52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 2 - Origins

My Cornish Roots

    Where did my ancestors come from?  The eternal question.  I was lucky in my genealogy journey to know where all 4 of my Grandparents came from. They were all immigrants, and had left their family and friends behind for a better life in America.  My ancestors were "late-comers", all arriving in the early 1900's from England and Ireland.   Each came to a family member/friend, but none ever returned to see the family they had left behind.  

    My interest in genealogy was spurred on by a hand written family tree my Grandmother's Twin Sister drew out for me. The tree detailed our family's deep roots in Cornwall, England.  If she hadn't drawn the tree, I would have had a very difficult time tracing back to the village of Pendeen in Cornwall.  

    My Gt Grandmother left Pendeen as a teenager to work as a domestic servant in Liskeard, on the Devon border, nearly 70 miles away!  The wife of the family she worked for was from St Just in Penwith, near Pendeen - so possibly there is some connection, but I've yet to find it.

Grace Oats White 1846-1888

    She met and married a local man in 1871, and they moved to Torquay, Devon around 1878, where they raised a family, including my Grandmother and her twin sister, born in 1885. Sadly their Mother died in 1888 at the age of 42, and the family was broken up to live with relatives.

    Despite the early death of my Great Grandmother, the connections to Pendeen remained and there must have been correspondence, as the family tree detailed ancestors and more recent descendants.  Grace even went back to Pendeen to have her first child in 1871. 

    The Cornish naming tradition is such that the Mother or Grandmother's maiden name is often used as the child's middle name. Thus my Great Grandmother was Grace Oats White, as her Grandmother was Elizabeth Oats.

    I've been to visit Pendeen several times, and it always amazes me to see what deep roots I have in the area. It is the southern most part of England, and has a beautiful rocky coast and temperate climate. Fishing, farming and eventually mining sustained the population.  

    I've traced the family back to the mid 1500's.  Being an isolated area, there was lots of inter-marriage of distant cousins, so the DNA signature for West Cornwall is quite strong.  Working on the family tree often involves connecting distant cousins from multiple lines as they marry and their descendants marry other cousins.   

    I have worked with my 3rd cousin in Australia to research the burials at the Pendeen cemetery, and amazingly we are related to over 95% of the people! That shows how interconnected the families in the area are. There are only a few "blow-ins", such as a Teacher or Doctor.  So with certainty, I can say that I have DEEP roots in Pendeen and Western Cornwall.

    

    

52 Ancestor in 52 Weeks

Family Lore

OK, I'm going to try this again in 2024.  Getting back to blogging, even if it's a quick little blog!

    My Grandfather, George Henry Toulson was the youngest in his family, born in Fulbeck, Lincolnshire, England, when his Mother was 42. She had 8 children, 2 illegitemate, and 2 who died as infants.  My Grandfather, from family lore, fell out of a high chair when he was an infant, and did something to his back/spine, that stunted his growth.  He only grew to a height of approx 5 feet - about the size of a jockey.  

    His height limited his prospects (work as an agricultural laborer was common in the area), he was listed as a Stable Boy in 1891 and a Domestic Gardener in 1901.  In 1903, he emigrated to his Uncle in Clinton, Iowa.  He and a friend from Fulbeck, Arthur Hutchinson emigrated together.  The family story is they flipped a coin to decide if they'd emigrate to Australia or America, and America won.

    It is mind boggling for me to believe that I could have been an Australian - as I absolutely love that country and have visited 12 time!  I think my Grandfather must have also had the same fascination, as he ended up on the West Coast (San Francisco area), and in more Family Lore, he was saving his money to emigrate to Australia, when he met my Grandmother and well.....they had to get married, as my Father was on the way!

    So my love of Australia is clearly genetic! 

Irish discoveries!!

 This past few weeks has been an absolute bonanza of new cousin discoveries!  After a trip to Ireland, I came back with tons of new clues, new cousins and new lines to explore.  It's been almost overwhelming -- when it rains it pours!

From one small note, and a photograph we've uncovered some amazing discoveries, resolved some mysteries, and found hundreds of new cousins!   Truly mind blowing.

This note told of a heretofore unknown Great Grand Aunt (Anne Walsh), born well before the baptism records in 1833 -- and marrying into another side of my family (the Toole's of Leam).  This led to a discovery of 10 children, and many descendants from there - many of whom went to Boston.

A cousin we visited, had this photo of his Uncle Michael Walsh, on his wall. Michael went to Boston, and upon further research, we unraveled a long standing mystery, regarding who the cousin Michael Walsh was that my Grandmother was emigrating to!  The address she lists on her passenger list for cousin Michael Walsh, matches the address he used on his naturalization, where he lists his birthplace as Letterfir.

Michael Walsh - Boston

We also received a heretofore unknown photo of my Grandmother (that had been sent home to her Sister in Ireland).  Sometimes you need to go to Ireland to find the old photographs!  

                                                       Barbara Walsh - about 1910, Boston

 

More Tangled Toole's

 Further to my previous post, the Toole's continue to confuse me!   

I have found a Melia family - Peter Frances Melia of Carramoreknock, Oughterard marrying Mary Connolly/Conneely of Leam.   They have 6 children, including Maria Melia b 1876 and Patrick Melia (O'Mally) b 1870.   

Maria marries my Michael Thomas Toole (son of Thomas Toole and Anne Walsh) - my 1st cousin 2x removed.  They married in 1896 in Roxbury, Mass.

Patrick marries my Mary Toole (b 1867 in Glantrasna to John "Seanin" Toole and Mary Toole) - my 1st cousin 3x removed. They married in 1891 in Boston, Mass.

So, thanks to genealogy software, Michael Thomas Toole and Mary Toole are related in five different ways!  Generally through marriage, but if I eventually connect Thomas Toole to his potential parent of James Toole and Mary Halloran (my GGG Grandparents) the connection will be closer!  

If that is correct, then my Grandmother's Aunt (Anne Walsh) married my Grandfather's Grand Uncle (Thomas Toole).  I wonder if Martin and Barbara (my Grandparents) knew of this close connection between their families when they met in San Francisco?

And I still need to investigate the Connolly connection in Leam -- potentially there could be a Toole connection there.

Tooles -- what a tangled web

 I've always had trouble sorting out the various Toole families of Leam, near Oughterard.  Several of them moved to Glantrasna, and my Gt Grandmother Cait Toole is a descendant of theirs.  But going further back into Leam, there are several families of Tooles, in both East and West Leam, and all using lots of similar names; are they all connected?

To add to all of this general confusion, I've just been to Ireland and met up with a Walsh 2nd cousin, who told us about a heretofore unknown sister of my Gt Gt Grandfather.  She was Anne Walsh, born about 1833, and he told us that she married Thomas Toole, a shopkeeper in Leam, and that there were 2 descendants (grandchildren) John and "May" Toole who didn't marry.  

Thomas was born about 1820 and died 1895. So now my conundrum is - who were his parents, and is he a sibling of some of the other Toole's I'm connected to in East or West Leam?   DNA is leading me to believe that he may be the son of James Toole and Mary Halloran, my GGGG Grandparents.  James was born about 1798, and so Thomas might be the 1st son.  

If this is true, then my lines from my Maternal Grandfather and Maternal Grandmother have once again co-mingled!

Of course, while working on this, I ran across another Toole descendant from Glantrasna, that emigrated to Boston.  I found this via DNA Thru Lines on Ancestry.  She was the last child before her Father's death, her Mother remarried and she disappeared -- well now it looks like she emigrated.  

The Boston records are amazing, and on marriage records the bride and groom list their full parents names -- so I can confidently say that the Michael Toole I found is indeed the son of Thomas Toole and Anne Walsh.  He emigrated about 1888, and the passenger records don't give much identifying information other than name, age, nationality and occupation.  So hard to determine when exactly he emigrated.  

In tracing the descendants, the obituaries have been a gold mine -- lots of information detailing names, residences, etc.

Cousins marrying cousins and a habitual criminal!!!

 Wow, what a day of research!  Started out exploring the new General Register Office digital certificates program.   For only 2.5 pounds, you can get a immediate digital image of a birth or death (sadly not marriages).   I was thinking who do I need a cert for, and what new information might it show me.  For some reason, I was looking at my direct Pearce line, and I thought, aha! What about the child that was born and died between censuses.  So I ordered that cert, and got the first address of the family when they moved to Torquay (from St Ive, Cornwall), and the fact that the child died of measles (9 days duration).

I then ordered a death certificate for William Pearse/Pearce, showing his death in Callington in 1855. And from there started going back down his line, to his GG Grandaughter Vera Pearce.  Her parents being Thomas Pearce and Annie Hetty Gooding.  I expected Thomas to be my 2nd cousin 2x removed, but when I looked at Annie Hetty Gooding, it showed her as my 6th cousin 1x removed......WHAT??!!?  How was she related to me --- so did some checking and sure enough, she comes down from my Furzeland line!

Now the fun really began, as her Father, John Henry Gooding (son of John Rowcliffe Gooding and Elizabeth Ann Furzeland) turns out to be a habitual criminal!!!  He has a long history of forgery, and lots of documentation to read through!  And then he changed his name to Frank Hall, and goes on to marry again under that name and having a second family!  He's my 5th cousin 2x removed....

I'm still sorting through it all, but what a rogue!  

Levant Mine Cost Books -- Pendeen, Cornwall

 On a recent trip to Cornwall, I was able to visit Kresen Kernow (the County Archives) -- and do some research on my GG Grandfather Thomas White.

Thomas was killed in a mining accident in 1854 at the Levant Mine in Pendeen, Cornwall.  There are newspaper reports on his death, which provide fascinating (and gory) details.

On a previous visit to the Mine, one of the volunteers showed me copies of the Levant Mine paybooks, which showed my Thomas White being paid to take a load of ore from the Mine to the Quay at Penzance.

On this visit to Kresen Kernow, the Archivist let me look at 3 Cost Books they had from the time period 1849-1854.   It was incredible to be able to handle these 170 year old books!  The books were filled with familiar names, and I was able to find my GG Grandfather Thomas White, AND his Father Edward White (my GGG Grandfather) -- both were Tributers.   There were multiple entries for them, and I took hundreds of photos of the various pages/entries.   Now to sort them all out and add to the Family Tree -- it may be a long project!  

Cornish cousins

 Going back to my Cornish lines has been eye opening!  I did some of this research years ago, and was perhaps not as diligent as I should've been.  There are many common names, and it was too easy to just assume that John Oats married Jane Ellis, when in fact there are multiple Jane's he could've married. 

Just yesterday, I noticed a Julian Oats marrying a Paskow Greinfield/Grenfell.  I had Julian as a male, and Paskow as a female --- as did many online trees.  Well, that's WRONG!  Paskow is the male, and Julian is his wife.  This was confirmed via the OPC site (see below).   

So, I've gone back to doing multiple checks to verify I have the right couples, and subsequent children.  My process involves:

    Checking the OPC (online parish clerk) database - for baptism, marriage, burials

    Checking the British Newspaper Archive - birth, marriage, death announcements, and other articles

    Checking West Penwith Resources webpage -- they have Parish BMD's and other valuable info

    Checking online Ancestry Trees -- this can be very unreliable, but sometimes gives you a hint to further research on the above sites.

    Checking some Private databases I have access to (from Cornish Association of Victoria)

So, bottom line -- be diligent, don't just accept an online tree/hint, without documenting!

                                         52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 

                                  Week 1 - Foundations  -My Grandfather

This word can mean so many things – but when I think of it in relation to Genealogy – a few things come to mind: 

·       Foundation of your family

·       Research foundations

·       Founding Father or Ancestor

·       Foundation or cornerstone of your Family Tree – the “reason” you started researching

To me the fundamental foundation of my research, and the reason I got started on my Family Tree,  was my unusual surname. The one deceased ancestor I wished I could talk to was my paternal Grandfather, George Toulson.  

I never met my Toulson Grandfather, he died many years before I was born, but I was always curious as to our surname (which is rare in the USA) and why he emigrated from England. I was sure there was some deep dark mystery.

All I  knew was he came from a small village in rural Lincolnshire, England, emigrated in the early 1900’s, went to Iowa where he had an Uncle, was in Oklahoma at the time of the Land Rush, and ended up in California in the early 1910’s.

I started with the basics, and wrote to the Vicar in Fulbeck, asking for my Grandfather's baptism record. This was in 1976, so it was snail mail. Several months later a letter arrived with a typewritten listing of my Grandfather's baptism date, along with 4 siblings! SIBLINGS??? Who were these people? We had no idea he had any siblings, as he'd never spoken of his his family.

Turns out there was another Sister and 2 Half-Siblings born before his Mother married!

This became a new foundational pillar to my research, who were these Grand Aunts and Uncles, and did they have descendants??  

Over the ensuring years, I have uncovered more about the siblings - a Sister and Half-Sister died as infants, a Brother died in a tragic accident as a teenager, a Half-Brother was raised by Grandparents, another Brother died a bachelor, a Sister married a miner and moved to Nottingham, and finally the last Brother was a CHALLENGE. It took me until the 2000's to find his descendants - all because I made a class genealogy mistake. I discounted the possibility that this Brother would have relocated and moved away for work as a Farm Bailiff.   When I finally connected with a descendant of his and saw a photo of him, there was no doubt he was my Grandfather’s brother. 

A long and winding road, but I’ve now fleshed out all those lines – and the descendants had no idea anyone had ever left England, so were surprised to hear from an American relative!

Slowly and surely I feel I have a better idea of what his life was like and what an amazing journey from a small village in rural Lincolnshire to Ellis Island to Clinton, Iowa to Oklahoma and on to California. The story goes, he was headed to Australia next....but a little matter of a wife and a baby on the way got in the way of that!

So, I credit my Grandfather and his surname for my passion for genealogy.  And it turns out my Grandfather’s wife also plays a role in my genealogy interest – she died young, but her twin Sister lived to her 90’s in England.  She wrote us hundreds of letters in her lifetime, and when I asked about her family she drew out a rudimentary Family Tree, which had great details and traced the family back to Pendeen, Cornwall on the far southwestern tip of England.   This Cornish branch of my family has been a bonanza for research, with records going back to the 1550’s!  And the diaspora of the Cornish miners has led me to many cousins in Australia and New Zealand.  A fascinating branch of the family!

So those are my English foundations --- I could write a whole other blog on my Irish side of the family – and those foundations!  Maybe that will come in a later entry of #52ancestors.

RootsTech Connect

 After attending every RootsTech for the past 10 years, this year will be different!  Like every Conference in the past year, this one will be virtual.   While I'm happy so many new people from around the world will be able to participate, I will miss the crowds, comraderie, classes and vendors.  

And mostly, I will miss the opportunity to spend a few extra days in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  I have spent many a happy day and night trolling through microfilms, becoming lost in my family tree!

I've seen a preview of the RootsTech Connect platform, classes, key notes, etc and I think it will be great. I particularly like the idea that I can watch at my leisure, and dip into classes that I wouldn't have time to do if we were in person in Salt Lake City.  It's always a dilemma over which classes to go to, when there are multiple classes of interest at the same time.   

Things I won't miss:

    Queueing for a seat, queueing for a bathroom

    Enduring a room that is too cold, too hot, too stuffy, and too crowded

    Struggling to hear a presenter and enduring technical glitches

    Racing from one end of the Salt Palace to the other through huge slow moving crowds

    The cold Salt Lake City weather

Things I will miss:

    Meeting cousins and friends

    The Expo Hall and ability to chat with the experts

    The Family History Library

    The buzz of being around thousands of people who share my passion

    The complete immersion for days on end, totally focused on genealogy

    

I look forward to blogging about the positives/negatives of a virtual RootsTech after it's over. I have confidence that FamilySearch will do a great job of pulling it off -- and I hope that in the future we can have a hybrid model, with both in person and virtual options!

Pandemic Research!!!

 As the pandemic drones on and on, I've finally gotten my research groove back.  A year ago at the beginning of the pandemic, I couldn't focus and realized I was just trying to distract myself with research, and wasn't making any great headway due to my distraction.

Now, a year on -- I've reignited my research genes, and made some great discoveries.  I've gone back to some of my original research that I did via microfilm, before the internet even existed (sounds like the dark ages!).   New records have come online, and so I've added those and corrected some of my original suppositions with facts and records.

I've greatly expanded some of my Cornish lines -- particularly a branch that went to New Zealand and another to Montana.  I found ancestors on my Oats line via a DNA match names Atkinson, who's ancestor had married Elizabeth Sara Oats.  I had her in my tree, but she had "disappeared" -- and reappeared in New Zealand, where she and a brother emigrated.

The Montana connection is through my Davey line.  They emigrated to work in the mines, and then became ranchers.

I haven't spent that much time on my Irish side, but recently cleaned up some confusing NEE families. I had two Colman/Coleman John Nee's born the same year or so - one came to the USA (Pittsburgh) and one I'm not sure on.   Multiple online family trees have these 2 men mixed up, so trying to sort out through  original baptism/marriage records has been a challenge.

Ancestry's DNA hits, and Thru Lines have helped tremendously in unearthing some small matches that helped solidify research presumptions, and proved the connections. Sometimes just one connection this way has led to hundreds of new cousins. 

Coming back to this blog reminds me I need to document all these "new" findings, so that I can recall how I got there.  Reading back through my old blog entries reignites my interest in discoveries and documentation.  I like to set out my original assumption, why I thought this and then the records that helped to corroborate my idea or disproved my theory.  

DNA Hit equals a new Half 4th Great Uncle!!!

 I love it when a new random distant DNA match leads me on a spiraling journey deep into my tree. Today's new match led me to find a NEW very close ancestor, my half 4th Great Uncle!

Today's DNA hit had folks in New Zealand, so I realized it must be my Cornish line.  Something didn't seem quite right in the St Just in Penwith parents, so I did some digging in my files. The Geoff McKee file that documents all the St Just in Penwith families, showed an illegitemate son that I didn't have in my tree.

This child was born just after his Father's first wife died, and before he married again.  This son was baptized as Thomas Tonkin (his mother's maiden name), but his Father was James Oats -- and he used the name Thomas Oats after baptism.   

This Thomas married a Mary Davey, and their dau Elizabeth Sarah Oats b 1834, ended up emigrating to New Zealand (along with a brother) and marrying a William Francis Alexander.  Elizabeth Sarah Oats was my 1st cousin 4x removed. Thus a whole new line of ancestors to follow!  

DNA is really the only way to find some of these Cornish folks that "disappear" from England.  Their names are often very common, and so tracking down their connections is difficult unless you have a DNA match to prove things.  That's exactly the case here, where the DNA match between my Father, Sister, and 1st cousin all connect to this family -- which makes sense as it goes straight up my direct line to our 4th Great Grandfather James Oats.

The descendants of this Oats family really did scatter all across the globe, New Zealand, Australia, Montana, USA, Ireland, etc.

Of course, as with most of my Cornish family - there are intersections all over the place with marriages to other distant cousins up and down this line! Lots of work to do to merge them all together and sort out the descendants!

Connemara connections

 My Irish ancestry is 100% from the Connemara region of County Galway.  It is a beautiful, remote area of Ireland.  Genealogy research in this area has been challenging, but over time more records, resources and collaboration has improved things greatly.   Now there are several Facebook groups dedicated to specific areas, villages and families;  webpages dedicated to village's heritage, and of course lots of DNA research!

I am challenged by common names, inter-marriage, and the small gene pool in my research.  Oral history is important since records rarely exist before the Famine, with some exceptions.  We've collected family stories, hand written family trees, etc over time -- and have been able to cross reference to some records over time.

This week I was sent a hand written family tree done in Boston many years ago, by someone I hadn't corresponded with in 4 years!  This led me to the original source and more pages of the tree.  It is truly an amazing find, as it shows linkages and recent descendants that have emigrated to Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, etc.

These are the kinds of genealogy gold that make all your hard work worthwhile!  And they always just seem to drop out of the sky!  And usually they come in bunches -- I call it Genealogy Karma.  And as a matter of fact,  I did get some other leads on one of my families last week that needs further research.

So it's either feast or famine, lots of new info to work through and research, or nothing new for ages! In the era of COVID, I have a bit of extra time to work through these bits of genealogy karma!  Can't wait to put my head together with some cousins and sort through it all!

Toulson UK-USA connection at long last!

There is a branch of TOULSON's in Georgia, USA.  I dismissed them as not related to my branch from Lincolnshire, England a long time ago.  I wrongly assumed they were related to the Colonial Era Toulson's from Maryland/Virginia, that were related to a London branch of the TOULSON's.

About 2 years ago I had a very small DNA match to one of these Georgia TOULSON's, and upon investigation found that he also matched a few others on my direct line.  The only clue was his date of birth on some Civil War records, where he stated he was born in 1827 in England.  Because of the DNA match, I knew he was from Lincolnshire, but couldn't locate a baptism for him.

Today, I stumbled across a William Toulson baptised in Grantham, Lincolnshire in Dec 1831 to Elizabeth Toulson.  He was illegitemate, and her residence was listed as Little Gonerby.  This all aligns nicely with the DNA and my Family Tree.  This Elizabeth is a sister of my GG Grandfather Michael Toulson.  She was born in 1807 In Barkston, Lincolnshire, and my Michael was the next born in 1809.

It would make sense that in 1831 she would be working in Grantham probably as a 21 year old Servant.  Little Gonerby is a village near Grantham, very close to her birthplace of Barkston. Perhaps she didn't want to go home and have her illegitemate child baptized there.  In 1834 she married James Newton and went on to have 5 children.  There is a William Newton living with her family in 1841, which is clearly William Toulson. He's gone by 1851

UPDATE:  I found a William Toulson b England, a waiter, age 21 listed on a ship from Bremen to New York in 1854.   Not sure if he was working as a waiter or just travelling, but most passengers were Prussians.  The timing makes sense....

I can't believe that I've finally found all this documentation to tease this connection out! Very exciting!

Genealogical ADD - I can't focus!

Well, with lots of time on my hands, I have been working on the Family Tree during the COVID19 lockdown.  I don't know about you, but I find it very difficult to focus!  My attention jumps between social media, news updates, and email.  Committing to just working on the Family Tree and blocking everything else out, is really difficult.

I find myself jumping from family lines to family line.  I have a zillion tabs open, with several different Ancestry trees open -- so I won't forget who I was working on.  When I go back to a tab, I often can't  recall who I was searching or why I have someone's family tree open!  It's like Genealogical ADD.

I find myself either working on 8th cousins or looking at a direct line that I never fleshed out. I've also gone down the DNA rabbit hole, researching a new match's tree and then getting lost in a family that's not mine!

I'm not very good at doing a research plan, as I've been at this for so many years -- I'm generally adding to my tree, when new records or DNA hints point me in a new direction.  New record sets are generally easier to establish a research plan for, going chronologically or searching specific surnames.

Maybe keeping a better log of the lines I'm working on, and a to-do list will help!

A Good Genealogy Puzzle Solved

So with all the bad news of the world, I needed to try and distract myself. 

It all started when I saw a relatives name mentioned in a post on Facebook from Ireland.  This cousin has an unusual nickname "Mixie" -- which I assumed was Michael.   A cousin had mentioned him years ago and said he was related to us, but I could never make the connection -- as he was probably still living, and so wouldn't be in 1901 or 1911 Irish censuses, and his birth would likely be after 1920, so the records are restricted.

I'd tried some other posts to a local heritage site, but nothing. So when I saw the Facebook post, I added a comment saying I thought he was related and did anyone have any information on him. BINGO!  A local said, yes message me.

Thus started 2 days of messaging back and forth with her, and also another cousin. I was going down one or two lines, assuming that was the connection, but my cousin reminded me that she thought he came from the other side of the family!  When I checked my notes, I did have that "note", but I think I had discounted it because it didn't make sense to me.

Finally, through some use of unusual detective work, I found a headstone which helped me confirm the Mother of Mixie, and led me to his Grandmother (who is my GG Aunt).  She married twice, which caused some of the confusion, as her children were from the first husband, and her second husband had the same surname as her maiden name (they were probably cousins).

I feel like this was a pretty easy puzzle to solve, if only I'd paid attention to hints and not made an assumption that I stuck with. I needed to be open to looking at all sides of the family, and broadening my search.

I also went old school and sketched things out on paper to "see" what I was missing.

All my findings were confirmed when the local I contacted via Facebook checked with Mixie's daughter and she confirmed the names of her Grandparents. She didn't know any further up the line, but that part I already had in the tree.

It feels good to finally make the connection to "Mixie", as he's my 2nd cousin once removed.  And now I've added his children and grandchildren to my tree.

In these crazy times, this feels like a positive achievement!

When your lines inttersect.....unexpectedly!

Well, it was bound to happen........two lines of my ancestry intersected in a most unexpected way! 

I was searching the descendants of a JELLARD line from the South Hams of Devon.  The descendants went to Victoria, Australia..  While searching Agnes Paige Jellard (my 4th cousin 4x removed), I found that she married John Richard Tozer Potton.  Their son Earnest Walter Potton married Henrietta (Hetta) Elizabeth Trudgeon in the early 1900's in Victoria, Australia.

Well the name Trudgeon was familiar to me.....so I went searching and found her Father Richard Trudgeon was born in Sancreed Cornwall....and his parents were Gregory Trudgeon and Jane Trezise.

When I checked my Family Tree I found Jane Trezise -- she is my 3rd cousin 4x removed.  (Actually doubly related through both Rodda and Shetford lines)

So now I have my Devon and Cornwall lines connecting with:

Earnest William Potton (5th cousin 3x removed)   marrying
Henrietta "Hetta" Elizabeth Trudgeon (my 5th cousin 2x removed)

Of course, this has led me down the rabbit hole of tracing the Trudgeon, Bottrell and Shetford families of Cornwall --- when I was originally working on a Devon and Australia connection! Such is the life of a genealogist!

TOULSON DNA breakthrough!!!!

OMG......

For years I've been brick walled at about 1650 in Lincolnshire/Nottingham with my TOULSON family.  We've long suspected that possibly a TOULSON from the North (possibly Yorkshire) migrated down during the Civil War.   There are clusters of TOULSON's in Yorkshire, Durham, Cumbria, London, and Kent.  We suspect there is some connections, but have never been able to prove it.

Recently the new Ancestry DNA results from the Christmas sales have begun appearing, and I found a new match that goes back to Bridekirk, Cumbria  - where there is a well documented TOULSON/TOLSON family.  This got me to thinking that maybe I should check the alternative spelling in my DNA matches -- so I put in TOLSON in the search engine.  Why had I NEVER thought of this before????

What an amazing result, suddenly across all 4 kits that I manage for my immediate family, I had matches on the surname TOLSON, TOLESON and TOLLESON that all go back to Dewsbury in Yorkshire (as well as a few to Bridekirk, Cumbria).  There seems to be a definite connection from Dewsbury into South Carolina in the USA during Colonial times.

There are also multiple matches to TOLSON's in Northumberland County, Virginia.

This is hugely exciting, and I will be working with one of my cousins to continue sorting all of this new information out!

RootsTech 2020 4 Day Pass Giveaway

It's the 10th anniversary of RootsTech!!!  When people ask me what RootsTech is, I tell them it's the Super Bowl for genealogists!

 I cannot wait for February......wouldn't you like to attend also?

Well, as an Ambassador for RootsTech, I have the opportunity to give away a free pass to a lucky reader!  This is a 4 day pass, which is worth $299!  The pass gives you access to:

• over 300 classes
• Great Keynote speakers and General Sessions
• A massive Expo Hall packed with vendors, family history societies, and experts
• Evening entertainment events

RootsTech takes place Feb 26-29 at the Salt Palace in downtown Salt Lake City, just a block from the Family History Library.  So maybe you can come in early or stay afterwards for a little research at the Family History Library!

RootsTech is full of learning opportunities for genealogists, no matter what your level (hobbyist to espert!).  Between the classes, the vendors, the keynote speakers and entertainment it is an incredible experience!  And who knows, you could meet a cousin (I have!).

So if you'd love to attend, leave a comment here on my blog! I'll be choosing a winner on Dec. 16th!  

Moycullen......records into the 1700's!

Irish research is notriously hard before the Famine, but how about back into the later 1700's? Especially in the West, if you're a poor tenant farmer and Roman Catholic? Basically you have little to no hope.

Imagine my surprise then when I decided to revisit my GGG Grandparents, who were from the Moycullen area of Galway.  First I discovered there is a local census of the married men of the Parish, taken between 1793-1813!  Beyond that there are actual Catholic Parish records of BMD's back to 1775 or so! And there are Tithe Applotment records from 1827 or so. 

What an absolute bonanza of records!

I have some oral history that points at 3 different townlands within Moycullen, and some specific names (Morgan and Larry) that relate to my family -- so armed with those details and all those records, I've spent 2 days trolling through everything and putting my family together.  There are still many gaps, and some is supposition, but it's obvious I'm related to most of these folks in some fashion.

The offhand comment that a cousin told us back in 1999 that my Gt Grandfather Seamus Conneely was called "Larry", was something I never thought I'd figure out, but luckily I took down the note....and now can see that there are several Laurence Conneely's in Moycullen that are likely where his nickname came from.

Our Conneely's were also from "The Morgan Conneely's", and sure enough there are Morgan's in the family lines back to about 1765!

Note sure I'll sort out the Morgan, Laurence, Patrick, Roger, John and James Conneely's.....but these are my people!