The early lessons of a search.

[Andrew Douglas]

Being new to the family research game it's fair to say that I'm rather virginal to the highs and lows of Genealogy.

So on a wing and a prayer I set forth with precious little information passed down from my mother - whom in turn recieved the same information from a long deceased family member.

My family tree is very comprehensive and complete right up to present day from the time we arrived at the great land down under.
Now unlike alot of Australians I'm rather pleased to find that my direct family line arrived at this country as free settlers. And that is where the line ends. My Great Great Grand Father; Edward Douglas arrived in Australia around 1851 and the scent runs cold.

As an indicator of the trials of searching your ancestry before it even really begins can be best summed up in my notes section on my profile page which I shall share here:


Part one:
Tonight, my darling assistant aka my girlfriend suggested I google my Great Grandfather and the name of the ship he sailed to Australia in the mid 19th century.
Well it turns out this tale has more twists than a Shakespearian tragedy and it appears my GGF sailed with one of his brothers... a completely new revelation to me. However I will need to clarify and confirm details with sources but by all intents and purposes it appears I have scored a major breakthrough!
This is the site we have unfolded with remarkable if at times contradictory information. The saga will continue.......
http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040087b.htm

Part 2:
Well the info I uncovered yesterday has today been dashed in the form of an email from John Douglas's Great Grand Daughter. This lead I found has proven to be false.
Unfortunately the information I have with me passed down from my mother has proven to be unreliable. And with the limited information I have left which is sketchy to say the least it is rapidly becoming apparent that this is definately no easy task!
With the work I've done thus far I've drawn an absolute blank with Edward and even his father James. But then, I am only relying on information from ancestry.co which in itself seems good but is it good enough?
The search continues.......

So as you can see, it's no mean feat tracing your family line. I'm sure - in fact positive that the same story can be told again and again a million times over by the ever growing numbers of people tracing their roots. In fact there is probably nods and smiles of understanding from a few readers here.

But, with a clear mind, undeterred the search shall continue. As murky and unclear the past may be, my pride in my heritage, my culture and my thirst for knowlegde drives me on.

A Douglas! A Douglas!

[Andrew Douglas]

hahah! Glad to have given you the heads up! :P

I'll have to keep an eye on their gathering dates - sounds too good to pass up! ;)

[Julie Hornung]

yeah no kidding, lol.

well the one in Orange County, has already passed - it was the end of May - I think there is one in Ventura county, coming up, but I forget when.  They are always fun.  The Orange county one is pretty big and they have been doing whiskey tasting for the past 3 years!!  woowoo!!!  a beer, some whiskey and watching the scotish games... pretty darn good way to pass the time :-)  I didn't know they were on facebook!!!  I was wondering why I wasn't getting their emails - thanks - I'll go find them.  - Okay I did - damn!!! looks like I missed a pub crawl!!!! 

take care

 

[Andrew Douglas]

Oh one can only imagine the can o'worms that DNA testing can potentiall produce! ha!

Interesting that you're from California. My partner and I often travel back to Cali to visit her family. I hooked up with the SoCal Douglas Association on facebook. I'm hoping to attend one of their future gatherings. :)

[Julie Hornung]

I hope it can help you find more info!!!  I need to try to get the ones who know their line to do the tests so those of us who have roadblocks can get somewhere, lol.  We had a discussion about this on the DNA mailing list that some of the current Lords, Dukes, whichever they are... might not want to do it, because what happens if they come back as someone else, ya know.  I mean its an old line and I'm sure some stuff was done to keep the line/surname going :-)

Take care

Julie in Calif

[Andrew Douglas]

haha.. ok, I think you sold me on it Julie. I'll make some enquiries soonish. ;)

[Julie Hornung]

Well, since I'm a girl, I can't help you too much on that, lol - but like I said William has done it, and he can help answer any of your questions or give you his point of view.   This is the Douglas DNA website  http://www.familytreedna.com/login.aspx  no names are posted, only the oldest ancestor you know of, the people who match your DNA are given your name and email address only.  It's still cool if you don't want to do it. 

[Andrew Douglas]

Hi Julie.

I have thought about it. But I'm a little worried about privacy issues and such. But I'll put some more thought into it and maybe I will try it out. :)

[Julie Hornung]

Andrew -  have you thought about doing the DNA test?  to see if it might help get through that brickwall??    William has done it and can tell you the particulars :-)