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Surnames: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
No Surnames: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
The initial source that triggered my efforts was a small, privately
printed, pamphlet on the Negus family. I obtained a copy through
my cousin, Barbara Gervang, living in Novato, California. This
document was written by Rev. Ira E. Nolte, of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"The Negus Family Ancestry Through Terrell - Wing - Coppock
Lines." It is undated, but it was published circa 1950.
It lists ancestral lines back to King Egbert of England, 802
A.D., extending downward to King Edward I, the last royal ancestor
of England. The many names of the Middle Ages includes Plantaganet,
De Clare, Fitz Alan, Marney, Muscegros, Beauchamp, Bassett, Bohun,
Quincy, Berkeley, Lygon, and many others. The line progresses
to the early pioneers who came to America in the 17th Century,
where the Negus name first appears. As originally written, this
book did not include my ancestral line beyond Shaidlock Negus,
Sr. However, the author, Rev. Ira E. Nolte, as an after thought,
added Shaidlock Negus, Jr., and his descendants, after he noted
that there were a number of Neguses in Springdale, Iowa, not in
the lines he was investigating. But even this did not include
my line beyond me great grandfather, Albert Bracken Negus. The
most recent information of Jameses and the last few generations
of Neguses came from the personal papers of my grandfather, Walter
James, and was substantiated by the records of several different
Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends in Pennsylvania, Ohio,
and Iowa, as well as the U. S. Census Records.
Later, in order to have a means to collect and correlate genealogical
information, I obtained a copy of Brother's Keeper, an
IBM-compatible computer program which facilitates the systematic
compilation of genealogical records. This program has been used
to collect over 4,000 names. The program has features that permit
many different pedigree trees and ancestral charts. This was
used to maintain control of the linkages between all the people
involved.
From this point I started a serious study of available information
in public libraries, university libraries, The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library, and other
sources, using the names of the various ancestors in the Negus
records.
The genealogical information that follows has been compiled from
the books and publications, listed in the attached bibliography.
Most of information for the time period of Volume I., from 1000
B.C. to 1000 A.D. was derived from one primary source. It is
the eight-volume set by Wurts, titled "Magna Charta",
published in 1942, in particular, Volumes 1 thru 3. (These volumes
contain many lineages that go back as far as hundreds of years
B.C. These are obviously more questionable than later time periods
because much of it is derived from legends, but are nevertheless
included, because they are part of the published record.). With
these leads, I then referred to many history books to fill out
the details and confirm the lineages.
By March 1993 accumulated information was consolidated into a
225-page narrative document, using Microsoft Word for Windows,
but due to a massive "crash" of the 210-megabyte computer
hard drive, every bit of data was lost. The only record of this
genealogy that survived was an earlier "hard copy" of
about 75 pages of material as of January 21, 1993. Thus it was
necessary to again research the documents all over a second time;
this was a huge task, representing over 400 hours of time just
on the word processor, all of which was lost, in addition to reentering
all the material from the "hard copy." The only wisdom,
as a result of my unfortunate experience, that I can pass on to
the readers is that you should always back-up your essential data
to a floppy disk or tape cassette. Sooner or later something
will happen. The fact is that I had all the latest backup systems,
but failed to use them over a period of six weeks. Learn from
my mistake!
Later I arranged the paternal ancestral record into three volumes,
with Volume One covering the period from ancient times up to about
1300. Volume Two covers the period from 1300 to 1630, when the
migration to America began. Volume Three covers the American
period up to present times. Volume Four is exclusively the maternal
ancestry.
Homer Beers James
1636 Jamestown Place
Pittsburgh, PA 15235
March 22, 1993
Revised: May 10, 1996
Preparing this genealogy has been a very humbling experience.
One is completely overwhelmed with the massive numbers and information
that is available from diligent research. In the process of compiling
this information I have had the pleasure of meeting many professional
genealogists and librarians and other people pursuing their individual
ancestral lines, too numerous to mention, who have provided assistance
in gathering all of this voluminous data.
In the early days of civilization, the preservation of a pedigree
was necessary to maintain all that was valuable in blood, station,
and property. Without a pedigree a man was an outlaw; he had
no clan, consequently no legal rights or standing. Genealogies
were guarded with extreme jealousy and recorded with painful exactitude
by the bards of each clan. On the public reception into the clan
of a child at the age of fifteen, his family genealogy was proclaimed,
and all challengers of it commanded to come forward.
Today we are not so deeply committed to our ancestors as in those
ancient times, but the knowledge of where each of us derives our
genetic heritage, the varied experiences of out forbearers, can
enrich our overall understanding of where we came from and where
we are in the great web of existence.
The following format has been employed for all the volumes:
Sources for West Saxon Kings list the following descent from Woden,
the legendary leader of the Saxons:
See details of Egbert and the continuation of the lineage in the
next section below.
[Note: There are many discrepancies in the genealogical records of Cerdic's descendants. Research reveals that no two sources are exactly the same, but a general pattern does appear. The above is a probable reconstruction based on several sources, but does not tally exactly with some recent compilations.]