Traveling to the Homeland?

My next trip is fast approaching; I have been calling it The Journey. The Journey is a trip to Dublin, Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Edinburgh, Scotland; London, England, and various side trips. Now that it is close, people have been asking me about my trip. After explaining where I am going, they always ask if I am Irish or English. I hem and haw for a while, because it’s not that simple! My ancestors may have come from Europe, but it has been too many generations and too long for me to identify as such. Furthermore, since my family has been in the United States for such a long time, there are many, many different countries that my ancestors are from. At one time I thought it was easy, so I took my family tree and traced back until each line went out of the country. Then, I would jot down 1/16 this or 3/32 that until I traced all of them back. 36% of the lines I haven’t been able to fully trace out of the country. This percentage is higher than all of the other countries listed. Also, there as some issues, like when I traced back a line until someone was out of the United States. I would sometimes find that they people were from Canada or England, but I know that the farther back in the line the family is line is from France or Germany. So, would I consider the line English or German? So, I have come to accept that I should identify as American, and if people ask about my family I say they came from different places in Europe. If you would like to know the final percentages was 36% unknown. 22% came from Ireland, 21% England, 15% Canada, 6% France and less than 1% came from Netherlands, Wales, Scotland and Germany.

Since, I do know about my family tree. I think I will list out the people the last person to be born in another country and then moved to the United States. All of my great grandparents were from the United States except one who was from Canada. So skipping, that because it starts to get very complicated. I will start with my 2^nd great grandparents. Which out of 5 out of 16 were born in another country and moved to the United States.

2^nd great grandparents, on my father’s side:

1)       Thomas Fitzpatrick was born 23 Dec 1846 in Sanfield, Clare, Ireland to Thomas and Bridget Lyons. He died 30 Mar 1910 in Laconia New Hampshire. He arrived in 1868 and was mairred in 1870 to Honora Lynch. They had 4 children. He worked at the Hoisery Mill.

2)       Honora (Hannah, Nora) Lynch was born 1849 in Anna co Kerry, Ireland to Thomas Lynch and Betsy

3)       Edward J Leonard born 25 Apr 1846 England, to Edward and Ellen Connelly according to census they were from Ireland. Died in Massachusetts Unknown dated. He Married Rose A. McLaughin between 1873 and 1879. He had 2 sons and 1 daughter.

4)       Rose McLaughin born 1846 in Ireland to Mary O’Brien and John McLaughin died in Lawerance, Massachusetts

2^nd great grandfather on mother’s side

5)       Arthur Eugene Saegart born 1 Jan 1874 in Lille, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France to Lucy and George Saegart. There are rumors that he was a twin. He died 1946. He married Cora L Sackett 05 FEB 1896 in Poquonock, Connecticut. They had one child

That is it for that generation. The 3^rd great grandparents I had 32 of those. Out of the 32, 4 people were born in another country before moving to the United States.  

3^rd great grandparents on father’s side:

1)       Henry Amrock and Anne Amrock born in Ireland, died probably in Mass. Info from Son’s Census.

2)       Bernard Fitzsimmons born on 15 JUN 1848 in Boston, Ireland to Ann Lynch and James Fitzsimmons. He died 15 Sep 1896 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. He married Bridget Curtin. They had 2 sons and 3 daughters.

3)       Bridget Curtin born about 1844 in Ireland to William Curtin and Mary Sheehan died on 17 JUL 1896 in Weymouth Massachusetts

3^rd great grandparent on mother’s side

4)       Peter Condron born 24 May 1810 in Port Laoise, Laois Ireland. He died 10 Aug 1877 in Montague Texas. He was married twice onse to Margaret Elizabeth O’Brien (my relative) in 1836 in Butler County, Pennsylvania they had ten children and later to Martha Ann Morris 8 Jul 1861 in Livingston, MO they had four children.

That is it for that generation. So far they mostly came from Ireland. So if you take the last 2^nd and 3^rd great grandparents. Then, 14 out of 32 of them were living outside of the United States. That means 18 of my 3^rd great grandparents lived in the United States. None of my 4^th or 5^th great grandparents moved from another country to the United States. At least as far as I know there are some deadends in these generations so it is possible those deadends are because of a move.  

1)       Mathias Kessinger, 6th great grandfather born 1731 in Germany to Andreas and Susanna. He diead 3 DEC 1795 in Virginia he married Judith Wilson and they had 4 sons and 6 daughters

2)       Anthony DeBruler, 6th great grandfather born 1777 in Quebec City, Quebec. Died 1812 in Kentucky of Cholera. He married Marth and had 1 son and 1 daughter.

3)       Martha (Debruler), 6th great grandmother, born 1780 in Quebec City, Quebec. Died 1812 in Kentucky of Cholera as well.

1)       Michael Pearson, 7th great grandfather on mother’s side. He was born about 1700 in England and died 1768 in Orange County, Virginia he married Ann and they had six sons

2)       John McCure, 7th great-grandfather born about 1690 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He died in 1739 in US Probably Mass. He had one daughter

1)       John Lee 9th great grandfather on mother’s side born 1820 in England to John Lee. He died 6 AUG 1690 in Farmington, Connecticut He married Mary Hart in 1658 in Hartford County, Connecticut they had 4 children

2)       Thomas Gleason 9th great grandfather mother’s side born 1 JAN 1606 in Northampton, England to William and “NN”. He died 24 January 1691 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was married to Susannah Page.  They had one son.

3)       Susannah Page, 9th great grandmother mother’s side, born about 1620 in Lavenham, Suffolk England to John and Pheobe. She died in Boston Massachusetts in 1681

1)        Gregoris Storm, 10th great grandfather on mother’s side, he was born in 1656 in Utrecht, Netherlands to Derick and Maria Van Montfoort. Died in 1711 in Manor of Phillipsburg, Sleep Hollow, Tarrytown, New York. He was married to Engeltic Van Dyke in 1691 in Brooklyn, New York they had 3 children.

2)       Engeltic Van Dyke, 10th great grandmother was born in 1656 in Netherlands. She remarried 29 May 1714 in Tarrytown, New York

3)       John Strong II, 10th Great-grandfather mother’s side, born 1605 in England (Taunton?) to John. He died 14 ARP 1699 in Northampton Massachusetts. He married Abigail Ford and they had three children together.

4)       Abigail Ford, 10th Great-grandmother mother’s side was born 8 OCT1619 in Bridgeport, Dorsetshire, England to Thomas Ford and Elizabeth Chard. She died 6 JUL 1688 in Northampton Massachusetts

5)       Samuel C Frazee, 10th great grandfather, born in 1610 in Scotland. Died 1695 in New Jersey. Had 1 son.

6)       Stephen Osborne, 10th great grandfather, born 24 FEB 1634 in Ashford, Kent, England to Thomas and Mary Goatly. He died 20 Jul 1698 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He married Sarah Stanborough in 1659 in New York they had 7 children

7)       Richard Higgins, 10th Great Grandfather born 1 AUG 1603 in England died 27 Sep 1654 Probably in Mass. Married Mary Yates on 27 Sept 1654 they had one daughter

8)       John Wilkinson, 10th Great Grandfather born 1628 in Bedfordshire, England to John and Prudence. He died 12 DEC 1675 in Essex Co Mass. He married Joana Skelton and they had 3 sons and 1 daugther.

9)       Daniel Robins, 10th great grandfather born 1627 in Blair Atholl, Perthshire Scotland to Richard and Mary. He died 18 Aug 1714 Married Hope Potter 3 FEB 1663 in New Haven Co Connecticut they had 6 children. Worked as Tax collector, constable and overseers of highways.

1)       Josiash Stansborough, 11th great grandfather, born about 1600 in Ashby, Lincolnshire, England to William Stansborowe. He died 1661 in Sagaponack, New York. He married Frances Gransden 1622 in St. Giles in the Fields and St. George, London. Arrived in Lynn Mass 1637. They had four children. He married Alice Wheler.

2)       Frances Gransden, 11th Great Grandfather born 1618 in England to Henry and Alice Harris.  She died 1657 in Southampton New York

3)       Thomas Milward, 11th Great Grandfather, born about 1600 in Derbyshire, England to Thomas and Alsop. He died in 1653 in Newbury Mass. He married Ann Goodale they had 3 daughters.

4)       Ann Goodale 11th Great Grandmother, Born abt 1600 in Yarmouth, Hampshire, England to John and Elizabeth Beachena. She died 27 Nov 1690. She married Thomas Milward and had 3 daughters. Then Married Daniel Pierce 26 DEC 1654 in Newbury Mass

5)       William Potter 11th great grandfather, born 9 Jan 1607 to John and Hannah Mead/Hawes in Moreton, Devon, England. Died 6 JUN 1662 in New Haven, Connecticut. He married Frances Child. They had seven children.

6)       Frances Child, 11th great grandmother born 16 Feb 1609 to Thomas and Jane Basset. Died aft 1644 in New Haven Co, Connecticut.

So, back to the part that I skipped, even though they came in from Canada in 1890. The lines come back into the United States before leaving again. I’m going to add these because I want to be able to look it up quickly while on my trip. I do use Ancestry to store information, but you can’t search your trees except by names. All the people in the last section are from my mom’s side of the family. And the line I’m doing now it my dad’s side. Some of the people on my mom’s side of the tree were in Massachusetts Colony and all of this line on my Dad’s side was from there. They were all 8, 9, 10, 11 generations. So I think there should be a line place where my Mom’s side of the family and my Dad’s side meets, but it’s very difficult to figure out if certain individual are on the tree twice!

Another issue that I have with Ancestry is the DNA test. I am very skeptical about them. They do take DNA and compare it to other DNA samples in their database, but the results could be limited by the other records. The tests do look at your DNA and compares it to other samples, but it’s limited to the sample it has. It might match you with a group in one region of the world, but without a bigger sample sizes it’s hard to know if the same match couldn’t be found some other place. Also, they compare your DNA to DNA of people living there today. In this way you only paint a picture of people that have survived in that region, but that tells you nothing of your ancestor’s whose descendants didn’t survive in that region.

DNA tests could never tell me that my family lived came into the country from Canada, but they were in Canada via the United States, and before that they were in England and before that they were Normans, the Norman bit is from a cousin on my Dad’s side. He visited The Phillips House (my grandparent’s house) when I was eleven or twelve to write my brother’s name and birthday in his family tree book. That probably wasn’t the only reason for his visit, but that’s what I remember. Anyway, he took my brother’s name and birthday down. Then, I was listening him say that he traced the line back to the Normans. Which my uncle said meant that our family was French! But that absolutely couldn’t be true. We were Irish weren’t we? And of course we are Irish, as you saw in the 2nd and 3rd great grandparents on my father’s side. It was just, that, Emerys were not Irish. Now, if looking at the etymology of Emery and knowing a little about Norman history, I think it’s probably likely that Emery’s are probably from Scandinavia. Anyway, as you can see family history can be very complex. DNA test are too limiting compared.

The final issue I have with Ancestry and other online databases is bad information. This really isn’t the website’s fault. It is more about the curious users. Ancestry is has some cool features. If you start to build your trees you do get leaves that help you file in more information. This can be extremely helpful, but you must proceed with caution! If the leaf takes you to a census page where a person with the same name as your relative take the time to try to verify that is your relative. An example is Edward Leonard born in Ireland in 1805. He was marred to Ellen Connelly. There is a leaf that has a marriage record for Edward J Leonard and Ellen Gilday. The record is in Montana County Marriages between 1865-1950. So I understand why this is a hint. It does have Edward Leonard’s name and the first name of his spouse, but the date range could match. However, I don’t think this record belongs to my Edward Leonard. He and his wife were probably married in before their first child which was in 1842. Also, the majority of their children were born in England. So they would probably be married in England or even Ireland. That one is an easy one, but there are some that are more complex! In fact there are a few places in my tree where I wrote big notes that say this relative is NOT related to this other person. I did this because I ran down the path of adding that person and all the persons relating to the other person to my tree. So, when I realized they are not related I had to delete all the people from the tree. Ancestry makes you delete every single person. You can’t just delete the original error. At one place in the tree I think I added and deleted the same people three times before I started adding the notes! The reason that I kept getting confused about this line is because a lot of other people attach the lines together. I believe what happens is eventually this leads to Thomas Jefferson. Since the error leads to a famous person, I think people overlook the error. Ah! I found the note here it is:

Parents William Griffin and Susanna Chiswell? Probably not!:

I have gone back and forth several times thinking that these two people are related to this Gordon William Griffin. But there is no record of them being related. The only record of William and Susanna Griffin having a child is one daughter Anna. There are a lot of records on William and Susanna Griffin because she was married first to John Robinson and he was The Speaker of the House of Virginia. Also Susanna Chiswell is related to the Randolphs and they were also very political during the time. They are also related to Thomas Jefferson.

There are more sources that state that Gordon was brother to Isbella and William:

 http://genforum.genealogy.com/griffith/messages/2429.html

Please see webpage below there were at least two William Griffins that were in Virginia that could be Isbella, Gordon and William, but there is no evidence that they had a father by that name William:

http://dgmweb.net/FGS/G/GriffinWilliam-SusannahChiswell.html

As you can see it can be easy to make mistake and hard to undo them! The hints are useful, but they can lead people in the wrong direction. So please be careful when using these hints and tools. If you are unsure about little things like the exact birthday, then it’s okay to add a question mark after the date, but if you are unsure about an entire person it’s better not to add them. That way you don’t mess other people up!

Alright now I am really going to go back to the part that I skipped. So a lot of this information comes from the Mormon family tree records. The Leavitt has a long history in the church. They were very good at keeping these kinds of records and  the website familysearh.org is a good place to start if you want to look for information on your family. I am going to continue the numbering from the list above. So generation 9 ended at 3 and will start with 4.

1)       Albert E. Emery, great grandfather, born 12 NOV 1872 in Hatley, Quebec, Canada. To Alonzo and Maryetta Leavitt. Died 7 Jun 1927 Laconia, NH. Married Annie Fitzpatrick 23 JAN 1895 in Laconia they had 8 children. He moved to US in 1891.

1)        Deacon John Leavitt, 8th great grandfather born 1608 in Beverley, England to Percival Leavit and Margaret Linkley. Died 20 Nov 1691 Hingham, Mass. Married Sarah Gilman DEC 1646 in Mass. They had 1 son.

2)       Sarah Gilman, 8th great grandmother, born 19 Jan 1622 in Caston, Norfolk, England to Edward and Mary Clark. Died 26 MAY 1700.

3)       Rev. Samuel Dudley, 8th great grandfather, born Nov 1608 Northhampton England to Thomas and Dorothy Yorke. He died 10 Feb 1683 in Exeter NH. He married Mary Winthrop. Then Elizabeth Smith. They had 1 daughter. The thing I like about him. Is that his sister was Anne Dudley Bradstreet. She was the first American author and first female author. So she wrote a poem about their mother Dorothy Yorke. Which is an interesting artifact to have about a 9th great grandmother!

An Epitaph on My Dear and Ever-Honored Mother, Mrs. Dorothy Dudley, Who Deceased DECEMB. 27 1643, and of Her Age of 61.

Here lyes

A worthy Matron of unspotted life,
A loving Mother and obedient wife,
A friendly Neighbor pitiful to poor,
Whom oft she fed and clothed with her store,
To Servants wisely aweful but yet kind,
And as they did so they reward did find;
A true Instructer of her Family,
The which she ordered with dexterity.
The publick meetings ever did frequent,
And in her Closet constant hours she spent;
Religious in all her words and wayes
Preparing still for death till end of dayes;
Of all her Children, Children lived to see,
Then dying, left a blessed memory.

4)       Martha Smith, 8th great grandmother, born 1640 in England to John and Deborah Parkhurst. Died 1676 Hampton, NH. Married Nathaniel Batchelder. They had 8 children

5)       Samuel Buswell 8th great grandfather, born 1662 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England to Samuel and Sarah Keyes. Died 1696 in Kingston, NH. Married Jane Simmons. They had 5 sons and 3 daughters

4)       Thomas Hale, 9th great grandfather, born bef 18 NOV 1633 in Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire, England to Thomas Hale and Thomasine Dowsett. Died 22 OCT 1633 in  Newburyport, Mass. He married Mary Hutchinson 26 MAY 1657. They had 9 children.

5)       Mary Hutchinson, 9th great grandmother, born bef 28 DEC 1630 in North Muskham, Nottinghamshire, England to Richard and Alice Bosworth

6)       Ezekiel Northend, 9th great grandfather, born Feb 1621 in Ripplinham, England. Died 7 Sep 1698 in Rowley, Mass. Married Edna Halstead. They had one daughter

7)       Edna Halstead 9th great grandmother, born 10 FEB 1620 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England. Died 3 Feb 1705 in Rowley Mass.

8)       William Hilton, 9th great grandfather, born 1617 in Cheshire, England to William and Mary. Died 1675 in Charlestown Mass. He married Sarah Greenleaf. They had 5 children. He then married Mehitable Nowell they had two children.

9)       John Emery Sr., 9th Great grandfather, born on 29 Sept 1598 in Romsey Hampshire to John and Anges. He died 3 NOV 1683 Newbury, Mass. He married Mary Alice Grantham and they had 4 children. Then he married Mary Shatswell they had 1 son and 1 daughter. He arrived aboard James from Southhampton with his brother Anthony 03 Jun 1635 in Boston. Many of the Emerys in the country and in Canada are related to these two brothers! Something I like to say about him is that he wasn’t a pilgrim. He was even tried because he entertained and allowed Travelers and Quakers to stay in his house overnight! He did get fined for it. He petitioned for remission and 50 citizens signed the petition but the fines weren’t remitted! Prior to this he signed the Right to Petition. So he was probably able to petition in the first place because he signed the right to petition.

10)   Mary Shatswell, 9th great grandmother, born in 1606 in Ipswich Engalnd to John and Judith Dillingham she died 28 APR in Newbury Mass. She married John Webster and they had 1 son. She married John emery and they had 1 son and 1 daughter.

11)   Edward Woodman II, 9th Great grandfather born 1628 in England to Edward and Johanna Salway/Bartell. He died 1694 in Newbury Mass. He married Mary Goodridge. They had 1 daughter.

10)   William Goodridge, 10th great grandfather born 1608 in England. Died before 1645 Watertown, Mass. Married to Margaret Butterfield. They had 4 children.

11)   William Boynton 10th great grandfather, born 1616 in Yorkshire, England to William and Elizabeth Janet Chambers. Died 8 DEC 1686 in Ipswich Mass. He married Elizabeth Jackson. They had four sons and four daughters.

12)   Elizabeth Jackson, 10th great grandmother born 1607 in Knapton, Yorkshire, England to William. She died 1687 in Probably in Mass.

13)   Thomas Davis, 10th great grandfather, born 1587 in England to John Davis and Agnes. Died 1683 in Mass. He married Christian Coffin. They had 1 son.

14)   Christian Coffin, 10th great grandmother, born 1604 in England. Died 1688 in Mass.

15)   Increase Nowell, 10th great grandfather born 1603 in England. Died 1655 Charlestown, Mass married Parnell Gray. They had seven children.

Well that is it! If you are wondering at generation a person as 256 6^th great grandparents! At 7^th great there is 512 great grand parents. 8^th; 9^th; 10^th; 1,024; 2,048; 4,096. So the 11^th great grandparents I listed were 6 out of 8,192! When I look at it like that, I think, that probably isn’t enough to make me English. But I’m not sure 15 out of 4,096 does either! Or 11 out of 2,048. So, that is why when people ask me if I’m Irish or English. I hesitate. Next time, I’ll just send them to this post!