Open letter to my brother

When I visited my family in Atlanta recently, I shared some of the stories and characters I am  sharing with you now. My brother asked me, "Who are we? What are we? I mean, what percentage of heritage are we?"

Well, Larry, I went through the charts I have collected and the information I have so far and this is what I came up with...we're all mutts. We are all connected to so many different families and histories that I was surprised, if not, stunned, at the realization. Every marriage brings a new family to the tree and every family has it's own tree and history, but here is ours:

 

European Relatives

The first European I have found to date that is related to me is James Goheen (3^rd ggrandfather) b. 1834 in Germany. He is the father of Sarah Goheen who married Albert French who is my 2^nd ggrandfather. He is my Grandpa French’s grand father.

In 1783 William Melton French ( 4^th g grandfather) is born in England and marries a lady named only “Ione” also born in England. Their son Jeremiah French has a son, Albert, who is Mom’s ggrandfather.

Also in this generation is Nellie Pemberton b. 1754 in Scotland ( 4^th ggrandmother) who married John Cooke. Their great granddaughter is grandma Green’s mom.

These are the closest I have found to date, although, new information is popping up all the time. I am sure that I will be adding revisions as I go along.

In the next generation there are more and as each generation steps further back, more and more are from Europe. William French (5^th ggrandfather) b. 1739 and his wife Mary Scammel b. 1761 are both from Somerset, England.

John Cooke (5^th ggf) b. 1730 and his wife, Elizabeth Gurney b. 1732 both lived and died in London, England.

James Stewart (5^th ggf) b. 1719 in Dunblane, Scotland,  who’s line goes back to the kings of Scotland and England, married Mary Ann Lafferty b. 1720 in Dublin, Ireland.

The next generation has more European blood starting with Hans Johannes Bischoff (6^th ggf) b. 1731 in Oberhausen, Germany. His wife, Margaretha Overmeyer was b. 1732 in Bayern, Germany.

Joseph Scammel (6^th ggf) b. 1720 in Somerset, England married Mary Usher b. 1737 Somerset, England.

Thomas Cooke b. 1710 in England married Lady Hanna b. 1715 England. And from the other side of the English border and across the Irish Sea is 6^th ggf John Stuart b.1708 in Perthshire, Scotland and his wife, Mary Shaw b. 1710 Antrim, Ireland. Their son married an Irish girl, Mary Ann, and her parents are both from Ireland – Thomas Lafferty b.1690 in Dublin and his wife, named, interestingly enough, Last Easter b.1700 in Dublin.

My 6^th ggmother from the Blankenship- Perdue- Green line is Elizabeth Hudson b. 1704 in Leicestershire (pronounced “Lest-a-sher”), England.

So, in the time between 3 generations - early 1800’s to the late 1600’s - I have found 11 relatives from England, 3 from Scotland, 4 from Ireland, and 3 from Germany.

Earlier in the 1600’s and further back there are 2 from Holland, but it looks like the husband’s family moved from England and were living there when he was born . I believe the wife was from a family based in Holland.

There is also a lady from Russia who married an Irishman, I believe, in England. Also, back in the 9^th or 10^th century the royal line of Wales married into the royal line of England and there is some evidence that we are remotely related to that line through the Green’s in England or the Steward’s in Scotland.

So, to answer your question, brother, it looks as though we are roughly half English and the other half split between German, Scottish, and Irish.

Oh, and don’t forget the lines that joined the family in the 16-1700’s – the Native American Indian’s. That is mostly Eastern Cherokee but there are, most likely, also other tribes involved as well. As to that subject, the research continues.

David L. Green

6.13.2011