Interesting Geneology

I am a 5th cousin to Sophie Rhys-Jones now married to Prince Edward of England. Does anyone else have interesting relatives?
Jack
P.S. My Grandmother's Apple pie is World Famous, A wall of Ribbons ;}

We have an old photo(very old) of my grandmother sitting on General Grant's lap. He was her grandfather or uncle or great uncle or something..I never had much of an interest in that sort of stuff, so I never did pursue finding anything more about it. My mother has the photo stashed somewhere

Rebeeca Bryan married Daniel Boone and her brothers and father founded Bryan Station Kentucky along with Daniel. I am the 4th great grand son of Morgan Bryan, her father. Morgan Bryans father was Sir Frances Bryan of Ireland that was deported to Denmark where he married Sarah Brinker. She was a cousin to Dutch Prince Of Orange William. He later became King William II of England. Sir Francis and his two sons, William and Morgan, were standard bearers in the Battle Of Boyce in 1690. He was in Color Guard during this battle. A lot of history on him. Also the founder of Dallas Tx., John Neeely Bryan, is related to me but I'm not sure how.

Seems we're related then...Kaiser Wilhelm who married Princess Victoria of England was my great-great grandfather.

I have heard tales in the family that some of my relatives were hung as horsetheives....guess that they got some notoriety but not sure I really want to immulate them!

My paternal Grandmother's side of the family traces back to George Soule, a passenger on the Mayflower, in 1620. He married three years after arriving, and helping to establish Plymouth Plantation, the first English settlement in New England.

I have a Mayflower line and several royal lines, but I think the ancestors that I am the most proud of are the poor dirt farmers who left their homes and moved to the wilderness of PA to forge a new life. Have you ever thought about what it must have taken to clear an acre of thick, virgin forest with a couple of hand axes and some horses?

My grt grt grt grandmother was 7 generations removed from the youngest daughter of John Knox, Scottish reformer, and Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury in the mid 1800's was a first cousin of my grt grt grt grandfather. I'm trying to do research on these lines.

I left one of my relatives out of the previous posting. William Jennings Bryan was a leading politician that ran for President of The United States three times and was the lawyer in the Scopes trial when it was tried to prove that man descended from apes. The opposing lawyer was Clarence Darrow and even though William won the case he died less than a week after the case ended. William took the view that man ws created by God and Darrow supported the view that man descended from apes. My gggg grand father Morgan had a brother named William and this was William Jennings Bryan grandfather. He also served as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson but resigned because he didn't want the U.S. to get involved in world war 1.

This message was edited Sunday, Jul 15th 10:28 PM

I am still trying to find documentation to support this, but supposedly my ggrandmother was a mistress of King Wilhelm and when she became pregnant with my grandfather she was sent here to avoid scandal. He was given the middle name August and that middle name is still carried by living family members.
My grandparents were introduced by PT Barnum in Chicago, how that happened I don't know since they were not circus people themselves.
My other ggrandfather was active in promoting the republican party in Southwestern Pennsylvania, as well as helping to establish the Windy Gap Church in that area.
The rest of the family were just hardworking people as far as I know at this time.

My family were all hard-working Acadians, the lot of them. I don't take after them at all ... :)

Here's the text of the card I just picked up for my Dear Dear Daddy for his upcoming birthday. It exemplifies how I feel about my family:

Everyday heroes -
go about their routine business of living, laughing, and loving. They make sacrifices, not headlines. They touch hearts and change lives, have high hopes, low profiles ... and the admiration fo all who recognize them as true heroes.

As far as I know, there are no great statesmen or royalty in my family. Just wonders of humanity. Everyday heroes, who plodded through poverty and came out on top. The crowning achievement is, of course, me... lol.

Acadians pisces??hmmm, my ancestors were from there(canada) and were acadians! They were pitched out and settled in Louisiana..sorry to get off topic guys, now back to the famous..

Pisces, you are so right. It is the poor, hard working folks who made this WORLD what it is. It's easy to succeed when you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but to succeed and make something out of nothing-- now THAT'S my idea of a hero.

I can only imagine what it was like for women as well- knowing that the next baby you carry might kill you,or knowing that if you got the diptheria in your home you could be burying better than half of your family within a two week time period. What was it like to feed a family of thirteen or more with only the food you were able to store away for the winter, and nothing else? (No running to the grocery store for a gallon of milk!)

Genealogy is a fascinating hobby, and I have been doing it for over ten years.

IndaShade I too have been doing genealogy for many years. Mostly because of my mother, she has so much of my ancestory on each of her parents and each of my fathers parents. I'ts incredible! I used to go sit at the archives for hours and hours and do research with her a lot. It is just so fascinating, and the history you learn about your ancestors can't be beat!

An interesting point about the women with babies. Most of my ancestors were from large families. I think they wanted a lot of children to help with the crops. Most of them preferred male offsprings.I hope that the comment about being born with a silver spoon was one that was made in general and not at any that had posted. I have famous relative and they did work hard. Daniel Boone and Morgan Bryan and his sons went West out of N.C. into uncharted terrain. Full of Indians that raided and killed. One of Morgan Bryan's son was killed in one of the atttacks at Bryan Station Ky. Certainly no silver spoon. Sir Francis Bryan deported from Ireland to Denmark and all his possessions confiscated including land holdings never to be regained. He worked hard enough to make it to the history books and did return to Ireland bfore his death. I wish I had inherited the attributes of some of my relatives. I would certainly be able to handle everyday problems with greater success. A little note about genealogy. Why do we get so excited when we find a lost relative and they are dead? I do love searching for them however. Jim

What an interesting bunch you all are!

For my part, we have a very long traceable line. My Grandfather was 65 when my father was born and my father was the 28th child (27 survivors that we know about) from 2 marriages. Grandfathers first wife died in child birth at the age of 42 with her 23rd child. My granmother was told to sleep in a seperate bed by her doctor because he was worried she would go the same way. Grandfather himself was the royal coach painter to Queen Victoria and King Edward for some time and at the end of his life was playing the clarinet in a symphony orchestra.

My father traced his family back but when my brothers and I expressed an interest he warned us not to. All you will find are theives, murderers and scum he said, well we never have but I still wonder about this dark, dim and distant past. Maybe I'll do some research later on.

Jim, the reason why I find it so exciting is because I was a "late in life" baby, (my father was 51 when I was born), and my mother and I were both late babies too. I guess it's because I feel cheated from having the opportunity to know my grandparents.
I will also admit that I was born with a silver spoon in hand. My father, having a great sence of humor for his baby girl, bought a silver spoon from Tiffany's for me. Although he's gone now, that spoon still makes me feel so special.
If anyone needs some help in researching their ancestors from this area please let me know. I don't mind helping someone find their roots.
Carol

Well we have so much in common.

Just last month I met the first member of the Bryan side of my family ever. My wife was on the internet looking for her ancestors with out any liuck back in Oct. of 2000. She got up and left the computer on and I sat down and it was on ancestor.com and I thought why not.I put in my grandfaters name that I thought was unusual James Lafayette and up pops this message and an email address for this woman in Ca. I will be going to McMinnville Tn. next month to a reunion and meet more of the relatives. My father died when I was 6 years old and all his relatives lived in Tn. and we lived in L.A. (LOWER ALABAMA)My mother was disabled and we had a hard time just getting from one meal to the next and just really didn't have money to travel on. So I just never met any of that side of the family. I was also born to an older parent. My father was 50 when I was born and my grandfather was 52 when my father was born. The cousin in Ca, when I contacted her said I was mistaken that the age wouldn't match for me to be related. Lucky for me I found a picture that she had an exact copy of when my father was about 12 years old. Yeah and found out about all these famous people Francis and the Boone connection since then. I studied them in school and my mother told me I was related to Daniel Boone. It is really thrilling to find out all the things you
can through the internet.My wife is still looking for her ancestors. Jim

No, the "silver spoon" comment was not made with anyone particular in mind-- I myself have "silver spoon" ancestors.

But the ones that fascinate me the most, and the one's of which I am most proud, are the ones that survived on sheer guts and determination and not much else.

Did you know that in order to travel from one place to another in order to set up a new homestead and break ground that the people had to travel during the winter? They couldn't travel in the summer and leave the crops behind-- they HAD to be harvested in order to feed the family, or they would starve. So the crops were harvested in the fall, and the other crops and foodstuffs brought in, and the families had to take everything by horse and wagon, or carry it on their backs and walk the distance-- all in the dead of winter. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Have you ever heard of Meat Camp N.C.? This was where some of my ancestors were from. I think it is around Boone N.C. and my understanding is how it got it's name was that was where everyone kept their meat's after slaughter. I guess it was to protect from the Indians. I guess other food items also. It really is amazing the things they went through to get us where we are today.

Baa,

I knew I was very German, but after I started researching, I was quite surprised to find out how very English I am.

I come from a long line of Pennsylvania Quakers: some from Berkshire and Staffordshire, and I have an old Parke line out of Suffolk. My maternal grandfather's father also came to the U.S. sometime in 1888-1889. He and his wife were from Lincolnshire.

I would love to come to England for a visit and prowl the old churchyards, but I am not too thrilled with the idea of flying! :-(

Indashade

I'm from Stafforshire myself! England is very beautiful and well worth the travelling time (and the plane ride!) but I know what you mean, I like to have my feet within a short distance of the groud too LOL

Baa

Indashade,
Seems the more we talk about geneology the more we find things that we have in common. The Morgan Bryan that I mentioned in my posting (the father -in -law of Daniel Boone) was a Quaker from Pennsylvania before moving to N.C. at the mouth od the Yadkin River. I guess it is a small world. Jim

Do any of your lines branch into the names Byerly (various spellings of this name, of course) or Peden?

Not that I remember seeing. I will have to check into that. The original is Guy de Brienne in England 1202. Maybe in de shade and I have more in common. LOL.

Guy de Brian was the Lord of Laugharne during the 13th century. The castle of the de Brians occupied is located in Carmarthenshire south Wales. According to the internet search I did on Laugharne it is now under extensive restoration. Maybe one day I will head that way. He would be my many ggrandfather Baa are you familiar with this castle? I always hated history when in school. Now I love it. Jim

This message was edited Tuesday, Jul 17th 9:15 PM

It's almost getting a bit eerie here. I've been researching the Irey surname on the maternal side of my family, and it is believed that some migated to Southwestern, Pa because of a dispute regarding Quakerism. The others resettled in Loudoun, Va. I guess it's time to take a closer look at my college history books.

Carol, I will look at my research and let you know what I find. There is so much history that I came across I have a hard time and try not to misquote. One thing I was thinking of is the posting by Baa about the dark things that turn up and I have a few of those. Two things that come to mind is finding out my father was married 6 times. I knew he was married three times but wasn't aware of the others. I am just glad he married the last time or there would be no Jim. Also one of my ancestors was arrested for murder. Seems he was a Doctor and his wife died from a prescription medicine overdose. He was accused and arrested and stayed in jail until the trial and they proved that she would take medicine out of his bag with out his knowledge and he was found innocent. However the good I've found out weight the bad. Jim

This message was edited Tuesday, Jul 17th 10:24 PM

Ladygreenthumbs,

There are lots of Byerly's in the Armstrong, Jefferson, Clarion Co., PA area. Are you related to them?

My 3x great grandfather bought land from a Henry Byerly in Jefferson County, PA.

A few of my Quaker lines are Brinton from Staffordshire, Willis from Wiltshire, and Taylor from Didcot, Berkshire. I had a very nice man researching Taylor for me in Berkshire, and he actually sent me photocopies of the Taylor wills, and transcribed them for me as the that old writing is notoriously hard to read. It was such a thrill to see a will that was written when Queen Elizabeth I sat on the throne! Plus, when I actually sat down and took a look at the lineage, I found that it was wrong most of the places that I found it on the internet. Seems as though someone had inserted a "John Taylor" where there should have been a "William Taylor."

If you do genealogy, always beware of what you find on the internet, and find a way to verify it for yourself. Too many people are into "name collecting" and having huge numbers of names in their databases and don't give a hoot whether the info is right or not.

IndaShade, Yes, that is my Byerly family. One of the first in that line to come to America was Andreas Byerly -Johanne Andreas Byerly. Book written by Dr. Charles R. Freeble, Jr. and Howard D. Barnhart who wrote Andreas Byerly (Bauer-Lein) Baker, Indian Scout, Mil Express Rider 1713-1784 April 1991. BAP: 26 Jun 1713 info obtained from The
Northern Kraighgau, pg 57. Buried: at or near Strasburg in Lancaster, PA. According to Charles E. Byerly, who wrote Early History of Andrew Byerly, pg. 1, and on pg. 68 in The Adventures of Andrew Byerly by Dr. Charles R. Freeble, Jr. Details of the Battle of Bushy Run - 1763, and Byerly's
settlement that dates from 1759 can be found in History of Co. of Westmoreland, PA and with Biographical Sketches of many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men edited by George Dallas Albert, pages 32-36.
Andrew was a baker for the army, later established an express rider station near Ft. Pitt and Ft. Ligonier, PA. they had 5 sons and two daughters. There is a history of
"Andreas Byerley (Bauer-Lein) baker, Indian Scout, Mil Express Rider" by Howard D. Barnhart. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Call Number - Historical Society Library Pamphlet Collection 92-281, Published by LaHabra,
CA: H.D. Barnhart, 1991 (a Byerly descendant).

I couldn't agree with you more on the name collecting and inaccurate information on the internet. I document anything and everything before entering it into the "final" database.

Yeah the internet can throw you a curve once in a while. It is best to have only documented materials. I would never get anything off the internet and call it my ancestors with out it being documented. However, the internet is great in finding living relatives. I have also heard of researchers creating documents that are false in order to sell their services. The same docunent floating around with the name changed. But who can you trust anyway. The jails are full of people that have scammed average Joe out of millions and millions of dollars. The old saying "don't believe any thing you hear and only half of what you see" can be a true statement at times. I prefer to trust the people I deal with most of the time. Jim

Absolutely Jim! I have "met" several relatives via the internet. It is quite fascinating. The kinds of documentation I like are old family bibles, courthouse/archive records, old letters, journals and the like.
A few years back we were having a holiday get-together at my parents home and I had finally gotten a hold of my mother's father's Immigration paperwork and was sharing it with my family that day. Well, the interesting thing was that it was that same exact month and day that very day that my grandfather had immigrated. It brought tears to my mom's eyes!
We live in Virginia and my husband's ancestors at one time owned the land where Quantico Marine Base now resides.

I have PA Quakers and NC, GA roots also. Anybody got any Jackson, Lightfoot, Miller, Bedell (Bidel, Biddle, etc.), Terrel, Smith names out there?

Lantana I think I do have some Miller in my line. I'll check all the names . I'm sending you a web site for Quakers in Pa. thatI ran across and it was very interesting.

I have Millers but they weren't Quaker that I am aware of.

Many of the Miller families in southeastern PA are Amish or Mennonite. Another fascinating bunch of folks.

My husband has a Smith line, and I was just sure I wasn't going to get very far on it, but I managed to get further than I thought I would.

My husband has alot of really NEAT Civil War ancestors too-- his great great grandfather fought with the First Pennsylvania Rifles, more popularly know as the Bucktails (The REAL ones-- not the regiment that was formed much later). They were so famed and feared as crack sharpshooters that when the Confederates knew they were in the area, they ran from them! They were at Gettysburg.

I, on the other hand, have ONE direct Civil War ancestor-he was put in charge of guarding a supply train, but fell in a ditch, got a rupture and was sent home! I think clumsiness is a gene that has stayed in the family all these years-- I have two left feet!

LOL Indashade that is a wonderful story. The site that I was going to send is a site about the first settlement of Quakers in Va. it says most were from Maryland.I know my ggggfather is listed on there and he was from Pa. and I have no record of him being in Maryland.The site is
http://www.rootsweb.com/~quakers/hopewell.htm
The location of the first settlement is 6 miles north of Winchester, Fredirick Co. Va. I went back and was looking at the site before I posted this and lo and behold down at the bottom of the page it mentions that the information was from a book wtitten by SAMUEL SMITH that was compiled in 1752. Now Lantana and Indashade if this Smith happens to be your ggggggranfather or even a cousin you will have to send me some seeds.LOL. Hope you enjoy the site. Morgan Bryan later changed religions and the speculation is because of politics. The Quaker's weren't elected to many political offices and later Morgan did get into politics. Jim

This message was edited Wednesday, Jul 18th 3:51 PM

This message was edited Wednesday, Jul 18th 3:54 PM

lantana, I have a Margaret J. Terrell married to a John Lide Hart. They had a daughter Fannie Hart who married E.J.C. Byrd. They had a son named Huger Strickland Byrd who married a Mary Ann Miller.

Lantana, I have several Jacksons-David Cartwright, Greg, Sam Annice, Shannon. There are to many Millers to name, Most from the Meat Camp and Boone N.C. area. Some related to Daniel.I would be glad to email you the connections if you want me to. Ladygreenthumbs I really enjoyed the story about your immigration papers. When it comes to documents sometimes they can throw a curve at you also. I sent to the State of Tn. for a record where my grandfather fought in the Civil War and also for a copy of a pension that my grandmother received for his service. Her name Evaline France Paty Bryan. On the same document, it being a one page document, her name was spelled Paty and another place Patty, and one place Evaline and another Evelyn. Her tombstone is Evaline and I guess that is pretty final. Jim

I'm sorry the hyperlink wouldn't work. Any one interested email me and I will forward to you through email. Ladygreenthumbs have you heard of Hopewell Meeting House?