My Trails into the Past

This is my fourth year working on this year-long 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. When thinking about genealogy beginnings, the arrival of immigrant families to America could be a beginning of our family history in the United States. For some of my lines, I know who the immigrant ancestors are. Their arrival in the 19 th century were documented by ship arrival records. For others, who were here before the American Revolution, I have no idea of their beginnings. Three-eighths of my children’s ancestors fall under this category. They include my mother’s southern ancestors and my husband’s Gorrell, Wollam, Shotts, and Bishop ancestors. But I can write about the other five-eighths of their ancestors. My father’s ancestors arrived here from Ireland, Canada (who were Iris...

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. The Thomas & Mary Davey family, who hailed from Cornwall, England, came to the United States in 1852. [1] Their youngest son, Frederick, was born in Pennsylvania the following year. [2] The family lived in Pennsylvania and later moved to Jeffersonville, Indiana, where both Thomas and Mary died. [3] Their eldest son, Thomas Nicholas Davey, did very well in life as a mine owner in Jasper County, Missouri, located in the southwest part of the state. He had a large house built and made a few trips to England. The earliest trip discovered was in 1896 when Thomas, at age 61, traveled home aboard the SS Servia from Liverpool with his wife, Anna, and daughter, Marie. Their quarters were in the saloon area of the ...

Previously I had discovered a possible ship on which the Thomas & Mary Davey family arrived to the United States. Read about it here . The conflicting problem in the above post, was the family was recorded as Nichols and Thomas was not with them. This past week, I discovered some new evidence. The oldest son, Thomas N. Davey, made several trips across the Atlantic to visit family and friends in England. In 1915, he obtained a passport to make the three-month travel and I found the passport application on Ancestry. [1] These passports are great for giving valuable information about naturalized citizens. He swore he was born at Saint Agnes, England on or about 7 November 1933. He emigrated to the United States on board the Ocean Queen from London on or about 5 February 1852. He had resided in the U.S. for 43 years, and in Carthage, Missouri from 1872-1911. He also stated he was naturalized at Carthage on 26 September 1891. At the time of his application, he w...

According to the 1886 obituary for Thomas Davey of Jeffersonville, Indiana, the family “came to this country, landing at New York in 1852, and made their home successively at Philadelphia, Reading, Altoona, and prairies of Illinois.” [1]   On the other hand, he reported on his declaration of intent to naturalize in 1853 that he arrived at the port of New York in June 1850. [2] This date is closer to the date he made his intention as oppose to the obituary some three decades later. The family was enumerated in the 1851 English census in Deptford, London. [3]  Why would he say 1850 if he was living in England in 1851? One needed to live in the U.S. for a minimum of two years before applying for the intent to become a citizen. Either he had come earlier and went back to get his family, or he lied to start the naturalization process sooner.  Their youngest child, Frederick, was born in the United States, 10 Oct 1953 in Reading, Pennsylvania. [4] This supports the a...

I am participating in the DearMyrtle study group called  Tracing Immigrant Origins - Passenger Records Study Group . We are to provide a link to a passenger list record we have found for one of our ancestors. This passenger list that I found was a treasure, because it took a long time to find. The family of my husband was Lundquist. The earliest census that I found for them was the 1870. Brothers "Andrew" and Gustave were living next door to each other in Jefferson County, Iowa. They each had a wife and children. This census gave no immigration data. This family was difficult to find. I couldn't find any Lundquist families that fit the pattern of the family. Then I remembered about the naming patterns of Swedes. Gustav's and Anders' father's name was Elias. Maybe they were listed with the surname Eliasson? Sure enough, I found the two brothers and their family on the ship list of the SS Manchester, which arrived in New York 9 Jul 1866.[1] 1866 Ship List for...