Travel The World

What a great thing to happen to me on Independence Day!  I was going through some boxes of old items that my mother made me bring to Texas a few years ago.  This was stuff that had accumulated over the years in my mother's house but ostensibly belonged to me.  Anyway, as I was going through one of the boxes, lo and behold, I found this knife.  I had not seen it in over thirty years but remember it belonging to my grandfather who passed away in 1988.  Somehow, it had ended up in one of the boxes and found its way to me.  My grandfather was an avid knife collector in those days and bought this in 1976.  The brand of the knife is "German Boker" and is a limited edition bicentennial model.  Quite appropriate for this day. The amazing thing is the knife was in great condition and still had grease on the blades from the last time my grandfather oiled it.  If you look closely, you can even see the American flag embossed on the blade....

This was interesting.  We took this picture at the head of Long Branch about three miles from where we left the main road.  I have no idea who painted the rock or the purpose behind it but said individual seemed to have talent.

Last week, I visited family in both West Virginia and Kentucky.  One of the highlights of the trip was driving up this narrow road into an area called "Long Branch" in Martin County, Kentucky.  I was particularly interested in locating this area because my genealogical research identifies this as the location of some of my ancestors in the 1800s.  More specifically, I was looking for members of the 'Ball' and 'Hensley' families.  Well, Long Branch is a hard place to find if you've never been there and we had to ask a few of the locals to make sure we were in the right place.  You may also notice that the picture isn't that great and this is because trees are everywhere making it difficult to see very far!  Anyway, we didn't acquire very much information on this trip but we did get some leads concerning a few cemeteries that we want to check out in the future whenever we can get our hands on a four-wheel drive.

As I continue researching my genealogy, I am picking up on migration patterns into Appalachia that I was not aware of before.  In the past, I assumed the majority of migration into that area came from the Scotch-Irish who were seeking cheap land that was no longer available on the coast.  However, I now see it somewhat differently.  More likely than not, your average migrant went west because he was NOT the first son of a planter family in eastern Virginia and needed to strike out on his own to make his fortune.  You see, "primogeniture" was, by law or custom, still in effect in the colonies and required most of the inheritance to go to the eldest son.  An example of this in my lineage is the case of Moses Ball (1717-1792).  Even though he had several sons, he followed the custom and left most of his estate to the eldest one.  His other sons were left to fend for themselves and most coped with this by moving a little farther west in the Virginia c...

Wow!  There were a lot of surprises from my genealogical research over the past month.  As mentioned in a previous post, my DNA results indicate more of a 'Continental Europe' influence than a 'British Isles' one.  This was initially confusing since every surname I've ever been aware of was British in nature.  The problem was that I hadn't yet gone back far enough in my research.  I have now researched six generations and found the following surnames in my ancestry: Father's Branch German Krummholz (Anglicized to Crum) Honaker Schmidt (Smith) Scherp Ries (Reese) Hermann (Harmon) Seiburren Laitmer Englert Haan Rodenbucher French Auxier (actually, Alsatian so could also be considered German) Depuy Dutch Hornbeck Roosa Wynkoop Pels Van Vliet (Van Fleet) DeHooges Mother's Branch German Schrader Nin Bader (Borders) Balterspergerin Kuppler French Poteet Tonnelier (Tunnell) Regnault Martiau Brass...

"Ancestry.com" is an amazing resource for researching one's genealogy.  Using this tool, I continue to find interesting items in my own.  Just today, I discovered a lineage I suspected but for which I had no direct proof.  You see, my DNA results indicate more of a German/Scandinavian background with the following breakdown: Europe West        32% Great Britain       25% Scandinavia         19% Irish                    16% Compared to my mother's results (with 52% Great Britain), I show a lot of Continental Europe even though almost all of the surnames in my ancestry are British in origin.  Initially, I assumed this was from the fact that many British people are actually descendants of Germanic (Anglo/Saxon/Jute) invaders of...

I will discuss this ancestor next as 'Dalton' is my mother's maiden name.  Some records list William Dalton as being born in the Virginia colony and others show him as being born in Yorkshire, England.  I believe both are incorrect for the following reasons.  First of all, William's father, Tyrell Dalton, was born, grew up, and died in Cambridgeshire, England.  As a matter of fact, his tomb is located in the St. Vigor's church, Fulbourn in the same shire (county).  Since Tyrell never actually traveled to America, it's obvious that his son would not have been born there.  As for Yorkshire as a possible birth site, this speculation probably comes from reading about the origins of the Dalton family as being in Yorkshire.  The inscription on Tyrell's tomb indicates this origin as well but also makes clear that Tyrell never lived there. I speculate that William came to the Virginia colony in the late 1600s but there...

I have just a few more observations about this ancestor.  First of all, I am certain he is, in fact, an ancestor of mine as his arrival in America and subsequent line is well documented.  His grandson, William McCoy (1750-1835), was a Revolutionary War veteran and eventually moved to Pike County, Kentucky where he was granted a parcel of land.  He is thought to be the ancestor of all 'McCoys' in Eastern Kentucky and was my 5th great-grandfather.  I grew up in Martin County, Kentucky a former territory of Pike County. Another observation concerning John McCoy is that he was a 'Jacobite' and initially left Scotland because of a failed rebellion to reinstall King James II on the throne.  I am curious about this because the MacKay clan was notoriously anti-Jacobite so John must have gone against clan policy in supporting the former king.  So, did he leave Scotland for fear of retaliation from the current government or did he flee because of pos...

I have become obsessed with my genealogy over the past few years and spend a lot of time researching it each week.  Although this is not a genealogy blog, I do want to put items of note on it as I discover them.  I thought one possibility might be putting the names (and whatever back story I might find) of the ancestors in each branch who actually crossed the pond.  After all, this would constitute amazing adventures which is, after all, the subject of this blog.  So, here goes. I carry the surname of the first individual I will discuss.  His name was John McCoy (changed from MacKay) and he came to Maryland in approximately 1732 after spending roughly 15 years in Belfast.  He originally came from Sutherland County, Scotland in the north of the country.  I copied the following details from a site I found on the internet: Name: John McCoy Given Name: John Surname: McCoy Sex: M Birth: 1690 in Sutherland Shire, Scotland Death: ...

I found this video yesterday on YouTube and thought I would post the link.  It discusses the enduring poverty in Appalachia, more specifically, that in Eastern Kentucky.  I was very surprised to see that it included interviews from my home county and with some people I actually know.  Although the video 'narrated' the poverty well, neither Diane Sawyer (the lead on this project) nor 20/20 discussed the bigger issues of why the War on Poverty had failed so miserably.  Perhaps in a follow-up segment?  Anyway, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBdu6uhrNno

Just thought I'd add this since I'm really getting into my genealogy.  Ancestry.com has a great DNA test that you can associate with others who have also submitted to it.  PS, click on the picture to get a better view.

I recently ordered this DNA kit for my mother just to see the similarity between our DNA and if Ancestry.com would identify us as parent/child.  Her results are listed below: 52% Great Britain 18% Scandinavia 14% Europe West 8%   Ireland 5%   Trace Regions As a reminder, here are my new updated results: 32% Europe West 25% Great Britain 19% Scandinavia 16% Ireland 8%   Trace Regions As you can see, her DNA is predominantly British (almost as much as a native according to the site) and mine is more admixed.  It could be my father's DNA is more concentrated in the areas that I have or, I simply inherited a different admixture from both parents.  The site DID identify us as parent/child so this adds credibility to the results.

It seems that Ancestry.com has refined its algorithm for analyzing DNA results.  If you read my earlier post, you know that the original results of my DNA testing were: 52% Scandinavian 20% British 19% Central European 9% Southern European Now, the new algorithm has yielded: 32% Europe West 25% Great Britain 19% Scandinavia 16% Ireland 8%   Trace Regions This is a little confusing for a couple of reasons.  First of all, there is no longer a 'Central European' category, only "Europe West" and "Europe East."  Therefore, I must assume what was lopped off from Scandinavia has been primarily added to the new category of Europe West.  Also, what is the distinction between the "Great Britain" and "Ireland" categories.  Isn't the latter just a part of the former?  Hopefully, the results will be further refined in the future for the sake of clarity. I ordered the kit for my mother and we're awaiting the results.  It will...

Just got my Ancestry.com DNA results. In some ways, they match up with the Genographic Project results but differ in others. Genographic seems to classify the DNA based on ancient migration patterns whereas, Ancestry focuses on more recent groupings. As a reminder, Geno categorized me as: 44% Northern European 38% Mediterranean 16% SW Asian with two reference populations being Danish and Greek. Ancestry yielded the following results: 52% Scandinavian 20% British 19% Central European 9% Southern European I happen to know that all my ancestors came directly from the British Isles to America so the Scandinavian influence must have resulted from an earlier migration to Britain, Viking perhaps? Also, the Central European is probably related to the Anglo-Saxon migration/invasion of Britain. One more fun aspect of Ancestry's analysis is that it links you to potential cousins based on their results compared to yours. Who knows if any of these studies are completely vali...

I recently joined National Geographic's Genographic Project and learned some interesting things about my ancient ancestry that I'm excited to share. You can see my personalized infographic here .

A few months ago, I sent a DNA sample in to the "Genographic Project," a DNA analysis program sponsored by National Geographic.  After about six weeks, I got my results which were somewhat surprising.  Prior to this, I knew that the majority of my recent ancestors came from various locations in the British Isles.  However, the project compared my DNA with what is referred to as "reference populations."  The two that aligned most closely with me were 'Danish' and 'Greek.'  The former would make sense as my ancestors were probably part of the Anglo-Saxon migrations into Britain 1,500 years ago.  But, the Greek was strange and I still don't understand how the percentages led to that conclusion.  Ultimately, these results don't mean that I'm from those areas absolutely; they only mean my DNA aligns well with the current populations in those locations.  Following is a breakdown of my percentages: 44%--Northern European 38%--Mediterranean 1...