GenealogyBuffs: Anyone Intersted in Comparing Gedcom Files?

[Lynette Smith]

I have two major lines which go back nearly 400 years in colonial america, and am my own cousin, half cousin, etc. nearly a dozen times over between the two lines. I thought it might be interesting if anybody interesting wished to share share genealogy files to search for matches.

You never know who will turn up as kin. I have Lizzie Borden, Richard Nixon, a confederate general 1/2 brother in law to Abraham Lincoln as kin, the Winthrop Woman, a few U.S. presidents I haven't got documentation on yet, Cardinal Wolsey, lord high mayor of London of London in Queen Elizabeth's time, and a Lord High Justice in England during the 16th century. Also, veterans of the civil war, war of 1812, Revolutionary War, and French Indian War.

The earliest colonial ancestors tend to be quite intermarried and where many relationships occur.

I wondered if anyone might be interested in swapping genealogy files to see if any of us our cousins! Canadians and pre-immigrant nationalities may also be of interest. Recently distant cousins who never immigrated from Switzerland were discovered, along with records hidden in a cave which may reveal earlier generations.

It always delights me to find cousins.

Anybody interested?

[pin1056]

sounds interesting however i've only gone back a couple of generations on one side....basically i did the 'free' bit and when it was going to cost money i dont have i gave up but the whole geneology thing is so interesting and very time consuming i loved doing it

[Lynette Smith]

Living in Salt Lake City, I have ready access to one of the largest family history libraries around. On site, they have free access to ancestry.com, as well as many satellite churches. It maybe, with these advanced resources I could find a more extensive family tree. The more you can put down in aunts, uncles and cousins, the better the chance of a match, since other cousins may also be searching. I have a first cousin, once removed I wouldn't have known about, except that my aunt mentioned his interest. I have second and third cousins who've also turned up. Other spouses and their offspring can also be a helpful means to track ancestors.

[Sherry]

Genealogy is fascinating. I have my mother's family back to just before they went to England with William the Conqueror, and that my first American ancestor was born off shore of America on the ship in 1632. My youngest son is named after one of my 4 American Revolution ancestors, a name that has been carried down through the generations since then. My father's family has been harder, as they were Canadian and I have not been able to get much on them from Canada. I do know they are direct descendants of Lady Jane Grey, but that's it.

We could do it the way they do on genealogy sites and just list last names to see if we have any in common.

[Lynette Smith]

I have an ancestor born in that time period whose birthplace is listed as the Atlanctic Ocean!

A couple branches of my family are believed to have settled in Canada around the time of the revolutionary war, rather to be in the rebellious colonies.

Many of my family lines go through the earliest settlements on Long Island in the 1600's. These are frequently the easiest to find common ancestors.

I have a family who is supposed to go back to William the Conqueror and tap into lines of royalty, but there is some dispute whether the ancestor in question was the one married to an untraceable wife, or a wife from illustious heritage.

[Sherry]

I wonder if we have the same 'born on the water' ancestor? There were probably a lot of babies born crossing the ocean.

[lmgervais]

I have traced back the family lines back (mine and DH's) to the countries of origin on most lines, meaning France and England for the most part. Almost all of my ancestors are from Canada, with a few staying in the US (NY state mostly) for a short time. French Canadian ancestors are some of the easiest to find as the church kept many records.

Unfortunately, when I started, I did it for fun and did not document everything the way I should have.

[Sherry]

I still have relatives living in Ontario, but sure can't locate them! They must not be into genealogy.

[kellee]

I'd Be very interested.!!! I have alot ofinformation but I want more.!! LOL>!!!

My Main surnames are:

HOLCOMB, BENNER, NAIL.

all are from Ohio...

Unfortunatly, I dont have a ancestory account, I try to do as much as I can with as little cost as possible.. just dont have the $$ to do much but I really enjoy learning about the families... and my 12 year old son is really involved in the genealogy.!!

You can email me at ********* (Please use forum messaging services)

Kelly

[KathieB]

Kelly ... please edit your post to remove your email address. Greenleaf provides the PM feature on this form for exchanging sensitive information that shouldn't be put out for everyone to see. Non members can view everything on this forum, and you don't know who they are. I'm also PMing Tracy (Minis on the Edge) to edit your post if the edit function is not still available to you.

Practice safe internet!

[bookmarm]

we've done lots of searching on both my side and hubby's, but are absolutely stonewalled in just a few places at this time. I think there aren't going to be any answers for those because those individuals died very young (one of my gr grandmothers who died in childbirth in late 1800s, one of Jim's gr grandfathers who was hit by a train in early 1900s, some Underwood individuals who show up on a very old family sampler). Part of my moms family (Manuel) were probably gypsies from Spain who came through Caribbean islands and up through FLA to southern SC. Those records are very hard to research.

We have connections to only a few 'famous' folks (Pres. W. H. Taft on Jim's side), but I was more amazed to learn my Gr Gr grandmother (mom to the Gr grandmother who died in childbirth) gave birth to 3 sets of twins and 3 more single births! This in the last half of the 1800s. All but one little boy lived at least to young adulthood. That granny lived into her 80's!

[Color Me Holly]

I have my maternal line going back 7 generations on paper. My paternal has been a little tricky.

Three generations for grandma and no luck with grandpa. Grandma's grandma was Native American and is supposed to listed on the Dawes List, but there is some confusion on the last names. That side of my family wasn't really into sharing a lot of info. Grandma bible just has her immediate that I know about. Grandpa came from Canada.

I have a maternal great-grandfather who migrated to Utah to practice polygamy. He had 6 wives. I am pretty sure I am related to half of Northern Utah especially around Millcreek and Provo.

[Lynette Smith]

Okay, I'm going to try a breakdown of some of the family lines. Unfortunately I'm still handicapped by not having my files available, so some of this is memory.

Woolseys - from my grandmother, born in Rolla, Kansas, 1917 after generations in Carroll County Missouri, Greene County, Tennessee, and New York areas branching from the original settlement point - George Joris Woolsey "the settler" born in Essex England 17 Oct 1610, married Rebecca Cornell 1647 in Long Island (the original settlement). I have yet to meet a Woolsey knowledgeable of their geneology who does not descend from the immingrant ancestor. Family tradition holds that George Woolsey is a grandson or great grandson of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey of King Henry VIII fame.

Rebecca Cornell, interestingly, was murdered, and a son was convicted on flimsey evidence. One or her descendants Lizzie Borden would be accused of murder in one of the most notorious Victorian murder cases in the U.S.. Not knowing LIzzie's cousinship, I chose her case for my paralegal cold case study. My studies led me to the overwhelming conclusion that she was innocent, and all the town father's and police knew just who did commit the crime.

Names associated with the Woolseys are: Birts, Sims, Steiner, Prunty (the Brontes' sisters father changed his name from Prunty to Bronte to sound more genteel), McCoubrie, Coffelt (Kauffeldt), Buckles, Harvey, Courtis, and others not immediatley at hand. At this point the related names get very intermixed with about 40 families settling Long Island in the 1600's

The Long Island families: Woolseys, Sammis (Samwayes) (the Sammis's Came from Windsor Connecticut in the 1620s one branch settled in Canada), Cornell, Lewis, Stevenson, Brush, Cory, Horseford, Salmon, Williamson, Bayless, Stillwell,

The Palmers are another early colonial family settled in Long Island. Intermarriages between the Palmers and Woolsey sets did not happen until my parents married in 1956. A study of the two factions leads me to believe that the Palmers were pilgrim (out to make a better life in the new world) and the Woolsey set were puritans (fleeing England for religious reasons). It is my theory that the two didn't mix because the puritans didn't approve of the more worldly pilgrims.

The Palmer line, while on route back to Long Island include: Smith, Pierce, Turkle, Blunt (Blount), Richmond,

At this stage the Plamers are in the Long Island and nearby New york locations: Van Deusens ( in laws to President Martin Van Buren), Wilson, Brooks, Fowler, Vosbergh, Tyler, Terrill, Feake (married to the Winnthrop Woman from the book), Ufford, Camp Bryan, Baldwin, Heath, Crompton, Van Schoonhoven,

There are two different branches of families from each side of the famliy tree which were part of the Palatinate migration. Religious persecution in Switerland led Queen Ann to invite these people to immigrate to the new world. Some families took a hundred years to complete the migration, each generation a little further removed from their Swiss origins. The Amish, Mennonite, and Pennsylvania Dutch come from this oppressed religious sect. My ancestors fitting this category of immigrant and related names on my mother's side include the Coffelts (Kauffeldts) Zirkles, Nehs, Steiner, Perrenton, and a host of names not on my online version of geneaology predating much on this branch. Another breanch are the Fogles (Vogels) who spent a few generations around Ohio, particularly Xenia.

My father's Palatinate ancestors include Nicely (Kneissle ((the Nestle choclate people are from this line too)). Adam and Anthony Nicely were the first American Nicelys, and fought in the revolutionary war. A loyalist relation is believed to have settled in Canada. Much of the info on the branch of family is also missing from my immediate access.

Other names include Helms in Kentucky (including cousins who was governor of the state before and after the Civil war, and William Hardin Helm, a confederate general, married to a half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln and whom Abraham Lincoln had offered a union generalship to.

The Fishers descend from an Irish line, one of which was left for dead in the French Indian War, the Shannons, Roberts, and others.

The Pierces are associated with Dennis, Sherwood, John Dennis and Keziah Ball (from whom Richard Nixon, my 8th cousin once removed descends), Lundy, Lester, Duncoff,

I hope to find a more organized and comprehensive link to which I can direct people.

[Sherry]

The only familiar name I see on your list is Pierce-my MIL is a Pierce from Texas. You do have quite a long list of names, hope you find some relatives here. That would be fun!

[KathieB]

Lloyd and I have our genealogy research on line at

http://bayoubohemia.net/genealogy

You can plug surnames in to the search box to see if there are any matches. You can see the names of deceased individuals. You can't see any names for living people unless you register and I clear you. It's an effort to protect identities in these perilous times.

[PCakes]

Wow, that's a lot of information you've been able to retrieve Lynette. I've tried but got stuck pretty quickly in the 1870s. Found a bit on Ancestry but, didn't renew the subscription. Also, I think the record keeping was different for blacks, unfortunately, and it is very time consuming. Like right now, I need to work on a pet portrait for a friend but instead I'm online. And I was up till very late making mini cakes for a bakery I have yet to build. I swear I wouldn't sleep if I didn't have to.

It's all very interesting though.... :lol:

Pam

[KathieB]

Pam, searching black ancestry is a real challenge. We were stuck on Lloyd's side of the family, so we had his DNA tested by the African Ancestry people who claim to be able to pinpoint which African tribe his father's line came from. We figured if we knew that, we could trace the migration from Africa to the US and try to pick up the line that way. It wasn't inexpensive, but we thought it worth the effort.

So ... weeks later we get a very lovely packet of information with a cover letter that said: You have no African ancestry in your paternal line. What a hoot!

We've traced his Bennetts from Louisiana back to Mississippi, Tennessee and South Carolina (where there is a Bennett Springs). Our best guess is that we need to find a white slaveholder named Bennett and try to link with the rest of the line.

What part of the country are your people from?

[grazhina]

Gee, the furthest back I've ever found anything on my ancestry was a listing for a fellow with my grandfather's name who got off a boat in Boston, from Nova Scotia about the same time my grandfather came to America. The guys' age was right for my grandfather, and he described himself as a fisherman, which was grandfather's favorite occupation.

Grandfather could have come to America by way of Canada, others did, and we have relations there.

The thing is, there's a French family with our last name, and some Byelorus. Pavel Bure is very likely a distant relative. My father had told me that his grandparents sometimes traveled down there to visit relatives, and they could both speak the language. When we saw Pavel's father in the Olympics in the early 70's we were struck how he was the spitting image of our father when he was young.

Once we even saw an obituary in the paper for a "king of the gypsies" with grandfather's name.

DH's side is no better. There's a geneologist who put together a whole book about the family with his last name. It's very rare, and they can all be traced back to a family in New Jersey that came over in the 1700's. However, she could not find any trace of a link with DH's father.

I think I may have found one possiblity though. There was a guy with the right last name, and the right age to be DH's grandfather, and he lived in a town near the one where DH dad was born. However, this guy was married to some other woman. DH's grandmother had 6 or 7 surnames in her obituary. She was "married" quite a few times. Tsk tsk.

I watched a documentary about Brits who were illegit descendants of English kings and didn't know it. At the end of the show the geneologists pointed out that most of the population of Great Britain most likely has royal blood flowing in their veins by this time. :lol:

[PCakes]

Hi Kathie,

My parents are both originally from NC, east coast and mountains, but there are some real issues on my mother's side, i.e. adoptions and some areas where the father isn't named....if you know what I mean... On my dad's side, no one kept track of anything so it's been hard going.

I've heard about the African Ancestry DNA, saw it on a PBS show but, I think they said the results weren't that accurate as, you've attested to.

[KathieB]

LOL ... oh, the results were accurate, Pam ... just not what we expected! :lol:

Lloyd has a lot of French and Spanish Creole in his tree that we have been able to track.

As for unnamed fathers, divorces, ships passing in the night, etc, I'm finding more and more such relationships in the current generations. I make it a point to ask what the child's last name is ... I don't just assume it must be the current husband/live-in's name.

[Sherry]

Kathie, that's one of the first things teachers learn-never assume that because a student is a Miller, that his mother or any of his siblings are also Millers. It can be kinda flustering when Mom gets upset at being called Miller when she dumped that jerk 3 husbands ago!

[bookmarm]

Kathie, there is a Bennettsville SC in Marlborough county. This is upper NE area near NC line. Many Scotch Irish settlers took roots there and were given land grants to settle. I do have some Bennett connections by marriage through my father's side that seemed to appear in the late 1700s. Seems like a Pate/Stubbs ancestor married a Mary Bennett, daughter of Charles Bennett, but not sure that's been really established and that was pretty much how quick the name appeared and disappeared in our data. IF you do think Bennettsville is a possiblity for your family, there are several well written books that give the history of the area. You can also contact the SC State Archives and the Caroliniana Library at the University of SC for help with research. Both have excellent research tools for African slave descendants. I'm also sure Charleston SC would have useful archives, but I haven't used them for any of our research.

[KathieB]

Thanks for the suggestions, Gayle. I love it how connections come together in serendipitous ways. :lol:

[Lynette Smith]

I was extremely upset when I discovered an ancestor who was a slave owner in Tennessee. I had always believed my ancestors were from non slavery areas. The family had a sawmill on the river as the western expansion began. The husband had his manservant and a maidservant for his wife, and they were married. After my ancestor's wife died, her slave was freed, but remained and worked for wages at that point. I want to believe that he was a good master and have thought it would be interesting to learn what happened to the couple and their descendants.

[Lynette Smith]

Sherry,

My 2g grandfather Charles Sylvester Pierce and his wife lived out the end of their lives in Oklahoma - thats close-ish to Texas.

Any relation to Barbara?