As I have mentioned before and will mention again, genealogy is very easy for me since my family has been in the United States of America since before it was the United States of America and in the very county where I still live since prior to 1800.
But not every document is in our county courthouse.
I have been able to attend a few genealogy conferences in my area and I come home and stay up all night searching using new techniques to quickly find documents before I forget the steps.
Even better were online zoom conferences during covid where I could set up a second laptop and work with the teacher.
For today I am showing off a document signed by President Millard Fillmore following the Bounty Land Grant of 1850 awarding my ancestor 160 acres in Iowa (stolen from Native Americans I am sure) for his service in the War of 1796. War of 1796? Yes, more wars against Native Americans, I believe.
My 3rd great grandfather Simon's grandfather Jacobus was born in Freehold, New Jersey in 1721. His second great grandfather Albert was born in Flatlands, NY in 1675. Albert's dad Dirck arrived in "New Netherlands" from the Netherlands in 1650.
For Christmas my husband bought access to international records on Ancestry (as in I said do you want to upgrade my subscription for Christmas and he said sure). I need to make sure to schedule time to work on these generations in Europe while I have access to records.
You know, in my spare time.
History is certainly far from pretty, but it's still fascinating to look at and this is no exception, what a cool document to uncover. My gosh Miss Merry it's amazing how far you're able to go back on that family tree. 🙂
ReplyDeleteNow THAT is cool. I have done a lot with my mom -- even wrote a book about her lineage. But it's time to start working on my dad's! That letter is a gem!
ReplyDeleteVery cool! I have a land abstract that dates back to around the Civil War for the land I am on. Since I didn't grow up around here, the names didn't mean much to me, but it was interesting to see the how the land changed hands.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blog
ReplyDeletePlease read my post
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting! I'm working on stuff from my Dad's farm and found documents going into the mid 1800's and was thrilled with that. I love your history finds.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to dig into family history. I had a subscription to Ancestry maybe a decade ago. I got back on paternal side to the 1750s before the subscription ran out and I didn't renew it My grandmother's side was in Boston at that time and grandfather's was in Maine. That's a great document to find.
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing! Your lineage goes back to the 1600s. And you actually know how to research this? Incredible. I am so impressed.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be nice to have spare time?!?
ReplyDeleteThat document is really cool. That's impressive that you're able to go that far back. I don't know about anyone before my great grandparents.
I love your document! How are you preserving all your research? In a digital file, in a hard cover book you plan to write, some other way? My mom spent a lot of years researching and everything was in a cardboard box, unorganized. I took it up after she died, added to it and had it printed into several hardcover books plus I built a website with it all for anyone searching the family. Genealogy should be shared.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy seeing your family history. I don't know a lot about mine, but our boys enjoy researching it.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Betsy
It's wonderful that you have documentation to follow your Ancestry. Since neither of my Parents came from Cultures with Written Language and Documents, so much is missing from both sides of ours. Plus, there were informal Adoptions called "Foundlings" on both sides. My Maternal Grandfather and Four of his Younger Siblings were 'given' to a Chinese Family to Raise as their own when their Father was killed in WWI, my Nina, his Mom, was an illiterate Romany with Six Older Children to support and she kept, the Five Younger ones were given to that Childless Chinese Couple she knew. Not uncommon in her Era. My Dad's Father was a mixed Race Indigenous Infant left on a Doorstep, from what we were always told, so the Childless Family that Raised him were not biologically connected and didn't even know which Tribe he came from. In his Day mixed Race Children were often killed and so it's very likely he had a Tribal Mother and a Non-Tribal Father and the best way to ensure he Lived was to leave him for someone to take Pity upon the Child, which, Thankfully was his Outcome, but not easy to Trace such 'Arrangements' or verify a lot of Oral History. Over Time many Relatives had different accounts of Ancestry etcetera too since it was passed along Generation to Generation by Word of Mouth and Storytelling. Embellishments often happen and accuracy can be questionable when there's Generations of telling a Story being passed along by various Storytellers. So, I never really know the accuracy, but the Stories were always good regardless, so I never much Cared. *LOL* Ancestry dot com wasn't helpful at all... any Tribes not Federally Recognized Ancestry doesn't 'Count' as Indigenous Peoples either, which, of coarse they are. The Federal Govt. never recognized the vast majority of Tribes or they would have had to compensate them and give them Land... thus, all the time they just didn't 'recognize' their existence as Indigenous Peoples they displaced.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool that your ancestors date that far back. According to family lore, my paternal great grandfather came via Canada, but I have no evidence of that. My great.grandmother was the daughter was born in Sweden and came to America as a child. According to those stories, my great grandfather spoke only French and his wife only spoke Swedish. I don't believe that to be true. He had property not far from where she was raised in NW PA. Interestingly enough, the marriage ceremony was performed by one of my mom's ancestors!
ReplyDeleteThat is amazing that you can track your lineage back that far. I can only get back a couple generations.
ReplyDeleteMiss Merry, this is fascinating and very cool.
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