Ancestry Dot Com

Thanks to Cousins Diane Ross, and Cousin Amy Beemer I have gotten interested in tracing my Family Tree.

422 Ancestors later I have traced my Mother’s side of the family back to England in the 14th Century using an amazing web site known as Ancestry.com

Click to  view my Family Tree (once you arrive at the main page, click the “Family Tree” tab)

It’s amazing to me how Mother used to try to interest me in my ancestors, and as a young man, I wasn’t interested as they were people I didn’t know!  It wasn’t so much because I was anti-social, (everyone knows I am) it was more because I am  visually-oriented, and have trouble attaching significance to what I can’t see.   However, Mother and Dad always said we were supposed to grow older and wiser.

I’ve got the older part down, now if I could just get wiser!

One of the stories Grandma Ruth used to tell was about an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower.  I remember as a child actually being interested enough that I opened an old encyclopedia and looked for the surname on the Mayflower passenger list!  I could remember finding it, but I couldn’t remember what the name was now.

Turns out it was William Bradford 1590-1657, 2nd Governor of the Plymouth Colony.  Through William Bradford (there were 5 of them!) the line runs back to a Roger DeMarton, born 1287 in Yorkshire England!!

1. Dolores Townsend
2. Ruth Naomi Frey
3. William Townsend
4. Lillie M Richards
5. William Richards
6. Fidelia A Gould
7. John Gould
8. William Gould
9. Bethia Bradford
10. William Bradford
11. William Bradford
12. (Major) W Bradford
13. (Governor) William Bradford
14. William Bradford
15. Alice Morton
16. Robert Morton
17. Charles Morton
18. Nicholas Morton
19. Robert Morton
20. Robert Morton
21. Charles Morton
22. Roger DeMarton

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That’s 22 Generations!  Wow!

OK, I know not everyone is as impressed as I am.  Like I said, I’m not sure what brought on the sudden interest, but I have sure enjoyed it!

Another story that Grandma used to tell was that of William C Fowlkes who left Hickman County Ky at the time of the civil war, and settled in Nebraska City, NE. in Otoe Co..

Grandma always said he left Ky because his family owned a large plantation and slaves and their sympathies were with the south, while he had been educated in the North, and didn’t believe in slavery.  According to her story he left and went to Nebraska Territory to avoid meeting his own family on the field of battle.

However, the records I have found indicate he was mustered out of the Union army before settling in Nebraska.

In any case, the other parts of the story check out, such as his being both a Doctor and a Lawyer, the first west of the Mississippi.

He is buried with his family in the Fowlkes Cemetery 3 miles south of Nebraska City, in Otoe county NE.

Bert Bowers, Aunt Edith’s Husband, renovated the cemetery in 1954, but in the last 55 years it has been abandoned and is severely overgrown and neglected.