Saturday, February 27, 2010

Carden family of England? Wales?

My great-great-great-grandfather has been somewhat of a mystery ever since I started tracing my family tree. It's not as if he's so far in the distant past that there are no surviving records; he was born around 1820, after all. I think the problem is that he was a military man. Other kind researchers have helped me out a little bit, confirming that there was a James Carden who served with the Black Watch in the Crimean War (which fits in with the family stories). He never returned to his family in Scotland, and I haven't found any death records for him... but apparently there was a 37-year-old James Carden of the 42nd Regiment who was buried in one of Malta's military cemeteries in 1855. Malta! Who would have guessed?

I would really like to be able to tie my James Carden to one of the Carden families that have been extensively researched. Family stories say James was Welsh, but on the 1841 census his birthplace was listed as England. I'm wondering if he was perhaps one of the Cheshire Cardens -- a possible candidate is a James Carden, born about 1820 in Manchester, who was the son of William Carden and Elizabeth Lee. I know there are some DNA studies out there that might help me out, but unfortunately they use the Y chromosome... and that doesn't exist in my branch of the family anymore.

There must be someone out there who knows something about James. I guess I just have to keep searching.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Pike family of Gloucestershire and Somerset

I've recently been looking for Pikes in Gloucestershire and Somerset. My earliest known Pike ancestor raised his family in Alveston, Gloucestershire, but the censuses say he was born in North Petherton, Somerset sometime in the 1790s. There are a few Pikes listed in the IGI for North Petherton, but I can't find one the right age to be my James. The closest one seems to be a James Pike, son of James Pike and Sarah Parker, who was christened in 1782.

I also found a John Pike who was born in North Petherton around 1794, who raised his family in Olveston (just down the road from Alveston). I suspect that John and James may be related, but I have no idea how at the moment.

The Beginnings of a Blog

I used to have more of a presence on the Internet, as far as genealogy is concerned. Unfortunately, when GeoCities went away, it took my family tree site with it.

I'm not going to be posting much actual family tree information here. This site will act more as a log of my research (such as it is). I have fairly comprehensive family trees on Genes Reunited and Ancestry.com, so it seems a little redundant to post the information here as well.

My surname interests... well, let's just say that the list is a little bit long. As I go forward and make new blog posts, I'll add labels so that all posts for a particular surname can be easily found.