FAMILY HISTORIES
The family histories on the following pages are done in the Ahnantafel style, meaning each generation lists all the ancestors of that time. For example, the first Generation in Dad’s family will contain his name and the second generation will name his parents, the third generation - all four grandparents, the fourth generation – eight grandparents and so on.
The Ahnantfel style has allowed me to link each name to documents pertaining to that person. As you read the names you’ll notice many of them are highlighted in blue. These have documents attached and you can access them by clicking the name.
The first thing a person realizes when researching their family tree is that the documentation can vary greatly in the spelling and the use of names. This is especially true in older Census and church records. Many people did not know how to read or write and had no idea how to spell their names. Even record takers, though they could read and write, often could not spell. They wrote the name how it sounded to them, and of course, it often sounded differently to different people. This makes for some interesting and creative name variances and if one looks at the documentation on this site, you’ll soon see what I mean. To complicate matters further, people very often switched their first and middle names around and one Census record might record our great-great grandfather as George Parcels, one as Albert Parcels, or perhaps Albert George Parcels and one as George Albert Parcels – are you getting the picture?
The above scenario does make for way more work than would be necessary if reading, writing and spelling were as important back then as it is now. For this reason, it is necessary to be diligent, patient and persistent in documenting our ancestors. It is an incredible amount of work, and I think, one that should not be endeavoured upon alone. Thank God we have resources available to us today that make the work easier. Ancestry.com has helped Bev and me tremendously, not only by providing documentation, but more importantly providing access to other people who are researching our ancestors. These people have become our greatest resource, providing documents, pictures, information on other bodies of work on our ancestors. We are grateful to them for their generosity in allowing us to become the beneficiaries of their hard work. Included in this list is our cousin, Barry Peers, who gave us invaluable information on the Smith and Dodd families. The others will remain nameless here, but Bev and I know who they are and in some cases, we have formed a bond of sorts with them – they too are family.
We hope that by bringing the stories of their lives to you, we can make our ancestors as much a part of you as they have become to us – ENJOY!
The Ahnantfel style has allowed me to link each name to documents pertaining to that person. As you read the names you’ll notice many of them are highlighted in blue. These have documents attached and you can access them by clicking the name.
The first thing a person realizes when researching their family tree is that the documentation can vary greatly in the spelling and the use of names. This is especially true in older Census and church records. Many people did not know how to read or write and had no idea how to spell their names. Even record takers, though they could read and write, often could not spell. They wrote the name how it sounded to them, and of course, it often sounded differently to different people. This makes for some interesting and creative name variances and if one looks at the documentation on this site, you’ll soon see what I mean. To complicate matters further, people very often switched their first and middle names around and one Census record might record our great-great grandfather as George Parcels, one as Albert Parcels, or perhaps Albert George Parcels and one as George Albert Parcels – are you getting the picture?
The above scenario does make for way more work than would be necessary if reading, writing and spelling were as important back then as it is now. For this reason, it is necessary to be diligent, patient and persistent in documenting our ancestors. It is an incredible amount of work, and I think, one that should not be endeavoured upon alone. Thank God we have resources available to us today that make the work easier. Ancestry.com has helped Bev and me tremendously, not only by providing documentation, but more importantly providing access to other people who are researching our ancestors. These people have become our greatest resource, providing documents, pictures, information on other bodies of work on our ancestors. We are grateful to them for their generosity in allowing us to become the beneficiaries of their hard work. Included in this list is our cousin, Barry Peers, who gave us invaluable information on the Smith and Dodd families. The others will remain nameless here, but Bev and I know who they are and in some cases, we have formed a bond of sorts with them – they too are family.
We hope that by bringing the stories of their lives to you, we can make our ancestors as much a part of you as they have become to us – ENJOY!