Teresa (Clary) Willis
Honor Code SignatorySigned 5 Jan 2023 | 3,973 contributions | 139 thank-yous | 1,747 connections
Team Virginia Orange & Green |
I'm just a small town girl looking family in a big ole world. Love everything about history, the good the bad and the ugly. I would say my biggest hobby is visiting historical sites and going to historical events. I love going to Ren Faires, Viking Fest, Irish music festivals, and Highland games. I visit Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown, at least once a year, as well as several other of the many many historical sites of Virginia. I am a widow of the love of my life and soul mate. Six children and 9 grandchildren will carry my legacy into the future.
I come from a long long line of Virginians and consider myself Virginian for Life. I refer to where I live as the "Southside" which is a true place and you know where it is if you live in the area. It spreads form the southern foothills through the piedmont area. South of Richmond to the NC border. We have our own unique Southern accent and if we meet someone from the area we will recognize it right away. We of course will acknowledge this and carry on a converstation and it very likely we will find a mutual relative or at least family we know. I do see our genteel Southern charm slipping away with every generation and it makes me sad. I guess that is why I work adamantly on the family tree these days. Yes I'm one of those true Virginian family geneology snobs and proud of it, but let me explain what some might find snobbish about it. True Virginians know our history, we hate it when people talk about Plymouth Rock but never acknowledge Jamestowne. The Mayflower was bound for Virginia but got blown off course in a storm and navigational errors, so you too should have been Virginians, bless your heart. We also get very upset that people don't know the first Thanksgiving in the conlonies, was at Berkley Plantation, Colony of Virginia. I grew up in a time with no cell phones, no internet, no WikiTree nor Ancestry....I know boring right? Not really because us Virginians (and I'm sure other states/families) actually talked to each other. We got together for holidays and had a family reunion every summer. What did we do you ask? Well all us kids played those yard games to stay out of our parents hair of course, but we also all took our turn on Papa/Granddaddy's knee. We all snuck into the kitchen while the lady's were preparing food. We all took a spot at the table and listened to the yarns and tales of yesteryear. WOW, this is making me teary eyed writing it, I miss those days so much. Anyway to the point, we also had our "geneology lessons" we didn't have books from the library with our ancestors names written down, we had our own family book and we knew our ancestors names. The Aunts always passed around flyers with the family tree, any new information that had come to light, and new babies births. It was pretty much a requirement in my family to know at least 5 generations of grandparents as well as cousins, aunts, and uncles. We knew the story about Grandpa JoshephWilliam Joseph Fleshood being wounded at Sharpsburg and dying soon after. We knew the story of our Revolutionary grandfathers WysongsFeidt Wysong and Fleshoods (they still had their German names then) They came to PA then to VA. One had 4 sons that all fought in the war and the other fought on both sides, first as a Hessian SoldierWillhem Fleschhutt(the above William Joseph's grandfather) he then reinlisted in the Continental Army. We knew our PoythressFrancis Poythress ancestor came to Jamestown early on and was an elite in the Williamsburg House of Burgesses, we knew his daughter Jane married Thomas Rolfe. I could go on and on here but I won't, my DNA (along with my uncles and cousins) and dedicated family members deligent work on geneology throughout the years, has proven all this and more.
Thank you for your time if you have read this far, I do have sources for what I put on here and I'll leave the other (though it's true) to Ancestry. The above statement is not to diminish your cause to get the sources correct on this site only to encourage you to stop making fun of people that say in profiles "they just know" or put up their family book references. Because it is a huge turnoff to people and a lot of them end up leaving the site. Thank you!
Note to people after I die:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:My_Stuff
Check out my One Place Studies for Brunswick County Virginia
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Lawrenceville%2C_Virginia_One_Place_Study
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Old_Pleasant_Hill_Christian_Church_Cemetery
Dunguaire Castle |
Dunguaire Castle near Kinvarra Co Galway, the ancient capital of the Hy Fiacrach Aidne kingdom. The site was a royal Dún or fort named after King Guaire the Hospitable , King of Connacht and ancestor of the Ua Cléirigh clan and those who bear the many derivations of the name, O'Clery O'Cleary, Clery, Cleary,Clary, Clarke . Clarke, Clerk, Clerke.. Dunguaire Castle was built by the Ua h-Eidhin (O’Heynes) in the 15th Century, another clan descended from Guaire.
The origins of the Ó Cléirigh surnames
Ó Cléirigh (modern spellings Cleary, Clery, Clary, O’Cleary, O’Clery, O’Clary; can be anglicised as Clarke, Clark) The classic sources on Irish surname history suggest two origins for this name, one being a derivation of the Irish word cléireach (clerk, cleric, clergyman and by extension priest or scholar), cléirech in Old Irish, cléirigh being the plural form. It is itself derived from the Latin word clericus, the source for a wealth of similar surnames across Europe (e.g. French Clerc, English Clerk, Italian Clerico, Spanish Clerigo). MacLysaght and Woulfe also tell us that the name indicates a descendant of an eponymous 9th century lord in Southern Galway named Cléireach, though as neither of them state that Cléireach was actually a cléireach they seem to be having it both ways.
Drawing upon medieval annals and the O Clery Book of Genealogies, Bart Jaski’s Genealogical Tables (2013) show the descent from Cléirech and the adoption of Ua Cléirig as a surname by his descendant in the 3rd or 4th generation, Comaltán (Table 61b, p. 143). Adrian Martyn (2019, pp. 58-64) argues that Mac and Ó bynames were used to indicate family relationships, but it is only when an Ó name is perpetuated into the 3rd generation and beyond that it is truly being used as a surname. He makes a slight change to Jaski’s tree (see image below) to show Comaltán as the 4th generation descendant of Cléirech making Ó Cléirigh a true dynastic surname from this point on – the oldest on record in Ireland and medieval Europe.
According to the Annals and O Clery Genealogies, Cléirech and his descendants were of the dynasty Uí Fiachrach Aidhni, descendants of the 7th century king of Aidhne and over-king of Connacht, Guaire, who featured in medieval sagas and in WB Yeats’ poem
The Three Beggars:
King Guaire walked amid his court The palace-yard and river-side And there to three old beggars said, "You that have wandered far and wide Can ravel out what's in my head. Do men who least desire get most, Or get the most who most desire?' A beggar said, "They get the most Whom man or devil cannot tire, And what could make their muscles taut Unless desire had made them so?' But Guaire laughed with secret thought, "If that be true as it seems true, One of you three is a rich man, For he shall have a thousand pounds Who is first asleep, if but he can Sleep before the third noon sounds." And thereon, merry as a bird With his old thoughts, King Guaire went From river-side and palace-yard And left them to their argument.
Poytheras: This rare and intriguing name is of early medieval English origin, and is an occupational surname for a pewterer, someone who made drinking vessels, plates, and other articles from pewter (an alloy of tin and lead). The name derives from the Middle English "peutrer", adopted from the Old French "peautrier", an agent derivative of "peau(l)tre", pewter. The Pewterers and the Founders marched together in the York Mystery Plays procession. The surname from this source has taken an extraordinary variety of forms; these range from Pewterer, Peutherer (also found in Scotland), and Pewter to Powter and Pouter. The feminine form of the name, Pewtress, has become Poutress, Poytress, Poythres and Poytheras. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and gradually became hereditary, and names that in the Middle Ages differentiated between the sexes were generally used for both by the early 16th Century; other examples of this include Baker/Baxter and Porter/Portress. Among the recordings of the name in Church Registers are those of the marriage of Jane Poythress and Thomas Rolfe in London, in 1615, and the marriage of Charles Poytress and Sarah Clarke at Tirley in Gloucestershire, on February 9th 1807. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Lambert le Peutrer, which was dated 1311, in "A Catalogue of Ancient Deeds", Middlesex, during the reign of King Edward 11, known as "Edward of Caernafon", 1307 - 1327. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
Anyone researching Poythress family line: https://poythress.org/
Adding as I get all the sources in place, I have 5 more at this time
* John B Abernathy 1st Proven DAR Direct Line Patriot
* Ruel Lewis 6th Great Grandfather (Slyvia Abernathy) 2nd proven DAR direct line Patriot
In addition to my 4 closest family names, Clary, Poythress, Abernathy, and Morris I am also expanding the tree to more branches, such as
Lynch, Jones, Fleshood (Fleischhutt: German), Wright
Barnett (Native American from the Fort Christanna Area, Brunswick County Virginia early 1700) Guy (Native American family I believe to be connected to William Guy that served in the American Revolution) Baird (back to and beyond John Baird Esq that married into the Poythress family late 1700s) Wysong, (German) Hancock (there is a John Hancock connection that I am working on connecting), Wynne, Rolfe (Thomas, John, and Rebecca long known family connection through Jane Poythress)
I estimate that 95% of my ancestors arrived at the Virginia settlement of Jamestown and dispersed throughout Virginia, mainly west to now Mecklenburg and Brunswick Counties. Many of my ancestors fought in the American Revolution and are proven. I am working on proving more. My German ancestors migrated down from PA.
My 31st Great Grandfather, maybe my most prestigious direct ancestor!? Rollo id=Normandie-54, a Viking Cheiftan that became the founder and first ruler of Normandy. He is the 3x Great Grandfather of William The Conqueror id=Normandie-32 ,my 26st Great Grandfather
Hrolf Normandy |
Noteables I'm related to:
Elvis in 1970 |
Thomas Jefferson, 1800, by Rembrandt Peale |
Robert the Bruce |
Mary, Queen of Scots, by an Unknown Artist. |
Tantallon Castle built in the mid 14th century by William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas |
Clare, Wyche, Poyntz, Saltonstall
Teresa and Edward III are fourth cousins 23 times removed Teresa (Clary) Willis and Edward (Plantagenet) of England (1312-1377) are both descendants of Mathilde (Clermont) de Dammartin (abt.1140-aft.1218).
Maternal relationship is confirmed by an autosomal AncestryDNA test match between Teresa (Clary Willis) Willis and Debra Crank, her 1st cousin . Their most-recent common ancestors are Delzie Elton Poythress and Virginia Morris, the grandparents of both Teresa (Clary Willis) Willis and Debra Crank. Predicted relationship from AncestryDNA: 1st cousins, based on sharing 600 cM across 27 segments.
Paternal relationship is confirmed by an autosomal AncestryDNA test match between Teresa (Clary Willis) Willis and Tracy Clary, her 3rd cousin . Their most-recent common ancestors are William Clary and Sarah Lynch, the great great grandparents of both Teresa (Clary Willis) Willis and Tracy Clary. Predicted relationship from AncestryDNA: 3rd-4th cousin, based on sharing 31 cM across 4 segments
Featured Asian and Pacific Islander connections: Teresa is 25 degrees from 今上 天皇, 23 degrees from Adrienne Clarkson, 24 degrees from Dwight Heine, 26 degrees from Dwayne Johnson, 25 degrees from Tupua Tamasese Lealofioaana, 19 degrees from Stacey Milbern, 24 degrees from Sono Osato, 33 degrees from 乾隆 愛新覺羅, 21 degrees from Ravi Shankar, 25 degrees from Taika Waititi, 26 degrees from Penny Wong and 16 degrees from Chang Bunker on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
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