The most surprising discovery from our genealogy work over the weekend, for me, is the fact that we trace our roots back to England. As a Presbyterian, and having a love of all things Scottish, I really thought our roots would trace to Scotland.
Don’t get me wrong…I’m not disappointed. I am actually thrilled to have been able to trace the lineage back 13 generations – from Holly and Paul all the way back to Arthur Gary (and his father Nathaniel).
In addition to discovering our family’s original home was (Bishops, Stortford, Hertfordshire, England), there were a few other interesting buds on the family tree:
Names
There are definitely some recurring themes in terms of family names. One of Holly’s nicknames for Paul is “Bill,”; One of my dad’s brothers is ‘Bill.’ They’re both in good company. There are a number of Williams as you trace the line from (Bishops, Stortford, Hertfordshire, England) all the way to Memphis. First, Arthur’s son (who made that first Atlantic crossing with him) is William. They landed together in Nantucket in 1639.
William’s son was also William. There was a third William in the line (and he really played a pivotal role in our family history). William Bailey Gary moved the family from Newberry County, SC to Memphis sometime before my great grandfather was born.
Ages
One of my ancestors (John M) lived to be 105 (and died in 1808). That’s pretty amazing to me for that place and time. On the other extreme, Jacob (who was William Bailey’s dad) passed away at age 50. According to records, William Bailey was born when Jacob was 49! Talk about a near-miss.
Confirmations
A number of the genealogists we encountered on Ancestry.com had similar information, so I feel pretty secure about the validity of what we found. And I want to make a big tip of the cap to my very distant cousin in Memphis, who put together all the information we found that made our discovery possible.
Who knows where we will take our family history discovery from here. As Lisa often says, the one thing about genealogy is that you’re never really done. There’s always more to do. We could go back further in time. We could discover some additional lines or long lost relatives. We definitely want to learn more about my dad’s mother’s mother. And who knows, maybe someday we’ll find out that Lisa’s ancestors and my ancestors were once neighbors.
In any case, this was an exciting discovery. Across the pond, Holly is buzzing with enthusiasm about this information and I feel certain she’ll pick up the ball and continue running with it when she gets home. And Paul, who is normally not as interested in such things, was down in the floor with me the other night looking at the various branches of the family tree saying “Wow” over and over again.
We both noticed how the sheets of tree branches really kind of resemble a March Madness-style bracket - call it family bracketology!
My mom and dad have also been very enthused about the whole process. My mother wants to find an old photo of her father’s father and siblings and she dug out some helpful information on her side of the tree while my dad looked for some photos of his relatives in his files. The news has also reached my sister, on vacation, in Chicago. She will certainly be excited about all of this when she gets back to town.
Family history binds our present to the past and unites generation after generation. Apart from our discovery of where ‘the old country’ was for us, it’s even more exciting to see how this has brought all of us together with a common interest.
…from my kids to my generation to my dad and his generation…and beyond…
JG
(Source: ancestry.com)
Originally posted 7/16/2012
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