Ellen Smith
Honor Code SignatorySigned 30 Apr 2014 | 155,412 contributions | 16,020 thank-yous | 1,767 connections
In WikiTree I currently serve as volunteer Project Leader for the New Netherland Project and United States Project, Project Leader supporting the Massachusetts Project, and a Reserve Leader for the Palatine Migration Project.
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Born, grew up, and still living (last time I looked!) in the United States of America.
Not updated recently. I now have more identified ancestors than appear here.
The table (table format at Space:Table of Known Ancestors) below summarizes the extent of the information on my ancestry that is included in Wikitree. For the ten generations previous to mine, it shows the number of possible ancestors, the number of these ancestors who are currently identified/documented included in WikiTree, and the percentage of the possible ancestors who are identified here. Cumulative (overall) totals are also provided. Generations 9 and 10 are not up to date.
"Identified" ancestors include some with unknown last names at birth. It also includes some questionable identifications and people that I have not researched.
ANCESTORS BY GENERATION | OVERALL ANCESTORS (CUMULATIVE) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gen. # | Direct Relation to Self | Dates of Birth | Matches | # | # Identified in WikiTree | % Identified in WikiTree | Total # | Total # Identified | Total % Identified |
1 | Parent | 1920s | siblings | 2 | 2 | 100.0% | 2 | 2 | 100.0% |
2 | grandparent | 1890s | 1st Cousins | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 6 | 6 | 100.0% |
3 | great grandparent | 1850s to 1870s | 2nd Cousins | 8 | 8 | 100.0% | 14 | 14 | 100.0% |
4 | 2nd great grandparent | 1810s to 1850s | 3rd Cousins | 16 | 16 | 100.0% | 30 | 30 | 100.0% |
5 | 3rd great grandparent | 1770s to 1820s | 4th Cousins | 32 | 32 | 100.0% | 62 | 62 | 100.0% |
6 | 4th great grandparent | 1740s to 1790s | 5th Cousins | 64 | 52 | 81.2% | 126 | 114 | 90.5% |
7 | 5th great grandparent | 1700s to 1760s | 6th Cousins | 128 | 89 | 69.5% | 254 | 203 | 79.9% |
8 | 6th great grandparent | 1670s to 1740s | 7th Cousins | 256 | 141* | 55.1% | 510 | 344 | 67.5% |
9 | 7th great grandparent | 1650s to 1700s | 8th Cousins | 512 | 250* | 48.8% | 1022 | 594 | 58.1% |
10 | 8th great grandparent | 1590s to 1670s | 9th Cousins | 1024 | 401* | 39.2% | 2046 | 981 | 47.9% |
*There are several duplicates (people who appear on multiple branches of the tree) in these generations (see "Endogamy" section below for a list). These people are counted more than once in the numbers for both possible ancestors and identified ancestors. Cumulative numbers of distinct individuals in my WikiTree-documented ancestry are: 343 at generation 8, 570 at generation 9, and 934 at generation 10.
See this page.
See this page for my list of ancestors who appear more than once in my somewhat recent ancestry.
See my Notes on DNA Matches page for information on DNA confirmation of maternal and paternal relationships.
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Thanks for your contributions to Puritan Great Migration (PGM) project profiles.
Like all WikiTree projects we check in with team members periodically to find out about their continued interest in the project. Would you please respond by February 5, 2024, to let us know about your interest:
Please respond to this comment on your profile, or if you'd like, send a private message to either Bobbie (Madison) Hall or S (Hill) Willson.
Thanks for all you do for PGM and WikiTree!
Regards,
Bobbie and Sharon, Co-Leaders, Puritan Great Migration Project
During the coming year, I have hopes of forming a cadre, drawn mostly from PGM, Quakers, and New Netherland (maybe as a special sub-project of all of these, plus New York), to focus on the English-speaking settlements of colonial Long Island, New York. Most of these people went to Long Island from New England (more than a few of them are PGMs) and also direct from Britain; many were Quakers (but by no means all). I see them as an important founding population in colonial America, and improving the quality of their genealogy would benefit WikiTree coverage of other places and topics. Many of them have been pocketed into the New Netherland Project because New Netherland had jurisdiction over many of the places where they settled, but the people were not "of" New Netherland and (aside from political and legal matters) they had little or no interaction with New Netherland. I get requests to help with their genealogy, and I do try, but the New Netherland project has no expertise on matters like Quaker records, there is little overlap with the families we deal with in New Netherland, nor with the New Netherland geography, (Regarding geography, there were both "Dutch" and "English" settlements in western Long Island, but they mostly stayed separate, and most of the rest of Long Island was English.) I personally have no particular interest in these people, and I'd like to disconnect most of them from New Netherland, but I think they are too important to leave their profiles without managers, so I want to spin them off to a new project.
The Category: English of Colonial Long Island contains some profiles and free-space pages related to this population, assembled to help kick-start a project. There are some members who seem very interested in some of these families, but aren't eager to take a leadership role. Records for some families are seriously lacking, but there are publications by good genealogists who have tried to reconstruct family histories for some of them. Ideally, people who work on this area would have access to NEGHR, TAG, and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, all of which have had excellent studies of some Long Island topics and families. Also, I think some of the families are covered in various books by prominent professional genealogists on the ancestry of a named patron.
For now, many thanks for all you do!
Thanks for your sweet note.
As it happens, I have trouble remembering my own past comments. In those discussions about Jan Albertsz and Jan Albertse Bratt, I kept thinking "Haven't I delved into this before? Where was it?"
edited by Ellen Smith
edited by Ellen Smith
This is interesting. I was not aware that James Lewis (abt.1713-abt.1801) had been connected to my ancestry, and I'm curious to know what evidence was used to make the connection. There is no town records entry for the birth of my ancestor Hannah (Lewis) Beckwith. (That's not unusual; many records for Lyme have been lost.) I do see that James Lewis and Phebe Mack were married several years before Hannah was born, but that's a very slim basis for making a genealogical connection.
Unfortunately, at a relationship distance of 7th cousins auDNA tests are not useful for demonstrating genealogical connections. Your YDNA testing, however, should be very useful, but all genealogical connecting depends very strongly on having good genealogical evidence for our relationships.
Good luck with the FTDNA folks!
Ellen Smith
Thank you for the Family Star badge and for recognizing me! -Karen
Find Unsourced Massachusetts at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:DBE_Unsourced#Massachusetts
edited by Bob Keniston Jr.
edited by Jane Embleton
Please take a look at G2G https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1627224/please-add-vandyck-65-as-the-father-of-margaret-vandyck-270 Van_Dyck-65 is an PPP profile and Hunter Blevins wants to add him as the father of Margrietje (Van Dyck) Williams (1724-abt.1805)
edited by Pierre Goolaerts
I'm reaching out to you for some help regarding the connection of Bartholf-45 as daughter to Bertholf-40 who ayk has PPP. I began posting comments on Giliaem's profile page about two months ago, have provided church baptism records to validate the source, but haven't received any response (pro or con) from anyone. I sincerely hope that the project is not holding any ill will or has any reservations regarding my capability to perform these simple tasks. Looking forward to hearing from you. Respectfully.
Unconnected Massachusetts https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:DBE_Unconnected_US#Massachusetts
Team standings and totals https://wikitree.sdms.si/Challenges/ConnectAThon/TeamAndUser.htm
Welcome back to Team Massachusetts. We’ve been doing this for some time now. Let’s have some fun this weekend making lots of connections. Bob
Thank you for the Family Star badge, much appreciated!
I would like to know if you have specific projects for US Presidents, Signers of the US Constitution & Signers of the Declaration of Independence? Hal
At times in the past, there have been focused efforts to document "Founding Fathers" (category at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:American_Founding_Fathers), including (but not limited to) signers of the Declaration and the Constitution. There are categories for both of these two groups of signers: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Signers_of_the_United_States_Declaration_of_Independence and https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Signers_of_the_United_States_Constitution
Peter Demorest (Demorest-12) and Privacy Level 60 Peter Demarest (DeMaree-73) https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Demorest-12 Mariete Meet (Meet-9) and Privacy Level 60 Maritie Demarest (Meet-1) https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Meet-9 Jacomina Demarest (Ruine-1) and Privacy Level 50 Jacomina De Ruine (De Ruine-15) https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/De_Ruine-15 Jean Des marets (Des marets-208) and Privacy Level 60 Jean de Maree (Des Marest-42) https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Des_marets-208
I thought the one was PPP, it merged to an unusual lnab (Ruine-1) but that seems ok to nns.
Did you get an error message when you tried to complete these merges after they had gone to default approval? Why did you think that you needed to be on the trusted list, or that the profile manager needed to be removed, first?
When I saw your request for help with these merges, I thought you were asking me to expedite merges that had not gotten to 30-day default approval yet, and I did not see impatience on your part as creating an urgent need for me to respond.
I am very sorry that I didn't pay more attention, but as it happens there was nothing I could have done to fix your problem.
I've never seen the code "Privacy Level 60." What does it mean?
edited by Ellen Smith
2,348,606 new records - https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62483/
I did look at the original Latin record—it is a death record. “Resquiecant in pace” means rest in peace. But I must admit I couldn’t make out a lot of what it said as I couldn’t figure out the letters from the writing. Maybe Eva Geigerin was Lutheran? (Not too sure.)
I am pretty sure that the word "obyt" at the end of the record also indicates death. The death record is unlikely to tell you her birth name (the question you asked), but it would be interesting to have it deciphered. It looks like it contains more information than merely a report of death. Also, I note that the record page is full of people named Geiger. The record three up from this one is for Joannes Valentian(?) Christopher Geiger, and the one two up from this one looks like may refer to a woman as "nee Geigerin" (just a guess on the "nee"!). The names Geiger and Geigerin also appear earlier on the page. By compiling bits of information about various Geigers in Leimersheim, you may be able to discover some more information about your own ancestors.
A genealogist with experience reading Latin church records from 18th century German churches probably would be able to explicate it for you, as the handwriting is reasonable legible. I suggest that you post a request in G2G requesting assistance with translating a German church record in Latin -- and include the URL https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSJY-1ZVY in the text section of the G2G section to make it easy for others to find it quickly. :-)
I noticed that you deleted "British Colonial America" from Eby-492. I am pretty sure that The Province of Pennsylvania was located in British Colonial America. Is there a reason for this change?
edited by Ellen Smith
The existence of a Wikipedia article about British America does not prove otherwise.
Ellen, Farnam on page 38 has John's father (and Dorothy's husband) as John born 22 June 1668, the son of John, and not John born 1658 the son of Thomas. What do you think? https://archive.org/details/historyofdescend00farn/page/38/mode/2up?q=%22Abigail+Hollis%22
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Whitman-4908
The Whitmans are in my connection path to Julius Miller this week, so I thought I'd take a look.
edited by Karen Lowe
As with many 19th century genealogies, I found Farnam less reliable for early ancestors than for the people who were his contemporaries or their recent ancestors.
I was mostly using Farnam to help connect the modern family of Julius Miller's wife to colonial ancestors. After I found birth records for children of John and Abigail, plus a marriage record for John and Abigail, I identified John Whitman born 1709 as the John Whitman Jr. who married Abigail Hollis, so I created his profile. When I saw the existing profile for Whitman-338 connected as the husband of Dorothy Pratt Whitman, I connected John born 1709 to that couple as his parents and did not investigate the Whitman line any further.
Thanks for looking into this. You are correcting a long-existing error in the Whitman line. :-)
PS - My own connection to Julius Miller via the Whitman line was to Dorothy Pratt via my Pratt ancestry.
edited by Ellen Smith
edited by Albertus Robert Casimir (Fuller) Jung
Regardless, I did a little bit of looking at your Mary Wood problem. Wood seems to have been a somewhat common name among early New England settlers, which makes it more difficult to pin down a specific Mary Wood. (I have some Woods in my ancestry, too.) I did not even find a record of any Mary Wood being born 31 Oct 1653. Dean Crawford Smith, who is a respected professional genealogist with much experience in this time and place, does quote that date -- see <https://archive.org/details/ancestryofsamuel00smit/page/90/mode/2up>. According to the NEHGR article about Isaiah Wood, there are no deed records for Isaiah, but Dean Crawford Smith cites several land records related to Edward and Mary (Wood) Ordway that show associations with other children of Isaiah Wood. I think his work is a good basis for accepting Mary Wood as probably the wife of Edward Ordway.
Furthermore, I saw that the marriage record for Joseph Fuller is a torn page that identifies the wife only as "M." And the book at https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=78tMAAAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA177 shows Joseph Fuller and [presumably] Mary having ten children from 1690 to 1712, when a woman born in 1653 would have been age 37 to age 59 -- that is not consistent with female fertility in that age range. Thus, I think the case for connecting him to Mary Wood is weak.
thank you for looking into the Mary Wood question. I appreciate your work and insights very much, and i especially appreciate the new sources that you have brought forward: Dean Crawford, and the torn marriage record for Joseph Fuller, of which i had no knowledge. I shall work these insights and sources into both Mary Wood Ordway's and Mary Wood Fuller's profiles. Again, thank you! Albertus. Postscriptum - 21 June 2021. See here the fruit of your help, Ellen: Mary Wood Ordway, Mary Hayward Fuller, formerly Mary Wood Fuller.
edited by Albertus Robert Casimir (Fuller) Jung
I could only conclude that the profile of Lysette Aktok was created to represent the wife whom oral history said was the daughter of a Mohawk sachem or chief, and that the name Lysette was a mistaken copy of the name Lysbet (the woman who needed the shroud). It is clear that Pieter van Woggelum existed and had a wife, but I do think that the profiles created to represent his Native wife are essentially fiction.
I do not know what to make of the idea that this woman was a Montauk or Montaukett (from eastern Long Island), since eastern Long Island was English territory (not Dutch) and Pieter van Woggelum lived in the Albany-Schenectady area (Mohawk territory).
My recent edits were in response to the forum discussion at https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1222512/merger-help-from-native-americans-project-pre-1600-profiles . I just happen to be the New Netherland project leader who handled some of the merge proposals that came out of that discussion. The forum (in general) and that discussion (in particular) would be a more appropriate place to present your opinions about oral tradition related to the Van Woggelum family.
The WikiTree Native Americans Project has found that many, many, Americans have family traditions of a Native American ancestor -- particularly Pocahontas -- that are unsupported by all known evidence, and in many cases can be proven wrong. Similarly, there are many family traditions of descent from European royalty that are demonstrably wrong, and there are many other traditions about ancestors of European origin that cannot be proven or disproven because the records have been lost (or perhaps have not been found yet). WikiTree profiles can discuss oral history traditions in the text, but we should not make connections between people unless they are supported by documented genealogy. The members of the Native Americans Project research various Native lineages, including those that are supported by documented evidence, those that are contrary to the evidence, and those whose validity cannot be determined from the known evidence.
I sent you an email about Maine Project. Just posting this here in case it didn’t make it to you. Thx. S Willson
Sharman PS. Tried out the "Connections to me" for the first time after seeing someone below mention they are related to you and having recognized a few names listed in your generational lists above. Marinus van Aken and Pieternelle De Pre are both of our 8th great grandparents. Hello cousin! :)
Sometimes it seems like everybody who has significant New Netherland ancestry is related. That is not actually true, but since you and I both seem to have roots in Kingston and its environs, I guess I expected that we would be distant cousins. Glad to meet you, cousin!
Thanks for looking!
I'm curious to know why Arent Danielse (abt.1681-1756) is identified by his middle name rather than by his surname, Van Antwerpen? His father is identified by the surname, as are his children (my direct ancestors) but he is not. It seems to me that some consistency is in order here, and would curb some unnecessary confusion. BTW, how long does it take to find out if I've been accepted to the NNS group? Respectfully, Jim Sellers
I am way behind on awarding badges. Please consider yourself a member, even if you do not have a badge yet.
I agree that Danielse is a patronymic name, but it certainly is not a last name, as you infer. Van Antwerpen is the surname or family name, if that's a better descriptor. Leaving it completely off of his name is foolishness, when we know it really should be there. In "A history of the Schenectady patent in the Dutch and English times : being contributions toward a history of the lower Mohawk Valley", our subject is quite clearly referred to as; Arent Danielse Van Antwerpen in it's narrative regarding the patent. Your last sentence regarding his father is the tell-all for me. He had surname... we should use it! I'm not a neophite nor am I simple.I would just like this group to use a little reason. Thank you kindly, I'm waiting anxiously for my badge! Respectfully, Jim
You and I have a lot of ancestors in common. We map out as 5th cousins via a Townsend connection, but we are also 7th cousins, 8th cousins, etc., via other shared ancestors. I see that you tested on FTDNA, and I've posted my data there, so I looked for you on my report there. You aren't listed as a DNA match (that's not surprising, as there's a low chance of an autosomal match at 5 generations on a line where we would not have received X chromosome DNA).
I expect that I'll continue to see you around, cousin!