Limits of Paper Genealogy From doing paper genealogy, I know that my female line (mother to daughter) goes back to Margaret, wife of John Frame. Margaret’s maiden name is unknown. She was probably born about 1725, but there is no record of her until 1742, when she and her husband were living in Augusta County,…
Author: Justin Durand
Gunn
The Gunns claimed descent from Olaf the Black, King of Man but the line has been discredited as an early mistake. The later Gunns claimed descent from Sweyn Asleifarson, a pirate who lived in the Orkney islands, but that line is also now known to be a fake. The Gunns have been called the “MacGregors…
Astronomical Lore
The constellation we call Cygnus (the Swan) was identified as a separate constellation from ancient times. It was often identified as a bird, generally a duck or hen. It was probably Urakhga to the Sumerians. Certainly that constellation was a stellar bird of some kind. The Babylonians called it the Bird of the Forest. In…
Wilson
John Wilson (c1700-1783) and his wife Jean (c1705-?) came from Ireland to Berkeley County, Virginia. Rev. Jeremiah Wilson (c1735-c1813) moved first to New Jersey, and later to Bath County, Kentucky. He was the progenitor of a large family. Uriah Wilson (c1755-1825), served as a private in the Washington County, Pennsylvania militia in 1781, during the…
MacDowell
“To Conquer or Die” The MacDowalls are a Scottish clan, heirs male of Fergus, Lord of Galloway in 12th century. One branch settled in Sweden, where they became Barons Duwall. Fergus, whose ancestry is unknown, became Lord of Galloway in the reign of David I. Scholars believe he was candidate acceptable to both the Norse…