I am continuously researching my family tree. However, there are times where it might be helpful, particularly for other researchers to see what has been added to my tree over time. I won't put every update, but I will put significant updates and highlights to the genealogy depicted on
this website. Note that since this page was launched in November 2016, news items before then will be more generalized. Also check out how to get started on your own research.
Pick a specific timeframe:
April 2018:
Made minor navigational changes between certain pages, on the Generations page and on this page. Revisited Campbell (paternal) research.
Discovered via 23andMe a DNA cousin Natasha Poole who shares Simmons and Eckard ancestry with me. Our common ancestors are John and Margaret (Wimer) Simmons as well as
Philip Eckard, Sr., and Barbara (Propst) Eckard. And like many with a Pendleton County (WV/VA) heritage, it appears we share even more ancestry than those two couples! Due to my multiple descending from John and Margaret (Wimer) Simmons along side of my Eckard ancestry, Natasha and I are 7th cousins and she is twice my 6th cousin once removed!
Discovered Allen Johnson, my second cousin once removed! His great-great grandfather Val Johnson is my grandfather's (H. "Ed" Edwin Johnson) brother. Allen is also the first Johnson I've discovered who descended from my patrilineal Johnson line with whom I have also found an autosomal DNA match (not many closely related Johnsons have taken autosomal DNA tests). I also found other Johnson relatives mentioned in the obituary for Mrs. Frances "Billy" Hedrick Johnson (daughters Judy Johnson, Kathryn Johnson and her husband John Strickland, and Joanne Johnson all of Salisbury, NC; two grandchildren: Starling Johnson Kaklamanos and husband Aaron; and Hedrick Strickland). The late Mrs. Billy Johnson is wife of the late Allen Starling Johnson, Jr., son of Allen Starling Johnson, brother to my grandfather (H. "Ed" Edwin Johnson), sons of Norman Harris Johnson and Julia Priscilla (Morris) Johnson. However, I have not been able to correspond with them yet. I found some more information at "Celebrating 70 Years as a Family-Owned Business: Johnson Concrete Company" by Margaret Patricia Eaton, seen in the January 1, 2018, edition of Construction in Focus magazine.
March 2018:
Researched my Simmons ancestry after discussion with distant cousin Nora Taylor Lambert and revisiting A compilation of Simmons descendants of Pendleton County, Va. (W. Va.) by Walter L. Eye. Nothing particularly new came out of the research, but some clarification (children and lineage as depicted on my site) and questions did (whether or not Leonard Simmons was connected to John Nicholas Simmons). Discovered via 23andMe my 5th cousin Robin Quick who is descended from Benjamin Morris, Sr., and Sarah Elizabeth (Bolton) Morris.
After reviewing, designated persons listed prior to the 1560s on the Newby-Albertson-Nicholson-Hayward-De Cam Ancestry as speculative due to suspicious dates. Did likewise for other names on pages tying into Scottish Royalty that are currently speculative. I modified surnames as unverified accordingly.
Worked on stronger inheritance lines for viewing the site so that instead of using this:
| | | | ↓
The site can begin using this:
| | | | ↓
For now, it is demonstrated on the Simmons Ancestry page as it is a simple hierarchy to model the new lines. Over time, this will replace what is out there, though the text overlay will be in place for the sake of printing the lines on pages. It will be slowly rolled out one page at a time.
December 2017: Renewed research of the De Skene ancestry, particularly that of my ancestor Agnes Forbes De Skene attempting to verify her ties to Scottish royalty.
In researching the De Skene ancestry, I found inconsistencies in dates, therefore making my path to the John De Skene (ca. 1290) difficult to trace. The question is not if I am descended from him as much as how I am descended from him.
So I dug into it and began the process of correcting the dates for the De Skene ancestry and the Skene ancestry as I reviewed sources (some of which are now listed on the various pages). While I was able to get a clearer path to John De Skene (ca. 1290) in my research,
I also found that the parentage for Agnes Forbes (who married Alexander De Skene) is only speculated. So while I can verify being descended from a Forbes, I cannot say with certainty who Agnes' parents were. Meanwhile, the documentation substantiating her husband's De Skene line appears in tact,
though some dates may vary slightly among sources. Corrected name links in Hicks ancestry and Hicks Origins - Early Hicks Ancestry and did some research thereof. Also added embellishments to those pages (coat of arms and links). Theorized possible Virginia locations of my early Johnsons.
Found a picture of the house of Joseph Coffman, brother to my ancestor Catherine Coffman Funkhouser, which has an interesting story, thanks to The Heartland: Rockingham County by Nancy B. Hess (1976).
Added quick select for sources. Revisited the research of the Kearns ancestry after corresponding with
Gene Kearns (Eugene Kearns, Jr.). I am both his 4th cousin twice removed and his 5th cousin once removed through the Kearns line.
He is son of Eugene Kearns, Sr., son of Lewis Marvin Kearns, Sr., son of Calier Steed Kearns, son of Isaac Kearns, Jr., son of Isaac Kearns, Sr.
November 2017: I heard from Bryan Scott Godfrey, a descendant of Miriam (Newby) Lamb, sister of my (5x) great-great-great-great-great grandmother Mary (Newby) Morris. From his sources and research, replaced the surname Gosbey/Gosbey with Sutton. Further, via the Sutton ancestry, discovered additional surnames beyond Sutton: Tilden, Huckstep/Huckstepe, Bigge/Biggs, Hatch, Warner and possibly the following as well: Glover and Hand.
Researched the Surratt line, adding some speculated but possible origins and details to the line.
Joined MyHeritage.
Met (online) and gathered information from Pamela Kudla, a fellow descendant of Isack and Damaris (Shattuck) Page and between her research and other information from Philip Shaddock, researcher of the Shattock/Shattuck/Shaddock/Shaddick/Shadduck DNA, added more details to the Shattuck ancestry.
I came across the MyHeritage Family Tree of Lewis Armstrong, great-great-great-great-great grandson of Nicholas and Anna Elisabeth (Seybert) Hevener, my alleged great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents, making me possibly Lewis Armstrong's 6th cousin twice removed via the Hevener ancestry. What is interesting is that this challenges research suggesting that my ancestry is through Cowger instead of Hevener.
MyHeritage predicts we are 1st cousins twice removed to 4th cousins, which is much closer than the estimate when just considering the possible Hevener connection. Thus, he and I are likely related via another route. Yet, as I review the tree of Lewis Armstrong, I see no other familiar names besides Nicholas and Anna Elizabeth (Seybert) Hevener. Still, the question remains if my ancestor was a Cowger or Hevener. Nonetheless, I did research Nicholas Hevener and found some detailed information about him on Geni.com. It doesn't answer my question, but it is interesting nonetheless.
Continuing to try to break through my brick wall with the origins of Abraham Johnson in researching leads for my Johnson line.
October 2017: Not much by way of changes on the site itself, but a lot of time researching chromosomes and chromosome mapping/browsing. Added improved contact capability as seen by the mailbox 📫 above.
Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff!.
September 2017:
Found via FTDNA a Richardson family, to whom I am connected via the Bowman/Baumann and Funkhouser lines. The mother is daughter of a woman whose maiden name was Corbett , who in turn was daughter of Charles Howard Corbett,
son of Arta Leola Bowman Corbett, daughter of Jacob Samuel Bowman, son of Samuel Bowman, son of Jacob Bowman, son of Daniel Bowman, son of Christian and Elizabeth Bowman (our common ancestors). Researching the Bowman line as a result.
Found via 23andMe a 5th cousin through my Surratt line in Miranda Stokes Winters, a fellow great-great-great-great grandchild of Beverly and Paulina "Lucy" or "Laney" (Loflin) Surratt.
Updated Shattuck ancestry with a link to a tree holding their origins.
Found via 23andMe Grace Morris (not related through my Morris line though her father Andy was adopted into it), daughter of Sarah Sexton Morris, daughter of John Sexton, son of Nannie Hill Sexton, daughter of my great grandparents William "Eddie" Hill and Mary Addie (Cranford) Hill.
Found via FTDNA Lane Hancock, multiply related to me, thrice through the Kearns line and once through the Lassiter line. Her father Charles Bauserman is my 5th cousin through the Lassiter line. Our common ancestor is Micajah Lassiter, Sr. (1764-1854), Charles through Micajah's first wife Celia Spivey.
I am descended from Micajah via his second marriage to Mary Tadlock. Charles Bauserman is my 4th cousin through the Kearns line, our common ancestors being Thomas and Rebecca (Ivey) Kearns. Charles is descended from their daughter Anna and I am descended from their daughter Elizabeth "Betsy" (Kearns) Johnson. However,
Charles Bauserman and I are also 5th cousins through the Kearns line. Being 4th cousins as descendants of Thomas Kearns, my also being descended from Thomas' brother Isaac via my paternal grandmother Gertrude Leona (Hill) Johnson makes the parents of Thomas and Isaac a common ancestor to Charles Bauserman and me, thus making us 5th cousins a second time. However, Lane Hancock added further
connectivity she and I share beyond her father Charles Bauserman for her mother Leeta Belle Highfill is daughter of Mary Louise Russell, daughter of Hattie Bell Strider, daughter of Jessie Lee Strider, son of Margaret Ann Kearns, daughter of Silas Kearns (1807-1844), son of Isaac Kearns. So, I am a 5th cousin to Lane's mother through Isaac. So, taking all this into consideration, Lane is twice my 5th cousin once removed through the Kearns line and once my 4th cousin once removed through the Kearns line and
she is my 5th cousin once removed through the Lassiter line. Wow!
Found via FTDNA, found Barbara McMahon, a fellow descendant of Thomas Nash IV. She is the daughter of Charles Nash, the son of Clifford Nash, the son of Charle Nash, the son of
James Nash, the son of William Nash, the son of Thomas (IV) and Mary Herbert Nash. I am her 5th cousin once removed.
The muster roll now given, which contains Pendleton as well as Highland names, was copied from the original paper in the handwriting of Nicholas Seybert. Muster Roll, Captain Hull's Company, Second Battalion, Augusta Militia, 1779:
Peter Hull--Captain
Nicholas Seybert--First Lieutenant
Henry Fleisher--Second Lieutenant
Jacob Hoover--Ensign
Privates:
Arbogast, Adam
Arbogast, David
Arbogast, John
Arbogast, Michael
Bennett, Jacob
Bennett, John
Bennett, William
Blizzard, Thomas
Bodkin, Hugh
Bowman, John
Burner, Abraham
Conrad, Ulrich, Jr.
Crummett, Frederick
Duffield, Abraham (under 18)
Eckard, Abraham
Eckard, Philip
Ellsworth, Jacob
Eye, Christopher
Fleisher, Conrad
Graham, Francis
Gum, Isaac
Gum, Jacob
Gum, William
Hammer, Balsor
Harper, Nicholas
Hoff, James
Hogg, John (under 18)
Hoover, Michael
Huffman, George
Hull, Adam
Ingram, Uriah
Jordan, Andrew
Lantz, Conrad
Lantz, Joseph
McQuain, Alexander
Mullenax, John
Mullenax, James (under 18)
Noll, Henry
Peninger, John
Pickle, Christian
Puffenberger, George
Rexrode, George
Sheets, George
Simmons, George
Simmons, John
Simmons, Leonard
Simmons, Mark
Simmons, Michael
Simmons, Peter
Sinder, John
Smith, Mark
Smith, Sepbastian
Stone, Sebastian
Stout, George
Summers, Paul
Summerfield, Thomas
Wagoner, Adam
Wamsley, John
Wamsley, William
Wamsley, James (under 18)
Whiteman, Henry
Wilfong, Jacob
Wimer, Philip
Yeager, John
British service:
A few of the Highland settlers had served in the British army during the Revolution. Among these were Charles Halterman, George Keitz, James Trimble (surrendered at Yorktown), and John White.
With the help of Sarah Loflin Borcherding, found significant information substantiating and clarifying my Loflin ancestry. Sarah Loflin Borcherding is the daughter of Paul Loflin whom I match as 2nd to 4th cousin on FTDNA.
After research found that I am the 4th cousin once removed of Sarah Loflin Borcherding, daughter of Paul Hurl Loflin (to whom I am 3rd cousin twice removed), son of Emmett "Earl" Hurl Loflin (m. Goldie Stewart), son of William Whit Loflin (m. Amanda), son of William J. "Peg Leg Billie" Loflin, son of John Loflin (originally only speculated to be correct via clues of geography, but my DNA connection to this family confirms it), son of Richard Loflin.
Start with you. What do you know? Are you named for anyone in the family? Who are your parents? Where were they born? Ask them who their parents were. If you don't know a parent, ask the other parent or ask your guardian and go from there.
Talk with older living relatives - parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents.
Look for books and documents and photos already within your family. Is there a historic family Bible? Is there an old shoebox of photographs? By the way, make sure that if you have a photograph, write the name of persons in the photograph and any other information on the back of the photograph.
Look for books and documents and photos elsewhere. Do you go to family reunions where persons may have books, documents or photos? If you know where your ancestors came from or live in the same area, the local libraries often have books about particular families and their histories in the area. Also, know that Google Books has many free genealogical books as does Internet Archive.
Look for wills, deeds and probate documents.
Keep a list of surnames in your ancestry, starting with your own, your mother's maiden name, and go from there. If possible, note where they are in your tree.
Join Facebook groups dealing with genealogy. Converse and find sources from friends and yes, even distant cousins, there.
Take DNA tests such as 23andMe and Family Tree DNA.
At the very least, take an autosomal DNA (atDNA or auDNA - mixture of DNA from both parents passed to child) test.
Males, trace the patrilineal line (DNA passed from father to son) by taking a Y-DNA test. Females, trace the matrilineal line (DNA passed from mother to daughters and sons) by taking a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) test.
In my case, I took the 23andMe (autosomal) test, did the Y-DNA test at Family Tree DNA
and I uploaded my 23andMe (autosomal) results to both Family Tree DNA and GEDmatch (free).
Where appropriate, contact persons on these and see if you can find your connections. If possible, have a parent take a DNA test on the same site you do. My mother took
one at 23andMe, allowing me to now distinguish between maternal and paternal relatives.
In ALL of this, DOCUMENT. Don't just write names of persons on the back of photographs, but keep notes, file emails meticulously, keep good track of sources and to which part of your ancestry they apply. And keep a back up of your information, whether that involves
emails, hard copies, document imaging and digitizing photographs, back up drives, monthly or annual burn to CD or DVD, and/or multiple aforementioned methods.
Finally, keep your data in a centralized place: a filing cabinet, a binder, a database, a website, etc., so you can easily maintain and keep track of it.
What I have found helpful is to create a word document that records every Shattocke I come across from a very wide range of sources, organized according to place and then chronologically. Often you can find relatives just by looking at people with the same surname in neighboring towns or villages. You should also emphasize "crowd sourcing," which means making it easy for other people researching your surnames to find you (e.g. through a website, facebook and Ancestry.com). A lot of the work of recovering your ancestors from documentary sources may have already been done on sites like Ancestry or other websites.
Dorie Leland and Rene Dorsey, members of North Carolina Genealogy, offer these guidelines in being honest with the past and history:
If you're very politically correct and easily offended, don't do genealogy. If you can't handle the truth, stay away. If there is a skeleton in your closet, be prepared to dance with it -- a variation of the George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) quote: "If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance" (RootsWeb Guide to Tracing Family Trees).
I would advise someone new to always source, even if it's verbal; do it well enough so that it can be passed to another researcher without needing an explanation.
Also, don't copy other trees without checking accuracy/sources. I keep 2 trees. One I've researched and one from public trees I have found online. That way I know one tree is sourced, the other I use as "hints" so it can guide me in a certain direction but it will not be added until confirmed. It's such a headache to have to unattach parts of your tree.
Top Row: My father Bill Johnson at age 10, the baby book of my mother Carolyn F. Johnson, a picture from Stony Run (WV) School 1920-1921 featuring my grandmother Hazel Eckard Fisher as a schoolgirl in the center of the front row in a dark dress.
February 2017: Being more intentional at listing sources on pages. The research last month for Jesse B. Hill's parents was inconclusive. I continued work on the Luther ancestry in view of last month's research. Updated Generations as a result. I explored further details about my Surratt ancestry via the book Some Surratt/Sarratt Families in the United States 1715-1980 (by Laura and Norman H. Sarratt) and via correspondence with Hal Surratt, who is doubly related to me through the Johnsons via his great-grandmother Vatura Getrude (Johnson) Surratt who was sister to my grandfather H. Edwin Johnson, and via Surratt, which I was able to determine: I am likely fifth cousin to Hal through the Surratt line as he is son of (Harold) Allen Surratt II, son of Harold Allen Surratt I, son of (Franklin) Gurney Surratt, son of Samuel Lewis Surratt, son of James L. Surratt, son of Beverly and "Laney" Surratt. I continue to dig for the origins of my ancestor Abraham Johnson to open up more information regarding my patrilineal ancestry, including looking into these documents involving Abraham's son John Johnson: (North Carolina Civil Marriages, 1763-1868, North Carolina County Marriages 1762-1979 here and here and here, and North Carolina Estate Files 1663-1979). Confirmed my Cranford ancestry via a DNA match to Jason Cranford. With Karl Kiser, researching the Smith ancestry and ancestries thereof. Verified the parents of J. Michael Kiser who married Mary as pointed out by Karl Kiser who shared the information from p. 17 of Valentin and Michael Kayser: Pennsylvania Pioneers and their Descendants in Virginia by James "Jim" Van Lieu Kiser (2002).
January 2017: I researched the possibility that Charles and Mary Ann (Lewallen) Luther are parents of my great-great-great grandmother Mary Ann (Luther) Hill as I have a DNA match to Sammy Miller, the great-great-great grandson of Nancy Jane Luther, granddaughter of Solomon Luther, brother of the aforementioned Charles Luther. Further, Charles lived in Randolph Co., NC, and the 1840 census mentions 3 daughters under age 10 -- Elizabeth (b. 1831) and Sara (b. 1835) and one unmentioned. FamilySearch suggested that Mary Ann Luther Hill's parents were not Charles and Mary Ann (Lewallen) Luther. Rather, it was found that the Charles who married Mary Ann Lewallen is a distant cousin to my Mary Ann Luther Hill. In correspondence with Sammy Miller, it was found that his 6 times great grandfather George Luther is a brother to Mary Ann Luther Hill's great grandfather John (Johan) Michael Luther, Sr. This puts our common ancestor back 9 generations to a common 7th great grandfather Christian Luther, making us 8th cousins. More details: Luther ancestry. Meanwhile, with help from Tiffany Parker, I am researching the possibility that Daniel and Abigail (McCracken) Hill are parents of my ancestor Jesse B. Hill. Particularly, I am looking into these resources: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncrandol/1850N.html, http://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/daniel-hill_123260796 and http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/HILL/1999-02/0919168985 as well as a DNA match suggesting a possible McCracken ancestor within a generation or two before Jesse. Yet, FamilySearch offers different scenarios for the ancestries of Jesse B. Hill and it may be worth serious consideration after the aforementioned Luther discovery. Thanks to the research of Tiffany Parker, I have corrected my ancestor's to John Milton Hill (was listed as James in error) on my Hill ancestry, which I am now researching further.
I have verified Hearne ancestry in the Skeen ancestry via exploration of the web version of William T. Hearne's Brief History and Genealogy of the Hearne Family as I research my Skeen ancestry where I have verified a couple generations of the Skeen/Skene line via exploration of the book Clan Skeen by A.T. (Tom) Skeen.
Researching Quaker roots in the following of my ancestries: Culpeper, Morris, Newby and Pritchard.
September 2016: Redoubled efforts trying to get past the roadblock to find the ancestry in my Johnson line.
August 2016: Made the home page mobile-friendly and added a background collage. Continued to try to pursue my Campbell ancestry. Added
the page You Be the Judge to show family members and ancestors who look similarly.
July 2016: Found significant information regarding my Stauffer ancestry from the book The Stauffer Families of Switzerland, Germany, and America
(including Stover and Stauffer). Created the mobile-friendly Generations page to assist with finding the MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) with DNA matches. Also
by Richard Warren Davis. Also reached out to try to trace my Campbell ancestries (plural as I have Campbell ancestors on both my paternal - possibly in two places - and maternal sides).
Held discussions on Geni.com to clarify and solidify my Ivey ancestry.
Researched Funk Pioneers of Frederick County, Virginia, expanding information on my ancestors Jacob Stover (Stauffer) and Christian Crabill. Went further back on my Surratt and Cranford lines, though the latter needs to be verified.
January 2016: Y-DNA proves that the American Nance men, from which I am descended, were not related to the Cornish Nance men, the latter of which connected to the Arundell line. Therefore, I am not knowingly descended from the Arundell line and thus it has been removed from my tree.
Summer 2015: Discovered various royal lines from which I am possibly descended.
May 2009: Began redesign of the family tree to use
This Format
| ↓
over the use of
|
|
+-----------------+---------------------+
| old ASCII charactered design |
| from the late 1990s, early 2000s. |
+----------------------------------------+
January 1996: The original Family Tree of James Arthur Johnson site launched at http://home.aol.com/jamejohnso/family/, later http://members.aol.com/jamejohnso/family/.
July 1986: James "Jamie" Arthur Johnson begins researching his genealogy.
to the following pages: The Family of William H. and Carolyn Fisher Johnson, Descendants of Otto Woodrow Fisher and Hazel Jane (Eckard) Fisher, Ancestry of Hazel Jane Eckard Fisher, Fisher/Nash Ancestry, Charles Florence Fisher Ancestry, Stover/Supinger/Pifer/Funkhouser Ancestry, Waggy/Kiser/DeFrain Ancestry, William H. Johnson Ancestry - Bisher/Morris/Johnson/Kearns, Kearns (Keerans) and Ivey (Ivy) Ancestry, Hill/Cranford/Surratt/Kearns Ancestry and The Early Johnsons. Modified the interface on the home page to not show legendary and unverified names by default in the ancestral surnames listing. Through exploring my mother's DNA, I found that my 0.1% "Unassigned" DNA is from my mother's DNA having 0.6% Sub-Saharan/West African (as my father's DNA is 100% European and mother's is 99.4% European and mine 99.9% European). Continuing research Smith Ancestry with Karl Kiser. Added a page featuring the children of John Smith (d. 1838) at Karl's suggestion to help other Smith researchers. In the research, confirmed that my maternal Smith ancestors were Germanic originally with the surname Schmidt. Clarifying sources on various pages and adding those listed on the home page to respective pages where applicable. Researched Bowman ancestry, discovering Christian Bowman of Germanic descent as my ancestor who lived near Strasburg, VA. Reviewed Walter L. Eye's books on Eckards and Simmons to clean up those pages with help from their corresponding books. Revisited the alleged early De Skene ancestry as I read through Memorials of Family of Skene of Skene, from the family papers, with other illustrative documents by William Forbes Skene. Found and read the Probate Document for Rev. Micajah Hill, Jr., which reveals that Rev. Micajah Hill, Jr., and his wife Sarah are the parents of Jesse B. Hill! Set up Jamie's Toolbox under the home page's helpful links. By researching with Susan Ford, a distant cousin through the Funkhousers, I found more information about Abraham Funkhouser, Sr., as well as his sister-in-law Barabara (Layman/Lehman) Funkhouser, including her Baughman ancestry.