One hint leads to another

Here's a link that may confirm the Welsh Butler connection we've all been trying to find for the longest time....

http://www.skcensus.com/genealogy/butlerpa/aqwn01.htm

Thank you to a newfound cousin Brett Butler's wife, Pam, for finding this!

A letter from 1898 written by my great great grandfather

Sometimes you just don't know what treasures you'll carry home with you.  When you go genea trekking, you begin to intuitively copy things just hoping something will make sense when you get home.

Last November my sister went with me to Cairo, Georgia on a genea trek. She's not so into genealogy, so this was a great concession on her part! [Thank you, Joanna!]  While I was there, I made copies of some pages in a book I found there, "A Book of Butlers: Jacob Butler (1812-1853)" by Mrs. Ermon (Marilee Gerrell) Butler.

Wow. Oh wow. I found some of my ancestors in there because she had included a related line.

A couple of weeks later, I saw my Aunt Marjorie. Years earlier she had gotten one of the books, and given a copy to her son (my cousin). I still need to go back and make some copies of more of the book (the author has given me permission as long as I give her credit).

Here's where it gets better. [I know, you must've been waiting.]

Last week, I skimmed through the pages I'd copied again. And there it was! A letter FROM my great great grandfather John ROBERT Butler to his brother "Hon. T (Thomas) J Butler" in New Orleans. Written Sep 15, 1898 from Whigham Ga. I don't know if it was transcribed. There's no notation regarding that. It was contributed to the author by Joe W Butler (must be Thomas' descendant). Thank you, Joe, for keeping care of the letter!

The paragraphs are written as though he is basically writing about himself and his family as a historian. Apparently he and his brother had talked about their family history and he had taken on the objective to record the history as best he knew it (the love of genealogy runs in my blood, see!).

Midway down the page, in the second paragraph, he begins talking about himself,

#1 John Robert Butler, the oldest son is still living and in his 74th year. He mentions your John died and left young families. "John was a DR and had a fine practice when he died."

I am amazed at the quality of the wording.

I am amazed that I looked through this book which I copied just some of the pages back in November. I wasn't able, at the time, to copy all the pages, but to think I managed to copy these pages! And that I waited until this month to read through again, and the light finally came on!

At the beginning when he says "Our grandfather Robert Butler was of Welch decent..." I wonder if that was his mother or father's side. I haven't found any Butlers being of Welsh descent, but maybe that is a hint?

Last, toward the end, he says, "After writing what I have I concluded that I did not say enough about our father but he gave me and the rest of you lots of trouble. He was one of the best hearted men I ever (k)new he had his failings like all the rest of us have although a slave owner he was always opposed to the institution."

What trouble? Aging? Was he ornery?!

Thirty years, after the Civil War, acknowledgement of his father having opposed the institution of slavery despite having been a slave owner. Makes one think.

Yet Another Intersection!

One thing leads to another. Today I looked at an blog site containing photographs of Marc Chagall's art. I was captivated by the 'flying' in his paintings. Then I looked at the blogger's "About Me" information and discovered she was interested in Gardens of History and 1600s Women and 1700s Women and so forth. Well, for one who is an artist, has always loved clothing (hey, I designed my own paper dolls and their clothing when I was ten years old), this site was worth looking in to. And what DID I find?!

1600s women leads me to Jamestown
and for those who prefer to click on the direct link:
http://b-womeninamericanhistory17.blogspot.com/2012/01/timeline-of-events-leading-to-jamestown.html

I think I'd like meeting this woman!
http://www.blogger.com/profile/15277378178650355645

Anyway, as I am reading down the events leading to Jamestown, I realize that I have two lines that go waaaay back to Jamestown! My maternal grandmother Agnes Morgan's line goes back to Samuel Argall, whose sister was my ancestor Susanna Argall Bathurst. Samuel was the pesky man who kidnapped Pocohontas. I'm sort of related to Pocohontas because there was a Bolling (my ancestor) who married Pocohontas's daughter. She died and my Bolling ancestor remarried and so I descend from the "white" Bollings as they call them. I wish I descended from the "red" Bollings, but I don't. I must've known something was up with all of that as young as eight because Pocohontas was my favorite history lesson. At age eight, I found a kitten which my parents allowed me to adopt. I named her Pocohontas. You see, I just "knew" something even way back then.  And the Bathurst connection? Unbelieveable, but true. As an Air Force officer, I was stationed in the very area where the Bathursts lived, RAF Fairford, lived in Cirencester where Bathurst relatives are buried in the church. I attended that Church, not even realizing cousins were right beside me! I traveled to and from work along the same roads my ancestors had lived 400 years earlier.

But wait, I am not finished! My paternal grandfather's ancestor, Nathaniel Tatum lived in Jamestown. He'd been an orphan in London, England. He managed to find his way over to America. He married and had several children, including Samuel who married a Mary Elizabeth Moore. Their daughter Ann married a Hugh Lee b 1750 and rest is history (for my Lee side anyway).

It's hard to fathom that yet again, the lines of my American ancestry reach so far back that my grandparents' lines lived alongside each other so frequently. I used to wish I had relatives who'd come over recently from more exotic places (Italy, Romania, Greece, Spain). But I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with far reaching American roots.

All Roads Lead Back...

Here's what I have found amazing. Most of my lines, since they've been in America long enough, eventually lead back to the same place. What I have found MOST amazing is that nearly every one of my major branches (one of my grandparent's), whether Lee or Higdon or Newell or Morgan have intersected if not once or twice, three or more.

Here is one find, today!

It's the Christ Church, Middlesex County, Saluda, Virginia. Here is the link:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?MarkerID=27001&Print=1
or click here:
Christ Church, Middlesex Co., VA

I found this because I was looking up the Parrott line (my paternal grandmother Louise Higdon's grandmother was Sarah Parrott). Sarah's ancestor was Richard Parrott. He was born 1616 in England and died 1686 in Virginia. I found "The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex Co., VA 1653-1812" here:

http://archive.org/stream/parishregisterof00chri/parishregisterof00chri_djvu.txt

and thought I'd scan it a bit. All of a sudden I'm seeing other names in there that look mighty familiar, Cock, Smith, Jones, Walker. Those are all names in my maternal grandmother Agnes Morgan's line. Both my grandmothers were interested in genealogy, noting where we come from. Agnes' mother told her grandson (my mom's cousin Albert) that he was the 13th cousin of the then King (George) of England. His teacher scolded him. Actually, it was likely true.

Here I find that both my grandmother's lines go back to the same church in the same time period. They weren't kin, but it was a kinship. Their ancestors worshipped together.

And I've found that my paternal grandfather's line intersected with my maternal grandmother's line. Agnes Morgan's line: the Bollings, Drury and Robert, hand land next to Hugh Lee, my paternal grandfather Paul Lee's direct line back.  

And my paternal grandfather's Paul Lee's line goes back to Quimby and Osgood, the same area where my maternal grandfather Arthur Newell's people lived in Massachusetts. Arthur's grandmother Mary Frances Grow's family was deeply rooted in early Massachusetts, too, in the same areas. Her ancestors, the Whipples were in the same area as Paul's mother's line. So both my grandfathers' mothers lines led back to the same place at the same time.

For now, here is a photo of Christ Church of Middlesex (Saluda) Virginia.
It's located east of Richmond, VA on the Chesapeake Bay.

Those North Carolina Counties, how they did change!!

I moved to Tallahassee expecting to discover more about my Higdon-Butler roots. And I have, but along the way, I discovered more of my Lee ancestors than I dreamed possible. One of the best parts about moving to Tally was discovering an 8th cousin, Vicki. Why all of these in the same paragraph? Because the Lees, Higdons, Butlers, AND Parrotts, Underwoods, Moores ALL once hailed from eastern North Carolina. Bertie County and Craven County, that is. Oh, that was in 1740.

And then, by 1746, Johnston County was created. And Duplin County.
Bertie and Craven were reduced.
So, even though my relatives hadn't moved, it seemed as though they did.
And it makes finding the land data and records a little more complicated.

By 1760, Dobbs County had been created (that's why the Parrots were there when originally, there had been paperwork on them in Duplin or Craven County.  Oh, and let's not forget Cumberland County (because one of my Lee ancestors had a stagecoach line through Johnston to Cumberland.

I could go on and on, but let's suffice for now that it helps to look up the county lines of the state your relatives once lived. Because they might have not moved after all, just the lines were redrawn!

Link for these maps (both NC and SC):
http://www.carolana.com/NC

Later this week, I'll add maps of Decatur, Thomas and Grady Counties of southern Georgia. Many of the families from eastern North Carolina moved down this way. They called southern Georgia the "New Carolina Settlement." I'll also add the titles of some very helpful books I've discovered.