Genealogy Gurus...?

Hi All!

I recently came into contact with a long-lost cousin who had the good fortune of being in possession of some information regarding my family history. Unfortunately, most of the family members who knew this information are long dead, and there are a lot of missing dates and first names on many of my ancestors. I began a chart on ancestry.com, but I don't plan to buy into their payments if I can avoid it...which means I have to do all the research myself and just use them as a free database.

With that said, I'm curious if anyone has ever researched back past their great-grandparents and how you overcame any obstacles in your research that seemed to have blocked your progress.

Any help, ideas, brainstorming, etc. anyone has is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!
Ms.MaraJade

I just know I got family spread around the world (France, Vietnam, Italy...) but am really not interested in getting close with far family members. My "branch" of the huge family is quite isolated, needless to say we don't really mix well (cultural clashes, I won't go into details) while others tend to do the "clan" thing, gossiping and shit. I kind of hate some of my uncles and aunts and their stupid children.

Anyway...

You guys are what come closest to "far family" in that regard, nothing to do with bloodlines and we all get along

On my father's side there was a relative who did some research. My mother ended up with all the information she gathered because she seemed to be the most interested. I used it for a school project once and it was really nice to have and know about my family.

My mother also knew about her side of the family and where they came from and so on, but I don't know if she has any written documents or not. None that I've seen or read.

I'm not sure how my relative gathered all this information though, she did it before the internet was invented (lolz).

Hopefully you won't have to give them money, but it is really nice to have that information to pass on. I thought it was really awesome that there had been so much information on one side of the family.

Piecing together the family tree is not to connect to the living, but with those who have come before me. My father's side of the family has always been englulfed in rumors about pirates, cowboys, the Iroquois Tribe of NY, heroes of the American Revolution, etc., and it's always been one of my...interests to rule out the fact from the fiction. So, being able to look at the handwritten notes from my great-grandmother has been a tremendous peek into my past. However, she wasn't very detail-oriented.

In fact, here's a direct quote from her notes:
"My Great, Great Grandmother Moore was a Johnston, her father's father was the Great General Johnston of the Revolution Fame 1717."

I thought that General Johnston would be an easy person to research, but the only General Johnston I could find on the internet was from the Civil War Era and not the Revolutionary War. So, was my great-grandmother losing it by then and misconstruing facts?? But, she clearly noted a year of 1717...long before the Civil War. Curious, very curious!!

It's a great mystery and a fascinating puzzle to me. I really want to know if there are any historical relatives out there...not for gold-digging purposes but because it's a link of history I can eventually pass down to my son.

I also want to find the link to Scotland, just to be sure I'm looking at the right clan colors. I'd hate to find out all these years, I've been assuming it's Melville when it's really Carpenter or Moore or something else entirely.

So, I hope that clarifies my interest. I don't want more distant relatives...just the deceased ones! They're quiet.