Where have you been?

A while back, I began comparing the different lines of my family tree.  I realized a few siblings from one family had married siblings of another family, and it got me wondering if my family lines had crossed paths in the past.  Were Civil War soldiers fighting for/against each other in the same battles?  Had some ancient lines even lived in the same regions at the same times?  I decided to map it out so I could physically see it … hello Google Earth.

Family JourneysI took the patriarchs of my direct ancestors, and mapped each place they resided in Google Earth.  After I was finished, I was pretty amazed.  It’s pretty cool to see hundreds of years of family history all gradually migrating and eventually merging together. I was stunned that none of the paths crossed in the same area at the same time.  Although many of them are in the same areas at different times.

The Smiths and Ponds have a similar history in the north, gradually sinking south.  They, in fact, both immigrated to opposite sides of New Haven Harbor in Connecticut (Smiths in Milford, the Ponds in Branford).  However, the Smiths moved out of the area just as the Ponds moved in.  The records indicate that the Smiths were in the second wave of immigrants to come to the New Haven Colony.

The Humphreys and Browns landed on opposites sides of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, but about 30 years apart.  The Humphreys actually settled just across the James River from the original Jamestown settlement.

In typical American colonist fashion, each family arrived and got their feet planted.  Then they spread to the west and south as the colonies & country grew.  The paths danced around each other somewhat, but never really met.

Private Thomas Jefferson Humphreys

Thomas Jefferson Humphreys (my 4x Great Grandfather) was born January 25, 1843 in Georgia to John Thomas Burrough Humphreys and Sara Brock Humphreys.  In March of 1862, he joined the “cessies” [period slang for those supporting cessation of the South] and enlisted in the Confederate Army at age 19. He was assigned to Company A of the 41st Regiment of the Georgia Infantry. He was later transferred to Company D.  At 20, he was captured in the last Battle of Vicksburg  Continue reading →

Native American roots? Zealous Brown

There have been rumors of some Native American heritage in my family through the Brown line for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories of my grandmother (born Brown) are of her telling me and my cousin that we were part Cherokee Indian. She and her sister applied to the Echota Cherokee tribe and received membership; however I have several records of her sister’s application being denied. Grandma carried her membership card everywhere.

I can easily be classified as “ginger” complected. I’ve always looked at this as an ironic amusement. I’ll get a sunburn thinking about going outside. So I’ve always had some reservation to the validity of these Native American roots.

I have been doing research on Zealous Brown, my 5th Great Grandfather. He seems to be the link in this family to the Cherokee ancestry…

Continue reading →

Evan Humphreys … contrary to popular belief

Well, as it turns out, what’s floating around the internet about Evan being servant to Rowland Davies is WRONG!  I found the reference in Surry County Records, Surry County, Virginia, 1652-1684, pp. 104:

“7 Apr. 1677    Deposition of Rowland Davies concerning Robert Kae touching his Tithables. Kae had four men servants called James Johnson, Jno. Collins, Evan Humhrey, and John Esquire, also one negro woman called Judy, and Kae himself and myself (being Davies) and Kae a son called Robert Kae.
Roger Delke, about 48 years, testified to the same.”

This states that it is the testimony of Rowland Davies about the tithables belonging to Robert Kae.  So Evan Humphries was an indentured servant to Robert Kae; Rowland Davies, only being the witness of the fact.

Navigating Speedbumps: Pond Lineage

John A. Pond Sr. family, 1892, left to right, front - John Albert and Nancy Jane (Mason) Pond; standing - Laura, Henry Edward, John A. Jr., Charles Arthur, Jeptha, and Arch E. standing directly between John and Nancy. --From "Laclede County, Missouri: History and Families"

There is some controversy of the father of John A. Pond Sr., a prominent figure in Pond family history.  John Albert Pond was a Civil War soldier, and has quite a paper trail.  However, nothing on paper directly mentions his parents.  He just appears on the scene, so to speak.  I am quite confident, though, that his father was actually Samuel B. Pond for a few reasons; location, age/timing, and the 1830 and 1840 Census of Samuel B. Pond of Barlow, Ohio.  The number of children and their ages corresponds perfectly with the birth of John A Pond.

Samuel B. Pond’s father, Samuel is also hard to trace.  He is the one who migrated to Barlow.  There is however one sentence in the book “A Genealogical Record of Samuel Pond and His Descendants” (on page 21) that mentions Him and his migration to Ohio.  This book directly traces the family to Samuel Pond (1609-1654), who immigrated from England in 1635 to Windsor, CT.  There are several grave sites for his descendants that still exist in Connecticut.  His land records stated in the same book can be found on the map below.  He purchased land from Mr. Hanford and Mr. Branker along Little Meadow and Plymouth Meadow.

1640-1654 Ancient-Windsor-Ct-map

Brown Family Men, Take Note…Cook for Your Wives!

When at my grandmother’s funeral several months ago, I took the occasion to find some of my relatives grave sites.  Particularly my G-Great Grandfather David S. Brown (1853-1926 Four Mile cemetery, Anniston, Alabama). When I asked my Aunt (who still lives in the area) about him, she said that his wife, Lizzie, had died in a fire by “catching her dress on fire while loading wood in her stove.”  I remembered reading a similar story online when doing research before. So I looked it up again and found an obit. for my G-grandfather’s sister-in-law who died in a fire while cooking.  I posted the story and assumed word of mouth had transferred the story to my G-Grandmother…WRONG!!

Amazingly, my Great Grandmother Lizzie also actually died in a fire…while cooking.   SO… Brown husbands, cook for your wives!

Here’s the article.

“THE CLEBURNE NEWS” Issue of Thursday, MAY 2, 1935:

MRS. BROWN IS DEAD FROM BURNS

Burns suffered from several months ago as she started a fire at her home at Jacksonville, proved fatal to Mrs. Lizzie Brown, who died at 1 o’clock Friday morning at the home of her son Ernest Brown, at 705 King street in Anniston.  She had been with her son since the accident and several days ago was reported to be recovering.

Crossing the Pond: Evan Humphreys

I’ve been doing lots of reading on my family’s pond-hopper, Evan Humphreys. Rumor is that he came on a ship called Assurance de Lo (of London) in 1635.  At any conclusion, records do show that he settled in Surry, Virginia, which is across the bay and slightly inland from the Jamestown settlement.  September of 1677, Evan first appears in records naming him as a man servant to a Rowland Davies.  After taking a step back, I realized that his mother’s maiden name was also Davies.  An uncle? Grandfather?  I am not quite certain.  I plan to do more research on the Davies family to try to connect them, however records from Wales are proving quite difficult to locate.  The surname Davies seems to be like Smith is in America, and the given name Evan is like John…they’re everywhere.

More to come…

UPDATE 3/10/12: After only a few years, I finally found the passenger list for the Assurance. Here’s the book on Google. Listed is only an Evan Ap-Evan (Ap is a Welsh prefix similar to Mc or Mac in Irish names) and a Jo: (John) Humfrey. I believe this is the source for the confusion, but there is no evidence of any relations and definately no Evan Humphreys listed.

Beginner’s Guide to Family Tree Research

Are you interested in beginning researching your family’s history?  I began this journey about 3 or 4 years ago and figured that I’d share what I’ve found.  I’ve done almost ALL of my research online, and gotten farther, faster and more comprehensively than anyone else who has researched my family the old fashioned ways.  This is the kind of thing that technology is made for.  Here’s how to use it. Continue reading →

AGED WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH

NEWSPAPER ABSTRACTS FROM “THE CLEBURNE NEWS, Heflin, Cleburne County, Alabama

for JULY 1919

AGED WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH

News of the horrible death of Mrs. Brown, wife of W.Z. [William Zealous] Brown on Heflin, route 8, near Lecta on Monday was brought to town on Wednesday morning by Mr. W.J. Bell. According to the report, Mrs. Brown was in the act of starting a fire in the stove preparatory to cooking dinner and in pouring kerosene on the hot coals in the stove, the blaze ignited the oil in the can causing an explosion, enveloping the unfortunate woman in a solid mass of flame, all of her clothing being burned off with the exception of the waistband of her skirt. Although her entire body was burned to a solid crisp, Mrs. Brown strugged to the well not far away and poured dipperfull after dipperfull of water on her head and body. Continue reading →

Settling Atlanta

Painting of White Hall Inn by William G. Kurtz

Charner Humphries (1795-1855) was brother to my G-G-G-G-Great Grandfather, John Humphries.  He was among the first settlers of the Atlanta area.  John followed him to the area.  Charner opened an inn/tavern near the railroad; which was called White Hall because it was the first/only painted building.  It became a central hub for the town of it’s namesake (Whitehall), before Marthasville (Atlanta) was established.  Elections, meetings and events were held there.  The area later became the section of Atlanta called West End (because of Atlanta’s encroachment).  It’s namesake, Whitehall Street still runs through the area. Continue reading →