My Ancestors in 1919
@DeborahDiane (40055)
Laguna Woods, California
October 19, 2018 11:36pm CST
Last Christmas, my husband and I ordered DNA kits from Ancestry.com. This week, a young woman contacted me through Ancestry and said that we were distantly related.
The young woman put me in touch with her aunt, who is about ten years older than me. The aunt was able to fill in a lot of information about my father's family, including several photos such as the one above.
This is a photo of my grandfather at about 18, together with his parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents. It was taken at a family reunion held at the homestead of my grandfather's grandfather in Illinois in 1919! Isn't that cool?
I love the clothing styles and the guy playing the accordion in the foreground.
Once I put the information this woman gave me into my family tree on Ancestry, I discovered even more information. Ancestry gave me "hints" which took me back several more generations, all the way to when my ancestors lived in the Alsace Lorraine area between France and Germany. In fact, two ancestors identified as being from France and two from Germany.
I thought it was very exciting to have all this information about my ancestors.
My husband's ancestors have a well documented lineage and we have a book which puts everything together on his side of the family, going all the way back to the 1600's.
I never thought I would be able to trace my ancestors back very far, since I knew they had immigrated from Europe and I didn't have much information about when they immigrated to the United States or specifically where they came from. However, now I have discovered the names and details about ancestors with birthdates going back to the early 1700s. Very cool!
Have you done any geneology charts or traced back your ancestors?
8 people like this
7 responses
@noni1959 (9886)
• United States
20 Oct 18
Neat photo. I like looking at old photos and try to picture how it was back then. I have a lot of genealogy information on my dad's side but not a whole lot on my mom's. I did 23andMe but all my matches were third to sixth cousins and not much info. I think I'll try ancestry.
2 people like this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
20 Oct 18
@noni1959 - I was happy with the information I got from Ancestry. Don't give up. I did mine in last December and didn't hear anything from any relatives until now ... late October. Perhaps in the future I will get more connections from living relatives. You never know.
1 person likes this
@noni1959 (9886)
• United States
20 Oct 18
@DeborahDiane Thank you. I'll keep hoping with 23 but plan to do ancestry very soon.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
20 Oct 18
@noni1959 - I wish you the best of luck!
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (129470)
• Israel
29 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane
It is always nice when we can find family we did not know about. I love the picture above. I have some pictures my Aunt sent me when she was writing a book about my grandparents and she sent me some pictures of my grandfather when he was younger and a cool black and white picture of my grandparents and one of my grandmother and her parents and brother. They are very special to me.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
30 Nov 18
@Hannihar - I can understand why those pictures would be very special to you. I was thrilled to get pictures of ancestors, since I did not know anything about them until now.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
1 Dec 18
@Hannihar - I love old pictures, too. It is interesting to see how my ancestors lived and dressed. It was quite a large family, wasn't it?
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (129470)
• Israel
30 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane
Yes they are very special since she was the only one to send me pictures. I treasure them and even had someone help me put myself in a picture of my grandparents so I could be a part of it too. Isn't it nice to see people you did not know about in pictures? I bet it was really great getting the pictures of your ancestors. I love the old pictures.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (48430)
• Mojave, California
20 Oct 18
Awe, don't you know people hate science for this reason. Makes them think and question and an evolved people never do that. My way is right because God said. Haha, I make bad jokes. Again, want to do this but scared I might be part ape or Gorilla. I am sorry did a two for on your post. Not trolling just trying to make you smile because already told you how neat it was you did this. Wish more people were so brave. 
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (48430)
• Mojave, California
21 Oct 18
@DeborahDiane That is very true and can probably say most of our ancestors history is probably not very good. That being said, sad or disappointing or not is very interesting and can learn from their mistakes. Think people would be more interested in this stuff for that reason alone. Hey I am related to Billy The Kid. You telling me people would not find that neat whether they hated the man or not.
Seriously, all I know is I am related to Genghis Khan. Probably not, but talk about a breeder. Something like 16 million people today carry his genes. I am not sure if that is neat or scary. 
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (48430)
• Mojave, California
22 Oct 18
@DeborahDiane Yeah, I guess its 1 out of 200 men in the whole world has his genes. I imagine not very many white men either but they really did not break down races. Like you said its pretty fascinating either way.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
22 Oct 18
@crossbones27 - Fascinating! My genealogy chart now goes back to the 1300s, but no mention of anyone from Asia. I guess Genghis Khan is not in my DNA ... but who knows?
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16532)
• China
29 Oct 18
What a precious photo ! In the photo taken 99 years ago, people were all in their Sunday best ,different from the clothing today.Do You know who your grandfather is among them? From ancient times to the present ,over here we have written family tree from generation to generation,so some clans can be traced back to Before Christ.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16532)
• China
30 Oct 18
@DeborahDiane Finding out where your clan came from really excited you. The Ancestry.com is a great site.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
30 Oct 18
@changjiangzhibin89 - Yes, Ancestry.com has really improved, too. I tried doing this about 10 years ago, and there was not very much information. In another 10 years, there may be a lot more!
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
29 Oct 18
@changjiangzhibin89 - I tried to figure out which man was my 19 year old grandfather, but all I could do was guess a few likely possibilities. It is impossible to be sure.
I am impressed that Chinese family trees can be traced back thousands of years! I was pleased to be able to trace mine back a few hundred years. It is wonderful that people have kept track so carefully.
1 person likes this
@Aquitaine24 (11653)
• San Jose, California
1 Nov 18
That is how i found some photos of my ancestors.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
1 Nov 18
@Aquitaine24 - It is fun to know what our ancestors looked like.
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
22 Oct 18
@DianneN - It was very interesting. When combined with doing my genealogy chart on Ancestry.com, I have learned a lot. I have an ancestor named Levi Cline (great-great grandfather) from Germany. Sounds like a Jewish name, doesn't it? I also have ancestors from France, Great Britain and other European locations.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
24 Oct 18
@DianneN - I loved looking at the fashions in this old photo from 1919. Did you notice that some of the skirts come to just below the knee? I didn't think that happened until the 1920's. I wondered if some of the older people were "scandalized" that some of the young women wore such short skirts for the family reunion! LOL
1 person likes this
@DianneN (246838)
• United States
23 Oct 18
@DeborahDiane It's Amazing what you've found out and Levi Cline does sound Jewish. lol
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95189)
• Marion, Ohio
20 Oct 18
Great photo and in good shape too. I have not traced mine at all.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
20 Oct 18
@wolfgirl569 - I tried tracing my family about 15 years ago, but there was not that much information available online at the time, so I let it drop. There is a great deal more available now, plus the DNA tests!
