Posted on 04/02/2010 10:12:55 AM PDT by jay1949
LOL Yeah, on the Genforum of my surname I'm amazed at how much the famous person that dominates the posts there traveled and interbred wherever he went, in an age before planes and cars, and an age when people didn't act like rabbits everywhere they went.
I freely confess that I take great joy in locating potters and bootmakers and gunsmiths and moonshiners in my family tree and take immense consolation in the lack of any proven connection between my genes and the noble houses of Great Britain — with, perhaps, the unhappy possibility of a distant connection to King Edward who, through a succession of mistresses, scullery maids, and trollops, is now the distant forebear of some 80% of the population of England and a goodly number of Americans distantly descended from those mistresses and so on. If the taint is there, it is sufficiently attenuated after all these centuries that I needn’t be concerned. I hope.
I admit I wouldn't mind finding Scottish/English royalty in my line, then the line would be easier to trace. :^) My dad made the comment that my paternal line has always had a hard time with money (but I am trying to change that!), so it looks like there's probably no royalty.
An ancestor in my mother’s patronymic line landed first in Pennsylvania; moved to Frederick County, Maryland, where his marriage record at the Reformed Church still exists; settled next in Randolph County, North Carolina; moved with part of his family and kinfolk — my next-generation direct line stayed in NC — to Clay County, Indiana; and decided in his 70s that Clay County was getting too crowded, packed the wife into the Conestoga, and headed for Arkansas. Alas, he took sick and died before he could reach the Ozarks.
Yeah, my family stayed on the move even up to my G-Grandfather, who kept up the tradition moving from Illinois to Oklahoma in the late 1800s. The conditions must've been too much of a change though, he quickly high-tailed it back to the good farmground of south-central Illinois. My dad's house, where I grew up, is 1/4 mile from where he set up his homestead after returning from Oklahoma, and I'd like to buy some land on that road if Obama doesn't destroy our way of life before that can happen. If Obama does destroy our way of life, then there's the ultimate move west: the southern half of the South Island of New Zealand is full of Ulster Scots, and there is an independence movement there to separate from the North Island (although the movement is a small one). :^)
When Federal surveyors began mapping the Northwest Territories, they invariably reported that no matter how fast they moved west into trackless wilderness, they found almost daily a settler who came to watch them run the lines to, A, make sure there wasn’t a boundary line running through his cabin and, B, to know where to plant his piles of rocks while waiting for the land office men to arrive — in a year or two — to put the land up for sale. Knowing what the settlers of the colonial and early American backcountry were like is enlightening and often inspiring. I confess that they were made of sturdier stuff than I am, and I wish we had many more like them with us now.
"Piles of rocks", that's interesting. A good thing I've found with my early line is that since they were in the first or second wave of settlers (assuming there were "waves") there have been human-interest articles about them, rather than just couthouse records, so that I'm certain I have the right ones, and it's been very detailed of their movements, land purchases, and their children.
Peers of the realm in Great Britain do keep immaculate records, often dating back to the 11th century, which is why it can be firmly established that not a single member of the nobility, or a son or daughter thereof, settled in the American colonies. Period. Lord Fairfax, who did settle on a section of his Northern Neck holdings, was not a nobleman; he was a titled commoner.
"Piles of rocks", that's interesting. A good thing I've found with my early line is that since they were in the first or second wave of settlers (assuming there were "waves") there have been human-interest articles about them, rather than just courthouse records, so that I'm certain I have the right ones, and it's been very detailed of their movements, land purchases, and their children.
Sounds like you're onto some good material.
If Obama does destroy our way of life, then there's the ultimate move west: the southern half of the South Island of New Zealand is full of Ulster Scots, and there is an independence movement there to separate from the North Island (although the movement is a small one). :^)
I hear they have some fine trout fishing on the South Island as well. The place fills all my requirements!
You can say what you want, but I am Scot-Irish and not a frickin’ alcoholic drink. I am proud of my ancestry, especially when it comes to their involvement in the American revolution. The “over mountain men” played a large part in killing off the English overlords, people they had a grudge against from the old country.
Who wants to live in the American bush when there's a chance for a piece of the throne. lol
I hear they have some fine trout fishing on the South Island as well. The place fills all my requirements!
New Zealand is Britain turned upside-down, with the South Island playing the role of Scotland. It's interesting...the North Island is multicultural, and the South Island is still almost all Anglo-Scot. Some Maori but the Maori are very Christian. New Zealand is in good shape national debt-wise also. A definite possibility in an American economic SHTF scenerio. I've voted conservative in every election, never once voting for a Dem over a Republican, so this out-of-control debt isn't my debt. I know Republicans have had debt also, but not the destructive out-of-control kind of debt the Dems always force on us.
I am very conversant with the battle of King’s Mountain and the part of the over mountain men. I had an ancestor(but don’t know his last name, Robert being his first name)who fought in the battle. Ferguson was a jerk and it was lucky that the British didn’t think much of his rifle!
You are quite correct in your estimation of the value of the Overmountain Men — King’s Mountain was IMO the turning point of the war.
Several Hendersons were reportedly in the Overmountain Men militia — no direct ancestors of mine, collaterals — but none was reported to have taken part in the fighting. Perhaps they were with the flanking group keeping watch for Cornwallis, who was in the vicinity of Charlotte; or perhaps they volunteered to stay in camp and guard the food and whiskey. I do have direct ancestors who were at Cowpens and Guilford Court House. And, yes, I believe those guys took a great measure of satisfaction in whipping up on the Brits and Tories, who represented the very society that they had come to America to escape. When Ferguson announced he was going to run them off their land and torch their cabins, he gave them all the motivation they would ever need.
Thanks.
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