Ancestry.com has all of the revolutionary war records.

My ancestors served in both the continental army and the New York militia, and their records are all there.

My ancestors had also moved to various towns near the tip of Cape Cod, MA in the 1630's, and they were members of a church there. The church kept fantastic records of marriages, births, baptisms, etc. There was even a listing of transgressions and references to a whipping post. :eek:

All of this church's records are available at ancestry.com.

It's amazing what they have.

Well, so far I've been able to trace it back to 1839, and that's only after an hour on the site. So far, accuracy has been able to be proven with census records and military records, as well as my memory of what my grandpa and great aunt told be before they passed away. Luckily, I was of sound mind at the time, and recorded the conversations with them, so I have an oral history from which to draw from, even though they are no longer with us.

There you go! It's easy to lose a whole day in Ancestry.com. Their database of records is still amazing.

I spent a weekend researching my maternal grandmother's family, which no one had bothered to do.

I was able to trace them to Colonial Virginia in the 1770's. They slowly migrated from Virginia to South Carolina, briefly in Arkansas, then settled in Alabama where several members of the family fought for the Confederacy. Several brothers died, by my grandmother's direct ancestor did not.

I've been digging all day, and completely traced back 4 generations, along with birth/death records and census and military records. I'll be printing the list off and checking it against the family Bible, which dates to 1765. I tried starting with the Bible, but the recordings were so faded and washed out, that most of the names are illegible. However, with the correct names in hand, I should be able to decipher much of it to the point of using it mainly to concur what I found online.

Tracing it has led me to family members that I barely remember hearing of as a child, but never had dealings with, since they lived in different states. I've sent of a few emails, and have had 2 responses so far. One distant cousin is going to send me a box of photos, family records, and a few small family heirlooms since they don't have a male heir to pass it on to.

Ok...I've spent many hours tracing back on my mother's side. Her grandfather, Gottlieb J Dehyle, immigrated to the US on May 22nd, 1882 abord the Maas at the tender age of 16. There were no family members listed, nor were there anyone else by that surname listed. According to the records from the New York Passenger lists, he came here through Rotterdam from Germany. I have a roadblock with his wife, since I haven't found records with her maiden name yet.

I'd love to be able to trace it back from there, but without siblings or parents listed, I'm kind of stuck on that branch.

Her dad was adopted, but kept his birth surname. I'm running into issues there, since there's nothing listed about siblings or birth parents. This may require some digging through adoption records, if they are available. His adopted parents came from Germany in 1880, the same route as Deyhle in 1882.

On dad's side, I've uncovered a trove of information concerning the Civil, war of 1812, and Revolutionary wars. I already knew of the lineage going back to France, England, and the Normans. We are listed in the Domesday Book (compiled by William the Conquerer in 1086), and the subtle name changes over the centuries.

This has been a great journey, so far. I've traced so many generations through public records as well as the Linville Family Bible. With mom's family, the trail has been made cold by a few roadblocks. I don't know if I'll ever get through those, but at least I have some record of them here in the states.