is there a way to trace genealogy beyond DNA connections

Question

I have 2 trees, one on Ancestry and one on my Heritage. Most of my info comes from Ancestry. I've been researching the names I'm getting beyond my 5th great grandparents, which comes from other peoples trees. I've ordered another DNA kit from My Heritage but have yet to receive it. I've been taken thru a native American line but lately I'm finding  that some are not real people. I'm tring to do my own research cause I don't have money for a pro, but really don't know how because the dates are back in the 17 and 1600's. I anyone can direct me, I'd appreciate it. I'm creating for my Grandchildren and other family members that are interested and want to make sure the info is accurate. Tring to see when my family came to America from UK. This is inly 1 line I'm looking at, the Sneed line seems to have no info after my 2nd great grandfather, that is for another day.. Thank you

Comments

What info do you have on Alcy Odom Kirkland, For some

reason cannot bring your tree up on Ancestry.

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Really, it should be public.. Anyway,lol I'm Alice or Alcey, I did the DNA and she is my 5th ggmother. She was born in 1750 in SC and passed in 1806. She married Benjamin Harrison Kirkland abt 1765 they had 9kids. Apparently Benjamin is also known by a number of other names as well and I need to update his profile in my tree. Initially I thought he was an honorary member of a tribe and Alice has Choctaw in her name leading me to believe she was Choctaw. Additional research pointed me in the Shawnee and Cherokee direction. I'm learning most are fictional. I was able to find some info indicating that the Odom's and Kirklands had land adjacent to each other and maybe how Benjamin and Alice met.

Then I found Benjamins Father, Richard Snowden Kirkland and that he was married to Alice's older sister,  maybe a half sibling, Elizabeth Sibbell Odom Kirkland. From there I'm led to the Barnes,  Sibil Barnes Odom and her parents were native. There was also another wife for Richard, Jennifer Jean Dunn and they had children together. Finding documentation has been tricky. I've save everything that made sense, outside of other trees.

I hope this helps..I appreciate your help with this..

Are you getting a message of some kind when you try to access my tree? I have (Sneed) first and the Ucker next to it, not sure how to access someone's tree..

Regina

Answer 1

Is your Ancestry Tree public, In 1600 1700 is that in USA or

elsewhere

Comments

Yes, my tree is public, it's (Sneed) Ucker tree. I'm in the US..

Answer 2

If you are looking for Native American family information for eastern tribes there is little before 1800, for many Plains and northwestern tribes not until after the Civil War.  What does exist before 1800 is in historical (and if in California or New Mexico church) records.  The vast majority of informaition regarding Native American genealogy on sites like Ancestry is unsupported by any documentation, and a lot of it is pure fiction.  Ancestry has digitized a lot of Native American censuses and other records and those are your best sources for finding your Native ancestors.  DNA tests may help you connect with relatives, but they cannot connect you to a specific tribe or to people who lived three or four hundred years ago.

Comments

Thank you Kathie for your help. I wasn't looking for a native American connection, it popped up w/mt 5th Great Grandma Alice or Alcy Odom Kirkland. I wanted to go back as far as I could to see who came to America and when, on my dads side. Seems like I may not find out if those linked to Alice are false..

Thank you again for your help..

Regina

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Ancestry has lots of documents and records to search, Family Search is another free site, and when you know where an ancestor lived it's worth checking for a genelogy site or organization for that area.  Lots of them have things like Bible records digitized that aren't available otherwise.  Census records back to 1850 list all family members by name and give you information on where they were born.  If you havent' already done so, start with a parent or grandparent who was alive in 1940 (the first census we can see), find them, and work your way back from census to census.  "Hints" on Ancestry that come from other trees are always suspect, but they may give you clues.  Build your tree back as far as you can document here on Wikitree and you may find that your farther-back ancestors are already here.

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Thank you so much for your advise. I do appreciate it. I did subscribe to family search since its part of Ansectry but it's limited. Maybe I'm not using it right, but I think  they offer a trial, so maybe not free. I've set up on wikitree to an extent. Unfortunately I can't add any family members unless I upgrade.. I have a pretty good size tree on ansectry but, I need to clean it up. The Native American part just got crazy and ended w/a lot of duplicates, just confusing overall. I removed and readded Alice like 3x. I have 7 direct abductors starting w/my parents all the way back.  The Kirkland line is primary, all the way it seems. Sneed side dropped off after my 3rd ggfather and no luck finding his parents as of yet. I've got census back thru before the civil war, maybe even easier but we're hand written and hard to read. May be Alice has no native liniage, I wish ansectry tested for the gene, you can't deny DNA.. I'm hoping for confirmation of the DNA results from my heritage,  I haven't received the kit yet, it's frustrating and discouraging.

Thank you again..

Regina