County. One of my lines moved down from Ontario to this area around 1886, naturalizing in 1895. My great-grandmother Ada Ella Evans was the youngest in the family and, as far as I can tell, the only one born in Michigan. Her siblings moved out to Dakota Territory while she was still young and she ended up moving out there as well and meeting my great-grandfather there. Her parents (Joseph John Evans and Mary Adams) appear to have continued to live in North Branch but they disappear from the census after 1920, and I've found no other records of them after this point. Joseph's brother Samuel Evans also moved down from Ontario to North Branch, where he married a woman named Ida (maiden name unknown) and they were still living there in the 1930 census, the last record I've found for them. Both of Samuel and Ida's children died, so their line stops with them.
This family has been one of the hardest for me to trace in both directions! I knew Ada's father likely came form England based on multiple records in Canada and the US, but it took me years to finally trace them back to England (thanks in part to the ideas of some people on this site) and even so, with such a common surname I'm only 95% sure I've found the right family in England. Ada's mother's name is so common and I've never found any relative of hers in Canada, so I've been completely unsuccessful at tracing her back to England, though records in Canada indicate her parents' names were William and Elizabeth. And I still haven't found any records of Ada's parents' deaths or anything else about them after 1920, nor any clues as to what happened in Samuel's and Ida's lives after 1930.…
es before the Norman Invasion and four centuries before the Abbot of Kelso signed over lands in the Dubh Glahs clan area to the son of a Flemish immigrant who came to be known as William de Douglas (or similar spelling). Although the exact parentage of his father is in dispute, it is generally agreed that he was Flemish. Therefore, he was not related by blood to the majority of people who bore the name Dubh Glahs.
Among the closest associates of William de Douglas were the Murrays. Like Douglas, Murray had come from Flanders and was granted land, title and administrative authority by King David I and had assumed the local surname as clan chief* and went on to construct castle and town in Norman fashion. The king wanted help from the Norman/Flemish invaders/immigrants in solidifying his control over the country by incorporating their feudal organization. Freskin de Moray was Flemish, but the name Freskin is from Friesland, now a part of the German state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). Both William de Douglas and Freskin de Moray were associated with Normans (i.e., Scandinavians) including Bruce, Stewart and Baliol.
There is dispute among historians as to the origin of Rollo, the leader of the band of Vikings who conquered Normandy. The scientific archeological opinion appears to divide along nationalist lines, with Norwegians believing he was from Norway and the Danes believing he was from Denmark. Some maintain that he was based in the main Viking commercial town of the time, Hedeby/Haddeby/Haithabu, across the bay from Schleswig. It is probable that his group included Jutes, Danes, Frieslanders, etc. Looking at the DNA haplotype distribution, it is very probable that all of them were I1.
I only know my paternal ancestry back to 1660 in America and for all I know my most distant ancestor could have been an Angle, a Saxon, a Hull or a Gordon, a Norwegian sailor who jumped ship in Scotland and assumed the name of Douglas, or a Norman Englishman who, after moving to Scotland, assumed a Scots name as others are known to have done. That said and making no grander claim, I think it's possible to make a convincing case that William de Douglas was most probably of I1 Y-DNA.
It seems doubtful to me that a Gordon took the name of Douglas, but rather that Douglas and Gordon have a common ancestor on the continent and assumed two different names in Scotland. At the time of the arrival of the father of William de Douglas, believed by many to be Theobald the castellan of Ypres, the Flemish constituted the largest immigrant group in Scotland (Barrow).
Regards and apologies for being long-winded about it,
Don Douglas
Kreis Osnabrück, Niedersachsen, Germany
* "In the county of Galloway, for instance, the administrative authority was, up to the twelfth century, only regarded as a fiction of paternal authority; and no man sent by the king to govern this country could exercise his command in peace, unless he was accepted as head of the family, or chief of the clan, by the people whom he was to rule." Augustin Thierry, History of the Conquest of England by the Normans, a free download from Google Books. (Castle Douglas is in Galloway County.)…
mily. All I recalled her saying about her father was "He's from Missouri and his mother was Fanny TREMAIN." I should have started with a family that had more research done so I could check myself against census records and other facts as I went along, but oh well. I did discover the wonderful online message boards where I came across several knowledgeable as well as generous cousins. When I seemed not to be getting anywhere very fast on my own, however, I went back to my husband's TATUM, REED, EDWARDS, DRAKE, HANNA and related families which are in some cases pretty well-researched and started with what his mother had given him: a small, battered manila folder with some newspaper clippings, an old funeral program, a few genealogy charts, and several old documents that turned out to be original indenture papers for one ancestor. This got me going very well as it turned out. Then I worked at my childrens' father's family information as it was well-done and I learned how to read descendancy charts, family group sheets, etc. Then I got Family Treemaker. After that I started back on the SUMNERS by doing library research and ordering census records and family maps via InterLibraryLoan. Also read many books and bought a few. "Who's Your Hoosier?" is one of my favorites. Then became interested in DNA research (I had studied DNA and RNA in Jr. High BSCS Biology in the 60s but never dreamed that the Human Genome would be mapped in my lifetime) and got my husband involved in the TATUM Y-DNA PROJECT at FTDNA, where I tested as well. It's all addictive, and I have learned more about the US and its history from genealogy and DNA research than I ever learned in school. Now I've been tackling Scandinavian research in order to learn more of my father's family in Norway.…
y have a passion to find out more of our history, both on my dad's side as well as my mom's. I don't have a paid membership to any of the sites as of yet (financially embarrassed at the moment), but I've been using a combination of sites such as Ancestry, FamilySearch, WikiTree, MyHeritage, as well as joined Genealogy groups on Facebook. The surnames I am looking for are mainly Hayes, Tennyson/Tennison, Savelle, Spence (my mom's side) and Sapp (that one I found a lot on, just need some blanks filled in and history), Creamer, Webb and McCuller/McCullough (although we're mainly focused on Webb).
I have done some research on my mom's side. Found out we are related to Alfred Lord Tennyson on her dad's side (which is really cool). On my dad's side, it hasn't been that hard finding info on his mom's dad's side. That goes way, way back in some areas. However, we have been unable to get past his great-grandfather on his dad's side. We have the 1870 census from where it lists his wife and family, among them is my dad's grandfather.
My dad said he had taken what he got from Ancestry, newspapers, birth & death certificates, et al, and taken them to someone who is (or was?) a professional Genealogist a few years back. The gentleman told my dad that he could find anyone. Turns out, he was wrong. The one side of my dad's family that seems virtually untraceable at the moment. We are stumped.
I plan on making a trip to our library after the holidays when I have more time to get out and research, as well as visit our local LDS center.
Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season!
…
lytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/e/l/d/Victor-Elder/GENE1-0001.html
"The origin of the Elder name is as follows:
"In 1160, Malcomb IV called upon the Clan Macduff
to help him withstand an attempt on his throne.
Duncan Macduff, Chief of the Macduff Clan, sent his son Shaw. At the
end of the war, Shaw was rewarded with his own noble rank and lands
and was known as Macintosh. This much we know, Supposedly, Shaw
Macduff Macintosh had several sons, the oldest of whom was known as
"The Eldar" (original spelling) and his decendants adopted this as
their surname, to distinguish their line from the rest of the clan.
The Elder name is very common in Scotland and has always been
associated with the Clan Macintosh (MacKintosh) so the tale certainly
seems plausible...
MacKintosh or McIntosh means "son of the chief or important person"
and Elder is simply the Anglicised or English form of the Gaelic
name.
*****
ELDER Coat of Arms - in House of Names: (2 stars - Dolphin in "S" shape)
at
http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/Elder-coat-arms.htm
"Origin Displayed: Scottish
Spelling variations of this family name include: Elder, Elders, Eldar, MacNoravaich and others.
First found in Edinburghshire the present day Scottish Council Area of Midlothian in Southeastern Scotland,
which as a former county, used to encompass the city of Edinburgh, where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D..."
" The arms were registered at Fairfield, County Lanark in 1869."
More about Coat of Arms/Crests
at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nancyelder/ed/ElderCrests.htm
John ELDER of Steamships location at Fairfield near Glasgow:
at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nancyelder/Steamships.htm
--Nancy Elder Petersen,
Vancouver, WA USA
Host, ELDER DNA project
Results, Goals and Ancestor lists
at
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Elder…
I've read a few other folks' ideas on the 'best way' to organize your genealogy. Honestly, the 'best way' is the one that works for you. Organization is the key to survival in any aspect of…
least one reference to a Cowan. The Forbes road just happens to end in this same part of PA.
While there is a Cowan Lake, the actual place is called Cowan's Gap, and it is now a state park. Accounts of its history appears in multiple locations on the Internet, and there is even a wikipedia entry. I call this the "canonical" account of the history. The is also a Cowans Village in that area, and there is a Cowans Lake in eastern Ohio, as well.
Unfortunately, the commonality of the given name Samuel with the surname, Cowan makes it very difficult to ascertain whether this the right person. Of course, the fact that I have alternate accounts saying that the Cowan's Gap progenitor's name was Robert or James Cowan, just add to the confusion.
I've discovered so far that finding records from the PA "frontier" (1770's - 1810's) is difficult. Later Cowan generations all seemed to be Church of the Brethren (which unfortunately kept sparse records, unlike Lutherans or Catholics for example). I'm also left wondering whether Mary and family were one of the Moravian denominations (like the Brethren), or this is just coincidental since they ended up near the rest of the Pennsylvania "Dutch".
I have did contact a loyalist researcher who found the entry "Cowan Mr" in a muster roll from a British unit that would have in Boston at that time. We had a little bit of debate about whether the Mr actually meant Mister or Major. It was somewhat odd, because this abbreviation "Mr" was used only once in the entire roll. I had been reading that the British used an abbreviation scheme that was slightly different than what we are used to today. I wish I could still find the reference about this, because this scheme was a bit alien.
I had seen the NEHGS and will probably pursue that next. I have several books on Colonial Sugar Traders and Smugglers, and recently stumbled upon info about the Germans who settled Waldoboro, Maine and then moved to Boston after some fights with the Native Americans. So far, most of these references say that many of this group of Germans, became the traders and shipping merchants when they arrived in Boston.
Of course, I have not completely ruled out a "Red Shanks" angle either.…
his men to clear a path from Virginia through Carolina and westward towards the Mississippi River. This road, known as Thigpen's Trace, is the first documented wagon route in the state of North Carolina. I have continuously researched the exact path of Thigpen's Trace for decades. I've opened this discussion to share our findings and to encourage others to share their knowledge and information with the group.
The Barnwell-Hammerton map below demonstrates how the road traveled through North Carolina during 1715. As you can see, a southwesterly direction guides the road until it reaches the Catawba Nation along present-day South Carolina border. Additional information can be found in the journal of John Lawson dated 1709. Lawson traveled the interior sections of Carolina for promising future settlement locations. The team of explorers describe the landscape, the Native tribes and their communities as well as the various paths and trails. Thigpen's Trace was the main route they used during their months of traveling.
Our current investigation pertains to the order or contract given to Thigpen to initiate the construction of the road. We have obtained clues from England and personal correspondence from North Carolina Royal Governor Moore about the road. But we would like to see the original given order and the specifics associated with it. Also, our current investigation continues to plot the exact route of the road and to signify the obvious changes that occurred over the years. Several sections of the original roadbed are still in use today. Dating over 320 years, portions in North and South Carolina are attributed to Thigpen's Trace. One good example of how the road changed from 1704 to 1733 is the Moseley Map of North Carolina. During this period, Thigpen's Trace quickly became a major trading route with the local Native tribes, namely the Saponi, Catawba, Cherokee, Saura, and Occaneechi. Other people were living in the area that were not associated with the local tribes, such as migrating families from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. We have documented numerous surnames living along the road as early as 1709 and vastly growing in numbers from 1730 onward.
…
cestries, but results can be posted without identifying the participant, who can decide whether or not to share details about his paper trail with individuals researching their matches with him. In cases where a potentially embarrassing mismatch between men who are supposed to be related is found, the individuals involved can consider having their results removed from the project's results tables. There are ways to accomplish this. I am not sure, but in some cases, they might have to formally withdraw from the project to avoid the display of their results on a company website, but they might also be able to remain "stealth" members of the project if their project administrator agrees to keep a copy of their results in a private database, so that if another matching person joins the project, the administrator will be able to compare their results and see the match. Finally, if anybody out there is very cautious and worries about discovering a mismatch when their results are first posted and so would like to avoid having their results posted linked to their surname before they find out whether they match others that they would expect to match, there are ways that they can prevent that, and I would be happy to explain them to anyone with such concerns. Most people don't have that concern, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, I don't think that having one's non-matching results posted for a short period of time will cause problems for anyone.
Another reason that I think is also a red herring is to discourage free riders. One might worry that some descendants of a family might just visit the website of a project to learn from it without even considering contributing to the project in some way. In some cases, this probably does happen, but I think that the overall effect of having results posted publicly is to encourage participation, especially by individuals from lines that are most needed within the project.
Suppose that all that I can find out about a project is that it exists, or that it exists and has a certain number of members. I don't know whether of any of them can be connected to my line or not. I will think twice about investing in a test for a potential cousin, because it might be that our line is already well-represented in the project, or that none of the lines in the project are related to mine. In the latter case, I might invest in a test at some point, but I might take my time, especially if I am confident that time is on my side when it comes to recruiting a participant, i.e., I think it is unlikely that the line that I want tested is likely to die out in the near future. On the other hand, if the project has a public website and shows that some men that I believe are distantly related have been tested, but nobody from a close line has been tested, I will be motivated to order a test if I can find a willing participant from that line. If one or two people from close lines have been tested, I would still be motivated to think about ordering a test, because it can help to have at least 3 results for a specific line. Let's say I find a testing candidate or maybe another researcher interested in helping me find such a cousin. It would be best if I could share a link to the project website with the interested party. I have run across cousins who are suspicious about genetic testing, and the privacy for Y chromosome projects doesn't help with them. Some may question the value of testing. Again, it would help to be able to point them to a website and offer some explanation of the value of the displayed results.
If I did order a test for a line with a surname for which there is a private project, I don't think that I would enroll the participant in a private project, especially if it does not allow members to join other projects. There are too many problems with private projects.
Connecting with distant cousins can definitely be problematic with a private project. I think that many private projects do have a website where members can log in and see results. As long as their project administrator keeps their website updated, they can learn whether they have matches by visiting the website, and they may also be able to contact their matches through the site. Otherwise, they would have to go through the project administrator. In fairness, I should say that many public projects also use their own websites as opposed to websites provided by the testing companies, and if administrators fail to keep those websites updated, participants may have to rely on their lists of matches in the company database to learn of new project members who are related. Note that in any case where an administrator neglects a project, members have the option of informing any testing company that recognizes that person as an administrator, and a new administrator may be selected if the situation persists, but who wants to go there if it can be avoided? If members of a private project aren't using other databases like the testing company customer databases or the databases for use by customers of different companies because they are discouraged from doing so, they may miss some related people who have already been tested. There are some private projects that allow people to disclose their own results, and this solves some of the problems of private projects, but not all of them.
The reliance on the project administrators is more of a problem for private projects. If for any reason they do not keep up with the project, the members will be stuck without them. If some of the existing members have contact with each other, they can try to work around the lack of support, but the project will suffer until an active administrator surfaces. In a public project, members can find each other through their match pages, through public databases such as ysearch, and through groups like this one and the ones on Rootsweb and Genforum. Private project administrators may try to prohibit that sort of contact, or may simply discourage it.
If the administrator of the project does not completely understand certain aspects of genetic genealogy, they might miss out when it comes to the interpretation of results. For instance, there are times when related persons do not show up as matches for each other at certain levels. If the administrator is not sufficiently knowledgeable, they might dismiss the connection as a coincidence. In an open project, it's more likely that someone else will come along and see the connection. Even if the administrator is very good, many heads are better than one.
Project members may benefit by joining other projects. In some cases, they may join other surname projects, but there are also geographical projects and projects based on similar results pointing to descent from a common ancestor. Generally, these projects are most helpful to people interested in their deep ancestry, or ancestry in times preceding the era of paper records, and I think most people interested in testing have some interest in this subject for its own sake. Furthermore, there are cases where connecting with these very distant cousins gives a person a valuable pointer to a possible point of ancestral origin that may help them with their genealogical research. If a project is so private that members are forbidden to join such projects, the private project is probably more of a detriment to researchers of that group than a help, considering the fact that people who join that project may feel, rightly or wrongly, that once they have joined the private project, they can or should never join a public project. In other words, the private project might ruin the chances for establishing a vibrant public project.
With some private projects that do allow members to join such projects, members may still be at a severe disadvantage when it comes to finding those projects. My experience with one project based on genetic similarities is that only a small minority of people eligible to join it find it on their own. Some of us who are working with the project use databases like public project websites or ysearch to find potential members and invite them. We can't invite people whose results are not posted somewhere.
I can think of administrators for 4 projects that I have had interactions with that are private projects. Of those 4 projects, 1 included only 1 possible member, who did join our project. I did not have repeated interactions with the project administrator, so I don't know whether he has any misgivings about setting up a private project. The administrator for 1 of those projects appears to be happy with her private project. She is very knowledgeable, and has worked hard on the project, so at least her project members have a dedicated and competent administrator. Administrators for 2 of the other projects have complained of the difficulties of working with a private project. One of those did not start the project for which he is one of two administrators, and I don't think he would have started it as a private project himself. I think that the other did start his project, and would not tie his hands again by starting a private project. He worked very hard to get the consent of his project members to share information with me because we were working on the expected connection between some men of his surname and a group of men in one of my projects. We are still working on it. Waiting for some of those members to respond has been been a source of long delays.
I do have a more upbeat comment to make about the Drake project, but some of our readers may be asleep by now, and I wouldn't want them to miss it, so I'll save it for later.
Kirsten in MD…