TV Genealogy Shows, a Popular trend

Genealogy is a major trend right now. More people than ever are engaged in researching their family trees. Libraries are offering classes and professional assistance. Ancestry.com, among other genealogy websites, is one of the fastest growing databases online. TV shows are based on genealogy of celebrities and regular folks. It would be interesting to determine the cause of this social phenomenon.

I don't miss an episode of any of these shows! It is fascinating to me to follow the research trail of expert genealogists as they uncover the family histories of people of all races and nationalities. The emotional reactions of these subjects as they learn the personal and sometimes tragic stories of their ancestors are completely understandable to me. I've experienced some of the most emotional moments of my life during my own family tree explorations.

Popular TV shows include:

Finding Your Roots (TLC)
Who Do You Think You Are (TLC)
Genealogy Roadshow (PBS)
Long Lost Family (TLC)

This morning I am catching up on the latest episode of Who Do You Think You Are. This episode features the ancestry of actress Courteney Cox. As the genealogist quickly traces Courteney's line back to England, some familiar names begin to pop up...Thomas Berkeley...Edward II...and I realize that they are also my own ancestors! The stories in this episode are shocking and terrible.

Here is the lineage back in time (forgive the lengthy list - just want to establish the connection):
Me
my father
my paternal grandfather, Ernest Earl Zaun, 1909-1959
my great grandmother, Georgia Powell, 1885-1973
her mother, Marie Louis Judd, 1859-1925
3X gg Orrin Bishop Judd, 1816-1892
4X gg Jotham Chester Judd, 1773-1850
5X gg Elnathan Judd, 1738-1808
6X gg Joseph Judd, Jr., 1707-1757
7X gg Joseph Judd, Sr., 1672-1757
8X gg John Judd, Deacon, 1640-1714
9X gg Thomas Judd, Deacon, 1608-1688 (the 1st ancestor to come to America)
10X gg Katherine Elizabeth Norwood, 1575-1632
11X gg  Lady Catherine Throckmorton, 1532-1581
12X gg Sir Robert Throckmorton, High Sheriff of Warwick, 1510-1581 (married Muriel Berkeley, daughter of  Lord Thomas Berkeley V)
13X gg Anna Catherine Vaux, 1488-1571
14X gg Lady Elizabeth Fitzhugh of Ravensworth, 1465-1513
15X gg Alice De Neville, Lady Fitzhugh, 1436-1503
16X gg Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, 1400-1460 (beheaded)
17X gg Joan De Beaufort, 1379-1440
18X gg John Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster, 1340-1399 (also called John of Gaunt, or Ghent)
19X gg King Edward III, 1312-1377
20X gg King Edward II, 1284-1327 and Isabella, 1295-1358 (daughter of Phillip IV of France)

According to the expert genealogist on the show, this line can be traced all the way back to William the Conqueror. Queen Isabella was the granddaughter of Queen Isabelle of Aragon. I wish I had paid more attention in history class!

There are all kinds of sordid affairs, gruesome executions, and murderous plots among the various members of  this tree. The Courteney Cox episode of the TV show focused on the plot to overthrow King Edward II (he was apparently a terrible king). His wife Isabella conspired with her lover Roger Mortimer to seize the throne for her son. King Edward II (thereafter referred to as "the king's father") was imprisoned for months and later murdered in his chamber at Berkeley Castle (which you can visit today).

The Berkeleys - pronounced "bark-lee"- were an important family, second only to royalty in England. My ancestor Thomas Berkeley I was tried and found not guilty of the murder of King Edward II. To add to the family history drama, King Edward II's chamberlain Hugh DeSpenser was publicly executed - we are also directly descended from him through his daughter Elizabeth who married Maurice de Berkeley, son of Thomas. Side note: we are connected to the famous Berkeleys of Virginia, but not directly.

Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, and Me

An interesting item was posted on Facebook by the Hampton History Museum this month. I made an immediate connection between Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia and our own family history, but I had no idea that this Elizabeth was the one for whom the places in Tidewater are named! Elizabeth River, Elizabeth City County... I always assumed they were named for Queen Elizabeth I of England, as the state of Virginia was.

Posted on Facebook February 13, 2016

My ancestors were in the Bohemian Queen's inner circle! Here is an excerpt from a previous blog entry (4/12/15) that I wrote about Nicholas Stillwell, my 9th great grandfather and Abigail Hopton, my 9th great grandmother:

Nicholas Stillwell was born in Surrey, England in 1603. He fled England to escape religious persecution, becoming a soldier of Elizabeth Stuart the Queen of Bohemia who was protestant. Elizabeth is called "the Winter Queen" because of her short tenure in the winter of 1619-1620. According to tradition, he married one of her maids of honor, Abigail Hopton, in about 1630. After the defeat of Prague, Elizabeth went into exile at The Hague, and her army disbanded. Nicholas came to America and settled in Virginia.

My ancestor, Nicholas Stillwell came to Virginia around 1630 and owned a tobacco plantation on the York River (where the Colonial Parkway is today) and was a well-known leader in the colonists' fight against the Indians. Could he have been instrumental in giving the Elizabeth River its name? Elizabeth City County? It is entirely possible!

This is the story I found: 

The Elizabeth River in colonial Southeastern Virginia was named in honour of the princess, as was Cape Elizabeth a peninsula, and today, a town in the United States in the state of Maine. John Smith explored and mapped New England and gave names to places mainly based on the names used by Native Americans. When Smith presented his map to Charles I, he suggested that the king should feel free to change the "barbarous names" for "English" ones. The king made many such changes, but only four survive today, one of which is Cape Elizabeth.[47] 

 Stewart, George R. (1967) [1945], Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States (Sentry edition (3rd) ed.), Houghton Mifflin, p. 38

I find it fascinating that my family history is so deeply embedded in the history of Tidewater Virginia, especially on my maternal side.  As far as I ever knew, my mother's family came from "out west," and my father's family from Richmond and New Jersey. How they ended up here, where it all began, it such an amazing saga!

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell > Capt. Nicholas Stillwell > Nicholas Stillwell III > John Stillwell > William L. Stillwell > Catherine Stillwell > Capt. Jacob Wandell > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada Clemina Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

Family Tree - paternal grandfather (5 generations)

This is my paternal grandfather Ernie Zaun's family tree.  Part of this tree doesn't go back very far because my 2X great grandfather John Adam Zaun came straight from Germany. I know where he was born, but cannot identify his parents.  My burning question to him would be, why would you come to a new country at a time when it is embroiled in a Civil War?  My 2X great grandmother Elizabeth Wellner came over from Germany with her parents on the same ship with Adam Zaun.  I found them on an immigrant passenger list, but that is all I know about them.  My great grandmother Georgia Powell ("Nanny") came from an illustrious New England lineage which includes a Governor of Connecticut and First Settlers of Hartford.  I can trace her ancestry back to the earliest colonial days in the Judd and Bradley families.

My grandfather Ernie's paternal side was from Germany as I mentioned. His mother Georgia's paternal side was from Ireland and England; her maternal side was from England and Scotland.  There are previous posts telling the stories of George James Powell, Mary Louise Judd, Orrin Bishop Judd, and Elizabeth MacDonald.  

Places to go, People to see: The Old Country

Here are the locations in Europe that our ancestors emmigrated from:

England
Paternal:

• Langley Parish, Kent - Thomas Judd (paternal)
• Suffolk - John Wilcox (paternal)
• Stourton, Whichford, Warwickshire - Thomas Welles & Alice Tomes
• Ringstead, Northamptonshire - Hannah Tuttle (paternal)
• Bridgenorth - Thomas Thompson (paternal)
• Warwickshire - Ann Thompson Hawkins (paternal)
• Bingley, West Yorkshire, England - William Bradley (paternal)
• Surrey - Thomas Dickerman (paternal)
• London - John C. Abbott (paternal)
• Gillingham, Dorset - John Greene
• Dunton-Bassett, Leicester County - William Almy
• South Kilworth, Leicestershire - Elizabeth Audrey Barlowe
• Long Lane, London, Middlesex - Roger Williams
• Worksop, Nottinghamshire - Mary Barnard
• High Laver, Essex - Roger Williams m. Mary Barnard
• Tichfield, Hampshire - William Sabin
• Stepney, Middlesex - Mary Elizabeth Wright
• St Albans, Hertfordshire - James Ashton
• Norwich, Norfolk - John Throckmorton
• Suffolk, Norfolk - Rebecca Colvill

Maternal:

• On Avon, Warwickshire - William Hickoks
• Stratford On Avon, Warwickshire - Elizabeth Stacy (m. William Hickoks)
• High Ongar, Essex Co. - Robert Lyman
• Harwich - Sarah ? Lyman
• Dorking, Surrey - Nicholas Stilwell
• Wytham, Somerset - Abigail Hopkins (m. Nicholas Stilwell)
• ? - Edward & Mary Bosworth
• Fenstanton, co. Huntington - John Howland
• Henlow, Bedfordshire - Elizabeth Tilley

Wales

• Cardiff, Glamorgan - William Edwards

Holland

• Waalwijk, Waalwijk, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands - Johannes Wandell 
• ? - Haight
• ? - Gerretson

Germany

• ? - Zaun
• ? - Wellner

Ireland

• ? - Wright
• ? - Powell

Scotland

• ? - Crofford

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell, Virginia colonist

My family, what would you think if I told you that one of your ancestors - my 9th great grandfather - was associated with Jamestown? 

UPDATE:  NEW INFORMATION DISPUTES THE CONNECTION OF NICHOLAS STILLWELL TO VIRGINIA. THIS BLOG ENTRY WILL BE EDITED AFTER FURTHER RESEARCH. HIS CONNECTION WITH THE QUEEN OF BOHEMIA IS ALSO IN DEBATE AS HE WOULD HAVE ONLY BEEN 15 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE FLED BOHEMIA IN 1621.

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell > Capt. Nicholas Stillwell > Nicholas Stillwell III > John Stillwell > William L. Stillwell > Catherine Stillwell > Capt. Jacob Wandell > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada Clemina Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell was the progenitor of the famous Stillwells of Long Island. We are direct descendants through my mother's paternal lineage.  There is a wealth of primary documentation about the Stillwell family.  It took some time to wade through it all, especially since many of them had the same first names and there were multiple spellings of the last name. Interesting, this Nicholas consistently wrote his name with the N backwards, so his writing is distinctive. He was a military man who led expeditions against the Indians, but he was also described as a pious man who "lived for the betterment of the human race."  He was loyal all his life to the Dutch people in America.

Nicholas Stillwell was born in Surrey, England in 1603.  He fled England to escape religious persecution, becoming a soldier of Elizabeth Stuart the Queen of Bohemia who was protestant. Elizabeth is called "the Winter Queen" because of her short tenure in the winter of 1619-1620.  According to tradition, he married one of her maids of honor, Abigail Hopton, in about 1630.  After the defeat of Prague, Elizabeth went into exile at The Hague, and her army disbanded.  Nicholas came to America and settled in Virginia.

[see this post for new info on the Queen of Bohemia]

He was a successful tobacco plantation owner on the York River in Virginia from 1635 to about 1646. His house and plantation were located "east of West Creek" (now Felgate's Creek) right off what is now the National Colonial Historic Parkway. From 1635 to 1639, he was a tobacco evaluator, inspecting tobacco for quality before it was shipped to England, so he likely was well known to John Rolfe. He aided Claiborne (future governor of Maryland) in the fight against the Indians in Virginia from 1644-1646.  Afterward, Nicholas left Virginia - perhaps because the "Claiborne Incident," whatever that implies, caused an unsafe situation for colonists vulnerable to attack by small groups of Indians, or maybe because Gov. Berkeley created an uncomfortable situation for certain protestant groups in Virginia.

UPDATE 5/3/2020:  Just discovered that Nicholas Stilwell also owned 200 acres in what is now Gloucester. The following two maps were found in The Descendants of Lieutenant Nicholas Stillwell, Volume I by Raymond J. Stillwell, 2010. Note the proximity to Warner Hall.

In 1646, he left for New Amsterdam, leaving his land to be taken by others.  He was one of the 20 original farm owners (Lady Moody colonists*) in Graves End. He traded a house in town for an outlying plantation. He had to prove he could defend himself from the Indians in order to obtain permission to live outside the town.  He led expeditions against the Indians during the Esopus Wars, which were localized conflicts between the Indians and the Dutch. In the years 1650-1653, he was the town magistrate.  He was a close personal friend and confidante of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New Amsterdam.

Graves End, or Gravesend, NY

In 1664, he purchased land on Manhattan Island.  In 1665, he moved to Staten Island directly across the bay from Gravesend.  He received the estate of Thomas Morell by will, as Morell did not have heirs.

Nicholas died on Staten Island on December 28, 1671.  

Nicholas Stillwell owned the land on Staten Island between what is now
Jefferson and Liberty Avenues, in the area of Dongan Hills.

Line of descent:  Lt. Nicholas Stillwell > Capt. Nicholas Stillwell > Nicholas Stillwell III > John Stillwell > William L. Stillwell > Catherine Stillwell* > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada C. Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia Crofford > Zaun
*some sources say Catherine's father was Stephen Stillwell, also descended from Lt. Nicholas Stillwell.  I'm still working on verifying this information.

Our family lines have crisscrossed through the generations, especially in our New England ancestry.  These links have not yet been proven, but there was a Richard Applegate (mom's maternal ancestor?) who married a daughter of John Stillwell (mom's paternal ancestor?).  I also found out that Jeremiah Stillwell (mom's paternal ancestor?) married Rebecca Ashton (dad's maternal ancestor?).

There is a book out now by Michael Philip Cash called Stillwell: a Haunting on Long Island. 180 five star reviews on Amazon!  There is a Stillwell Avenue in Gravesend, and the estates of some family members were well known on Long Island and in Queens.

*Gravesend was founded by Lady Deborah Moody, a leader of religious dissenters; she was the 1st female landowner.

Sources:
http://haygenealogy.com/hay/sources/britton/stillwelltree.html
http://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/STILLWELL
http://www.stilwell.uk.net/index.php/families/usa-stilwells/the-known-history.html
Various documents linked to Ancestry.com

Chaucer (originally posted in Feb 2015)

My 18th great grandmother, Kathryn de Roet Swynford, was the wife of John I Plantagenet and sister in law of Geoffrey Chaucer, the "father of English Literature."  There have been other English ancestors that have gotten me excited, but this one blew me away.  My passion has been English Literature since high school because of an inspiring teacher, Mrs. Comstock.  She was the reason I became an English major in college. I loved studying Chaucer so much in college that I took every single course taught by Chaucer scholar, Dr. Rosemary Sprague.  I even learned Middle English so I could read Chaucer's works in the original language. I had a strong drive to know everything about that time period.  I know the line of descent is not direct, but still... any connection at all is amazing.

Kathryn Swynford is an ancestor through my paternal great grandmother, Georgia Powell.

Postscript: Tragically, the beloved Dr. Sprague died in her bed during a fire at her old Victorian home in Farmville, Va. I own one of her books, and still remember her fondly.

Genetic Memory

I do not believe in reincarnation, though I have had personal experiences that made me understand why people do believe in it.  Now, I read about studies conducted at Emory University indicating that we inherit memories through our DNA, that we share in the experiences of our ancestors. This would explain a lot!  Chemical changes to our DNA occur when we experience a stressful or traumatic event, and experiments with mice show that these memories are passed down to subsequent generations. Experiences can alter our brains and our behavior, and these traits can be inherited.  Our DNA holds the recorded history of our family!  Natural aversions and instincts, and even phobias can be explained by this biological mechanism. I'm thinking that those mysterious deja vu moments can be explained by this as well.

Deja Vu

deja vu 

When I was about seven years old, my parents and a neighbor took me with them to Colonial Williamsburg. I remember very little about the visit, but one moment struck me so dramatically, I still get goosebumps thinking about it. The grownups were at Raleigh Tavern purchasing ginger cakes from the bakery there. (The smell still has very strong memory associations for me, which may explain why I must bake Raleigh Tavern ginger cakes every Christmas).  Anyway, I walked ahead of them and opened a little white gate leading out to Duke of Gloucester Street.  As I stood in the gateway looking toward the capitol building, an powerful sensation of deja vu came over me, and I have never forgotten it.  At that age, I could not even have known that deja vu was a thing.

Remembering Places I've Never Been
There are certain places that have always greatly interested me for no reason that I could figure - I have never set foot in any of them, but they are on my bucket list for sure:  Long Island and Cape Cod, The Alamo in Texas, and the particular areas of England associated with the legend of King Arthur.  Also, a story that greatly intrigued me as a child was The Boy at the Dike, set in the Netherlands.

Through my genealogy research in the past two years, I have discovered that my ancestors have solid connections with these very places.  It is truly an exciting thing for me, to believe that my inexplicable attraction to these places may be linked to my DNA!  I believe that this phenomenon might explain why some people get so hooked on genealogy once they get started.  It's like finding yourself.

King Edward III

We are direct descendants of King Edward III of England and his wife, Philippa of Hainault, through their son, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster.  Edward was born at Windsor Castle in 1312.  He became King at age 14 (1327) and reigned until his death in 1377.  He created the Duchy of Cornwall and founded the Order of the Garter.  He was a good king and an excellent military leader who led England into the Hundred Years War with France.

This might seem like an impressive claim... however, Edward had twelve children with Philippa, plus at least three more by his mistress Alice Perrers.  A genealogist from the UK calculated the probabilities and came to this conclusion:
There is an extremely high probability that a modern English person with predominantly English ancestry descends from Edward III, at a very minimum over 99%, and more likely very close to 100%. The number of descendants of Edward III must therefore include nearly all of the population of England, and probably much of the populations of the rest of the UK and Eire, as well as many millions in the USA, former British colonies and Europe, so 100 million seems a conservative estimate. 

The special thing about this claim is that I have traced our ancestry back to England in the 1200's through my father's maternal grandmother, Georgia Powell.  Her ninth great grandfather Judd married Katherine Norwood whose maternal line goes back another nine generations to Edward III.

We will never be Royals

... but we were so close!  the English are so much better at documenting their lineages.  Once I am able to connect our family tree to someone in England, the research is a piece of cake.  There are Knights, Lords and Ladies, Crusaders, Consorts, Castles, and a direct (albeit illegitimate) link to Royalty in our ancestry. There was even a beheading!

Elizabeth Fitzhugh Vaux, Lady of Ravensworth, my 14th great grandmother on my paternal side, was the grandmother of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII.  The Vaux family were created barons by Henry VIII in 1523.

Ruins of Ravensworth Castle

Her husband Nicholas, my paternal 14th great grandfather, was the Baron of Harrowden; his grandfather was a Knight.

Harrowden Hall, now the Wellingborough Golf Club

Sir George Throckmorton, my paternal 13th great grandfather, was the Lord and Knight of Coughton.
His son, Sir Robert, was the High Sheriff of Warwick.

My paternal 12th great grandmother was Muriel Berkeley of Berkeley Castle.

Berkeley Castle

Audrey Barlow, my paternal 9th great grandmother, was a descendent of Henry II of England by his mistress Ida De Tony.

Audrey Barlow, also the ancestor of Sarah Palin, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter.

My maternal 14th great grandfather, Sir Ieuan "Evan" Bushe, was descended from Welsh royalty and was in a long line of Knights and Ladies, and his issue married into families of Lords and Ladies such as Fernfould and L'Strange. According to Wikipedia, he was a renowned poet.

Ieuan wrote about 50 poems.  His love poems are considered to be his best work.

Sir William Carter of Hertfordshire, my maternal 13th great grandfather, married Lady Alice Croxton of Watford; his parents were the Lord and Lady of Cusworth.

Cusworth Hall, now a country house museum

Lord William Ravenscroft of Croxton (maternal 14th great grandfather), father of Lady Alice.

Croxton Abbey

My maternal 16th great grandfather, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, was beheaded in 1460 after the Battle of Wakefield.

Richard Neville effigy

Others direct ancestors include:
Sir John Anstell (maternal 13th great grandfather) of Cornwall

Cornwall

Sir John Wright, maternal 15th great grandfather, Lord Kelvedon

St. Mary the Virgin Church, Kelvedon, Essex

Perhaps, most famously of all, John Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Lancaster, maternal 18th great grandfather

John of "Gaunt" (born in Ghent), 1st Duke of Lancaster

Kenilworth Castle, modernized by John of Gaunt after 1350.

So, that is the extent of my knowledge of our English bloodlines to date.  I remember learning about some of these people in my history and English Literature classes.

Major John Greene (Abbott > Whitfield > Godfrey > Greene)

• With his father, surgeon John Greene, purchased land from Indian Chief Miontonomi in 1642 and called it "Greene's Hold" alias Occupasituxet
• Built a corn mill with three others in Warwick, RI, 1651
• General Record keeper for the town, 1652-54
• Commissioner 1652-63
• Deputy for Newport to the RI General Court 1679-1690
• General Solicitor in 1655
• Attorney General in 1657-1660
• Warden, 1658
• Commissioned Captain 1664
• Agent to the king in England to discuss the RI Charter, 1670
• Governor's Council 1683
• Major of the Main 1683-96
• Agent for RI to the King of England 1685-87
• Sent a letter of congratulations to the throne (William & Mary) 1690
• Deputy Governor of RI 1690-1700

Archaeology site:  http://proteus.brown.edu/greenefarm/Home
"Five generations of Greenes owned the estate until 1782, when John Brown (1736-1803, a wealthy, powerful Providence merchant and co-founder of Brown University, bought it.  the farm was then worked by tenant farmers, and the Brown family used it as a country retreat.  Brown's grandson, Governor John Brown Francis (1791-1864), returned to the property, where he and his descendants remain today."

Screen capture of the site of Greene Hold from 2014 Google Maps.
Major John Greene is buried in Spring Greene Burial Ground, the family plot on the homestead. 

Places

I would love to plan a trip itinerary based on the principal locations that my ancestors lived.

New England

Providence, RI, and Newport
Hartford and New Haven, CT
Fort Lee, NJ
Barnstable, MA
Buffalo Gap, SD
Liberty, IN
Lancaster, NE
Fort Lincoln, ND
Newcastle, WY
Hancock, IL
Hampshire, UK
Cornwall, UK
Salisbury, UK
Isle of Wight,  UK

Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Illinois

Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Cornwall, Salisbury

Ok, so I threw in Salisbury.  Who knows, we probably have Druids in our ancestry somewhere....  [PS just found out (2/8/14) that my 8th great grandfather John Greene was born in Salisbury, and we have deep royal roots there.]

One more place:  Berkley Castle, Gloucester is the birthplace of my 12th great grandmother Muriel Berkley, 1516-1543