Genealogy and Coin Collecting

MidLifeCrisis

Do any of you who also research your family's history link that hobby to your coin collecting? If so, how?

Do you collect coins that circulated during the lifetime of a particular ancestor?

Do you collect Civil War era coinage because you have ancestors who fought?

I'm curious to learn innovative ways to tie the two hobbies together.

johnny9434

not here. didnt get to this country untill the early 1900s on my fathers side and 1890s on my moms side

SanctionII

My father's side of the family immigrated to the USA from Europe in approximately 1800. Initially my ancestors settled in Pennsylvania and from there spread out to Ohio, Indiana and the rest of the country. I expect that some of my ancestors had some very interesting Colonial and US Coinage pass through their hands over the years.

To bad my ancestor who first set foot in this country did not save a bunch of his pocket change for me

ricko

Although my ancestry can be traced to Europe and native Americans... I have never been interested in family history. Not sure why.... just an area that basically, to me, is irrelevant. I know others (even in my family) that are very focused on it... Cheers, RickO

BillJones

No, the most I ever do is think now and then about what great grandfather so in so might have had in his pocket, or about the many coins that passed through the general store and post office that my grandfather Anderson ran in Fairmount, Delaware. Fairmount, Delaware is now nothing but a road marker on a back road in southern Delaware.

DIMEMAN

Nope, no interest.

morgantype

Hello,

An idea I have had bouncing around for a while was to make a family tree of coins.

The idea is to get a coin from the country of origin for the birth year (example, if you grandpa was Irish born in 1895, get an Irish coin from 1895 to represent his birth)

Then, if ol grandpa immigrated to the us and passed in 1950 I would get a us coin from 1950 that would represent his date of death

Another thought, if someone is 1/2 Irish and half italian, you could do one "fifty cents" from Ireland and "50 cents from Italy" to represent the person, or you could use these two coins as the birth year.

I think it would look nice in a shadow box with a nice photo and display of the coins.

You could even get crazy, and represent grandma and grandpa as silver dollars, and the kids as half dollars, and their kids as quarters etc

Mind of a crazy idea, but I think it would be a fun project, and look nice displayed o. The wall.

Also, just get some nice average circulated coins so it wouldnt get all crazy expensive.

CoinJunkie

I used to ask my dad for money a lot when I was a kid, but that's about the extent of it...

LotsoLuck

My Grandparents came from Liverpool at the turn of the century.





Thats about as far as I got

ernie11

My link between genealogy and coins comes from my grandfather. When he passed away, my mom and my aunt decided that I should inherit his coins, since I was a junior collector (I was 13 at the time). For a kid who was used to searching for common coins to fill his Whitman Lincoln cent folder, my holding Seated Liberty halves and dimes, Shield nickels, large cents and Peace Dollars in my hands was pretty heady stuff. In the past ten years I took up genealogy and found out that my grandfather had owned a general store in the 1920's in the village I grew up in. I often wonder where he got these coins, was it possible that coins as old as an 1807 large cent or an 1852-O dime would've still been circulating in the early 1920's, and that he received them in change from his customers? I don't know, I only wished I'd had the opportunity to have asked him about his collection.

LostSisler

My fifth Great Grand Uncle is James Watt.

keyman64

Birth Year Sets of family members seem popular. I have a distant relative that was a Senator in the late 19th Century but just can't imagine doing anything with that. Nothing else I can think of doing really. Hopefully some people will chime in here with cool ideas.

LindeDad

My Great Grand Parents met and married on the boat getting away from the Kaisers concretion just prior to WW1. About the only thing coin related is my Father captured his cousin during WWII and brought home a few German coins that I still have.
Also my daughter got a A on a Family History presentation in high school by taking the coins in as one of several visual aides.

MidLifeCrisis

<< <i>My fifth Great Grand Uncle is James Watt. >>

droopyd

<< <i>My fifth Great Grand Uncle is James Watt. >>



The steam engine guy or Reagan's "foot-in-mouth" cabinet secretary guy?

Coinosaurus

I have a few birth year coins of parents and grandparents.

I once found a newsclipping of a 3gr-uncle, rural Indiana, c. 1900, who reported to the local paper that he owned an 1895 dollar and that it was "worth $500." No idea what became of the coin, he never had children.

droopyd

<< <i>I often wonder where he got these coins, was it possible that coins as old as an 1807 large cent or an 1852-O dime would've still been circulating in the early 1920's, and that he received them in change from his customers? >>



There was still a fair amount of Seated and Barber coinage still in circulation in the 30s, as well as Indian cents and V nickels. Most of the Seated stuff was worn pretty slick by then. Don't think large cents were getting much play in commerce that late though.

nibanny

I have never gone back finding my ancestry, though my last name is pretty common and originated in Florence during the 14th century.
My dad has a fiorin minted when my ancestors were in charge of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany's mint.
They used to mint the coins with a sign linking to the family. In my case, two hammers (Martelli in italian).

Here is the coin my dad owns (the one in the capsule) and below an internet pic to show the other side with the hammers.

MidLifeCrisis

Genealogy can mean learning about family one generation back...or several.

A couple of years ago I was visiting family in Kentucky and my mother introduced me to one of her friends, an elderly lady whom my mother had told about my passion for coin collecting. This lady brought over a small sack of old coins and she, my mother and I went through them and talked about each one - its history, condition, and anything else I could think of to tell them. This 1818 CBH was one of those coins. I liked it because I thought it had character so I asked the lady if I could buy it from her, mostly as a gesture of goodwill and because I had enjoyed the time talking coins with her and my mother. I think I gave her $35 for the coin. My mother passed away in 2010. Every time I look at the coin I think of her and that day.




-

When I was about ten years old my grandparents gave me two coins - an 1878-CC Morgan Dollar and a 1926-S Peace Dollar. Their gift started me in this hobby. Regrettably, I sold those coins a few years later when my interest in other things grew and I needed gas money. After I started collecting again some 25 years later, I decided to get one of each as representatives of my grandparents coins.

kaz

Nice stories, MLC.

My family's US roots go back to before the revolution , on up through the civil war to the present. This explains why I collect US coins from all eras!

ProofArtworkonCircs

I collect money (coins, paper) and ancestors. I never made much connection between the two hobbies.
Perhaps a tad unusual is my brother received a draft notice in WW I and our grandfather was born in 1821.

MidLifeCrisis

<< <i>Perhaps a tad unusual is my brother received a draft notice in WW I and our grandfather was born in 1821. >>


Is there a typo or two in that sentence?

LotsoLuck

<< <i>

<< <i>Perhaps a tad unusual is my brother received a draft notice in WW I and our grandfather was born in 1821. >>


Is there a typo or two in that sentence?

>>




I'm going for typo for $20 Bob

coinsarefun

That's how I got into coin collecting, researching my heritage. At the time I was putting all the family
home super 8 movies and 11,000 pictures on DVD's with music from those era's.
I saw a bunch of very old photo's on my mother and fathers side so I decided to get the names
from my mother before she starts to forget.

That lead to collecting Russian and Hungarian items. Then I searched one day
on ebay and gold coins from Russia came up and the restis history

I have to updatetheimages as I have added much to each set.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<<< Perhaps a tad unusual is my brother received a draft notice in WW I and our grandfather was born in 1821. >>


Is there a typo or two in that sentence?>>

I don't think so. What do you see?

Our father was born in 1873, my half brother in 1899 and 1935 for myself. My brother was in the very last draft call and induction was canceled due to the armistice.