Introduction

We were taught in grade-school that America is a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities. Perhaps the time has come to teach also that we all, every one of us, are also genetic melting pots. Most of our ancestors have slipped entirely into historic anonymity. Their names and their lives are forgotten. Their influence fades as we, their progeny, adapt to the ever-changing world. We can now only know little of their existence. We may spend countless hours fruitlessly seeking them out in the haystacks of historic record. We may drive hours to find their graves unmarked or their homesteads demolished. And we might conclude that their legacy has been lost. Such a conclusion would be disastrously wrong. We are their legacy. Record of their existence is embedded in each of us, written in our genes, defining the nature of our own human experience.

It is my hope that by sharing what very limited history I have had time to rediscover, others will be moved to help tell the story. To whatever degree possible, I want us to recover our ancestors from anonymity. I want us to imagine, as best we can, their experiences, their hardships, their joys, their sufferings, and their successes. We will seek to know as much as the tides of time will allow. Perhaps, by knowing them, we can better know ourselves. And perhaps, by knowing ourselves, we can better know them… be one with them, with our past, with our country, with our genes, and with our future.

As I acquire enough information on a person or family, I’ll publish it here. Feel free to comment on and/or contest any point of fact you find questionable. At times, evidence will likely be circumstantial at best. If I make any leaps that appear to you unlikely, call me on it.

I cannot guarantee frequent or even regular posts. This is likely a life-long project for anyone who attempts it. It is, in fact, already a multi-generational endeavor. My own jumping-off points were provided in the research my parents conducted off-and-on over the last three decades.

I invite all of you to contribute. While much of our family history may be lost, I suspect that a great deal yet waits for us in the libraries of historical societies, in archived historic newspapers, and in the rolls of microfilmed county records. And there may yet be, in the possession of a distant and unknown cousin, heirlooms such as photos or family bibles or personal letters. It is hard to know how much we might find. A great deal of our own family history is beyond recovery. Fortunately for future generations, the modern age of information will leave a much richer record. Our progeny will certainly know us better than we will ever know our ancestors. By publishing here, we contribute to the record. We provide something of ourselves for future generations to look back upon. We are the link between our ancestors and our progeny.