Rose, It would be fun to find a connection... I have so much info on dozens of cousins etc... way back then that there could be a Whitaker or allied family name in there... Mine is Thornton and the main allied names I can recall are Roland, Taliaferro, Buckner, Walker, Smith, Dade, Townsend... My family tree maker is broken at the moment, but will try to fix it soon and see if I can find any Whitakers.. Do you know any of the allied names? The ones in this group were Church of England as far as I know. Anne
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“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”
~ Dalai Lama 21st century spiritual and political leader of Tibet and Nobel Peace Prize winner (1989)
Good morrow all! I have been trying to get my parents to take a look back into their families, but to little avail. I couldn't get a lot out of them because they honestly did not know but here is a little of what I could salvage of my family's history.
My mother's great-grandmother on her mother's side, Alice Gascoinge, who I was named for, was one of the first in my famliy to come to America, Connecticut in particular. Her father was from Scotland, her mother England which was where good ol' Alice came from. On my mother's father's side, her grandmother, Helen Dunne, was 100% Irish, but there is not much more info.
While my dad is a nice mix of Italian, Irish, Polish, French and even Native American, on his mother's side came the Ryans from County Carlow. Some distant members of my family still visit Carlow every few years.
I know, not a lot for a college student to ponder is it?! :lol:
I don't know very much about my ancestry, but I do know that I have three Native American tribes (Sioux, Apache, and Cherokee) and my great-grandfather on my dad's mother's side was Native American. I know I have one ancestor who came from Algeria and was left behind in America after the Civil War.
Well in my family I am the immigrant. I came here in 1997.
My greatgrandfather was here once but his wife wanted to go back to Germany so they left again. Otherwise I would have been born here.
Then my father had the chance to come over here and get a good paying job but my mother didn't feel up to it.
So finally I made the move
My son is therefor dual citizen - German-American. I am still German and I will either stay german or become also a dual citizen.
My family is from german origin and can claim a few relations around some corners with the highest monarchs from times past in Austria, Prussia, Germany and even to England and some more.
My paternal familiy scattered more in direction Hungry and Poland and further east then west during the wars in Germany. My maternal family I guess stayed pretty much were they have been. In former East Germany. My mother and her sister fled in the 50s after her parents left some months before.
Both my wife and I share ancestors that have Highland roots (in Scotland). Mine is a bit more in the past. My ancestor came from Scotland traveling on a ship called the Annabella. A good friend of George Washington was the Captain of this vessel.
They were headed to North Carolina where family was, perhaps to farm better lands. Not sure of the circumstances why he left, but considering the Highland Clearances were around the time I am sure he was thrown out to make way for the sheep!
Hugh MacArthur shipwrecked on Prince Edward Island 1770. That first winter was very tough on all of the survivors. They only made it by the help of local Indians. He was a farmer and rumor has it that he had more than 1 wife! Eventually his decedents number more than 10,000. My Great Grandrather Williams James MacArthur was an engineer on the Boston & Maine train line (B&M). He migrated from PEI to Boston and my family has been here ever since.
Being a MacArthur, or any MacArthur, there is always the question: Are you related to the General? (Meaning General Douglas MacArthur). The answer is no and should be for 99% of all MacArthur's because of the General's geneology. However, there is very possibly a connection going back to Scotland.
What is interesting is that my Grandfather in the early 50's proclaimed in a newspaper he was related to the General. He indicated not a direct descendant, unlike alot of MacArthur's, but going back 6 generations. That would place the connection somewhere in Scotland. How I wish I could talk to him or my father about this.
Well, both him, my mother and father attended a special speech given by the General and sat in the first row. Regardless of any family history, what an honor to have seen the man before your eyes. My mother thinks nothing of it!
On my wife's side her Grandfather was Aitken and immigrated from Scotland in the 1900's from Glasgow. I do have some German in me and my wife some polish, ut the mix has made our children look decidingly more Scottish looking than us!
Very interesting, MacFive! You have a lot of documented history there. I have to tell you that one of my great-grandmothers was a McArthur........not MacArthur. I have not been able to find much about her but my cousins working on that line say she was of Scottish descent because of the migration pattern. Most my ancestors that all left the UK migrated in North Carolina too, where most Scots settled when they came over.
I've recently made some progress on my family history! I've managed to trace my g6-granfather to South Carolina in 1725! One of my relatives claims that we are decended from Sir Alexander Lindsay, third son of Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, who succeeded Sir John the last Sterling of Glenesk to possess Edzell estates in 1357. Apparently a few generations of Lindsay's had possession of Edzell castle and the sourrounding lands for awhile. I am trying to verify this information and see exactly who decendend from who and how we came here! So far I can only get back to 1725 but at least it's a start!!!
Anyone who knows anything about the Lindsay's (their title was Earl of Crawford) I would greatly appreciate any info!!! BTW, what kind of family tree maker software is everyone using? I need to get all this paper info computerized and don't know what software to use.
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Sonee
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" Edmund Burke
"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." ~Toni Morrison
Ya know, I've been so busy trying to learn Gaelic that I didn't even think about that!! Ask Allen, I have a terrible habit of asking first and THEN looking for it elsewhere, or being told that it is elsewhere!! One of these days I'm gonna figure it out!! (but don't hold your breath!!)
Anyway, I digress. I found, online, the possible will transcript for my ancestor who died in SC in 1787 and sent a request for a copy to the SC Department of Archives and got a reply yesterday!! There were actually two of of them in different districts and I didn't know which one was my ancestor so I'm going to have to get both! It's going to cost me about $20, so it's gonna have to wait a bit, but I'm getting closer to figuring out exactly who came here first and when!! Very exciting!!
Again, this is probably not the right place to post this, but I did anyway!! If it was wrong, I'm sorry!!! I'll try not to let it happen again!
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