Ancestry Research?

[VirginiaCat]

Anyone else into this stuff?

I have been doing mine for about the past 15 years. It has been quite the adventure in what I have found.

Literally spent 4-5 years finding a paper trail back to the original Stewart that arrived in the US in 1652 as an indentured servant after being captured in the battle of Dunbar. Literally a record in the church of him being whipped for "fornication" with the woman who would become his wife (Indentured Servants not allowed to marry).

Anyway, paper trail was rich but imagine the surprise when my DNA did not match! LOL. Found out my Great Grandfather had 2 wives in the 1860'/70's so evidently my grandmother needed some help farming while he was with his other wife! He was truly a scoundrel (Rode with Quantrell's raiders supposedly). Anyway, evidently the apple did not fall far from the tree as his first Son Reuben is mentioned here for murder https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-vie...&usePUBJs=true

It says "At the Mouth of Marrow Bone Creek in Pike County, Reuben Stewart, a Moonshiner and all around bad man, made and unprovoked assault on the Ratliff Brothers killing David Ratliff and mortally wounding Hawkins Ratliff. Stewart Escaped.

Reuben was later murdered in a bedroom by being shot through a window.

Further research led me to understand this was part of a moonshine war in the mountains. Similar to the famous Hatfield/McCoy feuds. And evidently Reuben was part of the families associated with the famous Pound Gap massacre. http://www.wright-bates.com/pound_gap_massacre1.htm

Anyway, it is fascinating. Despite the disappointment of DNA breaks etc.

[KSRBEvans]

I've done it off and on for the last 10 years or so. I'd like to find documentation that connects my line with a Revolutionary War patriot for Sons of the American Revolution. I have several possibilities but making that documented connection is tough. I was going to take a run at it this summer but it's proven to be busier than I would like.

I'd encourage everyone who's interested in their lineage or think they might be someday to sit down with your oldest direct relatives and talk with them about their parents, grandparents, etc. My Dad died in 08 and didn't talk much about his side of the family because there was a lot of pain there. But with his passing it's been very difficult to learn much about them beyond what I can find on Ancestry. OTOH, I spoke with my maternal grandmother a good bit before she died in 09 and learned a lot about her side of the family I never would've known, and it was a good jump start to documenting her line.

[VirginiaCat]

I've done it off and on for the last 10 years or so. I'd like to find documentation that connects my line with a Revolutionary War patriot for Sons of the American Revolution. I have several possibilities but making that documented connection is tough. I was going to take a run at it this summer but it's proven to be busier than I would like.

I'd encourage everyone who's interested in their lineage or think they might be someday to sit down with your oldest direct relatives and talk with them about their parents, grandparents, etc. My Dad died in 08 and didn't talk much about his side of the family because there was a lot of pain there. But with his passing it's been very difficult to learn much about them beyond what I can find on Ancestry. OTOH, I spoke with my maternal grandmother a good bit before she died in 09 and learned a lot about her side of the family I never would've known, and it was a good jump start to documenting her line.

I cannot agree more. Luckily I was able to access my Aunt Mary who was a wealth of information before she passed. The Stewart Link with the Potters traces back to the 1600's and they traveled in a "clan" from New York, through New Jersey, into VA, then the Carolinas, up to TN then to KY. Truly interesting.

[UKFlounder]

Genealogy you is one of those things that is fun, but can be incredibly frustrating too.

Fortunately, I have a cousin who did tons of work in my maternal side but I spent years stuck on my paternal side, though I think I resolved that last year (at least 95+% sure) showing a line to two Revolutionary War soldiers in Pennsylvania and then back to Ireland.

I have not yet found any real scoundrels in my tree, though I’m distantly related to Samuel Mudd of Lincoln assassination fame. Also, one of my 2x great-grandfathers was killed during a New Year’s Eve card game in the 1930s. My grandmother grew up in a house where cards were not allowed because of that.

[KSRBEvans]

The darkest thing I've found in my line was one of my great-great grandfathers disappeared suddenly in 1876 and no one knew what happened to him. About 40 years later some kids messing around in a cave found some human remains about 10 miles from his farm, and a newspaper article speculated it was his remains. So there may have been some foul play (apparently my great-great grandmother's family was into some stuff), he may have committed suicide...we'll never know.

[VirginiaCat]

This quest has led me to several finds..

My line includes the 13th son of a Scottish Earl (Stewart), a Sheriff in NJ for the Crown (Stewart), Former Governor of VA (Matthews on mom's side and prior to statehood), An Indian Maiden (Moonglow) who saved one of my great(s) grandfathers from the gauntlet and then married him, The Aforementioned Reuben and Wesley scoundrels as well as Indian Scouts for the Brits and US Colonial armies etc.

And that was before I found out my bloodline was Kitchen, not Stewart! The Kitchen line is a whole new adventure!

[MickintheHam]

Interesting topic. Last week I took time while I was in KY to go visit the areas where my dad's ancestors lived. I had never done that before. His paternal side was vague in my mind as his died dad 20 years before I was born. There was virtually no contact with any of them. But with family documents I was able to go back to the 1780's, before statehood, and trace my great great grandfather back to Buffalo in LaRue Co. My great great grandmother was born and grew up in Raywick in Marion County. I found the family property in Buffalo. I was surprised to find it was about mile and a half from Abraham Lincoln's birthplace. I went to one of the cemeteries in the area but had no luck finding any family graves at the place where I thought they should be.

From there I drove up the road to where my dad's mom was born and raised. I was able to locate my Great Uncle's farm in Locust Grove in Hardin County. He was my grandmother's oldest brother. We used to hunt on his property when I was a kid. On Red Mill Rd. I was able to locate the family graves in the Church Cemetery. The church's website said most of the church members moved there from Virginia, where Baptists were fleeing persecution. Going to Uncle John's farm brought back many memories of relatives I had not seen since I was a kid.

It was a stimulating day. One of both happiness and sadness. It was a real sense of adventure, exploring great areas of the state. The drive from Bardstown to Loretto to Raywick was absolutely beautiful and reminded me of why I miss Kentucky so much. Raywick is having a Homecoming Fried Chicken and Country Ham Dinner on July 3. That would have been interesting to attend. If nothing else, Marion Co. has some of the best Country Ham on Earth.

I would be interested to know how any of you are conducting research.

[bigsky]

I have the Daughters of the American Revolution info, a brigadier general in North Carolina.

I have a great pic in an oval frame of a fiddler from the 1880s who was a relative and died in a logging accident. Going to do the 6-7 generation family photo books one each for me and for my sons but not sure I need to get back to Europe.

I've been to rock bridge and various graveyards around Hopkins and Christian counties where some of the old folks are buried. And parents Richard and June are buried in Section One of Cave Hill along with Grandad Krauss and his predecessors so that gets me back into the mid 1800s.

[VirginiaCat]

I would be interested to know how any of you are conducting research.

Mick, I now pay for the Ancestry subscription. I cancel when not researching, activate when I have time for a month, then cancel again.

Originally, I started out with some heritage sites and also used the LDS site since it was free. https://ldsgenealogy.com/family-tree/

I suppose my original inquiry was getting names and approximate birth dates from my Aunt Mary and filling in with other family members. A lot of people have done the research but if you are going to look at other peoples family trees as your records, look and ensure they have documentation such as census records, birth and death certificates. A lot of people have the same names as their parents and grandparents and many family trees get them mixed up. The better your data, the better the search results. I did get lucky on the Stewart side. Once I found my Grandfathers Father (the scoundrel) that line is pretty well documented because of their community roles. The Jump back to Alexander Stewart (the Earl's son and indentured servant) is still not 100% proven but pretty well documented.

Once I had that documented trail I did DNA because several Stewarts of that line had proven DNA trail... And that is when I found my DNA did not match...but did match the neighbors family line in 1870! LOL. Did you know that over 20% of births are a DNA break?

So, then had fun tracing my male Kitchen line back to a ship from Ireland. My DNA has been traced as part of the BIG Y Project back to the Seven Septs of Laois in Ireland so that is pretty cool.

The Mothers line is more about documentation than DNA. And that you truly have to dig because our society did not trace the female names and lines as well as the botys. but that is where I found Moonglow and the former Governor.

I did a lot while wife watched TV and I was sitting there supposedly watching TV.

[MickintheHam]

VA that is good information. Thank you. My dad left a good trail back to the end of the 17th Century. I am trying to get. Records of births, deaths, and location of graves. I then want to visit where they are buried, mostly to ensure thegraves are marked and cared for. i am doing that with his paternal family. I have not done much on the maternal side, butI already know a lot about them. Mostlived in Vine Grove and Meade Co. before moving to Southern Hardin Co.

My Mom’s family will be a complete adventure. So far I have enjoyed it and going to actual locations is rewarding.

[UKFlounder]

Some of the weirdest connections I have found are current ones - my maternal grandmothers family and maternal grandfather’s family are strongly intertwined - nothing gross, but just a bit weird.

One of my grandmother’s brothers married one of my grandfather’s nieces - their kids are, of cousins, my cousins in two ways.

Then, one of grandpa’s great-nieces, married one of grandma’s nephews. More double cousins.

Then just last week, I found out that one cousin (her mother was my grandfather’s sister) had a 2x great-grandfather who was my 3x grandfather on my grandma’s side. (This cousin had 9 siblings, fewer than my grandpa’s 12 siblings and grandma’s 11. Big ole country families.)

Of course, my grandpa’s dad was a circuit-riding country preacher. He officiated the wedding of my grandma’s parents.

Several generations back, it may be even weirder, but I haven’t looked at thst lately. I’m not sure I want to.

I did have a 4x great-grandfather who owned slaves in 1860, yet had a child and grandchild who fought for the Union in the Civil War. That wasn’t unheard of, but surprises some people.

[MickintheHam]

My grandmother’s brother married my grandfather’s sister setting up double cousins. It was fairly common in small towns for brother and sister to marry sister and brother.

[KeithKSR]

My grandmother’s brother married my grandfather’s sister setting up double cousins. It was fairly common in small towns for brother and sister to marry sister and brother.

It was exceptionally common in the early settlement years. In the area where Olive Hill is now located two of the first families in the area were the Hendersons and the Perrys. The Henderson daughters married the Perry sons and the Henderson sons married the Perry daughters. This created a large group of double first cousins. By the time those cousins were of age to marry other families had entered the area. Today most families can trace part of their family trees back to them.

[PedroDaGr8]

My family got really lucky. I have a rather unique German last name and a gentleman in Germany did all of the research for us. He was able to trace our family tree back to the 1400s. He said before that it was very very hit or miss on whether or not you could find written records at all for anyone besides nobility.

[VirginiaCat]

VA that is good information. Thank you. My dad left a good trail back to the end of the 17th Century. I am trying to get. Records of births, deaths, and location of graves. I then want to visit where they are buried, mostly to ensure thegraves are marked and cared for. i am doing that with his paternal family. I have not done much on the maternal side, butI already know a lot about them. Mostlived in Vine Grove and Meade Co. before moving to Southern Hardin Co.

My Mom’s family will be a complete adventure. So far I have enjoyed it and going to actual locations is rewarding.

The adventure is what keeps it so amazing. I have now found SO MANY stories about historical relatives...and in my direct line, not just cousins. The Moonglow story is amazing:

Benjamin and Moonglow had 10 children. Benjamin died on July 12, 1849 in Moon, Morgan County. Susannah died in 1846, also in Moon. They are buried on a small flat above the creek, shaded by large trees native to this area behind the old Moon Post Office.

Benjamin served in the Revolutionary War from 1780-1782 as a Spy and a Ranger. The local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution from Paintsville, Johnson County, dedicated a monument to Benjamin on October 22, 1995 in Moon, Morgan County.

Benjamin started a fur-trapping venture with a man named Chandler. They were doing well selling furs to traders from the East. Some Cherokees apparently felt that the two white men were hurting their own trading ventures. Benjamin and Chandler were taken captive and taken before a Council of Chieftains to be dealt with. The usual punishment was to run the gauntlet (two parallel lines of braves stabbing and slashing with knives and lances).

If the captive survived this, they were then burned at the stake. Benjamin and Chandler were sentenced to be burned at the right phase of the moon. An Indian girl was assigned the task of providing food and water for the men. Benjamin became friendly with her and gained her confidence. He promised to marry her if she would help them escape. She secured their freedom and was married to Benjamin. Her name was Moonglow, but she later took the Christian name of Susanne Hurst.

And then to find one of my Maternal Greats (many times) was a Colonial Governor of Virginia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel...inia_governor)

That is before I get to the stories about my scoundrel Stewart roots!

[MickintheHam]

Great story!

[UKFlounder]

One of my 5x great-grandfathers was in “the Great Runaway,” which doesn’t seem like something to brag about (see a version of the story below) but a house he built in 1830 still exists, which I think is cool. It’s the closest to any kind of “ancestral home” I know of right now, though his roots were from Northern Ireland, do there may be more to uncover.

https://on-reg.onecount.net/onecount...al42bk85ds48f1

[bigsky]

Mother; “the two brothers married two sisters. They were our double cousins.”
Me: “don’t say that to anyone outside of Kentucky”
You guys; “double cousins! Double cousins!”
Thanks

[VirginiaCat]

One of my 5x great-grandfathers was in “the Great Runaway,” which doesn’t seem like something to brag about (see a version of the story below) but a house he built in 1830 still exists, which I think is cool. It’s the closest to any kind of “ancestral home” I know of right now, though his roots were from Northern Ireland, do there may be more to uncover.

https://on-reg.onecount.net/onecount...al42bk85ds48f1

As I read that story and my own ancestors history I realize our crime and murder is not much different today than it was over the past 3 centuries. We just communicate it more today and allow the government to handle rather than just sting people up.

[KSRBEvans]

Mother; “the two brothers married two sisters. They were our double cousins.”
Me: “don’t say that to anyone outside of Kentucky”
You guys; “double cousins! Double cousins!”
Thanks

It's OK here--we're your people.

[catmanjack]

Very interesting thread, really enjoying the read.