Beauty is...

A family picture on someone's front steps.  The women have their pretty hair, their pretty frocks, their lipstick probably.

Does that make them beautiful?  I wonder...
I'm submitting this to Sepia Saturday this week.  There will probably be some other bloggers who are more successful at following the topic.



the men have sweaters, ties and my grandfather has a hat.  But the women don't have on hats.  And maybe one is holding a purse as if she's going somewhere.  But I don't think so.  I think they just came out in the cold just to take their picture to remember this event.  Maybe Christmas, maybe Thanksgiving.

The photo is cited in the album from the back row, from left to right is Chauncey, George (my father) unknown man (listed as Billy Seaman) and then in the hat, Poppy (George Rogers Sr.).
In the front on the left is my mother, then Zulie (Julie?) Winslow (Seaman) then "Aunt Jim" (a woman I don't know) then my grandmother Ada Rogers.

I am unable to find any interest in the prompt for Sepia Saturday this week...showing a woman getting her hair done and a manicure.  I haven't indulged in that kind of vanity much in my life.  Most of my hair exploits were done at home, and I've never had a manicure by someone else.  Not that I'm proud of that, just these are such frivolous ways for me to spend my time, energy or funds, that I just don't see the point.

There were some years when I used makeup daily on my face, changing with the current styles.  There were years I colored my hair, or curled it, and certainly would have it cut and styled occasionally in order to fit into a professional life.  But I became an artist in my 30's, and that was where my heart was...to make beauty that would be shared with other people.  So I, myself, wasn't the canvass that I chose to work upon.

Back to figuring out who is in the above picture.  My parents (before me obviously) and grandparents.  Chauncey is my father's brother.

The Zulie Winslow and Aunt Jim and Billie Seamans are related.  It looks as if Aunt Jim would be Zulie's daughter.  Why is she called Aunt Jim then?  And is she married to Billie Seamans?

My grandmother did have a sister, who was called Stella Winslow


Here are at least 2 of the same women, with my grandmother being in the middle, and supposedly her sister on the right side of the photo.  That leaves the brunette on the left, who is beginning to look more and more like a daughter of Stella, or at least a generation younger than the floral clad sisters.

OK, I'm going to take a stab.  The Zulie in both of these pictures is Stella's daughter.  And the guy in the back is probably her brother Billie Winslow.  He was definitely in my father's generation.

Zulie Winslow did marry a man named Francis Seamans, and their son Billy was born in 1937.  He wouldn't have been a man standing in the back row of this photo...so whoever named his uncle his name messed up. It's unlikely that it's Zulie's husband, Francis Seamans, because he was born in 1897, and the man in the back looks young as my father at least (born in 1915).

So who is Aunt Jim, aka the unamed woman next to my grandmother?  She's of the adult children age, born around 1910-1918.

OK let's just look at the Winslow home in the 1940 census, since that's probably within 5 years of this photo.  My parents married in 1936 and that looks like the coat my mother wore to be married in.

Head of household is 51 y.o. Stella Winslow.
Next entry is her son, William Winslow, age 22.
Next comes Francis Seamans, 43 y.o. son-in-law.
Next comes Zulie Winslow Seamans, daughter of Stella, age 29.
And finally is William Seamans, age 7/12, the grandson.

I may not know who Aunt Jim is yet, but the relationship of Zulie and her husband is clarified.  He's close to her age, but certainly not the young man in the back row of the picture.  It's got to be her brother, William Swasey Winslow, who was born in 1917, and married in 1945.  His wife would be Jane Hughes, who might be the woman in the front row.

The most shocking thing for me in looking at this picture, is that Stella Winslow wasn't part of the group.  She wasn't ever someone I met, but she lived until 1960, the year my grandfather died, in the same city also.  All those years I went to parties and stayed over at my grandparent's house, I never met my grandmother's sister.  I would think she would have been more likely to be named Aunt Jim, but she wasn't in that group at all.

Mysteries of families abound!

SOLVED: My cousin answered my quest.  She remembers her father, my father's younger brother, calling Aunt Jim as Stella Winslow, my grandmother's sister.  So those photos that have some names underneath aren't always to be trusted!  And now I know I had a great Aunt Jim (really Stella Zulieka Winslow!)  Added 9:00 pm, July 13, 2014.

Captain of what ships?

Captain Alexander Swasey sailed at least from Charleston, South Carolina, to New Orleans, LA, and then later to Cuba.

What ships did he sail?
I've already mentioned his brief stint as a Blockade runner on the Ella Warley.

That ship had actually been commisioned the Isabel, built in 1848 in Baltimore.  It was owned by Charleston businessmen. It was constructed specifically to serve the United States postal service, as well as coastal passenger trade, between the eastern United States and the Spanish colony of Cuba.

Since Swasey was captain of it when it was turned over the the Confederacy in 1861, until its capture by Union forces in April, 1862, I will try to see if Captain Swasey had command of it from 1848, or when he indeed did take over its sailing.

Here's a painting of the Ella Warley.



Here's a manifest from 1843, when he captained the Schooner Caluo from Charleston to New Orleans from April 6-28.

I don't have a picture of the Caluo, but here's a 3 masted schooner, the Regina Maris.

Schooners were developed in North America from the early 18th century, and came into extensive use in New England. The most common type of schooners, with two masts, were popular in trades that required speed and windward ability, such as slaving, privateering, and blockade running.

Essex, Massachusetts was the most significant shipbuilding center for schooners. By the 1850s, over 50 vessels a year were being launched from 15 shipyards and Essex became recognized worldwide as North America’s center for fishing schooner construction. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

This slave manifest for the same ship, June 6-29, 1843, is more disturbing for me to read.  These are women, the oldest being 50, and children from 4 years of age.  Incidentally the ship is now spelled Callao.

Captain Swasey was born on April 14, 1812 in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts.

If he became a sailor as a young man, or at least was involved in the shipping business (a family business probably) he would have been aware of all kinds of ships and boats.  By 1843, when he was 31, he was Captain of the Schooner Caluo (Callao).

When did he move south from Newburyport MA?  I don't know.  

In the census of 1840, he was living in St. Augustine FL, where his first daughter was born that year.  His next daughter was born the next year, also in FL.  Then the family didn't change size again until 1849 when another daughter was born in Florida. Then in 1853 their only son was born, Alexander John Swasey  in Charleston.  

So though Captain Swasey was working out of Charleston in 1843, his family life was in St. Augustine.  And that was before Florida became a state in 1845.  For some reason his family was back in Charleston by 1853.


Captain Swasey's home, 22 Savage St., Charleston, SC

I just discovered an Official records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865, where there's an A.G. Swasey with some kind of classification "II, 4"  as well as Alexander Swazey with "II, 8" following his name.  I wonder what that means?  This is on  page 495 of the microfilm, and original document page number 935.  So to find the key to meanings I'll have to do more research.


Captain Swasey's home? This is 1 Limehouse St, his place of death.

I have copies of innumerable Prisoner of War documents from the Civil War with Captain A.G. Swasey listed...with amounts of money.  I don't understand them, so will wait till I have someone to walk me though the meanings.

NOTE:  The documents show he was interred in Fort Warren, MA, a Federal prison. First entry I have found is Nov 11, 1863.





 

Joseph Perkins Pulsifer

Happy birthday Joseph Pulsifer, July 8, 1805!

As mentioned in my blog back on Dec 26, 2013, I have an interesting quote of a story about Joseph P. Pulsifer, (1805-1861)  I remember hearing how my grandmother did go to Beaumont for a court case having to do with the city of Beaumont Texas, and her relationship to the Pulsifer brothers.  (Her great-grandmother Lucy Pulsifer Granger was sister to Joseph and Ebenezer Pulsifer, surveyors and founders of Beaumont, TX)  She was listed on the court documents as being a living descendent of them.

First Courthouse in Beaumont, TX, completed in 1854. Built by John A. Beaumont

PULSIFER, JOSEPH PERKINS (1805–1861). Joseph P. Pulsifer, early Texas apothecary and a founder of Beaumont, the son of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Dwelbee) Pulsifer, was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on July 8, 1805. Little is known about Pulsifer's education, except that his letters show him to have been an extremely literate man. Probably through apprenticeship, he became an apothecary, and sometime after 1827 he opened a drugstore in partnership with his brother Eben in nearby Charlestown, now a suburb of Boston. There Pulsifer became a member of the Mechanics' Society and served as its secretary in 1831. Sometime during 1832 or 1833 he returned to Newburyport to work in the drug firm of Thomas Davis and Company. In the fall of 1833 Pulsifer moved to New Orleans in search of economic opportunity and found employment in the store of druggist and retail merchant Henry W. Millard . By 1835, however, the firm developed financial troubles. Pulsifer and Millard then entered into a partnership, J. P. Pulsifer and Company, with Texas merchant Thomas B. Huling . The men moved to Texas in July of that year. In a small settlement named Santa Anna, on the Neches River, they opened a store under Pulsifer's management. In the fall of 1835 the firm purchased fifty acres on the Neches River and laid out the boundaries of a new town, which they called Beaumont.

From Beaumont, Pulsifer took an active, if nonmilitary, part in the Texas Revolution . Citizens of the Neches River Settlement, as that area was called, appointed him chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, secretary of the Committee of Safety, and a member of a local committee to draft ideas for a constitution and bylaws for Texas. He also served as Beaumont's first postmaster and as a trustee of the first school. After the revolution Pulsifer, Huling, and Millard added fifty acres to the original Beaumont townsite. By entering into partnership with Nancy Tevis and Joseph Grigsby , each of whom donated an additional fifty acres, they increased the original area of the town to a total of 200 acres. Beaumont ultimately incorporated both Santa Anna and Tevis Bluff, an older settlement about a mile upriver from Santa Anna. Pulsifer, who never married, remained a citizen of Beaumont for the rest of his life. In addition to practicing his professions of storekeeper and apothecary, he served in various public offices: collector of revenue for the port of Sabine, county clerk, county commissioner, and clerk of the Jefferson County Board of Land Commissioners. Before the first Jefferson County Courthouse was built in 1854, the county commissioners periodically held court on the second floor of his combination home and store in Beaumont. He also served as an agent in Jefferson County for the Austin State Gazette . Pulsifer died in Beaumont in 1861. The one extant volume of his correspondence remains unpublished. It covers the period from 1833 to 1836 and describes his immigration to Texas and his ordeal during the Texas Revolution.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Judith Walker Linsley and Ellen Walker Rienstra, Beaumont: A Chronicle of Promise (Woodland Hills, California: Windsor, 1982).

This exact publication is copied into Texas History Online HERE. 

It also gives me the details of where Grigsby Bluff and Tevis Bluff are...which were sites of letters from my grandmother's great grandfather, George Granger, and her grandmother, Mary Granger Phillips.  I've transcribed some of those letters
letters,
grigsby-bluff-letter-dec-9-1861
before-war-started-1856-texas
old-letters-transcribed

 More on Beaumont TX history will be coming soon.

Artist birthday

Happy Birthday to artist Marc Chagall, born in Vitebsk, Russia (1887). He was one of nine kids in a family of modest means; his father worked for a salt herring factory, and his mother ran a shop. He wanted to be an artist, and he moved to St. Petersburg, where he failed his first entrance exams but eventually was accepted to art school. It was in Paris, surrounded by other artists, that he really began to develop his style. Though he was homesick and could not speak French, he later said, "My art needed Paris like a tree needs water." Chagall is known for bright and complex colors, and his fantastical images from Russian-Jewish folklore and his childhood: ghosts, livestock, weddings, fiddlers, scenes of his village Vitebsk, a couple floating in the sky, and fish.

Sorry, forgot to give you the source:

 Garrison Keilor's newsletter at http://info.americanpublicmediagroup.org/LP=56

Paintings from Wikipedia

A Swasey name

I found this post on a face book page, strangely enough in the name of HRH Prince Rob Justice.
I have corrected simple spelling mistakes, but none in any names of people or places.  And I've avoided trying to straighten out the weird punctuation that was used.  I did add a bunch of paragraph breaks so it's not one long unbroken tract.  I wonder if this is as good as it sounds!

THE ORIGIN OF THE SWASEY FAMILY IN ENGLAND 1700--late 1800's , England 

One of my most interesting pieces of research has been on the origin of the very unusual name of Swezey or Swasey, to give just 2 of the various spellings.; I shall use the form Swasey as the general form, since it most nearly follows the pronunciation of the name of the John who came over 1629-30. I shall also designate the generations by numbers from the immigrant, i.e; call the first John, John 1, his son John 2, & John's son; Joseph#3; In the Swasey Genealogy by Benjamin F. Swasey there is an item stating that "de Suavesey"; is mentioned in the Dooms Day Book; also the Priory of Swavesey as being given to the Abbey of St. Sergius St. Boeschius. 

Starting with this, I first located the modern village of Swavesey about 10 miles from Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, and in the Victorian History of Cambridgeshire, I found my village with the story that it had been given by William the Conqueror to a Count Allen who had given the church to the Abbey of St. Sergius & St. Bacchus at Angers in France.; An exciting find was in an article on Tokens; in Vol. l of the publications of the Cambridgeshire Antiquarian Society when, in the 15th century, the Village was called Swasey.

 It seems that for over a hundred years in the fifteenth and part of the sixteenth centuries the village name was Swasey.& In fact, when I was there in 1959, the rector of the old church showed me the large communion cup which was engraved Swasey. Next, I began to search early English records for items on the village its inhabitants: I found a great variety of spellings, in 940 Swaefesheale, 1066 Swauesham, 1080 Swausey ; Swausheda, Swaueseia in 1155, Swaveshide in 1203, Swaveseye in 1265 etc, At this point, I realized that I needed to consult a philologist to explain all these different names of the Village. 

I was fortunate in being referred to a Mr. Mathews, an Englishman teaching a year at U.C.L.A.; He took my list in a few moments explained that the names all meant the same thing. Ham meant farm; hede, hidi, hith etc. all referred to a landing place, as in a Marsh of fen, which this area was at the time. All the endings were Anglo-Saxon ; the original form was Swaefes landing, meaning the place where the Swaefes or Swabians landed, Undoubtedly, the Anglo-Saxon form was normanized to Swaveseye, as it appears in the time of William the Conqueror. I have had considerable Correspondence with Mr. P.H. Reaney who is the authority on British names, he tells me that Swavesey is the only parish in England where our name could have originated.; 

 Having settled this, the next problem was to trace the name of the John Swasie, who came to New England 1629/30. I found no Swaseys in Cambrideshire as late as the 16th century.; There were a few references to the name in neighboring counties earlier, but none as late as 1629/30. A search of the records in practically all of the counties of England finally led to a real find in Bridport, Dorsetshire, St. Mary's Parish Registers mentioned the Swasey name with various spellings 24 times between 1605 1638; The Country Archivist at Dorchester furnished 7 more items from 1576 to 1744, Also, in a Parliamentary Return of 1786, there was listed as part of a charity granted earlier to the Netherby Parish (near Bridgeport), an Estate called Swayses.; By 1790, apparently there were no Swaseys left in Bridport, as none are recorded in the Land Tax list of that year.

 A check of London records produced eleven Swasey items from 1677 to 1839, all of these later than the date our John left England. The London telephone directory in 1959 listed 3 Swaseys. I called one of them; the others were a sister and a son.; He was interested, but had no information on the family, except that he believed that they came from Swavesey. Going through old directories, I found a William Sweasey, Stationer, in Postsmouth, Hampshire.  I wrote to him & received an answer from his grandson, saying his grandfather was not living, that they were very much interested in the line, and believed that Swavesey was the place where the family began. More of these Portsmouth Sweaseys later. 

My conclusion as to where John Swasi & his 2 sons, Joseph & John, lived is that it was Bridport. A Christopher Swasi was there in 1576, for 2 hundred years, there were Swaseys in Bridport. Some of them were Quakers, as was our immigrant ancestor. The Rev. John White of Holy Trinity Church in Dorchester was a leader in supporting the movement to the New World & was responsible for sending several ship loads of Puritans from Dorsetshire & neighboring counties. The King Family, whose, daughter Katherine married John 2, sailed from Weymouth, Dorsetshire. That the baptism records of Joseph & John do not appear in the St. Mary's Register might well be explained by the fact that this was a Quaker Family.; 

We still need to connect the Bridport Swaseys with Swavesey. This brings us to the question of when did the name become established as a surname.; For instance in early records John de Swaveseye would mean a man named John, ;who lived in Swaveseye. Mr. Reaney told me that many surnames became fixed in the 13th century, but until you found 2 or 3 generations with the name, you could not be sure you had a surname. In records concerning the Manor of Brokdyschall in Norfolk from 1474 to 1494, I found John Swansey (Swausey) & Richard Swausey, evidently a father & son. This Richard was living in Hertfordshire in 1489 & 1490. Hertfordshire is just north of London & County Norfolk adjoins Cambridgeshire on the northeast. So, by 1494, we have the surname established & on its way to London & to Dorsetshire, where we find Christopher in 1576. 

This leaves a gap of less than a hundred years between Richard in 1494 & Christopher in 1576. We may never find the connecting names, but we have established the place where the name originated & the place from which our immigrant ancestors came. Let us hope that more research will bridge this gap someday. 

Now going back to the Portsmouth Sweaseys. The family was a wholesale stationary business, now in the hands of Charles Sweasey, who is the 3rd generation. Daughter Madeline son James both work in the business. I spent a delightful weekend in their home last summer & loved them all, the mother Stella, and a dear old gentleman, the grandfather, Arthur Sweasey, nearly 90. Madeline is doing some careful work on on their ancestors & has carried the line back to an ancestor married in London in 1746. She will continue with this work, and has already tied in the London Sweaseys as well as a few other cousins. I am hoping she will some day be able to connect the London & Bridport Sweaseys. 

She went with me to see Mr. Reaney in Kent, where we talked over some of the name problems of the early Swaveseys, & she is competent to carry on this research too. I must tell you an interesting bit, Jim wrote me recently of a Warner, Swasey & Asquith firm in Hull, England, a subsidiary of our Cleveland firm, Warner & Swasey. Enough for the Swasey line. 

A Report on the Ancestry of the Swasey,& Swezey Wives:; The Swasey Genealogy gives us Katherine King, wife of John 2 and we have the list of her family from a ship record. I have succeeded in locating them in Somersetshire, a county adjoining Dorsetshire. We have the wife of Joseph 3, Mary Betts, with the names of her parents, Richard & Joanna. The Genealogy says they are from Hemel, Hempstead in Hertfordshire. Another record I have seen gives Richard as coming from Suffolk County. Here is another job for the genealogist. Then comes the wife of Stephen #4, Elizabeth Young. She was the daughter of Benjamin, granddaughter of the Rev. Christopher Young, minister of St. Edmunds in Southwold, Suffolk, England. John was the minister at St. Margarets in nearby Reyden. Both of these churches were of great antiquity & belonged to the same living. In 1956, I visited them both. I believe the family was originally from Suffolk, I noted on the family sheet that Joanna was a family name.

Christopher's grave is just outside the church wall at St. Edmunds & inside is a tablet that tells that John went to America. This was in 1637-1640, he founded the Church at Southhold on Long Island. The Southold church has always considered itself an offspring of the Southold church & there has been an interesting relationship between the 2 churches. There is a Younge family history by Selah Younge, who gives the family an interesting Welsh desscent, which he carries back to the time of William the Conqueror, I have not checked the sources, so cannot vouch for the line. Then comes Christopher Swezey#5 whose wife is not given in the Genealogy, however, I have found the marriage record of Christopher & Juleana Davis, but have not been able to locate her parents.

Now we come to Daniel Swezey #6, (ancestor of all of us here). His wife, Sarah Beal is given in the Genealogy as the daughter of a celebrated music teacher from the state of Connecticut. I have found her Beal line, Mathew #3, her father George 2 & George l. This George came ca. 1726, probably from Kent, England. In the state library at Hartford, Conn., I found the will of George 1, & many records that placed all his descendants. Then in Stiles History of Ancient Windsor, I found several church items, one in 1727 about the rule of singing taught by Mr. Beall, another where a church voted to hire Mr. Beal or Mr. Wilson to teach us to sing, an item in 1767, where George Beal & his son Mathew are teaching the congregation to sing, another item in 1771 to introduce singing by rule, from these items & others, it is apparent that Mathew, the father of our Sarah Beal, and his Father George both taught congregational singing in several Connecticut churches. I have not been able to find names of their wives, George l came with grown sons & probably George 2 was married in England. 

There is a 1742 record of a second marriage for George l. More research is needed to find Mathew's wife, the mother of our Sarah, also a search in Kent, England, where there are many Beals, may some day locate George 1 & his sons. My discovery of the ancestral lines of Susannah Staples, first wife of the Rev. Samuel 7 Swezey, fourth son of Daniel, was perhaps the most exciting breakthrough I ever had. I won't take your time to tell you of this except to say that I have been able to trace all her lines back to colonial times. At present I am working on the ancestry of Rachel Cook, wife of my grandfather Lewis Swezey, who went to Illinois in 1839. Her fathers name was John Cook & my problem there is to trace the right John Cook. When you are tracing ancestors you can be thankful for an unusual name like Swezey.

Minnie Swezey Elmendorf---July 1966

 posted on FB in 2012 at Hrh Prince Rob Justice page.

Frederick Andrew Williams

Here's the person that I found most interesting.
Some people put parents on his tree in their ancestry DOT com listings.

I'm not certain who his mother was, and apparently his father had an interesting name, Shadrach Williams (1730-1810).  Many of the trees agree his mother was named Sarah, but where she came from could be New York or Wales.  Apparently some of the ancestry family tree creators are debating how Sarah in Wales was not only born there, married Shadrach Williams, and died in Wales.  I don't think they had a son born in Orangeburg County, South Carolina.  So I'm voting that the Shadrach Williams who was his father was someone closer to home.

But how could he have married a woman from New York when he was born in Richmond, VA in 1730.  Somehow we've got Sarah's birth and death dates (1749-1811).

Then I started checking the innumerable children, many of whom were listed twice, with a year different in birth or death, or no dates at all.  The first scarey birth listed was in 1750, a John Franklin Williams.  So when his mother was 1 year old, she gave birth in Orangeburg County SC.  Mmmm, not so much, I think.

I deleted three siblings born before Frederick, who was born when she was just 15 as it is.  Or perhaps this isn't the correct birth date for their mother.  I probably won't be able to ferret that out, because women just didn't get lots of paper referring to their lives in the colonies back then.

Well, the records are confusing, and I'm just curious enough to add the names Shadrach and Sarah Williams to Frederick's tree.

Frederick married Cassandra Elizabeth Tate (1765-1851) in 1785 in South Carolina.  Sounds believable.

They moved to Kentucky by the birth of son Richard in 1792, and were on the census of 1810 in Somerset, Pulaski County.

Frederick was in the militia from Kentucky in the War of 1812..though he was 48 at the time it began. His Company was the 14 REG'T (MITCHISSON'S) KENTUCKY MILITIA. Rank - Induction: PRIVATE Rank - Discharge: PRIVATE Roll Box: 227 Microfilm Publication: M602.

Frederick's second child, first son, was Richard  Frederick Williams.  The Frederick and Cassandra Williams family had many children, but I kind of doubt the last was born when she was 60.  Honestly!  I just want to kick something.  There's a real person, who was sweetly named Cassandra "Suzie" Williams, born in 1825.  I'm pretty sure she wasn't the daughter of Cassandra born in 1865.  So she belongs to another family named Williams, and perhaps was named after our Cassandra.

So that's been the fun and games that I've played this evening.

The real stories got confused as people were pouring over the mountains into Kentucky and Tennessee.  When people got things written in details, like the census records that say children's names and birthdates, it's a lot easier to get things straight.

Dead Ends on the tree...not

These are branches that don't go back any further.  They obviously are not dead ends literally.

I just don't know parents of these people, so this is where this line stops, for now.

My mother's family goes back a few generations for each of the member, except her grandfather Charles Herman Mueller (1868-1946) from Germany.  I've never found his parents.

My mother's father's father's parents are another stopping place.  Samuel James Webb  b. 28 January 1827 in Vienna, Dorchester, Maryland, d. 15 AUG 1877 in Clinton, Dewitt, Texas, and Ellen Ann Delamater Webb, b. 25 Jan 1842 in New York, d. 15 Jul 1876 in Clinton, Dewitt, Texas.

 
And my mother's father's mother's mother, Dorcas White Williams has no parents listed so far.  Her life was from 13 Dec 1825 in Kentucky, to 21 NOV 1900 in Weesatche, Goliad, Texas.  Doras' husband William T. Williams has several generations on both sides going back to Frederick Williams, b. 13 Feb 1764 in Orangeburg, Orangeburg, South Carolina, d. 18 Nov 1831 in McMinn, Tennessee.

And now I must diverge off this path I set for myself.  Of the hundred or so ancestors who have shorter branches, this gentleman has a lot of data which I haven't downloaded yet to my tree.  War of 1812 and so on.  So I'll leave you here as I go delving into a life that has lots of records attached to it.

If the people who lived without a lot of paper only knew.  I honor them that they lived on this earth, loved with passions unknown to me, and left me some of their DNA to carry forward to other generations in the future. 

 

Let's go Dutch

I've been doing lots of fun things in genealogy lately.  Yesterday I proved my great grandmother's maiden name started with a "Z" rather than a "T" which opened up a whole new world.  Now I want to figure out where people named Zylstra might have originated.

She married a Swasey, lived in Charleston, SC, and her mother came from England.  Perhaps her mother had originated somewhere else and gave that as her origin to the census taker.  There aren't any birth records for Mrs. Charlotta Zylstra nor any note (yet) of who her husband was.

Holland seems to be the first choice on Ancestry, with a few people immigrating to the US from Germany of that name.

And the meaning for Zylstra that Ancestry DOT com gives is...Frisian: topographic name for someone who lived by a sluice, from an agent noun based on zijl ‘sluice’, ‘pump’. Compare Van Zyl.

Another source speaks about Dutch surnames...

From about 1812 through 1826, the Dutch were first required to choose surnames. This event is called the "naamsaanneming". It was ordered by Napoleon who occupied the country at that time and was trying to take a census. These surnames would later come in handy for legal purposes such as inheritance. Prior to the introduction of surnames, the Dutch used a system of patronymics - the surname of the child reflected the first name of the father - similar to the system used in the Scandinavian countries. Jan's son Willem would be known as Willem Jans/Jansz/Janszoon or something similar. Jan's daughter Grietje would use the surname Jans or Jansdr.

Unfortunately some Dutch citizens did not take this name choosing seriously, thinking it was just a passing fancy, and selected names such as De Keyser (The Emperor), Lanckpoop (long poop) and Zondervan (without a surname). To this day these names are still in use.

Other Dutch naming customs took a physical attribute of the person or surroundings, a trade, a title or even an animal as the surname. Examples are de Jong (the young), van Dyke (of or living near a dyke), Meijer/Meyer, meaning bailiff or steward and Vos, meaning fox. Towns and physical features were also source of names. The words "van der", "aan het" and "de" that are part of many Dutch names are called tussenvoegsels. Although they are officially part of the name they are not included in searches. If the surname is van den Berg, then Berg is the important part of the surname that should be entered in the search criteria on Dutch websites. In the United States, the same name might be entered as one, two or three separate words. It should also be noted that the letter combination "ij" is changed to "y" in many Dutch names. One other useful tidbit about the Dutch is that the women retain their maiden names on most records. This makes it much easier to find their families as well.

Except for the colonial period of exploration and trade that lasted from the early 1600s through 1664 when New Netherland (New York) was sold to England, Dutch families did not appear to move around very much until the mid -1800s. That first early migration during the 1600s resulted in a large Dutch population living on the east coast of the United States, especially along the Hudson River, New York City, northern New Jersey and Lewes, Delaware. Dutch immigration to the United States prior to 1845 averaged about 200 people per year. After 1845 that number increased rapidly due to a potato famine, high unemployment and division in the Reformed Church. The major destinations for the Dutch were the New York/New Jersey area; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Holland, Michigan; and Pella, Iowa.  A large number of these immigrants came from the rural provinces and were farmers.  (Source: http://www.archives.com/genealogy/family-heritage-dutch.html)

And more information is here...

This surname of ZYLSTRA was a Dutch topographic name for someone who lived by a patch of stagnant water, i.e. a lake or canal. The name is also spelt ZIJLSTRA, VAN DER ZYL, VAN ZIJL and ZYLMAN. Habitation names were originally acquired by the original bearer of the name, who, having lived by, at or near a place, would then take that name as a form of identification for himself and his family. When people lived close to the soil as they did in the Middle Ages, they were acutely conscious of every local variation in landscape and countryside. Every field or plot of land was identified in normal conversation by a descriptive term. If a man lived on or near a hill or mountain, or by a river or stream, forests and trees, he might receive the word as a family name. Almost every town, city or village in early times, has served to name many families. The Dutch language is most closely related to Low German, and its surnames have been influenced both by German and French naming practices. The preposition 'van' is found especially with habitation names, and the 'de' mainly with nicknames. Compared to other countries, Dutch heraldry is notably simpler, some of the shields bearing only a single charge. Generally speaking one helmet, one shield and one crest has been used, quartering is uncommon and mottoes are rare.

Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God. However much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. Among the humbler classes of European society, and especially among illiterate people, individuals were willing to accept the mistakes of officials, clerks and priests as officially bestowing a new version of their surname, just as they had meekly accepted the surname they had been born with. In North America, the linguistic problems confronting immigration officials at Ellis Island in the 19th century were legendary as a prolific source of Anglicization.   (Source: http://www.4crests.com/zylstra-coat-of-arms.html)

Welcome to my entry to Sepia Saturday this week. 

I know I don't have any shots of men with pipes, nor shaking hands, nor wearing funny hats, nor boys sitting on walls overlooking the whole shebang.

We have 3 children born of Charlotta Zylstra, in Charleston, SC.  She and 2 of her grown children had moved to St. Augustine, FL by 1850.  Actually her son, Peter was appointed the Postmaster there in 1840. 

1850 St. Augustine FL Census

Her daughter had married Captain Alexander Swasey, who also called Charleston his home.  He did have residency in St. Augustine, Florida territory, in the 1840 census however. 

For now I'm settling into knowing a part of my ancestry is probably Dutch, and still to be explored, if possible.  And Captain Swasey married the daughter of an immigrant who was listed when she was around 65 as being from England.  

The "Z" problem

Penmanship.  Do you remember how to write the "Z" character?
Not many apparently can read it on an 1850 census of St. Augustine FL.

So my grandmother's grandmother has been listed as a Tylstra.  And since the man actually doing the census taking was Geroge J. Zehnbauer, from Germany, and signed his name at the top of each sheet...it's clear his last name doesn't begin with a "T"...thus demonstrating his "Z" prowess.

He lists his occupation as Deputy, US Marshall, though he was taking the census on October 14, 1850.  So my ancestors have been listed as Tylstra all this time.  And that elusive "Z" is what they've missed.

Anna Zylstra Swasey was my great great grandmother and not much is known about her life.

Anna's brother Peter C. Zylstra was the Post Master of St. Austine, FL (since 1840).  He and his wife were born in South Carolina, and they list 3 children on the 1850 census.

Next door is his mother, Charlotta (or Charlotte) Zylstra, age 58, with her daughter Anna J. Sweesy (32) and her children, Elisabetha D. Sweesy (10), Anna M. (7) and Caroline C (4) and Miriam (1).  My granmother's grandfather Alexander John Swasey wouldn't be born until 1853 in Charlotte, SC.

No husband is listed with Anna J. Sweesy, but we already know that Alexander Swasey, Jr was Captain of various ships... so might be living aboard his ship most of the time (I think).  Or maybe his wife was in St. Augustine for another reason.  He could well still have had his home in Charlotte, SC.  He did however have 4 children to support in St. Augustine, I would think.

Does this have anything to do with the impending Civil War?  I really don't know.  However, before Captain Alexander Swasey became a blockade runner for the Confederacy, he transported slaves from one port to another on his ships.  There are slave manifests that he signed as records for 8 slaves transported from Charleston to New Orleans in 1843.  Another person was the owner of these people, according to these records.

Now go back a few years to consider Florida history.  Peter Zylstra (postmaster, remember, 1840-50 at least) had fought 3 months in the Florida Indian Wars, 1836-37, in Weedon's Company B.  I've seen the records of this.  Florida was a US territory as of 1819, and Andrew Jackson wanted the Seminole Indians relocated out west (along with all the southeastern tribes).  The Seminoles had also previously harbored runaway slaves.

I don't know where Peter Zylstra actually fought the Indians, but as of 1838 Oseola had been captured and died...a well known Seminole chief. 

Floridians wrote their constitution in 1839, but didn't gain congressional approval because it was wanting to be a slave state.  By the time Iowa wanted to be a free state, both Florida and Iowa were admitted as states in 1845, thus keeping a balance of power in the legislature.

So the census of 1850 in St. Augustine was the first time Florida participated as a state.

Now the T vs Z problem actually continued in my own family records.  There's a copy of Alexander John Swasey's death certificate from 1913 with data given by his nephew, Chauncey Sweet.  And Mr. Swasey's mother is listed as "Female Tilstra" but it's a bit confusing because it's spelled Famile Tilstra, supposedly born in Tallahassee FL.  (I still only have the 1850 census from St. Augustine to rely upon for South Carolina as being her birthplace around 1815).  I don't know when or where Mrs. Alexander John Swasey died yet.

But I've made so much progress this evening I can go to my bedtime book with a sense of satisfaction.

I've got Zylstra blood in my veins!  Ah ha!
Where might it hail from originally?  There are a lot of Zylstra's from Holland that settled later in Michigan.  Maybe Dutch?

Oh, another fun fact, Peter C. Zylstra left being postmaster and returned to Charlotte where he became a "pattern maker."  I thought of tailors and seamstresses.  But I have no idea if that was his profession. However, either he had a son he named the same, or he lived over 100 years, according to the city directories that he is listed in.

Corporations are NOT people!

In case you also were dismayed about the Supreme Court decision Monday...and can get to Black Mountain, NC.


Learn about the nationwide campaign to amend the Constitution to return corporations to their earlier state when they were not given the rights of citizens, when money wasn’t speech and Congress could regulate money in politics.

Where: Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 500 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain, NC

When: Thursday, July 3rd “Legalize Democracy”
            Thursday, Aug 7th “The Story of Citizens United v FEC”

Doors Open at 6:30 PM, Event at 7:00, Q&A Session at 8:00
Sponsored by Move to Amend, Buncombe County, and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley - Social Action

Last year I attended a talk by David Cobb, a former Presidential Candidate for the Green Party.  Here are a bunch of ammature photos of the Time Line about corporate history in the US> 
http://blackmtnbarb.blogspot.com/2013/07/move-to-amend-us-constitution.html

Happy Birthday Doug Heym

Many years ago I was married to Doug. And many years ago we divorced.

I'm so fortunate to have 2 sons with Doug as their father.  They are super men, and a lot of their character was molded by their father.  They lived with me as a single mom for a few years, then with their father and a step mom for a few years...then were grown up. 

Doug is now married again.  He's celebrating his 75th birthday today.

Doug has always been a really nice guy, with high intelligence, a weird sense of humor, and a caring streak that's deep and wide.

May you have many more happy birthdays, Doug!

What I've been reading

Summer days sometimes are hot, or rainy.  Good times for opening a good book.

I enjoyed "Big Stone Gap," by Adriana Trigiani, which was intriguing because 1. Wendy Welch speaks about it in her book, "Little Book Store in Big Stone Gap," and 2. it's being made into a movie, and 3. I've been there.  Thanks to friend Helen Bell who took a day trip with me to Wendy's store, where we had delicious food in the Second Story Cafe' and I sold my pottery!

Look who's in that movie!  Don't know when it's coming out, and I couldn't find a trailer for it.

I did laugh out loud a few times reading the book, which has some great plot twists, but still is somewhat predictable.  Now I just noticed (sorry, late to the table) there's a trilogy.  Since I did fall in love with the characters, I'll be looking for the others.

I also spent a few nights up later than intended reading "A Short Time to Stay Here," by Terry Roberts.  It's set in nearby Hot Springs, NC, and some of the events and settings in which the novel occurs are real, and/or actually happened, like turning a resort hotel into a concentration camp for Germans during WW I.  I am one of the few people who I know in Black Mountain who haven't ever been to Hot Springs.  I liked that the protagonist was not totally upright and had understandable character flaws.  I found the romance somewhat unusual, but because the author wrote in first person, I only felt that the male half was portrayed realistically.  The woman seemed to have some great ideas, but was just never as understandable or passionate as the male.  She could have been a heroine that I would have loved.  I was struck by finding Vicki Lane, a fellow blogger, thanked in the acknowledgements.  (Yes I'm one of those people who look at acknowledgements in books.)

Now I'm about to start reading "I Am Malala" by Malala Yousafzai, the girl who stood up for education for girls and was shot by the Taliban.  I'm aware of her story, and looking forward to learning more about a modern day heroine!

Jerry Pope, a friend, has written a new book "The Elvis Tooth."  Can't wait to put it on my bedside table.  And Shelly Frome has so many books, I don't know where to start.  At the library because my budget doesn't have a book fund at this point.

VW van-fans!

What a beauty?  I never see them on the highway, but they are frequent visitors to our mountain town, parked along the places tourists like to see. 

I had to take a picture of this one for Tim...who was waxing poetic about one he once owned, and thinking he'd call they guy he sold it to and maybe get it back.  Right!

The Rogers tree

When you don't really know a thing about where they lived, but their birth and death dates, and names which are spelled anywhich way, looking at a list of names is not all that exciting.

One of the first things I do is check how old mom would have been when she had the next baby in line.  Has to be within certain ages or I figure it's just not likely, right?

And women who had 17 babies were rare, as well as outliving everyone in the family.  I get my eyebrows raised about then.

So the other day I gave you the earliest Rogers ancestor that I know of (from those family records that are free and public.)  The next generation ends up with knighthood, and several documents that may (or may not) be historically accurate.


John Fitz Roger, 1335 – 1386 married Dame Elizabeth deFurneaux, Birth 1329 in Stringham, Sommerset, England, Death 1386 in Abbey, Somerset, England

Their son was Sir John Fitz Rogers, Birth 1386 in Ashington, Somerset, England, Death 4 Oct 1441 in Bryanston, Dorset, England

The Ancestry people (well, other Rogers trees) say several things about Sir John.

Sir John Fitz Roger, the second generation, was born 1386-7. He married Agnes de Mercaunt of Seamer, Suffolk Co. in 1406 when he was just past the age of 19. He was the manager of the vast Furneaux estates and bought 'Benham-Valence' and other properties in Berkshire and Dorset. He received a Knighthood through recognition of military service performed. He was one of the wealthiest people in his section of England. He and Agnes had two sons, John and Thomas. He died 4 October 1441 at his home at Bryanstone. He is buried at St. Martin's Church there. His will was dated 21 September and proved 10 November 1441 and it was at this time the 'Fitz' to the Roger name was dropped and ultimately a terminal 's' added.  (Source:  Rousseau Rogers Family Tree, 2007)

He has a crest of course.

============================
More information:

Rogers Family 

  ROGERS ARMS: Argent, a chevron between three stags sable, attired or. 

CREST: A stag trippant sable, bezantee, ducally gorged and attired or. 

MOTTO: Nil conscire sibi  - To have a conscience free from guilt

Source of the following is:

 History of MF Planters by L.C. Hills: 

The Rogers Family: 

Sir Tancred de Hautville, born c970. died aft 1058, a nobleman of Hautville near Cautauces, Normandy, m. firstly c992 Moriella; m. secondly c1013 Fredistand. There among their sons were Robert, Roger and William.  Robert "Guiscard" born 1015, became a great General, commanding Norman troops in Italy, and was created Duke of Apulia 1059; King of Naples and had other honors, and died in 1085.  His brother Roger became Grand Count Roger I 1089-1102 of Sicily. He was born 1030 and died in 1101/2. Duke Robert and his brother Grand Count Roger were largely responsible for the Norman conquest of Sicily, and the FitzRoger name in South West England is said to have arose from descendants of these brothers. Religious upheaval in Sicily forced Aaron Fitz Rogers, a merchant of Rome, to flee to London where he engaged in business. The Rogers Family were given the right to bear the coat of arms accredited to Grand Count Roger I of Sicily. Aaron Rogers was born in Italy c1260/70. 

1.  Aaron FitzRoger born c1265 of Rome, Italy; died c1330 London, Middlesex, England.  The family business was merchandising after settling in Kent, Gloucestershire and Somersetshire.  

2. John FitzRoger b. 1335 m. Elizabeth de Furneaux b. 1330 son and heir of Sir Symon de Furneaux of Ashington, and other manors in Somersetshire and Devonshire and Alice de Umfraville, widow of Sir John Blount, Constable of the Tower of London.  John FitzRoger was her second husbland.  John was their only son and heir.  John gained great wealth by marrying Elizabeth. With John FitzRoger she was co-founder of 'Rogers House' of South West England.  Sir Symon's only surviving child, and sole heiress, was his daughter, Elizabeth de Furneaux b. c1334. She m. 1351, Sir Blount, Knight and a Constable of the Tower, by whom she (had?) Alice later that year in 1351. Sir  Blount d. 1358, leaving an attractive and wealthy widow, who inherited many large estates.

The Furneaux's were from France, near Coutances, Normandy, the same area as the Sicilian Rogers family.  Odo de Furneaux, b. c1040 in Normandy came to England with William the Conqueror. and his son Sir Alan de Furneaux was born c1075 in Normandy, but settled in Devon and received from King Henry I, a manor house and land near Honiton, Devon. He had four sons: Sir Alan Furneaux, a Justiciary, 1165; Philip Furneaux; William Furneaux, and the eldest, his son and heir Sir Geoffrey Furneaux b. c1117-22.  Sir Geoffrey was appointed Sheriff of Devon.  He was a very influential man; was knighted and married late - about 1155 and had four sons - Geoffrey Furneaux, b. c1158; Sir Robert Furneaux, b. c1160, Sir Alan Furneaux , b. c1162 and his eldest son and heir -Sir Henry Furneaux (b. c1156. He also became Sheriff of Devon. He married, c1180, Johanna, daughter of Robert Fitz William, who brought to her husband the manor of Ashington in Somerset. Having by right of his wife become Lord of the manors in Somerset, he ultimately settled there; and had a least one son, Henry Furneaux, b. c1181-1214. The eldest sons, in the next two generations were called Matthew Furneaux I and Matthew Furneaux II, b. c1220, was a Sheriff of Devon under King Edward I (1276). Matthew II was b. c1245 and, c1270, married Matilda (or Maud), d/o Sir Warren deRaleigh of 'Nettlecombe' in Somerset. Sir Walter Raleigh, becoming famous two centuries later, descended from this Raleigh family. Matthew Furneaux II also had a son, Sir Matthew Furneaux III, ancestor of Thomas Rogers but not the eldest son in this generation, Lord of Ashington, his principal residence, he was knighted then summoned in 1295 into military service against the Welsh, and in 1296-98 and 1300 against the Scots. He was Sheriff of Somerset, Dorset & Devon variously and from 1304-1316, the year of his death. In 1312 he had custody of Devon and the King's Castle of Exeter; and in 1315 was custodian of the counties of Somerset & Dorset, and the Castle of Shireborn. He was a prominent member of the Furneaux family. His son and heir was Sir Symon de Furneaux, b. c1271. Symon married Alice, daughter of Sir Henry de Umfraville of Penarth Point in Glamorgan Wales, and was a principal landowner of his county. He died without surviving male issue as his son William, born 1328, predeceased him. Among the many honors bestowed upon him was a Knighthood of the Shire of Somerset, in the Parliament of Edward III (1328). His recorded arms were: 'Gules, a bend between six crosses-crosslet, or; which are still preserved on some encaustic tiles in 'Cleve Abbey' - where he and his father were benefactors - to which, later heraldic authorities add a crest. The insignia & colors displayed by father & son were practically identical. This Coat of Arms, as well as the many other Coats of Arms of the Furneaux Family, can be seen in Burke's Armory and any other book listing Coat of Arms for England.  

3.  Sir John Fitz Roger, was born 1386-7. He married Agnes de Mercaunt of Seamer, Suffolk Co. in 1406 when he was just past the age of 19. He was the manager of the vast Furneaux estates and bought 'Benham-Valence' and other properties in Berkshire and Dorset. He received a Knighthood through recognition of military service performed. He was one of the wealthiest people in his section of England. He and Agnes had two sons, John and Thomas. He died 4 Oct 1441 at his home at Bryanstone, and is buried at St. Martin's Church there. His will was dated 21 Sep and proved 10 Nov 1441 and it was at this time the 'Fitz' to the Roger name was dropped and ultimately a terminal 's' added.

4.  Thomas Rogers, b. c1408 of Ashington, Somerset, in one of the Roger-Furneaux mansions, residing there until grown, then permanently settled at Bryanstone, Dorset.  He was the Burgess, Mayor and Sheriff of Bristol in 1455, 1458 and 1459 he m.  unknown spouse.  Manor of Oare, Wilcot, Swanborough Hundred, Wiltshire was held by Thomas Rogers (d. circa 1479) when it passed to his son William Rogers, then to his son Sir Edward Rogers whose son George Rogers married Jane Winter.  (Victoria County History of Wiltshire). He had a son, Thomas, by his first wife who was born in 1435. In his second marriage he had a daughter, Elizabeth. Thomas Rogers (4th generation) never claimed the property of his father so it went to his sister. 

Source for the following: A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, by Barnard Burke: Rogers of Rainscombe, Rogers, Rev. Edward-Henry of Rainscombe, co. Wilts, M.A. &. 1827.  Burke states:

Burke States, “The family of Rogers were seated at Bryanstone, co. Dorset, till the close of the 17th century.  Of that line was Thomas Rogers, Esq., serjeant-at-law, temp. Edward IV, who settled at Bradford.  He m. 1st, one of the daus. and co-heirs of William Besyll, of Bradford, and by her had a son, William, of whom presently.  He m. 2ndly, a dau. of ----Courtenay, of Powderham, and widow of Sir Thomas Pomeroy, and by her had a son, George, of Luppit, co. Dorset, whose son Edward (Sir) was of Cannington.  The son of the 1st marriage, William Rogers, Esq. m. Jone, dau. of John Horton, Esq. of Ilford, and had (with a dau., Cecily, m. to Robert Maten) two sons, I. Anthony, m. Dorothy Erneley, of Cannings, and had issue; and II. Henry, of whose line we treat.  The latter, Henry Rogers, Esq., was father of Henry Rogers, Esq. of Heddington, who m. Sarah, dau. of Thomas Hall, Esq. of Bradford, and had a son Robert Rogers, Esq. of Heddington, who m. Anne, dau. of John Seager, Esq. of Bromham, Wilts, and was a. by his son, Henry Rogers, Esq. of Heddington, who, by Sarah, his wife, dau. of Francis Eagles, Esq. of South Broom, Wilts, was the father of Henry Rogers, Esq. of Heddington and Rainscombe, who m. Ellen, dau. of Henry Pyke, Esq. of Rainscombe, and was a. by his son.  Robert rogers, Esq. of Rainscombe, sho m. Eliza, dau. of Thomas Smith, of Potterne, Wilts, and was father of Elizabeth, dau. of William Johnson, Esq. of Chippenham Hills, and by her had (with a dau., Amella-Eliza, and a son, William) another son.  The Rev. James Rogers, D.D. of Rainscombe, who m. 1788, Catherine, youngest dau. and co-heir of Francis Newman, Esq. of Canbury House, co. Somerset, and by her (who d. 1832) had issue, of whom the last survivor was Q. C., recorder of Exeter, b. 1791.  who m. 29 June 1822, Julia-Eleanora, 3rd dau. of William-Walter Yea, Esq. of Pyrland Hall, co. Somerset, and sister of Sir Henry-Lacy Yea, Bart., and has issue, 1. Francis-Newman, his heir; 2. Edward-Henry, now of Rainscombe; 3.Walter-Lacy.

5. Thomas Rogers, Esq. (1433/34-1489) of Bristol, admitted to Lincolns Inn, London, on the Sunday before Lent , 1454, created Serjeant-at-law 1478, of Bradford on Avon, m. Cecilia Besill d. and co-heir of William Besyll or Besill of Bradford.  He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn at the same time as Walter Hungerford. This was possibly the grandson of the great Walter Lord Hungerford, who had amassed estates in Wiltshire, Somerset , Berkshire and elsewhere and who died in 1449.  Pupil lawyers were about 16 years old giving Thomas a possible date of birth c1438. The Hungerford's were hugely important landowners and allied to the Lancastrian cause of Henry Vl as was most of the West Country. At the time of Thomas's admission his father Thomas of Bristol was a Burgess, then Sheriff in 1455, and Mayor in 1459. In 1460 Pakenham sold Smallbrook to Thomas Rogers of Bradford, serjeant-at-law, who died in possession in 1478. It descended in the same way as Rogers's manor of Bradford to his great grandson Anthony Rogers.

Thomas chose instead to practice law. He went to Oxford University and ultimately settled in Bradford in Wiltshire. He became an honorable and distinguished lawyer. In 1478, when he was 43 years old, under appointment by the Crown he was created "Serviens ad Legem," a life office bestowed because of professional attainments and worth of character. He was a great influence in his community and amassed a considerable fortune. He was appointed Sergeant-at-Law, a little before his first marriage. A son William was born of this marriage. After the death of his first wife, he married Catherine de Courtenay in 1483. She was the daughter of Sir Philip de Courtney, Knight of Powderham Castle in Devon. She and Thomas had two sons, George, the elder and John. Catherine or Katherine (as it was more frequently spelled) was the second daughter and youngest child of Sir Philip, who was born in 1404 and died in 1463. Her mother was Elizabeth Hungerford, daughter of Lord Walter Hungerford and Catherine Peverell. 

Source for the following: Pedigree of Rogers (see below)

6.  William Rogers, Esq. m. Joan Horton, d. of John Horton, Esq. of Iford and Lullington Co. Somerset, Gentleman, granddaughter. of Sir Roger Horton of Catton Co. Derby.  Their daughter Cecily married Robert Maten.

7.  Anthony Rogers m. Dorothy Erneley of Bishops Cannings d. of John Erneley of Erneley (a 1490) m. Anne Darell (dau of Constantyn Darell of Cottingbourne (sb Collingbourne?).  John Erneley was the s. of John Erneley of Erneley m. Joan Best d. of Simon Best of Cannings. Visitation of Wiltshire.

8. Anthony Rogers, Bradford on Avon, died in 1583. He married Ann Wroughton, born 1507, d/o Sir William Wroughton, who died in 1559.  The tomb of Sir William has a canopy and inscription in a fine strapwork cartouche, and is located at the Wiltshire, Bradford-on-Avon, Holy Trinity Church. Dorothy Wroughton, her sister, married c1566, Sir John Thynne of Longleat. Their daughter and heir was Dorothy Rogers.

9.  Dorothy Rogers, b. c1555, Stratford-upon-Avon, daughter and heir, married John Hall I born c1555 of Bradford on Avon.

10.  John Hall II, b. c1570 Bradford on Avon, England m. Elizabeth Brune c1591 Bradford on Avon, England, d. of Henry Brune and Elizabeth Martin (Martyn).  It is through the lineage of Elizabeth Martin (Martyn), through her father Sir Nicholas Martyn of Athelhampton, Dorsetshire, that this lineage can be connected to the Royal families of Scotland, England and France. 

Source: "Lineage of Rogers Family", Underwood, published in NY in 1911.

  Glasgow/Middlebrooks Family Tree 2010

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This posting on Ancestry is a kind of entry into some pedigree document, which is not given credit.  

John FITZROGERS (AFN:LM1C-LM) Pedigree

Husband's Name John FITZROGERS (AFN:LM1C-LM) Pedigree

Born: 1386 Place: , Ashington, Somerset, England
Died: 4 Oct 1441 Place: , Bryanston, Dorsetshire, England

Father: John FITZROGER (AFN:GGCZ-QC) Family
Mother: Elizabeth FURNEAUX (AFN:9BMJ-8J)

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Wife's Name
Agnes MORDAUNT (MERCAUNT) (AFN:HQVR-9F) Pedigree

Born: Abt 1390 Place: Of Bedfordshire, England

Father: Eustace MORDAUNT (AFN:9G23-ZV) Family
Mother: Alice DANNO (AFN:9RKB-BQ)

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Children

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1. Sex Name
M John ROGERS (AFN:158H-MBL) Pedigree

Born: Abt 1425 Place: Of, Bryanston, Dorsetshire, England
Died: Aug 1450 Place: , Bryanstone, Dorset, England

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2. Sex Name
M Thomas ROGERS (AFN:GGCZ-JB) Pedigree

Born: 1408 Place: Ashington, Somerset, Eng.