great-Great-Grandpa, Albert Ludwig. 1843-1926. He was born in Prussia and came to Wisconsin with his parents and siblings in 1854. He enlisted in the Civil War and returned home to live a full life as a farmer. I would love to hear his stories of the War and how life was back then. My grandmother remembered him as he lived with her parents until his death at the age of 83.

  • Charlotte Hamilton

    October 9, 2013

    I would love to meet my Grandfather James C. Murray. My Mom said he was a jolly man and really wonderful (So was my Dad Melvin E. Murray). Then maybe I would be able to ask about my great grandfather so I could trace our family back father. And he could tell me about the great depression.

  • Heather

    October 9, 2013

    My husband’s biological grandfather, to find out if my father-in-law has any more biological siblings. While working on his family tree, a couple of years ago, my husband and I found out that his father’s father was really a step-parent. Much more searching finally pieced the story together, which boiled down to: a war-time romance that didn’t last, my father-in-law’s mother eventually remarried and changed her son’s last name to match that of her new husband’s. Since then, we have found the children of a (late) half-sister to my father-in-law, by the same man. I wish we could have met him (but he is now deceased), to find out if he fathered any more children – and then we would know if my husband has more (yet unknown) half first cousins and half-uncles or half-aunties. It is hard to research this, and we seem to have now reached a dead end, so I wish we could just ask him.

  • Sue Edwards

    October 9, 2013

    I have two ancestors I would have loved to meet — my mother’s father, who died on her first birthday, and a cousin of my grandmother’s, who was a famous spitball pitcher and later a coach for the San
    Diego Padres

  • Kerry Burns

    October 9, 2013

    My Great Great Great Grandfather Sir George Baldwin V as he was a great man and well respected, he would have some great stories to tell.

  • Barbara

    October 9, 2013

    My 3rd great grandfather, John. He was born in NY in 1820 and moved to Illinois, Indiana and eventually Iowa. He was convicted of assault with the intent to commit murder in 1868 and served 2.5 years in prison before being completely pardoned of the crime. No legal paperwork or newspaper articles exist for the event. He lived in Iowa for a number of years afterwards, but then moved to Florida. Family members were told he died in Palatka, FL in 1896, but he appears on the 1900 census in Palatka! What’s the story about the conviction and eventual pardon and why was it reported he died? When did he die?

  • Karina Hutchesson

    October 10, 2013

    I would like to meet my 3 x great grandparents, John and Susannah Adams who immigrated to South Australia in 1836 from England. They were among the first settlers to the new colony and I so admire their tenacity, faith and courage. I want to ask them about how they made the decision to leave everything that was familiar including family, shops and homes to travel across the world to an unknown undeveloped country. They travelled with 4 young children and had 6 more in the new country…….sometimes I felt overwhelmed taking 3 children to the park, let alone keeping 4 children aged 1 to 7 safe and occupied on a 5 month sea journey!

  • T.S.Krishna Rao.

    October 10, 2013

    Tha man with the beard, I would like to meet.

  • Mary Cole

    October 10, 2013

    I would love to meet my great-great grandfather. He was a Cherokee Indian from North Carolina who moved his family the “reservation” area to South Carolina to avoid the “white man.” He is the top person in my current tree and I would love to know more about the family and my Indian heritage.

  • sherry maycock

    October 10, 2013

    I would love to meet the person whom I have inherited my talent for art from.Ithas brought me such joy and purpose, also to see if this person suffered with the same medical conditions as I have.How they managed all those years ago.I have very little knowledge of my family.

  • Deb Stevenson

    October 10, 2013

    I would like to meet my great grandfather who was born in Helsingborg, Sweden in 1864. He left his country at the age of 14 to become a sailor. What kind of adventures did he encounter? What countries did he visit? He finally landed in San Francisco 5 years later. Did he try his luck at panning for gold? Maybe he was successful because he next traveled across the country to settle in the Scandinavian city of St. Charles, IL. Did he meet the love of his life, Alice? They married but, reportedly, she died in a horse riding accident. His next marriage, so I am told, was to a distant relative. There must have been some magic there because they had 8 children, one of whom was my grandmother. Oh how I would love to have met him and listened to all of his tales!

  • Lori Potter Powers

    October 10, 2013

    My great grandmother on my father’s side. Her name is Jennie Helmet Potter., born around 1876. Her uncle, Adam Helmer made the famous ‘Helmers Run’ through the Mohawk Valley to warn the settlers. I’ve been told that I have some of Jennie’s traits.

  • barbara thompson thorsland

    October 10, 2013

    I would love to meet my great, great grandmother Thompson as she would be able to give me all the history of the family and of the world as she knew it

  • Debra Krukowski

    October 10, 2013

    I would like to meet my father’s grandmother and ask her why her children all came to the united states from thier native Poland,and why her name is’nt listed on any documents,like my grandfather’s wedding certificate,his birth certificate etc.it’s a mystery for our family since my father had never even knew her name and know that withoutt her,he would never have been.

  • Graham Jefferys

    October 10, 2013

    I’d love to ‘meet’ my great-grandfather, Sven Peter Nelson, whom one of my aunties once called “OUR Great Dane”. The rest of my migrant forebears came from England to Australia in the 19th century. But THIS one was born in Aalborg, northern Denmark, in or about 1862. I know nothing about Sven Peter’s forebears &c. He came to Australia in the late 1800s. He married a Spanish seNorita, who died early. And then he married Emily Alice Peacock, who had been born in southern England in September 1868. One of the daughters of that marriage was Alice Ophir Nelson, born in Sydney NSW on 19 January 1893.

    And as a result of her marriage to Ernest Jefferys, Alice became – in due course – my paternal grandmother.

    I have a reasonable amount of info about my English forebears. But I’d LOVE to ‘meet’ my family’s mysterious ‘Great Dane’ and find out HIS family story!…

  • Graham Jefferys

    October 10, 2013

    I’d love to ‘meet’ my great-grandfather, Sven Peter Nelson, whom one of my aunts called “our Great Dane”. The rest of my migrant forebears came from England. But this one was born in Aalborg, Denmark, in or about 1862. I know little about him. He married a Spanish seNorita, who died early. He came to Australia in the late 1800s. Here he married an English-born lass. One of their daughters, Alice Ophir Nelson, born in 1893, became in due course my paternal grandmother. I know a bit about my English forebears. But I’d love to know this mysterious ‘Great Dane’s’ story!

  • Nuala

    October 10, 2013

    I’d like to meet a cousin, several times removed, from a branch of the family that emigrated to America. He was the first generation born in the U.S. and was captain of the USS Peary, which was sunk off Darwin during a Japanese raid in 1942. He went down with his ship.

  • june low

    October 10, 2013

    Oh! How I would love to meet my grandmother, Elizabeth Hammond , married name Low. she was left widowed with four children in London, in 1908, The children are all scattered about the country on 1911 cencus, and I cannot find my Grandmother I do know she went into service. My poor father was in Banados , for how long? as he was in the army at 15. just as war broke out. I was told by an old aunt, the two boys went to Ledbury on a farm with an Uncle, that the boys in the family were all farmers in South Africa but cannot find any of them.

  • Maria

    October 10, 2013

    I would like to meet my great great grandmother who was born in England. She holds so much of our families history. Widowed with 4 young children, a daughter pregnant which ended up with her emigrating to Australia with her children. Due to poverty she made the decision to walk from Sydney to Brisbane to find work. She seems such a strong, determined woman who refused to give up her children. She holds the key to our family.

  • Carol J.

    October 10, 2013

    I would love to meet my maternal great grandfather Lafayette Casad who was a real go-getter. Painter,entrepenour,herbalist,
    coach mfr., auctioneer, etc. He & Mariah had 4 kids, but died young one year apart leaving my grandmother & sibs orphaned. The youngest child, Daisy was 5 when sent to the fields by relatives to be a scarecrow. Lafe’s life cut so short shattered his family. I’d also like to find the mystery of what became of Daisy.

  • Carol J.

    October 10, 2013

    My grandmother, Ella was 17(oldest) did her best to rescue the
    middle 2 kids & keep the family together. She married Paul Wm.
    Ratzburg, a graduate engineering student at O.S.U. Her sister Minnie wed his brother, Fred. After 30 yrs. & 4 kids Ella opened
    the 1st.Washing machine store in Scranton, Pa. She through out
    grandfather Paul to marry her handy man. Grandfather left at age 52 to parts unknown. I’d love to find where he is buried.

  • Ronald Kennedij

    October 10, 2013

    I’d love to meet my six-times great grandfather Carel Frederik Kennedie (ca 1730-1808) and his family. I’d bring a photo of my son who is due to be born at the end of the month. I’d explain photography. I know as a man of science, he’d be interested. I’d ask him about his decision to move from the Prussian capital of Berlin to The Netherlands in 1749. I’d ask him if he was there when Sans Souci palace was build. I’d ask him where exactly he was born, who his parents are and if he has any siblings. I’d praise him for his courage and ask about his perilous journey from Berlin to the town of Werkhoven. I’d explain that my move to South Africa two and a half centuries later was much greater in distance but nothing more than a comfortable 12 hour flight. I’d ask about what it is like being a barber surgeon – a profession he has practised for over four decades. Three of his five sons became barber surgeons and doctors. I’d joke that the mere sight of blood makes me squemish. I’d ask him if he knows more about his own ancestry. If my educated guess that we are indeed descendants of Scottish soldiers fighting in the Thirty Years War is correct. I’d ask him about his son Hendrik, my ancestor who decided to become a carpenter instead. I’d tell Carel that Hendrik’s passion for carpentry would last over 5 generations, up until my grandfather who was a carpenter and foreman. I’d tell him that one of his descendants died a war hero when Holland was invaded by Germany in May 1940. I cannot think of a man whose life decisions have had a greater impact on our family tree than Carel Frederik Kennedie.

  • Joyce Decaria

    October 10, 2013

    Over the years, I have had many questions I would love to ask my ancestors, but the person I would most like to have a conversation with is my husband’s Great, Great Grandmother Annie Catherine Christensen Olsen. In 1855, at the age of twelve, along with the rest of her family, she immigrated to America. Arriving in New Orleans, they continued their long journey across the Great Plains to the Utah territory. Just before they arrived in the Salt Lake area her mother died of an scorpion bite, and speaking only Danish, Annie Catherine was left in Salt Lake City to help take care of a handicapped child while the rest of the family traveled to central Utah. She had some amazing adventures over her lifetime, crossing an ocean, crossing the plains, and developing a new life for herself in a rural undeveloped area. She had both adventures and heartache, and produced a wonderful posterity. I would love to sit down with her and hear her stories firsthand.

  • Barbara A. Wootton

    October 10, 2013

    It would be wonderful to sit down with my maternal grandfather Herbert Allen Hillery Watson. There is so much lost family history. His first wife Lula Jeffcoat Watson died in a house fire the children were placed in an orphanage. I feel he is the key to unlocking the family history. I do have some history and pictures but would love to know more.

  • Debora Kerr

    October 10, 2013

    I wish I could meet my dad’s father. He died many years before I was born. My grandfather was said to be a very cheerful man who always had a joke at the ready. Newspapers from his day seem to back up this characteristic – they reported his tall tales about how his mules were the ones that pulled Noah’s Ark out of the mud after the Biblical flood.

  • Cheryl Loughran

    October 10, 2013

    I would like to meet my 4th great grandfather. His name was Alexander Johnson. He was born on June 6,1796 and died Oct.10,1881 in Cumberland Co. North Carolina. He married a lady named Nancy. They had six children. In the 1850s Alexander was the sheriff of the Co., he was also a farmer, and slave owner. Alexander saw 2 of his children fight in the civil war, one of which didn’t come home. I would like to talk to him to see what it was like during his life time. My family has lived in the Cumberland Co. area since Alexanders time, 5 generations.

  • Sandra Karnes

    October 10, 2013

    My late husbands’ gg grandmother/father to ask him or her whether they came from what is noe A;sace-Lorraine…or the Pfaltz.

  • Kathy McQuillen

    October 11, 2013

    I would like to meet my great ,great ,grandfather,John MQuillen He was Born in Ireland in 1832 but we have nothing on him for certain entering the USA…records started when he applied for naturalization before he enlisted as a soldier for the Civil War…then his discharge and Marriage and 11 children….much information is there.
    My reason for wanting to meet him is to find out Why he came to the states,was it the Recruitment promises of America for Citizenship from Enlistment or was it the Famine? Did he stow away alone on a ship or come over as a young lad with his family?
    Very odd that no mention can be found of him before the Civil war…His Wife Sarah McAtamney’s family is well documented coming on a ship from Ireland many years before this…she came over as an unborn babe to be born on arrival in the states. They were however from the same part of Ireland and ended up in Portage Pa. Meeting him would answer so many looming questions..and be Oh so interesting!

  • Sharron Devine

    October 11, 2013

    I would love to meet my ggrandmother Bridget Hannigan who emigrated to Australia in 1877 from Limerick in Ireland. I would ask her why she came to Australia and what she found when she got here. I think she was an amazing woman who started from nothing and became a celebrated businesswoman. Bridget brought up her large family in a bush hut with a packed earth floor and no running water. I’m sure she could teach me a lot.

  • Philip Hermann

    October 11, 2013

    I would love to meet my g-g-g grandfather. Just to tell him how his family moved from a little mountain village in Italy, Vietri di Potenza, to all areas of the United States.
    Also, the changes in the family fortunes from the early listings of the Italian vital records of a family of peasant farmers to the many different profesional people living today. Or as my grandmother would say “proud people”.

  • Amarnath

    October 11, 2013

    I would like to meet the two Ladies standing together on the left. They seem to have lost (or Missing) their partners. Definitely, they will be missing them and would put an effort and try to collect a lot more facts and photos about them and their family. We only know the value of something when we have missed or lost them.

  • Regina Clarke

    October 11, 2013

    I would love to meet Sgt. Louis Genereau, jr. When he was 18 he and 24 other men from the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians joined the colors on July 4th 1863,he was in Company “K” 1st Michigan sharpshooters. He was wounded at Spotsylvania Court House; For three days they were confined in an old tobacco warehouse in the city. Then they boarded a train with hundreds of other captives taken at Petersburg; prisoner-of-war camps awaited all of them. Because of the confusion in Petersburg, a few of the Sharpshooters did manage to escape. Some of the Indians set fire to their quarters. Their cries brought out the rebel sentries, who opened the doors and tried to extinguish the blaze; in the bedlam the prisoners ran off in all directions. At least one of them — Sgt. Louis Genereau of Company K — reached his own lines the next evening and told of the capture of the men in the salient. I think he would have some great stories to tell. He was my 2nd great grand uncle. His father was French and Ottawa and he was the interpreter for the tribe.

  • Wanda Hill

    October 11, 2013

    I would like to meet my Great Aunt Grace. Oral history says, that when my great grandmother died, in 1919, my family was displaced. My Aunt Grace, moved from Baltimore, Maryland to Brooklyn and worked, found and sent for each of her siblings. When they arrived, they each, (six of them) in turn participated in finding and sending for the next sibling, eventually reuniting the family in Brooklyn, New York; where they all settled. Ironically, Aunt Grace never had any children, but her determination and efforts are very commendable, as she did not have the modern technology we have today. This took place in the mid 1920’s through the 30’s. I thank her everyday for her love of our family.

  • Monica Beard

    October 11, 2013

    I would love to have met Elizabeth and Robert to hear the stories from the middle 1600’s. I feel they could tell me alot about the time period that changed the lives of many an innocent person. “Elizabeth (Osgood) and her husband Robert Quinby (my 12th generation great grandparents) lived in the most stirring times of New England and took an active part in those events. The witchcraft trials summoned Elizabeths father and mother (William and Elizabeth Osgood) as witnesses. The notorious Indian “Symon” lived with her parents. He knocked our ancestors on the head and when he came to Elizabeth she asked him not to kill her. He hit her on the head. She called him a “Rogue” and threw a stone at him. Then he hit her twice more and settled her for dead. ” ( A passage from the Quinby family history passed down through the generations. This has stuck in my mind since the first time I read it, and then heard it from the older relatives who loved to tell the story. I want to know about the courage it took for Elizabeth to stay alive.

  • Ileen D

    October 11, 2013

    I would love to meet my Grandmother Ethel.We had been told as youngsters,that she took her own life due to illness..But have since found that not to be so true..?Through “the My Heritage site”..
    We have discovered the truth.I have learnt and found so much information on my Nana that I feel I have known her all my life..
    But never had the joy of meeting her.. 🙁
    I now visit her resting place when ever possible.

  • Elizabeth Watters

    October 11, 2013

    I would love to meet an ancestor on my maternal grandmother’s side, Daniel Tindall, who was sent out to Australia as a convict after being tried for and found guilty of High Treason against King George III as part of the Despard Plot. He was originally sentenced to be executed, but the sentences of Daniel and just one other of the men involved in the plot were reduced to transportation (life). His is an incredibly interesting story and I would love to hear it from his point-of-view.

  • Glenn K

    October 11, 2013

    I would like to meet Queen Blanca of Castille grandaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and wife of King Louis VIII of France. She was married at the age of 12 and went on to have 13 children. she also ruled France as regent for her son. I am amazed to see the qualities in Eleanor of Aquitaine passed down this far. Evidently her grandmother thought so also saying that the daughter chosen to be the King’s wife wasn’t as suitable as Blanca.

  • Roy

    October 11, 2013

    I would like to meet my great-grandfather. He and his brothers and sisters grew up in an orphanage after their parents passed away when they were still pretty young. He grew up to be a father of 13 children (two died as a baby) He had many professions, he was a painter, a police officer, a stage manager, and the flag carrier of an old music ensemble. He was an eccentric man from what I’ve heard with a prominent mustache, which was very important to him. With his 4 names, he was also known as the “ABC” of the family. (the name was passed on to my grandfather and uncle). So it with be very interesting to have a conversation with this man!

  • Noel D Pulleine

    October 11, 2013

    I would love to meet my ancestor Major and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot. He was born on Dec 12th 1831 and he was killed in action at the Battle of Isandhlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. In the film “Zulu Dawn” (1979), Pulleine was portrayed by Denholm Elliott, CBE. He is buried: Isandhlwana Battlefield
    KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He was only 36 when he died, no children of his own. I do believe that he was a brave man and that his death is one to be feared by the bravest of soldiers. One amazing fact on record is his co-officer telling his men who were already very afraid of what was happening around them, to “fix bayonets.. because in 15 minutes we will all be dead.. and die like all good soldiers do”. I have a copy of the pencil written note by ancestor requesting support. Help was only 12 miles away and everyone had been killed by the Zulu warriors who out-numbered the British by almost 20/1. There is now a monument in South Africa representing all fallen soldiers who died at Rorkes Rift. I would be so honored just to meet him and to ask him to describe his time in Isandhlwana since his arrival there, and also about family back home. I would however, be a little nervous to ask him what would he do different in his battle with the Zulu King and his warriors if he could look back and see his past as I see it now. Sumerised, I think I would like to stay back in time.. just a little while though, on a porch in South Africa with a cup of tea sharing the Afican sunset with Major and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot.. my favourite ancestor.

  • Lorraine Banks

    October 11, 2013

    I would love to meet my grandfather Noah Poole…..my mother had wonderful stories of her dad….not only was he a great father, he was very spiritual….as an African American I was very surprise during my research that my grandparents had been married over 35 years prior to his death….he was a free man never to be enslaved and he had owned several acres of land!….I have a wonderful picture of my grandparents and in that picture I could see he was a very handsome and distinguished gentleman……wonderful granddad wonderful!!!!!

  • Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury

    October 11, 2013

    From DNA results, it appears that my great-grandfather, known as Micheal or Mickey Dalton in Telluride, Colorado in the late 1800s, was not a Dalton at all. I’d like to meet him and ask what his real last name is and why he changed his name. I suspect that if he is willing tell me, and he very well may not be, it would be a very interesting story.

  • james allan

    October 11, 2013

    my granddad James Allan Campbell I have never seen him I would love to have meet him

  • Charlene Clark McGowan

    October 11, 2013

    I’d like to meet my 3rd great maternal grandmother. Her name was Kate Moffit and she was Scottish. Her husband William Tilling was a Union Soldier after they gave over from the British Isles in 1864. After Tilling’s death, Kate became a grocer and landlord in Kinston, NC.

  • Jennifer Moses

    October 11, 2013

    So many I’d like to meet, but especially great uncle Richard Pearse who fought during the Boer War. He died aged just 20 at Bloemfontein in 1900, a victim not of fighting but of enteric fever. I’ve been transcribing his letters home and although we was very young he comes across as very mature and loving towards his family. He must have seen things that today’s young men would run screaming from. I’d love for him to know how his family grew and (most) prospered.

  • Janet

    October 11, 2013

    Would like to meet my great grandfather, John Evans. He died the year I was born. He came to Kansas from Wales at age of 23, bringing his 18 year old and 3 year old brothers. A few years later, he went back to Wales to bring home a wife. The young lady was no longer available so he picked another and brought her back to the U.S. In later years he was known as autocratic and a very demanding old man. I would love to know about his life before immigrating and his thoughts and information he could provide.

  • Janice

    October 12, 2013

    I would like to meet my great-grandfather Henry D. Gregg who was born in Ireland. I would like to discover why he left his wife and two sons and to tell him how much I’ve learned about his life – and what I still want to know. He served in the Cavalry in the Indian Wars, was the private secretary to General Sheridan in the Division of the Missouri, and enlisted to serve in the Spanish-American War. He also worked as a journalist and even got in trouble with the law for, allegedly, stealing a horse and buggy! The son of an Archbishop in Dublin, he certainly had an interesting life in America. At one point his problems were attributed to alcohol but I’ve learned that he actually had an illness that may have caused him much trouble. Well, I just want to know why he didn’t go back to his family and what he was thinking! But I also want to tell him that he was loved by his family and holds a place in our hearts today – even though we never met him.

  • Martha Parsons

    October 13, 2013

    Im torn between several people. My 2nd great grandfather Cicero Lowe Badgett was in the civil war, and a confederate. While I would be more proud to learn that he went against those around him and fought for the union-I am aware times were very different then. So picking his brain about the war and the horrors that he saw would be interesting though hard to hear. Then there is my 2nd great grandfather, Jacob Alson Long. He was a lawyer, served in public office-sounds like a great guy right. But thing is, I discovered that he was the Ku Klux Klan leader in his area, and was actually charged with the murder of a black man. Hung the guy. Wasn’t at all proud to discover that one. And worse, he hauled butt out of the state for a bit, came back, charges were dropped with no apparent good reason, and married his wife 2 days later. So it would be interesting to hear the whole story, how he justifies his actions, and is he as bad a guy as it sounds to me? What the hell was my great grandmother thinking to marry him? Finally, could I make him see the error of his ways? Of course I
    may pick someone different eventually, as I get further back in my family history.

  • Leota Basque

    October 13, 2013

    If I had the opportunity to meet just one ancestor which one would I chose and why?

    This is a question I have often asked myself. The obvious choice, one would think, would be to chose someone who was very successful or someone who others looked up to and admired. Someone like my great great great grandfather, William Bell Little who was the first of my ancestors to immigrate to Canada from England in the early 1800’s and became a very successful doctor. But then, I have never really been one to what was expected.

    Without hesitation, I would chose to meet William Bell Little’s son, Oscar.

    I am sure that we are all familiar with the old saying “ There’s a black sheep in every family”. Well this sure appears to hold true when it comes to Oscar. Many mysteries seem to surround him including even his name itself. He is seen throughout history with many different alias’s including, James Austin Little, James Oscar, Oscar James and others. Oscar is one of those people that genealogists either get excited or frustrated over when researching.

    For me, as his great great granddaughter I feel it is my duty to search out every detail I can on him. I get excited with each new piece of information that I find for it brings me a little closer to piecing his life together to be able to portray his life to the world as it was.

    Although my research on Oscar is far from being complete, from the information I do have, I gain a small glimpse into this mysterious life.
    Unlike most of his siblings who went on to be very successful as doctors and farmers, Oscar made his living as a carpenter and painter and it would appear from various articles about him that he struggled financially. In newspaper writings, it is evident that there was a time where he lived separately from his wife and 6 sons and carried everything he owned in a trunk. Several people often loaned him money to get by and he was arrested for debt at least once.

    In the early 1900’s, Oscar was residing with a family while doing some carpentry work for them. One morning there was a tragic house fire in which five of the family lost their lives. Oscar, along with the eldest son and his aunt were the only ones to survive. Suspicion grew strong and rumours started to spread quickly when Oscar left the small town immediately after the fire and did not return. He was charged with murder and there was a lengthy trial in which he was found not guilty and acquitted of all charges.

    Although he was found innocent of all charges, his reputation was no doubt scarred so bad that the shame would undoubtedly not go away so easily in such a small place in the early 1900’s. This in all probability was an ignominy that haunted him until his death.

    After the trial, it seems that Oscar disappears from history without a trace. I have not been able to locate any records after 1900 that bear his name. His wife however is found in the 1901 and 1911 Census listed as a widow. On her death record in 1921 she is listed as married but no mention of a spouses name. Three of his sons changed the spelling of their last names permanently and another son is found changing the spelling of his last name on several occasions.

    It would appear that after the trial the family was perhaps so shamed that they shunned Oscar to the point where they used a different last name and his wife even claimed him dead to her by listing herself as a widow.

    I have not been able to find a death record that I know for fact is for Oscar, but there is one that stands out for a James Little. Although not much detail is given in this record there is enough information to lead me to believe that it is his death record. It is recorded that he is buried in a cemetery that today is just a pile of rocks which are unreadable and has never been kept up.

    So why, some might ask would I go with such an unlikely choice as to want to meet this man?

    It’s a sad thing when you think that one of your ancestors may have died alone with no family to care. We all do things in life that we are not proud of and sometimes things that can scar us for life. If the theory of what happened to Oscar in his later years is true it deeply saddens me to think of how he must have felt, the turmoil he must have gone through having no one by his side.

    I would love to have the chance to meet him to let him know that I care and that I will tell my kids and their kids about him and not let him be forgotten or thrown out of our history. I would tell him that his life was and always will be important to me.

  • Nichol Hohenbrink

    October 13, 2013

    My father’s maternal grandmother. My grandmother told me often that I reminded her of her mother. I would love to meet her, so I could see and explore our similarities… and differences!

  • Dolores Brine

    October 13, 2013

    I would like to meet my greatgrandfather Johann Friedrich Ritter, who was born in Erfurt, Prussia in 1823, emigrated from Germany to the US in 1840, llived in Charleston, married and had children there, served in the War Between the States, and was a POW at Hart’s Island, NY. I would like to ask him who his parents and grandparents were and why he emigrated from Erfurt, Germany to the US.

  • Shirley J Washington

    October 13, 2013

    I would like to meet my grandfather on my dads side, because I never really knew him. I know he saw me when I was a baby but I don’t remember how he looked or anything about him other than his name. And as a child i missed being a part of his life. I would like to meet him so I can know what he looks like and our resemblance of one anohter.

  • hugh conkey

    October 13, 2013

    thomas conkey my gt,gt,gt, grandfather because icant find him having a wife in my searching even with him having children.

  • Annie

    October 13, 2013

    I would love to meet John Kunz, my great-great grandfather who followed his heart and joined a church he believed was true, despite being threatened by his father that if he did, he would not be welcome in their home. His son, John Kunz III, traveled to America and settle in a small community in south east Idaho, naming it Bern, after Berne, Switzerland. There they practiced the art of cheese making. I would love to hear my great-great grandfather’s stories and hear him yodel. I want to share stories from my own life and the life of others from his family with him, and thank him for the blessings I have today because of his personal sacrifices.

  • Julie Rowe

    October 13, 2013

    I would love to meet my paternal grandfather, who passed away years before I was born. He came from Ireland yo Bath in the late 1880’s, so I understand. There are a lot of family stories of possible reasons why he left Ireland, and I would love to know which are true. The only photo I gave of him us too delicate to handle now, but he looks such a wise and comfortable man. He fathered 16 children, only 7 of whom lived to adulthood, none are alive now yo help me with any answers. My father was twice my mothers age when they married, and died at 73, he suffered from Parkinson’s disease. He told us the stories, and what my grandfather did as a job when he got here, he became a postman, so as his name was Patrick he was the original Postman Pat!

  • Betty L. Wood

    October 13, 2013

    I would love to meet my great-great grandfather, Tipton O. Wood. We can not find his parents anywhere and our family tree search ends with him. He could tell us so much more about our heritage!

  • Helena Murray

    October 13, 2013

    I would have loved to meet my maternal great grandfather Patrick Kehoe, Wexford. I just found out there is a photo of him with Eamonn Develera in Kilmainham Jail. He was an irish patriot during the civil war in Ireland.
    Another one would be Thomas Underwood who came to Ireland in 1640s he was a protestant minister who settled in wexford. My Paternal grandmother would be his descendant.

  • Scherry

    October 13, 2013

    I would like to meet my GG Grandfather Felix Louis Richter because we know so little about him and our GG Grandmother Maggie J. Rice.. Only information that comes up on them is my Granny’s death certificate with their name on it and a record where my Granny got married for the 5th time and their names are on that.. All we have is names no dates, country they were born and it is so upsetting not to be able to find out anything.. Granny Lauretha Nathalia Richter, Jeschke, Plume, Grigsby, Amstutz, Ercanbrack was so special to me in my life and in my Mother’s life as well, what a life she must have had and yet in her later life spent time crocheting, telling stories to Grandkids and rocking her rocking chair as she did.. I just would like to know what happen to them after her birth.. She was born in Rochester, New York in 1890.. That’s my story..

  • Abraham

    October 13, 2013

    the question is a very simple question, but to answer it is very difficult. not for right and wrong, but if i could i would love to meet them all. but let me try to simplify it for my first thought and then second thought, i wont go on and on, because there wont be an end.
    1st my great great grandfather from my fathers side, the reason is because from that side of the family i know the least, i would like to know a bit more…
    2nd is my great grand father from my fathers mothers side, who i am named after “Avraham”, recently i found out the exact memorial day from him, and also received a copy of a photo of his and his wifes gravestones… based on the wording they seemed to be great people, is would be my honor to meet with them…(him)

  • Pamela Kent

    October 13, 2013

    I would love to meet my 4th great grandmother Temperance Gollop
    who lived in Honiton Devon and was a lace maker. She had a son out of wedlock. I’m sure it was a hard life. She was born 1806 and died in 1890 so she lived a long life. Maybe she can teach my how to do tatting!

  • Carol Taylor

    October 13, 2013

    I would love to meet my 4th Great Grandmother Susannah Smallwood Willeford (1810 -1896). She traveled with her husband on a homemade raft down two rivers with 3 children under the age of 5 to a steam boat ride up the Mississippi to live in an unsettled area of Iowa. She was the first white woman to live in the area, had 8 children, lost her husband and continued to raise those children alone, get herself out of debt, travel by train to California and back and at the age of 75 made 9 quilts by hand for her grand daughters. That was one incredible woman and I would love to meet her and see for myself where the women in my family get their strength to always persevere.

  • Shirley Sture (nee Sanders)

    October 13, 2013

    I would so like to meet my grandmother on my father’s side of the Family. She died 3 years before i was born and my birthday is one day before hers. I would like to find out if my character is anything like hers.

  • Joyce Sherry Perkins

    October 13, 2013

    My third great grandmother, Catherine Keating Sherry, who left Ireland, in the early 1840’s to Liverpool for a decade before coming to America. I want to find out why they left Ireland to England and why come to America in the 1850’s. As the matriarch of the family, she would know more about the family ancestors, as I am in my family.

  • Virginia Pinkava

    October 13, 2013

    Such interesting stories.

    Can you imagine how confused all these ancestors would be today with Electricity, telephones, TV, computers etc?

    I talked to my 85 year old cousin in Slovenia over Skype. about one week ago. She was so shocked you sat there with her mouth open and couldn’t even talk to me. She later told her daughter she couldn’t believe she heard my voice and could see me, even though I was hundreds of miles away.

  • Sherry Bruner

    October 13, 2013

    I would like to meet my Great Great Grandmother. Her name was Patti Johnson. I have only heard a few details about her but I want to know more. I have researched but I don’t have her father’s name. It was not listed. I am not sure what color eyes she had nor my great grandmother Nola. My grandmother had blue eyes and I would like to know where this trait started. They were all fair skinned. I am a black woman. I have brown eyes with a blue ring around it and so does my son and various other family members. Blue eyes? Where did they come from!

  • Mandy Smith

    October 13, 2013

    I would love to meet my 3rd gt grandparents. Agnes McMillan and William Watson Roberts. Both were convicts and sent to Tasmania from Scotland and England. Agnes was 15 at the time of transportation. When they were released after a few hard years they ended up meeting and travelling to the mainland Australia. They marreid and went through the gold rush days with hiding gold in the babies nappies etc. They moved further north and settled in Lismore and raised a loving family. They are a wonderful inspiration.

  • Virginia Pinkava

    October 13, 2013

    Love these stories!

  • Amber F

    October 13, 2013

    I have been researching my family ancestry for years now and I have come across so many wonderful people that not only contributed to who I am today, but also to their community and their country. I am fascinated with every story, every face….however, my mother’s father (my grandfather) is quite the mystery. My mother has fond childhood memories of him, but he passed away when she was 15. He traveled the world three times and served in the royal marines however, his childhood and his life are something of a mystery. No one knows his life story and I would love to get to know the man I call Grandpa Jack.

  • Siobhain Kennedy

    October 13, 2013

    My great great Grandfather, he was transported to Norfolk Ireland in the 1800s, there is a family letter and in it he sent over the money for his wife and children to join him, she declined. I would love to know how he felt and if he went on to have another relationship, If there is another branch to our family tree, we do know that he got his letter of freedom but he didn’t come home to Ireland he stayed and I would love to know why

  • Cassandra Dunbar

    October 13, 2013

    i WOULD LIKE TO MEET MY GREAT-GREAT GRANDFATHER, George Henry Dunbar, because he was the first Dunbar in our family to come to the US from Scotland.He was also maybe 6′ feet 3″ or taller and his wife was about 4 feet 5 inches tall, and they had 15+ kids!

  • Martin

    October 13, 2013

    I am curious to learn more about my maternal great uncle Joel C. Pancoast (1842-1919), who enlisted at age 19 to serve four years in major battles of the Civil War, 100th Volunteer Pennsylvania Infantry, returning home in 1865, to work in the Elizabeth, PA, boatbuilding industry and marry three wives, the last, the redoubtable Aunt Sarah, long survived him. Twice a widower, Uncle Joel had many children, the descendants of whom it would be interesting to meet.

  • Joao Braz

    October 13, 2013

    I would like to meet actually two of my great-great-grand mothers who incidentally have the same family name and were single mothers. I’d like to know how hard it was to raise so many children without a father in the beginning of the 1800s in Portugal. But perhaps for personal reasons, I’d like to also ask them who the father of my great-grand father and great-grand mother were (I’m sure they knew but was not registered in the baptism records). I have this big hole in my family tree because of it 🙁

  • Dani Hendrickson

    October 13, 2013

    I would very much like to meet my GG grandma, Agnes Panther Barnes Chrismon. She became an orphan at about 8-10 years old. Her parents were born in Indian Territory but her grandparents were born in the “Old Nation” meaning they were forcibly moved along the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Her dad or grandpa fought in the Civil War in the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles (I think that is correct). She is such an enigma in my family…I think she is probably one of the most colorful members of my tree!

  • Colleen Newton

    October 13, 2013

    I would love to meet my paternal grandmother, Irene Nellie May Bucksey. She had my late father, Cyril John (Johnny) Newton 1925, to Thomas Newton of Harpurhey, Manchester. Dad was born in the Crumpsall Workhouse and his parents didn’t marry. He was brought up by his father in Shepherds Bush, London.
    Irene died during The Blitz in London 1940 at home along with her mother, Florence Naomi Bucksey nee Kilham. Her father, William Jesse Bucksey, was a retired policeman who wasn’t home due to his Air Raid Warden duties.

  • Colleen Curran

    October 13, 2013

    My great grandmother Rosanna who my mother talked about and loved very much. I would love to talked to her because she could answer the questions I have about her own mother. Her mother Anne Gordon I believe was Jewish and I would want to find out how and why she came to live in Dublin, Ireland in the late 1800’s. This part of my family history fascinates me.

  • Samantha Lafontaine

    October 13, 2013

    I would love to meet my 6x great grandmother, Marie Josette Abitakikikoqwe(1761 – 1813) She was a Saulteux (Ojibwe) woman, who married her voyageur lover, Gabriel Guilbault in Oka, Quebec. This lineage was a family secret for generations as there was no pride in being Metis. After much investigation and thousands of French church records read, I was able to identify this couple which, at the age of forty, has had a profound effect on myself and the pride I have in carrying this Metis blood. I felt an instant kinship with this line and feel it explains so much of who I am. Some of the questions I would ask would include how she ended up in Oka,Quebec from her home of the Sault Ste Marie area, why living with the Iroquois? And of course the desire to be taught about her culture..to learn about the Frenchman who lived as a voyageur would also fascinate me.

  • Lisa Tardiff

    October 13, 2013

    My great great grandfather. He was the oldest living Armenian at the time of his death in Waltham, Mass. He was also the oldest of my relatives to come to America. He could explain so much more of my family tree than I have been able to find!

  • Angela

    October 13, 2013

    I would like to meet my great great grandfather who emigrated to Australia because of the famine in South West Ireland. He returned after a few years and married, having many children. There is a possibility that he left a family behind in Australia. So I would like to find out about that. He certainly was a man of mystery.

  • Janice Angel Dearing

    October 13, 2013

    I would have loved to met just one of my grand-parents, they were all dead when I was born, but my dads mom, she died when my dad was 12 years old, she was 38 years old, and my father always told me that I looked like his mom, so it would such an honor to have just got to met her, my father recently passed away also he was 89 years old, he always told me, I was just like her!!

  • Carrie Perialas

    October 13, 2013

    The ancestor I would love to meet from my family would be Rene Gagnon, one of the 5 soldiers that raised the flag at Iwo Jima. I would love to ask him about his life before and after the flag raising, including his view on politics in today’s world.

  • Cilia van der Kamp

    October 13, 2013

    actually, there are several ancestors i would like to meet, but the first one would be my great grandmother (the mother of my grandmother on my mother’s side). she must have been a great woman, raising 10 children on the salary of a sergeant in the dutch police, which amounted to approx. 11 guilders a week, around the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. all children turned out well and looked like princes/princesses.

  • Pat Elliott

    October 13, 2013

    I would like to meet my ancestor Samuel Fuller. He came to America on the Mayflower with his mother and father. He was left an orphan when his parents died the first winter. I would ask him about the trip over in the small boat and his impressions of America and congratulate him for surviving to father nine children.

  • Emily Chapman

    October 14, 2013

    I would love to meet my great great grandfather. He came to America from France in the 1870’s. He opened a restaurant in Frankfort, KY. He gave his son a name that has carried on for 5 generations. He has been really fun to research. I’ve just started making progress tracking beyond him in France. I’d really like to hear more about his life.

  • Paula

    October 14, 2013

    I would love to meet my Great Grandfather Franz Besl. I can find nothing past his showing up in Cincinnati. He owned a store, had several children with Maria Frei. It is said he stowed away on a ship to America to escape Kaiser Wilhelm’s Army. When asking for information from older descendents of his…it is all a BIG secret. He is said to be from Alsace- Lorraine. I would love to have information and facts to support what little I’ve been told.

  • Sallie Shelton

    October 14, 2013

    My father’s great grandfather, Francis Asbury Hammond. His life would make a blockbuster movie! Joined a whaling ship at a young age and during a storm a barrel rolled over him breaking his leg. The captain dumped him off on the “Sandwich Islands” to die. The natives nursed him back to health. His life includes multiple ocean voyages back and forth from America to the Sandwich Islands. He was in the CA gold rush, helped the Mormon Battalion build a road from from CA to UT, had many continuing adventures. Sadly, he died in Mancos, CO where he was drug to death by a horse leaving a large family. He was honored among many people as having ultimate honesty and integrity. He lead a life of service to others. Of course I would love to meet him, although I would be a little intimidated by this amazing man. I am honored to be his ancestor!

  • Mark Shelton

    October 14, 2013

    My 15th g-grandmother Lady Anne Boleyn Shelton! She is the Aunt of Henry the VIII second wife, Anne Boleyn. My grandmother served in the court caring for Henry’s child, Princess Mary from his first wife Catherine of Aragon. She has to have some VERY interesting tales to tell!

  • Gai Filliponi

    October 14, 2013

    My maternal grandfather – he died when I was 3 and he could answer so many family questions for me.

  • Daphne Coats

    October 14, 2013

    My Great-Grandmother, Jane (Masterton) Coats. Born in Scotland on 7 Aug 1840, travelled to NZ on board the Sir William Eyre with her new husband of one month, William Coats.
    The voyage was dreadful with 20% of the passengers dying on the way from Measles, Scarlet Fever and other illnesses. It took 7 months instead of the usual 3-4 months.
    Once in Dunedin, NZ, they built up their own businesses, and within 3 months of their arrival, Jane gave birth to the first of 10 children. Between bringing up the 8 surviving children and running the family grocery store, Jane became involved with the suffragette movement in NZ. She was the treasurer of the Dunedin branch.
    She was also one of the first women to purchase land in her own name when the law was changed to allow women to buy and sell property.
    I admire her for being a strong woman in such trying times, and for having the conviction to stand up for women’s rights. She raised strong, independent children who knew the difference between right and wrong.
    What is the best of all, her husband’s heart was broken when she died. That shows that although she stood up for herself and other women, she was still a wife and mother that they were all very proud of, and loved dearly.

  • Olive Donovan

    October 14, 2013

    My Grandmothers who both died very young, I would love to hear how they lived the the Dublin tenements and during the Great lockout of 1913 when their husbands had no employment whatsoever. Yet they managed to rear all their children as kind compassionate people with hearts of gold!

  • Brenda Hobbs Heppell

    October 14, 2013

    I would have loved to met my Grandfather Reg…. I would have asked him of his family in England/Ireland that he didn’t disclose to anyone in Canada! Not sure why….but really happy to have found them any way!!!!!!!

  • Mária Lenke Szakács

    October 14, 2013

    I didn`t know any of my grandfathers. They were victims of the World War II background.
    My paternal grandfather was a merchant. January, 1945 in the city Baia Sprie (ROU) Soviet military commander sent is up 50 km salt is made. My grandfather brought the salt, but became very ill. Son he died at the age of 56.
    My father was 19 years old then. Grandpa’s death was no longer at home. Disappeared during the war. My grandparents did not know about it.
    I want to meet my grandfather to tell him:
    I love you! Love transcends from your grave!

  • steve long

    October 14, 2013

    you’re not related to the heppells of around the Newcastle/durham area of England are?

  • arlene gaucher

    October 14, 2013

    I would love to meet my Great Grandmother on my mothers side I know nothing about her except that she was born in Austrian empire in the 1800,s and was german speaking, I want to learn to speak and read german fluently. I wish she was around to teach me.

  • Scott Hammon Hendricks

    October 15, 2013

    I would like to meet my great-grandfather, William Chalmers Hendricks. I am an author and he was a prodigious journal writer. He left Madison, Indiana via River Boat down the Ohio and subsequently the Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. He and his friends caught a steamer to Chagres, Panama. He climbed with pack horse over the Isthmus of Panama in his long underwear because he did not want to ruin his only good pair of pants. They caught another ship that took them north to San Francisco – they arrived May 5, 1849. He started the Boarding House in Colussa California and then ultimate ended up at the Morris Ravine outside of Oroville , CA as a hydraulic miner. He then went into politics – was a State Senator, the First Director of Prisons for the State of CA and ultimate the Secretary of State of California. He was friends with John Muir. He was known to have a good sense of humor and I have copies of all his writings.

  • Kimberly Paul

    October 15, 2013

    I would like to meet my gg grandmother, Phoebe Ann Williams Clickner. She came from England to America in 1842 with her large family. They settled in the Newfane, Niagara County, New York area. Phoebe wrote 3 diaries right about the time the Civil War broke out. She wrote about everyday life, she wrote about almost dying from typhoid and she wrote about her 3 brothers who enlisted in the Civil War. Two brothers died and one survived. During the Civil War, Phoebe was postmistress, and ran the post office. She eventually married & migrated to Michigan. We had always thought that Phoebe was kind of the black sheep of the family as her father wanted her to settle in Missouri with the rest of the family, but she chose to be with her husband. Phoebe also mentioned in one of her diaries that her father gave her a sewing machine as she was an excellent seamstress. She wrote that the first time she tried the machine, she broke it. Her father returned it and got her another one. Phoebe eventually got used to the sewing machine, but I had to laugh at the story. I can imagine the look on her face when she broke the sewing machine!

  • Judy Mozena Belew

    October 15, 2013

    I would have loved to have met my g,g,g,g,g,g’pa who was born in France, named Jean Mouginet, born July 4, 1747. He came with Gen Lafayette in 1777 to fight in the Revolutionary War with Gen Washington. He fell in love with this country so much, he stayed; and had many many descendants. He eventually changed the spelling of his last name to Mozena, and became known as John. The stories he could have told…

  • Bryan Barlow

    October 15, 2013

    my uncle chuck, because like the song says (( ” ONE MORE DAY ” ))
    and if you don’t beleave me look it up on Youtube.. and the Why is Very simple me and my uncle were very VERY close .when ever I went over to my anut and uncles house ,I would walk inside say hello to my anut drop my stuff inthe guest bedroom and then go fishing with my uncle or go outside and work on my uncles boat with him or go work on his truck with him…..
    GOD I MISS MY UNCLE….

  • Jim Everhart

    October 15, 2013

    I would love to meet my great great grandfather Emanuel Everhart. He moved from North Carolina in about 1866 married had a son and disappeared one day no traces of after that, I have been working on this for 30 years. I have so many questions for him.

  • Chip Kalb

    October 15, 2013

    The ancestor I would like the most to see in a noose trap is Andreas Kalb, my great-great-great grandfather. He was not a secret agent like James Bond but he is truly an international man of mystery.

    Andreas was supposed to be a customs officer for the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1828, when his son was born, but he could not be found in the governmental directories for the 1820s. He was supposed to be from Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia (now Szczecin, Pomerze, Poland) but there is a hamlet called Stettin in Bavaria, just 7.25 miles southwest of his son’s birthplace. The son’s half-sister did have, as her godmother, a Kalb from this hamlet but Andreas Kalb could not be found in the parish registers there. He was supposed to be Christian from the most Catholic state of the German Empire yet his descendants were – and still are – mistaken as Jewish and we have found in Poland the Kalbs who look just like us. Andreas was supposed to be a bachelor but Bavaria’s official directories and newspapers showed an Andreas Kolb (not Kalb), living and working in 1828 as a Forester just 25 miles away – and already married with several children. His son, my ancestor, was illegitimate. He was born and raised, in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, across the Lichtenfels Forest from his father! He and his father’s oldest legitimate son, born just a few years apart, have the same name – Johann Nikolaus Kalb.

    So many questions, so few answers. That’s why I will continue to wait in the bush, hoping for Andreas Kalb to step into the noose trap!

  • Annie Cs. Molnár

    October 16, 2013

    I am sure, there are “black holes” and mysteries in every family, more or less. There are stories passed down, one would like to know whether they are true, and why and how this and that happened. My parents and grandparents were obliged to prove their origins, so my job is to supplement theirs. The closer the time our forfathers lived in, the more we know about them. So it is with my paternal grandfather [who had died years before I was born]. We know quite a lot about him, his life carreer, work, writings, achievements – even Wikipédia holds him. Data, dates, titles, numbers, comments, etc. It is right all these facts that leave me with a feeling of lack and make me more curious. I can roughly find out and gather his main character, BUT what was his tone and glance and mimikri like? How did he hold his head while thinking? Did he gesture while speaking just as my father did and I myself do? How did he walk? How did he look at his wife and his children? What did he say and do when he was happy or angry, satisfied or disappointed? What would he say to me? How would he look at me? What adivce would he give to me? And … and … and …
    If only I had met him.
    I named my son after him.

  • marie

    October 20, 2013

    My sister took many of the old photos from our family albums back to the Netherlands where is is living with her family. I would love to see her and take copies of these old family photos. Also as she would probably with prompting be able to put me in contact with some extended family members who may have other photos or information.