My 1647 ancestor had an Italian last name, despite coming from England.

That is absolutely perfect!!!

Maru! I had no idea you were into genealogy! It's one of my passions, too. Years ago, one of my grandmothers stories about her family got me interested in both history and genealogy. I pursued the history first and the family stuff much later.

First ancestor with my family name to arrive in America was born in Yorkshire and transported as a prisoner from the Edinburgh Tollbooth to Virginia in 1678. However, I've also found several Native American ancestors, and they're hard to beat for seniority.

Recently ran into an interesting tangle in that one of my g-grandfathers was apparently adopted, but at the time he was taken in, he already had the family name. Now I'm trying to figure out where he came from, and am running into some really murky stuff. You already know what it means to shake the tree until something falls out ...

My mother was a red-head and a very patient woman. However, she was not someone to provoke. She used to say that it's hard to make a red-head mad but if you do, they stay mad for three generations......at least. Yes, they pass it on.

I've just recently -- in the last year or so -- gotten into genealogy. It became evident that my mom was going to talk about recording who everyone was, but was never going to get around to it. She's the last of her generation in her family, and my dad and his family are all gone. So I got myself an ancestry.com account and started asking her questions.

Back in the 1920s, my mother's aunt and some of her relatives had researched one line from her mother's family up to the 1647 landing in Virginia. It's known as "the black book" and everyone on that side of the family uses it when they apply for DAR/SAR membership. And we knew my mom's great-grandfather had brought his family to Florida right after the Civil War and a little of that connection. And that was about all we knew.

Things can get confused as they are being passed down. I just recently discovered that a particular "Johnson" that was a dead end was actually a "Johnston" -- and suddenly, a whole side of my ancestry opened up. So far, just in that line, I've found 5 more Revolutionary War soldiers, and while I already knew that I was the 11th generation from the 1647 Jamestown immigrant, I'm discovered that I'm also the 10th generation from him down the newly discovered line.

It's a lot of fun. I've found cousins I didn't know I had who have filled in some mysteries, and I've done the same for them. What I'm enjoying the most is the connections to history. I think about knowing my grandparents, and their knowing their grandparents, and those people of historical times suddenly become real and alive. Like a lot of Southern families, names get carried down through the generations, and last names become first and middle names, and I now know the stories behind some of those names.

I used to be a redhead. It got darker over the years. Just really looks red now if i spend a lot of time out of doors.

As for Genealogy: Love it! I have been doing a lot of research on my family. Mom's side is a bit tougher, since they were Eastern Europeon. On Dad's side, it's gotten interesting. My Aunt (Dad's sister) did a family tree back in the late 60s/early 70's for her DAR membership. So, I do have a Revolutionary War vet in the family. Not my Dad's family, but a branch of the tree. That branch goes back to 1635 in Massachusetts when they came over on the Hopewell. Well, Auntie hired a pro to do the tree and apparently they got back to 1066. But I'm skeptical of anything that far back, and I haven't seen any source docs.

One branch I did find got me a bit excited as I was doing some research. Found out I'm a cousin (many times removed, mind you) to Isaac Newton and John Locke. And I'm a direct descendant of Geoffrey Chaucer. His 17th G-Granddaughter.

AND, starting next Saturday, I'll be volunteering at the local library to help out in their Genealogy division. I can't wait!

That's how my father's family got here, pissing off the wrong Lord in some battle where the ancestor's side lost.