“Somewhere
back there in the dust,
That
same small town in each of us.”
---Don
Henley
“Strap
yourself to a tree with roots.”
---Bob
Dylan
“We
come on the ship they call the Mayflower,
We
come on the ship that sailed the moon;
We
come in the age’s most uncertain hour,
And
sing an American tune.”
---Paul
Simon
Not
too long ago, when asked about my ancestry, I could shrug my shoulders and
joke, “Poor white trash doesn’t leave much of a paper trail.” But those days
are gone.
My
genealogy journey has been under way since 1975, and I expect it will continue
with some level of additional research until I become one of the departed
ancestors my grandkids can investigate. But I’ve decided it is time to start
recording the things I have found. I’m sure this project will require multiple
blog posts. And mostly I’m doing this here to provide a permanent online record
of our lineage for my own descendants. Others, however, may find a larger theme
about the classic American melting pot. They also may learn some tricks about
genealogical research. Some may learn about ancestors in their own lineage by
reading about mine. Hopefully, they’ll be eager to post comments and share
their own stories—or correct me if I’ve misconstrued those that I’ve found. To
reflect on songwriter Paul Simon, they can share the discovery of my
American tune. And I’m sure I can offer an enchanting tale or two worthy of a
read.
To
summarize my findings to date and headline this report, I have learned that I
am descended from four who arrived aboard the Mayflower with the Pilgrims in
1620. I want to reassure my friends that I will not let this go to my head.
Even if I am welcomed into the Mayflower Society after submitting my
verification, I’ll try to still be that same old wise-cracking fellow you’ve
always admired. Besides my Mayflower connection, I’ve learned I also am
descended from some prominent Puritans of the Seventeenth Century, including
the Hingham, Massachusetts oligarch Peter Hobart (1604-1679) and his father,
Edmund Hobart (1575-1646).
In
addition, I learned that another multi-great grandpa was a Scottish prisoner of
war captured by Oliver Cromwell in 1650 at the Battle of Dunbar Castle and
shipped to New England to work in the iron foundry as an indentured servant.
Then there was the English fisherman who arrived in the early 1600s as an
indentured servant to fish the waters off the coast of Maine. He and his sons
served valiantly in the great war against native leader King Philip later in that
century. Among the other ancestors I’ve met was a multi-great grandpa who killed
three bears as a teenager while traveling by wagon from Virginia to Missouri in
the 1800s.
I’ve
discovered some darkness, as well. One of my multi-great grandpas murdered my
multi-great grandma by breaking her neck in 1733. Before he was hanged for the
crime he told acquaintances she “has been a plague on me for 20 years.” I’ve
also uncovered slave-holders among my ancestors. I’m sure several of my
ancestors took advantage of the Native Americans whenever they had the chance,
but wasn’t that the tenor of the times? And I found an intriguing story about a
multi-great grandma who allegedly was born the child of a prostitute on London
Bridge and managed to carve out a successful life in the New World by seducing
and marrying a wealthy Virginia planter in a yarn that sounded like the plot
for a movie on the Lifetime Channel. Truth or legend? How can I know? But I
intend to retell it anyway because it’s just too fascinating to ignore.
If
I could have placed a lot of these folks in a room together back in the old
days, I bet they’d have had one hell of a fight. You just wouldn’t have invited
all of them to the same party. But they did have several traits in common. Most
importantly, they all proved they were willing to risk everything for a shot at
a better future. I’ve thought often about the challenges they faced in
fulfilling their destinies, both physical and emotional, and wondered how
they could compare with the challenges faced by me in a much more civilized
time. In addition, they proved they possessed the qualities required to at
least survive in most cases and to thrive and prosper in many others. I thank
all of them for providing me with the foundation for my life in the later
Twentieth Century, and for the lives of my grandchildren in the century ahead.
I’m reminded of Cormac McCarthy’s nut line from his classic, The Road: “Are you carrying the fire,
boy?” My genealogical journey is designed to answer that question for me. And I
think the answer is: Yes.
To
provide a little context on my personal genealogy journey, it began after the
birth of my oldest daughter in April of 1975. I realized she represented my
connection to the future, but I started wondering about our connection to the
past. I realized I had never made the effort to question grandparents while
they were available and learn some first-hand accounts of those who had come
before. Back in 1975, our genealogical tools were limited. We had a great
genealogical library in Houston, the system’s Clayton Branch, and I still
recommend it as a research location for those with access. It even has free
parking in the downtown. I started out with index cards, legal pads and pens. I
wrote letters to great uncles with forms attached for them to provide all the
details they knew. And most were only too eager to help. Little by little I
crafted a small family tree. But it raised more questions than answers.
I
experienced the magic of finding the name of a great-great grandfather on a
microfilmed census record, where I could see the names of his neighbors in the
farmlands of central Missouri. I could note the last names of future brides for
his sons residing just a pasture away. And why wouldn’t that be the case? Who
else are you going to marry when the nearest town remains a two-day buggy ride?
Every time I kicked over a genealogical rock, it seemed, some ancestors would
crawl out. Then, at some point, all I could find were the rocks. The ancestors
stopped popping, I grew bored and life got in the way.
Off
and on over the next 30 years I piddled with research when I could, but that
failed to provide much satisfaction in the days before development of the
Internet. I took one of the early DNA tests in 2005 through Houston’s FamilyTree organization to see what new details scientific advances might provide. That test and
subsequent updates proved that I am thoroughly a mixture of Scottish, Irish and
British to a point where 84 percent of my DNA connects to the British Isles.
Oh, there is a smidgen of Swedish, but that’s to be expected from historical
knowledge of the Viking era and the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
Normandy in France had been settled by the Vikings before that conquest, and,
of course, the Viking raids into England of the Ninth Century have been well
documented.
As
I neared retirement from my journalism career in 2012, I organized my thoughts
about the ancestral things I knew for certain. Most of my people had lived in
Missouri, where I had been born in 1947 in St, Louis. I knew my father’s Taylor
lines had moved to Missouri from Kentucky in 1830, while my mother’s primary
family, the Wrights, had come west from Virginia about the same time. But I
kept finding a curious outlier demanding attention. My mother’s grandfather,
Henry Augustus Libby, had been born in Maine in 1852, according to family and
census records. Why did I have this ancestor from New England migrating to
Missouri around the time of the Civil War? Seeking an answer, I discovered the
web site of the John Libby Family Association and inquired by email. In a quick
response, someone sent me a copy of pages from a book written in 1882 detailing
my line through Henry Augustus Libby (1852-1913) back to that young fisherman,
John Libby (1602-1677)—the immigrant who had arrived in the wilds of Maine
about 1630 seeking his fortune. Like a fish on young John’s line, I was hooked
again on the lure of genealogy. But now I had the time for pursuit, and I
quickly learned I had more tools at my disposal than I had time available to
use them.
In
the years since 2012, I’ve polished my methodology by focusing primarily on two
free online resources: FamilySearch.org and WikiTree.org. The first is the
product of the Mormon Church and its ambitious goal of mapping the world’s
family tree. You don’t need to join the church to use its massive research
banks online. All they want is your email address and a sign-in for
authentication. Meanwhile, at WikiTree I’ve discovered a place where I can
create what I call my official online family tree. Although WikiTree has no
online data banks like Family Search, it ranks as a premiere repository for
genealogical research because of the honor code each member must sign before
they can post family information on the WikiTree.
In
addition, WikiTree encourages participants to learn more about genealogy
through projects. I am qualified for work on pre-1700 ancestors and the Great
Puritan Migration of 1630-1650. As I developed my personal information on
WikiTree, my branches would eventually reach the branches of other trees for
merging. And I am usually certain that WikiTree information is about as correct
as it possibly can be. The WikiTree Honor Code suggests members collaborate
with cordiality, but these people are really serious about genealogical
research and I have been the recipient of some tough love when posting an
ancestral profile without sufficient source material. I usually link my sources
back to the actual documents available online at FamilySearch for efficient
review by other researchers. For example, on my profile of Henry Augustus
Libby, you will find links in the source box to his census records and other
written works about him available at FamilySearch. Just click and a new window
opens with a document to read. Try it here.
At
times, I’ve also paid for services through both Ancestry.com and
AmericanAncestors.org, but I believe I can complete most of my research now
through the free sites of FamilySearch and WikiTree. For anyone who wants to
review my lineage, I have created extensive trees at both sites and at Ancestry
as well. To find me on WikiTree, try this link and
then move backward through my parents and so on, or call up the entire tree for a broader view. At
FamilySearch, visit this page. If you have an
Ancestry subscription, you can look here.
In
addition, I’ve continued to perform independent research by email, regular
mail, telephone, visitation and any other means that might be available. I’m
currently mired in an investigation to unravel a family mystery about good old
Henry Augustus Libby that has me arbitrating a dispute between two cemeteries
that each claims to be the final resting place for his father, Joseph Clement
Libby (1831-1903). Based on my acquisition of a death certificate from the
Macoupin County (Illinois) Clerk, a copy of the report from a 1902 coroner’s
inquest into old Joe’s accidental drowning, and my interviews with
representatives from each boneyard, I have declared Bunker Hill (Illinois)
Cemetery the winner over Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. But I can provide
more detail in a later post.
For
now, however, it’s best to journey further back in time on my genealogical
journey to the most prominent and interesting place to start. My next post will
tell the story of my ancestors aboard the Mayflower. There were four of them.
And none were Pilgrims.
