Saturday, February 28, 2009

Names, Places & Most Wanted Faces

Over at GeneaBlogie, Craig Manson has come up with a new meme related to genealogy surnames that he's calling,


I'll let him tell you about it:


List the surnames you are researching and the general localities. Then tell the names of your “Most Wanted Ancestors,” that is, the ones you most want to find behind that brickwall. (You can tag people if you want; I’ve chosen not to do that here so that all readers are included). Let’s see your lists; maybe we can each help someone out!

I have dozens of names I could share because I try to research all my collateral lines, too, but I'll stick to my direct ancestors for this posting. You may notice that most of my ancestors didn't move around much. I'm going to split these up into groups based on my each of my paternal grandparents and then my mom's family. I also research my husband's family, but for now, I'm going to concentrate on my own blood relatives!

My grandfather's family surnames

  • ATKINSON: Virginia/now West Virginia (Ohio County, Brooke County), Ohio (Delaware County), Pennsylvania (Washington County)
  • McDAID: Pennsylvania (Greene County, Washington County), West Virginia (Marshall County)
  • KIMMINS: Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County, Washington County)
  • WOLFE: NJ (probably Morris County), Pennsylvania (Greene County, Washington County)
  • FARIS: Virginia/now West Virginia (Ohio County), Ohio (Delaware County)
  • SUPLER: Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County, Washington County)
  • CHASE: Massachusetts (Barnstable County, Bristol County), Pennsylvania (Washington County)
  • BROWN: Pennsylvania (Cumberland County), Virginia/now WV (Ohio County)
  • CURTIS: Virginia/now WV (Berkeley County, Ohio County)
  • KIRK: Pennsylvania (Chester County, Washington County)
  • MITCHELL [two lines possibly related to each other]: Pennsylvania (Cumberland County), Virginia/now WV (Ohio County)
  • CARROLL: Pennsylvania (Washington County)
  • SHERMAN: Massachusetts (Bristol County), Rhode Island (Newport County)

My grandma's family surnames:

  • FIFE: Pennsylvania (Allegheny County, Washington County)
  • SKILES: Pennsylvania (Washington County)
  • McCONNELL: Pennsylvania (Allegheny County)
  • ADAMS: Pennsylvania (Allegheny County)
  • MORROW: Pennsylvania (Allegheny County)
  • McCORMICK: Pennsylvania (Allegheny County)

And from my mom's family where my information is very sparse:

  • TOLBERT: Virginia (Carroll County), West Virginia (Raleigh County, Fayette County)
  • SHREWSBURY: West Virginia (Raleigh County)
  • WEBB: Virginia (Carroll County), West Virginia (Raleigh County, Summers County)
  • COMBS: Virginia (Carroll County)

For the locations I show as "Virginia/now WV", those families were there before West Virginia was formed. If I labeled a place as "West Virginia" only, either the family moved there after WV was formed, or else I don't know when the family got there.

My most wanted ancestor? Probably my orphan g-g-grandmother, Lydia (Lafferty) Skiles who I have written about previously at My Brickwall Ancestor: Lydia (Lafferty) Skiles 1850?-1904.

Are you interested in sharing your family surnames on Twitter? Thomas MacEntree has created a Twitter Group called Genealogy Surnames and a new meme for sharing the names we're researching that he describes at Surname Saturday - A Twitter Meme. I'm planning to participate by posting one surname each week, along with it's link to my Rootsweb WorldConnect database. You can see my first tweet relating to my Atkinson surname here.

I hope someone can make a connection to a name here, but at the least, I find these types of postings useful because you never know when someone might find me through Googling one of these surnames! And if you're reading this, please feel free to participate, too!

2 comments:

  1. We may be related somewhere along the line. I have Supler, Kirk and Atkinson blood. My Supler line blends with the Kirk line at John Supler and Rachel Kirk. The Atkinson is Jane Atkinson who married Richard Sargent. Check out John Supler, born 1730 on Helen Durbin's website. I don't have the address but if you hunt John Supler you will find it. I have the paper version. It is extensive. I end up being a descendent of the Wise family from Washington and Greene counties, PA
    Barbara Wilson
    barbwilrich@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yeah, we're related, Barbara, at least thru the Suplers and Kirks! I have some of your Atkinsons in my tree, but I haven't been able to connect any of them to MY Atkinsons who were in Ohio County VA/WV, then Delaware County, OH, before moving to West Finley Twp in Washington County PA sometime between 1860 and 1870. You can see my database on Rootsweb HERE!

    Thanks for writing! Hope to hear from you again!

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