Any genealogy buffs?

**Ray1936** · January-03-21, 08:29 PM

Been fascinated by genealogy for over 30 years. Would be interesting to hear of your finds. While not many Detroiters in the list below, here's my male line as far back as I've gotten, along with their ages at death:

Raymond Downing 1936 - ?
Rudolph A. Downing 1901-1961 Age 61
George D. Downing 1874-1951 Age 77
Benjamin H Downing 1841-1908 Age 67
John B. Downing 1817-1879 Age 62
Joseph Downing 1786-1822 Age 46
Thomas Downing 1758-1829 Age 71
Joseph Downing 1734-1804 Age 70
Thomas Downing 1691-1772 Age 81
Thomas Downing 1660-1739 Age 79
Edward Downing 1625-1683 Age 58
John Downing 1597-1632 Age 35
Thomas Downing 1618-1560 Age 42
John Downing 1530-?

What say you?

**Jimaz** · January-03-21, 09:42 PM

Know your roots?

It's odd that genealogy never grows old.

**Bong-Man** · January-05-21, 11:12 AM

Yes. I'm stuck on a grandfather I never met. He was born in 1899 in Worcester, Massachusetts. He never served in WWI, even though he was 18-19 at the time. He ended up in Canada during that time-frame. What's so interesting is that he used an alias. I have no idea if he was a 'slacker', a criminal, on the run, if he left for political beliefs, for employment...not a clue. He eventually came back to America and came to Detroit with his new French-Canadian bride after the war was over. I'm trying to fill in his timeline.

"Finding Your Roots" is an awesome show. I wish there were more episodes.

**Ray1936** · January-05-21, 06:49 PM

What was his name, Bong? I'll give it a shot.

**yaktown** · January-05-21, 11:48 PM

When I was a teenager I was shown a copy of our family tree that was created in 1970, the year before I was born. Looking through it, I came to the realization that I would be the last male to carry on the family name. However, I eventually learned that a male cousin had a son so I guess the name goes on. Fast forward to about 10 years ago and I signed up for ancestry.com. I added that entire family tree but could not go back further than my paternal great-grandfather. Now just last year I made a breakthrough. I knew my great-grandfather was born in Ontario. I checked the census and lo and behold, his last name was spelled different when he came to America! With that info, I was able to research my lineage to 1422 in France. Now I am on a quest to see if there are any other descendants that carry on the name. I haven't yet discovered anything interesting such as bank robbers or inventors, just names and dates at this point.