tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29658706752691227442024-02-06T19:34:20.172-08:00Bits and Pieces of My Family TreeGenealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-78537560163603317532019-12-08T17:14:00.001-08:002019-12-08T17:14:53.361-08:00DN... Eh?It's been a while since I posted!<br />
<br />
Ancestry has changed up its Ethnicity Estimates, so now I'm:<br />
<br />
75% England, Wales & Northwestern Europe<br />
9% Ireland & Scotland<br />
8% Germanic Europe<br />
7% Norway<br />
1% European Jewish<br />
<br />
So... still pretty British. Out of curiosity, though, I input my raw data into MyHeritage... and came up with some wildly different results:<br />
<br />
62.2% Irish, Scottish, and Welsh<br />
24.2% Scandinavian<br />
13.6% Greek and South Italian<br />
<br />
So... not so British after all. 0% English! I guess nobody told my London-born great-grandmother. Or the myriad Newfoundland ancestors, most of whom came from southern England...<br />
<br />
It's hard to know who to believe. While I don't have a problem with Ancestry's 75% England, Wales & Northwestern Europe number, I'm still trying to figure out where the 8% Germanic Europe and 7% Norway genes are coming from; those are pretty sizeable chunks, but they must be combined from little snippets here and there because I can go back to the 1700s on pretty much every branch of my tree, and everybody's from England, Scotland, or Ireland.<br />
<br />
MyHeritage's 13.6% Greek and South Italian is interesting, though. It didn't show up on Ancestry's estimate, so I'm not sure how accurate it is... but I did have an ancestor who was born in Corfu when her father was stationed there with his whole family. Makes me wonder if perhaps something happened. The sort of thing families like to cover up...<br />
<br />
I'm still 100% European, though, by both companies' estimates. Darn. I was kind of hoping for some long-lost ancestor who came from someplace else.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-13482644339338777222017-02-20T16:51:00.000-08:002017-02-20T16:51:58.306-08:00Jumping into the gene pool...For my birthday last year, I got a DNA test done through Ancestry.com. While I was hoping to find out that I was interesting, I turned out to be as boring as I expected: 85% British. Considering that most people in the UK can only claim about 60% Great Britain on that test (according to Ancestry), that's quite impressive... in a really boring sort of way. I must be one of the most British Canadians out there!<br />
<br />
Anyway, I wasn't all that impressed with Ancestry's breakdown of that 85%. Really, there was none. I know I have English and Scottish ancestors (at the level of my great-grandparents, I'm 3/8 Scottish and 5/8 English... including 1/8 from Newfoundland, but as far as I can tell, that family was from England, too). Ireland came in at a measly 4%, and the percentages for the rest of my trace amounts just got lower from there. Most surprising to me was the less than 1% from Scandinavia. My Scottish ancestors were from northern Scotland. Weren't the Vikings having a great old time up there, pillaging and looting and mixing their DNA into the local populace?<br />
<br />
Anyway, I figured I'd just have to be disappointed with Ancestry's lackluster results. And then a distant cousin told me about GEDmatch. I'm still waiting for the batch processing to be complete (at which point I'll be able to see if I have any matches with family members on the GEDmatch site), but I was still able to run my DNA info through a few tools to find out my admixture. I ended up with much more information, and a few surprises.<br />
<br />
The Eurogenes K36 test offered some interesting bits of information (sorry it's blurry... I don't know what's going on there; the images are clear if you click on them):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmKIDkpCZJoJKLYwPfBd288chMEwVYb5dNpbnU7uznRkyJEFqbPhf6xc3lgXq3Pkdjxdkmi2fVIaQEgLJqssgY158SUDxPHw8YcroGF-bjG7HmbmsQ_OE9vUOVEmvNhPkK5YIxmZDTl8/s1600/EurogenesK36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmKIDkpCZJoJKLYwPfBd288chMEwVYb5dNpbnU7uznRkyJEFqbPhf6xc3lgXq3Pkdjxdkmi2fVIaQEgLJqssgY158SUDxPHw8YcroGF-bjG7HmbmsQ_OE9vUOVEmvNhPkK5YIxmZDTl8/s320/EurogenesK36.jpg" width="600" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
All percentages above 1% are represented in the pie chart. All that's missing here is North Caucasian at 0.33% and Western Mediterranean at 0.09%. Ancestry had me at less than 1% Italian, so... I don't know what that big orange wedge is all about.<br />
<br />
The Eurogenes EUtest V2 K15 was even more interesting:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6nte76WLp415PGtsOhQGPp7UKJj8ook-gxed88DmS28CGkxiUL2sjNvaF9-X-WJiTYvrI5DkKOfEmA8REu6JYcu5Dc0s1AZ_qyr6zPGGhKoZw-E6H6J5mZkMP2s12ykTwYnZ_zBrzhoI/s1600/EUtest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6nte76WLp415PGtsOhQGPp7UKJj8ook-gxed88DmS28CGkxiUL2sjNvaF9-X-WJiTYvrI5DkKOfEmA8REu6JYcu5Dc0s1AZ_qyr6zPGGhKoZw-E6H6J5mZkMP2s12ykTwYnZ_zBrzhoI/s320/EUtest.png" width="600" /></a></div>
<br />
What's really interesting is what's <i>not</i> shown here: Red Sea at 0.55%, Amerindian at 0.12%, Oceanian at 0.40%, and Sub-Saharan at 0.08%. Now, I know that these are very small percentages and that there are probably margins of error that could explain these results away. Amerindian showed up using some of the other analysis tools as well, though, which makes me curious about that. There's no Amerindian ancestry that I know of in my family tree... but perhaps my DNA is hinting that there's something there.<br />
<br />
We'll see if I get any matches when the batch processing is complete...Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-49206311943682441222014-12-27T11:26:00.001-08:002014-12-27T11:26:42.883-08:00Lamberts of Panfield... or Canfield?I was looking for some of my Lambert ancestors, and I came across <a href="http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=692346.0">this post</a> on <a href="http://rootschat.com/">RootsChat.com</a>. I do believe that this is my Steele Lambert. What's interesting is that the exchange later talks about the Lamberts living at Canfield in Essex... whereas I have been told that the family lived at Panfield (specifically, they farmed the land around Panfield Hall). The two places don't seem to be <i>that</i> far apart, but it still makes me wonder: which one is right?<br />
<br />
Steele Lambert was the son of Jeffery and Martha. Nobody in the RootsChat thread seemed to know the maiden name of Martha, though I have it in my records as Steele (which makes sense). I haven't been able to find any birth/baptism records for a Martha Steele in that area, though.<br />
<br />
I don't have an account on RootsChat, so I can't contribute to the conversation at the moment. But if anyone researching the Lambert family (or the connected Willsher family) in this area of Essex has any more information, please feel free to leave a comment.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-69798430494681561082014-11-04T16:37:00.000-08:002014-11-04T16:37:00.153-08:00Family secrets...I've been having a great time perusing the scans of documents that have recently been put up on <a href="http://www.familysearch.org/">FamilySearch.org</a>. Out of curiosity, I looked up one of my ancestors. According to stories I heard from the family, he'd died of the flu in 1919 (I'd always assumed he was caught up in the major pandemic). But I could never figure out why his place of death was nowhere near where he and his family lived. I think I've found the answer.<br />
<br />
He didn't die of influenza. He died of "exhaustion of acute mania" in an insane asylum, after being there for just over two weeks. I suppose mental illness was one of those things that wasn't talked about back at that time. I have my doubts as to whether anyone other than his wife even knew the truth; perhaps it was just easier for her to tell her children that their father had gotten ill with the flu and died.<br />
<br />
It's a good illustration of why we need to be skeptical about stories that are passed down orally. There are plenty of things that people might want to hide. Unfortunately, unless we can find written records to determine what's actually true, these stories will keep getting passed along as the truth.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-38832163819376805962014-04-30T12:26:00.002-07:002014-04-30T12:26:19.968-07:00Horne family in... New Zealand?I was recently contacted by another researcher about someone in my tree by the name of John Lewis Horne. According to the information I had, John was born in 1845 in Edinburgh to James Wilson Horne and Sophia Lewis. I'd found records in New Zealand for a John Lewis Horne on FamilySearch.org... but I was never sure if it was the same person or just a coincidence. But now, it looks like this John Lewis Horne is actually one of my Hornes: my great-great-grandfather's first cousin.<br />
<br />
John married a woman named Elizabeth Margaret Lodge, and he was her second husband. Elizabeth seems to have been quite an interesting character. You can read about some of her trials and exploits on <a href="http://familysleuthforever.blogspot.ca/">FamilySleuth's blog</a>.<br />
<br />
John and Elizabeth had one son, also named John Lewis Horne. I knew that a number of my Hornes had spread out from Scotland, but this is the first time I've been able to trace any of them to New Zealand. I wonder how many distant cousins I've got there that I'm not even aware of...Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-42344098322524600142013-07-17T18:13:00.001-07:002013-07-17T18:13:50.617-07:00From the royals of one country to the "royals" of another...<i>The Daily Mail</i> ran <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2358768/Kate-Middletons-royal-baby-Beyonces-Blue-Ivy-Carter-cousins.html">this piece</a> last week on some of the connections the new royal baby will have with some Hollywood royalty. As someone who's been trying for over a decade to track down ancestors, I know how difficult it can be... so to see that genealogists have managed to determine that the new little prince or princess will be the Jolie-Pitt kids' 27th cousin boggles my mind. One of my (possible) branches goes back far enough to allow me to determine my 15th cousins... and that takes us back to the late 1400s. To get to the common ancestor for 27th cousins... how far back is that? Another 400 years or so? Who are these miracle worker genealogists, and can I get them to help me out with my tree?<br />
<br />
What am I doing wrong that I've only been able to crack the year 1500 maybe once in over a decade of searching? (I'm sure having mostly servant-class ancestors doesn't help, but come on... They say we're all connected if we go far enough back. I want to see it!)Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-39174226841923347112012-08-26T11:55:00.003-07:002012-08-26T12:01:24.445-07:00Remind me to send those family reunion invites to Charlemagne, Nefertiti, and Confucius...<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">"You can ask whether everyone in the Western world is descended from Charlemagne, and the answer is yes, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/05/the-royal-we/302497/">we're all descended from Charlemagne.</a> But can you prove it? That's the game of genealogy."<br /><br />-- Mark Humphrys</blockquote><br /><br />I'm still playing that game... without much success. I wonder if there is a list somewhere of English surnames that are most likely to be linked with the royal families of Europe, or perhaps some of the families who came over immediately after 1066. It would be helpful to know whether one particular family name is likely to be linked to royalty or not; chasing peasant lines for decades (and running up against the inevitable brick walls) seems like a bit of a waste of time... at least for this particular purpose.<br />Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-24595613356583770592012-08-17T13:02:00.003-07:002012-08-17T13:13:05.351-07:00Another brick wall...I have so many brick walls. Some of the trickiest to smash through are (for some reason) those at around 1800. I'm not sure why. I would've thought that those around 1837 or 1855 would be more difficult...<br /><br />In any case, this brick wall has been troublesome for a while now. I'd love to find more information on a man named William Withers. Census records state that he was born in Earley, Berkshire around 1801. He married Elizabeth Collins in 1821 in Tilehurst. Five of their six children were born in Tilehurst; the other was born in Earley.<br /><br />There are a number of baptisms for William Withers in Berkshire on FamilySearch... but none are even close to Earley.<br /><br />I have no idea how to smash down this brick wall.<br />Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-28053044748395809602012-08-17T12:37:00.003-07:002012-08-17T12:50:04.554-07:00A very mobile shoemaker?I still haven't been able to find much information on my ancestor David Horn(e). I know he was born in Makerston, Roxburghshire in 1793. He appears on the 1841 census in Edinburgh. He's probably dead by 1851. But other than his baptism record, the 1841 census record, and the baptism records for two daughters (Isabella and Agnes), I can't find anything. This has led to quite a few questions and a lot of frustration.<br /><br />I cannot find a record for David's marriage to Isabella. The only record that I could find for a David Horn(e) at around the right time was for a shoemaker named David Horne who married a woman named Janet Wilson in 1822 in Glasgow. The occupation is right, the date is plausible, and Janet's maiden name also fits into the picture (David's eldest son is James Wilson Horne; I'd assumed the "Wilson" was from David's mother, Agnes Wilson, but perhaps there's another explanation here...). Also, if David was married to Janet before he was married to Isabella, it might help explain why there is a six-year gap between James and his next younger sister (the subsequent children are all separated by three or fewer years). James Wilson Horne's death registration does state that his mother was named Isabella... but James may not have remembered his real mother, and the person who registered the death probably never would have met Isabella or known the real story. So I'm thinking Janet could be a real possibility...<br /><br />... except for the Glasgow bit. It seems odd to me that a shoemaker would move around that much. From Makerston to Glasgow to Edinburgh? A soldier or a merchant or a seaman... okay. But a shoemaker?<br />Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-1383948482066827392012-06-14T12:58:00.003-07:002012-06-14T13:36:31.673-07:00Missing Horne found?It seems there are quite a few stories in this branch of the family that aren't quite true. James Wilson Horne and his wife did <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> both tragically die in the same year, leaving their children orphaned (they died about three years apart). Their children were <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> all taken in by James's brother Robert, nor were they taken under the wing of the Lord Provost of Edinburgh (wishful thinking!). As far as I can tell, the orphaned children were split up, since they ended up scattered around the globe:<br /><br />Margaret Kinnimunth Horne ended up living in Linlithgow, where she died in 1923. Various censuses show her as an unemployed boarder. One census even lists her as an imbecile! I can't find any evidence of her being a schoolteacher, as the family stories claim.<br /><br />David Horne was supposedly the captain of a ship (highly unlikely, since he would've been a teenager at the time) and went to sea. Family stories say he disappeared in San Francisco some time before 1873, most likely the victim of murder since he had a temper and probably got himself into trouble. More about him in a minute...<br /><br />John "Jack" Stafford Horne married a woman named Mary Brown, and their son, James Wilson Horne, was born in Glasgow in 1881. Jack ended up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada... and is buried in the same plot with two of his brothers. I have no idea what happened to his wife. His son married Margaret Crawford in 1906 in Glasgow... and then the trail goes cold.<br /><br />Isabella Horne, the first baby girl to have this name, died at the age of six months.<br /><br />James Wilson Horne was said to have gone in search of his older brother, David, and was washed overboard near Cape Horn. No... I'm not kidding. I'm sure the poor kid didn't appreciate the coincidence in his last moments, though.<br /><br />Stafford Horne left Scotland and had a few kids in Illinois before bringing his family to Victoria. He's another of the brothers buried in the aforementioned plot.<br /><br />Isabella Horne, the second child to bear the name (the family seemed to adhere to the Scottish naming pattern, so I guess they needed an Isabella) married one of the sons of Barry Sullivan (the actor) in Lancashire, England in the 1880s. They later moved to Australia.<br /><br />Thomas Henderson Horne was supposedly one of the children in need of guardianship, but I lose track of him between 1871 (on the census just before the death of his mother) and 1881 (where he turns up working on a farm in Ontario, Canada). He moved to Victoria and raised his family there. He's the third brother buried in the aforementioned plot.<br /><br />William Stafford Horne was another baby who only lived a few months. I didn't even know about him until I found the birth and death records. Family stories never mentioned him (though they did mention the first Isabella); I don't know why William was forgotten.<br /><br />Now for David Horne (see above)... Obviously, an 18-year-old as the captain of a ship is pretty unlikely. Getting oneself into trouble because of a bad temper... more likely, but probably a dramatic story that was made up because nobody knew what actually happened to David. Thanks to the Internet, the mystery may now be solved.<br /><br />There is a David William Horne, born c1855 in Scotland (our David was actually born in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, but he was raised in Edinburgh from the age of 3... so perhaps he thought he was Scottish), who was living in Sonoma County, California (not too far from San Francisco) from the 1870s onward. The censuses say he arrived in either 1870 or 1871. This could very well be our David. Perhaps he decided to settle in California. It's said that he was never heard from again... but if we think about this, we can see that that doesn't necessarily mean he was killed. If he'd written home in 1871, who would've been there to receive the letter? His parents were gone and his siblings were scattered about. The children on both sides of the Atlantic most likely never knew what had become of their siblings. How sad!<br /><br />David William Horne (1855-1939) married a woman named Elizabeth Watts (1860-1910) and had seven children:<br /><br />Jessie Elizabeth Horne (1880-1961)<br />Marian "May" C. Horne (1881-?)<br />Hadie Watts Horne (1884-1955)<br />Richard William Horne (1886-1960)<br />Jeanie R. Horne (1888-?)<br />David J. Horne (1894-1970)<br />Archibald Charles Horne (1897-1957)<br /><br />Since these are fairly recent dates, I haven't been able to find much. I've only found three descendants in the next generation, and they're all from the girls; I don't even know if the boys married. I would dearly like to know if there are more Hornes out there... and if so, find out what their family stories say about how their ancestor, David Horne, arrived in North America!Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-56326260791492333562012-04-20T22:56:00.000-07:002012-04-20T22:56:42.861-07:00Possible link-up of the elusive Horn(e)sTry as I might, I haven't been able to find much information on my 3x great-grandparents, David and Isabella Horn(e). David was born in 1793 in Roxburghshire, Scotland. Isabella was born in approximately 1801 (according to the 1841 census, which of course rounds off the ages), but somewhere other than in Midlothian. Both appeared on the 1841 census with their children (and David's father, James) in Edinburgh. But by 1851, they had disappeared. David and Isabella's three sons were living in Berwick-upon-Tweed under the care of the eldest (James Wilson Horne, age 24); their daughter Isabella, age 18, was working as a house servant in Edinburgh; and their daughter Agnes, age 16, was living with her uncle in Edinburgh (also James Wilson Horne... and there are more besides those two in this family!). Despite spending money on Scotland's People and scouring the records available on Ancestry.com and on FamilySearch.org, I have not been able to find any records of David's and Isabella's deaths. I'm assuming they died; the only other possibility is that they abandoned all their children and left the country in the 1840s (which seems unlikely). Since their deaths would've been before 1855, I probably wouldn't get much from the death records anyway... but at least I would know what happened to them.<br />
<br />
David's wife, Isabella, has been a bit of a mystery. First of all, her maiden name appears to have been Horn(e) as well (this is according to the death registration of David's brother, James Wilson Horne -- the uncle mentioned above). The family appeared to use the Scottish naming pattern, so I'd assumed that Isabella's parents would be Robert and Isabella. I couldn't find any families that matched... though I did find an Isabella Horn, born 1802 in Orwell, Kinross-shire to Robert Horn and Catharine Hunter. I might have dismissed this possibility until I noticed that this Isabella had a brother named Henry. This is a name that didn't appear on David's side of the family. So, if this is indeed Isabella's family, it would account for the boys' names that didn't really seem to show up in David's family.<br />
<br />
What's even more interesting, however, is that I poked around a bit more and found that the only Robert Horn I could find in the right time and place was one born 1762 in Cleish, Kinross-shire, making him the son of David Horn and Isabel Westwood, and the brother of James Horn... who is also (I believe) David's father. All of which means (if I've corrected all the dots correctly) that David and Isabella Horn(e) were first cousins as well as husband and wife.<br />
<br />
Whew! This would be interesting if it proved to be true. Mathematically speaking, it's impossible to have all unique ancestors; some of the branches have to join back together further up the tree. It's surprising to me that this is the first instance of a first-cousin marriage in my direct ancestry that I've found.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-42777307326818338942012-02-01T14:03:00.000-08:002012-02-01T14:24:41.694-08:00Hiding in Essex...It seems that many of my ancestors either weren't truthful about a) their last name, or b) where they were born. Or maybe they just didn't do the whole baptism thing. I've been looking through the Seax site and getting thoroughly frustrated. Aside from the ancestors that <a href="http://treebitsgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/essex-ancestors.html">I found there before</a> on one branch of my family tree, I'm coming up with nothing. I've gone nearly cross-eyed from trying to decipher those old registers... and all for nought.<br /><br />I'm seeking birth/baptism/parentage information on the following people who were supposedly born in Essex:<br /><br />Eleazer <span style="font-weight: bold;">Willsher</span>, born c1575 (his children were born at Scripps Farm in Coggeshall... I couldn't find them, either)<br />Susannah <span style="font-weight: bold;">Clarke</span>, born c1640 in Coggeshall<br />William <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fisher</span>, born c1640 (daughter Elizabeth was born 1664 in Coggeshall)<br />Joseph <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lambert</span>, born c1645 (possibly in High Easter)<br />Henry <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hobro</span>, born c1655 (wife was Mary; daughter born in Great Wigborough)<br />Edward <span style="font-weight: bold;">Saitch/Sach</span>, born c1695 (married in Messing)<br />Mary <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hayes</span>, born 1703 in Bradwell Juxta Coggeshall<br />Elizabeth <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jordan</span>, born 1708 in Coggeshall<br />James <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wheeler</span>, born c1730 (married in Messing)<br />Joseph <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hills</span>, born c1740 in Epping<br />Elizabeth <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bull</span>, born c1745 (married in Manuden)<br />Joseph <span style="font-weight: bold;">South</span>, born c1745 in Essex (wife was Rose; daughter born in Messing)<br />Martha <span style="font-weight: bold;">Steele</span>, born c1755 (probably in Essex; buried in Great Easton)<br />Susanna <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bassott</span>, born c1771 in Wivenhoe<br />William <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chiddock</span>, born c1778 in Great Bentley<br />Joseph <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wincle/Winkell</span>, born c1789 in Kelvedon<br /><br />If you have any information about any of these people, please leave a comment!Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-53104659477758118472011-12-30T11:12:00.000-08:002011-12-30T11:21:06.271-08:00Norfolk ancestorsI managed to piece together a few more generations in one of my family tree branches. I'd earlier found a reference to a Catherine Kerridge who married John Skipper in Shotesham, Norfolk. In looking at the Skipper family, I'd found an Abigail Skipper who married a Francis Kerridge. Not having come across the Kerridge name much, I thought they might be connected... and it turns out that Catherine and Francis had the same parents. So we've got two siblings (John and Abigail Skipper) marrying two other siblings (Catherine and Francis Kerridge). I love it when the puzzle pieces come together like that.<br /><br />So... Catherine and Francis Kerridge were the children of Francis and Elizabeth (probably Elizabeth Leech, based on the only Kerridge marriage I could find in the right area at the right time). Elizabeth may have been the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Leech. If so, she was baptised in 1698 in Norwich, married Francis in 1719 in Shotesham, and may have been buried in Shotesham in 1742.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-16057000081805228042011-11-30T17:35:00.000-08:002011-11-30T17:42:45.281-08:00Essex ancestorsI found some records on the <a href="http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/">Seax</a> site. I was able to trace the Wheeler family back a couple of generations (I'd been stuck at 1798 with Sarah Wheeler), and I found some new names relating to that branch of the family: Saitch/Satch/Sach, South, and Hobro. All of these people lived in Messing, Essex in the 18th and 17th centuries.<br /><br />I tried to find information about Sarah Wheeler's husband, Joseph Winkell (spelled Wincle on their Colchester marriage record of 1818). He was from Kelvedon, according to the 1851 census, but I couldn't find a baptism record of anyone with a similar name. There is a large Wyncoll family in northeast Essex (the same area as my Winkell family), and I think they must be connected somehow. Finding that connection is proving to be next to impossible, though.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-32503433961202060192011-11-24T18:27:00.000-08:002011-11-24T18:33:03.081-08:00Kerridge?I came across a marriage record for John Skipper and Catherine Kerridge in 1755 in Shotesham, Norfolk. My putative ancestors were John Skipper and Catherine (maiden name unknown), who started having kids in 1756 in Shotesham... so the record could very well be applicable. I haven't come across the Kerridge name before, and I can't find any record for Catherine other than the aforementioned marriage.<br /><br />It sure would be nice if one of these ancestors led to a decently researched family tree. I'm tired of finding dribs and drabs of my ancestry one solitary person at a time (and inevitably hitting a brick wall immediately after)!Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-63207002014848914462011-07-23T15:28:00.000-07:002011-07-23T15:37:34.330-07:00James CardenI broke down and ordered the certificate. I'm not too much further ahead, though. Or, rather, <span style="font-style: italic;">behind</span>, since I'm trying to go back in time!<br /><br />James Cardon was the son of John Cardon and Lucy, born 1818 in Dublin. John was a corporal in the Royal Horse Artillery at the time.<br /><br />There is a marriage record (I think it was in Pallot's?) for a John Carden of the Royal Horse Artillery who married a Lucy Foster in 1812 in Woodbridge, Suffolk. These might be James's parents... however, Lucy is listed as a widower, so Foster is not her maiden name. I wonder if it might be Fryett; the only record in that area that I can find of these names comes from a daughter (Elizabeth) of John Foster and Lucy Fryett in 1809.<br /><br />In any case, if I've got the right John and Lucy, then my James had at least two full siblings as well: John Carden (1812) and Matilda Carden (1815). Unfortunately, it looks like this is as far back as I can go without getting heavily into military history... which I have no idea how to do.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-61413595644443617262011-04-07T13:41:00.000-07:002011-04-07T13:51:01.814-07:00Elliott familyI have ancestors with the surname Elliott. The earliest one I know of was Thomas Elliott, who married Margaret Johnston in 1756 in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Their daughter, Margaret, is my ancestor... but it looks as though they had two sons as well. David's branch of the family is in Aberdeenshire. Thomas (junior) was a plantation owner in Jamaica. He had a number of mulatto children with a woman named Judith Sherman, and (as the story goes) he left property to some of these sons when he returned to Scotland with his wife. Yes... it appears he was married and having children with his wife during the same period when he was having children with Judith. The scoundrel!<br /><br />I'm curious as to whether these Elliotts are connected to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Reivers">Border Reiver</a> Elliots. That would certainly be an interesting bit of information!Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-13354866011990169982011-04-03T12:45:00.000-07:002011-04-03T12:56:32.418-07:00Not Irish after all?I bought a few pay-per-view credits and had a look at <a href="http://www.findmypast.co.uk">findmypast</a>'s armed forces birth indices... and I found my ancestor. James Carden (spelled <span style="font-style: italic;">Cardon</span> in the index... close enough) was born in 1818 in Island Bridge (an area of Dublin, Ireland). I already knew he was born there around 1818 or 1819, but now at least I've got the exact year pinned down. Too bad if I want to find out more I have to spend a lot more money to do so. And I really wish these certificates were digitized so I could just view them; I don't really care if I have a paper copy in hand (in fact, I'd prefer not to).<br /><br />This new information also points to the fact that James may not have been Irish at all. It looks like his father was probably a military man as well. Perhaps the family didn't even spend much time in Ireland. Unfortunately, the time period we're talking about is before 1841, so I can't even search the censuses to find out the whereabouts of this family.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-73664998689605192342011-03-04T14:10:00.001-08:002011-03-06T14:50:39.603-08:00Mind the gap...I thought I'd finally found that elusive royalty link... but it all depended on a rather spurious connection in someone's family tree that I could find no evidence for.<br /><br />There are a few branches of the family that have names that are promising. When I search for information on these names, I come up with information about how so-and-so came over with William the Conqueror or that so-and-so was part of a highly influential family in the 1300s. The problem is, I have no way to connect my brick walls in the 18th and 19th centuries back to the Middle Ages. I have no idea if my Lovett family in Buckinghamshire is descended from <a href="http://www.combs-families.org/combs/assoc/lovett/manors.htm">Richard de Louet of Normandy</a>. I have no idea if my Stafford family in Northumberland is connected to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_de_Stafford,_1st_Baron_Stafford">13th-century de Staffords</a>. Stupid gap!Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-3896486296987837532011-01-01T13:10:00.001-08:002011-01-01T13:11:57.668-08:00Brick walls all around!I've hit brick walls with pretty much every branch of the tree now. Short of actually going to the British Isles and doing some in-person research, I'm probably not going to get much further.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-49640150612509967122010-09-11T16:23:00.000-07:002010-09-11T16:34:26.959-07:00"Ann" as a surname? And a Bassingthwaighte disappointment...I've been searching for my Pike ancestors, namely James Pike and his wife, Hester. The family lived in Alveston, Gloucestershire and all the children were born there. The only marriage that seemed plausible, however, was between James Pike and Hester Ann on 26 June 1811 in Bristol. I'm not sure if people from Alveston would have gone to Bristol to get married. If they did, though, and this is the correct couple, then I may have found a whole lot of new cousins.<br /><br />There seem to be a lot of people with the Ann surname in the areas of Alveston and Olveston. These were such small places that everybody must have known the family!<br /><br />Oh, and as for the Bassingthwaightes, I don't think they're related to me after all. I've found a more likely candidate for my Robert Johnson's wife (Mary Elseygood rather than Mary Bassingthwaighte), and now all the censuses make sense. There may still be a connection, as one of the children of Robert Johnson and Mary Bassingthwaighte was living with <span style="font-style: italic;">my</span> Robert Johnson in 1841. Unfortunately, I don't know what the relationship was. (The two Robert Johnsons are perhaps cousins?)Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-43885733852308664352010-07-18T16:38:00.000-07:002010-07-18T16:46:54.219-07:00The elusive "Mary" finally has a last name!When your ancestors are from Ontario, Canada and Gloucestershire, England, you never think to look for a marriage in Kent, England!<br /><br />I think I've got the right family here... I knew that my ancestor, George Pike, had married three times. His first wife was Elizabeth Screech/Screen. His third wife was Catherine McCarter. His second wife (my ancestor and -- as luck would have it -- the wife I had the least information about) was either Elizabeth Daniels (according to family stories) or someone named Mary (according to the 1861 Canadian census). On that census, there was a Hannah Daniels living next door. I thought it might be Mary's sister. Was the Daniels surname correct after all?<br /><br />And then I found a marriage in early 1855 in Dover, Kent, England for a George Pike (widower) and a Mary Daniels (single). Judging by the fact that their first child was born in England in August of 1855, this could very well be the right family. This Mary Daniels also had a younger sister named Hannah (which would fit with the census information I found).<br /><br />Just when you think you've hit brick walls all around, you get a break. I love finding ancestors!Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-52407683004822788582010-06-06T13:56:00.000-07:002010-06-06T14:12:34.011-07:00Ancestry.comA while ago, I was a subscriber to Ancestry.com, which was great. But after a while, I couldn't justify paying so much for something I wasn't using every single day. So I switched to the pay-per-view system, so I could only pay when I was on a real genealogy kick and wanted to view a few records.<br /><br />For a long time, I was able to attach census records to my tree without using any credits. As long as I had some credits in my account, I could do this. If I wanted to actually <span style="font-style: italic;">view the record images</span> (and not just see the indexes), I had to actually use a credit. That was fine by me. I was also able to attach records from other people's family trees without using credits... which I thought was great, since the information there is questionable at best. Why should I pay for someone else's assumptions?<br /><br />Last time I was on the Ancestry site, though, I noticed that I couldn't do <span style="font-style: italic;">anything</span> without using credits, other than attach the 1881 England census or records from the FreeBMD archives. Curious, I fired off an e-mail to Ancestry, only to be informed that I should have been charged credits all along, and that I should be happy for this little mistake.<br /><br />Excuse me?<br /><br />I'm supposed to spend almost a dollar each time I want to attach some random person's record to my tree, even though there's no way of knowing if the information is even correct? Don't get me wrong; that attaching feature has been a great way of building up my family tree. But it's only a beginning. To ensure accuracy, I then have to go and find other information that corroborates the other person's tree. If this was already done (meaning the information had already been checked out and verified), I wouldn't have a problem with paying for it. But as it is, someone could make up anything, put it in their tree... and Ancestry would still make us pay for it.<br /><br />I'm a bit put off by Ancestry at the moment. I have much of my information there as private trees, mostly for backup purposes (in case my computer explodes or something). But I don't know how I feel about them making money off my information... especially if it's not even 100% correct information. I know that companies want to make money, but I find it a bit disgusting that we genealogists have to pay ridiculous amounts of money simply to find out things about our own heritage.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-42053111841370367392010-05-16T17:12:00.000-07:002010-05-16T17:26:45.302-07:00Lambert family of Panfield HallI have some Lambert ancestors who supposedly lived at <a href="http://www.francisfrith.com/panfield/photos/hall-1906_55543/">Panfield Hall</a> in Essex. I have come across another Lambert family who also lived at Panfield Hall (that of John Lambert, a Puritan who immigrated to the U.S.A. with his family). I'm guessing that these two Lambert families are related somehow (Panfield Hall wasn't <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> big, after all), but my searches have turned up nothing. John Lambert was probably the contemporary of my Jeffrey Lambert; but I don't know if they were brothers, first cousins, second cousins, or even more distantly related.<br /><br />It's amazing how much information is online these days. But it is still possible to come away from an Internet search disappointed... especially when you're researching things that happened hundreds of years ago.Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2965870675269122744.post-80431303322533412892010-03-28T18:39:00.000-07:002011-01-01T13:09:59.078-08:00Musings... about Mormons?One of the tree branches I've been walking lately is a line of folks from the Norfolk, England area. They are variously Murrells and Johnsons, with some Bassingthwaightes thrown in for good measure. I was going merrily along, adding in some potential distant cousins to my database... when I hit a patch of polygamist Mormons. Now I think I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome...<br /><br />While not a Mormon myself, I know that there are quite a few Mormon families scattered through the family tree. This group that I was looking at today originated in Suffolk, England and settled in Utah in the U.S.A. I would love to know what the impetus was for packing up everything, heading for North America, and then traversing most of the continent to arrive at their destination! Things must've been tough in England. Why else would you risk your family's lives by undertaking such a journey?Genealogy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507972542821679644noreply@blogger.com0