Vol. 1 Issue 1 - 21
Okay, you’ve had your DNA tested. You’ve gotten your results, and
now you are ready to begin working on your family tree. You probably have an initial goal in mind, i.e.,
tracing back your father’s or mother’s surname. Or trying to connect to someone
that the family has always claimed they were related to.
Those are the reasons that I got my DNA tested, and began to work
on my family tree. As you might guess, my surname is not a common one, and I
had always heard that it had originated from a Viking raider that go left
behind in Wales and the names Norse morphed into the surname Nurse. The other goal was to see if I was related to
Rebecca Nurse, the only person to be burned at the stake for being a witch
during the Salem, Witch Trials in 1694. (You will have to wait for a future
issue to find out the results of those searches.)
I’ve learned a lot while tracing back my family surname. Little
things like, how quickly at tree grows. If you are just beginning your tree,
keep in mind that for each generation that you go back the list of surnames
doubles. There are actually people that have figured out the possible number of
surnames at each generation you go back. I don’t want to scare people away from
researching their family tree so I will only give you the number of possible
surnames if you can fill all of the spaces going back 10 generations. The
number is 1022. However, the odds of actually filling all 1022 of those slots
on your family tree are very high. Why, you might ask? The answer is fire and
war.
Most early records were kept by the churches, and if a church
caught fire, the records contained within were normally lost to the fire or
destroyed by water. War, during war there is little regard for the preservation
of records. During the four wars fought on American soil, many a community was
burned to the ground. The same holds true for records that were kept in Europe.
Again, fire and war, with the addition of arial bombardment during WWII
resulted in untold destruction of records.
I chose 10 generations because if you descend from the very early
British settlers of this country it will take you ten or more generations to
reach those settlers if you are a “Baby Boomer”. My tree begins to add limbs of America ancestors
with the arrival of, Stephen Hopkins, my maternal 11th
great-grandfather, on the Mayflower. A fact, that was a total surprise to me,
as I never met, or actually heard stories about my maternal ancestors beyond my
grandfather, whom my mother never forgave, and my grandmother who died of TB
when my mother was 12. In fact, I had always considered myself a first
generation American, as my father was born in Canada, and came to this country
when he was two. His father, my paternal grandfather was killed in WWI, and my
grandmother, who was born in Wales, remarried an American citizen and came to
America with him and her two young sons.
I guess that makes me a first generation American two different
way. Once as being the first generation born in America on my paternal side and
the other being a direct decedent of a first generation born to the original
settlers of this country.
I hope that you have enjoyed this first issue of my new blog. “The
Family I never Knew” My journey among my ancestors has been both fascinating
and illuminating. As I write this, I have in excess of 21,500 direct ancestors
that reside in my tree. A tree that stands 69 generations tall. Please feel
free to subscribe. I don’t have a set schedule in mind, so subscription is the
best way to ensure you don’t miss an issue or a story about one or more of the
amazing finds that I have made, and assume that I will continue to make as I
add the tree that houses “The Family I Never Knew”.
©September 15, 2021
Richard D. Nurse
All Rights Reserved
Any opinion
expressed in this blog are the sole opinions of the author, and do not
represent the opinions, beliefs or feelings of any organization or corporation
which may be associated, now or in the future with this blog.
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