I'm always curious when people tell me that nothing interesting has ever happened in their family history or that they know what nationality they are. Most likely they have no clue! I never thought when I started this trip that I would find Presidents, Civil and Revolutionary War soldiers, relatives who fought agains Indian attack and never a tree that I could date back in this country to the early 1600s.
People who are starting out in genealogy will ask me where I get my information so here it goes:
Libraries - obituaries, reference books, local history books
Archives - Reference books, manuscripts, family histories, wills, estate papers, orphan's court
papers, marriage, birth and death certificates, property deeds
NARA (National Archives DC) - Civil War and Revolutionary War Pension records, immigrant
ships's records, other military records, reference books from all states, and more.
Online - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ (message boards and family trees)
http://www.google.com/ (web, newspaper, and books)
http://www.familysearch.org/ and http://www.labs.familysearch.org/
http://www.ellisisland.org/
http://www.immigrantships.net/
Heritagequest - You need a subscription for this site. You can usually get one free
with a library card, if your local or county library subscribes. Great for census records,
book resources, magazine articles, revolutionary war pensions and other sources.
Check Historical Societies and Local and State Archives websites, some have great resources on the web
http://www.findagrave.com/
Library of Congress -searchable database and go there (you'll need a library card)
ARIAS - Pennsylvania in the Civil War muster roll and more.
http://www.ancestry.com/ pay service, but free at my local library
NY Times and Washington Post have a searchable database. You may be able to view
some articles in full, others you will have to find at a local library.
DAR museum in Washington DC - great resource for family history books (I'm even in one!)
Historical societies will charge for you to do research on a daily basis unless you have a membership, archives do not charge.
I always try to do as much free research as I can and then hit the pay facilities.
Don't forget to check for obituaries at a library that has the microfilm. Always call first to make sure their microfilm machines are working.
Your local LDS (Latter-Day Saints, Mormon churh research facility) has a wealth of information on microfilm as well. Check their website http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp for locations and available resources.
This list is not complete by any means, just a starting point.
Happy searching
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Dungannon it is!
I've finally come across a lead as to where in Ireland Thomas Carson, the first in our Carson line, emigrated from. While checking what was new online with the John Miller Carson line (see descendary chart below) I came across a snippet view for a book called Burke's American Families With British Ancestry: The Lineages of 1600 Families of British Origin Now Residing in the United States. A typically long title from a British author. The view didn't give me all the information I was looking for, but enough to go seek out the book for more information.
John Miller Carson, Jr. was a West Point graduate and a Brigadier General so it's easy enough to find information on him. His wife, Margaret Forster Sumner, was the granddaughter of Edwin Vose Sumner, Sr. an Army General (you can google his name for his long career and achievements with photos.)
Father of John Miller Carson, Jr. was John Miller Carson, Sr. He was twice President and one of the originators of the Gridiron club (a members only newspaper journalist's club,) a Washington coorespondent for the Philadelphia Public Ledger and the New York Times, a civil war veteran, Bureau of Manufactures of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Clerk of the Ways and Means Committee, Commissioner of Manufactures, asked by President Harrison to be his Secretary of War and by President McKinley to be his private secretary, but turned both positions down. So he's easy to find information on as well, but where do you find information on an ordinary Irish immigrant who works as a weaver and does not to seem to have been a naturalized citizen?
Well, you keep searching.......Thomas Carson, the Irish immigrant and father of John Miller Carson, Sr. made it into Burke's book (by way of an article about his grandson the Brigadier General.) Burke lists Thomas' emigration from Dungannon, Tyrone Co., Ireland (Northern Ireland.) He claims Thomas married his wife Jane Miller about 1829 and emigrated the following year about 1830, settling in Philadelphia. He was born about 1802, so that would have made him about 28 years old at the time of arrival in the US.
Now, to figure out which Dungannon he came from Upper, Middle, or Lower??????
Answers only lead to more questions!
(1st marriage)Thomas and Jane (Miller) Carson>John Miller Carson,Sr.>John Miller Carson, Jr.
(2nd marriage) Thomas and Elizabeth Carson>James Carson>Robert Miller Carson
James and John Miller Carson, Sr. were half brothers
John Miller Carson, Jr. was a West Point graduate and a Brigadier General so it's easy enough to find information on him. His wife, Margaret Forster Sumner, was the granddaughter of Edwin Vose Sumner, Sr. an Army General (you can google his name for his long career and achievements with photos.)
Father of John Miller Carson, Jr. was John Miller Carson, Sr. He was twice President and one of the originators of the Gridiron club (a members only newspaper journalist's club,) a Washington coorespondent for the Philadelphia Public Ledger and the New York Times, a civil war veteran, Bureau of Manufactures of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Clerk of the Ways and Means Committee, Commissioner of Manufactures, asked by President Harrison to be his Secretary of War and by President McKinley to be his private secretary, but turned both positions down. So he's easy to find information on as well, but where do you find information on an ordinary Irish immigrant who works as a weaver and does not to seem to have been a naturalized citizen?
Well, you keep searching.......Thomas Carson, the Irish immigrant and father of John Miller Carson, Sr. made it into Burke's book (by way of an article about his grandson the Brigadier General.) Burke lists Thomas' emigration from Dungannon, Tyrone Co., Ireland (Northern Ireland.) He claims Thomas married his wife Jane Miller about 1829 and emigrated the following year about 1830, settling in Philadelphia. He was born about 1802, so that would have made him about 28 years old at the time of arrival in the US.
Now, to figure out which Dungannon he came from Upper, Middle, or Lower??????
Answers only lead to more questions!
(1st marriage)Thomas and Jane (Miller) Carson>John Miller Carson,Sr.>John Miller Carson, Jr.
(2nd marriage) Thomas and Elizabeth Carson>James Carson>Robert Miller Carson
James and John Miller Carson, Sr. were half brothers
Friday, March 6, 2009
Cleaning up the Elders
I thought I should revisit some of the family hanging around in the parts of the tree that I haven't touched in a while. I wanted to clean up some of the references and family notes I had for them. I thought that the Maryland Elders were as good a place as any so that's where I began.
Many people descend from the Elder family and there's been much research on the family simply because they were Catholic. They were Cathoilic at a time when it was not prevalent in this country. William Elder II (born 1707) is reported not to have originally been Catholic, but married Ann Wheeler who was. William Elder II named the area of Maryland, Frederick, Co. at the base of the Cacotin Mountains "St. Mary's Mount." "Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary, the 2nd oldest Catholic College in the country was founded 24 Sep 1808 on what was William Elder's property and bears the name he gave the area." (source: "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Donnelly 1975 p. 1) This William Elder was a large landowner. There were 32 pieces of land in the Frederick Co., Maryland area that were sold for the building of Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary. Some of the names of William Elder's properties were "Beaver Dam Level," "Black Walnut Bottom," Ogle's Good Will," Arnold's Delight," and Elder's Choice." None of the properties listed here were under 100 acres. (source: Maryland Elder Family and Kin, Donnelly, 1975 p. v)
William Elder II and Ann Weeler had 5 children. Ann died at the age of thirty and William remarried Jacoba Clementina Livers - the daughter of his neighbor, Arnold Livers. Jacoba and William had 7 more children. "Jacoba Clementina was born in England and named by her father Arnold Livers after James II. Arnold Livers was an active partisan of this King. When the monarch collapsed Arnold fled to the country with his young daughter and came to the Province. Here he acquired a vast amount of property." (source: "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Donnelly 1975 p. 7)
William Elder II and Ann Wheeler's daughter Mary (born 1735 in Prince George's Co., Md.) married Richard Lilly. Richard was born in Bristol, England in 1728. Richard and Mary's son Joseph A. Lilly (born 1763 in Frederick Co., Md.) married the widow, Charity Ogle Costello. The couple moved to Cambria Co. about 1789. This couple was also Catholic and probably followed Father Gallitizin as many from this Maryland area did. They belonged to St. Michael's Church in Loretto, Cambria Co., Pa. The couple's son Richard Lilly (born 1785) was a member of the 1st Batallion 142nd Regiment of the Pa. militia during the war of 1812. (source: "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Donnelly 1975 p. 68) The town of Lilly, Pa. is named for this Richard Lilly. (sources: "Lilly High Flash," students of Lilly High School, 1948." and "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Donnelly 1975 p. 68)
Richard Lilly married Elizabeth Holder, also born in Maryland. Their daughter Rebecca Lilly (born 1823) married Peter Burnheimer. Their daughter Rebecca Babara Burnheimer (born 1857) married Michael G. Conley and this couple was my Grandmother's Grandparents. Michael G. Conley was the son of the Irish immigrant, but more about the Conley's at another time.
For more reading on the Elder and Mt. St. Mary's family check out "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Mary Louise Donnelly, "The Story of the Mountain" by Mary Miller Meline and Rev. Edward F.X. McSweeney, S.T.D., and "Mount Saint Mary's College and Seminary: A Glorious History of the One Hundred and Fifty Years 1808-1958."
More Later,
Smiles
Many people descend from the Elder family and there's been much research on the family simply because they were Catholic. They were Cathoilic at a time when it was not prevalent in this country. William Elder II (born 1707) is reported not to have originally been Catholic, but married Ann Wheeler who was. William Elder II named the area of Maryland, Frederick, Co. at the base of the Cacotin Mountains "St. Mary's Mount." "Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary, the 2nd oldest Catholic College in the country was founded 24 Sep 1808 on what was William Elder's property and bears the name he gave the area." (source: "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Donnelly 1975 p. 1) This William Elder was a large landowner. There were 32 pieces of land in the Frederick Co., Maryland area that were sold for the building of Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary. Some of the names of William Elder's properties were "Beaver Dam Level," "Black Walnut Bottom," Ogle's Good Will," Arnold's Delight," and Elder's Choice." None of the properties listed here were under 100 acres. (source: Maryland Elder Family and Kin, Donnelly, 1975 p. v)
William Elder II and Ann Weeler had 5 children. Ann died at the age of thirty and William remarried Jacoba Clementina Livers - the daughter of his neighbor, Arnold Livers. Jacoba and William had 7 more children. "Jacoba Clementina was born in England and named by her father Arnold Livers after James II. Arnold Livers was an active partisan of this King. When the monarch collapsed Arnold fled to the country with his young daughter and came to the Province. Here he acquired a vast amount of property." (source: "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Donnelly 1975 p. 7)
William Elder II and Ann Wheeler's daughter Mary (born 1735 in Prince George's Co., Md.) married Richard Lilly. Richard was born in Bristol, England in 1728. Richard and Mary's son Joseph A. Lilly (born 1763 in Frederick Co., Md.) married the widow, Charity Ogle Costello. The couple moved to Cambria Co. about 1789. This couple was also Catholic and probably followed Father Gallitizin as many from this Maryland area did. They belonged to St. Michael's Church in Loretto, Cambria Co., Pa. The couple's son Richard Lilly (born 1785) was a member of the 1st Batallion 142nd Regiment of the Pa. militia during the war of 1812. (source: "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Donnelly 1975 p. 68) The town of Lilly, Pa. is named for this Richard Lilly. (sources: "Lilly High Flash," students of Lilly High School, 1948." and "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Donnelly 1975 p. 68)
Richard Lilly married Elizabeth Holder, also born in Maryland. Their daughter Rebecca Lilly (born 1823) married Peter Burnheimer. Their daughter Rebecca Babara Burnheimer (born 1857) married Michael G. Conley and this couple was my Grandmother's Grandparents. Michael G. Conley was the son of the Irish immigrant, but more about the Conley's at another time.
For more reading on the Elder and Mt. St. Mary's family check out "Maryland Elder Family and Kin" by Mary Louise Donnelly, "The Story of the Mountain" by Mary Miller Meline and Rev. Edward F.X. McSweeney, S.T.D., and "Mount Saint Mary's College and Seminary: A Glorious History of the One Hundred and Fifty Years 1808-1958."
More Later,
Smiles
Sunday, March 1, 2009
And in the Beginning.......
I started this journey when my son was about 4 years old, but that was before the home computer and when you needed to use soundex to look up census records on microfilm. Wow, how much easier genealogy research has become over the last 22 years! I am sooooo grateful for Google Books, The Mormon Church and it's members, rootsweb, and all my fellow researchers.
My latest quest has been the Mareen Duvall Family from Maryland. Mareen Duvall (born 1635)came to America from France about 1650. One of his wives, and my direct descendant, was Susannah Brashear/Brassuer/Brassier. The couple lived on Mareen's plantation in Maryland called "Middle Plantation." Mareen was actually married three times which was not so uncommon during this time period. I have come across many men and woman who have married two and three times over. My line descendends down the tree with Mareen and Susannah Duvall's daughter Susannah who married Colonel Robert Tyler.
Colonel Robert Tyler was a member of the House of Burgesses continuously from 1704 to 1725 (Md. Archives Vol 26, 27, 29, and 30.) In 1695, Robert Tyler was commissioned one of the first magistrates of Prince George's Co. between 1697-98 and was accorded a Gentleman of the Quorum. He was also commissioned in 1708 by Gov. John Seymour. In 1704, he was a delegate to Prince George's Co. and served until 1724 he was then referred to as "Chief Justice at Marlborough." He owned hundreds of acres of land. (from "Mareen Duval of Middle Plantation" by Harry Wright Newman pgs. 162-165.)
Colonel Robert and Susannah (Duvall) Tyler had a daughter named Sabina Tyler (born 1703)who married Nathaniel Wickham. Nathaniel and Sabina (Tyler) Wickham's daughter Sabina Wickham became the wife of William Elder III (born 1729.)
William and Sabina (Wickham) Elder III lived near Emmittsburg, Maryland. Willam Elder II received a patent for land from Lord Baltimore, dated 27 Aug 1732. This is on record at the Mt. St. Mary Archives, Emmitsburg, Md. I visited the archives last summer as well as Mount Saint Mary's and the Elder Family Cemetery. The Elder Family Cemetery is marked by a plaque, surrounded by a split rail fence, and situated under a small grove of old trees. Some of the stones have been replaced and some have been crudely repaired, but yet preserved. It's very peaceful in Emmittsburg and probably not much changed from colonial times.
William and Sabina (Wickham) Elder III had a daughter Ann who married Daniel Delozier, Sr. (born 1750) "On April 2, 1804, Daniel and Ann sold part of a tract of land called "March Weather", located in the middle of the divisional line between states Maryland and Pennsylvania. They moved East of the Allegheny mountains to settle in the unbroken wilderness which is now Cambria County, Pennsylvania. According to a story taken from "History of Cambria County", page 543, "Delozier, Daniel came to Loretto with the McGuire pioneer family..." Ann Elder's father William also came from southern MD (Emmitsburg) to the Loretto area. But before influence by Father Gallitzen to move to Loretto, William Elder owned an area of land he named St. Mary's Mount and named his log cabin home "Pleasent Level". This home was in equal parts divided, one half served as residence for his family, the other half served as a Chapel. Mount St. Mary's Seminary and College at what is now Emmitsburg are on land that the Elder's owned. As mentioned and noted in Elder Family Papers, the family migrated into Pennsylvania by influence from Father Gallitzen "who advocated western settlement to his former congretation."*
*source: Guide to the Elder Family Papers
Now you know how our family got from Maryland to the middle of Pennsylvania. It's all because of Father Prince Gallitzin.
More later :-)
My latest quest has been the Mareen Duvall Family from Maryland. Mareen Duvall (born 1635)came to America from France about 1650. One of his wives, and my direct descendant, was Susannah Brashear/Brassuer/Brassier. The couple lived on Mareen's plantation in Maryland called "Middle Plantation." Mareen was actually married three times which was not so uncommon during this time period. I have come across many men and woman who have married two and three times over. My line descendends down the tree with Mareen and Susannah Duvall's daughter Susannah who married Colonel Robert Tyler.
Colonel Robert Tyler was a member of the House of Burgesses continuously from 1704 to 1725 (Md. Archives Vol 26, 27, 29, and 30.) In 1695, Robert Tyler was commissioned one of the first magistrates of Prince George's Co. between 1697-98 and was accorded a Gentleman of the Quorum. He was also commissioned in 1708 by Gov. John Seymour. In 1704, he was a delegate to Prince George's Co. and served until 1724 he was then referred to as "Chief Justice at Marlborough." He owned hundreds of acres of land. (from "Mareen Duval of Middle Plantation" by Harry Wright Newman pgs. 162-165.)
Colonel Robert and Susannah (Duvall) Tyler had a daughter named Sabina Tyler (born 1703)who married Nathaniel Wickham. Nathaniel and Sabina (Tyler) Wickham's daughter Sabina Wickham became the wife of William Elder III (born 1729.)
William and Sabina (Wickham) Elder III lived near Emmittsburg, Maryland. Willam Elder II received a patent for land from Lord Baltimore, dated 27 Aug 1732. This is on record at the Mt. St. Mary Archives, Emmitsburg, Md. I visited the archives last summer as well as Mount Saint Mary's and the Elder Family Cemetery. The Elder Family Cemetery is marked by a plaque, surrounded by a split rail fence, and situated under a small grove of old trees. Some of the stones have been replaced and some have been crudely repaired, but yet preserved. It's very peaceful in Emmittsburg and probably not much changed from colonial times.
William and Sabina (Wickham) Elder III had a daughter Ann who married Daniel Delozier, Sr. (born 1750) "On April 2, 1804, Daniel and Ann sold part of a tract of land called "March Weather", located in the middle of the divisional line between states Maryland and Pennsylvania. They moved East of the Allegheny mountains to settle in the unbroken wilderness which is now Cambria County, Pennsylvania. According to a story taken from "History of Cambria County", page 543, "Delozier, Daniel came to Loretto with the McGuire pioneer family..." Ann Elder's father William also came from southern MD (Emmitsburg) to the Loretto area. But before influence by Father Gallitzen to move to Loretto, William Elder owned an area of land he named St. Mary's Mount and named his log cabin home "Pleasent Level". This home was in equal parts divided, one half served as residence for his family, the other half served as a Chapel. Mount St. Mary's Seminary and College at what is now Emmitsburg are on land that the Elder's owned. As mentioned and noted in Elder Family Papers, the family migrated into Pennsylvania by influence from Father Gallitzen "who advocated western settlement to his former congretation."*
*source: Guide to the Elder Family Papers
Now you know how our family got from Maryland to the middle of Pennsylvania. It's all because of Father Prince Gallitzin.
More later :-)
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