Family Genealogy & Federal Assistance

Genealogy has been one of my hobbies for quite some time.  It can be an expensive endeavor if you try to follow your family's path through history with trips and acquiring certified copies of documents.  An easier, perhaps more accessible way to find your ancestral path is through some of the free sites offered by the United States Government. There are many archives now on-line with collections that might help you with your research.

These links below are also on our Resources Page, but this personal genealogy account was recently posted on the U.S. Government Gab blog.  http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/entry/family_genealogy

"My mom used to tell her school friends that she was related to the actor, Roy Rogers. She wasn't. As a kid I used to tell people I was half German, half English, half Irish, and half American. Knowing these two things, you could extrapolate that my family tree contains liars and people that can't do fractions.


On my dad's side, it was believed that my first ancestor in America was born in Germany, because he spoke German. Some relatives said he came to America with a brother and that they were from Frankfurt, Germany. However, these details turned out to be incorrect.  Within a short generational span, no one in the family spoke German and the family history was lost.

My sister, Paula, the “Nancy Drew” of the family, decided to do some research because she was interested in the details of our ancestry. When she told me she wanted to check into thisI suggested she start with the USA.gov Family History and Genealogy page. It is a great launch point with all kinds of links to other resources.

She then went to the National Archives website. The National Archives has a terrific Genealogists/Family Historian web section. They have guidance on how to start your family history search, search-able databases, publications, and a list of independent researchers you can hire to help you with family history search.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. You can make requests for USCIS to search its historical indices for file citations related to particular individual. From that information you can request copies of specific records. Check the site for the fees for index searches and copies of documents.

If you are of Native American ancestry, you may want to go to the Department of Interior to trace your Indian ancestry. They have guidance on determining if you are eligible for tribal membership.

Although my sister was able to obtain additional information about my great-grandfather, it was only dates and locations. She didn't learn what motivated my great-grandfather to leave Prussia, why he chose to settle in Iowa, how he felt passing through Ellis Island, or what his circumstances were as an immigrant. Those are the types of details that can only be learned through the intimate sharing of family stories. While you are conducting your search into the past, don't forget to pass on your family stories and share your history with your children."

 Have fun!

INVITATION TO JOIN OUR RIDGEFIELD LIVING HISTORY PROJECT!!!

Most historical records are about land acquisitions, wills, births, deaths and marriages. The RLHP is about these things and more. We are interested in the people who lived here before and who live here now. Participate as little or much as you like.

• Record/video/write to preserve oral histories in the greater Ridgefield Area - anyone who has history here: tribal, early settlers, residency or business, schools, clubs, past and current residents, young and old! (Minors will need written parental permission for this activity outside their own families.)

• Photo Grid Preservation of Ridgefield 2010-2011: One sq.mile sections on a map will be assigned randomly and be photographed over a year. The Clark County Historical Museum has agreed to post photos and photographers' names.

• Engage our businesses: Preserve the current and past histories of businesses.

• Create personal family trees and provide free beginners’ genealogy classes.

• Preserve the experiences of Ridgefielders who met famous visitors (for example, Charles Lindbergh)

• Preserve the stories of ‘what life used to be like’ when a person was a child.

• Collaborate with the tribes who are and were here, and wish to share histories

• Engage newcomers and oldtimers and in-betweens as a community building exercise in which everyone interested in Ridgefield can participate.

• Compile Political History of Ridgefield: Who were our mayors, councilpersons?

• Provide resources contacts and links: Libraries, Clark County, Olympia, and groups like the Mayflower Society (10% of all Americans are descended from them) and some of the Royals sites (150 million Americans, or about half, are descended from royals born before the 17th century), the Clark County Genealogical Society, the Clark County Historical Museum, etc.

• Ridgefield Schools History: Hopefully the school can provide scans of class pictures, locals can provide photos others can help identify, etc.

• History of the Arts in the Ridgefield Area: those here and those who lived here.

• Collaborations/support of the Cemetery Committee, the Heritage Committee, the Clark County Historical Museum/Society and local clubs/organizations in the Ridgefield Area.

• Eventual goals: Ridgefield's own historical museum and society (perhaps as a branch of our Clark County Historical Society/Museum).

Got a better idea? Come to our first meeting:

When: Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 7:00 pm

Where: Pickled Heron Gallery, 418 Pioneer Street, Ridgefield, WA 98642

INFO: Elizabeth Madrigal @ 360-887-4530

Email: ridgefieldlivinghistoryproject@gmail.com

Mailing address: RLHP, c/o Elizabeth Madrigal, 31607 NW 44th Avenue, Ridgefield, WA 98642

Facebook Fan Page:  Ridgefield Living History Project

Resources in Clark County, Washington, for History & Genealogy Buffs

There are some amazing people who are interested in preserving the full history of Clark County in addition to organizatoins like the Clark County Historical Museum, the Clark County Historical Society, the Clark County Genealogical Society, the Vancouver Regional Library (with all its branches), the Center for Columbia River History, several Tribes and the many people who work in government and other non-profits.

We will be compiling contact information for anyone who is interested in volunteering or participating in a variety of activities, so check back in.

My Ancestor, John Harington (aka Harrington) Flush Toilet Inventor... praise that man!

I research independently, but I have a membership to the on-site genealogy site, ancestry.com. I have over 13,400 ancestors and extended family on my family tree, and enjoy researching individual names in sort of a 'dart-board' approach.Today, I found a history on the Harrington family, one of my ancestral surnames, and so I followed it back to England.

I found the following biographical information on-line on ancestry.com about my direct great-grandfather ancestor (of many generations ago) who was born in Kelston, England on the 4th of August, 1560. He was a favorite, mostly, of Queen Elizabeth I, as one of her 102 Godchildren, but as a writer he seemed to be dealing with many of the same political issues we face today. As fascinating as all this is to me, this ancestor was most well-known for inventing the flush toilet!

My point in blogging about this and posting this biography here is to show how rich our heritage can be but first we need to we know our ancestors' names. Then your search for information becomes a historical treasure hunt.

So here is part of my ancestry story:

"John Harington (writer)
Born 4 August 1560
Kelston, Somerset, England Died 20 November 1612 (aged 52)
Spouse(s) Mary Rogers (1583)

John Harington (also spelled Harrington) (4 August 1561 – 20 November 1612) of Kelston was a courtier, author and master of art. He became a prominent member of Queen Elizabeth I's court, and was known as her 'saucy Godson'. But because of his poetry and other writings, he fell in and out of favour with the Queen, as well as with her successor, James I.

The work for which he is best known today, A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, called the Metamorphosis of Ajax (1596) is in fact a political allegory, a 'device' in the contemporary sense of an emblem, not in the modern sense of a mechanical device. It is a coded attack, as his autograph marginal notes make clear, on the 'stercus' or excrement that was poisoning society with torture and state-sponsored 'libells' against his relatives Thomas Markham and Ralph Sheldon. The work enjoyed considerable popularity on its publication in 1596.

Harington is most popularly known as the inventor of the Flush toilet.[1][2]

He is also remembered for the political epigram, "Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason."
// Family life

Harington was born in Kelston, Somerset, England, the son of John Harington of Kelston (d. 1582), the poet, and his second wife Isabella Markham (d. 1579), a gentlewoman of Queen Elizabeth I's privy chamber. He enjoyed the honour of being accepted as a godson of the childless Queen, becoming one of her 102 god-children. Her god children were persons that the Queen was fond of. If the Queen's friend had a child or children, the Queen would often show extreme niceties to them, and sometimes, would accept them as godchildren. She treated them well. Persons who also made great achievements, such as John Harington, were made godchildren.

The exact relationship between the John Harington of Kelston and the line of his contemporary John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton has not been established. Apparently John of Kelston did not know the pedigree of his obscure grandfather, Alexander of Stepney. Nevertheless it is generally assumed that he was also descended from the first Lord Harington of Aldingham, a baron in Edward II's time.

He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge.[3]

Although he had studied the law, Harington was attracted early in life to the royal court, where his freespoken attitude and poetry gained Elizabeth's attention. The Queen encouraged his writing, but Harington was inclined to overstep the mark in his somewhat Rabelaisian and occasionally risqué pieces. His attempt at a translation of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso caused his banishment from court for some years, but was completed in 1591 and received great praise. [1] Angered by the raciness of his translations the Queen told Harington that he was to leave and not return until he had translated the entire poem. She chose this punishment rather than actually banishing him, but she considered the task so difficult that it was assumed Harington would not bother to comply. Harington, however, chose to follow through with the request, and eventually completed translating the poem. His version of the poem is the translation that is still read by English speakers today.[4]

Harington wed Mary Rogers in 1583 and together they had nine children, two of whom died, as his autograph revisions make clear.

Harington fell ill in May 1612 and died on 20 November 1612, soon after Prince Henry, who died on 6 November; he was buried in Kelston.

Campaigns in Ireland

In 1599 the queen sent an army, led by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, to Ireland during the Nine Years War (1595-1603). Following her strong recommendation that Essex include him in his army, Harington was put in command of horseman under Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. Harington's legacy from this campaign were his letters and journal, which served to give the queen good intelligence about the progress of the campaign and its politics. Harington wrote, "I have informed myself reasonably well of the whole state of the country, by observation and conference: so I count the knowledge I have gotten here worth more than half the three hundred pounds this journey hath cost me." During the campaign Essex conferred a knighthood on Harington for his services. Essex fell into disfavour with the queen for concluding the campaign on a truce, and also caused her fury over the large number of knighthoods he awarded. Harington had been present at the truce negotiations, and on accompanying Essex when he returned to court to account to the queen, he experienced the royal wrath. However, his wit and charm soon secured the queen's forgiveness.
Literary works

Harington continued to write, even though he had vowed to give up poetry upon the death of Queen Elizabeth. He published just one more slim volume of verse in 1607, but continued to send letters both to friends and to the king's eldest son, Prince Henry, until 1609. Some of these letters were later collected by Harington's descendant, Henry Harington, and published under the title of Nugae Antiquae in 1769. The volume is a significant source for the history of the Tudor re-conquest of Ireland.
Orlando Furioso The Metamorphosis of Ajax

Around this time, Harington also devised Britain's first flushing toilet — called the Ajax (i.e. "a jakes"; jakes being an old slang word for toilet) — installed at his manor in Kelston, and which was reputed to have been current with the queen herself. Indeed, the American utilisation of the word 'John' as a euphemism for toilet, or bathroom, derives from Harington's invention. In 1596, Harington wrote a book called A New Discourse upon a Stale Subject: The Metamorphosis of Ajax about his invention[5]. He published it under the pseudonym of Misacmos. The book made political allusions to the Earl of Leicester that angered the Queen, and he was again banished from the court. The Queen's mixed feelings for him may be the only thing that saved Harington from being tried at Star Chamber.
Life as a courtier

After the queen's death, Harington's fortunes faltered at the court of the new King, James I. He spent some time at his manor at Kelston, but then found himself serving time in prison. He had stood surety for the debts of his cousin, Sir Griffin Markham, in the sum of £4000, when the latter had become involved in the Bye and Main Plots. Not able to meet his cousin's debts without selling his own lands, and unwilling to languish in gaol, he escaped custody in October 1603. However, James I had already recognised his loyalty and created him a Knight of the Bath and also granted him the properties forfeited upon Markham's exile.

Towards the end of his life, Sir John Harington became the tutor to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. He annotated for him a copy of Francis Godwin's De praesulibus Angliae. Harington's grandson, John Chetwind later published these annotations in 1653, under the title of A Briefe View of the State of the Church.

Sir John Harington died on 20 November 1612 at the age of 52. Though he was never able to regain his place in high society in England, his poetry at the time was well known and much admired, despite lacking much place in modern literature."

Interviewing Older Relatives and Neighbors... Before It Is Too Late

Most of us are complete and utter clods when it comes to asking our older relatives for information. First of all, we hurry them. Many seniors would be more than happy to tell us the stories of their lives, but if we rush them it is harder to remember things and details.

Relatives may be uncomfortable and worried about what other relatives may think if the types of things we are asking could be considered gossipy or private details. As an example, when I lived in Mexico City for three years I realized that Mexicans could role model for us Americans the value of extended family. An aunt or uncle or cousin or grandparent may be just as close and important to a person as siblings and parents. My Mexican friends would not consider saying something negative or critical about any of these people. This restraint is not a cultural predisposition just to Latins, however, so be respectful and let people talk.

Many of your questions will be answered without the need to pry. The first time you talk to them they may stay general, but the next time they may open up. Or the time after that and that and that. Also, make notes or use a tape recorder. Show your name as the interviewer, their name, their town, the date, etc. Good source records are important later when you have conflicting information and you will!

At the last funeral I attended, an elderly aunt had a great time while teasing her daughter and me. We laughed too, but inadvertently she gave me many details about the rest of our family. I made notes on the plane on the way home and used those notes to discover a great deal more history about my old hometown. It should not be surprising that these discoveries led to the surrounding towns. Without realizing it,I had been locked into thinking that everyone came from the town where my living relatives were. These were adventurous people, some of whom had crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Traveling 20, 50 or even 500 miles would not have been out of the realm of possibilities for any of them.

Now it seems ridiculous on its face. However, not one of my aunts, uncles, first cousins or siblings knew our ancestors had lived throughout the states of Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Rhode Island and that some of them during the Revolutionary War relocated to Nova Scotia. In fact, my paternal grandmother had been born in Brooklyn, which was a complete shock to me. I discovered where she went to nursing school and learned from my one living Aunt that my grandmother was a WWI veteran as she had joined the army after nursing school.

Although they were desperately in need of nurses for the Veterans Hospital in New York, her enlistment had been a problem initially because of her health. This was solved by her waiving medical insurance and coverage. The Army diagnosed a congenital heart defect they thought might eventually cost them money and would not let her enlist until she signed the waiver. She lived to 67, which made the waiver a moot point, but it seemed unconscionable to me just the same. The newest health care legislation makes this story ever dearer to my heart, as my own skinny and incredibly fit father had a massive heart attack at 39 years old related to injuries he sustained when he was torpedoed during his service in WWII. My father's medical was covered, as WWII respected its veterans, but my grandmother's was not. Different times, different values. I am glad I will not have any more stories from this era to tell my grandchildren. Anyone should be ashamed to deny a sick person access to medical services in a country with so many resources for the wealthy. Okay, no more politics, but they are prevalent throughout history, and this kind of blog post adds to that cache.

Another piece of advice I give to anyone who is doing research is simple. Write down names, dates, impressions, towns, professions, nicknames and countries of origin when your older relatives are talking. If your great-aunt remembers her great-aunt Hildegard speaking German, or your inebriated great-uncle swears in Italian, these are clues to your past. Those family myths are probably based on some sort of truth unless your relative is a pathological liar and you will still probably find some grains of truth in the lies.

A few years after my mother died, her first cousin confided to my sister that we were part Native American on the Canadian side. She had been told it was the Mi'kmaq tribe. This made sense, as they were one of the tribes both in Maine and Quebec, during the period she described, and our ancestors and relatives crossed that border with frequency. The Native American ancestor would have been my great-great-grandmother, or my grandfather's grandmother. As an ancestor had been killed during the Indian Wars by members of that same tribe, there was some irony there for me.

My sister, who lives around extended family, mentioned this Native American heritage, by the way, just in passing a year ago as she had a random picture of a Native American woman. It was tacked up on a board filled with a collage of other real family pictures. Inspired, I tracked down this first-cousin-once-removed but as her phone number had been changed, I wrote her a letter. I thought about doing this for months and months before I finally did. One Sunday I worded my letter so perfectly - so as not to offend an 88 year old woman who hadn't spoken to me since I was 13 - as if this was true, I had to make it comfortable enough for her to break the conspiracy of silence about the subject.

I sent her a letter; unfortunately, she received it shortly before her death. It was read to her by long-term neighbors, who were collecting her mail while she was in the hospital. She neglected to confirm or deny the information. Of course, the neighbor was kind enough to send me my letter back, explain the situation, and the only comment she made was that my cousin was "surprised" to hear from me. Mea culpa, friends. I live 3000 miles from that generation and she lived another 300 miles south of most of the extended family, but that was truly lost opportunity. She had no children and so her knowledge, her stories, her memories ended with her.

Call your grandma and grandpa or take your old Auntie out to lunch. Who knows what treasures are in store for you if you work on that 'listening' thing. Good luck!

Finding Distant Cousins through Genealogy

There are many reasons to research your family history. Some of us love history and our ancestors hold a fascination for us. Many people begin their genealogical research in order to compile a family medical history. And then there are even more who would like to confirm whether or not the family stories passed down are myths. There are also people like me who think everyone should know where they came from and who their ancestors were.

I began researching my own genealogical story when I was nine years old. The male lines were relatively easy on one side to find, but the interesting history is actually on the female side. My family history on this continent starts with New England and Quebec in Canada. Everything prior to the Mayflower days - on which eight people were my direct ancestors - is all in Europe and Russia.

I have varying amounts of evidence that document over 13,000 ancestors and extended family. For most people the hardest part is getting the first five generations documented. Once you find out who your great-great grandparents were, the records can be amazingly complete for some things like births, deaths and marriages.

If you are among the 30 to 40 million people in the United States descended from the Royal families in Europe, you may even find portraits of your ancestors and their castles.

To my delight and surprise I learned that a dear friend from Battle Ground and I are actually distant cousins. The last direct ancestors we share are a married couple James Leonard (1621-1691) and Mary Martin (1619-1664), the parents of Abigail Leonard, one of my great-grandmothers, and James Leonard, one of my friend's great-grandfathers.

Although this period was obviously prior to the advent of photography, the family became wealthy once they started their iron business in the United States. Before they started the first iron works in America, they were struggling with Scottish iron works and left sizeable debts in Scotland and England and probably forfeited property when they immigrated. There is no shame in this history, frankly, as life has ups and downs. My point is that their new life probaly afforded the luxuries one could expect in the wealthier classes in America, like portraits of the family. As so much information is on the Internet, my latest research challenge is to try to find those images.

I did a quick search and as I know something about the Leonards, it was easy to verify this is a passage about my ancestors written by a distant relation at some point:

"The Leonards called their bloomery Raynham forge, doubtless from Raynbam in England, which is the station where one alights to visit Belhus mansion at Aveley Easex, the head quarters of the English Leonards where the beautiful portraits are of our English ancestors. The owner, Sir Thomas Barrett Leonard, is a landed proprietor of at least 10,000 acres of land inberited from the early Leonards. It may be that James and Henry Leonard lived here in their boyhoods and had childhood's associations with Raynham, for which they named their forge. The site of this old forge which was carried on by seven generations of Leonards, was pointed out to me by my father, when as a child I rode with him through Raynham to Taunton.

I was also rather delighted to read this segment of the same family history piece which was another example in my extended family's excellent relations with the Native American communities wherever they lived - with the exception of a different Great Grandfather in the 17th century in Yarmouth, Maine who was killed by a war party during the Indian Wars. Nobody's perfect, right?

"James Leonard was a warm friend of the good Indian chief Massasoit who used frequently to visit him, sleeping under his roof and eating his bread. James gave him every assistance in the repair of his guns and making his weapons and tools. Massasoit, before his death, required a solemn oath of his son Philip that he would never harm a Leonard, and Philip in 1675 in an imposing meeting in Taunton Church at which James Leonard was present, affixed his mark to a document promising peace with the men of Taunton. Philip's tribe molested the white settlers in Middleboro and New Bedford, but the inhabitants of Taunton and Bridgewater suffered little in King Philip's war, and no harm was done to the Leonards with Philip's consent. Thus the name of Leonard represents to Taunton not only splendid enterprise, but the hospitality and friendliness which secured safety for the town at a critical period. King Philip had a summer home near the Leonards, and Lake Nipenicket between Raynham and Bridgewater was a favorite fishing ground of his. There is a tradition that Philip's head was secreted after his death under the old Leonard house in Raynham.

I can undoubtedly find more information about our shared ancestor by contacting the Old Colony Historical Society http://www.oldcolonyhistoricalsociety.org/Genealogy%20and%20Local%20History%20Research%20at%20OCHS.htm which is located in Taunton, Massachusetts. If I were interested in spending a little money, I could actually pay to have research done for me, but where's the fun in that?

However, now that I know these portraits exist, I am curious and would like to find an image to view.