Michael Black

Ancestors

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Famous ancestors 1.1.1 United States Civil War Ancestors 1.1.2 Revolutionary War Patriot Ancestors 1.1.3 Mayflower Ancestors 1.1.4 Jamestown Colonist Ancestors 1.1.5 Magna Carta Surety Baron Ancestors 1.1.6 Plantagenet Ancestors 1.1.6.1 Angevins (1154–1216) 1.1.6.2 The Plantagenets (1216–1399) 1.2 Heritage breakdown 1.3 Experimental stuff 2 Sources 3 Advance Directive

Biography

My name is Michael Black, and among other things, I am a genealogist. When I’m not working on genealogy or working for a living, I can often be practicing my cat-herding techniques with my daughter and the den of Cub Scouts that I lead, or found mixing and enjoying classic tiki cocktails in our midcentury tiki room.

My fascination with genealogy began when I was fairly young. I loved spending time with my grandparents and listening to stories of their childhoods. They passed along stories of relatives who died long before my grandparents were even born—as a child of about 10 years old, I was amazed. Heck, as an adult approaching 60 I'm still amazed that I was told stories by my grandparents that they were told by their grandparents about people who died before any of us were born.

But as a child of the 70s, it was a television show that cemented my interest in family history. In early 1977, when I was 10 years old, Alex Haley’s Roots appeared on TV and I watched every episode live with my family in our living room. What Alex Haley had done was what I decided I wanted to do—to document an unbroken chain of family back to our Old World roots.

The question of where we, or specifically I, came from is one that’s been a passion of mine ever since. Whenever I found myself unhappy or struggling for meaning in life, following this passion led me to a happier place. When I found myself dissatisfied with my original Civil Engineering major at U.C. Berkeley, I took a class in archaeology and learned about a field of study that could help us trace our origins in the absence of written records, often long before written records even existed. My fascination with the deep past led to paleoanthropology and to years of fieldwork in East Africa, the Near East, and Europe.

I eventually earned a Ph.D. from Duke University in the field of paleoanthropology (my degree was actually in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy), and took a post-doctoral position back in Berkeley, where my passion with the deep human past had begun. I worked with the world-class osteological collections at the Hearst Museum, published a textbook on human osteology, continued with my East African fieldwork, and met and fell in love with the woman who would become my wife. She worked/works as the Collections Manager at the Hearst Museum, and when a position to manage the vast information held by the Hearst Museum came up, I leapt at the opportunity. We’ve worked together at that museum for over 17½ years so far (as of December 2023).

In that time, we bought a house together, got married, did a DIY remodel of our house and garage, had a daughter together, sold our house, bought a more spacious house in the suburbs in which we could raise our daughter, and started major DIY repairs on that house to keep it from falling apart. And these days, with a 9-year-old daughter, that’s just about all we do—work, fix the house, and raise our daughter.

My pursuit of genealogy lessened over the last 9 years as my attention turned to helping my daughter have the best upbringing we can give her, but my passion for uncovering our family's past remained high. As my daughter is becoming more independent, I'm finally finding an occasional bit of time to do a bit of genealogy.

When I do have time to dive into genealogy, I post some of my discoveries on my family history blog, https://blackenedroots.com/.

Famous ancestors

I include these here to benefit family members who are not genealogists and just want a quick tour of their fancy, shiny ancestors. I list them in groupings that are in approximate reverse chronological order. This is a work in progress.

United States Civil War Ancestors

I am descended from at least seven veterans of the U.S. Civil War, including two who died during the war and one who later died of a disease contracted during the war:

• David Wolcott Chilson (1821-1902)
• Daniel Schram Coddington (1811-1886)
• George Howard Coddington (1842-1919)
• Calvin Levi Morris (1803-1875)
• Hiram Scott (abt.1815-1865)
• Horace L. Scott (abt.1842-1870)
• Sever Severson (1829-1864)

My surname comes from another U.S. Civil War veteran, but while I consider him among my ancestors, I am not biologically descended from him (he was the father of the man who stepped in as an adoptive father for my grandfather when his biological father decided to walk away from his family):

• Lewis J. Black (1839-1901)

Revolutionary War Patriot Ancestors

I am descended from at least twenty-two patriots who either fought for the United States in the Revolutionary War or who materially or otherwise aided the fledgling United States in achieving independence and who are considered qualifying ancestors for DAR and SAR (those who are also qualifying ancestors for Sons of the Revolution are marked with an asterisk):

• Isham Bobbitt (1754-1836)* (Sergeant in Continental Army)
• Ebenezer Cheney (1741-1828) (Civil Servant in MA)
• John Evans (bef.1728-1798)* (Private with PA Militia)
• Amos Gould (1731-1807)* (Private with NH Militia)
• Hans Michael (Gutknecht) Goodnight (abt.1721-1781) (Civil Servant in NC)
• Thomas Horton (1763-1841)* (Private with NY Militia)
• Samuel Jones (1756-1839)* (Served in VA Line)
• Cyrus Kinne Sr. Esq. (1746-1808)* (Private with NY Militia)
• David McClure (1726-1796)* (Private with PA Militia)
• Thomas McClure (1762-1832)* (Private with PA Militia)
• William McMurry (abt.1725-bef.1798)* (Served in VA Militia)
• Levi Morris (1753-bef.1834)* (Served in VA)
• William Morris Sr. (1722-1792)* (Served in VA Line)
• Gideon Noble A.M. (1728-1792) (Helped select the Committee of Safety)
• Joshua Pepper (1721-1808) (Patriotic service)
• Richard Price (1757-1834)* (Private in VA Militia)
• John Snider (1743-1830)
• Joseph Stewart (1757-1842)
• David Vinton (1726-abt.1791)
• Seth Vinton (1756-1848)* (Minuteman, Private with MA Militia, Private in Continental Army)
• Justus Wolcott (1735-1831)* (Corporal with NY Militia)
• Benjamin Woodruff (1744-1837)

Many of these patriots do not yet have the details of their service recorded in their WikiTree profiles, a fact I hope to change in 2024.

My application to the SAR was approved on March 8, 2024, and I am now a member of the Thomas Jefferson Chapter of SAR. My application was based on my descent from Seth Vinton. My great-grandmother Lucinda Tracy (Bailey) McMurry (1887-1960) joined the Daughters of the American Revolution based on her descent from Seth Vinton as well.

Mayflower Ancestors

I am descended from at least eight passengers on the Mayflower (and possibly nine, depending on the blood relation of Priscilla and Alice Mullins). I have proven my line to John Alden (and therefore Priscilla Mullins and William Mullins) through application to the [General Society of Mayflower Descendants], and hope to have time to prove my Howland/Tilley and Warren lines in the not-too-distant future.

Jamestown Colonist Ancestors

I am descended from at least three early Jamestown settlers:

• Nathaniel Basse (bef.1589-bef.1654) (although the link to my ancestor as his daughter is uncertain)
• Thomas Bennett (abt.1585-bef.1642)
• Thomas Garnett (abt.1584-)

Plus, I am descended at least in spirit, if not in blood, from a further Jamestown Colonist, whose son was the stepfather of my ancestor (but was so close that he referred to her as his beloved daughter):

• Henry Bagwell (1589-1663)

Magna Carta Surety Baron Ancestors

I am descended from at least six Magna Carta gateway ancestors. Through these gateway ancestors (and other ancestors), I am descended from at least 16 of the 25 medieval barons who were surety for the Magna Carta in 1215:

• William (Albini) d'Aubigny (abt.1151-1236)
• Hugh (Bigod) le Bigod (abt.1185-bef.1225)
• Roger Bigod (abt.1144-bef.1221)
• Henry (Bohun) de Bohun (abt.1175-1220)
• Gilbert (Clare) de Clare (abt.1180-1230)
• Richard (Clare) de Clare (abt.1150-bef.1217)
• John (Clavering) FitzRobert (bef.1193-bef.1241)
• Robert FitzWalter (abt.1180-1235)
• William (Huntingfield) de Huntingfield (abt.1160-bef.1221)
• John (Lacy) de Lacy (abt.1192-1240)
• William Malet (bef.1174-bef.1216)
• William (Mowbray) de Mowbray (abt.1173-bef.1224)
• Saher (Quincy) de Quincy (abt.1165-1219)
• Robert (Ros) de Ros (abt.1170-abt.1227)
• Geoffrey (Say) de Say (abt.1180-1230)
• Robert de Vere (aft.1164-bef.1221)

Plantagenet Ancestors

Angevins (1154–1216)

• King Henry II (1133-1189), ruled 1154–1189
• King John 1 (abt.1166-1216), ruled 1199–1216

The Plantagenets (1216–1399)

• King Henry III (1207-1272), ruled 1216–1272
• King Edward I ("Longshanks") (abt.1239–1307), ruled 1272–1307
• King Edward II (1284–1327), ruled 1307–1327
• King Edward III (1312–1377), ruled 1327–1377

Heritage breakdown

This subsection is a work in progress

Despite the neat percentage formulas I heard as a child, a precise breakdown of my heritage is surprisingly difficult to quantify for several reasons:

• brick wall ancestors whose origin is unknown;
• ancestors whose nationality changed under their feet as European powers redrew national boundaries;
• emigrant ancestors whose ancestors themselves were immigrants.

That being said, large portions of my heritage are fairly well-established:

My great-grandmother Lena Edel was the first U.S.-born child of two Dutch immigrants who emigrated in 1893, so from her/them I have 1/8th Dutch ancestry.

Experimental stuff

From Greg Clarke's Photo Lines app

My Photo Lines

William (1803 - 1867)

John (1832 - 1903)

Gilbert (1865 - 1897)

Zygonia (1895 - 1937)

Vernon (1916 - 1993)

Keith (1942 - 2016)

Michael (b.1960s)

Polly (b.1940s)

Harriet (1922 - 2017)

Gertrude (1897 - 1980)

Margret (1870 - 1910)

Mary (1832 - 1884)

Rebecca (1812 - 1873)

Sources

• First-hand information and personal memories.

Advance Directive

To aid WikiTree in the administration of my account should I be incapacitated, or in the event of my death, I hereby give permission for all private profiles I'm managing to be transferred to the following WikiTreers, whether or not they are currently on the Trusted Lists:

• Natasha Johnson