Roots & Branches

Have you ever found yourself working on your family history and suddenly something doesn’t fit.  I am not talking of a simple typo or one letter off.  I am talking about suddenly finding you are on the wrong line and these are NOT your people.  Unfortunately this does happen to the best of us. 

I lady I know stopped by and was doing a little genealogy.  She had been diligently working and suddenly she came up and I could tell she was very confused.  We took a few minutes to review her work and to her dismay, found that she had in fact taken a wrong turn.  She had been looking for J. Pierce.  He was from Wyoming.  In her search she had thought she found this great-great-grandfather.  But the dates were definitely off.  He had to be from the later 1800’s of course, but she wasn’t sure just when.  I her search she had found a Jefferson Pierce listed in Wyoming, but the date seemed off.  The J. Pierce she was using was found in the 1920 census and his age was 26.  This was her red flag.  She knew it was wrong.

To help her, we went back to her family pedigree sheets to where she knew the information was accurate.  Next we started looking at census records.  This led us to find the correct  J. Pierce.  Her previous information was that her family was from Sublette County.  We did find her great-grandfather and it listed his family when he was a child.  To her surprise the father was Jackson Pierce.   I then suggested that she write for a death certificate for him as well as requesting an obituary from the local newspaper, library, or Wyoming Newspaper Project (http://www.wyonewspapers.org/about.html).

After a bit of time Nancy stopped back by the library to fill me in.  This was in fact the correct person.  She was able to find an obituary using the Wyoming Newspaper Project.  This is a great tool.  It can be accessed at home. All you need a computer and the internet. You will find newspapers from 1849 to 1922 for all of Wyoming.  Also in the obituary she was able to find the name of her grandmother.  Also the parents of Jackson Pierce as well as the siblings were listed.  Once again an obituary came to the rescue. 

I find it is always good to review your pedigree chart from time to time.  Just check to see that all the timelines work.  If not, do as we did and backtrack to the point where you know things are correct.  Paperwork and computer software can always be corrected.  I have done this once myself.  We put so much work into this we certainly want it to be correct.  I hope these tips will help you as you continue your search.

Good Luck with your research!

Those who read my blog know that I am a huge fan of “Who Do You Think You Are?” on NBC.  This is a very entertaining and instructional series.  So often I watch, as I am sure many of you do, and think I wish I could find that kind of information! 

Have you ever hear it said that “we are all six steps away from each other”?  Well there may be a few more steps in there, but not many at times.  After watching the season’s last episode of WDYTYA featuring Ashley Judd the actress, I may know a few of her relatives.  She found that she is a descendent of William Brewster who was on the Mayflower.  Yes I said the Mayflower.  We all live for finds like that.

While checking my usual Facebook updates from a few friends and family I saw a very interesting post from my husband’s cousin Micky.  She has been doing genealogy for some time and has confirmed her line also connects to William Brewster who was on the Mayflower.  Very exciting for her (we are not of that line).  She posted on FB that she was excited to be related to the Judd’s.  I thought that was pretty cool. 

While working the other day a patron came in and he wanted to work on his genealogy and stopped by the desk for assistance.  While we were talking he happened to mention that he had just watched an episode of WDYTYA with Ashley Judd and he too was in the direct line to William Brewster.  WOW.  What are the chances of two people I know to both have this connection. 

I am hoping to connect these two and hopefully they might share information.  My hope is this will spread to others and more connections are made.  I am very happy for them. 

For anyone out there that is interested in the Mayflower and the descendents thereof be sure to visit the Mayflower Society website at http://www.themayflowersociety.com/. 

More than one hundred years ago, a group of descendants of the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, saw the need for a national society to honor their memory. The intention was to remember these Pilgrims who established Plymouth Colony, in what was then called the northern part of Virginia.

Today there are tens-of-millions of individuals descended from these brave souls. It is the goal of The Mayflower Society to join together people who share this heritage and to carry on the memory of our Pilgrim ancestors. (taken from the Mayflower Society website.)

Information about William Brewster may also be found in a website designated to him. You may visit it at http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/Passengers/WilliamBrewster.php.

Pilgrim: A Biography of William Brewster, by Mary B. Sherwood.  William Brewster is one of the most interesting of the Mayflower passengers, and this biography does a nice job telling the story of his life: from growing up, going to college, becoming assistant to the Secretary of State, becoming postmaster of Scrooby, helping to build the Separatist church there, migrating to Holland, publishing illegal religious pamphlets, and settling in America.

Birth: About 1566, probably in Doncaster, Yorkshire, the son of William and Mary (Smythe)(Simkinson)

Marriage: Mary, maiden name unknown, about 1592, probably in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire. rewster.

Death: 10 April 1644, Plymouth.

Children: Jonathan, Patience, Fear, unnamed child who died young, Love, and Wrestling.

 I would be very interested in hearing from anyone that has made the connection to this group.  Please share your stories.