For the past ten years, I have not been actively
pursuing or researching my family roots due to the passing of several family members,
coupled with a general lack of zeal for digging deeper. The genealogical fire that I was consumed
with between 1997 and 2005 has burned down to glowing embers, but is NOT even
close to being extinguished. My main
online focus has been to get my Ghost Town USA
pages to the top of their game and as a result, much of the information posted
on my genealogy pages has not been refreshed.
Like I previously mentioned, I haven’t lost interest in the hobby, it’s
just that other passions have stolen the oxygen from those roots-seeking
flames. As a result my online family databases have gotten a little stale and
have pulled all but a few of my best researched families off the web until such
time as I can update and add to them.
Those well-researched family lines will remain online and references to
other related families may remain.
However, I will not be supporting or actively pursuing any information
on them for the time being and as a result many of the lineage links will
remain unlinked until those collateral family lines are updated. Thank you…
GBS Dec
2016
Like most people in this country, my family is a
typical American hodge-podge of names, locations and dates of entry into what
is now the United States of America. The
dates my immigrants arrived, range from the early 1600s up through 1881. There are no Mayflower descendents in
my ancestry; there are no American presidents in my direct line; I have not
descended from any Cherokee “princesses” (or other Native American blood); and
there are no other directly famous individuals that I have descended from.
However, my family does have some “close calls.” Climbing up
the trunk of my ances-tree, a number of famous
individuals and I DO share common ancestors - as do many Americans. In some cases we are only a generation or so
off, in some cases - many.
One
of my ancestors, Henry HOWLAND, was the brother of Mayflower passenger John HOWLAND. Henry came to the American Colonies on a
different ship at a slightly later date, so he is the closest I can claim to
the famed Mayflower. Both former
presidents BUSH,
and former presidents Richard NIXON
and Gerald FORD also descended from
this same Howland clan, as did former British Prime Minister Winston CHURCHILL.
My
next brush with a famous person, and the closest thing to a “Black Sheep” in my
family, occurs through my 6th-great grandparents William JAMES and Mary HINES.
They were also the great grandparents for
Jesse & Frank JAMES, the notorious
outlaws.
My
last close call with fame is through my
SPECK line. My
3rd Great Grandfather Archibald
SPECK and wife Eliza Jane BOYD are the great-grandparents of Jackson POLLOCK, the famous painter.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even though we share the SPECK surname, the
1966 era mass-murderer Richard
SPECK and I thankfully are not directly related. His family comes from a totally different
line than my family, and I have not found any common connection other than the
same last name. Going back to Germany
it is possible there is a common connection, but none of the Speck line
researchers that I am aware of have found it.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On my paternal side family lines, a number of
family members fought in the American Revolution, and are listed on the rolls of
the D.A.R. and S.A.R. Even more family
members from both sides fought on either side of the Civil War. (OR, the War of
Northern Aggression – depending on which family line we are looking at!) Many of my paternal grandmother’s families
originally settled in the 1600s in the colonies that evolved into the
mid-Atlantic states of Virginia and North Carolina.
My gene pool falls into four basic nationalities
as listed below, with the approximate Old Country ancestry
percentages running 33% German, 49% English/Irish/Scottish, 12% Germanic-Swiss,
6% Danish.
1 – GERMAN: I have three distinct clusters of German
ancestors in my lineage. One line descended from a Hessian Soldier who
is said to have been shanghaied by the British, and brought over to fight in the
Revolutionary War. He originated in the
2 – ENGLISH/IRISH/SCOTTISH: Many of these families arrived, beginning in
the early to mid-1600s. A large number
of them fought in the American Revolution.
There were a number of Patriots, some of whom are listed in the SAR and
DAR records. Some of these families also
fought in the Civil War, on both the
3 – DANISH: One of my great-great grandmothers is said to
have been of Danish origin, but I have NOT begun to trace her ancestry, nor
been able to verify that claim. (NOTE: Nov 2013 – copies of the 1930 census indicate
she was probably German, not Danish. SO, the quest continues…)
4 – SWITZERLAND: This Germanic-Swiss family group arrived in
the US in the 1840s, and the immigrant fought on the Union side during the
American Civil War, marching in General Sherman’s campaign swing through the
south. This family married into one of the German lines, settling in Iowa
before coming to California.
There will probably be many errors.
If you are related to any of these lines,
and see any errors or omissions, please don’t
hesitate to contact me so I can fix ‘em.
If you have additional information (or
photos) on any of my listed family lines you’d like me to share with the world,
please let me know and
I’d be happy to post it - giving you the full credit.
E-mailers, PLEASE
NOTE:
Due to the tremendous
amount of viruses, worms and “spam,” out there, I no longer open any e-mails
with unsolicited attachments, blank subject lines, OR messages on the subject
lines with “Hey”, “Hi”, “Need help”, “Help Please”,
“???”, etc. If you do send an
E-mail asking for information, or sharing information, PLEASE indicate the appropriate surname AND/OR
location, or other appropriate genealogical topic on the “subject” line. THANK YOU! :o)
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POSTED: June 16, 2001
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