Genealogy and Flintlocks

[Dutch7]

As a follow up - seems some folks might like to learn more about their families.
There is a ton of information on line these days but local historical societies are the best first stop. I do a lot of on line searches and if you keep good notes once in a while you luck out.
My daughter and I were researching and she found a will from great grandfather #3 which was one generation back from where we started. From this I found a cousin in KY that had ggggf info and the entire family history to that point! He was born in Pa in 1778 and both his parents were also born in Pa, that is the current trail we are following but it has gone cold.
Keep searching and any younger folks that still have old relatives, ask questions, get stories and write them down! I have learned a few things that are priceless!

 

[tak]

I have become my immediate family’s historian. Before my mother died, she willed my son a walnut blanket chest that came by wagon from PA to Ohio in pre-1820. I am keeping the chest for now but have told my son the chest will be filled with our family’s history dating back to the 1728. He may not appreciate it now but may in the future or one of descendants might. I know he is more excited in receiving the 2 percussion rifles made by family members in the 1800’s.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

I know a bit about my family beyond relatives I have actually met personally.... most of whom are now dead. We weren't on the Mayflower, but likely on a later boat. We never had any money to speak of and backing Mary Queen of Scots was, in retrospect, probably a bad decision. I've got relatives that fought on both sides of the Civil War. There is some family lore that says we are related to Jesse James & Co., but I have no proof to offer and have no real interest in claiming kinship to a thief and murderer, however famous he once was.

With online databases expanding every moment and DNA being added to it, most likely we will all one day be able to track our relationship to nearly every other person in the world. A while back, I got a message from a distant cousin I never knew about. Her father was the illegitimate son of one of my great uncles. Nobody in the rest of the family ever knew about him, but DNA doesn't lie. She wondered if I had any photographs of her grandfather. After consulting with other family members, I found one in an old photo album. I scanned it, enhanced it and sent it on.

 

[jaholder]

I have become my immediate family’s historian. Before my mother died, she willed my son a walnut blanket chest that came by wagon from PA to Ohio in pre-1820. I am keeping the chest for now but have told my son the chest will be filled with our family’s history dating back to the 1728. He may not appreciate it now but may in the future or one of descendants might. I know he is more excited in receiving the 2 percussion rifles made by family members in the 1800’s.

Cherish those heirlooms! I was supposed to inherit a number of items from my father's side of the family. A pic of my Great-Great Grandfather, his civil war discharge papers and the Holder family bible. All 3 are currently in the possession of my mother with whom the last time we spoke was through attorneys 20 years ago. It will likely, if not already, go to my brother. They'll either end up in the trash or sols to some antique store for beer money. I'm thinking about asking an intermediary, one of our distant cousins and tribal reps, to reach out and see about having these items returned back to the Holders but I'm holding out little hope.

 

[tak]

I hate to hear about the family situation. I’ve been fortunate in that respect. Most of the records are my mom’s ancestors. However, my paternal grandparents were Danish immigrants and grandpa wrote a journal about his life up to the 1950’s. My parents had it translated from Danish to English. My cousin had it printed in book form for all the family (he donated a copy to the Library of Congress). Truly a prized possession.

 

[Rancocas]

My Mother began researching our family history back in the 1960's. No computers then. She traveled to various archives, graveyards, etcetera. She died in 1981. My Dad keep her documents and notes in a trunk. I could look at it, but I could not have it. Then, Dad died in 1989. My brother had no interest in it, so I finally inherited all of my Mother's work on our genealogy.

I worked on it off and on through the years. Now, with the advance of computers and all the genealogy data that has been downloaded all over the world, I have been able to trace my maternal side of the family back about 1000 years to a Norman warrior, Lofi de Lovecott, who came along with William the Conqueror, invaded England, and fought at the Battle of Hastings in the year 1066. Since Lofi my maternal ancestors have been dukes, earls, knights, advisors to the kings of England and of Scotland, merchants, tradesmen, at least one survived a shipwreck, two came to America on the Mayflower, three fought on the Yankee side during the American civil war. Some were killed in battle. Several were jailed, whipped, hanged, or beheaded. Interesting stories.

My Father's side of the family, however, is mostly a mystery. Dad was a Czech, born in Czechoslovakia right after World War I. His dad, my paternal grandfather, had served in the Austrian army during WWI. He was wounded while fighting up in Poland, but he survived that war, although the bullet was never removed from his shoulder. He immigrated to the US in 1920, and had saved enough money to bring his family over here a year later. But, after two world wars, and a ravished country, plus the language barrier, I have not been able to find much other information about my Dad's side of the family.

I wrote up all this, my known family history, in a huge tome about 3 inches thick. I wrote down all the information I could find on my ancestors. Some have very interesting stories. For the majority of them, however, about all I know is their names and approximate dates of birth and death.

I made copies of this for my children and my grandchildren and gave it to them. For the most part, I feel it is unappreciated. Only one of my daughters seems to have any interest in it.

Oh well, they have it to do with it as they please. I intend to take my master copy, put it in an ice chest, encase that in cement and bury it somewhere. Maybe in a 1000 years or so someone will find it.

 

[BillKilgore]

@Rancocas Greetings, brother. My ancestors also crossed the channel with Duke William on that fateful September day.

Like many here, I have become the family historian. I tell my few remaining family members about their direct links to major events in history, but they are little interested and do not appreciate or understand the decades of work that went into those tales. That is what happens when you hand valuable things on a silver platter to simple-minded people. I do not have children or siblings. My closest family are a few cousins and an aunt. The saga will probably end with me.

My family history is the sole reason I got into muzzleloading. My ancestors lived in south central Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. I have online records of several that fought in the war and I wanted to experience a small piece of their life.

 

[Brokennock]

I wrote up all this, my known family history, in a huge tome about 3 inches thick. I wrote down all the information I could find on my ancestors. Some have very interesting stories. For the majority of them, however, about all I know is their names and approximate dates of birth and death.

I made copies of this for my children and my grandchildren and gave it to them

I intend to take my master copy, put it in an ice chest, encase that in cement and bury it somewhere. Maybe in a 1000 years or so someone will find it.

I hope you also created digital copies and saved them in multiple formats. As well as saving it somewhere here on the internet.
Someday someone will be looking for that information. Maybe not that specifically, but information on those events or something similar and be glad to have found it, even by accident.

 

[bud in pa]

I managed to find some family history on my fathers side. His mother, my great grand mother's maiden name was Drums. There is an area outside of Hazelton PA named after them. There was a Peter Drums that actually fought under George Washington. They became lawyers and judges and were fairly wealthy. I always asked my dad, how come we ain't rich? Too bad that I am the only one in the family that cares about history.

 

[Belleville]

I'm sort of in the same boat with you. I know very little about both sides of my family beyond my grandparents but I'm getting more acquainted with my mother's side due to our Potawatomi ancestry. It's been a delicate yet rewarding project, as I'm also trying to avoid family members who can best be described as toxic and have been neither honest nor forthright with information.

I've only scratched the surface, but from my research much of my mother's paternal family's history revolves around the early 19th century from the War of 1812 in the Old Northwest to the Oregon Trail in Kansas. So currently my interest in firearms has been of pieces during this time period, where flintlock muskets, fowlers and long rifles were dominant but the percussion weapon and half stock rifle were catching up with the times. I'm in the process of researching this time period to put together a couple of living history personnas for the 1830's removal period as well as 1850's Bleeding Kansas.

It's ironic that despite this country's attempts to wipe out Native American identity and culture I have more geneological data on my mother's Potawatomi side of the family than I do the other side of my mom's family or anything of my Father's.

jaholder, Enjoyed your family history, good for you.

A lot of folks don't have the time to get involved in their family's genealogy until after retirement, by then the folks that knew are gone. So ask your family questions while you still have people alive that know. We had it better as I enjoyed the family history at a young age and got a lot of information from my Grandmothers and my Parents. We had one relative who had published a book in it which was helpful. Our son has taken a keen interest and he has done as lot recently on my and wife's families. My father-in-law did not know the names of his grandparents. A brief summery: wife's, she has Leni Lenape (Delaware), her Dutch go back to New Amsterdam, she had one ancestor burned as a witch at Salem. Had lots of English nobility. Mine: Shawnee ancestors, 5 Mayflower Pilgrims and 2 stepmothers dau-of-the King (Mayflower Pilgrims and dau-of-the King are supposed to be the genealogy jackpot!), at least a dozen Rev War vets, several people killed by Indians. The Ohio Genealogical Library is within 5 miles and we can get there with no stoplights.