Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Family Tree

Over the past 30 years, I've done an extensive genealogical search and have completed my family tree as far back as I can.  I was inspired in this effort by my grandmother Dora, who died last year. She had an impeccable memory and loved to talk about family connections in the rural area where she spent her entire life. 

It was her conversations with my mother (who is also a wealth of local family knowledge!) that got me started, in my childhood, documenting their memories and then wondering about the people who came before.

The oldest branch I've tracked on my family tree goes to 1590 in England (an 11th great grandfather), while others extend back to Wales (1749), Scotland (1755) and Ireland (1700).  
Source NA

Much of my family tree has been relatively easy to track since almost all the various branches of my ancestors eventually settled in the same (nearby) small towns in eastern Canada in the 1700's and 1800's.  Thus several generations were raised in that same area and many recorded sometimes detailed family histories.  So the area where I grew up was home to my ancestors for 100 to 200 (or more) years.

It was interesting to learn that the earliest contingent of my ancestors came from Britain in the 1600's and settled in Massachusetts (mainly Topsfield, Ipswich and Lynn).  I have not researched their arrival (by boat from England), but they lived in this area for a few generations before coming to Canada in the mid 1700's.  A few others arrived in Connecticut and came to Canada via New York and New Jersey.
Some notes from my myriad files

Several of my ancestors who arrived in the US fought in the American Revolution (on the American side).  They later came to Canada, still part of the British Empire, as "Loyalists" (loyal to the British crown).
Notes from a local genealogist "back home" (Olive Long) who died last year. I got a ton of great information from her.

All my remaining ancestors arrived directly in eastern Canada in the mid 1700's and 1800's from the British isles - England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.  There is a fascinating variety of stories and places of origin amongst these early settlers.

My grandmother Dora (left) with her mother Minnie Murphy and sister Georgia (who died as a child).  My grandmother inspired my interest in my family tree.  Minnie's ancestry was Irish - she died when my grandmother was only 18.  My grandmother's father was Welsh - he died when my grandmother was almost 3.  I think my beloved grandmother clung to family so much because her own parents died when she was so very young.

Naturally, like any good family historian, I've looked for juicy gossip in the family tree.

Sadly, I didn't really find much family dirt, but I did come across a few interesting tidbits:
  • There's only one non-British person in my as-documented family tree.  This is a fourth great-grandmother, from the Netherlands! 
  • My fifth-great grandfather was Inuit (of Dorset descent).  The Inuit are a distinct group of aboriginal Canadians.  His wife settled briefly in Newfoundland after her arrival (with her parents) from England and they married.  I thought it was very cool to learn I am 1/128th Inuit (yes, we have 128 great-great-great-great-great grandparents, which puts things into perspective).
  • I discovered that 4 of my 8 great grandparents are related to each other, each descended from a common ancestor (Richard Price, 1734 Wales).  My mother was mortified when she learned that she and my father are distantly related (which  David says means I am a hillbilly - haha!).  But of course this happened frequently in areas with old settlements where the nearest wife material was "the girl next door".  P.S. Luckily none of my great grandparents are closer than 4th cousins and probably didn't know they were related!
  • I have only one branch of the tree I cannot get beyond my great-great grandparents (all others I can get further back).  I think it is quite funny as they were rumored to be "city people" (from a nearby city) who came to the rural area to live in recent memory (say 1900) and thus were not captured in records by the local genealogists.
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The most important advice I have in compiling a family tree is to talk to your parents (!) and then talk to old people who knew your family growing up!!!  I have talked to many fascinating old folks in the last few years and and drank many cups of tea in the process of compiling my family tree!  

Online resources like www.ancestry.ca (Canada) and www.ancestry.com (US and International) are also invaluable.  Both allow free 14-day trials...!

12 comments:

  1. This is very cool, Terri. These Ipswich, Newbury and Topsfield ancestors were really early colonists. I don't know how many colonists were here in 1627 but I would imagine it would only be hundreds. Are these people your mother's line? They certainly had great taste in real estate. These are beautiful towns! Do you know if they're buried there? I could go visit.

    My ancestors were in Massachusetts at the same time. We could easily be related.

    Love the photo of your grandmother. You're lucky to have these. I have a few adult photos of my grandparents but nothing older than that.

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  2. Very impressive research, Terri. No worries....I'm probably a hillbilly, too :) Someday I'd love to track down information on my ancestors, and visit their villages in China.
    Cheers,
    Loi
    PS - Hope Biscuit is feeling better!

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  3. I love that you were able to do this and go so far back!! I tried desperately with my family, but unfortunately I can only get back to my great great grandfather on my dad's side and on my mothers side only to my great grandparents.

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  4. Oh very interesting! Please tell David that we are all related 16 to 18 generations back. It's purely mathematical. I always feel thwarted by the search quite early. You've done well!

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  5. Fascinating! I love family history, old photos, heritage. I don't know too much about our lineage, but on both sides my family were fairly recent immigrants to the US. My mother's father came to the US from France, met my grandmother, they went back to France and had their first two (or three) children and returned to the US via Ellis Island. I've seen the documents online with their names, ages, etc. Pretty cool stuff.

    I think it's awesome that you know so much about your family history and have had the opportunity to talk to relatives who know so much. That is priceless.
    Claudia

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  6. I am very happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that's at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this best doc.

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  7. I am fascinated by family histories. It sounds like researching yours has really captured your imagination. I, too, was inspired to research my family by my grandmother.

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  8. Michele8:53 am

    Sarah, you may also find some information at archives.gov . I met someone a few years ago who volunteered with the US Archives and she was working on procedures to make this information available to the public. My history is mostly Irish, British, and French, going back just a few generations when they immigrated.

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  9. fascinating! I'd love to trace my family history. My Mother in law is very interested in it and does a lot of research.

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  10. oh wow, so interesting, I read that post over a few times to understand who was who, you are so lucky to have family to look up, I was adopted so there is no family at all... oh I guess I have family but I am not related to them at all, somedays that is really a good thing (as my adopted cousin used to say, lol ) Our family were all crazy and not so nice people or both, they are all gone except my mother who is so so at the best of times, everything is ok if she gets what she wants if you get my drift... my girls will mention from time to time that it is amazing that I was such a good mother to them after being brought up by these people...
    Thats all I will say about that...
    Now, that said, how is Biscuit doing, I have thought about him alot since your last post, hope he is doing well, you not mentioning him is a good sign I thought because I figured you would mention if he was unwell... please give him a pat and hug from me, I truly understand that I do not know him but I feel like I do though your posts and his pictures, and he is special to you so I care, I am not weird I just care... (ok so that sounded weird, but whatever) hehehe

    All my best to you both, Carol Anne

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