My second cousin, Barb, stopped by from out of town today and dropped off a copy for me of what she has of our family tree. This would be my dad's mother's side (my grandma, Susan Grey Scheffert).
I was lucky enough to hear some stories from my grandma about her family members and other ancestors. One story that always stuck with me was about a woman who befriended and took care of a sick Native American, who then came and saved the woman and her family from an ambush on the town by other Native Americans. This story was retold in the family tree documents!
There were other things like letters from family members during the 1920s who were trying to learn more about their ancestors and lists of people, who they married, where they lived (most in central Illinois, even two hundred years ago!), how many children they had, and when they died. It was so fascinating. I had to laugh at one letter in 1929 that ended by saying that everyone in the family has served and loved this great country and are true blue Republicans through and through.
I think the history back into the 1600s may be mostly speculation, but there was even quite a bit of information on the individuals who emigrated to America... and guess where they came from? England. Yay. Northumberland, to be exact, which is in the northern region and is an area that we drove through on our way up to Scotland. And actually, I found out that my grandmother's grandfather actually was from England, as well, which isn't really that far back.
Someday when I have time and motivation (ha!) I would love to draw an actual family tree. I feel like I could do it based on the documents that Barb gave to me. I'm sure there has to be some sort of electronic mechanism to do such a thing. I might have to look into that!
I was lucky enough to hear some stories from my grandma about her family members and other ancestors. One story that always stuck with me was about a woman who befriended and took care of a sick Native American, who then came and saved the woman and her family from an ambush on the town by other Native Americans. This story was retold in the family tree documents!
There were other things like letters from family members during the 1920s who were trying to learn more about their ancestors and lists of people, who they married, where they lived (most in central Illinois, even two hundred years ago!), how many children they had, and when they died. It was so fascinating. I had to laugh at one letter in 1929 that ended by saying that everyone in the family has served and loved this great country and are true blue Republicans through and through.
I think the history back into the 1600s may be mostly speculation, but there was even quite a bit of information on the individuals who emigrated to America... and guess where they came from? England. Yay. Northumberland, to be exact, which is in the northern region and is an area that we drove through on our way up to Scotland. And actually, I found out that my grandmother's grandfather actually was from England, as well, which isn't really that far back.
Someday when I have time and motivation (ha!) I would love to draw an actual family tree. I feel like I could do it based on the documents that Barb gave to me. I'm sure there has to be some sort of electronic mechanism to do such a thing. I might have to look into that!
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