News & Research

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 or if you may be able to help me with my research, check out my Brick Walls - Where I'm Stuck. For colorized, enhanced images, please note that eye color may not match the ancestor's or relative's actual eye color.

Research at the forefront to do:
Mathew and Jannetji (Titus) Skene (his arrival from Scotland, marriage into a Dutch family, her ancestry and family's migration southward), Syrach Titus (he was quite the character), Simon Hadley (more details), Mary Thorpe ancestry (a new branch), Lassiter ancestry (possible Native American ancestor), Nyssen (De Nyse) ancestry, William Marshal ancestry, Archibald Douglas of Glenbervie ancestry and brick walls.

• June 2025: Thanks to Hustings and Corporation Court Marriage Bonds 2, 1809-1817, Norfolk (Independent City), Virginia: Norfolk. Marriage Bonds 1809–1817, I now have the intent to marry document source with the full names of my great-great-great-great grandparents John R. Harwood and Susanna H. Gilbert.
  
  A document was found suggesting that my ancstors John and Hannah (Miller) Keerans/Kearns likely also had a daughter named Sarah.
  
  Corrected the image of Annabella Drummond as I initially had an image of whom I thought was the much later living Margaret Drummond who had further been been confused with Margaret Tudor. I also noted that the famous King James I of Scotland was son of King Robert III (John Stewart) of Scotland and Lady Annabella Drummond. I am hypothetically descended from King James I's sister Mary Stewart, Princess of Scotland and Countess of Angus.
  
  Noted on the Drummond ancestry page that according to Scotlandinoils: Clan Drummond, the surname derived from Drymen in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Also added further notes about the clan motto from that source.
  
  Thanks to "Descendants of John & Mary (Ignew) Miller" (by Bart Anderson) from Chester, Pennsylvania, United States records," images, FamilySearch, images 22 and others of 641; Image Group Number: 007549019, found more information about my ancestors John and Mary (Ignew) Miller as well as related lines thereof such as Kearns and about dates, which I added to the calendar page.
  
  Continued research connecting my earlier Herbert line to its subsequent Herbert line.
  
  
• May 2025: Continued research of my Herbert ancestry from the latter 1580s-1590s.
  
  Thanks to the Roberta Gavin of Randolph County (NC) Public Libraries, I was able to find support for the maiden name of my great-great-great grandmother Mary Norman (before she married my Campbell ancestor and after being widowed, married the widower Lewis Bingham 27 December 1855) in the work of Juanita Jackson Kesler, Bingham: Miscellaneous Randolph Families. Ultimately, I'd like to find her source for that to fully substantiate it.
  
  Thanks to Ancestry, found the death certificate for my great-great grandmother Martha Jane (Waggy) Smith.
  
  Thanks to Ancestry, found a 1940 Census showing my great grandparents Dr. Otto K. Fisher and Mollie C. Fisher living in Dayton, Virginia.
  
  Improved background highlighting from this to this for easier reading of highlighted anchored content.
  
  Updated the Generations page as a result of last month's Herbert research.
  
  Found more information about the death of my great-great-great grandfather Jospeh Nash. Some of this involved adding/correcting dates on the calendar page.
  
  
• April 2025:

  Johnson origins: Based on last month's Y-DNA haplogroup implying my Johnson/Johnston line is descended from Reid/Read/Reed, I consider autosomal DNA and other evidence, and determine that the most recent Reid ancestor would not be Eaton Willis Reid (b. 1777), but further back. Also updated the Johnston & Reid - my closest Y-DNA cousins page to reflect the findings.

  
  
  Added names of second husbands on my early Skene and Skene pages for those ancestral women who were widowed as mentioned in House of Forbes excerpt edited by Henrietta Tayler with contributions from Alistair Tayler and Lord Ivan Nigel Forbes.
  
  Added even more information about Skenes and the Dutch showing more evidence of how a Scotsman such as Matthew Skene married a Dutch woman Jannetji Titus. In this case, Matthew's grandfather Andrew Skene "The Younger" of Pitmuxton is shown to have been in Holland.
  
  Thanks to Age Lubbers, added information about Clan Skene, namely etymology of Skene, The story of "Forest of Stocket" and Clan Skene connections to Shakespeare's Macbeth. And in relation to Macbeth, made a link from King Duncan and his son Malcom III "Canmore" pointing to the Clan Skene connections to Shakespeare's Macbeth.
  
  Thanks to Ancestry via hints, found an alleged photo of my great-great-great grandfather Isaac Fisher. Still needs verification. As a result of this find, updated the image of my forebears - photographed ancestors.
  
  Found records suggesting that my ancestor Sarah Simmons had the maiden surname of Simmons, which was also her married surname. I investigated this as I have had her maiden name as Sarah Propst for years and I found sufficient evidence and documentation that she was indeed Sarah Simmons before she married and after she married to Ephraim Simmons. They were second cousins. And as of this discovery, I am now descended from 3 Simmons siblings and their first cousin. Also made a change to surnames in my ancestry since Sarah's parents were Jacob J. Simmons and Sarah (Wooten) Simmons, daughter of Jonathan Wooten and Catherine (Waggy) Wooten. These findings also resulted in my making corrections on the Generations page.
  
  Heard from J.J. of Norfolk, Virginia, and she came across information about my ancestor Lt. Col. Thomas Nash and his son Private Thomas Nash who were at the Battle of Great Bridge. Private Nash, who was injured at Great Bridge, was recaptured towards the end of the American Revolutionary War and was indeed transferred from where he was imprisoned in Norfolk/Portsmouth in the summer of 1781 and was then transferred to a British ship when the troops stationed there moved up to join Cornwallis. He was held in the hold on the ship in the York River until the Franco-American victory at Yorktown freed him. Updated the Nash page with these details for Lt. Col. Thomas Nash and made a change to the calendar to reflect the battle.
  
  Thanks to Geni.com, found that I am second cousin, thrice removed, to General Wade H. Haislip, our common ancestors being Emmanuel and Esther (Funkhouser) Pitman. Gen. Haislip is descended from their daughter Elizabeth Margaret (Pitman) Heller, his grandmother, through her daughter Moritzetta Susan (Heller) Haislip. "General Wade Hampton Haislip (9 July 1889 - 23 December 1971) was a senior United States Army officer who served in both World War I and World War II, where he led XV Corps on the Western Front from 1944 to 1945. He later became a four-star general, serving as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army (VCSA) from 1949 to 1951" (Wikipedia: Wade H. Haislip). Added this information to my tree where you find Emmanuel and Esther Pitman.
  
  Updated testimonials.
  
  Found a reference to Mathew Skeen on p. 269 of Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia : extracted from the original court records of Augusta County, 1745-1800, by Lyman Chalkley, where Mathew testified 4 September 1747 regarding a land sale.
  
  Thanks to my mother Carolyn F. Johnson, added a picture of Sera May, cousin go my grandmother Hazel Jane (Eckard) Fisher through her Smith ancestry, and provided additional information about Sera in that part of the tree.
  
  Thanks to research from The Ethridge Family And Allied Kin (1966) by William Nathaniel Ethridge II, and revisiting the Nash Family Chart on Ancestry and FamilySearch (local copy) from The Thomas Nash Family of Lower Norfolk County, Virginia, 1638 - 1900s by Alice Granbery Walter (1983), learned more about my Etheridge and Nash ancestries, resulting in some additions, corrections, additional ancestral surnames and resolution of one of my brickwalls (how my ancestor Dinah Etheridge Nash connects ot my ancestor William Etheridge). Found even more Nash and Herbert information thanks to Herbert in England & Virginia 1399-1900s by Alice Granbery Walter (1977), but this also led to new pages for Herbert and its ancestral page being added to my ancestry. Found additional information on this part of my tree thanks to History of Lower Tidewater Virginia by Rogers Dey Whichard (1959). I plan to continue researching both Whichard's and Walter's works next month.
  
  Improved links so that they now show as bold for easier reading and navigation.
  
  Updated the Calendar page with new events from this month's discoveries.
  
  
• March 2025: Updated Finding Robert, a case study of my strongly hypothesized descent from Robert the Bruce. And for research integrity, noted throughout the tree that my ancestry to him and his famous ancestors is hypothesized as opposed to verified.
  
  Discovered on p. 3 of the October 5, 1905, edition of The Courier (Asheboro, NC) (local copy) in the lower third of the far-left column (zoom in) a notice about Mrs. Ethel Diffee Thompson attending the burial of her grandfather (and my great grandfather) A.H. Johnson, which indicates the furneral was on October 1, 1905.
  
  Updated the calendar page with minor corrections, and links for WikiTree: Family Anniversaries and WikiTree: Tree App: Family Calendar.
  
  

  Johnson origins: My Y-DNA haplogroup R-BY53614 was updated to R-FT406387, which may have implications for the Johnson/Johnston/Reid Y-DNA branches.

  
  
  Added more questions about Robert Skene and his wife, sources, and findings.
  
  Added more information about Skenes and the Dutch showing more evidence of how a Scotsman such as Matthew Skene married a Dutch woman Jannetji Titus.
  
  
• February 2025: After more closely reading sources and findings over past months, I changed my being descended from Robert the Bruce from conclusive to very likely as it is based on Phyllis J. Miller's strong hypothesis tying me to Clan Skene of Scotland, which would take me to a line back to Robert the Bruce. So, I am very likely descended from Robert the Bruce via Clan Skene via my great-great-great-great grandmother Nancy Charity (Skeen) Johnson (especially with 17% Scottish DNA on my paternal side where the line back to my Skeen/Skene ancestry is found). Updated Finding Robert, a case study of this lineage, with that as well as noting the 17% Scottish ethnicity found in DNA).
  
  Thanks to the following sources, found more information my ancestors Thomas and Rebecca Symons: Leaves from the family tree : or Moore, Tadlock ancestors and some descendents by Carol McLean Nepp on p. II-9 (p. 75); WikiTree: Rebecca Symons formerly West; 1689 will of Robert West (Sources: FamilySearch: Robert West (1620-1689), Abstracts of North Carolina Wills by J. Bryan Grimes, Secretary of State, 1910, Page 398, and Ancestry); The North Carolina historical and genealogical register - v. 3, no. 3 (July 1903) by James Robert Bent Hathaway, 1831-1904, pp. 367-368; Leaves from the family tree : or Moore, Tadlock ancestors and some descendents by Carol McLean Nepp, p. II-10 (p. 76). This also resulted in adding notes to the will of Thomas Symons. And thanks to the above Nepp source, I found more information about my ancestors Isaac and Damarias Page as well.
  
  Updated the calendar page.
  
  Discovered that a fellow Pritchard descendant was instrumental in taking care of William Dockery Poole, orphaned son of my great-great grandfather Titus Winbourne Johnson.
  
  Updated DNA information with the latest MyHeritage DNA Ethnicity Estimates.
  
  Found updated information about Mathew and Jannetji (Titus) Skene, including the intermingling of Scottish and Dutch, updated years and places, etc.
  
  
• January 2025: Added Find-A-Grave links for Isaac and Rebecca (Webb) Kearns and added another alleged ancestry for Rebecca (Webb) Kearns.
  
  Posted that according to WikiTree, my ancestors William and Mary Symons are the 9th great grandparents to both Dolly Parton and me (James "Jamie" Arthur Johnson), making us 10th cousins according to that source.
  
  Added another source location for Skene.
  
  Added the death certificate for M. Addie Cranford Hill.
  
  Heard from a distant cousin (our shared ancestor being Abraham Waggy, Sr.) Y.S. whose 2nd great grandfather was Jeremiah Wagy, son of Abraham Waggy, Jr. (b. 1805). She shared how Abraham's family went westward to Ohio and descendants ended up taking the Oregon Trail from Ohio to Oregon. More details are here.
  
  Thanks to Ancestry, found more information regarding the occupation of my ancestor Wenzeslaus Recksrodt.
  
  Found that my ancestors Simon and Catherine (Talbot) Hadley had a son Solomon who died in infancy. Solomon was the brother of my ancestor Jane (Hadley) Kiernan/Keeran. This information about Solomon came thanks to a church record from Ancestry via Irish & German Kerns Kearns Keeran Keirns Research and DNA Project on Facebook.
  
  
• December 2024: Made minor corrections to the Calendar page.
  
  Updated the Wall of Shields.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Updated my theory about my Abraham Johnston/Johnson where there is a significant implication that Susaanah Randolph was one of his wives, and that information, if substantiated, would greatly reduce the pool of candidates for which Abraham Johnston/Johnson is my ancestor.

  
  
  Updated my wife's (Louise Mae Johnson) ancestry with more pictures and documents, mostly pictures of her mother and her mother's siblings through the years.
  
  
• November 2024: Updated my article Finding Robert to address how the issue around pre-1855 sources in Scotland does not affet my discovery of Robert the Bruce being my ancestor.
  
  Updated Andrew and Cassidy Johnson page.
  
  Cleaned up some of the Helpful Links, adding site archives for retired sites and updating links in the WikiTree section.
  
  Made a correction to the Calendar Page.
  
  Thanks to Ancestry.com, found a document from Notes on the History of Randolph County, NC entitled Bridge at Dunbar's Ford, Uwharrie River featuring an 1831 petition to keep the bridge, among whose signers were my ancestor Isaac Kearns, Sr., and his brother Silas.
  
  Added more details from Morton regarding the name variations for Sophia Elizabeth (Eye) Propst.
  
  Thanks to Ancestry, found part of the will of Thomas Nash IV.
  
  Thanks to the book A Line of Rexroad in America by William D. Rexroad, I found the signature of my ancestor Johann Georg Rexroth (p. 29) and the signature of his father Johann Zacharias Rexroth (p. 21). Also found additionl details, wuch as George's approximate marriage year and details about his American Revolutionary War involvement, namely that there is no indication of his involvement at Yorktown and more. Found additional details from the book Johann Zacharias Rexroth the Pioneer by William D. Rexroad.
  
  
• October 2024: Updated the Calendar Page with corrections (including some of its functionality).
  
  Updated Ancestry DNA information with latest ethnicity estimates.
  
  Updated the children of Allen Harris Johnson and Elizabeth (Kearns) Johnson to include James Ivy Johnson (1840-1917) who was a twin brother of Thomas Clark Johnson, both younger brothers of my great-great grandfather Titus Winbourne Johnson. Discovering one of James Ivy Johnson's great grandsons among my DNA matches prompted this. Further, I found multiple sources to substantiate this: FamilySearch: James Ivy Johnson (1840-1917) with many document sources, Find-A-Grave: Corp. James Ivey Johnson and of course the book Farmer: Yesterday and Today, which includes a photo from an 1897 Johnson reunion, which itself includes James Ivey Johnson pictured with my great-great grandfather Titus Winbourne Johnson and their parents Allen Harris Johnson and Elizabeth (Kearns) Johnson.
  
  Thanks to Ancestry, found Central High School (Charlotte, NC) yearbook photos of my late Aunt Jerrie: 1939 (Source: Ancestry) and 1940 (Source: Ancestry).
  
  Added more pictures of my family from 2017 to 2024.
  
  
• September 2024: Thanks to the Shenandoah Herald, Volume 90, No. 6, Friday, February 8, 1907 of Woodstock, VA, found the obituary of my great-great-great grandfather Rebecca (Funkhouser) Pifer.
  
  Due to WikiTree Research Notes, which I highlighted in a Geni.com discussion, I added to my notes disputing the alleged wife of Robert Lassiter -- Prudence Eason.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Discovered another Y-DNA (Y-111) match A.R.J. who reportedly descends from William Johnston (b. 1480) of Scotland. This may be what helps further unlock discoveries.

  
  
  Discovered from The Thomas Nash Family of Lower Norfolk County, Virginia, 1638 - 1900s by Alice Granary Walter (1983) a Nash Family Chart on Ancestry (local copy), which provides information for my Nash ancestry.
  
  
• August 2024: Added 1933 Bridgewater High School information about my late grand uncle and distant cousin James "Ralph" Waggy.
  
  Added for Mathew and Jannetje (Titus) Skene a link to U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989: New York, Staten Island, Stone Arabia and Staten Island, Book 48, which mentions them with their son Pieter.
  
  Thanks to A History of the Liberty Baptist Association (1907) by Henry Sheets (Notes from ZSR Library, Wake Forest University, local copy), further researched Riley Ancestry.
  
  Added the following to my wife's ancestry: a story about Steve Mikos, brother to Frances Mikos Muza; Muza family ancestry and a lot of artifacts around the life of Louis Steven Muza I: pictures (also in PDF format), his registration of birth and death certificates (1, 2), U.S. Army paperwork and a a picture of a U.S. Army official shaking hands with Louis with his wife Sylvia "Sally" Stonesifer Muza at his side. Also added a letter from Sally to Clara about the Muza family accompanied by genealogical notes. These efforts also resulted in the addition of another generation and additional surname -- Barnea -- and a variation of the surname Bisqua -- Pasqua -- in wife's ancestry as well as family tree calendar updates.
  
  Updated part of the tree with a source indicating John Morris (m. Damarius Page) migrated from Wales in 1660. Also noted that according to the same source, there is yet another possible birthdate for Mary Symons (m. John Morris).
  
  Added a FamilySearch Tool to Jamie's Toolbox on the home page where one can enter a FamilySearch code for a person and quickly generate links to the Discovery Person Page, Detail Person Page and the Tree with focus on the person.
  
  Added a link about the Battle of Hastings to the part of my tree featuring my ancestor William The Conqueror.
  
  Added a connection between the origins of Clan Skene and King Malcolm Cannmore thanks to History of the Skene Families of Aberdeenshire, Scotland (Michele Bender).
  
  Thanks to Ancestry, updated information for Pvt. Michael Lamb, my ancestor who was a veteran of the War of 1812. This also resulted in updating the Calendar page.
  
  Added a newspaper article to the 1897 Johnson reunion thanks to Farmer - Yesterday and Today. This also provided the marriage date for Allen "Harris" Johnson and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Kearns) Johnson.
  
  Added the following to my wife's ancestry regarding her grandfather Louis S. Muza: a 1956 Army ration book from Japan (cover, stamps), a firearms posession permit (front, inside, back), a Japanese club membership card (front, back), a weapons issue card (front, back), a military payment certificate (front, back), airline mementos from Muza family military travels, a picture of the Muza Family in Greece, In Memory of LOUIS S. MUZA, Medical results concluding his military career, Army Ordnance Center and School Certificate, Certificate of Appreciation, Ethiopian Papers, Honorable Discharge, Instructor Training Course Certificate, Meritorious Service Medal 11 July 1969 - 5 May 1971, Metitorious Service Medal 1969-1971, Army Retirement Certificate and a US Armed Forces Institute Certificate. And with much of that centering around his military career, I included The Plight of an Army Wife, a document which his wife Sylvia "Sally" (Stonesifer) Muza. I also added Muza Family pictures and pictures of Sheila, Sylvia and Stephanie Muza in November 1972 and L. Steve and Stephanie Muza in January 1958.
  
  
• July 2024: Added multiple resources for my wife Louise's ancestry including the following: ethnicity estimates based on DNA for her grandmother Sylvia Mae Stonesifer; a picture of Clarisse Stonesifer Nye, sister to Russell Stonesifer; a picture of my wife's great-great grandmother Mary Alice (Keilholtz) Stonesifer from an added collection of Stonesifer pictures; a letter to Sylvia Mae Stonesifer from her grandmother Mabel (nee Highlands/Goudy) Peterson; a biographical excerpt of her ancestor John Daniel Steinsauffert/Stonesifer from Doyle Wildersons History of Stonesifer Family; a Stonesifer Genealogy compiled by E.T. Stonecipher; a picture of Jean Stonesifer, sister of my wife's grandmother Sylvia Stonesifer; a document for descendants of Harry E. Goudy, my wife's great-great grandfather; and a Celebration of Life for Carrie Lillian Goudy Brough, sister to my wife's great grandmother Helen Goudy Stonesifer; the original junior high school certificate for my wife's great grandmother Helen Goudy Stonesifer; and many more!
  
  From the aforementioned, made additions to the calendar page. Also made minor corrections.
  
  Updated roles and ranks of my ancestors who were veterans of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
  
  Corrected the location of the photo of H. Edwin Johnson's (my grandfather's) siblings.
  
  I read through The Johnsons and Their Kin of Randolph by Jessie Owen Shaw. Ironically, it is not about my Johnson ancestry, which was in the same area, but offered support for my Kearns ancestry while casting doubt on Mendenhall involvement in my Hill ancestry. Further, it distinguished a different John Johnson/Johnston from my ancestor of the same name. The John Johnson/Johnston in the book left Rosannah as a widow and was born 1745 and died 1802. In contrast, my John Johnston/Johnson (1757-1808) mentioned his widow in his will as Sarah and that will also mentions his son James (Jimmy) from whom I am descended. The John in the book doesn't have a son named James. Further, the siblings and parentage differ. My John is son of Abraham, not John, and didn't have siblings Robert, Joseph, Henry and Mary. The John Johnston in the book is said to have come from a Scots-Irish line in Pennsylvania while mine is indicated to have come from Virginia.
  
  Made corrections to the birth years of Adam De Skene III and Lady Janet Keith after further research.
  
  Further researched my Drummond ancestry thanks to Electric Scotland: The Scottish Nation: Drummond.
  
  
• June 2024: Made additions and minor corrections to the calendar page.
  
  On the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France (June 6, 1944), I added details about my late uncle John Haven Lomax II and his involvement as a Sergeant during the invasion.
  
  Thanks to M. Gordon Seyffert, obtained database research notes about Philip Wege (Philip Waggy, Sr.).
  
  Added a link for Point Lookout Yankee prison to Pvt. Wadsworth Nash, a veteran of the American Civil War.
  
  Added a West Virginia map of counties to the ancestry of my grandmother Hazel Jane Eckard Fisher.
  
  Added North Carolina - Atlas of Historical Boundaries Project to the North Carolina maps section of my father's ancestry.
  
  Added to the home page links.
  
  Added a link to the 1880 census showing Charles Florence Fisher's family.
  
  Added a colorized thumbnail image of Susan Kiser Waggy.
  
  Added higher resolution images for my wife's Highlands and Goudy ancestors, also seen in full on the Goudy Ancestry Pictures page.
  
  Added burial details for William Marshal, the famous knight.
  
  Linked the birthdate of Robert the Bruce to the article "Happy Birthday Robert the Bruce" by Kyra Cornelius Kramer.
  
  Added a high school picture, bio and another picture for C. Cameron Eckard, brother of my late grandmother Hazel Jane (Eckard) Fisher.
  
  Added census data for the following ancestral couples: Arthur and Lillie Lou "Louie" (Smith) Eckard, Charles and Mary (Pifer) Fisher, and Otto Keiter Fisher and Mollie Clara (Nash) Fisher.
  
  Added a 1933 picture of J. Ralph Waggy who is both my distant cousin and husband to my grandmother's sister Arline Virginia (Eckard) Waggy.
  
  Added various certificates for my wife's maternal grandparents Louis S. Muza and Sylvia Mae Stonesifer and great grandfather Russell Stonesifer.
  
  Added an updated from May 2024 research in the Kearns DNA revealing the Y-DNA haplogroup of my Irish Kearns/Keerans ancestry.
  
  Added an image Remembering Paul Smith, which remembers Paul Smith, a cousin to my maternal grandmother Hazel Jane (Eckard) Fisher. Paul went MIA/KIA over the Pacific during WWII.
  
  
• May 2024: Added the link ScotClans: The House of Canmore to my ancestor Malcolm III "Canmore", King of Scots.
  
  Added a video about Rollo the Viking and the foundation of Normandy.
  
  Made minor corrections and updates to the calendar page.
  
  Added to the page You Be the Judge -- genealogical dopplegangers in my family tree.
  
  Added new branches to the tree: my wife's Stonesifer ancestry and her Keilholtz ancestry thanks to documentation from my wife's late grandmother Sylvia "Sallie" Mae (Stonesifer/Muza) Kiner. As part of those efforts, I also added images to her ancestry and those new branches. This also resulted in multiple new entires on the calendar page. Gathered more details about my wife's Goudy ancestry and found the parents of Saraphina (Rader) Goudy. These findings resulted in new surnames and other artifacts (birth certificates, photos, etc.) being added to my wife's ancestry.
  
  Added multiple obituaries for individuals on my wife's ancestry.
  
  Added American flags to various pages for those who were military veterans in the 20th century.
  
  Thanks to MyHeritage, found the record for my first cousin, twice removed, Hugh Ames Sexton, Jr., Vietnam Casualties 1956-1998.
  
  Thanks to Gene Kearns, received an alleged ancestry of Rebecca (Webb) Kearns, linked here and here.
  
  Updated the Wall of Shields with a shield image I made around 1986, with a cross accurately reflecting my faith in Christ, a lion reflecting my seemingly patrilineal English Johnston/Johnson line and an eagle reflecting matrilineal German Fischer/Fisher line.
  
  
• April 2024: Made minor corrections and updates to the calendar page.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Discovered that Clan Johnstone is also listed with haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a2c1a3a2, which makes a possible link to my early Johnsons after all. Highlighted this in Early Johnson Y-DNA Research and made changes there to not rule out Scottish origins (after migrating centuries before as La Tène Celts in Gaul of course).

  
  Added the 50th Anniversary Album for my grandparents Otto Woodrow Fisher and Hazel Eckard Fisher, getting help with the names of some of the people photographed, thanks to my mother Carolyn Fisher Johnson. Added links to it on applicable pages and also included on those pages the name of the minister who married them: Rev. Earl Clayton Bateman, Sr., of the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
  
  Added a Geni.com tree link for the allged ancestry of my ancestor Sarah (Hill) Lassiter.
  
  Added a photo of my Uncle Don and late Aunt Thelma "Teady" Bourne on their wedding day, thanks to their daughter Laura Bourne Bauserman (related Facebook post).
  
  Added a Geni.com link for my ancestor Archibald Douglas of Glenbervie as well as to an alleged tree. This will be another branch to research and verify.
  
  Added links to Ancestry and Find-A-Grave regarding my wife's ancestor Mabel (nee Highlands, 1st m. Goudy) Peterson
  
  Thanks to the book A Historical Sketch of the Funkhouser Family (1902) by Jacob Funkhouser, I discovered that my great-great-great-great-great grandfather George Fisher was a veteran of the American Revolution. I also confirmed details I had and gained more details regarding my Fisher and Funkhouser ancestries, the two ancestries I share with the author. Made changes to relevant pages. Also included notes from my mother showing her lineage from Abraham and Catherine (Coffman) Funkhosuer.
  
  Thanks to a Facebook post from my mother Carolyn Fisher Johnson, obtained a photograph of my grandfather Otto Woodrow Fisher from the early 1940s when he was a manager at Good Year. Also, thanks to her for one of the last photographs of my great grandmother Lillie "Louie" (Smith) Eckard.
  
  Thanks to Sonia Nance-Roberts, obtained a copy of the 1639 land grant and notes for my ancestor Richard Nance.
  
  Updated the link for The Charlotte Observer, 6 October 1905, page 1, which is free without trial, and added a local copy, which contains the obituary for my great-great-great grandfather Allen "Harris" Johnson. Updated all pages where his obituary is referenced.
  
  Found the 1850 Census, which shows my ancestors James and Nancy Charity (Skeen) Johnson as well as my ancestors Spencer and Katie (Smith) Surratt.
  
  Added a video about my ancestor Charlemagne.
  
  
• March 2024: Made minor corrections and updates to the calendar page.
  
  Updated the Wall of Shields, adding more possibilities for the verified ancestries with unverified shields/coats of arms/seals.
  
  Added the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues logo to my great-great grandfather Pvt. Wadsworth "Wads" Nash, linking it to the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues Facebook page. From discussion there, discovered the following source: Norfolk Blues: the Civil War diary of the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues by John Walters (1997), pp. 241, 289, 290, which details Pvt. Wadsworth "Wads" Nash's services in the American Civil War.
  
  Added a link: My photographed ancestors to the site's home page.
  
  Made a newsworthy update to the Testimonials page where I provide context (what sites they use or are from) for those giving testimonials.
  
  Made changes to source links for my Shattuck ancestry in discovering that Philip Shaddock's Shaddock/Shattuck/Shattocke genealogy site has been archived.
  
  Found another source (Geni.com) suggesting that Charles and Hannah Morris are my ancestors.
  
  Added Quick Links to the Home page menu, which quickly opens up a lot of sites I use for researching DNA and matches.
  
  
• February 2024: I came to the realization that my great grandfather Dr. Otto Keiter Fisher received his middle name Keiter after the Rev. M.F. Keiter who officiated his parents' marriage.
  
  Added this icon on lines throughout the site to follow the line(s) to the famed knight William Marshal. Now, the following icons are available for famous historical ancestors via the Johnson line:

  Robert the Bruce:
  William the Conqueror:
  Charlemagne:
  Alfred the Great:
  Rollo the Viking:
  William Marshal:

  Johnson origins: Bill Reid shared the latest theory about multiiple Johnson lines in the ancestries of our research group.

  
  
  Discovery: According to WikiTree, I am 5th cousin, once removed to Levi Coffin, Jr., our common ancestors being Samuel(?) and Damarius ("The Widow" of Salem) Shattuck. Coffin was an American Quaker, abolitionist, and businessman, deeply involved in the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio, his home often called "Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad". He was nicknamed "President of the Underground Railroad" because of the thousands of slaves that are reported to have passed through his care while escaping their masters.
  
  Thanks to MyTrueAncestry, shared how my DNA lines up with ancient samples as showin in August 2022 and February 2024 (Hint: I am quite Celtic).
  
  Added a link for my ancestor John Waggy with more information about the West Virginia 1st Regiment Veteran Infantry. He was a Union soldier in the Civil War. Added American Civil War Archive to the Civil War section as well.
  
  Specifically researched medieval battles with specific dates where my ancestors were involved and added them (with links) to the respective ancestor pages and to the ones I already referenced at the top of the calendar page. Here are the ones I added:

  Battle	Date	Ancestral Involvement
  Battle of Brissarthe	2 July 866	My ancestor Robert the Strong was killed in battle. My alleged ancestor Ranulf I was also killed in the battle.
  Battle of Soissons	15 June 923	Robert I, son of the above Robert, was killed in battle (related biographical link).
  Battle of Conquereuil	27 June 992	Conan I 'le Tort' de Rennes, duc de Bretagne (Duke of Brittany), was killed in battle at Conquereuil, Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire, France.
  Battle of Bothnagowan (Battle of Pitgaveny)	14 August 1040	King Duncan I killed in battle by Macbeth.
  Battle of Hastings	14 October 1066	In addition to my ancestor William the Conqueror and his forces defeating King Harold Godwinson and the Saxon army, and winning the throne of England, my other ancestor Walter (Gautier) Giffard (Gifford) de Bolebec contributed vessels and men to the fleet for the Conquest as well as the Spanish war-horse on which William the Conqueror rode and participated as one of his noble knights who fought in the battle.
  Battle of Alnwick	13 November 1093	Malcolm Canmore killed in battle
  Battle of Tinchebray	28 September 1106	The forces of my ancestor King Henry I of England defeated the forces of Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, resulting in Robert's imprisonment for the last 28 years of his life.
  Battle of Brémule	20 August 1119	The forces of King Henry I of England defended holdings in Normandy and defeated those of King Louis VI the Fat of France, resulting in preventing a French invasion.
  Battle of Stracathro (Battle of Inchbare)	16 April 1130	The rebellion against King David I of Scotland was stopped.
  Battle of Dunbar	27 April 1296	Sir Patrick Graham of Kincardine was killed in the battle in East Lothian, Scotland. Malcolm Drummond, 9th Thane of Lennox, was captured by the English.
  Battle of Bannockburn	23-24 June 1314	Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, led an army, which defeated the army of King Edward II of England, during the First War of Scottish Independence. Malcolm Drummond, 9th Thane of Lennox, distinguished himself at the battle.
  Battle of Halidon Hill	19 July 1333	Possible ancestors Archibald Douglas and Adam Gordon, both knights, were killed in the battle.
  Battle of Homildon Hill	14 September 1402	George Douglas, Earl of Angus, was wounded 5 times in the battle and captured, and died sometime after the day of battle from Bubonic Plague while in captivity. My alleged ancestor, John Hamilton, a knight, was killed in the battle.
  Battle of Harlaw	24 July 1411	Adam III De Skene was killed in battle. Alexander Forbes fought beside the Earl of Mar against Donald, Lord of the Isles.

  
  Added references to the Battle of Mortemer in 1054 to the pages of those between whom the battle waged: my alleged ancestor Henry I of France who was defeated by his vassal, my ancestor, William the Bastard (later known as William the Conqueror). I also referenced thes date of this battle (1054) under the "Medieval Battles" on the calendar page, but did not put an entry there since it lacks a specific month or day. I did similarly for other battles involving ancestors. Medieval battles without specific months and days are denoted by an asterisk (^*) on the calendar page, which will direct to other pages in those instances.
  
  Added MyOrigins to the DNA section of the home page.
  
  
• January 2024: My mother provided an image of my grandfather Otto Woodrow Fisher ("Buddy", "Doc", "Bow-Wow").
  
  From Eugened Kearns, received information about the Old Keeran Peacock Lyndon Cemetery.
  
  Updated information about the Titus/De Vries family.
  
  Thanks to the research of Nancy Simmons Roberson, a distant cousin, found additional information regarding my Rexrode and Lautenschlager ancestries. Made improvements on the related pages, certainly in the research, but also in the graphical inheritance lines (described when first implemented in March 2018). Also, from this research, added the surname Voeglin to the list of surnames as it is a variation of the surname Voegel, a line that married into my Rexrode line.
  
  Updated the Calendar page.
  
  Thanks to Sonia Nance-Roberts, became aware of Deed Book 6, 1749-1753, Surry County, Virginia, showing a 2 Oct 1749 deed where Thomas Malone and Milly his wife sold 300 acres to Daniel Nance (of Albemarle Parish, Surry, VA); source: "Surry, Virginia, British Colonial America Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS42-S3VW-N : January 15, 2024), image 34 of 316; Virginia. County Court (Surry County). Local copy: 1 of 2, 2 of 2. Related: Facebook Post from Nance (surname) From Around the World.
  
  Updated the William Herman Johnson ancestry to reflect the end of the Norman Johnson home thanks to Denton NC History.
  
  Added a link to a 50th anniversary picture of my maternal grandparents Otto and Hazel (Eckard) Fisher with their daughters: Mary Lou Fisher Whitmore, Thelma Jane (Fisher) Bourne and my mother Carolyn Fisher Johnson.
  
  Revamped my wedding images page with more images and better functionality.
  
  Added multiple images and documents: William "Bill" Herman Johnson ca. 2008-2009, yours truly -- James "Jamie" Arthur Johnson -- through the years (ca. 1987, ca. 1989, ca. 1990, ca. 1992), Last days of Bill Johnson - journal by Carolyn F. Johnson, William Herman Johnson birth certificate, Standard certificate of birth for William Herman Johnson, William Herman Johnson death certificate and In Memory of Thelma Jane (Fisher) Bourne.
  
  
• December 2023: Completed development of the Calendar page, which shows some of the key events in the lives of ancestors (mine and my wife's) for a given day (most entries show deceased, not living persons). Added the feature Today in my family history.
  
  Moved the search up on the home page.
  
  Updated the Wall of Shields, adding to the links of interest.
  
  Thanks to the research of Sonia Nance-Roberts of Nance (surname) From Around the World, corrected the name of the wife of my ancestor Daniel Nance, Jr.: His first wife -- my ancestor -- was Mary and she likely had the maiden surname Daniel. They had 5 children together. Mary died in 1771 and Daniel married Sarah Russell in 1780. As a result, I added the Daniel(?) surname to the last names in my genealogy.
  
  Updated the Fun Genealogy Page.
  
  Updated my article Finding Robert with more details (documentation) about how I discovered being a direct descendant of Robert the Bruce.
  
  
• November 2023: Received via my mother Carolyn Fisher Johnson a picture of her with high school friends in February 1963.
  
  Cranford updates: Found the 1862 will of my ancestor James Cranford, some pages, which I transcribed to be more legible. Fixed broken links on th Cranford ancestry. Thanks to Ancestry ^{1, 2, 3, 4} , I found 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 census data for the James and Rutha Lamar and family.
  
  Found the obituary for my great-great-great grandfather Allen "Harris" Johnson from The Charlotte Observer, 6 October 1905, page 1.
  
  Found my ancestors Johannes Snapp (John Snapp) and son Lawrence (Lorentz) listed on p. 81, Names of Foreigners Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the Province and State of Pennsylvania, 1727-1775
  
  Thanks to The Randolph Room, I obtained reproduced images of the 1897 Johnson Reunion and 1936 Johnson Reunion allowing for enhanced photos of my great-great-great grandparents Allen "Harris" Johnson and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Kearns) Johnson and great grandparents Norman Harris Johnson and Julia Pricilla (Morris) Johnson.
  
  Found another source about my ancestor Annabella Drummond: "Annabella Drummond, Queen of Scotland" - Medievalists.net by Susan Abernethy.
  
  Discovered that I am 9th cousin, once removed to the late Rosalynn Carter, wife of President Jimmy Carter. Rosalynn's and my common ancestors are Thomas (I) and Tabitha (Wright?) Blanford (Source: WikiTree).
  
  Began development of the Calendar page, which shows some of the key events in the lives of ancestors (mine and my wife's) for a given day (only for deceased, not living persons).
  
  
• October 2023: Updated AncestryDNA ethnicity estimates.
  
  Added to the candidates for Hicks ancesotrs.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Bill Reid shared the possibility that our Johnson/Johnston Y-DNA ancestor might be of the Johnson Quakers who migrated from Chester Co., PA, to North Carolina.

  
  
  Found a 1975 high school picture of my sister Elizabeth Johnson Knell thanks to Ancestry.
  
  Added to the ancestry of Alfred the Great details about his mother and her father thanks to the article Osburh, Mother of Anglo-Saxon King Alfred the Great by Susan Abernethy, Freelance History Writer.
  
  Revisited sources from WikiTree: Thomas Prichard, which indicate that my ancestor Thomas Pritchard was not Henry Thomas Pritchard. Further, thanks to his Find-A-Grave Memorial, and pages thereof, found additional details about my Prichard/Pritchard ancestry.
  
  Found Virginia, Vital Records, 1715-1901 showing daughter Martha born to my great-great-great grandparents Isaac and Rebecca in 1868.
  
  Found my ancestor Henry Huffman listed in "United States Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 21 August 2023. Citing various published state rosters, United States.
  
  Found that multiple ancestors are buried in Salem United Methodist Church Cemetery (PeopleLegacy) in Randolph County, North Carolina: Winbern W Cranford, Elizabeth "Betsy" Kearns Johnson, Melinda Campbell Johnson, Pvt Allen Harris Johnson, Pvt Titus Winbourne Johnson, Anna Nance Kearns, John Crawford Kearns, Sr., Sarah Lassiter Kearns and Silas K. Kearns. Updated those persons with links to pages from that resource.
  
  Updated the Honorary Shields on the Wall of Shields after finding Coat of Arms projects made by my children ca. 2016.
  
  
• September 2023: Discovered a DNA cousin P.S. with whom I share common ancestors Thomas Nance, Sr., and Elizabeth Ann (Hudson) Nance.
  
  Discovered a DNA cousin S.S. with whom I share common ancestors Abraham Funkhouser, Sr., and Mary Magdalena (Campbell) Funkhouser.
  
  Added details about my ancestor John Johnson from Heritage of Cabarrus County, North Carolina (Cabarrus County Heritage Book Committee, 1998).
  
  Added details to Hearne ancestry from an article by David T. Hearne.
  
  Added a helpful menu for navigating Fascinating Facts, including helpful navigation for the Wars section, featuring ancestors who were veterans of various wars.
  
  Added to the page where I find my uncle, Mack Cranford, information about his mother Troy Amanda Adderton Cranford and her children and how I am not only related to him via marriage (to my father's sister) but also biologically as a distant cousin via 2 lines: a picture of Troy Amanda (Adderton) Cranford and children and notes in PDF and Word formats.
  
  Discovered a 5th cousin V.H., with whom I share common ancestors Benjamin and Sarah (Reese) Ivey.
  
  Added a note to my ancestors John (Sr.) and Sarah (mnu) Johnson/Johnston that they are not John Johnson (1745-1813) and Sarah (Riley) Johnson, who are often erroneously listed as my ancestors.
  
  Added Hubbard surname origins to the Nance ancestry.
  
  Added questions answered in August 2023 by my mother Carolyn Fisher Johnson, as well as her high school memories. Also added some memories from time at her grandparents Arthur and Louie Eckard with associated 2012 pictures of a chicken house and cellar.
  
  Thanks to Geneanet, I met DNA cousin Jason Stephens (son of Robert Stephens, son of Thelma Rhodes Stephens, daughter of Louise Snyder Rhodes, daughter of Mandeville Snyder, son of Elizabeth Grogg Snyder, daugher of J. and Mary Rexroad Grogg) who shares common ancestors James and Mary (Rexroad) Grogg. From looking further into our shared ancestry, I found research further supporting that Anna Maria (Voegel) Rexrode was the mother of my ancestors Mary Rexroad Grogg and (Johann) George Rexrode, Sr.
  
  
• August 2023: Added icons for the page Andrew and Cassidy (Weaver) Johnson to point ancestral lines to the following famous historical ancestors via the Johnson line:
  • Robert the Bruce:
  • William the Conqueror:
  • Charlemagne:
  • Alfred the Great:
  • Rollo the Viking:
  
  
  Found another marriage certificate for my parents.
  
  Added Find-A-Grave memorials and additiona information for my great-great-great grandparents Isaac and Rebecca (Funkhouser) Pifer.
  
  Researching the Nyssen (De Nyse) ancestry with actual sources.
  
  Added research to do at the top of the page above the monthly research.
  
  Added links to apps for the WikiTree section of the Helpful Links.
  
  Discovered a DNA cousin T.S. with whom I share my 5x great grandparents John (Sr.) and Sarah Johnson/Johnston as common ancestors.
  
  
• July 2023: Found another source supporting details about the migration of my ancestor Johann Philipp Bittman thanks to Ancestry: Johann Philipp Bittman in the U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, which shows Johann Philipp Bittman arriving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1764 from the Palatinate region of Germany.
  
  Began to set up "surname" pages where there are smart redirects. So, if someone goes to http://family.beacondeacon.com/johnson, it will automatically forward to the Johnson page. This is in-process.
  
  Thanks to Historical Sketch and Roster of the North Carolina 34th Infantry Regiment by John C. Rigdon, I found further confirmation of the rank advancement from Private to Corporal for my great-great grandfather Winburn Cranford on p. 158. I also added various links for more information about the 34th North Carolina Infantry Regiment there.
  
  Thanks to SearchTrees.com: Ancestors of Godfrey Bescher, found additional sources cited there, supporting details I have for Godfrey Bescher.
  
  Thanks to The Civil War in the East, found additional information for the units of some of my ancestors who were veterans of the American Civil War
  
  Found on p. 58 of "Shenandoah County Marriage Bonds, 1772-1850" (local copy) the date of the marriage of my great-great-great-great grandparents Emmanuel and Esther (Funkhouser) Pitman.
  
  Further researched my ancestor Mary "Polly" Charlotte (Thorpe) Reese/Reece. This also led to finding such things as an alternate spelling of the surname Reese as Reece and my ancestor (and Mary's husband) John Reese being John Reese, Jr., their daughter (my ancestor) Sarah "Sally" (Reese) Ivey being born ca. 1763 in Southampton Co., VA, and John Reese, Jr's parents. This is thanks to resources: "North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000" query for Mary Thorpe and researcher Gene Kearns.
  
  Came across resources I've gathered over time to gird up the following on my tree:
  
  
  • The will of John Johnson (and indication he was John Johnson, Sr., which makes sense since he had a son named John)
  • Possible service record for my ancestor John Johnson, Sr., as a Private in North Carolina 2nd Battalion 6 February 1778
  • My ancestors Sarah Sarratt and Jonathan Mills having illegitimate children
  • Marriage of my ancestors Sarah Culpeper and Benjamin Pritchard
  • Baptism of my ancestor Matthew Skene/Skeen, son of John and Marjory (Black) Skene
  • Further considerations regarding the parentage of Sarah "Sallie" (Hicks) Morris, my great-great-great grandmother
  • My ancestor Owen Kiernan
  
  
  Seeing if Michael Keiser (Kyser) SAR applicaton is referencing my ancestor J. Michael Kiser.
  
  Discovered via Ancestry a DNA match who shares my 6x great grandparents Mathew Skeen (Matthew Skene) and Rutha (Lamar) Skeen as common ancestors. The match is descended from their daughter Sarah (Skeen) Wilson, sister to my ancestor Jacob Skeen, father of my 4x great grandmother. Sarah (Skeen) Wilson profiles: Ancestry, Geni.com, WikiTree and Find-A-Grave.
  
  
• June 2023: Discovered that according to Wikitree and FamilySearch, famed singer Janis Joplin is my 9th cousin, our common ancestors being Gabriel and Barbara (Bar) Steffen/Stephens.
  
  According to WikiTree, I may be Humphrey Bogart's 8th cousin, thrice removed, if it can be confirmed that our common ancestor is indeed Femmetje "Phebe" Jans Sales (Sayles), also seen as Femmetje Jans Seals (bef.1626-1666).
  
  Researched Clan Donnachaidh - Origins to better capture my ancestral line of that clan also known as Clan Robertson and Clan Duncan, according to legend, parent clan of Clan Skene. From this effort, featured the crest for Clan Donnachaidh and shield for Clan Robertson on the Wall of Shields.
  
  Thanks to Wills and administrations of Southampton County, Virginia, 1749-1800, Volume I, p. 93, by Blanche Adams Chapman (excerpted here, both volumes available), I found conclusive evidence that Mary Thorpe is the wife of John Reese and mother of Sarah "Sally" (Reese) Ivey, thus making Mary Thorpe Reese my 6x great grandmother. This also led to me creating a Thorpe Ancestry page where I will be further researching Mary's ancestry. Also found this resource in this effort to aid in this research: William Johnson, Sr., 1750-1830 : the Johnsons of Warren County, Georgia (page 6; also available at Geni.com) by Bob Guill Johnson.
  
  
• May 2023: Updated the Wall of Shields.
  
  Thanks to Ancestry, found an enhanced picture of my great-great-great-great grandmother Catherine Coffman Funkhouser. Used MyHeritage's technology, made an colorized version of the enhanced photo.
  
  Updated Andrew and Cassidy Johnson page with pictures and documents from their wedding.
  
  Found the actual 1880 Census document (thanks to Ancestry) showing my great-great grandparents Allen Gilbert Morris and Nancy Jane (Bescher) Morris.
  
  Thanks to Revolutionary War Soldiers Rockingham Co., Va. (extracted from 1976 with same title) from Rocktown History, found my ancestor Henry Huffman in the list, making yet another source verifying him being a American Revolutionary War veteran.
  
  Also thanks to Rocktown History, verified cemeteries for my following ancestors: Dr. Otto Keiter Fisher, Mollie (Nash) Fisher, Wadsworth and Mary F. (Miller) Nash and Jacob and Elizabeth (Kissling) Kiser.
  
  Found a Register of Deeds Marriage License Index, thanks to Ancestry, featuring my ancestors John Loflin and Nancy Hall.
  
  
• April 2023: Added memorial for Sylia "Sally" (Stonesifer/Muza) Kiner in view of her passing away at the end of last month.
  
  Added additional North Carolina County maps prior to 1840 to the page featuring the ancestry of my dear, late father William "Bill" H. Johnson.
  
  Posted notes from Ancestry speculating the parentage of Barbara (Pfeiffer) Weiss/Wise, my great-great-great-great-great grandmother, and the furthest mitochondrial DNA ancestor to whom I have traced thus far (though the alleged parentage suggests one generation further back; yet, it is unsourced).
  
  Found my great-great grandmother Phebe (Simmons) Eckard and her parents in an 1870 Census document (source: Ancestry).
  
  In anticipation of my nephew W. Andrew Johnson's wedding next month, I added a page for him.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Dan Johnson shared some updates supporting Johnson origins in Yorkshire, England, and possibly Quakerism.

  
  
  Found a marriage document featuring my 4x great grandparents John (Sr.) and Nancy (Hall) Loflin thanks to Ancestry.
  
  
• March 2023: Researched my great-great-great grandmother Sarah "Sallie" (Hicks) Morris and theories of her Hicks ancestry after replacing links there. Updated the Hicks theories.
  
  More prominently featured ancestors who fought in the French and Indian Wars, namely the third one known as King George's War (1744-1748) and the final one commonly known as the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Further added sources for my ancestor Mathew Skeen's involvement in King George's War. Also found a church record mentioning Matthew Skane and his wife Jannetje Tites.
  
  Began research of the ancestry of my ancestor Isabel Marshal, wife of Gilbert De Clare, Earl of Gloucester, and daughter of the famed knight William Marshal (Mareschal). This may yield another line to Charlemagne. Due to descent from William Marshal, updated the Wall of Shields. Also found that William was a non-surety supporter in sympathy with the Magna Carta.
  
  Verified another ancestor who was a witness and supporter Magna Carta, a surety: Richard De Clare.
  
  Updated testimonials and have been and will continue to do so despite not having mentioned it here for each update in the past (and likely not finding a need to mention it here in the future). They usually come in monthly.
  
  Made improvements to the desktop resolution of the ancestral portraits at the top of the Generations page so that one can not only view the picture, but can find the individual in the tree.
  
  
• February 2023: Found a copy of the will of my ancestor William Nash, which also mentions my ancestors: his wife Abigail and their son Joseph Nash. Also found that William was a Revolutionary War veteran.
  
  Found a letter, 1835 pension roll, widow's pension and summary document further substantiating the Revolutionary War service of my ancestor J. Michael Luther, Sr., and I added them to the detailed page about his service. Also found that there is a claim in his ancestry that he is genealogically connected to the great reformer Martin Luther.
  
  Updated the Jeopardy game.
  
  Added various people search tools to Jamie's Toolbox to help with research, particularly Brick Walls, where I also added links to those tools and other sources.
  
  Added an image of my forebears who are photographed from my Ancestry.com tree. Added this image to the home page under Other fascinating facts and Brick Walls as I search for photographs of ancestors who aren't photographed yet were alive during the time of photography.
  
  Added some reflections my mother Carolyn F. Johnson had about my late father Bill Johnson to the The Family of William H. and Carolyn Fisher Johnson.
  
  Added to sources for William the Conqueror and articles for Robert the Bruce.
  
  Found a possiblity that I am descended from Harald Bluetooth for whom Bluetooth technology is named.
  
  Explored some sources regarding more obscure figures in my ancestry: Poppa of Bayeux and Sprota.
  
  Found multiple common ancestors I share with Queen Elizabeth II.
  
  Wrote a case study Finding Robert, which shows how I found Robert the Bruce is my ancestory. Styled that page with the colors from the seal of Robert the Bruce, which I also included on the Wall of Shields.
  
  Found two sources by Burke, John (1787-1848) and Burke, Bernard (1814-1892): The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales: with Their Descendants, Sovereigns and Subjects, Volume I, p. 479, and The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales: with Their Descendants, Sovereigns and Subjects, Volume II, p. 435, which show the line from James Forbes, 2nd Lord Forbes, back to Robert the Bruce.
  
  Despite claims from History and Lives of the British Royals: Robert II of Scotland that Joan, Princess of England, was mother of Elen (Helen) verch Llewellyn, found from other sources that her mother was an unknown mistress. So, while there is still doubt as to the mother of Elen (Helen) ferch Llewelyn, her father is known. Yet, while Donald, Earl of Mar, married a woman named Elen, a curator note says Donald's wife Len was probably Elen (Helen) ferch Llewelyn. So, the lines of her parentage remain dashed as it's not confirmed she is definitely my ancestor. Meanwhile, Donald, Earl of Mar, is my ancestor and his ancestry is supported, meaning verification of the surname Comyn. This led to researching and partial verification of my Comyn ancestry. This included use of the sources The Scots Peerage, Volume I and Volume II, founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas' Peerage of Scotland - containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom, edited by Sir James Balfour Paul, Lord Lyon King of Arms.
  
  Added a slideshow of generations for mobile resolutions to the Generations page.
  
  
• January 2023: Added pictures for my ancestors Lady Mary Stewart Douglas, Princess of Scotland, and Elizabeth Mary Douglas.
  
  Found a document showing the family of my ancestors James and Ann (Cain) Miller on Ancestry: James Miller & Ann (Cain) Miller Family Records - Quaker Meeting Records, New Garden, Chester, Pennsylvania: Family of James and Ann (Cain) Miller - Quaker Meeting Records of 1722 marriage and their children's births from 1722 to 1745 (local copy).
  
  Updated the Wall of Shields with the shield for my De Clare ancestry founded by Richard FitzGilbert (Richard De Clare). Also added an updated shield for Stewart and added a shield for Stewart of Menteith and added links to the resources thereof. And I added the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom to the Honorary Shields.
  
  Thanks to Nance Genealogy Clearinghouse: When did RICHARD NANCE arrive in America?, found that my ancestor (10x great grandfather) Richard Nance (b. ca. 1604) was married to a woman named Alice. So, Alice Nance is my 10x great grandmother!
  
  

  Johnson origins: Bill Reid revealed that after poring through research he is thinking John Edmund Johnston (1623-1719) is our common Y-DNA ancestor.

  
  
  Added to my page Brick Walls - Where I'm Stuck.
  
  Thanks to Ancestry, found a picture of my great-great grandmother Nancy Louisa (Surratt) Hill.
  
  Found my 6x great grandmother Margaret Stephens Snapp in her father Peter Stephens' will (also here). Also improved functionality for viewing and printing Peter's biographical information and did more research on him thanks to the book Peter Stephens and Some of his Descendants 1690-1935 by Dan V. Stephens. And added a pen drawing of Peter Stephens by Clarence Ellsworth, friend of the author Dan V. Stephens.
  
  Added more sources for my ancestor Alfred "The Great" and his ancestry.
  
  Fixed broken links on alleged Hardreshull/Stafford ancestry.
  
  Found that my ancestor J. Michael Luther, Sr., was first married to my ancestor Elizabeth (maiden name unknown), not Elizabeth Auman, who was actually the wife of Michael's brother George. So, Auman is no longer listed among my ancestral surnames and Michael's wife Elizabeth is listed as having maiden name unknown in my paternal ancestors 8 generations back.
  
  Added links and images about my ancestral Scottish Clan Skene.
  
  Found a DNA match who shares our most recent common ancestors George (Sr.) and Margaret(ha) Rexrode.
  
  Researched at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society in Dayton, Virginia, to find information about the German origins of Snapp/Schnepp/Schneppff/Schnepfe, about my Coffman ancestry, and even about the alleged paternal ancestry of my wife.
  
  
• December 2022: Found a document showing the marriage of my ancestors James Lamar and Verlinda Osborn.
  
  According to U.S., Lists of Men Ordered to Report to Local Board for Military Duty, 1917-1918, my great-great grandfather John Milton Hill was inducted into military service August 5, 1918, at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina. His occupation was listed as farmer.
  
  Found alleged ancestry of my great-great-great grandmother Rutha (Riley) Cranford, resulting in the addition of a new page and addition of alleged surnames.
  
  Found my great grandfather William Eddie Hill's obituary (source)
  
  Found that the U.S. and International Marriage Records indicate John Reese married Mary Thorpe (b. 1735) in 1772. Since she is confirmed as his wife, I plan to research her ancestry in the future. In the meantime, updated the Generations page to include her.
  
  In addition to adding a Lassiter Coat of Arms (See Lassiter ancestry) to the Wall of Shields, I added the Douglas of Angus Coat of Arms referencing my ancestor George Douglas, Earl of Angus, thanks to the source ScotClans: Douglas Crest & Coat of Arms.
  
  Thanks to the 1880 Montgomery Co., NC, Cenus, found the correct approximate birth and death years for my ancestor Rutha (Riley) Cranford.
  
  Thanks to Britroyals: Royal Family Tree (849-present), I was able to further fill in one of my ancestral lines from my ancestor St. Margaret, Queen of Scots back to Alfred the Great. This resulted in additions to the Wall of Shields and adding Alfred the Great icons throughout the site to follow my lines back to him:
  
  
  Added to my article How to get started with genealogical research.
  
  Found 1810 Census information about my ancestor Philip Waggy, Sr.
  
  Found a Davidson County, North Carolina: Vietnam War Casualty List listing my 2nd cousin Hugh Ames Sexton, Jr. who died in Vietnam in 1971.
  
  Added William the Conqueror's Coat of Arms to his page and the Wall of Shields thanks to the source Royal Shields of England, 1066-1199, Angevin World. This also resulted in adding William the Conqueror shield icons throughout the site to follow my line back to him:
  
  
  Found an old German document, which mentions my ancestors Philipp Dutt and wife Christina.
  
  Found a biography of my ancestor Gabriel Stephens (1645-1720).
  
  Added a new section to the Wall of Shields: Heritage Shields, which represent various nations of origin of those in my heritage who migrated to America, featuring some surnames of immigrant families.
  
  Added the following shield icon through the tree and to the Wall of Shields to designate my line back to Rollo the Viking:
• November 2022: Mytrueancestry.com, which compares DNA with ancient samples via Y-DNA (paternal) subclades, shows that I match Clan Donnachaidh (Clan Robertson/Clan Duncan), the parent clan of Clan Skene, which is one of my ancestral clans. It is through that line and lines that married into it that I am descended also from Robert the Bruce, William the Conqueror, Charlemagne and other notable ancestors.
  
  With the guidance of distant cousin and genealogist Daniel Bly, I researched my Strickler ancestry with these sources:
  
  
  • "Abraham Strickler Story" by Frank W. Duff (local copy)
  • Our Strickler Heritage by Morgan G. Brenner
  • The Strickler Family: Biographies (archived site)
  • WikiTree: Christen Stockli (1641), Hans Stockli (abt. 1601) and the research notes of Bruce Fosnocht
  
  
  This resulted in an updated to the Wall of Shields and the following new ancestral surnames being added to the home page:
  
  
  • Verified: Beyeler, Bruppacher, Buhler, Hitz, Landis, Marti
  • Unverified: Asper, Hiestand, Löhrer (Lohrer), Morgan, Schneider
  
  
  And discovered from the Landis/Bruppacher ancestors that I am 12th cousin, once removed, to Dick Van Dyke, our common ancestors being Rudolf and Anna (Bruppacher) Landis.
  
  Researched The German element of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, by John Walter Wayland, B.A., Ph.D., which provided information for various ancestors: Mary (Campbell) Funkhouser, Jacob Stover, Abraham Strickler and Peter Stephens.
  
  Further researched History of the Valley of Virginia (1833) by Samuel Kercheval and Charles James Faulkner and discovered more infomration about my ancestor Jacob Stover.
  
  Also researched Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, Volume II by John Fiske, pp. 282-285 [PDF pages 312-315] to gather information about Culpeper's ursurpation (Rebellion), led by my ancestor John Culpeper.
  
  Localized the document Complete listing of Early Virginia Immigrants, 1623-1666 (from book published 1912 by George Cabell Greer, now copyright-free) and added it to the Home Page: Helpful Links.
  
  Gathered more information about my ancestor Jacob Stover via research of The Survival of German Dialects and Customs in the Shenandoah Valley (A Preliminary Survey) by John Stewart and Elmer L. Smith (local copy).
  
  Updated 23andMe DNA information.
  
  Researched The Descendants of William the Conqueror by Alan G. Freer, Society of Genealogists, London, England, which shows the connecting of my ancestral line King Robert III (John Stewart) to King Robert II (Stewart) to Marjorie (Bruce) Stewart to King Robert I "The Bruce" to Robert De Brus to Isabel De Clare to Gilbert De Clare, Earl of Gloucester to Amica FitzRobert De Clare to William (Mafonache) FitzRobert to Robert "The King's Son" Fitzroy de Caen to King Henry I of England to William the Conqueror.
  
  Thanks to The Seibert Family: Wolfersweiler, Saar; Tulpehocken, Pennsylvania; Clear Spring, Maryland; Martinsburg, West Virgina by Raymond Martin Bell of Washington & Jefferson College (1959), I did further research for my alleged Seibert/Seybert ancestry.
  
  Researched English Monarchs: History of the Kings and Queens of England, finding information about my ancestors William the Conqueror, Matilda of Flanders and their ancestry. And researched its sister site Scottish Monarchs: Scotland's Hero King Robert the Bruce for more information about my ancestor Robert the Bruce.
  
  Found more information about Morris origins and Morris ancestry after researching Among Ourselves: Out of North Carolina (Volume I) by Sarah Parke Morrison.
  
  
• October 2022: Found the middle name of my ancestor Wadsworth "Wads" H. Nash: Harwood, which makes sense since his mother's maiden surname was Harwood.
  
  Thanks to FamilySearch, found a marriage document showing my ancestors Abraham and Magdalena Funkhouser.
  
  Thanks to FamilySearch: "Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989", p. 119 and p. 194, found listings of the marriage of my ancestors Abraham and Catherine (Coffman) Funkhouser.
  
  In view of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, updated the title of her son from Prince Charles of Windsor to King Charles III.
  
  Found my Johnson grandparents in the 1950 census in Miami, Florida. More Details.
  
  Thanks to FamilySearch, found an image of my grandparents Otto and Hazel Fisher.
  
  Added North Carolina Land Grant Images and Data as a source for the land grant documentation/ownership after the death of my 5x great grandfather John Johnson.
  
  Further solidified documentation regarding my ancestors who were Revolutionary War ancestors from what is now West Virginia (George Rexrode, Philip Eckard/Eckert, Sr., Frederick Propst, Christopher Eye, George Simmons and John Simmons and possible ancestor Jacob Heavenor) by localizing the South Branch DAR document (Source: My Bennett and Lambert Family Facebook Group).
  
  Added a 1790 US Map (Source) to the How to Get Started with Genealogical Research as a reminder to make sure you are researching the correct location. Also added this to Helpful Links.
  
  
• September 2022: Researched Shank, Thomas Lee. Schenck, Shenk, Shank: History of the Descendants of Andreas Schenck in America, 1732-1984 : Including Chapters on the Related Families of Biehlmajer, Hertzog, Weis, May, Seitz, Seip, Hicks, Hart, Bandy, and Notes on Many Others (FamilySearch, Google Books) around the Weiss/Weis/Wise family.
  
  Added a possible marriage date for Christopher and Elizabeth Crummett, from a record suggesting her maiden surname was Ay (Eye).
  
  Found a suggestion that Catherine, wife of Johannes Zachariah Rexrode, may have had the surname Propst.
  
  Added birthplaces for my great-great grandparents Charles Florence Fisher and Mary Elizabeth (Pifer) Fisher.
  
  Added pictures of me.
  
  Found additional sources for the marriage of my ancestors William and Mary (Cuthbert?) Hearne.
  
  Added Robert the Bruce and Charlemagne icons to descendants at the bottom of Johnson ancestry:
  
  
  Restored a photo (for comparison: original photo) of my great-great grandparents Titus Winbourne Johnson and Malinda Christine (Campbell) Johnson thanks to Photo Restoration with GFP-GAN.
  
  Added a link to Clan Skene - Bagtown Clans to the Clan Skene page.
  
  Added a photo and restored version of my great-great grandmother Mary Elizabeth (Pifer) Fisher. Also added a restored photo of her as a younger woman.
  
  Researched Irish Reports: Hadley Society which had information about my ancestors Simon and Catherine (Talbot) Hadley and their daughter (also my ancestor) Jane Hadley Keerans/Kearns.
  
  Added WikiTree information for my great-great-great-great grandparents David and Susannah Juliana (Snapp) Fisher.
  
  
• August 2022: Added a picture of the Smith brothers (thanks to FamilySearch), siblings of my Lillie Lou (Smith) Eckard.
  
  Added a probate record for my ancestor William Morris.
  
  Discovered a source for my ancestor William Hearne and my ancestral Hearne Family: Eastern Shore Hearnes from Ohio Harn Boys Ancestry (local copy).
  
  Contacted the Hadley Society to see if I could get more insight into my ancestor Jane Hadley Keeran.'
  
  Found information about my ancestors John Wilson and Mathew Skeen (Matthew Skein) thanks to William T. Hearne's book Brief History and Genealogy of the Hearne Family.
  
  Enhanced Jamie's Toolbox: Surname Tool to utilize 3 sources for surnames.
  
  Found a picture of Thomas and Rebecca (Ivey) Kearns, two of my oldest born ancestors photographed. And thanks to MyHeritage, featured an enhanced, animated photo of Rebecca (Ivey) Kearns.
  
  Thanks to Funkhouser Notes from WikiTree sources, compiled by Dan Hylton, descendant of Joseph Funkhouser, son of Abraham (Jr.) and Catherine (Coffman) Funkhouser, found additional information to share regarding my Funkhouser ancestry.
  
  Summarized the evidence proving John Kearns is the progenitor of the and included his 1794 will, which mentions his daughter Ann and son Isaac.
  
  Did some research and found more documents about my ancestor George Fisher available here.
  
  Posted updated AncestryDNA ethnicity estimates.
  
  
• July 2022: Found additional documentation of interest regarding my ancestors Richard Loflin's and Lt. Col. Thomas Nash's respective services in the American Revolution. Did likewise for my possible ancestor Jacob Heavenor.
  
  Discovered that my ancestor Abraham Luther was an American Civil War veteran and that he served in the same unit as my ancestor Allen Harris Johnson.
  
  Updated the Jeopardy game.
  
  Found information on my Blanford, Lamar and Hearne lines regarding the marriages of my ancestors Thomas Lemar II and Martha Blanford, James Lemar and Valinda/Verlinda Osborn(e) and William Hearne and Mary Cuthbert.
  
  Updated Jamie's Toolbox with an enhanced Surname Tool.
  
  Came across the Will of Charles Sledge, which includes mention of wife Mary Sledge and daughter Rebecca Ivey.
  
  Found additional support for the marriage of William Hearne and Mary Cuthbert.
  
  Corresponded with Brian Keith Supinger about our shared Supinger/Zuppinger ancestry.
  
  Sue Keirns Mulero determined via Y-DNA study that the Keeran-Kearns-Kerns folks (Pa to NC) are NOT related to Keirns-Kearns-Kerns folks (Pa to Ohio), not through their paternal line anyway. They all seem to have the occasional autosomal DNA match that is through some maternal lines.
  
  
• June 2022: Found sourced notes from Ancestry.com regarding my Sledge ancestors.
  
  Thanks to Sue Keirns Mulero, was informed that Owen Kiernan/Keeran/Kirvane's parents have not been proven as being John and Ann (Roe) Keirn/Keeran. She also shared Kearns Y-DNA tests of 5 descendants of Thomas Keeran "The Immigrant" all show the historic haplogroup for Farrell from Longford, Ireland.
• May 2022: Discovered that Bill Gates (of Microsoft Fame) is my 10th cousin, our common ancestor being Tabitha (Wrigth?) Mills/Blanford. Bill Gates is descended from her first marriage to William Mills. I am descended from her second marriage to Thomas Blanford.
  
  Discovered my great grandparents Arthur and Lillie Lou (Smith) Eckard in the 1950 Census.
  
  Posted updated AncestryDNA ethnicity estimates.
  
  

  Found that according to WikiTree, the late singer Patsy Cline and I share Lawrence and Margaret (Stephens) Snapp/Schnepp) as common ancestors, making me her 6th cousin, once removed.

  
  
  
• April 2022: Made major updates to the Kearns ancestry (including improved layout) due to the conclusion that the progenitors of the North Carolina Kearns line (my line) are John and Hannah (Miller) Kearns of Chester Co., PA, both descended from Irish immigrants. This now verifies my Hadley ancestry (which I am further researching and updating) and has resulted in adding the names from these ancestries to the surnames in my ancestry: Cain/Cane, Clibborn, Hadley, Ignew, Layton/Laeton, Miller, Roe, Roswell and Talbot. This also resulted in a change to the Generations page since John and Hannah (Miller) Kearns replace the repeated erroneous claim of William T. Kearns and Mary E. (King) Kearns. Read more about this.
  
  Found more information about my great grandfather Dr. Otto Keiter Fisher's unknown son Charles Wetsel.
  
  Found that my ancestor Rebecca (McMullen) Miller's mother may have had the maiden surname Hugg.
  
  Researching the possible parentage of my ancestor Sarah "Sallie" (Hicks) Morris.
  
  Added a page Brick Walls - Where I'm Stuck to highlight those parts of my tree where I am stuck. Check it out and see if you can help.
  
  Thanks to Robin's Family Research got a copy of the document Intent to marry for Joseph and Mary at the Quaker Meeting at Symons Creek Monthly Meeting in Pasquotank, North Carolina, 1 May 1755; Joseph and Mary (Newby) Morris are my ancestors.
  
  Researched Lionheart: Living in History, England 1190AD (1987) by Edwin King where I gathered information regarding ancestors: William the Conqueror, Bayeux Tapestry, Robert the Magnificent (Robert the Devil), King Henry I of England, Malcolm Canmore, King David "The Saint" of Scotland, Robert de Beaumont, Gilbert de Clare, Bigod and Bohun families.
  
  

• March 2022: Came across Denton, NC, Old Photos featuring photos from my father's home town where many of my paternal ancestors and relatives lived.
  
  I corresponded with John Rexrode, to whom I am twice 6th cousin, once removed. He and I share common ancestor Zachariah Rexrode, Sr. and John provided the will of Zachariah Rexrode, Sr., as well as the descendants of Aldine Whitesel Rexrode, a descendant of Zachariah.
  
  Discovered another line from my great-great grandfather Titus Winbourne Johnson via correspondence with Lisa Goins, a DNA match on Ancestry DNA. She is my half 3rd cousin, with T. Winbourne Johnson being our common ancestor. I am descended from his marriage to Malinda Christine Campbell who died in 1875. In 1876, he married his second wife Amanda Nance. However, he had a relationship with Ocia Pool resulting in the birth of William Dockery Poole who carries the Johnson Y-DNA. More details.
  
  Update site script: Improved email from site to include URL of page the user is on as well as repaired the "Restore" functionality of the Retro feature.
  
  Shared on my Kearns ancestry page a Facbook post from Sue Keirns Mulero about the ancestral surnames of Kearns where she ties it to Keeran, Kirvane and Krwan, but also indicates ties back to a Farrell group. Added a card to the Wall of Shields for Farrell (See June 2022 update on this).
  
  Through research on Ancestry.com, added/discovered the following:
  • The Ivey Coat of Arms (related: Ivey ancestry).
  • A link to my late father William "Bill" H. Johnson's Find-A-Grave Memorial, which someone had created and transferred to me where I expanded the memorial.
  • A 1790 Census record featuring my ancestor Zacharias Rexrode.
  • A link to the SAR application for a descendant of Revolutionary War veteran and my ancestor James Lamar.
  • A lot of research around the Hearne family and descendants from the book archive.orgHistory and Genealogy of the Hearne Family from A. D. 1066, when they went from Normandy with William the Conqueror over to England, Down to 1580, when William Hearne the London Merchant Came to America, and on Down to A. D. 1907 by William T. Hearne of Independence, Missouri, 1895-1898 and 1907 including origins of the Hearne family and Hearne Coat of Arms, the discovery of my ancestor William Hearne being an officer in Cromwell's army, details about William and Mary Hearne, details about the Wingate family and details about Purnell Hearne and family.
  • The addition of the Ridley ancestry of Jane Ridley Heron.
  • A picture of my ancestor Sarah Lassiter Kearns.
  • A marriage announcement for my ancestors Charles Florence Fisher and Mary Elizabeth Pifer.
  • A marriage license for my ancestors Wenborn Cranford and Margaret Coggins (nee Kearns).
  • A source for the marriage of my ancestors Evelina Harwood and Joseph Nash.
  • Discovery of death certificates listing ancestors William Morris and Sallie Hix, Godfrey Bisher and Lucinda Loflin, Allen H. Johnson and Elizabeth Kernes.
  • Civil War Service Record for my ancestor Wenborn W. Cranford.
  
  
  Made relevant updates to the Wall of Shields based on the above list (Coats of Arms) and to feature the monogram seal of Charlemagne, which I also added as minitature icons to follow the two verified lines through the tree back to him. Yes, you read that right: a second line has been verified back to Charlemagne.
  
  Transcribed the will of Benjamin Ivy, my great-great-great-great-great grandfather.
  
  
• February 2022: Discovered that famed baseball player Jackie Robinson and I share George and Sarah (Tilden) Sutton as common ancestors. He is my 9th cousin, once removed.
  
  Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff.
  
  With the help of Sue Keirns Mulero, added clarifications on my Kearns ancestry page correcting Jane Hadley's marriage: She did NOT marry William Keeran. She married Owen Kiernan.
  
  
  

  Johnson origins: Bill Reid revealed that he had made discoveries through DNA research tying him and some matches to Sterling Johnston.
  
  Corresponded with Johnson/Johnston researcher and descendant Jenny Oliver who shared with me about my ancestors Abraham and John Johnson/Johnston. She indicated there was an Abraham born about 1722, probably born in Isle of Wright, Virginia, married to a Susannah (Listed in Will, dated 3 Jul 1789 and a Death Bed Request, Halifax County, VA, on 27 Jan 1791), which listed the following children Abraham, William, John, James Lewis, and Sterling. She indicated the son, John, is definitely my relative, and was a brother to Sterling Johnston. Sterling may have had a son named John "Jack" Pittman Johnston, who had a child out of wedlock, William Reid. This might explain the DNA relationship between Jenny, the Reids and me. Jenny also indicated this Abraham could have been the son of Benjamin Johnson born 1708 died 1742, married to Elizabeth died 1783. Benjamin died intestate but Elizabeth listed several of the children in her Will but not Abraham. Benjamin could have been the son of William Johnston born 1676 died 1746. While there isn't a Will for William, this son, Benjamin, was reconstructed from land records. William (1676) could be the son of William Johnston, Isle of Wright, born 1648 died 1719. Jenny thinks that William Johnston of Isle of Wright might have been Scottish.

  
  
  Came across the book Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary War McAllister's Data (1913) by J.T. McAllister where I found Revolutionary War data regarding my ancestors Philip Eckard, Sr., Christopher Eye, and brothers George (Sr.) and John Simmons, Sr. as well as a possible reference to Thomas Nance.
  
  Discovered a DNA cousin T.L. on FTDNA with whom I share common ancestors Benjamin Morris, Sr., and Sarah Elizabeth (Bolton or Brown) Morris.
  
  
• January 2022: Incorporated the alleged ancestry of Barbara (Pence) Propst (later Conrad) according to Geni.com
  
  Discovered on 23andMe a DNA cousin G.M. with whom I share common ancestors George Frederick Propst and Barbara (Pence) Propst as well as Christopher Crummett and Anna Regina Elizabeth (mnu) Crummett.
  
  Researched and added an ancestral line (Moore) and updated dates for the following families as part of that research: Sledge, Flake and Clarke.
  
  Received digitized pictures: Some of my great-grandmother Lillie Lou (Smith) Eckard's brother at Camp Lee: Arlie Smith, black and white as well as colorized as well as a colorized one of the Teachers Institute of Pendleton County (WV) from 1902 showing my great grandfather Arthur Eckard and my great-great grandfather Noah W. Eckard.
  
  
• December 2021: Corresponded with Calvin "Cal" Sonner regarding my ancestor David Fisher. This led to me finding his website History and Genealogy Information Related to Northern Shenandoah County, Virginia with multiple resources, resulting in updated information added to the following ancestries: Fisher, Coffman, Funkhouser and Pifer. Further, Mr. Sonner provided me a picture of part of a feed sack from D.E. Fisher mill and pointed me to the book Strasburg, Virginia, and the Keister Family (1972) by Elmo Earl Keister, which tells how my ancestor David Fisher endured hardship to save the family mill from General Sheridan's burning (p. 196).
  
  Found pictures featuring the slogan of Hill Motor Company, which was run by the brother of my paternal grandmother Gertrude Leona (Hill) Johnson.
  
  With the help, input and research of Sue Keirns Mulero, modified the information on my Kearns ancestry to remove items that cause confusion in the narrative.
  
  Nance researcher Sonia Nance-Roberts shared images of a November 1858 court petition of Elizabeth Hubbard Nance. Elizabeth was widowed and her son-in-law John Keerans (husband of Anna Nance Keerans) was co-administrator of her late husband's (Hudson Nance) estate. However, John died in 1858 before the matters of the estate were settled. It was found that upon John's death, his children "made a more liberal provision for his widow than she was entitled" and thus the petition to the court ensued.
  
  Received from my mother a document "Paul Smith biography" by Tom Shanholtz: PDF version or if preferred DOCX version. Paul, who went MIA in WWII, was the nephew of my great grandmother Lillie Lou (Smith) Eckard.
  
  
• Novembver 2021: Revisited the Luray Valley Museum (I had been there in July 2016) where I gathered more information about my ancestors Jacob Stover (such as his being a "Swiss land agent") and Abraham Strickler, particularly Abraham Strickler's Bible, which he owned in 1726 (and it was printed in 1536)!
  
  My mother Carolyn F. Johnson shared with me a letter from her father, my grandfather Otto Woodrow Fisher better known to me as "Bow-Wow."
  
  I discovered I have a DNA match -- K.C.D. on MyHeritage. -- who has Matthew and Rutha (Lamar) Skeen as ancestors 9 generations back on her ancestry, and it is 8 generations back for me, approaching the edge of what autosomal DNA can reach, but further confirmation regarding my Skeen ancestry.
  
  Thanks to 9th cousin Jeremy Conlin (who shares Robert Lassiter as common ancestor), discovered that I am 5th cousin, 4 times removed, to Larcena Pennington Page, later Scott, who also shares Robert Lassiter as a common ancestor. Larcena is daughter of Julia Ann (Hood) Pennington, daughter of Charlotte Parker Hood, daughter of Chloe (Lassiter) Parker, daughter of Jonas Lassiter, son of John Lassiter, son of Robert Lassiter. She was a Western folk hero pioneer. She was kidnapped by Apache Indians, stabbed and pushed off a cliff and left for dead. She amazingly survived. For source and more detail, see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pennington-4220.
  
  
• October 2021: Found some documentation to further consider the origins of my Morris ancestors, namely Find-A-Grave: John Morris (1600-1659), A List of the Livinge from the Jamestowne Society and WeRelate: Morris Family History of Bertie Co., NC, by Wanda Ware DeGidido. Researching to see if I can determine the ancestry of John Morris (1652-1680). On a technical note, I added expand/collapse capability to the Morris origins section on that page.
  
  Launched a new page on the site: Years of Ancestors where I list by years 1700-1750, 1750-1800, 1800-1850 and 1850-1900, capturing 200 years of ancestry to find ancestors easier by year.
  
  Updated my Royal Scottish Ancestry page with additional portraits of and shields/seals associated with those ancestors. This alsoo resulted in an update to The Wall of Shields.
  
  Discovered new Nance information from a fellow researcher about no Royall connection to the Nance line yet a possible connection to Jamestown. This also led me to searching and finding my ancestor Thomas Nance, Sr.'s DAR Record under the name Thomas Nantz.
  
  
• September 2021: According to myFTDNA Chromosome Painting, I have a trace amount of Middle East Jewish DNA and based on other DNA discoveries, it seems to be maternal and from my Propst ancestry. More details are available about this find in the DNA section on the home page.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Found some interesting observations around the geography of where my John Johnson settled and land sold to his son James "Jimmy" Johnson (my great-great-great-great grandfather), which further support my findings regarding John Johnson last month.

  
  
  Added a list of my Immigrant Ancestors.
  
  
• August 2021: Discovered that my ancestor Michael Lamb was a veteran of the War of 1812.
  
  It seems most likely that John and Hannah (Miller) Kearns are the progenitors of the Kearns line according to the document RIP WILLIAM KEARNS AND MARY KING compiled by Sue Keirns and discussion thereof.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Bill Reid presented information as evidence he gathered supporting the possible Reid/Johns(t)on Warren Co., North Carolina, connection, using Y-DNA, correspondence, websites, census and land documentation to support they hypothesis. If this connection is accurate, it opens the door into the when and where for the Reids and those Johns(t)ons with known roots in the counties of Warren and Halifax. Click here for more details.
  
  In correspondence with Sam Houston Johnson III, son of Sam Houston Johnson, Jr., I found more questions about Johnson origins than answers. Sam reports he is descended from Abraham Johnston, but his Y-DNA haplogroup is R-M198, which differs from mine (R-M269). This is a strong implication that he and I do not descend from the same Johnson line. Further complicating this is that Abraham Johnston is reported to have Y-DNA haplogroup I1. So, this brings up a lot: whether Sam is mistaken at his assumed descendancy from Abraham Johnston or if Geni.com is incorrect about Abraham Johnston's haplogroup is I1 or if Sam, the Johnstons and I are from three distinct lines that do not relate since antiquity. Yet, there are some finds from Sam Houston, Jr's book Harris Johnson: a Texas Pioneer, where while he questions descending from my ancestor John Johnson, son of Abraham, he still researches and provides useful details and documentation confirming that the John Johnson on my tree is indeed the John Johnson who is my ancestor. So, while it seems Sam and I are not related via Y-DNA, his assuming so led to his researching of records, which confirm details about my ancestor John Johnson.

  
  
  Thanks to information from Gene Kearns, fellow Lassiter descendant, I now kow there are 5 Micajah Lassiters to not get confused by. Before this month, I only had 3. Context: I am descended from Micajah Lassiter, Sr., (1764-1854), not to be confused with the other Micajah Lassiters.
  
  Discovered one of my ancestors Adelaide, Countess of Aumale (Adela, Comtesse d'Aumale), wife of Lambert II, Count of Lens, was the sister to another ancestor William the Conqueror. I am also descended from the daughter of Adelaide and Lambert II: Judith de Lens. She was married to Waltheof. Waltheof was the last Saxon earl of Northumberland and was beheaded on May 31, 1076, for participating in the "Revolt of the Earls" against William the Conqueror. So, there's yet another example where I am descended by one ancestor who killed another ancestor. Further researching Waltheof's and Adelaide's ancestries. Updated the Wall of Shields with Waltheof's Coat of Arms.
  
  Y-DNA for my Kearns ancestry shows that Keeran/Kearns Y-DNA is originally Farrel Haplogroup Y-DNA, specifically that all descendants of Thomas Keeran will have the O'Farrell haplogroup. More information: Farrell DNA Project.
  
  Reasearched my Luther ancestry upon coming across BROWN and LUTHER FAMILIES of RANDOLPH COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA by Herbert W. Stanford III, making notes in the ancestry thereof.
  
  
• July 2021: Found records further supporting ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, thanks to FamilySearch's Revolutionary War records: Philip Eckard, Christopher Eye, J. Michael Luther and George Rexrode.
  
  Thanks to Jake Coffman (to whom I am a 5th cousin, once removed) for providing me with pictures of Joseph and Abigal (Lincoln) Coffman, Joseph being a brother to my ancestor Catherine (Coffman) Funkhouser. This led to further exploring of A Genealogy and History of the Kauffman-Coffman Families of North America 1584 to 1937, compiled by Charles F. Kauffman, and I ended up adding another page to my family tree: Kauffman ancestry. Added potential coat of arms from this to the Wall of Shields.
  
  Continued research of my Drummond ancestry as I completed digging through The Genealogy of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Drummond by the Honourable William Drummond. Then proceeded with research at Scotland Untitled Nobility: Drummond on Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Completed this research.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Corresponded with Y-DNA cousin Bill Reid and he provided some interesting analysis of BigY matches and the estimated time to our most recent common ancestors (TMRCAs) which imply Johnson/Johnston is the ancestral line impacting Y-DNA research. Len Reid and Dan Johnson added additional information implying Reids descended from Johnsons.

  
  
  Added a resource to the Lassiter Ancestry from author Margo Lee William: her article about Miles Lassiter: "Miles Lassiter, An Early African American Quaker: Slave or Free?."
  
  Researched the book Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790 North Carolina from the Department of Commmerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census, S.N.D. North, Director, and found ancestors and possible ancestors listed.
  
  
• June 2021: Corresponded with a fellow Coffman descendant -- Jake Coffman -- to whom I am 5th cousin, once removed, since his father is brother to the father of Tanya Coffman.
  
  Added links to videos involving Scottish history around Robert the Bruce. Added a link to the alleged De Brusse ancestry about Orkney history.
  
  Added a link regarding the Kiernan name to the Kearns ancestry.
  
  Added details regarding Sarah Johnson (wife of my ancestor John Johnson) possibly being Sarah Hays Gooch. More research is needed and it brings up the unknown about Sarah Johnson's origin and the confusion over which John and Sarah Johnson are my ancestors as there were multiple couples comprised of a John and Sarah Johnson.
  
  Added links to my Bittmann/Pitman/Crabill ancestry to Daniel T. Rogers(b. 1943) - all my relatives where my line back to them is echoed.
  
  Discovered two 3rd cousins descended from David R. Smith and Martha Jane (Waggy) Smith.
  
  Bill Reid and I researched a possible connection between Isham, Randolph, Royall and Johnson after my correspondence with Y-DNA cousin Steve Isham.
  
  
• May 2021: Worked on better protection of the privacy of DNA matches (though for some I have information disclosed with their permission).
  
  Continued April research about the wife of William Nance being connected to the Tinsley line. While it appears she was indeed a Tinsley, there are more questions than answers.
  
  Discovered my genealogical relationship to Prince Charles.
  
  Added a link to my article below, How to get started with genealogical research.
  
  Researched Stewart ancestry using the source The Archbishops of Dol and the origin of the Stewarts by Paul A. Fox from Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, adding details and more about the origins of the Stewart line.
  
  Found research of Jeffrey A. Bockman, author of Lorand Johnson's Caskieben Connections Proven False, which questions Lorand Johnson's claims about early Johnsons and points to other possibilities for the origins of the early Johnsons in America.
  
  Also found Linda Starr's publication Problems with Hinshaw, which casts doubt on some of William Wade Hinshaw's Quaker research. As a result, added Caution! with a link to Starr's research on the following pages: Pritchard/Culpeper Ancestry, Newby-Albertson-Nicholson-Hayward-De Cam Ancestry, Shattuck/Page/Symons/Morris Ancestry & Quaker Ancestry, Sutton/Tilden Ancestry, Culpeper Ancestry and Home page. While it doesn't necessarily nullify all of Hinshaw's research, it serves as a reminder to use multiple reputable sources to draw genealogical conclusions, something I sometimes fail to do yet strive to do.
  
  Found additional possible Revolution War candidates for my ancestor John Johnson who was a veteran of the American Revolution.
  
  Added more links to the McMullen ancestry. Added potential coat of arms and crest from this to the Wall of Shields.
  
  Added link of interest Notable Dates in Scottish History to pages featuring ancestry in Scotland: Stewart de Angus, Royal Scottish ancestry and De Skene/Skene.
  
  Added link of interest North Carolina in the Revolutionary War (North Carolina's Lost Souls Revolutionary War Project) to pages with some of my Revolutionary War veterans from North Carolina: John Johnson, John Reese, Richard Loflin, J. Michael Luther, Sr., and Thomas Nance, Sr.
  
  Updated links for more reading about Culpeper's Rebellion named for my likely ancestor John Culpeper, also known as "The Rebel of Albemarle" and "The Carolina Rebel."
  
  
• April 2021: Added March 2021 update regarding the Kearns progenitors to the Kearns ancestry page.
  
  Updated Webb ancestry here and here, designating Jesse and Elizabeth Webb as parents of Rebecca Webb who married Isaac L. Kearns, Sr. thanks to information from Gene Kearns.
  
  Continuing research on John Johnson's involvement in the American Revolutionary War and speculating the timeline of his life.
  
  Added North Carolina historical information to the Early Johnsons page.
  
  Added links regarding the Old Welsh Baptist Church where McMullen ancestors appear to have been buried.
  
  Researching a couple of lines that married into my Nance ancestry:
  • Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Nance, Sr.:
    Geni.com alleges that her maiden surname was Royall and that she was a daughter of Captain Joseph Royall who was a son of Katherine (Banks) Isham. Katherine was first married to Capt. Joseph Royall (father of the Capt. Joseph Royall just mentioned), but she was later married to Henry Isham. Among her and Henry's children are Mary Isham. Mary married Col. William Randolph II. The Randolphs were Thomas Jefferson's great grandparents (and grandparents to his mother Jane Randolph Jefferson). The connection between Elizabeth Nance (wife of Daniel Nance, Sr.) and the Royall family has to be proven, however, for me to claim this connection.
  • Mary Elizabeth (also seen as Margaret) Tinsley Nance (wife of William Nance, Sr.):
    It so happens that she is mother of Daniel Nance, Sr., mentioned above. Family Legends: Thomas Tinsley - first immigrant to America in his family suggests she was the granddaughter of Thomas Tinsley who participated in Bacon's Rebellion, which was in Jamestown. So, for this, I have to find verification of that source that Mary Elizabeth (aka Margaret) Nance is the granddaughter of Thomas Tinsley who participated in Bacon's Rebellion. Currently on my site, I have her as the daughter of a Thomas Tinsley b. 1618.
  
  
  
• March 2021: Continuing research of my Drummond ancestry, using the following sources:
  • The Genealogy of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Drummond by The Honurable William Drummond, afterwards First Viscount of Strathallan, M.DC.LXXXI.
  • Scotland United Nobility
  • Geni.com Master Profile: Robert of Strathearn and well-sourced, reputable Master Profile pages thereof.
  • Wikipedia: Robert, Earl of Strathearn and well-sourced, reputable pages thereof.
  • Geni.com Master Profile: Lady Matilda d'Aubigny, Countess Consort of Strathearn and well-sourced, reputable Master Profile pages thereof.
  Updated the Wall of Shields (including attempting to closely alphabetize by surname or individual) and ancestral surnames with some of the findings. Further, I added a new page: d'Aubigny ancestry as as result of the Drummond research. And I discovered my ancestor Matilda de Senlis who is also the ancestor of Lady Diana, Winston Churchill and George Washington, making them all my distant cousins. Since Matilda is my 25th great grandmother and twice my 27th great grandmother, pecifically, I am Lady Diana's 23rd cousin, 3 times removed, and twice her 23rd cousin, 5 times removed. I am Winston Churchill's 24th cousin, twice removed, and twice his 24th cousin, 4 times removed. I am George Washington's 18th cousin, 8 times removed, and twice his 18th cousin, 10 times removed.
  
  After determining last month that K.A.T. is a DNA match with shared ancestors Godfrey Bisher and Lucinda (Loflin) Bisher (they are her great grandparents and my great-great-great grandparents), she and I corresponded and shared information.
  
  Updated the Jeopardy game.
  
  

  Johnson origins: After discovering the site Britain and Ireland SNP and Surname Mapper and entering my SNP of BY53614 into the map, found some interesting things regarding Y-DNA research.

  
  
  Discovered via 23andMe that I am 4th cousin, once removed to Patrick Nash with whom I share common ancestors William Nash and Abigail (Herbert) Nash.
  
  Thanks to the research of Sonia Nance-Roberts, got clarification that my ancestor Thomas Nance was not Thomas Vaughn Nance. They are 2nd cousins, likely, according to Sonia. Further Thomas Vaughan Nance was son of William and Mary (Vaughan) Nance while my ancestor Thomas Nance is son of Daniel Nance and father of Hudson Nance (from whom I share DNA with a descendant as a DNA match). Yet, there were two or three men named Thomas Nance, including both Thomas Vaughn Nance and my ancestor Thomas Nance, who were veterans of the American Revolution. So while my ancestor Thomas Nance served in the American Revolution, he was among multiple men serving under that name. We know he was not Thomas Vaughan Nance, but there are other veterans named Thomas Nance from whom to choose.
  
  Sue Keirns Mulero shared a new discovery on the Irish Kearns Keeran etc Research and DNA Project regarding her work on the NC Kearns Family Tree. She discovered Rebecca Webb's parents are NOT William Webb and Katherine Shaw! This info was taken from a record listing birth indices from 1800-2000. Our Rebecca, wife of Isaac, was born 1769 and died 1835. The record lists a child, Cora Rebecca Webb, born 24 June 1881. I have no clue who her parents were but it was not WT Webb and Katherine Shaw! I made appropriate changes on the Kearns ancestry page as well as page showing the line descended from Isaac and Rebecca (Webb) Kearns.
  
  Discovered a marriage reference in the probate record of Mary McMullin dated April 1860, showing the marriage in New Castle (DE) of William Miller and Rebecca McMullin who were married 14 years earlier. This implies that Mary McMullin is the mother of Rebecca and it also shows the variation of the surname McMullen. Also discovered in Delaware Vital Records a reference for Mary McMullen, wife of Samuel, dead at age 64 on November 29, 1860, buried in the Welsh Track Baptist Cemetery, reference: New Castle. Her death date and the aforementioned probate means this could be the same Mary McMullen and if so, Samuel McMullen is Rebecca McMullen Miller's father. This likely parentage adds a new potential generation.
  
  Upon perusing Shenandoah County Marriage Records - Fisher-Fravel, verified/corrected marriage dates of my maternal grandfather's parents and his paternal ancestors.
  
  Discovered through AncestryDNA that my late first cousin Rodney Cranford had another son -- Jamie Hill, whom I added to the tree.
  
  Updated my "article" How to get started with genealogical research with a link regarding Transfers/Uploads of DNA data.
  
  Added to the page You Be the Judge -- genealogical doppelgangers in my family tree.
  
  Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff.
  
  
• February 2021: Because I haven't done so already, due to the recent research of my direct ancestor Robert the Bruce, verified that I am also a direct descendant of William the Conqueror and Rollo the Viking (Norse: Hrólfr; in Icelandic Sagas as Ganger Hrólfr; baptized Robert).
  
  For the page with William the Conqueror, added richer content such as a picture there and Wikipedia's scrollable Bayeux Tapestry.
  
  Found my great-great grandfather Titus Winbourne Johnson's post-Civil War Oath of Allegiance to USA dated 3 June 1865.
  
  Worked on Quaker research, finding docummentation from Encyclopedia of American Quaker genealogy, Volume I, by William Wade Hinshaw, which is pertinent to my Morris, Pritchard and Page ancestors.
  
  Found more details about my ancestor Mary Magdalena (Campbell) Funkhouser from recorded words from her grandson Joel Swartz.
  
  Discovered information about the employment of my great-great grandfather Charles Florence Fisher.
  
  Shared fellow a fellow researcher's thoughts on John Keerans and him having a possible brother Thomas Keerans, Jr., based on a Quaker record who both went to N.C.
  
  Continuing research of Scottish royalty and nobility in my ancestry: Drummond, Bruce and Stewart. In this research, I re-opend a discussion on Geni.com about possible missing Drummond generations. The Geni.com curator Erica Howton revisited it and researched and verified generations that are depicted in the book The Genealogy of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Drummond by The Honurable William Drummond, afterwards First Viscount of Strathallan, M.DC.LXXXI. From this book moved further with the research of my Drummond ancestry. This research further resulted in the verification and addition of some ancestral surnames.
  
  Made multiple discoveries of DNA matches on AncestryDNA and added these findings throughout various pages on the tree to show DNA support for various ancestral lines including Eckard, Faint/Fend, Morris, Cranford, Hopkins, Nance, Hubbard, Pitman, Crabile, Kiser, Simmons, Luther, Vinson, Shaw, Skeen, Hearne, Schmidt (Smith), Grogg, Crummett, Waggy, Weiss, Pieferin/Pfeiffer, Propst, Eye, Kearns, Webb, Ivey, Reese, Johnson, Bisher, Hicks, Lamb, Rexrode, Newby, Fisher, Snapp, Rexroad, Huffman, Funkhouser, Campbell, Layman, Supinger, Rodes, Coffman, Strickler, Hill, Surratt, Smith, Loflin, Tolson, Hall, and others.
  
  
• January 2021: Continuing to explore documents related to the Kearns ancestry and made updates to that page from this month's and last month's findings. Cleaned up the layout of the Kearns page. Cited Edra Keeran, author of The Keeran Story as a source in this research. Also added unverified surnames as a result of the research.
  
  Found information about my great-great-great grandfather Isaac Pifer from Ancestry.com about his whereabouts and occupation.
  
  Updated DNA ethnicity estimates after receiving my Ancestry DNA results.
  
  Worked on designating the Line to Robert the Bruce by adding this icon next to lines leading back to him:
  
  Based on the recent months' research of Robert the Bruce, updated the possible and definitive ways I am directly descended from Charlemagne (including the Excel Sheet there) since Robert the Bruce is multiply, directly descended from Charlemagne. Targeted ancestries of the following to research possible descent from Charlemagne:
  • Margaret De Roucy -- Verified line to Charlemagne and names De Roucy/Roucy, and added name van Henegouwen.
  • Maud De Meschines
  • Alice (Adeliza) De Meschines
  • Robert (Bossu) De Beaumont
  Embarked on this research.
  
  Found 1870 Census data featuring ancestors John and Allie Waggy, Adam and Susannah Waggy and Absalom and Sally Eckard.
  
  Discovered the following:
  • The will of my ancestor John Reese indicating he had a daughter Mary who married John Thorpe and also mentions his daughter Sally Ivy, wife of Benjamin Ivy (my ancestors).
  • D.A.R. documentation indicating my ancestor John Reese was a veteran of the American Revolution and that his wife Mary had the surname Thorpe.
  • The will of my ancestor John Ivey, Sr.
• December 2020: In researching the ancestry of my direct ancestor Robert the Bruce, found another line (first verified one found November 2020) to Rollo, the Viking who was first to rule over the region of France that would become Normandy, through Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Since Robert the Bruce's direct ancestry also includes verified lines to Hugh Capet and Charlemagne, I have now (finally) verified how I am directly descended from them as well. As a result of this research, verified additional various surnames in my direct ancestry. Also wrote a letter to my Aunt Jerrie (Geraldine Hill Johnson Lomax) about our verified Royal ancestry. Continued research to go even further back in the ancestry of Charlemagne
  
  Set up a memorial page for my Aunt Jerrie who was a dear soul and wealth of information for this site. She passed from this life into the arms of Jesus on December 21, 2020.
  
  Digging deeper into the Kearns ancestry with new documents provided by researchers at Irish Kearns Keeran etc Research and DNA Project.
• November 2020: Added a link to the estate document for William T. Kearns.
  
  Updated the Wall of Shields and Stewart and De Angus ancestries, verifying various lines thanks to well-researched master profiles at Geni.com in the ancestry of my ancestory Robert the Bruce. Also from this research, I found new ancestors and potential ancestors such as Margaret Gospatrick of Dunbar and was able to add new ancestral surnames: Dunbar and Gospatrick.
  
  Researched the Bruce/Brus ancestry of my ancestor Robert the Bruce, finding that though his alleged Scandinavian ancestry is itself well-documented, there is a question as to the parentage of Robert de Brus 1st Lord of Skelton and 1st Lord of Annandale, who is the great-great-great-great grandfather of King Robert "The Bruce" of Scotland. Until the parentage of Robert de Brus 1st Lord of Skelton and 1st Lord of Annandale is verified, the details of the Scandinavian ancestry remain unverified.
  
  With the above research of Scottish nobility, was able to verify some of my De Clare and FitzRobert and De Beaumont ancestries, Carrick of Galloway and Clermont (Claremont, de Clermont, de Claremont) and FitzRichard ancestries, De Caen and FitzHammon ancestries, verifying various ancestral surnames thereof. Also, joined the Descendants of Robert the Bruce Facebook Group. And in this research of Robert the Bruce's ancestry, I found likely connection to King Henry I of England. Later, I DID FIND a verified line to King Henry I of England: Robert the Bruce's paternal grandmother Isabel De Clare and through her grandmother Amicia FitzRobert via her grandfather Robert De Caen who is the son of King Henry I of England. I plan to continue to research his ancestry. In the meantime, I was able to verify to the year 846 to Rollo, a Viking who would first rule the region of France that would become Normandy.
  
  Added more pictures of my Dad's Navy days.
  
  Ordered AncestryDNA.
  
  Added notes from a discussion with genealogist and distant cousin Daniel Bly about my ancestor Abraham Strickler.
• October 2020: After discussion, determined that the Propst ancestry likely does not include Barbara Katrina Brandter/Brand.
  
  Created and uploaded PDF and DOCX versions of The Kearns Heritage.
  
  Found a trace DNA connection with Glenda Cranford, a 5th cousin, with whom I share common ancestors Leonard and Mary "Polly" (Hopkins) Cranford.
  
  Possibly found my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Augustine Pfeiffer. Updated Generations page as a result.
  
  Discovered the death certificate of my great-great grandfather Wadsworth Nash showing his birthdate as 30 August 1841, a 1955 yearbook photo of my mother Carolyn June Fisher (Carolyn Fisher Johnson) and the death certificate of Sarah Bescher showing that my great-great-great grandfather Godfrey Bescher was born on the ship from Germany on the Atlantic Ocean.
  
  Discovered ancestors on the Order of First Families of North Carolina: Albert Albertson, Sr., Nathaniel Albertson, John Newby, James Newby, Christopher Nicholson and Samuel Nicholson.
  
  Thanks to the Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters, I discovered the pension application for Revolutionary War service (local copy) for my great-great-great-great-great grandfather Henry Huffman, Sr.
  
  Added more recent photos of home of my great grandfather Arthur Eckard.
  
  Further researched my Lamar ancestry, verifying and finding more information (including mutiny and migration) about them thanks to the books Thomas Lamar, the immigrant : 300 years of descendants by Dennis Mott Borchers and History of the Lamar or Lemar family in America by Harold Dihel LeMar.
  
  Added memories of the sparkling, green church in Sugar Grove, WV, that my mother recalled when she would visit her grandparents.
  
  Thanks to History of Norfolk County, Virginia, and Representative Citizens edited and compiled by Col. William H. Stewart, I discovered another Revolutionary War veteran: my ancestor Lt. Col. Thomas Nash (1728-1794).
• September 2020: Discovered via 23andMe a DNA match with whom I share common ancestors James "Jimmy" Johnson and Nancy "Charity" (Skeen) Johnson. This match is descended through their daughter Temperance Jane Johnson who married Stephen Adderton.
  
  It now appears that both William T. Kearns (m. Mary King) and John Kearns (m. Hannah Miller) are both progenitors in the Kearns ancestry according to an update from Sue Keirns Mulero.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Bill Reid continues to research and has found among the Reids an autosomal ties to a Johnson line that traces back to Yorkshire, England, which matches what Y-DNA research suggests. He is revisiting pedigrees and getting additional Johnson men to take Y-DNA tests (or upgrade) so as to determine if this also is the same Y-line. It is worth noting that in the Reid ancestry, two Reid cousins were married and had a daughter Hattie Frances Reid who married James V. Johnson. According to Ancestry, James V. Johnson (1914-1988) is son of James V. Johnson, Sr. (1875-1948) and Rosa E. (Williams) Johnson (1879-1948). James V. Johnson, Sr. (1875-1948) is son of Robert Junis Johnson (1833-1910) and Virginia F. (Vaughn) Johnson (1833-1913). Robert Junis Johnson (1833-1910) is son of Lawrence Johnson (1802-1882) and Lucy A. (McCleny) Johnson (1810-1882). Lawrence Johnson (1802-1882) is son of Jacob and Patience (Bracey) Johnson. That Jacob Johnson is son of Michael Johnson (1734-1800) and Elizabeth (Watson) Johnson (1740-1766). Michael Johnson (1734-1800) is son of Robert Johnson, Jr. (1696-1761) and Priscilla (Powell) Johnson (1696-1766). Robert Johnson, Jr., is son of Robert Johnson, Sr. (1633-1733) and Ann (Eppes) Johnson (1663-1733). Robert Johnson, Sr., is son of Robert (1643-1704) and Katherine (Allen) Johnson (1643-1693). Going back further via FamilySearch, Robert Johnson (1643-1704) is son of John (1623-1681) and Mary (Hunt) Johnson (1626-1700). John Johnson (1623-1681) is son of John (1590-1636) and Ann Johnson (1600-1636). And John Johnson (1590-1636) is said to be from Roos, Yorkshire, England, and married Ann 1630 in Jamestown, Virginia.

  
  
  Obtained images of my grandmother Hazel Jane Eckard Fisher during her junior (1930) and senior (1931) years at Bridgewater High School.
  
  Discovered the possible first name of my great-great-great grandfather Campbell: Dougal.
  
  Discovered a video of my late uncle John Haven Lomax II narrating and identifying individuals from Denton, North Carolina.
  
  Added a memory from my mother Carolyn Fisher Johnson about her Granddaddy (Arthur Eckard) and a hickory tree.
  
  
• August 2020: Paula Mitchell, author of the February 28, 2019, article in The Pendleton Times claiming my Propst line descends from Martin Luther, the Reformer, and I corresponded and she indicated that she relied on Ancestry.com as the source for this claim. I am seeking authoritative sources. So, my being descended from Martin Luther is inconclusive. Meanwhile, Sandy Propst provided the Propst Family Genealogy (page 1, page 2, page 3). It was given to her from her cousin who said it was from www.geocities.com/heartland/5038/famihistry/htm/ and that it was given to Sonny from a Simmons man in CA. The archive of the geocities site is not available, but I was able to get to an archive of the directory above the geocities site and from there discovered George a Vineyard Christian Fellowship youth pastor from Shelby, NC, being the author. I was able to find him on Facebook and found his full name is George Hendricks III. I have sent him a messaged and am hoping for a response.
  
  Came across the resource Pennsylvania German Pioneers, Volume I, 1727-1775, by Ralph Beaver Strassburger, LI.D., edited by William John Hinke, Ph.D., D.D. of the Pennsylvania-German Society, and it has multiple ship lists showing multiple ancestors of mine and when they arrived. This resulted in multiple updates to pages involving German ancestors on my maternal side. Additional discovered resources supplement and echo that source: Pennsylvania German Pioneers Passenger Lists: Palatine German Immigrant Ships to Philadelphia 1727-1739 and Palatine Ships Passenger Lists in Pennsylvania German Pioneers from Germany to Pennsylvania 1727 to 1808 from Olive Tree Genealogy.
  
  David Bruty shared with me a 1904 letter from Phoebe Ann Carr to her daughter, which reveals some information about my Huffman ancestry. David also shared some information about Henry Huffman from 1830 per The Dahmer Letter.
  
  Nancy Simmons Roberson shared with me the Pension roll of 1835 for Pendleton Co., WV, which includes ancestors Henry Huffman, Sr., and John Simmons, Sr.
  
  Found information that may show the ship my ancestor Peter Smith/Schmidt arrived on.
  
  Using MyHeritage.com's photo tools, added enhanced and colorized photos and close-ups of various ancestors and kin to the site. Yet, some of these persons have blue eyes. Per my mother's Pendleton Pals post: "Arline, Ted, Thelma didn't have brown eyes. Beulah were hazel, green, not sure. Mama and Cameron had brown eyes. Seems that Vernon were hazel, darker than green. I liked to look in Granddaddy, Arthur's eyes - brown, tint of green, little dark specs in his eyes" (linked text added by me to see in the family tree). I edited eye colors (where I could as not all images could be changed by the edit) using LunaPic with some good results for certain images (including making some eyes truly light blue.
  
  Found more information to support that my great grandfather's real name was Otterbein Keiter Fisher.
  
  Found more information about Wenborn W. Cranford's Civil War service.
  
  Discovered that my ancestor Thomas Pritchard died in Philadelphia.
  
  Discovered that my ancestor Rebecca Symons may have had the maiden surname West.
  
  Found the marriage date for my ancestors Joseph and Rebecca (Supinger) Pifer.
  
  
• July 2020: Discovered another ancestor who was a Revolutionary War veteran -- James Lamar. Also met a distant cousin with whom I share James Lamar as an ancestor. James' daughter, Verlinda, married Thomas Jenkins and their daughter, Tobitha, married Thomas Russell, for whom Russell Cave National Monument, in Bridgeport, AL is named for. It was his bounty land from the Revolutionary War where the cave was found. Their son, James, married Paulina Gaines. Their daughter, Melinda Jane Gaines, married Andrew J. Cluck. Their daughter Ellen D. Cluck married Robert S. Raulston. Their daughter Ellen Raulston married Cleve Walker. Their daughter Lois Walker married Charles Dallas Duggar. I am his 7th cousin, once removed, to their son.
  
  Found the will of a Thomas Lamar, alleged father of the above patriot James Lamar. The will mentions a son of Thomas named James. Still researching to verify to prevent any confusion (in the case that there are other Thomas Lamars with sons named James).
  
  Met Jacob Wood, great-great-great-great grandmother Temperance Jane Johnson (m. Stephen Adderton) was sister to my great-great-great grandfather Allen "Harris" Johnson. So, our common ancestors are James "Jimmy" Johnson and Nancy "Charity" (Skeen) Johnson. This means he is my 5th cousin, once removed.
  
  Joined fellow Henry Huffman, Sr., descendant David Bruty, and others in our quest for substantiating Henry's parents. Added details/documents about multiple Huffman families settling in Virginia from Germany including the family of Christian Hoffman/Huffman (unknown how I am connected to him at this time).
  
  Met DNA cousin Sharon Wiegel. Our common ancestors are my 3x great grandparents and her 2x great grandparents William Lewis Smith and Mary-Anne (Rexrode) Smith. I am her 3rd cousin, once removed, in regards to Smith, though I am also descended from Catherine (Smith) Simmons and multiple Grogg lines as well.
  
  Met DNA cousin Sandra Propst with whom I share multiple ancestors:
  • George Frederick Propst and Barbara (Pence -- *unlikely to be Swadley*) Propst
  • Christopher Stophel Eye and Catherine Anna (Zorn?) Eye
  • Johannes Zachariah (Zacharias) Rexrode (Rexroth/Rexrodt) and Catherine (mnu) Rexrode OR Anna Maria (Voegel) Rexrode
  • Johann Michael Propst, Sr. (I am descended from his 3rd wife Catherine and Sandra is descended from his 2nd wife Anna Maria Keller Propst)
  
  Sandra shared a connection of our shared Propst line to Martin Luther, the Reformer. We are either a cousins to his Propst descendants or according to a February 28, 2019, article in The Pendleton Times and an accompanying chart, I am a direct descendant from him. Sandra thinks we are descended from a brother of the Propst who married Martin Luther's great grandaughter.
  
  Received clarification from Russell Wood (Loftin descendant and fellow Kearns descendant) that Loflin and Loftin are not one and the same, but are 2 different families.
• June 2020: Published to the site last month's discovery that my late Aunt Hilda (my father's sister) is twice a distant cousin to her husband -- my late Uncle Mack Cranford.
  
  Added Nettie Pritchard Keerans notes on Randolph County, North Carolina, Kearns from Randolph County (NC) Library (Incomplete) to the Kearns/Ivey Ancestry sources and Kearns/Webb sources and noted error on p. 13, which makes the wrong assumption that Benjamin Ivey's father was Adam Ivey of Edgecombe. However, it does provide some good informaiton, which I applied to the aforementioned Kearns ancestries.
  
  Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff.
• May 2020: Found supporting documents and sources for the marriages of my following ancestors: William Miller and Rebecca McMullen, William Nash and Abigail Herbert and John R. Harwood and Susanna H. Gilbert. Found a source for the song that my great-great grandfather Noah Webster Eckard used to sing.
  
  Researching my Kearns ancestry after Cristin Kearns, a member of Irish Kearns Keeran etc Research and DNA Project and fellow researcher provided documentation from Doug Kearns suggesting that John and Hannah Miller are the parents of my NC Kearns ancestors. The document is available here. As a result, making updates to my Kearns ancestry. Also, thanks to Gene Kearns, found a book Doug co-authored with Peggy Gaddy Kearns: The Kearns Heritage: Ireland to Randolph County, NC which is a well-researched resource. Found additional helpful resources (Our Family Ancestors by Thomas Maxwell Potts; and Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware IX. The Records of Holy Trinity Old Swedes Church, Wilmington, Del., from 1697 to 1773, p. 719, published by The Historical Society of Delaware, 1890; and Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania 1682-1750 with their early history in Ireland, p. 327, by Albert Cook Myers; the will of James Miller; and New Garden, Pennsylvania, Monthly Meeting Minutes, 1763, pp. 290-291 regarding Hannah Miller Kearns) in my Kearns research and added corrective notes to the The Kearns Heritage: Ireland to Randolph County, NC and updated information to the Kearns ancestral tree.
  
  Fixed broken links in my alleged Maggs ancestry and added the speculation that Ann Maggs (wife of George Maggs) had maiden surname Everill, though I also noted that no reputable sources support this.
  
  Found a picture of my late uncle Mack Hurlan Cranford with his mother and siblings.
  
  Discovered that my late Aunt Hilda (my father's sister) is twice a distant cousin to her husband -- my late Uncle Mack Cranford thanks to correspondence on FamilySearch with a granddaughter (Cherri Harrison) of Mack's sister Beatrice (Cranford) Harrison.
• April 2020: Continued colorization of certain images using the MyHeritage in Color tool.
  
  Found further support for ancestors who were veterans of the Revolutionary War based on a South Branch (WV) Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) document, which features Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral and Pendleton counties in what is now West Virginia, and mentions my ancestors George Rexrode and brothers George (Jr.) and John (Jr.) Simmons among others. It also mentions my ancestor Frederick Propst whom I added to the list of Revolutionary War veterans.
  
  Joined The Scottish Surname Registry Facebook Group to research my Skeen ancestry as well as my Campbell ancestries (paternal | maternal).
  
  Updated the Wall of Shields with a new shield and crest which I added also for my Douglas ancestry.
  
  Found documenation supporting the marriage date for my 5x great grandparents John Michael Luther, Jr., and Mary "Polly" (Vinson) Luther. Also found some speculations on Polly's ancestry.
  
  Thanks to FamilySearch, found a picture of my great-great-great grandparents William L. Smith and Mary Ann (Rexrode) Smith.
• March 2020: Distant Kearns cousin Cristin Kearns mentioned a plausible theory about William T. Kearns/Keerans and Mary King that questions their relationship to the Kearns ancestry.
  
  Found more information about my ancestor Anna "Annie" (Nance) Kearns, her siblings and parents and documented in the tree (Additional siblings -- Sally Jackson and Laura Keerans, lawsuits involving brothers, etc.).
  
  Documented some caution on my ancestor Thomas Nance being Thomas Vaughn Nance, Sr., and doubt of his necessarily being a veteran of the Revolutionary War after correspondence with Nance researcher Sonia Nance-Roberts and corrected his mother's name as being Sarah based on the will of his father Daniel Nance, Jr.
  
  Researching my ancestry in Scottish nobility and the noble House of Drummond by starting to read through The Genealogy of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Drummond by William Drummond Strathallan (1st viscount) William Drummond, 1889. It has some helpful information, but also has some discrpancy in the Stewart line compared to what modern sources have.
  
  Met multiple distant cousin Robert Wootton, a fellow descendant of Allen Harris Johnson and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Kearns) Johnson. He is descended from their son Thomas Clark Johnson who is his great-great-great grandfather. This means he is my 4th cousin, once removed, with respect to our Johnson line. However, since I am doubly descended from the Kearns progenitor, I am not only related to him to Kearns via Johnson but also via my father's mother through her mother Mary Addie (Cranford) Hill, daughter of Margaret Jane (Kearns) Cranford. Through that line, the Kearns progenitor is my 66h great grandfather, same as he is for Robert, making us 7th cousins with regards to our Kearns ancestry.
  
  Continued colorization of certain images using the MyHeritage in Color tool.
• February 2020: Discovered another possible Revolutionary War veteran in my ancestor Henry Grogg (Heinrich Gruck), pending verification and additional research.
  
  Came across census data providing residential information in 1860 and 1870 for my great-great-great grandparents William and Rebecca (McMullen) Miller.
  
  Discovered a DNA cousin with whom I share Kearns ancestry: Lindsay Layton. Discovered a DNA cousin Sue Marsjanik with whom I share ancestors Jacob Kiser and Elizabeth (Kiesling/Kissling) Kiser. They are Sue's 4x great grandparents and my 5x great grandparents, making me Sue's 5th cousin, once removed.
  
  Corrected death date 23 June 1823 (not 1 August 1828) for Jacob Kiser and added the marriage date for him and Elizabeth Kiesling/Kissling and added geographical locations.
  
  Sue Keirns reported on some new Y-DNA findings regarding the Kearns line which shows some discrepancies between the North Carolina and Pennsylvania Kearns families.
  
  Found a great tool on MyHeritage to colorize photos! Began using this tool, with the first colorized image generated from this tool being that of my great-great grandmother Phebe Jane (Simmons) Eckard. Updated other pages (including the sitemap) with colorized versions of images.
  
  Added items memorializing my late uncle C. Elwood Whitmore who died 7 February 2020.
  
  Found a source that suggests that my ancestor Sarah Elizabeth Morris may have had the maiden name Brown instead of Bolton. Still researching.
  
  By this month, I had begun working on a book capturing my family research on this site.
  
  

  Johnson origins: Revisiting Johnson research -- both the Y-DNA research done with Bill Reid and the research of a possible cousin I just met -- Jamey Johnson who traces back to an Abram (Abraham) Johnson -- I'll call him the younger Abraham/Abram -- who appears to be the brother of my ancestor James "Jimmy" Johnson and grandson of my ancestor Abraham Johnson (I'll call him the older Abraham). Jamey lives in the mountains of NC in Avery County (formed in 1911 from Burke, Mitchell and Caldwell counties), about a mile from where younger Abraham and Jane Kinney Johnson -- his ancestors -- are buried. The younger Abraham's son Wesley (who eventually went out west and was buried in Colorado) had a son named Thomas (m. Lydia Hughes who was part Cherokee). Thomas had a son named Howard. Howard had a son named Paul. And Paul is Jamey's father. Jamey mentioned that younger Abram/Abraham was a well-known blacksmith who helped the Confederates in the Civil War, and that his wife -- Jane Kinney -- ties into the ancestry of the family from which the Kinney Shoes came. In fact Jamey recalls that the people who owned Kinney shoes were told to be his relatives. He shared that the family would always order from the mail and get a heavy discount on the shoes. I looked in my book Farmer: Yesterday and Today by Leah Hammond (Author), Charles Lester Cranford (Author), Zeb R. Denny (Editor), Ralph L. Bulla (Photographer) and it has the following on page 116:
  
  "John had two sons, Abram and Jimmy. Abram left the area some time in the 1830s and settled in Mitchell County, North Carolina. He married Jennie Kinner who bore him three boys: Alfred, Wesley, and Alex Harris, and three girls: Frankie, Polly, and Sally. Abram was a blacksmith of renown and an 'ironmaster'. According to the Johnson records, Abram was the first 'rosmelter' in North Carolina. He worked near the Cranberry Iron Mine in Avery County, a mine that supplied considerable metal to the Confederate iron works during the Civil War. Abram smelted the ore and made it into plow points, selling a load of his wares in Marion, N.C., when he had reached the age of 110. The other son of John Johnson, Jimmy, married Charity Skeen and had eight children..." and it goes on from there.
  
  Jamey is descended from Wesley and the reference to Jennie Kinner must be a misspelling of Jane Kinney (although Find-A-Grave has her maiden surname as McKinney). He indicated that younger Abraham and Jane both lived to be over 100. He said they came from the Salisbury, NC, area which is not far from where my ancestral Johnsons were. Jimmy and Nancy Charity (Skeen) Johnson are my 4x great grandparents! The younger Abram/Abraham and Jane (Kinney) Johnson are Jamey's 3x great grandparents. So, if this is all confirmed, he and I share the father of his younger Abraham/Abram and my Jimmy as ancestor -- his 4x great grandfather and my 5x great grandfather -- making me his 5th cousin once removed.
  
  So, his ancestor younger Abram/Abraham was born in 1775, possibly the older brother to my Jimmy born in 1792. However, this is where things diverge a bit. He has younger Abram/Abraham b. 1775 as son of Asa while I have Jimmy born in 1792 as a son of John b. 1757. And the Farmer book entry mentions that younger Abram was a son of John. In both the case of Asa and John, both are descended from the older Abraham Johnson. Yet, in Jamey's case, he has that older Abraham -- the furthest I've traced Johnson back -- as a son of Hezekiah. This would be a huge find -- another Johnson generation! However, it would bring up the question of Asa/John. Is it possible they are one and the same -- perhaps an Asa John Johnson or John Asa Johnson? I don't know. FamilySearch doesn't show Asa as having a son James (my ancestor). All my resources have John as the father. And his younger Abram/Abraham b. 1775 matches the brother of my ancestor Jimmy.
  
  Now back to the potentially new generation of my Johnson line: Hezekiah Johnson, the father of older Abraham b. in the early 1700s. Recall that older Abraham b. in the early 1700s was grandfather to Jamey's younger Abram and my Jimmy. Hezekiah Johnson was said to have come to America from Scotland, but was born and raised in Ireland. He came into Pennsylvania. His wife is unknown. In the 1990s, Jamey did a college project on this ancestry and used Avery County Heritage books at the library as his sources. Asa or John was born in what is now called Salisbury, NC. If this is the case, it might be that Hezekiah migrated from PA to VA where the older Abraham was born (and we know older Abraham eventually came to NC). And if Hezekiah is of the same Johnson line, his migration from Ireland to Scotland doesn't nullify the Y-DNA ancestors English origins as determined by the research.
  
  So, that brings some more information to consider: Asa or John? Hezekiah? And a very likely Y-DNA test from a Johnson male. However, in further correspondence with Jamey, he revealed that MyHeritage shows that Asa was William Asa Johnson, married to Sarah McClaren, and that he was a son of Hezekiah and Elizabeth (Jancock) Johnson and had siblings Hezekiah, Experience, Esther, Samuel, Slater and Dorothy. Yet, FamilySearch shows Asa's wife as Elizabeth Joncock. Jamey looked into Elizabeth Joncock and said he found she was born 1666 in Scotland and was wife of Hezekiah. He indicated that the same source said that her son was William Asa Johnson born 1749 and he married Sarah McClarin who was born 1755. Yet, Elizabeth wouldn't have had Asa in her 80s. So, something is amiss. Looking at this line, it seems that Hezekiah and Elizabeth Joncock Johnson were parents of an older Abraham who was father of William Asa Johnson b. ca. 1750 who married Sarah McClaren/McClarin and their son was the younger Abraham. Still, there are versions like this one at Ancestry that have her b. 1720, the mother of William Allen Johnson. That is also supported by Find-A-Grave and WikiTree.
  
  However one looks at it, there are differing ancestries for Abraham Johnson the blacksmith (1775-1881): My John (b. 1757) back to the older Abraham, Jamey's original ancestry to Asa back to the older Abraham back to Hezekiah, and the MyHeritage version of the ancestry to Asa then Hezekiah. Either we are dealing with 2 blacksmiths born around the same time from 2 Johnson lines or we have a genealogical mess on our hands. Y-DNA will determine if these are 2 lines or if there is some homework to do.
  
  In the meantime, I heard from another descendant of Asa via his son Abraham: Roni Braendel. Maybe between the Y-DNA test and further correspondence with Jamey and Roni, we can get clarity. Her revealing that the haplogroup for her Johnson line is I2a doesn't match my Johnson line haplogroup of R-M269. I am leaning towards these being 2 separate Johnson lines. Time and testing will tell.

• January 2020: Joined MyTrueAncestry.com, which compares one's DNA to actual archaealogical digs and maps to populations thereof.
  
  Found a DNA match who is a great-great grandson of Godfrey and Lucinda (Loflin) Bisher, my great-great-great grandparents, making me his 3rd cousin, once removed.
  
  Found the death certificate for my great-great grandmother Mary Frances (Miller) Nash.
  
  Discovered 2 more ancestors who were veterans of the Revolutionary War: George Simmons, Sr., and Johann George Rexrode, Sr..
  
  Researching William and Abigail (Bailey) Charles and their daughter Elizabeth further to determine if Elizabeth Charles (not Kent) is indeed the wife of Samuel Nicholson.
  
  Updated the Wall of Shields.
• December 2019: Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff with some information about the legendary King Arthur.
• November 2019: Added pictures of spouses and children for my maternal cousins. Added the marriage of Dillon Koenig to my niece Katie Knell.
  
  Updated the Wall of Shields and Clan Skene ancestry with the Clan Skene Crest thanks to ScotClans.
  
  Further researching the ancestors of Robert the Bruce after verifying he is my ancestor last month. As a result, opening back up various lines and surnames from substantiated ancestries thereof. Also from this research, I found new ancestors such as Ada de Warenne, Countess of Huntingdon and I found I am also descended from Duncan I who was killed in battle by Macbeth made famous by Shakespeare. .
  
  In correspondence with Gene Kearns, found that we also share Micajah Lassiter, Sr., as a common ancestor. Gene has further corresponded with Lassiter researcher and author Margo Williams and she indicates that Robert Lassiter, the progenitor, was born in Nansemond County, Virginia, and was married to Priscilla. Added this to the Lassiter page.
  
  Updated the furthest I've traced back with certainty to around the year 890 to Duncan of Strathearn, priest of Dule (Duncan Donnchadh, Priest Thane Dule and Earl of Caithness), an ancestor of Duncan I (who was killed by Macbeth) and Malcolm Canmore (who killed Macbeth to avenge his father's murder), all ancestors of Robert the Bruce.
• October 2019: Came across a picture of the Adam Waggy cemetery where my ancestors Adam Waggy and Susan (Kiser) Waggy are buried. Also came across this picture of Susan (Kiser) and Adam Waggy. Also came across this picture of Barbara Jane Waggy Eye and Susannah (Kiser) Waggy.
  
  Added multiple Helpful Links to the Home page.
  
  Made note on the Simmons ancestry that Nicholas Simmons of the South Branch, Pendleton Co., WV, should not be identified with Hans Nickel Simmons of Pfeffelbach, Germany, according to the Journal of The Allegheny Regional Ancestors, Volume 4, Issue 3, Simmons.
  
  Came across some information which supports the theory that John Kearns may have been the progenitor of my Kearns line.
  
  Updated Jamie's Toolbox with a new Autosomal DNA Tool, which shows the percentage of autosomal DNA retained based on generations. Also extended the Y67 Tool to offer Y-111 details.
  
  Researched A History of the Descendants of Zachariah Rexrode of Pendleton County, Va., (W. Va.) by Walter L. Eye to verify details of my Rexrode ancestry. Some of this research led to changes: made the surname Voegel unverified; corrected some information about the husband of Mary Rexroad Grogg.
  
  Further researching the ancestors and descendants of Robert the Bruce, I added surnames Drummond, Montifex (de Montifex), Clare (de Clare), Graham, Johnston/Johnstone. Also made corrections and additions for Alan FitzWalter (Alan Fitz Alan), his wives and his parents per the book Book of Bruce: Ancestors and Descendants of King Robert of Scotland by Lyman Horace Weeks (1907). Thanks to Memorials of family of Skene of Skene, pp. 30-31, found that Christiane Johnstone (Christian Johnston), daughter of the laird of Crimond, was the wife of Robert Skene, son of James Skene of Banddodill and Johanna Douglas. After reviewing the various Skene sources, added further clarifications to the Skene and Skeen pages, finding that in all the twists and turns and ponderings of this line, it is conclusive that I am descended from multiple Skeen/Skene lines going back to one family -- that of Alexander Skene III, Laird XI of Skene, and his wife Elizabeth Forbes -- and that family is descended from, among others, Robert the Bruce.
• September 2019: Fixed broken links on the Culpeper/Culpepper ancestry page due to changes at Culpepper Connections and this impacted various pages and led me to disable most Culpepper Connections links for the following pages: Malet and Poyntz ancestry, la Zouche and House of Beaumont ancestry, de Braiose ancestry and Carolingian ancestry, all of them currently assumed ancestries, but not yet conclusively substantiated.
  
  Improved access to the William S. Smith, Jr, thesis entitled, "Culpeper's Rebellion: New Data and Old Problems", submitted to the Faculty of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1990 -- a critical source for the John "The Rebel" Culpepper.
  
  Found this helpful resource: England: regional characteristics and surnames.
  
  Found Bundy Posts (B1 - E-4) (Link not working?) and Bundy Posts (A1 - 51) (Link not working?), both containing information on various Quaker families related to Morris and Nicholson and Mayo ancestors. However, use with caution! There are errors. That said, there is some potentially helpful information, particularly about the Nicholson and Atwood families, which I noted on that page.
  
  Found Nance in North Carolina Census, which has information about my ancestors Jonh C. and Anna "Annie" (Nance) Kearns and related ancestral lines.
  
  Lisa Hillerman shared helpful resources verifying ancestry from Sarah (Maggs) Mayo back to George Maggs and another resource verifying Sarah Bird was indeed born 1670 (from which one can easily conclude that she and Sarah Culpeper Pritchard were not one and the same). As a result, I verified both the Mayo and Maggs surnames in the Culpeper/Culpepper ancestry.

  Johnson origins: Added updates about my Y-DNA ancestor being in Leeds, England mirroring findings from March 2019.

  
  
  Researched Tyler's Quarterly to find out more about possible origins of my Webb ancesry.
  
  Corresponded with Gene Kearns and he shared with me Randolph County North Carolina Cemeteries: Salem United Methodist Church (Salem Community Church), which led to verifying and correcting death dates of my Johnson, Johnson-Kearns and Kearns-Nance/Kearns-Lassiter ancestors. Further corresponded with him and Sue Mulero and made contact with Don and Carolyn Kearns in searching for additional Kearns information. Added a note on birthdates from Sue Keirns Mulero based on comments from a Dublin, Ireland, genealogist. Also updated the Kearns page in regards to the progenitors. One of my sources, FARMER: Yesterday and Today indicates William T. Kearns was the father of Thomas b. 1776 (p. 120), but also says John Kearns was the father of Thomas b. 1776 (p. 183). And this latter excerpt was from a Bible excerpt, i.e., source document, making me lean towards John Kearns being father of Thomas Kearns (b. 1776) who married Rebecca Ivey (Ivy). Mentioned that Hannah Miller could have been the wife of the possible progenitor John Kearns. Also added that there is DNA connection between Kearns lines in PA, WV, OH, IN and NC as reported by Gene Kearns and Sue Keirns Mulero. These findings led Sue to start the Irish Keeran Kearns Genealogy Research and DNA Group on Facebook.
  
  Added more resources regarding my great-great-great grandfather Godfrey Bescher's involvement in the Civil War, namely Company F of the North Carolina 7th Regiment and his involvement in Gettysburg. Due to the amount of information available on his involement in the Civil War, I moved it from its original location, centralizing it to a new page Godfrey Bescher (Bischer) in the Civil War.
  
  Based on an archive of Cranford information, added information about Jonas Cranford and Leonard Cranford to the Cranford ancestry. Made an update to the Wall of Shields to include 2 Cranford shields.
  
  Found information about John Milton Hill & Nancy L. (Surratt) Hill of Davidson County, North Carolina, including details of the birth, life, death and occupations of children. Found another source suggesting Nancy Louisa Hill's father Spencer Surratt had the name Alfred Spencer Surratt.
  
  Found George Smith b. 1773 d. 1844: Smith DNA Official Project and wonder if he is somehow connected to my ancestor George Smith. Found David Smith death certificate, which supports that George Smith's wife Barbara had the maiden surname Black.
• August 2019: Thanks to results at MyHeritage matching my great-great-great-great grandmother Rebecca (Ivey) Kearns, I was able to add her picture. Heard from Sue Keirns Mulero who is great-great-great-great granddaughter of Jonathon Kearns and she and her brothers have confirmed multiple DNA matches who are descendants of Isaac Kearns, my great-great-great-great-great grandfather. Researching the Kearns line to try to determine the progenitors of that line. Improved layout on that page and cited the probate of William Kearns, brother to my ancestor Isaac Kearns.

  Johnson origins: I received my Big Y-700 results and shared details here.

  
  
  Updated Jamie's Toolbox with improved layout and a new Cousinship Tool.
  
  Researched possibilities of who Abraham Johnson's children were. Disputed claims that my great-great-great-great grandfather James "Jimmy" Johnson was James Gabrial Johnson (Spoiler alert: Jimmy is not James Gabrial Johnson).
  
  Found sources about Abraham Johnston, Sr., wondering if he is my Abraham Johnson. Updated my theory around Abraham Johnson with this information.
  
  Upon researching at The Heritage Museum of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society, I came across and digitized the document The Virginia Pioneers: Funkhouser and after reviewing it, added it to my Funkhouser ancestry. I also came across A Genealogy and History of the Kauffman-Coffman Families of North America 1584 to 1937 compiled by Charles F. Kauffman and digitized a couple of the pages and after reviewing them, updated my Coffman ancestry.
  
  Met DNA cousin Jason Morris who is my 2nd cousin, once removed, his great-great grandparents being my great grandparents William Eddie Hill and Mary Addie (Cranford) Hill. He is descended from their daughter Grace Hill who married Baxter Morris. However, I found I am related to him in 2 other ways via his great grandfather Baxter Morris. Baxter was son of Branson E. Morris, son of John Wesley Morris, son of William N. Morris and Sarah (Hicks) Morris, my great-great-great grandparents and his great-great-great-great grandparents, making Jason my 4th cousin, once removed. And his great grandfather Baxter Morris is son of Branson E. Morris, son of Salena Powers (Nance) Morris, daughter of Hubbard Nance, son of Hudson and Elizabeth (Hubbard) Nance, my 5x great grandparents and Jason's 6x great grandparents, making Jason my 6th cousin, once removed. So, I am triply related to Jason Morris with him being my 2nd cousin, once removed, through the Hill line; 4th cousin, once removed, through the Morris line; and 6th cousin, once removed, through the Nance line.
  
  Found the original probate document for the will of Benjamin Morris.
• July 2019: Received information from Deborah W. Byrd (a Mayo, Byrd and Sutton descendant) in regards to the question of whether or not Sarah Culpepper Pritchard was originally a Bird/Byrd or Culpeper/Culpepper and information about Sarah Mayo Culpeper/Culpepper.
  
  Updated my "article" How to get started with genealogical research.
  
  Updated the Jeopardy game, which summarizes Fascinating Facts.
  
  Researched more information about my ancestors who were served in the American Civil War in regards to their ranks and companies and highlights. This resulted in also updating multiple pages where those ancestors are in the tree. I focused particularly on those involved at Gettysburg -- Godfrey Bischerer/Bisher and possibly Wadsworth "Wads" Nash.
  
  Presented From Tales to Tree: Getting started in genealogy at James Madison University.
  
  Researched my ancestor Barbara Propst and found further evidence -- thanks to Jeff Carr's "Barbara Propst wife of George Frederick Propst" -- that her maiden surname was most likely Pence, not Swadley, as some sources indicate. Further, it clarified her husband's name as being George Frederick Propst, not Frederick George Propst. This resulted not only changes to the Propst ancestry page, but also the the Generations page.
  
  Added more sources and improved navigation to bride's (Louise Mae Johnson) ancestry particularly in regards to her ancestor Amos Stonesifer.
  
  Added more biographical information for my Kiser line after looking over this text file provided by fellow Kiser descendant Mark B. Arslan.
• June 2019: Discovered that Kinarde/Kinnaird is not just a placename in Scotland, but an ancestral surname. Also in that part of my tree, discovered the surname Murray.
  
  Discovered and read the 1825 probate of John Johnson, which confirms his father being Abraham Johnson, his wife being Sarah and the names of his various children from other sources and his death date in 1808.
  
  Added my percentage of shared DNA tool to Jamie's Toolbox to calculate the percentage of DNA you share with someone based on the sum of the centiMorgans greater than 5.
  
  Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff!.
  
  Made an update to the Wall of Shields to include the shield for Robert the Bruce (King Robert I of Scotland) who has been verified as a direct ancestor.
  
  Added Mom's memories of when Dad proposed to her: The Family of William H. and Carolyn Fisher Johnson, William H. Johnson Ancestry and Descendants of Otto Woodrow Fisher and Hazel Jane Eckard. Added memories Mom shared of when my siblings and I were babies at The Family of William H. and Carolyn Fisher Johnson. Added memories that a neighbor of my late Fisher grandparents shared about my grandfather "Bow-Wow" -- Otto Woodrow Fisher: Descendants of Otto Woodrow Fisher and Hazel Jane Eckard, Fisher/Nash Ancestry and Ancestry of Hazel Jane Eckard Fisher.
  
  Discovered Oath of Allegiance to the Province and State of Pennsylvania 1727-1775 With the Foreign Arrivals, 1786-1808, edited by William Henry Egle, M.D., which mentions the arrival of Heinrich Wilhelm Gruck who, by the way, arrived with a Schmidt, which is in the same part of my family tree.
  
  Found the following Revolutionary War records for ancestors:
  • Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) records for my ancestor Philip Eckard/Eckert/Eckart, Sr.
  • SAR record and DAR record for my ancestor Christopher Eye
  • SAR record and DAR record for my ancestor Henry Huffman/Hoffman, Sr.
  • SAR record and DAR record for my ancestor (Johann) Michael Kiser/Keyser
  • SAR record and DAR record for my ancestor Michael Luther
  • SAR record for my ancestor Thomas Vaughn Nance (Caution: I later found that Thomas Vaughn Nance is not my ancestor, though I do have an ancestor Thomas Nance who was a Revolutionary War Veteran)
  • DAR record and SAR record for my ancestor Lawrence Snapp, Sr.
  • SAR record for my possible ancestor Jacob Heavenor
• May 2019: Met (through FTDNA) David Austin Hunt , a 4th cousin who shares with me Godfrey and Lucinda (Loflin/Laughlin) Bisher as great-great-great grandparents.

  Johnson origins: Awaiting FTDNA's Big Y-700 test results to learn more about Johnson origins. Results are estimated to be ready mid- to late-June 2019.

  
  
  Via a North Carolina Genealogy Facebook Group discussion, found more information about my Pritchard ancestry, namely from the Pritchard DNA Project. I found additional information about my ancestor Benjamin Pritchard at Find A Grave Memorial: Benjamin Prichard (1684-1739).
  
  In revisiting the parentage of Sarah Elizabeth (Culpeper) Pritchard, I came across WikiTree: John Culpepper (abt.1644-bef.1694), a well-researched site that agrees with my suggestions about not only the parentage of Sarah Pritchard being John "The Rebel" Culpeper and Sarah (Mayo) Culpeper, but also that John "The Rebel's" father was likely John "The Merchant" Culpeper. While this is not absolutely conclusive, it seems likely. I again followed up with author Lori Crane to get her thoughts regarding what I shared with her in January about Sarah Pritchard being a daughter of a Culpeper, not a Bird.
  
  Thanks to Schenck, Shenk, Shank: History of the Descendants of Andreas Schenck in America, 1732-1984 : Including Chapters on the Related Families of Biehlmajer, Hertzog, Weis, May, Seitz, Seip, Hicks, Hart, Bandy, and Notes on Many Others by Thomas Lee Shank, I found more information about my Wise/Weiss ancestry, correcting the full name of the progenitor and adding dates and fine-tuning dates for that line.
  
  Thanks to The Lincolns in Virginia by John Wayland, I have a picture and some insight into Abigail Lincoln Coffman, sister-in-law to my great-great-great-great grandmother Catherine Coffman Funkhouser
  
  Thanks to a discovery of various sources, updated information about my Tilden ancestry.
  
  Added new information regarding my maternal Campbell ancestry with information about where John Campbell died, his unknown origins, and the full name of his daughter who was my ancestor. Added more information about her.
  
  Noted that Brandter could be the maiden surname of my ancestor Barbara Propst.
  
  Added information about my ancestors Lawrence and Margaret (Stephens) Snapp.
  
  Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff!.
  
  After perusing through sources regarding my ancestor Agnes (Forbes) De Skene, I was able to conclude details about her parentage, opening up an ancestry in Scottish royalty tracing back to Robert the Bruce and beyond! Due to this find, multiple names are in the process of being added to the tree as verified as well as some verification of relationship to Charlemagne and other notable relatives. Further, this called for an update to the Wall of Shields. This also warranted changes regarding the furthest I've traced back. Also as a result of this, I am researching my Scottish ancestry.
• April 2019: Seeking information on my ancestor Elizabeth Tilden and her ancestry based on the claims of Geni.com. Also researching her husband Richard Tilden, finding that his surname was also spelled Tylden, and considering his possible ancestry back to Charlemagne.

  Johnson origins: Awaiting FTDNA's Big Y-700 test results to learn more about Johnson origins. In the meantime, Bill Reid has been working with the Y-DNA ancestry of an Alan Johnston with whom Bill and other Reids share no genetic distance at Y-111. The theory is that the Reids came out of this Johnston line and this Johnston line came out of the ancestral Johnson/Johnston line from which I descend.

  
  
  Added content and links regarding the identity of my Kearns progenitors.
  
  Added to the DNA section of the homepage a helpful link to an image showing the time frame to common paternal ancestor based on genetic distance for Y-DNA 67 test results. Based on that image, I wrote my Y67 Tool to dynamically calculate the years to the common paternal ancestor based on the current year and the genetic distance entered and added it to Jamie's Toolbox on the home page as well as a link to help with reading older documents.
  
  Thanks to FamilySearch, found an 1880 US Census Record for Concord Township, Randolph County, North Carolina with my ancestors A. Harris Johnson and T. Winbourne Johnson.
  
  Indicated my great grandfather Otto Keiter Fisher's birthplace as Fishers Hill, Virginia, thanks to details from my mother Carolyn Fisher Johnson. Also updated Charles Florence Fisher ancestry with information from Mom in the Fishers having possible Amish origins and one Fisher line's migration westward.
  
  Found that my ancestor Lawrence Snapp (Lorentz Schnepp), Sr., built a house that is on the National Register of Historic Places.
  
  Found out that Fishers Hill, Virginia, was named for my great-great-great-great grandfather David Fisher (1783-1871) thanks to email from Jenna French, Director of Tourism & Economic Development Shenandoah County, on behalf of Zach Hottel, Shenandoah County Archivist, who shared details from p. 40 of Shenandoah County Gazetteer & Historical Geography by Irvin D. Magin.
  
  Added more details about The Abraham Funkhouser Home where 4 generations of my Funkhouser ancestors lived.
  
  Found more marriage records for the McMullen - Miller marriage in my Fisher ancestry.
  
  Corrected the spelling of my father's paternal grandmother's name throughout the site. Her name is spelled Julia Pricilla (Morris) Johnson instead of Julia Priscilla (Morris) Johnson (No 's' in Pricilla).
  
  Added a link to an unverified ancestry of my Lassiter ancestry.
  
  Updated Fisher/Snapp ancestry with information about Peter Snapp, David and Susanna (Snapp) Fisher and Fishers Hill from the book Strasburg, Virginia: Our History in Post Cards by Gloria Stickley.
  
  Made corrections to the unverified Quarles line after correspondence with Stephen Quarles and reviewing Biography: Alexander B. Grosart on Francis Quarles from Introduction in Complete Works in Prose and Verse of Francis Quarles (1880) 1:ix-xxiv.
  
  According to Geni.com, Kelly Clarkson is my 7th cousin, once removed, our common ancestor being Philip Waggy, Sr..
  
  Corrected birth dates for Catherine (Coffman) Funkhouser, wife of Abraham Funkhouser, Jr., and for Abraham Funkhouser, Sr., thanks to the source Shenandoah County GenWeb Project: Abraham Funkhouser Cemetery.
• March 2019:

  Johnson origins: Learned that about 1000 years ago, my Y-DNA ancestor lived in Yorkshire County, England and noted supporting evidence from Mygrations > R1b Haplogroup > My Ancestors' Path >: Clade BY53614.

  
  
  Added a Kearns Coat of Arms to the Wall of Shields.
  
  Discovered on 23andMe Kenneth "Kent" Marsh, who is my 3rd cousin, once removed, our common ancestors being Winborne and Margaret (Kearns) Cranford.
  
  I came across an article mentioning a DNA study suggests we are all descended from two people.
  
  Made changes to the Generations page to clarify significance of ancestral "portrait" images seen at desktop resolutions, implementing mobile responsive/adaptive behaviors and layout for such clarifications. Also tweaked CSS and added further explanation regarding mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) on the Generations page.
  
  Updated Fascinating Facts. Added a Jeopardy game to summarize them.
  
  Updated my "article" How to get started with genealogical research.
  
  Recalculated how I am possibly descended from Charlemagne.
  
  Found information about my 7x great grandmother Abigail Nicholson from Joanne's Genealogy Research by Joanne Skelton, including questioning whether or not her mother's maiden surname was Charles or Kent. This resulted in changes to the ancestral surnames: a new surname, Kent, being added, and that name and both Bailey and Charles being marked with ? to indicate there are questions.

  Johnson origins: Upgraded to FTDNA's Big Y-700 test to learn more about Johnson origins.

• February 2019:

  Johnson origins: William "Bill" Reid, Y-DNA researcher of the Johnson/Reid patrilineal line we share, found via his research that my Johnsons do not have origins in Scotland (noting that this does not rule out them living there at some point). Rather, it appears they hail from southern and central England. Read More. Updated The Wall of Shields with an English Johnson Coat of Arms to replace the Scottish one. Note that the Coat of Arms itself is unverified and denoted as such on that page.

  
  
  Added some of my personal memories of my grandfather "Bow-Wow" (Otto Woodrow Fisher).
  
  Thanks to FamilySearch, came across a lot of marriage documents, which allowed correction of some dates, offered some name variations and filled in some holes for where there were no dates throughout the tree. Here are some of the marriages addressed by the update:
  • Nathaniel Albertson m. Abigail Nicholson
  • Polley Tolson m. Richard Loflin
  • Abraham Luther m. Mary Shaw
  • NH Johnson m. Julia P. Morris
  • William E. Hill m. Addie Cranford
  • Edwin Johnson m. Getrude Hill
  • Jesse B. Hill m. Mary Ann Luther
  • Sarah Lassiter m. Silas Keerans
  • John Milton Hill m. Nancy Surratt
  • William E. Hill m. Addie Cranford
  • Otto Woodrow Fisher m. Hazel Jane Eckard
  • William Miller m. Rebecca McMullen
  • Susan Kiser m. Adam Waggy
  • Sarah "Sally" J. Lamb m. Absalom Eckard/Ekert
  • Ephraim Simmons m. Sarah Propst
  • Martha Jane Waggy m. David Smith
  • N.W. Eckard m. Phebe J. Simmons
  • Arthur Eckard m. Lillie L. Smith
  • Sophia C. Grogg m. John Simmons
  • Ally Propst m. John Waggy
  
  
  Added pictures of my grandfather Otto Woodrow Fisher from his 3rd grade school year 1922-1923 and of my father Bill H. Johnson ca. 1937-1938.
  
  Met Raymond "Ray" Surratt who is my 4th cousin as we share Spencer and Katie (Smith) Surratt as common ancestors.
  
  Added detailed information (timeline) for my ancestor J. Michael Kiser shared by Karl Kiser, which he cited from Valentin and Michael Kayser: Pennsylvania Pioneers and their Descendants in Virginia by James "Jim" Van Lieu Kiser (2002).
  
  I noted that while the Zorn ancestry was questioned in December 2018, the circumstantial evidence indicates the Zorn surname is likely. So, still a question, but nonetheless likely. Hence, I will just have it displayed by default with the note instead of setting it to unverified (i.e., not showing by default).
  
  Found some more interesting facts about my paternal Campbell ancestry, namely the origin of my great grandfather's (Norman Harris Johnson) first name. And then later was able to verify that Mary Norman Campbell (who later married Lewis Bingham in 1855) is the mother of my great-great grandmother Malinda Christine (Campbell) Johnson. This was made clear from a Randolph County, North Carolina, land record transcribed from microfilm in the Salt Lake City Family History Library: "1891: Mary Bingham to N.H.Johnson 200 acres, 20,10 acres land; J. L. and M.E. Thompson of Davidson County to N.H. Johnson, 200, 20, 10 acres Then in 1898: Mary Bingham to Perry Johnson, 1/4 interest in that same tract of land; Mary Bingham to Turie Hammond 1/4 interest same land description." Ramona Martin added a note about the addition of this record to Mary Campbell Bingham's profile on FamilySearch, indicating "These are the grandchildren of Mary Campbell Bingham through her daughter Christina Malinda Campbell who married Titus Winbourne Johnson." (Source: FamilySearch). This discovery warranted changes to the Generations page.
• January 2019: Researching the parentage of Sarah Elizabeth (Culpeper) Pritchard after correspondence with Lisa Hillerman, amateur researcher and 6th great granddaughter of Sarah (Culpeper) Pritchard, who corresponded with me and offered these insights that seem to put the theory of Sarah's possible Bird parentage to rest: "I'm a little confused by the question of her being Valentine Bird's daughter if her birth date may be 1686, as suggested, since he died in or about 1679. Would that make her the daughter of John and Margaret then? If she is Bird's daughter, she would have had to be born 1680 or before. There are records for a marriage of Valentine Bird and a Mrs Margaret Gilcrist in 1669 and a baptism of Sarah Bird, daughter of Valentine Bird dated 1670 in Barbados. Seems like there was a lot of connections between John Culpeper and Barbados??? Also, if Sarah was born in 1670 why would Henley write in his will, when she comes of age, she'd be 26??" Valentine Bird's death date would rule out he was the father of Sarah (Culpeper) Pritchard. There seems to have been two Sarahs, one born 1670 who was a daughter of Valentine Bird, and one born ca. 1689, who was a daughter of John Culpeper. I (James "Jamie" Johnson) have reached out (January 2019) to author Lori Crane for her thoughts.
  
  Added photos of Cameron Place, birthplace of Herman "Ed" Edwin Johnson as well as a 1940 photo of his brother-in-law Ed Hill who ran Hill Motor Company, a Ford dealership that competed with Ed Johnson's brother's (Val Johnson) Chevrolet dealership in Denton, NC.
  
  Added a 404 page to handle bad URLs.
  
  Cleaned up the alignment on the site map.
  
  Launched The Wall of Shields, showing shields, coats of arms and seals I have encountered during my research, what they depict and mean and where they are found in my tree. And they are in the size of trading cards.
  
  Updated Notes of the Deaths of Emanuel and Esther Pitman, clarifying who "Brother in law Heller" is -- Moritz Heller -- thanks to contribution from Pitman research and descendant Anna B. Wilson. Also made the page responsive for mobile devices.
  
  Found additional documents supporting the known fact that the maiden surname of Titus Winbourne Johnson's first wife Malinda was indeed Campbell.
  
  Found a DNA match to S.N.A. who shares Hudson Nance, Sr., and Elizabeth (Hubbard) Nance as common ancestors. I am her 5th cousin once removed.
  
  Met with Y-DNA match Bill Reid to explore our patrilineal Y-DNA and find clues on the Johnsons/Reids.
  
  Found information about my ancestor John Johnson -- his WikiTree profile and others thereof, which contained information independent of but substantiating my information and featuring his will and his military payment voucher for service in the American Revolutionary War.
• December 2018: Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff!. Started receiving results from FTDNA's Y-DNA111 test. Researching John Johnson's death date as a Find A Grave Memorial offers 1828 as a death date. That said, it doesn't change my Johnson lineage in any way.
  
  Listed my ancestor Benjamin Morris, Sr., as a possible Revolutionary War veteran after finding information about a Benjamin Morris in FamilySearch. It cannot be fully verified. While the information applies to a Benjamin Morris, the challenge is determining if he is my Benjamin Morris.
  
  Big news with big implications: A December 3, 2018, Smithsonian.com article shares about a study indicating males can pass mitochondrial DNA to their children. I updated the Generations page to reflect this information as well.
  
  Found that Owie is a variant of the Eye/Au surname as seen in my Propst ancestry.
  
  With the assistance of Pendleton Co., WV, genealogy researcher Jeff Carr, I made changes and corrections to my Simmons ancestry page (major page overhaul), changes and corrections to the Smith ancestry page (some additional interminglings of Simmons ancestry with my Smith ancestry as Catherine Smith married Leonard Simmons and John Smith married Catherine Simmons; yes, siblings married siblings in yet another example of the "Pendleton County Phenomenon") and changes and corrections to the Propst ancestry page (questioning the Zorn ancestry). Further, this correspondence resulted in the removal of Wimer as an ancestral surname, the setting of the surname Zorn to unverified, and changes to the Generations page.
• November 2018: Continued research of my Huckstep-Pope lineage and Tilden-Huckstep lineage, making updates to the persons in those respective marriages.
  
  I met a DNA cousin -- Sandra Propst -- on MyHeritage, and she referred me to some wonderful resources, which I looked into and incorporated into the Propst ancestry, namely the Propsts in America by Bill Brobst (PDF or DOCX). Made changes to the page based on this well-researched material. It is also worth noting that Sandra Propst and I also share Simmons and Rexrode ancestry.
  
  Added a fan chart to my site thanks to FamilySearch.
  
  Due to link changes on a source site, updated source links for the Shattuck ancestry.
• October 2018: Discovered via MyHeritage, a DNA connection to D.E.S.O. to whom I am 3rd cousin twice removed via our common ancestors (her great-great grandparents and my great-great-great-great grandparents) Micajah and Mary Lassiter.
  
  Discovered my Huckstep, Hatch and Pope ancestries with the help of Erica Howton, curator at Geni.com, uncovering new surnames: Pope and Hatch/Hatche/Hache/Hacche/Hecche, the latter of which I traced the line to the early 1400s. During this research, also cleaned up inaccuracies and added details to my Sutton ancestry.
• September 2018: Where absent, began adding birth and death locations at my father's ancestry and my paternal grandmother's ancestry.
  
  Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff!.
  
  Fixed references to The History of the Hunt Family by Roger D. Hunt (2011) on the Newby-Albertson-Nicholson-Hayward-De Cam Ancestry page.
  
  Researched Cranford ancestry and Johnson ancestry without drawing any firm conclusions but ruling out some paths of research on the latter.
  
  Researched connection to Thompsons and found they are via two spots on my Johnson line: My great-great-great grandprents Allen "Harris" Johnson and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Kearns) Johnson had a daughter named Emma Johnson (1872-1946) who married Charlie Thompson and they had 9 children and among them (according to Geni.com) were Alfred Wade Thompson (b. 1893), Raymond Thompson, Jim Thompson, Ken Thompson and Wade Thompson. My great-great grandparents Titus "Winbourne" Johnson and Malinda Christine (Campbell) Johnson had a daughter Mary E. Johnson (1862-1943) who married John Lee Thompson. They had four sons: Ernest Free Thompson ("Free"), Anderson Harris Thompson ("Harris"), Alfred Ray Thompson ("Ray") and Dexter Brown Thompson. Mary married J. Lee Thompson in 1885 (according to Geni.com).
  
  Validated the research regarding the parentage of Samuel Newby, my ancestor, in contrast with what others have cited for his parentage (or in contrast to the parentage of an altogether different Samuel Newby, not my ancestor).
  
  Added link to the obituary of Kathryn Virginia Johnson Shackford to the information for Norman and Julia (Morris) Johnson.
• August 2018: Applied updates to my Morris ancestry (also at here) from research notes from reading Along the way with Benjamin Morris, (1757-1808) and his wife, Sarah, of North Carolina by Lewis Ecroyd Morris (1996) (also available at Internet Archive). In addition to updates on the page itself, added resources to link to from that page: the Will of Aaron Morris and the Will and Estate of Joseph Morris as well as the Will of Benjamin Morris. Due to the site with the original document going down, I uploaded a copy: The History of the Hunt Family by Roger D. Hunt (2011).

  Johnson origins In researching my Johnson ancestry, I corresponded with some folks in Virginia Genealogy Network (Facebook group) and also engaged in much correspondence with Johnson researcher William "Bill" Reid who shares Johnson origins somehow with me. I did some digging and found "William Johnston, 1648-1719, Isle of Wight, VA" by Marta Johns(t)on Patterson and John Johnston b. 1757 on Geni.com. The William Johnston 1648-1719 information looks a bit promising as it leads down to Abraham Johnston: d. 1791, married Susannah--, sons: John, Abraham Jr. b. abt. 1757, William b. abt. 1761,(from earlier marriage). It has no details on John at the first link, but it is interesting that it has Abraham Jr. b. ca. 1757 and 1757 was the birth year of my John. There are some inconsistencies between the Abraham there and the Abraham on my tree, however. I looked some more and traced down through the line from William Johnston to a John Johnston b. 1757 as mentioned in the aforementioned Geni.com link. What I began to consider was if he is John Johnson b. 1757 in my line. The John Johnston of that profile is son of
  Abraham Johnston, Sr., son of
  Benjamin Johnston, son of
  William Johnston, Jr., son of
  William Johnston of Isle of Wight
  I researched and corresponded with other researchers in seeking information. However, I eventually found that William Johnston of the Isle of Wight and his male descendants are of Y-DNA Haplogroup I1, which differs from my Y-DNA Haplogroup. This means that these are not my Johnson progenitors. Back to the search!

  
  
  I corresponded with Margo Lee Willliams, family historian and author of Miles Lassiter (circa 1777-1850): An Early African-American Quaker from Lassiter Mill, Randolph County, North Carolina: My Research Journey to Home and learned of some inaccuracies in my Lassiter ancestry, one being that I am descended from Ezekiel Lassiter who was married to Sarah and father of Micajah Lassiter, Sr., and that it was in error that I had his brother Josiah Marion Lassiter listed as husband of Sarah. I read through her book to find any other discoveries and made updates to my Lassiter ancestry.
  
  Corresponded with Mitch Abrams, researcher and husband of Ms. <private> (Graves) Abrams to whom I am 5th cousin twice removed, our common ancestors being Thomas Nance, Sr., and Elizabeth Ann (Hudson) Nance. She is daughter of <private> Graves, son of <private> (Nance) Graves, daughter of Isaac (Ike) Newton Nance, son of Isaac Newton Nance of The Rutherford Rifles (Confederate Army of Tennessee, 1st Regiment), son of Thomas Nance, Jr., son of Thomas Nance, Sr. Through this correspondence, discovered (and made the update) that my ancestor Thomas Nance, Sr., was a veteran of the American Revolution.
  
  Updated Jamie's Toolbox with My Surname Documents Tool, which uses Geni.com's Surname Documents at https://www.geni.com/surnames/documents/, and also updated the toolbox with Search Civil War Soldiers, which uses NPS.gov's Search Soldiers at https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm.
  
  Made correction on the Cranford ancestry in that Elizabeth Graves was the mother of Jonas Cranford, not his wife.
  
  Added a list of ancestors who fought in the American Civil War.
  
  Fixed broken links on the Generations page.
• July 2018: Via 23andMe, met Kimberly Beam to whom I am third cousin, once removed. Her great-great grandparents Allen "Harris" Johnson and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Kearns) Johnson are my great-great-great grandparents. She is daughter of Virginia Lee (Johnson) Beam (who married John Beam of Iowa), daughter of Robert "Ed" Edward Johnson, Sr., son of James Ivy Johnson (James Ivey Johnson), son of Allen Harris Johnson. Added a list of the children of Allen Harris Johnson and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Kearns) Johnson.
  
  Was Daniel Nance, Sr.'s, wife's maiden surname Royall? According to Geni.com, it was. This needs more research to see if this is the case. I've reached out for sources for this claim.
  
  Discovered (and made the update) that my ancestor Christopher Stophel Eye was a veteran of the American Revolution.
  
  Despite other DNA sites stating I lack Jewish heritage, I found that MyHeritage claims I am 5.9% Ashkenazi Jewish.
  
  Reading through From West Virginia to Alaska Via Europe and Asia by Anne (Waggy) Dyvig's late father John R. Waggy, which I have added as a source in my information for the Waggy ancestry (including Philip Waggy, Sr., being a Revolutionary War Patriot), Propst ancestry, alleged Hoover ancestry and the region that served as home for a time for these ancestors at Sugar Grove, WV.
  
  Thanks to WikiTree, discovered signatures from my ancestor Johannes Fankhauser, Sr. (John Funkhouser, Sr.).
  
  Found well-researched Find-A-Grave Memorial profiles and added links to them from my late maternal grandmother Hazel Jane (Eckard) Fisher's ancestry and pages thereof.
  
  Found records to clarify and differentiate between two ancestors named Maria Catharina Ruhlman, one who married Jacob Zorn and one who married Johann Caspar Eckhardt. Updated discussion about the two.
  
  Researching my Kissling/Kiesling/Kiessling ancestry via links such as the following (and looking for substantiated research with good sources thereof):
  
  
  • Christopher Sebastian Kesling (1720-1773)
  • RootsWeb World Connect Project: Sharp and Related Families: Johann Christop Sebastian Kiessling
  • Anna Christena (Lingle) Kiessling (1737-1792) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree
  • Geni - Anna Christina Kisling (Lingel) (1737-1792)
  • Lori-Montz - User Trees - Genealogy.com
  • Christopher-A-Smith-Jacksonville - User Trees - Genealogy.com: My Genealogy Home Page:Information about Johann Christoph Sebastian Kiessling
  • WeRelate.org - Person:Christoph Kisling (1) - Genealogy
  
  Time will tell if any of these prove to be accurate where I can add to the details of the tree. In the meantime, made some updates to the related alleged Banckard/Lingel history.
  
  Reading through a full copy of Along the way with Benjamin Morris, (1757-1808) and his wife, Sarah, of North Carolina by Lewis Ecroyd Morris (1996) (also available at Internet Archive) and gathering information for my Morris ancestry. Completed the reading and took notes to be applied in future updates.
• June 2018: Discovered a DNA cousin Anne (Waggy) Dyvig on 23andMe. I am her third cousin, twice removed via Waggy but am multiply related to her via our common Propst ancestry. She is descended from my great-great great grandfather Adam Waggy's brother Daniel. So, John Waggy and Allie Propst Waggy are our common ancestors!
  
  Discovered a 4th cousin Teresa Millikan on 23andMe. She is daughter of [private mother], daughter of Charles Jerome Ward (Teresa's grandfather), son of Nancy Louis Morris (who married Daniel Cicero Ward), daughter of "Major" John Wesley Morris (who married a likely distant cousin of mine Lena Powers Nance), son of William Nelson Morris and Sarah "Sallie" (Hicks) Morris, our common great-great-great grandparents.
  
  Updated my "article" How to get started with genealogical research with an update about Chromosomal Browsing and Triangulation. Added myself as a source to this site, mentioning some of the history of the site.
  
  Discovered a new ancestor: Thomas Sledge. Also, added an unverified surname Thorpe upon finding on Geni.com that John Reese may have been a Jr., married to a Mary Thorpe.
  
  Verified connection to DNA cousin Joseph "Joey" Nance via 23andMe. He and I are both descended from Hudson Nance, Sr., and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Hubbard) Nance. It is also worth noting that his ancestor Hudson Nance, Jr., (brother to my ancestor Anna "Annie" (Nance) Kearns) married a Rebecca Ivey b. 1806 in Randolph Co., NC. While she is not the same Rebecca Ivey from whom I am descended (who was 20 years older than his ancestor Rebecca Ivey Nance), my Ivey ancestors were also in Randolph Co., NC, implying that Joey Nance and I may also share Ivey ancestry, which is further supported by a 4th cousin prediction which is closer than my being his 5th cousin, once removed.
  
  Corresponded with author Lori Crane regarding theory she has about the father of Sarah, daughter of Sarah (Mayo) Culpeper. Reached out to the Curator and Profile Managers of Sarah Pritchard (Culpepper) regarding sources for her birth year of 1689, which would put the theory to rest. Also corresponded with Culpepper researcher Lew Griffin who has concluded in his mind that John "The Rebel" Culpeper is son of John "The Merchant" Culpeper. The 1689 birth date of Sarah (Culpeper) Pritchard is in question per some sources to be mentioned. John Culpeper was married to Margaret Bird before he married Sarah Mayo. He married Margaret, widow of Valentine Bird, ca. 1679-1680 as supported by Upheaval in Albemarle: The Story of Culpeper's Rebellion: Appendix and according to NCpedia article "Bird, Valentine". The latter of those sources refers to the following: "North Carolina State Archives (Raleigh), for Albemarle Book of Warrants and Surveys (1681-1706), Council Minutes, Wills, Inventories (1677-1701), and Bond of Margaret Culpeper as Guardian for Sarah Bird (2 Feb. 1686)." So, does this conclude that Sarah (Culpeper) Pritchard was born 2 Feb. 1686 and was in fact a daughter of Valentine Bird? For now, the names Bird/Byrd, Culpeper/Culpepper, Mayo and Maggs are all in question. More research is needed to draw a conclusion. In the meantime, I did make some corrections as it is unfounded that Sarah Mayo was ever married to Valentine Bird. By way Refer to the Culpeper page for more details.
  
  Met DNA cousin Mr. David Michael Hall via FTDNA. He and I share great-great grandparents J. Milton and Nancy Louisa (Surratt) Hill and his great-great-great-great grandparents Richard and Mary "Polley" (Tolson) Loflin are my great-great-great-great-great grandparents. I am both his 3rd cousin and his 5th cousin, once removed. David provided some unverified maiden surnames - Mendenhall in the Hill ancestry and Bouton in the Loflin ancestry.
  
  Removed DNA results surnames from the home page as they caused confusion. Some persons were thinking they were ancestral surnames instead of surnames of DNA matches; i.e., cousins. I removed them since I have an extensive list of ancestral surnames compiled and that is where common ancestry is found.
  
  Corrected errors for Sarah (Culpeper) Pritchard in the Pritchard ancestry.
  
  Added to the list of possible gateway (to royalty) ancestors my ancestors William and Mary (Cuthbert) Hearne (and replaced their descendant Nancy "Charity" (Skeen) Johnson since it is really through them and they are verified ancestors).
  
  After further researching the Skene ancestry, found a missing ancestor: Robert Skene b. ca. 1567. Also researched some dates in the De Skene ancestry.
• May 2018: Added the Will (page 1, page 2) of Sally Eckard, wife of Abraham and mother of Absalom, to the Early Eckards and their Ancestry page. Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff! Further researched John Culpeper "The Rebel of Albemarle" and added links for more reading and improved layout of that page.
• 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 A.J., my second cousin once removed! His great-great grandfather Val Johnson is my grandfather's (H. "Ed" Edwin Johnson) brother. A.J. 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.
  
  After reviewing M Tree by bandmfamilytrees on Ancestry.com, found some speculations about the birth/death places and years of Peter and Maria (Huber) Schmidt.
  
  After looking at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Genealogical Research System, noted my American Revolutionary War Veterans:
  
  
  • John Johnson
  • Richard Loflin
  • J. Michael Luther, Sr.
  • Lawrence Snapp (Lorentz Schnepp)
  • Peter Snapp
  • Philip Eckard, Sr.
  • John Simmons
  • Johann Michael Kiser (Kayser)
  • Henry Huffman, Sr.
  • Jacob Heavenor (pending verification of ancestry)
  • Additional ancestors and complete listing of Revolutionary War veterans
    (some discovered since this original list was posted)
• 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:

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  The site can begin using this:

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  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.

• February 2018: Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction and other fun stuff! and included a link to it from the home page menu. Improved layout on certain pages to lessen the "rectangles" as my oldest son calls them by condensing the real estate of the page taken up by lists and narratives as seen at William H. Johnson page and Jesse B. Hill note, both being among the redesign. Updated information about Jesse B. and Mary Ann (Luther) Hill as well as Mary's father Abraham Luther and her great grandfather John Michael Luther, Sr. (D.A.R. application, deposition of war pension and verification of service in the American Revolution), with information provided from Joyce Kendall (with whom I corresponded in January 2018 and this month). While Michael Luther was clearly a Revolutionary Patriot, there is a claim that he was among the hundreds of men who crossed the Delaware with George Washington. I have reached out to those who wrote articles and made original posts to verify with source documentation. Read and featured on relevant pages (Kearns, Pritchard, Newby, Morris, Johnson and Surratt) the article Life In 18th Century North Carolina (prior to the Revolutionary War). Revisited The History of the Hunt Family by Roger D. Hunt, 2011, and made clarifications on my ancestor Elizabeth Charles Nicholson. Doing some design changes to make less vertical rectangales shorter (using scroll or widening) on certain pages. Due to link changes on a source site, updated source links for the Shattuck ancestry. With much appreciation to S. Joyce Kendall, updated my page with one of our ancestors Richard Loflin, adding documentation she provided, confirming him as a Patriot of the American Revolution. With the ongoing problems with RootsWeb being down, changed some of the references on the site sources and references on Shattuck/Page/Symons/Morris Ancestry & Quaker Ancestry and Hill and Cranford, Surratt, Kearns ancestry to use links like this - (Problems viewing?) - pointing to archived pages from Wayback Machine (Archive.org) for the time being. Found documentation showing John Mills married Sarah Sarratt, which had been a mystery in Surratt ancestry. Did further research on that ancestry and added details to that page. Reached out regarding my ancestor Sarah Rednap, starting a public discussion at Geni.com. Continued collecting leads to try to figure out my Johnson origins. I corresponded with Patty LaPlante and based on that correspondence as well as the Geni.com profiles for Robert Hicks of Hick's Ford and Capt. Robert Hicks, Indian Trader, I have found confusion and error in my Hicks line and by default the origins thereof, causing me to "stamp" those pages as being in error and needing research as well as setting certain surnames listed on the home page to only show up if "unverified" names are selected to display. Eventually, I removed content from the pages, including certain surnames from the home page (as they are beyond unverified), after further correspondences and discussion with Geni.com curators. This also resulted in updates to the generations page for six, seven and eight generations back on my paternal side.
• January 2018: Continued research on the Kearns ancestry after last month's correspondence with Gene Kearns (Eugene Kearns, Jr.) and his compilation of Descendants of William Thomas Mosson Keirns. Came across various resources related to my Johnson, Morris and Bisher ancestries, namely around Census data and the Civil War era and added them to the site. Updated research about J. Conrad Bescher and his son Godfrey and their wives. Added History of Sugar Grove, WV to the ancestry of my maternal grandmother Hazel Jane (Eckard) Fisher. On Geni.com, my ancestor Sarah Rednap is listed as Sarah Lawton (b. 1609; d. 1674), daughter of George and Isabel Lawton, instead of Sarah Haughton (b. 1595-d. 1617, which is a suspicious date given her daughter's birthdate). I contacted profile managers on Geni.com for sources/substantiation to see if I can unravel this mystery. After reading "How DNA Testing Botched My Family's Heritage, and Probably Yours, Too," by Kristen V. Brown, uploaded data to Gencove, which suggests I am 88% Northern and Central European, 10% Eastern Mediterranean and 2% Finnish. It is worth noting FTDNA suggests that I am 97% European, less than 1% East Middle East, less than 1% South American and less than 2% Southeast European. So, these is somewhat in contrast in my DNA information. On MyHeritage, discovered a DNA relative Sarah Joyce Kendall whose grandmother was sister to my great grandfather William "Eddie" Hill, which means she shares the ancestry of my great-grandfather Hill with me, among that being Luther ancestry about which she provided information. She also descends from Richard Loflin, father of John Loflin who married Nancy Hall and she contributed greatly to my Loflin research. Also discovered DNA relative P.E. who with me shares Reverend Beverly and Paulina "Laney" (Loflin) Surratt and John (Sr.) and Nancy (Hall) Loflin as common ancestors. I came across the article Calling HOGWASH on 23andMe's Ancestry Timeline by Dr. Roberta Estes of DNAeXplained, which substantially shows how 23andMe's Ancestry Timeline is inaccurate, even deceptive in its wrongly drawn conclusions. Therefore, I removed that tool's conclusions from both my Generations page and home page. With the help of the aforementioned Joyce Kendall, gathered even more material from her research for my Loflin ancestry. Found my father's (William H. Johnson) honorable discharge from the United States Navy in card form and added a summary of my father's Navy service to the William Herman Johnson in the Navy page.
• 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.
• August 2017: Found via FTDNA a 3rd cousin through my Surratt line - Kim, daughter of William Howard Green, son of [private], daughter of Gertrude Surratt Green, daughter of McCager Surratt, son of Spencer Surratt, who is my great-great-great grandfather. Found via FTDNA that I am the 5th cousin, once removed, of Joseph "Joey" Nance, son of Wid Henry Nance, son of Joseph A. Nance, son of Charlie Thomas Nance, son of Wiley Nance, son of Hudson Nance, Jr., son of Hudson Nance, Sr., and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Hubbard) Nance, his 4x great grandparents and my 5x great grandparents as seen on my Nance ancestry. Found via 23andMe Rebecca "Becky" (Waggy) Allen to whom I am multiply related via both my Waggy and Propst ancestry. Becky is daughter of Ted Waggy, son of Jacob and Pernina (nee Propst) Waggy. I am related to both of her paternal grandparents: Jacob Waggy and Pernina (nee Propst) Waggy. Jacob Waggy is son of Daniel J. Waggy, son of John and Allie (Propst) Waggy. Pernina (nee Propst) Waggy is daughter of David Propst, son of Samuel Propst, Sr., son of George Propst, Sr., son of Leonard Propst, son of Johann "John" Michael Propst, Sr., who is a common ancestor of both lines! Continuing efforts to reorder sources on the home page to better assist researchers. Revisited 2008 correspondences and information from Samuel "Sam" Houston Johnson, Jr., in searching to further uncover my Johnson line and found where some of my distant cousin Johnsons migrated from North Carolina to Tennessee to Texas. Also, I was able to get clarification and information regarding my ancestor John Johnson, including his will! Researching Matthew Skeen and his ancestry per findings and sources at Mathew Skeen (1701-1748) | WikiTree. Revisiting and researching my Lassiter ancestry with the help of distant cousin Jocelyn Barrett. Cleared up my Skeen and Skene ancestries (and therefore the pathway through my De Skene ancestry) with the help of Linda (Peck) Shreiber who maintains Mathew Skeen (1701-1748) | WikiTree and who provided me with the article by Phyllis J. Miller, "A New Hypothesis on the Ancestry of Mathew Skeen of Augusta County, Virginia." The Virginia Genealogist (Oct - Dec 2001), pp. 305-309, which convincingly shows the true ancestry of Matthew Skene of Augusta Co., Virginia. Found via 23andMe a second cousin John Shackford, son of Kathryn Virginia Johnson (d. 2005), daughter of Allen Starling Johnson, son of Norman and Julia (Morris) Johnson, both John's and my great grandparents! Completed reorganization of sources listing on the home page. Added clarification to the Morris line regarding the ancestry of John Morris b. 31 March 1680. Added the 1812 Probate Document for Thomas Nance, Sr., to the Nance ancestry. With the help of distant cousin Nora Taylor Lambert, obtained a list of VaGenWeb. Highland Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, namely those who fought in Capt. Peter Hull's unit and the campaign on Yorktown, substantiating information in my Crummett, Eckard (particularly Eckards in the military), Eye and Simmons ancestries. [More Info]

  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 to whom I am the 4th cousin once removed. We both descend from Richard Loflin.
• July 2017: Fixed broken links on the home page and elsewhere. Added pictures about Denton, NC, to my father's page and pictures as well as improved navigation to the Johnson-Hill Pictures page. Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction. Corresponding with administrator of FamilyTreeDNA Johnson surname DNA project as I continue the pursuit of my Johnson origins. Added more comments to testimonials. Researched my Lassiter ancestry with 9th cousin Janet Lassiter. Reordered sources on the home page to better assist researchers.
• June 2017: Pursuing my Johnson ancestry. Updated the page Fun - Genealogies from Fiction with additions of videos. Researched and updated Bittmann/Pitman Ancestry and Snapp/Schnepp Ancestry.
• May 2017: Researched Sub-Saharan West African ancestry. Researched Cranford Ancestry with Anita Sue Gates. Launched Testimonials page. Further researched my Eye and Propst Ancestries as well as my Crummett Ancestry upon exploring Walter Eye's books: A History of the Descendants of Christopher Crummett of Pendleton County, VA, (W.VA.) and A History of the Descendants of Christopher S. Eye of Pendleton County, Va. (W. Va.) and A History of the Descendants of John Michael Propst of Pendleton County, Va. (W. Va.). Improved navigation at mobile resolution for the List of Last Names on the home page. Discovered a DNA connection to an 8th cousin, which verified another generation of my Luther ancestry, including the surname Kelp. Discovered a DNA connection to a 5th cousin whose research opened up more information on my Bittmann Ancestry and resulted in the addition of my Schworm Ancestry. Continued research of my Hicks/Hix Ancestry.
• April 2017: Continuing to pursue my Johnson ancestry. Adding and centralizing more sources on pages where applicable (e.g., Births PENDLETON CO. WV (Partial) from USGenWeb Archives on Eckard ancestry and Simmons ancestry). Improved navigation on and added beautiful ancestral portraits to the Generations page. Thanks to Dalles Schneider's work at the Schneider Family Site - Family Tree at MyHeritage.com, discovered my Wagner ancestor Apollonia Wagner Lautenschlager. Did some additional research around John Culpeper and Sarah Mayo Culpeper from Maggs-Mayo-Henley Families from Lyford Hale, July 2009. Began adding thumbnail images to ancestry of Louise Mae Johnson. With the help of Patty LaPlante, discovered my Hicks/Hix Ancestry and we researched this ancestry. Added this new section regarding how to get started on your own genealogy research:

  How to get started with genealogical research:

  by Jamie Johnson

  • 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.
  • Draw out a tree or create one online.
  • 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.
  • Learn to cope with difficult family history that will always be unchanged and in the past. You are who you are, some factors being out of your control. You cannot be politically correct. Expect some surprises and difficulties in your history.
  • 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.
  • Look at Census data.
  • Look at online resources, particularly for the above mentioned documents. Again, know that Google Books has many free genealogical books as does Internet Archive.
  • 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. Females, trace the matrilineal line (DNA passed from mother to daughters and sons) by taking a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) test. Males, trace the patrilineal line (DNA passed from father to son) by taking a Y-DNA test or the matrilineal line via the aforementioned mtDNA test (as a mother passes mitochondrial to her children; the son receives it but being male cannot pass it to the next generation; Update: December 2018 research suggests males can pass mitochondrial DNA to their children, too). 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. Also consider DNA transfers and uploads to other sites to maximize the number of matches and amount of information.
  • Make sure you are researching the correct location - 1790 US Map (Source).
  • 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.

  Hope this helps and happy searching!

  ---

  Chromosomal Browsing and Triangulation

  June 2018 Update by James "Jamie" Arthur Johnson

  Use chromosomal browsing and triangulation. They allow me to see what genetic information (overlapping chromosomal segments) I share with my matches. And if I know the common ancestors of the match as well as myself, then other DNA cousins who have overlapping segments can be assumed to have the same common ancestors or share ancestry via those ancestors (such as when a DNA match and I share my great-great grandparents as ancestors and another DNA match and I share great-great-great grandparents). That is why it is called triangulation because two persons know the shared ancestry and a third does not, but is brought into the triangle, so to speak. Multiple DNA sites allow chromosomal browsing. Here's another more specific example: say my mother's DNA is on the same site as mine so I can tell who is related to me through my mother. Say I browse the chromosome of a maternal DNA cousin John Doe and we match on chromosome 1 with overlapping segments 18,417,427 to 27,592,940. Now say I find another match in maternal DNA cousin Jane Smith who matches me on chromosome 1 with overlapping segments 18,493,076 to 22,564,305. This means an overlap!

  There are 5 conditions I test (for which I wrote a formula for in a spreadsheet) to determine if John Doe and Jane Smith have overlapping chromosomal segments (and I know they overlap with me because they are among my matches):

  1. Jane's segment range straddles the John's lower number.
  2. Jane's segment range straddles the John's higher number.
  3. Jane's segment range is within the range of John's.
  4. Jane's segment range envelops the range of John.
  5. Jane has a segment in the exact location as John, such as if they have the same starting number, same ending number or the same range, the last of which may mean being related as closely as siblings.

  In John and Jane's case mentioned, the third condition is satisfied. Jane's range is within John's range. Do note that I am assuming they are related to me on the same side (i.e., maternal exclusively or paternal exclusively).

  If I am estimated to be 4th cousins to both Jane and John, then we may share the same great-great-great grandparents; i.e., have common ancestors 5 generations back. However, what if I am John's 2nd cousin and Jane is estimated to be my 4th cousin? This would mean that Jane and I would be related via one of the lines in the ancestry of John's and my common ancestors. So, in this case, John and I would have shared great grandparents. Since, in this case, I am only looking at my maternal side, this narrows it down to four people (instead of 8). So, I would look at the ancestry of each of those four people and go back a couple generations on each one to see if I can find a connection with Jane. This is how chromosomal browsing and triangulation can help. It narrows down the possibilities of how a DNA cousin and I are related. Mastering these methods can be very helpful to you. They open the door to have additional tools beyond surnames, records and documentation.

  ---

  Suggestions from others:

  Philip Shaddock of Shattock Shattuck Shaddock Shaddick Shadduck DNA Group suggests the following:

  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).

  Sherri Mora Bass, member of North Carolina Genealogy, suggests the following:

  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.

  Professional genealogist Kimberly Powell offers suggestions in her article 50 Questions to Ask Relatives About Your Family History.

  WikiTree pondered this question: What tips do you have for interviewing relatives? And searchers offered their tips.

  Shannon Christmas of the blog Through the Trees, in his article "Realizing The Illusion: Communicating With Long Lost Relatives", suggests proven strategies for connecting with DNA relatives.

  Charity Rouse, genealogist, addresses the question, "Why do I geek genealogy?" - a 2012 presentation, and offers various ideas for researching genealogy.

  Got Genealogy? offers Golden Rules of Genealogy.

  Farmers Insurance offers genius ideas for disaster-proofing heirlooms & mementos in your home.

  Mom it Forward has a list of Life History Questions to ask living relatives to learn their stories.

  HomeGuides offers a Genealogy & Ancestry Guide on how to find your family history.

  Eastman's Online Genealogy: How To Trace Your Roots (archived version)

  When No Records Exist: Ten Strategies to Help You Find a "Missing" Ancestor

  Write Your Personal History from For Ty and Logan

  Interesting news: DNA scientists claim that Cherokees are from the Middle East.

• March 2017: Added thumbnail images 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.
  
  
  So, who's in the background image on this page, the Generations page, the Testimonials page and the home page? The background shows pictures featuring ancestors:

  • 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.
  • Second Row: My mother Carolyn Fisher Johnson as a child, my great grandparents Norman and Julia (Morris) Johnson, another childhood picture of my mother.
  • Third Row: My father with his sisters Hilda Mack Cranford and Jerrie Johnson Lomax and with his mother Gertrude Hill Johnson, a picture of the 1897 Johnson family reunion, a picture of my mother Carolyn Fisher Johnson when being caught in escape by her mother Hazel Eckard Fisher.
• 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 S.M., 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.
• December 2016: Researching Culpeper ancestry after being provided with extensive research from Lew Griffin of Culpepper Connections in view of DNA findings. Per Culpeper ancestral reasearch, the following ancestries remain unproven: the Malet, Poyntz, Beaumont, Vermandois, Anjou, Kievan ancestry, Byzantine ancestry, Viking ancestry, de Braiose, La Zouche, ancestry to kings of Leinster, legendary Irish ancestry and ancestry to the kings of Wales and Mercia and all the ancestries thereof. Researching wills at Abstract of North Carolina Wills compliled by J. Bryan Grimes, 1910. Posted the Will of Thomas Symons. Working on verification of Skeen ancestry as many ancestral surnames remain unverified. Further researched my Quaker ancestries: Newby, Albertson, Nicholson and Charles ancestries, mostly via this source: The History of the Hunt Family by Roger D. Hunt (2011). Found that part of my Charles ancestry is in question. As a result, the following are also uncertain ancestries: Quarles, Billingsley, Danvers (d'Anvers), de Brancester, Talemasche, de Wallingford and de Warwick ancestries, de Bruley, de Cocton (de Coughton), de Foliot ancestries and Knyvet (Knevet) ancestry. As a result, I halted any further research on those ancestries. Linked the December 8, 2016, BBC article Reconstructed face of Robert the Bruce is unveiled on my Royal Scottish Ancestry page where one finds my ancestor Robert "The Bruce."
• November 2016: Uncovered my Charles ancestry, which includes Quarles, Billingsley, Danvers (d'Anvers), de Brancester, Talemasche, de Wallingford and de Warwick ancestries, de Bruley, de Cocton (de Coughton), de Foliot ancestries and Knyvet (Knevet) ancestry. In reading The History of the Hunt Family by Roger D. Hunt (2011), I revamped my Quaker ancestries -- my Newby, Albertson, Nicholson and Charles ancestries and Morris ancestry, particularly around the Symons ancestry. Corresponded with Gwen Gransberg and Amy Hedrick regarding my Symons ancestry. Discussed with Philip Shaddock the split of Quakers over slavery where some went north and some went south. Launched this News page (yes, the one you are reading!).
• October 2016: Held further discussions on Geni.com regarding my Shattuck ancestry, namely Damaris Shattuck, the Widow of Salem. Seeking to clarify my maternal Smith ancestry by encouraging Smith males to take Autosomal DNA tests and through meeting a distant Smith cousin, gained further details about my maternal Smith ancestry.
• 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.
• June 2016: Revamped the sub-site for the marriage of James "Jamie" Arthur Johnson (me) to Louise Mae Shifflet. Uncovered my Skeen ancestry (some of it needing to be verified), which includes royal Scottish ancestry including Stewarts and Robert the Bruce, expanded Viking ancestries, expanded Welsh ancestries, and Hamilton ancestry (which includes my shared ancestor with Alexander Hamilton, 1st Secretary of the United States Treasury: Sir David fitz Walter (FitzWalter) Hamilton). Found my connection to the Shaw surname in the mother of my ancestor Cora Rebecca (Webb) Kearns.
• April-May 2016: Significant discussions with Erica Isabel Howton, curator at Geni.com, and Philip Shaddock of Shattocke Family History regarding his and my shared Shattuck ancestry. Had discussions with S.P.D. and Daniel Bly regarding our shared Snapp/Schnepp/Schneppff Ancestry where we found a distant relationship to a U.S. President. Also had discussions with S. regarding our shared Fisher ancestry.
• March 2016: Got results back from FamilyTreeDNA.
• February 2016: No news.
• 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.
• March 2015: Further traced back my Lassiter ancestry. Added will documents for Silas K. Kearns confirming his marriage to Annie Nance.
• January 2015: With the help of Daniel Bly, further expanded details of my Snapp/Schnepp/Schneppff Ancestry.
• 2014 highlights: Joined 23andMe.com. Launched a part of the site about my late father's (William H. Johnson) days in the U.S. Navy.
• May 2009: Began redesign of the family tree to use
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• October 2008: The beacondeacon.com domain is purchased and the family tree site is migrated to its new home at http://family.beacondeacon.com.
• 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.

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