One of my ultimate distractions...

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Is working on my family tree on myancestry.com. Tonight I meant to clean, especially since the a/c people are coming tomorrow to install the new unit. However, I had a notice that the court/land records had been expanded on myancestry. When I clicked to see what the newly added records were, my eyes lit up at the category 'Virginia Heraldy'. That did it. I was lost to the night in research.

So far a run of the surnames of my ancestors who lived in Virginia have yielded nothing, but I did locate additional will and marriage information on the branches of family that came to Virginia in the early 1600's. One of the marriage records noted the bride's father was "Capt. George Bryer" and with that bit of information, I found the passenger list with the information he came from England in 1650...which is the earliest arrival of my ancestors I've found to date. Up to now that honor has belonged to Thomas Freshwater I, who came over in 1656. So now at least one branch of my family has been in the US for 357 years, and the Freshwaters for 351 years. Cool.

Several years ago when I visited Williamsburg, VA, my friend and I made a side trip to the Rappahanock area where the Freshwaters had their plantation, and I filled a bottle with dirt. So far all branches of my family lead back to England, but what cracks me up is that most have been farmers...and I can kill any plant with a single glance.

:) Carol