Searching one's ancestry...

George & Sallie Bertram

Off and on for several years now I have been slowly but surely researching the genealogy of my paternal grandfather's family.  I would love to learn more about my paternal grandmother's family, as well as both of my maternal grandparents; however, I have had a rough time trying to find out anything on them.

I recently purchased a book about my family entitled  BUTTRAM The Descendents of William Buttram I and Margaret of Rowan County, North Carolina and was compiled by Charles V. & Barbara L. (Brown) Waid for the Buttram Family Association.  It was copyrighted in 1998, and this book is enormous, with over 1000 pages.  I am sure it took a tremendous amount of time and effort to come up with all the genealogies listed in this book, which I greatly appreciate.

With the Bertram family, I have gotten as far back as 1590 and 14 generations before me.  From what research I have found, the Bertram name has also been spelled Buoutteram, Butteram, Burtram, Butrum, Burtrum, Buttrum, Butram, Burtrum, Burttram, and Burttrum.  The first family member came to America from England in 1637, and William seems to be a very popular family name.

I believe everyone should research their family origins, as it can be fun and interesting to find out if you have any famous or infamous people in your lineage.  Example:  the actor, Pat Buttram, is a member of my family; however, I'm not quite sure just how closely related we are.  Pat starred with Gene Autry in The Gene Autry Show, and is well remembered as "Mr. Haney" on the Green Acres television show.

If you're not sure where to start your genealogy search, you can always to your local library and ask if they have access to any genealogical databases.  If there is a historian in your town, ask if they can give you pointers.  If you don't mind paying an annual fee, Ancestry.com is a great place to look.  Other internet sites I recommend are Rootsweb and Family Search.  If all else fails, just "google" either genealogy datebases or a family member.  In my case, I "googled" my paternal great-grandfather and came up with oodles of information.

Whatever you do, have fun with it.