*My Own Genealogy

From an early age, these were things I loved to do: read nonfiction history, historical fiction, and mysteries, solve crossword and jigsaw puzzles, and spend time with my family. I didn’t realize then that I would discover a life-long hobby that included all of these things. (Some family trees on the Internet definitely have fiction.)

When I was growing up, we always had a small bookshelf in the living room with my mom’s copy of Charles Ross Shultz’s The Descendants of Michael Shultz. Mom remembered that when the book was published, her parents received a post card offering the book for sale; since she expressed interest, they bought it for her.

Then, when I was in sixth grade, I received my class’s American History award from a DAR chapter. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Daughters of the American Revolution. The very idea of knowing that someone could tell what her ancestors have done generations previously was thrilling to me.

I always was a little jealous of my classmates who would say with authority, “I’m Irish,” or “I’m half French,” or “I’m 3/4 Choctaw.” I knew two things only about my ancestry: Gramps’s family was probably part Native American, and my dad’s grandfather was a first cousin of Abraham Lincoln’s. So my interest was there; I just didn’t know how to go about finding my own ancestry. (By the way, no evidence of either tradition ever showed up until 2017, when Greenberry Parker was discovered to be more than one fourth Native American. The relationship to Abraham Lincoln was non-existent.)

When we were living in Buffalo, New York, in the summer of 1966, I found a library book on genealogy. I read it, followed the directions, wrote letters, starting with my own four grandparents and my great-grandmother Pedigo. They gave me names and addresses to write more letters. At the end of that summer, as my parents were moving to Kansas City, we went to Oklahoma and drove around visiting aunts, cousins, and graveyards. Gramps answered with the famous-in-the-family letter about me being descended from a monkey. But by the start of college that fall, I had my five-generations chart full.

One memory in particular that stands out is Gramps saying, “You know, my grandparents are buried at Clinton.” My mom didn’t even know that.

It’s now over 50 years later, and this hobby has been a continuing challenge through all these years. I packed my genealogy away when we went to South America as Evangelical missionaries and didn’t do much for 15 years or so. This is the time when my aunt, Ramona Duff, and my parents found a great deal on their own. Mom especially made a great collection of family photos. In 1985 I had a bout with the Mexico City earthquake, typhoid fever, and hepatitis A, and then I spent most of my recovery time for two or three years writing genealogy letters.

And of course, after we bought our first Macintosh computer in 1988 and the Internet came along soon after, genealogy will never be the same.

Key dates, 1970: Using my patriot ancestor Michael Shultz, I joined the DAR, Okamanpedo Chapter in Iowa, where I served as Chapter Regent. As of January 2023, I have 25 accepted patriot ancestors. at least one for each of my eight great-grandparents.

1980: On a trip back to Iowa Lakes Community College, I spent some time with the National Dictionary of Biography, tracing the families in the Middle Ages that Ramona had identified. I soon realized this meant Eleanor of Aquitaine was my own ancestor. That was amazing for someone who had read the Thomas B. Costain books on the Plantagenets more than once and thoroughly enjoyed them.

1987: My mom and I went to the DAR Library in Washington DC; finds included Gilbert, Joy, Atwell (still not sure about this one), and James Alvis in Pike Co MO.

1989: On the same day, although residing in different countries and using different sources, Ramona and I found the identity of Nancy (Morris) Armstrong’s parents. I’m still looking for a paper trail to accompany the DNA evidence I have for both sets of Nancy’s grandparents though.

1992: On my only trip to Salt Lake City, with my mom and dad, I found my link to Ashley Alvis and Asa Brooks’s birth in Buffalo. Too bad I didn’t know that in 1966! We must have driven several times right past several ancestors’ graves near I-90 and other places in western New York.

1993: I discovered Pilgrim ancestry and helped my Dad join the Society of Mayflower Descendants through Richard Warren. He was later the Oklahoma Governor of the Mayflower Society. That’s also the year I moved back to the United States after 17 years in Colombia and Mexico, specifically Mexico City. And I joined the Mayflower Society myself soon after. I also located Mayflower ancestry for my husband, who also joined. I have been State Historian since 2004. I rejoined the Lucy Meriwether DAR chapter  in Laredo, Texas. I was Regent-Elect when we decided to move back to Oklahoma.

1997: My mother and I joined the Associated Daughters of Early American Witches through Lydia Gilbert, second wife of my ancestor, Thomas Gilbert, Jr. My third DAR chapter was Oklahoma Prairies, where I was Regent, 2004-2006 and 2012-2014, as well as chapter registrar, chapter treasurer, and chaplain.

2004: After six weeks of study of all the Dickinsons of New England, I deduced David Dickinson’s most likely ancestry; several DNA matches to descendants support this. I was elected Oklahoma State Historian of the Mayflower Society, a position I still hold.

2007: I finally found two more generations back of Armstrongs; I’d been hunting since 1966 in the right town, but 2007 was when an index to land records became available on the Internet.

2008: I set up several web sites, including this blog.

2009: I researched Revolutionary War details for my patriot ancestors.

2010: I joined the Society of Descendants of Washington’s Army at Valley Forge, honoring Edward Pedigo. I also started working with Wikitree.com, where I became a Leader.

2011: I scanned and posted my parents’ remarkable photo collection on the Internet.

2013: After reading five or six books about DNA, I was tested at 23andme.com. My mtDNA is H1n, and my father’s was H1a (I know this from a second cousin whose grandmother was my grandmother’s sister). I immediately was matched with a second cousin from the Pedigo family, a third cousin from the Eysters, a double third cousin descended from both the Armstrongs and the Turners, and a fifth cousin who is descended from Samuel Harper, Jr., of Hart County, Kentucky, a first cousin of my Frances (Harper) (Meredith) Pedigo’s father James. I am working at more matching and an entirely new angle of genealogy research.

(By 2019, using 23andme, FTDNA, Ancestry.com, and gedmatch.com, I have identified several more ancestral families, corrected my George Morris’s parentage, and verified my research at least through my 4th and 5th great-grandparents. By July 2020, I had completely filled in seven generations of well-documented ancestors.)

2014: My 22nd DAR supplemental was approved, for Ashley Alvis, my 23rd approved Patriot Ancestor.

2015: I joined the National Society of Daughters of Founders and Patriots through George Alvis and his grandson, Ashley. I joined in Maine, since the long-time President of the Oklahoma Society refuses to call a meeting.

2017: I joined the Women Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company through Thomas Joy. On 16 Dec 2017, DNA testing allowed me to discover, after nearly 50 years of searching, the parents of Greenberry Parker. And those parents each had Native American roots; William Parker was half Cherokee and his wife Candace Austin was a fourth or more Saponi!

2018: I joined the National Society United States Daughters of 1812 through Asa Brooks. And my Craighead ancestry was linked to Robert Stewart, illegitimate son of James V of Scotland, son of James IV and Margaret Tudor. So it appears I am descended from Henry VII, Edward IV, and several more Kings of France, Denmark, Spain, and Scotland. I continued making connections via DNA, adding names like Woosley and Burd, plus discovering unanswered questions about the Kittle family, Huguenots, and many others. I share good sized DNA segments with several descendants of Rev. Thomas and Margaret (Wallace) Craighead, presumed parents of my Robert Craighead.

2019: retirement! I can join lineage societies and attend meetings. I now belong to the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War (Lorenzo Dow Huff), the Society of Descendants of Lady Godiva (Thomas Bressey), the Magna Charta Dames (James Veatch/Vietch), and Dames of the Court of Honor (Oliver P. Light). I also took on the role of Mentor in Wikitree’s Magna Carta Project, as well as Gateway Guardian for Thomas Bressey. Plus I’m an Associate Member of Washita Chapter, NSDAR.

2020: calamity! The year started spectacularly when I obtained from eBay a muster roll from Asa Brooks’s unit in the War of 1812. His name is near the top. Imagine an actual piece of paper which was held and signed by an ancestor over 200 years ago! Then, suddenly, the conferences, seminars, and meetings I had planned to attend were all canceled. I had been elected Chaplain of Oklahoma Prairies Chapter, NSDAR; Treasurer of Oklahoma City Chapter USD1812; Secretary of Sally Peacheater Tent, DUV; and Recording Secretary of Magna Charta Dames in Oklahoma; plus Oklahoma State Registrar of the DAR. At this writing, I don’t know if any of these will actually turn into events and meetings. At least I can look at my framed muster roll, admire my certificates, and “shelter in place.”

I have 18 unidentified ancestors in the eighth generation, so the search goes on.