Genealogy Nuts

Quite a few years back, I took an interest in my family’s genealogy. When I got married I took an interest in my husband’s genealogy. Then when we started having kids, I started wondering where some of their features and traits were coming from. I decided it was time to do some serious "tree climbing" and just find out what was out there on those branches.

I was so thankful that time I was ready to do this little venture that many people had already done research and posted it on the Internet to share with others. That saved me a whole lot of time and effort, and they don’t know how much I appreciate it. I already had as far back as our great-treat grandparents on both sides of the families and farther yet on some lines. Fortunately, others that had posted information on the Internet came from at least a twig or leaf from the same tree and could be traced back to the same branch as ours.

So just who were some of the "nuts" I found in our trees? The four trees I researched were Barnes, Patterson, Dougherty, and Winchell. I was rather impressed to find that I had such a notable person as Samuel Chapin, who came to America in 1635. Most people do not recognize that name, but he was portrayed as a statue in the history books as "The Puritan." The famous statue stands in Springfield, Massachusetts, of which he was one of the founders of that city. Henry W. Longfellow wrote a poem about an inn entitled "Tales of a Wayside Inn." Located in Sudbury, Massachusetts, this was originally known as Howe’s Tavern from 1716 to 1861 and was owned by David Howe – one of my ancestors. Along with the good comes the bad. There was a second wife to one of my greats that was burned at the stake in 1655 in Windsor, Connecticut after being accused of being a witch. At least she wasn’t a blood relative – just married to one of mine! And then there was a rumor passed down through the generations, but with no substantiated proof, that there was a horse thief in the family that was hung. I could have done without knowing that distasteful piece of history, but I guess we all have skeletons in our closets!

I started researching my husband’s lines and of course he had to outdo me. I found he was related to lots of royalty – yes, kings, queens, princesses, dukes, duchesses, and knights. I couldn’t believe who I was digging up. It started unraveling when I came across an ancestor by the name of Maud D’Aubigny. This was where it all started tying in to the royalty. Maud’s granmother was Adelicia Princess of Brabant, whose grandfather was Henry II, whose great-grandfather was Berenger II, King of Italy, and his great-great-great-grandfather was Henry I "The Fowler" King of the Germans. Some of the other notables in my husband’s tree are: Charlemagne, Charles the Great, Pepin the Short, Pepin I, Clovis, Baldwin V, Charles "The Hammer" Martel, Louis I and II, Charles II, Thor of Troy, Alfred the Great, Henry I King of England, William I, Charles III King of France, Claudius II King of France, Edward I "The Elder" King of England, Pompey The Great, Julius Caesar, Constantine Emperor of Rome, Claudius Nero King of Rome, Marcus Aurelius Emperor of Rome, and many other kings of England, France, Ireland, Denmark, and Troy. Researching back from these kings, some of this information must have been fairly easy to acquire, as kings and queens had to have proof of their lineage to be able to take the throne. Consequently, some of these families were traced back to biblical times, of which a lot of that is then recorded in the Bible.

I had to laugh though at three of his ancestors that I found, which most people think are fictitious characters. They are Old King Cole (Coel "Old King" King of Britian), Conan the Barbarian, and Lady Godiva. Those have made some interesting conversations! I did find I had some Sir Knights on my side of the family, so I tell my husband that we had people protecting his royal people!

I haven’t had as much time to work on our genealogies as I would like, but it is definitely one of my passions. On thing I can recommend to others is to get a list of your ancestors as far back as possible to have to pass on to your children and grandchildren. Also try to include as much information as possible, such as date and place of birth and death, same information on spouse along with marriage date and place, and a listing of their children with as many details as possible for them. Try to keep it updated with current information. You never know when someone in your family may get a hankering for tracing out the family tree and that information would be a gold mine to them. Or you may decide to do some digging for yourself after reading this to see just who YOU are related to. If you do, you will find there are many sites out there on the Internet that can help you with your search. If others have submitted information you can use, that’s teamwork – just like I have for my online business. Happy tree climbing and nut hunting!

Author: Linda Dougherty
Specializes in working with people to show them how to market effectively to ean money online.

http://www.internettowealth.com/