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.

• 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 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.
• 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 Susan Nance Albright 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 Dorothy Etta O'Hanlon (born Smith) 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 Vaughn 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 Vaughn Nance, Jr., son of Thomas Vaughn Nance, Sr. Through this correspondence, discovered (and made the update) that my ancestor Thomas Vaughn 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 Allen Johnson, my second cousin once removed! His great-great grandfather Val Johnson is my grandfather's (H. "Ed" Edwin Johnson) brother. Allen is also the first Johnson I've discovered who descended from my patrilineal Johnson line with whom I have also found an autosomal DNA match (not many closely related Johnsons have taken autosomal DNA tests). I also found other Johnson relatives mentioned in the obituary for Mrs. Frances "Billy" Hedrick Johnson (daughters Judy Johnson, Kathryn Johnson and her husband John Strickland, and Joanne Johnson all of Salisbury, NC; two grandchildren: Starling Johnson Kaklamanos and husband Aaron; and Hedrick Strickland). The late Mrs. Billy Johnson is wife of the late Allen Starling Johnson, Jr., son of Allen Starling Johnson, brother to my grandfather (H. "Ed" Edwin Johnson), sons of Norman Harris Johnson and Julia Priscilla (Morris) Johnson. However, I have not been able to correspond with them yet. I found some more information at "Celebrating 70 Years as a Family-Owned Business: Johnson Concrete Company" by Margaret Patricia Eaton, seen in the January 1, 2018, edition of Construction in Focus magazine.
  
  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 Patricia Elliott 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 is the daughter of Paul Loflin whom I match as 2nd to 4th cousin on FTDNA. After research found that I am the 4th cousin once removed of Sarah Loflin Borcherding, daughter of Paul Hurl Loflin (to whom I am 3rd cousin twice removed), son of Emmett "Earl" Hurl Loflin (m. Goldie Stewart), son of William Whit Loflin (m. Amanda), son of William J. "Peg Leg Billie" Loflin, son of John Loflin (originally only speculated to be correct via clues of geography, but my DNA connection to this family confirms it), son of Richard Loflin.
• 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.
  • 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.

• 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 Sammy Miller, the great-great-great grandson of Nancy Jane Luther, granddaughter of Solomon Luther, brother of the aforementioned Charles Luther. Further, Charles lived in Randolph Co., NC, and the 1840 census mentions 3 daughters under age 10 -- Elizabeth (b. 1831) and Sara (b. 1835) and one unmentioned. FamilySearch suggested that Mary Ann Luther Hill's parents were not Charles and Mary Ann (Lewallen) Luther. Rather, it was found that the Charles who married Mary Ann Lewallen is a distant cousin to my Mary Ann Luther Hill. In correspondence with Sammy Miller, it was found that his 6 times great grandfather George Luther is a brother to Mary Ann Luther Hill's great grandfather John (Johan) Michael Luther, Sr. This puts our common ancestor back 9 generations to a common 7th great grandfather Christian Luther, making us 8th cousins. More details: Luther ancestry. Meanwhile, with help from Tiffany Parker, I am researching the possibility that Daniel and Abigail (McCracken) Hill are parents of my ancestor Jesse B. Hill. Particularly, I am looking into these resources: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncrandol/1850N.html, http://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/daniel-hill_123260796 and http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/HILL/1999-02/0919168985 as well as a DNA match suggesting a possible McCracken ancestor within a generation or two before Jesse. Yet, FamilySearch offers different scenarios for the ancestries of Jesse B. Hill and it may be worth serious consideration after the aforementioned Luther discovery. Thanks to the research of Tiffany Parker, I have corrected my ancestor's to John Milton Hill (was listed as James in error) on my Hill ancestry, which I am now researching further. I have verified Hearne ancestry in the Skeen ancestry via exploration of the web version of William T. Hearne's Brief History and Genealogy of the Hearne Family as I research my Skeen ancestry where I have verified a couple generations of the Skeen/Skene line via exploration of the book Clan Skeen by A.T. (Tom) Skeen. Researching Quaker roots in the following of my ancestries: Culpeper, Morris, Newby and Pritchard.
• 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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