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thejunipertreeFor the majority of my life, I have envied those who were able to definitively state where there families came from. Heritage-wise, I've always drawn a bit of a short stick. Every person in my family claims a thousand different things, to the point where if all of it were to be true, we would be the worst sort of schizophrenic mutts. And while this could very well be possible, I've always felt that maybe it wasn't quite true. Obviously this could just be wishful thinking on my part, due to my desire to be able to point to a group of people and say, Them. That's where I come from. and thus, celebrate that blood. I'm more than willing to admit defeat in that area, if I could only pin down where the schizophrenic mutts came from and just how they came to be so schizophrenic in the first place.
So, this weekend I decided to finally put up or shut up and begin researching my family line. There's a particular interest in the direct maternal and paternal lines (my mother's maiden name and my father's name) because both surnames are fairly unusual and no one has really been able to give much information on them other than vague claims of French (for my mother) and Polish (for my father) ancestry, with a mixture of all manner of bullshit thrown in-between for good measure.
I began mapping everything out, which was a little difficult because after I got down all of my grandparents' names, I had already hit a roadblock. My mother and both of her parents are long dead, so they aren't able to supply me with any names. And anyone on that side of the family who may possibly know names doesn't speak to me. Both of my father's parents are dead and my father himself never knew his paternal grandparents. Great-grandparents, obviously, were also out of the question.
I tooled around online for a bit, reading up on how to properly set this kind of thing together, when I found the website www.ancestry.com, which is fantastic for this sort of thing. You plug in the names of family into a tree and if anyone else with a tree on this website has their names, a little leaf pops up that you can click on and follow the information trail. It also gives you dings if the name turns up in all manner of records. Social security death index, birth and death registrations, immigration records, etc.
I managed to get a bit further with some of the names I didn't know, though a couple of them are still a little questionable and need to be further looked into.
My father's side:
If I've got the correct people, then it would appear that my paternal/paternal (my father's father's side) great-grandfather, Charles, immigrated to this country in roughly 1900 from either Poland or Russia (one record says Poland, another says he was born in Russia). His wife, Bertha, came here from Russia in 1904. That line bottoms out right there, however.
My paternal/maternal line (my great-great-great-grandfather, Chas), again if everything is correct, got here from Germany in 1883. And his wife, Henrietta, came here from Switzerland also in 1883. This also bottoms out after this point.
My mother's side:
My maternal/maternal line stops right at my great-grandparents, George and Helen. Can't get anything after them without embarking on some serious detective work.
But, my maternal/paternal line gave me quite a ride. The side my mother's maiden name came from crapped out in the 1800s, roughly and I haven't been able to get any further with it yet. My great-great-great grandmother, Ellen Morgan, was a jackpot. I got back to 1560 with that last name, before it crapped out on me. The Morgans, it would appear were in Wales at that point. The last Morgan I found, William, was born in 1560 and died in 1592. From his wife, Frances Somerset, I was able to get a line tracing back to 1116. 1116? That's INSANE. But it wasn't a straight shot of Somersets. Whenever a husband would crap out, his wife would be able to give me more traces and vice versa. I had to hop back and forth between the lines, but they all converged in the Somersets.
The Somersets turned into the Beauforts in around 1436. Don't know why. And the Beauforts stopped giving me information right after that with Edmund Beaufort, who died in 1455. So, I started tracing his wife, Eleanor Beauchamp. The Beauchamps stopped in 1401 with Thomas Beauchamp, so I started with his wife, Margeret Ferrers. The Ferrers turned into the de Ferrers, who ended with Henry de Ferrer in 1343. His wife, Isabel de Verdun, gave me the de Clares, and the de Clares took me to 1116. And every fucking single one of them from that point until about my great (x8) grandfather was English. And he, Edward, was born here in 1670. At the end of that particular journey, I had Roger de Clare (1116-1173) and his wife, Maud de St. Hilary (1132-1193). And I had William Mafonache Fitz Robert (1116-11183) and his wife, Hawise De Beaumont Of Leicester (1129-1197). I can probably go a bit further with some of them, but I got tired and gave that side a rest.
On my grandfather's maternal side, I also got quite a bit back with another set of Morgans (unrelated to the ones on his maternal side). They bottomed out in the 1700s with Jeremiah (born in Kentucky in 1798), so I switched to his wife, Elizabeth New (1787-1858). The News became the Neus in 1725 with Johann, who was born in Germany and died in Virginia. And the Neus go back to to 1590 with Hans. It also gets a bit wonky in this area because one of the names, Paul Fischer, turned up on both sides of the goddamn line. From what I can see, he married a woman named Agnes and they had a daughter named Anna C. Fischer in 1592. He also apparently had a daughter with a woman named Catharina in 1658, named Anna M. Fischer. Anna C. had a son named Hans George Neu. And Anna M. had a daughter named Anna C. Gentes. Hans George Neu and Anna C. Gentes got married and had a son named Johann Peter Neu. It's possible that Catharina is actually Agnes and it's a mistake because it lists her as marrying Paul Fischer on the same day that it lists Agnes as marrying him. BUT, their daughters had children who went on to marry each other. First cousin love. I'll withhold any snarky commentary connecting them to certain members of my family.
At any rate, that side is straight-up German from roughly 1569.
To recap so far: Polish and/or Russian on my father's side from his father. German and Swiss on my father's mother's side. I think the German bit is hilarious because, according to my father, my great-grandfather on that side apparently insisted we were Austrian and would throw the fuck down whenever anyone thought he was German. I'm willing to bet that started around WWII.
English and German on my mother's side from her father. Apparently, amongst the English blood, there's also some minor nobility with a couple Earls and a castle and some such. When I told Middle Brother about this, he said: So, who's the asshole who fucked that up for us? I really, really want to delve further into my mother's maiden name end of things because it is a full-on French name and I'd love to see what that produces.
I think I may have to start writing to whatever Powers That Be to get copies of birth certificates from my more closer family members, like my grandparents, to definitively nail down their parents' names. That should be a big help, I reckon.
So, this weekend I decided to finally put up or shut up and begin researching my family line. There's a particular interest in the direct maternal and paternal lines (my mother's maiden name and my father's name) because both surnames are fairly unusual and no one has really been able to give much information on them other than vague claims of French (for my mother) and Polish (for my father) ancestry, with a mixture of all manner of bullshit thrown in-between for good measure.
I began mapping everything out, which was a little difficult because after I got down all of my grandparents' names, I had already hit a roadblock. My mother and both of her parents are long dead, so they aren't able to supply me with any names. And anyone on that side of the family who may possibly know names doesn't speak to me. Both of my father's parents are dead and my father himself never knew his paternal grandparents. Great-grandparents, obviously, were also out of the question.
I tooled around online for a bit, reading up on how to properly set this kind of thing together, when I found the website www.ancestry.com, which is fantastic for this sort of thing. You plug in the names of family into a tree and if anyone else with a tree on this website has their names, a little leaf pops up that you can click on and follow the information trail. It also gives you dings if the name turns up in all manner of records. Social security death index, birth and death registrations, immigration records, etc.
I managed to get a bit further with some of the names I didn't know, though a couple of them are still a little questionable and need to be further looked into.
My father's side:
If I've got the correct people, then it would appear that my paternal/paternal (my father's father's side) great-grandfather, Charles, immigrated to this country in roughly 1900 from either Poland or Russia (one record says Poland, another says he was born in Russia). His wife, Bertha, came here from Russia in 1904. That line bottoms out right there, however.
My paternal/maternal line (my great-great-great-grandfather, Chas), again if everything is correct, got here from Germany in 1883. And his wife, Henrietta, came here from Switzerland also in 1883. This also bottoms out after this point.
My mother's side:
My maternal/maternal line stops right at my great-grandparents, George and Helen. Can't get anything after them without embarking on some serious detective work.
But, my maternal/paternal line gave me quite a ride. The side my mother's maiden name came from crapped out in the 1800s, roughly and I haven't been able to get any further with it yet. My great-great-great grandmother, Ellen Morgan, was a jackpot. I got back to 1560 with that last name, before it crapped out on me. The Morgans, it would appear were in Wales at that point. The last Morgan I found, William, was born in 1560 and died in 1592. From his wife, Frances Somerset, I was able to get a line tracing back to 1116. 1116? That's INSANE. But it wasn't a straight shot of Somersets. Whenever a husband would crap out, his wife would be able to give me more traces and vice versa. I had to hop back and forth between the lines, but they all converged in the Somersets.
The Somersets turned into the Beauforts in around 1436. Don't know why. And the Beauforts stopped giving me information right after that with Edmund Beaufort, who died in 1455. So, I started tracing his wife, Eleanor Beauchamp. The Beauchamps stopped in 1401 with Thomas Beauchamp, so I started with his wife, Margeret Ferrers. The Ferrers turned into the de Ferrers, who ended with Henry de Ferrer in 1343. His wife, Isabel de Verdun, gave me the de Clares, and the de Clares took me to 1116. And every fucking single one of them from that point until about my great (x8) grandfather was English. And he, Edward, was born here in 1670. At the end of that particular journey, I had Roger de Clare (1116-1173) and his wife, Maud de St. Hilary (1132-1193). And I had William Mafonache Fitz Robert (1116-11183) and his wife, Hawise De Beaumont Of Leicester (1129-1197). I can probably go a bit further with some of them, but I got tired and gave that side a rest.
On my grandfather's maternal side, I also got quite a bit back with another set of Morgans (unrelated to the ones on his maternal side). They bottomed out in the 1700s with Jeremiah (born in Kentucky in 1798), so I switched to his wife, Elizabeth New (1787-1858). The News became the Neus in 1725 with Johann, who was born in Germany and died in Virginia. And the Neus go back to to 1590 with Hans. It also gets a bit wonky in this area because one of the names, Paul Fischer, turned up on both sides of the goddamn line. From what I can see, he married a woman named Agnes and they had a daughter named Anna C. Fischer in 1592. He also apparently had a daughter with a woman named Catharina in 1658, named Anna M. Fischer. Anna C. had a son named Hans George Neu. And Anna M. had a daughter named Anna C. Gentes. Hans George Neu and Anna C. Gentes got married and had a son named Johann Peter Neu. It's possible that Catharina is actually Agnes and it's a mistake because it lists her as marrying Paul Fischer on the same day that it lists Agnes as marrying him. BUT, their daughters had children who went on to marry each other. First cousin love. I'll withhold any snarky commentary connecting them to certain members of my family.
At any rate, that side is straight-up German from roughly 1569.
To recap so far: Polish and/or Russian on my father's side from his father. German and Swiss on my father's mother's side. I think the German bit is hilarious because, according to my father, my great-grandfather on that side apparently insisted we were Austrian and would throw the fuck down whenever anyone thought he was German. I'm willing to bet that started around WWII.
English and German on my mother's side from her father. Apparently, amongst the English blood, there's also some minor nobility with a couple Earls and a castle and some such. When I told Middle Brother about this, he said: So, who's the asshole who fucked that up for us? I really, really want to delve further into my mother's maiden name end of things because it is a full-on French name and I'd love to see what that produces.
I think I may have to start writing to whatever Powers That Be to get copies of birth certificates from my more closer family members, like my grandparents, to definitively nail down their parents' names. That should be a big help, I reckon.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-10 09:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-10 01:06 pm (UTC)I'm impressed you got this far with what little you have.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-10 01:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-10 07:48 pm (UTC)unfortunately i know nothing about my biological father. not even his name. since i discovered that the man i thought was my biological father was not when i was 22, i have always wondered about my ancestry on that side. due to my health problems, i figure he has to be a crazy diabetic, but that's all i've got. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-10 11:19 pm (UTC)Elizabeth