Comments on: 5 Tips for Researching Your Family Name #surnameproject

By: Dave Larsen

Dave Larsen — Tue, 05 May 2015 00:26:06 +0000

Emily, pleased to find your blog and at the mention of my grandfather, Sam Larsen.
My search for him and greater Larsen/Larson Family to well over 10 years. My grandparents had divorced when my father was 1 year old and he had no contact with his father or the Larsen Family. All I knew when I started was his name was Sam Larsen, he was from Norway and was a sea captain. Try to count the number of “Larsen” sea captains in this country in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
My search involved reading years and years of old newspapers, search west coast lumber shipping and a little luck. I knew more about the ships he sailed than I knew about the man. When I found him in the 1910 Census living next to two other Larson/Larsen’s I assumed them to be related because of the similar names in the families. It to me two years to track down those guys and finally make contact with a member of their families. I got luck in Norway and had a lot of help after finally knowing may grandfather’s name in Norway.
Today the process would be much easier. With Ancestry DNA I connect with 3 family members that I had contact with before doing the DNA but which I would have found with the DNA test had I not done the prior years of research.

By: lisa

lisa — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 03:01:41 +0000

These are great tips! This is something I haven’t done since school!

By: Daisy

Daisy — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 18:20:12 +0000

That’s cool that there is a free trial to get started. I’d love to learn more about my family history.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 17:07:57 +0000

I love these tips. I’ve been eyeing ancestry.com a lot lately. I think I’m going to sign up soon.

By: Elaina

Elaina — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 12:18:52 +0000

I love this! A great way to find your roots!

By: Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting

Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 16:34:41 +0000

This is SO COOL! I think i want to gift this to my mom!

By: cori

cori — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 03:15:20 +0000

Family history is something I really want to get into! I just learned this past weekend that through my church membership we get a free lifetime membership to ancestory.com! I think I’m going to go check it out right now!! Thanks!!

By: Amy @ Oh So Savvy Mom

Amy @ Oh So Savvy Mom — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 03:10:50 +0000

I LOVE Ancestry.com. I used it almost every day back when I was a student at BYU. There wasn’t a ton of pictures on the site then like there is now, but the census records, passenger lists, etc were so helpful. It was absolutely invaluable in tracing some of my lines that I’d run into roadblocks tracing in other places. I really need to start doing my family history work again.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 01:30:35 +0000

Great tips! I would like to do more research into my family name. Now I know where to start!

By: valmg @ Mom Knows It All

valmg @ Mom Knows It All — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 12:33:01 +0000

My Mom and I have been wanting to do this for years. I don’t know what we’d find but I bet it would be interesting to do.