Topic: GENEALOGY IS ANYONE INTERESTED?
missourigal1954's photo
Sat 08/05/17 04:12 PM
ARE THERE ANY MEN ON HERE INTERESTED IN FAMILY HISTORY AND GENEALOGY?

actionlynx's photo
Wed 08/09/17 12:51 AM
There are. I took over the family history from mother, who took it over from my grandmother.

Some interesting notes:

On my father's side, I am descended from Thomas Buckingham, one of the founders of Yale University.

On my mother's side, I am related to Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, through a common ancestor, Aaron Huntley. My grandmother was a direct descendant of John Huntley via Aaron, his son. Joseph Smith was Aaron's great great grandson.

I can trace much of my lineage back to the founding of Connecticut and perhaps Massachussetts, Rhode Island, and New York. There are a few missing links for the latter three, but enough evidence to firmly suggest it.

I have had trouble tracing the Lee family because church records were burned. Evidence seems to suggest they moved to New York from Rhode Island prior to the Revolution. Rumors that they moved from south of New York appear to be false since none of the surviving records match that claim. In fact, it appears to be a mix up due to similar first names. The records indicate a different marriage and descendants within the same county. Meanwhile, the Rhode Island family was closely associated with a Brownell family, a name which had been passed on within the Lees until my grandfather and my uncles. That circumstantial evidence suggests a marriage between the two families which I have yet to find.

The Huntleys came over from England (records there have been lost) to the Bay Colony around 1640 or so. Around 1645, the Huntley family moved to Connecticut as one of the founders of Lyme.

The Buckingham family helped found Hartford and Milford in Connecticut. A distant cousin of my great great great grandmother served as Governor of Connecticut during the Civil War. My great great great grandmother also married into the Pratt family, which was another politically prominent family within the state since its founding.

My paternal great great grandfather came over from Germany as a boy. Though I have found the names of his parents, I have not found any hard evidence in Germany or ship's logs. I currently suspect that they came here via England first, and may have left due to the Franco-Prussian War. I have discovered their names in British ship logs to New York, but no solid proof that it was actually them.

So yeah, I've done a bit of research.