Sunday, November 24, 2019

Another Morrison Theory

I sent out an e-mail this afternoon that I had worked on last night.  Bob Morrison (one of the Morrison yDNA administrators) had been helping me a bit with some ideas after my last post.  He suggested that my Cabell County yDNA participant had a 0 mutation match with a man who believes his line connects to Thomas Calvin Morrison.....this is an ancestor of Valerie Morrison's.  Much of the e-mail I don't feel I can post in a public spot.  So this is a reminder that I have filed it in my inbox in mailbox labelled Morrison with date Nov 2019.

It is mostly ideas about the DNA pointing to the possibility that Valerie's Thomas Calvin Morrison could have been a son of William and Rachel Witcher Morrison....it is kind of a wild and crazy idea....but I didn't want to loose it.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Did my Morrison family come straight from Scotland or were they Scotch-Irish?

The wonderful old roots web mail list reactivated this weekend with a message from Linda Merle who has been our long time list owner.  I could not resist the chance to post to the list and also make a plea that we not let this list die or lay dormant.

I learned a long time ago that the best way to keep a list chatting is to do a bit of fishing.  Anything that one can think of to send that might cause some discussion.  And I turned to my Morrison family. The TN part of the h2 Morrison family have the folklore that brothers came from Scotland.  While there is a bit of folklore in the Cabell County Morrison group that the original Morrison immigrant came from Donegal....both could be correct!  If you go to:

http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/2017/02/county-donegal-and-morrison-family.html

You will see on the map that is on this blog post that if one was still living in Isle of Lewis when one decided to move, almost certainly the best way to move would be via boat or ship....and Donegal or Derry might be the first stop....as likely as anyplace.  Now I can blow up my own theory a million ways....our h2 Morrison group may have already moved many generations ago to Scotland mainland. Or for whatever reason never have been on the Isle of Lewis at all.  At this point, our research group has no real proof of any scenario.  I wanted to put into one place some of the ideas that I was looking at this morning.

From Wikipedia here is a definition of the Scotch-Irish:

These included 200,000 Scottish Presbyterians who settled in Ireland between 1608 and 1697. Many English-born settlers of this period were also Presbyterians, although the denomination is today most strongly identified with Scotland. 

and from https://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/wrv/v4/n4/s71i.htm


In order to clarify this paradox in the "Scotch-Irish" terminology, we shall have to go back to the old Whitehall Palace in London, on a day in September 1607, only four months after the English had planted the first permanent colony in America. King James I was disturbed by reports of further turbulence in his unruly Irish dominion. He decided to act on a proposal by Sir Arthur Chichester, Lord Deputy of Ireland, to repeople the island with Protestants.
That was the beginning of the Ulster Plantation. What then formed nine counties of Northern Ireland (now six counties) was actually re-peopled in the 17th century with Protestants from Northern England and the Lowlands of Scotland. The proportion was roughly four Scots to one Englishman. They largely displaced what Macaulay referred to as the "aboriginal Irish," who were almost wholly Catholic. The Scots were Presbyterians and the English Anglicans with some dissenting creeds.
Thus we have the Scotch-Irish who later were to be such a large factor in settling the New World. They disliked the term because they held the native Irish in contempt as an inferior people. The Irish, on their part, were equally averse to being linked in any way with a people they hated as invaders. But language grows without consent and in spite of ordinance. And so a hyphenated term that was repulsive to both parties and misleading in context was woven into history.
The incident has a rough parallel in the Democratic-Republican Party of Madison’s and Monroe’s time.
It is one of the ironies of British empire rule that having settled Ulster with people of the Protestant faith, it was not long until the British were presecuting the residents of the Plantation for holding to their dissenting Presbyterianism. By 1715 the Anglican church establishment had been so tightened that Presbyterians could not hold civil or military office, nor be married by their own ministers.
Even more galling to the Orangemen (as they came to be called after the Revolution of 1688 when William, Prince of Orange, became joint sovereign with his Queen Mary) were the trade restrictions imposed by the English as though on "foreigners." The transplanted Scotch and English had made agriculture and stock-raising thrive on the rocky hills of Ulster. They had introduced flax growing and built a high-quality linen industry, and were engaging in superior woolen manufacture. Deprived of the right to export their goods even to the motherland or the other English colonies or to import from anywhere but England, their source of a livelihood was narrowed to bare subsistence.
It was under these circumstances that there began early in the 18th century and continued until around 1775 the great exodus of the Scotch-Irish to America. 

 I was playing with these ideas this morning and found the below information on Wikipedia using Isle of Lewis as the search term:

Following the 1745 rebellion, and Prince Charles Edward Stewart's flight to France, the use of Scottish Gaelic was discouraged, rents were demanded in cash rather than kind, and the wearing of folk dress was made illegal. Emigration to the New World increasingly became an escape for those who could afford it during the latter half of the century.

and

Clan Morrison is a Scottish clan. The Highland Clan Morrison is traditionally associated with the Isle of Lewis and Harris (Leòdhas) around Ness (Nis) and Barvas (Barabhas), and lands in Sutherlandaround Durness. There are numerous Scottish clans, both Highland and Lowland, which use the surname Morison or Morrison. In 1965, the Lord Lyon King of Arms decided to recognize one man as chief of all Morrisons, whether their clans were related or not.

Sooooo....if our Morrison family descends from the traditional Clan Morrison, they likely have roots in the Island that is called Isle of Lewis and Harris.  It is marked on the below map by a red marker.



When I look at my ethnicity reports, I almost always have a small percentage of Scandinavian.  I have said to others that it is likely from my Irish ancestors because of the fact that the Vikings raided Ireland over and over and almost certainly women were raped...Looking at the Isle of Lewis, I see that the land was actually settled for a while by Norwegian Vikings.  My Scandinavian roots may have come from my Morrison family!

From Wikipedia using Isle of Lewis as search term:

In the 9th century AD, the Vikings began to settle on Lewis, after years of raiding from the sea. The Norse invaders intermarried with local people and abandoned their pagan beliefs. At that time, rectangular buildings began to supersede round ones, following the Scandinavian style. Lewis became part of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, an offshoot of Norway. 

Interestingly enough I received a message from one of the trivia sites in the last day or two talking about Viking settlements in what is now Scotland.  On the below map the marker marks th Orkney Islands with the red marker.....Isle of Lewis and Harris is to the left on this map with Stornoway as one shown on the map.  According to Wikipedia, Stornoway is the capital of Isle of Lewis and Harris.



In case you have interest in reading about the Viking ruins here are two sites:

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/08/12/viking-drinking-hall/

and

https://www.history.com/news/viking-drinking-hall-scotland-discovery

Friday, October 11, 2019

Quaker connections

I was getting ready to tell a buddy how to look at his Quaker connections on Ancestry today and thought that I should just make a blog post for EVERYONE!  The most important thing on Ancestry for me are their Quaker records!  They are amazing!  After signing in to Ancestry, go to search  and choose card catalog from the drop down menu,  Put Quaker into the search box for keyword.  Scroll down to the record collection that has more than 6 million records in it and choose it.  It is fully searchable and takes you to the actual, real, in their own handwriting records of the Quakers in the US.  It is an amazing collection!  

If you have any ancestor who may have passed through the Philly area, you want to take a quick look to see if there is any record in any of the monthly meetings along the way to where you are finding them at this point in your research.  The Quakers always took a letter with them to say that they were in good standing in their monthly meeting in which they were now a part....which means that you will find where they were coming from and where they were going.  And often names of children and spouses and marriages and even more fun:  wrong doings!

Monday, October 7, 2019

Children of John Hawkins and his wife, Elizabeth (Butler?)

I have had on my mind a lot lately that my magic segment on Chromosome #13 may or may not have come down from the John Hawkins who died in the epidemic c.1715 in Richmond County, Virginia.  The one fact that I know is that a great many of my matches in this spot on chromosome #13 seem to connect to participants whose tree includes one of the children of Benjamin and Sarah Willis Hawkins.  I am not clear at this time if I have matches who believe that they descend from a different orphan of John and Elizabeth (Butler?) Hawkins.  And it is that puzzle that I am working on this week.  What would be really exciting is if it is not a Hawkins segment at all.....but is from Elizabeth and then we would have proof that Elizabeth's maiden name was indeed Butler.  But this would have to be proved by finding a person who is a match to one of Elizabeth's siblings....but has no Hawkins connection.  It may be too far back in the tree to ever happen.   However, I find it very interesting that this segment on Chromosome #13 has stayed so strong for as many generations as it has in my own line.

But as part of this puzzle solving process, I am looking at the children of John and Elizabeth.  There are six orphans who are clearly named in the will of John Hawkins.  The four boys are Benjamin, William, James and John.  This is not a correct birth order.  William may have been the oldest.  It is possible that William was not Elizabeth's son.  That he was the son of a first wife to John.  Others tell me that he was born in 1698 while the other five were born in the 1700s....just a bit later ....like 1706 to 1715.

http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/2012/11/will-of-john-hawkins-of-richmond-county.html

In John's will he asks the Butler men to take five of the children.  He asks Henry Wood to take William and teach him the trade of plaster.  It is possible that this is just because William is older than the others, but it is also possible that William was not a Butler.  Perhaps John's first wife had been related to either Henry Wood or his wife at that time:  the much married Sarah.  Craig Kilby believed that Sarah had been Sarah Rosser.  I don't know if there is proof of this.  Her four husbands were:
1. William Willis
2. Henry Wood
3. Rush Hudson
4. Edward Turberville

I took the following from a Brockman book that I read via Family search:



.... He was the son of William and Sarah Willis of Richmond and King George Co. VA.  His mother as the young widow of William Willis married a 2nd time to Henry Wood by whom she had one son, Henry Wood.  As her third husband Rush Hudson, she had other children named in her will.  This Sarah maiden name unknown married a fourth time, as his 2nd wife, Mr. Edward Truberville.  Edward Turberville had one daughter by his first wife, who married Walter Shropshire of King George Co., VA, the widow Mrs. Sarah Turberville, received one third of his estate and Walter Shropshhire received the other two thirds in right of his wife.  The will of Sarah Turberville is recorded in Book 2, page 210, Orange Co. VA dated June 18, 1760 and probated may 28, 1761.  She names her children as follows:  My son John Willis 1 shilling, my son William Willis, 10 shillings, my son, Henry Wood 1 shilling, my son David Hudson, 1 shilling, my son Joshua Hudson, 1 shilling.  To my daughter, Sarah Hawkins, all my wearing clothes.  To Rich Hudson’s daughter, Sarah 1 sheet, to Rush Hudson’s daughter, 1 trunk.  My son Rush Hudson to be Executor of my estate.  Wit Benj Hawkins, Moses Harwood, Kezia Rosser.

There is no doubt in my mind that Sarah Willis who married the orphan Benjamin Hawkins must have been the same Sarah Willis Hawkins who was named in Sarah Turberville's will.  And also I feel sure that this same Sarah Willis was living in the home of Henry Wood when the orphans were being raised.  Henry likely married the oft married Sarah after John Hawkins' will was written.

So, the two Sarah's were not in the household at the time of the death of John and Elizabeth Hawkins....but very soon after.  But these dates would suggest that William's mother (which might have been Elizabeth as was the mother of the other five) might have been related to Henry Wood.... 

[note:  I am looking at a few trees on Ancestry.  The one that is owned by wolfpackmom and labelled Journigan Family Tree shows Sarah Willis Wood Turberville to have father David Rozier (1669-1698) with wife Sarah Sherwood (1664-1698).  I took the time to look at the owners of the trees who include Sarah and Henry Wood....and I am not a DNA match to anyone who owns one of those trees]

The two daughters of John and Elizabeth Hawkins married Morton brothers.  Sarah married  John Morton.  Elizabeth married Elijah Morton. As I have written this blog post I realize that I know that son, Benjamin, married Sarah Willis.  But I know very little about William, John and James.  Janet had told me that John married Margaret Jennings, but I have no proof of this.  Craig Kilby suggested that the will of William Hawkins in Orange County in 1776 was the will of this man.  In it he names wife, Elizabeth, and sons John, William and Benjamin.  Others suggest that he had first been married to Mary Margaret Smith......perhaps from deed records he was married to Mary until about 1760.  I know absolutely nothing about James.  But if he is as unimaginative in the naming process, he is likely to have had a William, Benjamin, John and James as well......just don't know how to sort all of these men out!

Ok.  I now have a place to work on sorting out this group!  Can I do it?


Friday, September 20, 2019

Rauch family from Switzerland

I was playing around on Ancestry today.  I decided to click on a shaky leaf for ....hmmmm....not sure exactly which ancestor I clicked on .....but I found an ancestry researcher who goes by wildpat.  Wildpat lives in Zurich.  And he had an entire branch to explore.  These are ancestors who were living in Switzerland for many generations.  I don't want to loose this thought....and here is a map of where these people lived.



And here is what the branch looks like:

I heard from wildpat, and his name is actually Patrick.  He has a wonderful website at:

https://www.glarusfamilytree.com/family-research-services


Sunday, September 8, 2019

Lacy family

I was looking for the blog post that I was almost certain that I had written fall 2018 when I visited Tom Lacy in his home neighborhood near Richmond.  I can't find anything in this blog site.  So I hope to remedy this situation by starting something in this spot.  It was a wonderful visit.  I will add photos and information as I have time.  But right now, I want to add information from Tom Lacy about two pieces of information that can be found on the web.  Shawna asked if the information that she was reading was correct.  And here is what Tom answered to those questions:


 I have two major research projects that have been dragging along for several years or more. 

One is the myth that Thomas Lacy II was instrumental in helping to catch Blackbeard the Pirate. Immediately upon becoming a member of the Huguenot Society I was told this story. When I was able to track Hazel down I found she was living in Richmond, VA in a retirement center near my home. Upon asking her why the story did not appear in her book as in another Lacy Genealogy she answered my question with a question. "Tom, have you checked the dates when Blackbeard was captured?" I was only able to speak to her by telephone. She explained that she was in extreme arthritic pain and not able to receive visitors. Shortly thereafter, before I could learn the true story, she passed away. 

In October 2013 I presented the true story to the Huguenot Society Annual Meeting. The primary ingredient to the story, however, is still missing. When or why did Thomas Lacy II join the British Navy. I have documentary  proof he received a reward as an AB Seaman in the amount of 5 months gratuity for the capture he was involved in. If I can fill in all the blanks I have a producer that will consider this story as a PBS Special. Thomas Lacy II assisted in capturing "the bloodiest pirate to sail in Virginia waters"..but not Blackbeard in 1718.

Second, Stephen Lacy is reported to have built the first Christian Meetinghouse in Hanover County, possibly in Virginia. Some researchers have said where they believed this 20 X 20 log meetinghouse was built, but the exact location has yet to be proven. Ancient maps show Thomas Lacy (believed to be Thomas Lacy II) lived in the present day vicinity of an existing house of worship that claims to have been connected to that first meetinghouse. But other known facts dispute their claims. 

Again, if I can tie all of this research together this too would be PBS worthy material. 

Do any of you, in your family histories, have any information regarding these to subjects? 

God bless. 

Cuzin" Tom  

I am fairly certain that Tom told me that after he joined the Huguenot society he found that the Lacy family were not really Huguenot.  I will get Tom to clarify this and finish this blog post.  

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Cooley, Coley and other close families in Connecticut and my brother Greg!

I am editing this postin 2023 to show new information.

My newest puzzle and adventure started with a dna match with Mike.  Mike matched both me and Mom on Ancestry.  It is a 24cM match.  But it turned out that Mike had uploaded his results to gedmatch.  So I was able to see that his match was on Chromosome #13 in the same spot as that of Barbara Raemer's match.  And Barbara and I feel almost certain that this chromosome came down to each of us from our mutual 3-gr-grandparents, Benjamin Franklin Carey and his wife Hannah McNeely.  We had never figured out to which of the family lines this segment has connections.....Carey or McNeely.....  And almost bored (because I have already painted this segment), I wrote to Mike to see how he was connected to Ben and Hannah.  And he knew of no connection to either family.  So I looked around to see if I could find a connection to Carey or McNeely for him....without success.  So I became even more intrigued.  This segment came down to Mike from one of the ancestors of either Ben or Hannah.

That paragraph was from 2019.  Mike called me this winter and said he had found new information that he did descend from Benjamin Franklin Carey but with Ben's first wife, Maria Ketchum.  Mike descends from their daughter, Elizabeth who married Milton Hinchman.  So I will edit the following to show new information that we now know that the segment that Mike, Barbara Raemer and I all share comes down from one or the other of Benjamin Carey's parents:  Absalom Carey or Temperance Cooley.  

I am not sorry that I spent many hours thinking that Mike and I shared earlier ancestors.  It led me into doing research on my New England/Connecticut/New York ancestors that has been a lot of fun!  So I am leaving some of the below as it was before the new information.  So disregard the fact that I had decided that Mike and I share the Cooley line....now we know that it could be the Carey line or the Cooley line.  But we do know the segment definitely comes to us from Benjamin Franklin Carey and not either of his wives.

So here is the old information:
Next I took a better look at Mike's tree.  Many of his early ancestors were found in Fairfield, Connecticut in the time period that Mike and I would expect to find a connection from the size of the segment that we share.  I know that the McNeely family was mostly in Southwestern Virginia in this time period.  HOWEVER, Benjamin Franklin Carey moved from upstate NY to Southwestern Virginia just after the Revolutionary War.  It seemed likely that zeroing in on the Carey family might have the best chances of finding results.

So the surnames that I would be first looking at were Carey and Cooley (parents of Benjamin Franklin Carey are Absalom Carey and Temperance Cooley)  Information from my Carey gals buddies said that Benjamin Franklin Carey was born in Walkill, Orange County, New York in 1795.

Next I took the advice of Blaine Bettinger to work on a quick and dirty tree.  Looking on Ancestry, I found a tree that belonged to Terry Lee to try to build a "quick and dirty tree" of my own.  And Terry had the answer right there in his tree.  Daniel Cooley Sr is the man who moved his family from Fairfield CT to Goshen, Orange County, NY.




Terry's tree can be found on ancestry at this URL:

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/3932678

You can see on the map below that there is only about 20 miles between Goshen and Wallkill (scale is on bottom right hand side of map:



Mike and I have not yet figured out just which ancestor is in both his tree and mine.....the ancestor who gave each of us that segment on Chromosome #13.    So I have begun to look at the area in Connecticut.  I found the below map of the Towns and Counties.  And while I haven't yet spent the time figuring the area out, I did not want to loose the map.


I found the map below at:  https://www.chuckstraub.com/Letterboxing/ctmap.htm

 



So far this new part of my tree has been a lot of fun!  But the fascinating part is that my brother is visiting for a few days for the funeral of his high school basketball coach.  And guess what.  I had honestly forgotten a very important fact.  My brother lives right there!  Right in Westport on the map above!  I guess I will be making a train trip this fall to visit!  Golf and genealogy and visiting my brother all in the same trip!  Doesn't get better than that!