Geneaology

[MORTARDUDE]

I have been interested in geneaology for the past 30 years. I have been lucky that others had already done all the heavy research. I did find a good deal of info about one of my great-grandfathers and his service in the Civil War thru Confederate pension records...

The reason I am posting this is that I can trace one side of my family back 9 generations ( including myself ) to 1670. In calculating the birth and death dates for all my grandfathers I get....57, 56, 42, 73, 68, 73, 68, 73....the last 73 is my father..

You will note the first two nearly the same and the alternating of the others in past 5 generations. Anyone else have anything like this in their family line ?? It is spooky to say the least....

My gggg-grandfather was in the Revolutionary War. My gg-grandfather only had one eye, and was 17 when it started, and didn't serve in the Civil War..

Larry

[Andy]

On Dad's side it's just family lore. The Nazi's wiped out the town and all it's records in 1939.

On Mom's side it go's back to the 1690s. Very long history of men living into their 80s, wives who didn't die in child birth also growing very old (most smoked and drank). Of course we did live on the North side of the River Charles and never considered visiting any of those southern cities like New York. They were all English, who hated the Irish, but several had large red beards - go figure. Apparently they came to this country because they didn't like the English state religion. They wanted to be free to worship as they wished, kill a few Indians and burn the occasion witch. They could also own firearms which was illegal for regular folks in England. Owning weapons is sort of a family trait.

In 1876 the family bought a Bible, weighs about 25 pounds, all the records are written into the first couple of blank pages at the beginning of the book, beautiful hand writing. A family treasure which was updated by my mother several years ago.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[39mto39g]

I can go back 4 greats. All of them died at age 95 except for my dad, he died at 77 because of BOOOz. So I may be good for 95.
I don't know if the world can take another 40 years of ME.


Ron

[Jerry D]

Andy: I have followed one family linage back to Plymouth, Mass to a Samuel Bradford born 1745 died 15 Dec 1810 Worcester Co. MD he was Married to Sarah Fitzgerald also of Plymouth,Mass. I have been looking to find out if Sam was a nephew or grandson of the Bradfords off the Mayflower?

Mortardude: One of the linages I have traced back the Farthest was William Coppidge Born 1612 Chelworth,Chicklaide St. Sampson,Wiltshire England died 1648 his father was Richard Coppidge who is my 9th Great Grandfather. Then there is my GrGrGranmpa James Hutt Watkins who fought as a Pvt in the CSA in the 4th Mo Cav Co.D and his brother Bill was in Co.C of the 4th Mo Cav CSA I joined the SCV with my GrGRGrampa's records.
Now for something different One set of ancestors the Irish side the O'Bannon's have a GED file on ancestry.com that purports to have traced themselves back to The Abraham from Biblical times whether their research is accurate or not its fun to read and would make Abraham my 105th GrGrandfather

[PHO127]

Once you get started it is difficult to stop. Can trace back to 1623 arrival at Jamestown Colony on the good ship Bony Bess. The earliest I have been able to find is a recorded land sale in 1350 near the city of Hastings, England.

[Keith_Hixson]

My wife's cousin is a retired anthropoligist with the USDA (forrest service). Got into geneaology and trace her family back to the pilgrim (John Alden / Priscilla Mullins) got his family into the Mayflower Society. So I'm married to a Pilgrim. [ Sooo, she put out a whipping post, stocks in the front yard, and a dunking stool in the backyard and when I get out of line she chooses the punishment. The dunking stool is really hard on the legs when the swimming pool freezes over in the winter.] Well, at least the the part about her lineage going back to the pilgrims is true. My family goes back to the Hixsons of New Jersey around 1670 and my ggggg-father served with Washington in Revolution (SGT Samuel Hixson). They have traced back my grandmother Harrison's side of the family back to the Jamestown Colony. The Harrison's of Virginia. William Henry and Benjamin Harrison were 2nd or 3rd Cousins of my Grandmother. My great grandfather Francis Marion Harrison served in the Civil War from Illinois. Some cousins served with the South.

My Grandfathers all lived to be in their late 80's or 90's. My dad was almost 94 when he died. My grandfather was 82 when he was killed in an accident. (He was still working on the job) Geneaology is entertaining but I don't read a lot into it in the way of snobery, but it is great to know your heritage. Both my wife and my heritage is basically WASP, she does have some Dutch. White Anglo Saxon Protestant = WASP



Keith

[MORTARDUDE]

My neighbor's last name is Soule and his ancestor was on the first
ship at Plymouth Rock. He never mentioned it, until I discovered a book at the library that had it in there. He is fairly nonchalant about it all, and says no one can connect-the-dots back to Europe.
1620
Puritans in the New World -- To pay for supplies and passage the Puritans contracted with English merchants and signed up non-Puritans colonists for the journey. The Puritans called themselves 'saints' (as in members of Christ's visible church) and the non-separatists were called 'strangers'.

Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. George SOULE (1) is aboard as a servant of Edward WINSLOW and signs the Mayflower Compact. Not sure if he was a 'saint' or 'stranger'.

[Seascamp]

Remnant records of my father?s side begin in Dresden Germany around 1760. They were among the Catholic bunch that Czarina Catherine lured into Russia to farm the land and in return, they were to get free land and their sons were to be conscription free forever more, ya right. Around 1906 or so the deal was off because Czar Nicolas the last got in a war with Japan and that was nothing but a manpower sink. As a result the bulk of the German farmers left Russia for Kansas. But there were some earlier defections and those mostly settled in Missouri but some settled in Kansas, especially around Victoria Kansas. A lot of my relations in that area had relatives who helped build the Cathedral of the Planes and that?s notable, a bit, if one is into old Cathedrals. But characteristic of those people (whom I call the time-frozen people) they never assimilated in Russia, kept to their group, etc. And rather than battling with the Indians, they had their hands full with Cossacks raiding all the time. They are still basically self-isolated in Kansas?s family farming clusters but probably don?t worry about the Cossacks anymore, maybe. But I am not taking any chances and going play-acting at being some sort of Cossack Taurus Bulba out near the wheat bins, nope. I?ll pass on that opportunity.


My Ma?s side is better documented and goes back to the Mayflower but I?ll do that saga in the next day or so.

[Andy]

There were Bradford?s around from the beginning in Massachusetts. Both Plymouth City Hall and some of the church?s are very helpful with the records, might want to look into that.

I?d doubt that a Fitzgerald got here for the first 50 years or so. Having a ?Fitz? at the beginning of one?s name meant something very special. It indicated that you were the bastard child of a nobleman who had knocked up a commoner woman. It meant you were a half step above the other common folk. Someone of that ilk would never have been on the Mayflower. After Plymouth and Boston started to flourish, then higher ups starting coming here.

That?s the difference between the colonies on the River Charles and the James river. Along the banks of the James there were semi-wealthy people who came to this land from the get go, looking to make a fortune in whatever.

Sid, a land transfer in the 1300s, wow. Can you connect the dots from you to him? I say him because it was illegal for women to own property back then.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[Keith_Hixson]

Soule was a family servant to Winslow Family. He had no rights when he came to America. Interesting that Slavery existed among the Pilgrims in one form or another. He eventually became a freeman and married a Mary Becket and they had 9 children. He was 79 when he died. Probably a lot of Soule's around who go back to the pilgrims.

The John Alden and Priscilla Mullins marriage produce 10 children, all made it to Adult Age and married. Over a third of all Mayflower Society members trace their heritage back to the Aldens. Just because they were prolific at the beginning.

Keith


P.S. Ron, maybe you and I can end up in the same nursing home at age 90 talking about all those fire runs and medic runs.