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Some of the documents below are in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. Opening
the files requires the free Adobe Reader software from Adobe's website. Adobe Acrobat is software that enables
publishing, viewing and printing electronic books and documents. The PDF
files can easily be downloaded to your PC for offline viewing and printing.
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Family Tree Introduction
My interest in genealogy started in 1998 when one of my aunts jokingly
searched the Internet on her name to see "what" she would find.
Much to her surprise, she found herself and my parents listed on someone's
genealogy website. The person turned out to be a fourth cousin to me, and
he had found their names listed in a newspaper obituary. His well documented
research traced one part of my ancestry back to Poland in the 1700s. A
short time later, I then pulled out what my family thought was one of only
two existing copies of a genealogy book compiled by Clay Hollon, my great
grandfather. Clay spent many years researching his genealogy and family
history, and published his research in a book called Hollon and Related Families - Early Settlers of Eastern Kentucky and Their
Descendants in 1958. Using some of the names from the book, I searched the Internet
and readily found numerous genealogy websites listing some of the same
names. Some of the people managing those websites turned out to be distant
cousins, and some even had photographs of my direct ancestors that my family had never seen. Also to my surprise, I
learned that Clay's book could be bought over the Internet from at least
one website, and is even part of the Library of Congress.
Since 1998, I have been fortunate to find extensive information about my
family history, including learning that two of my ancestors fought in the
American Revolution, and another with the Union in the Civil War. Many
cousins have willingly permitted me to incorporate their research into
my database, and they are cited as sources. I have also learned how to
do "true" genealogical research, which is the sometimes tedious
process of searching for and obtaining records, such as birth, marriage,
death, census, etc. It is very common to find conflicting information on
the internet from multiple researchers. This is why it is important to
maintain a strict adherence to obtaining "proper" evidence and
documentation to support all findings. It is also common to find that many
family legends will directly conflict with documented evidence. I try to
keep an open mind, weigh things accordingly, and specifically state where
there are discrepancies.
Do you have a question, comment, or something to share? Please feel free to send me an e-mail or post on my Message Board. The message board contains a general discussion category for family tree
research, as well as specific categories for several surnames. The message
board serves as a way for you to communicate not only with me, but with
any other visitors and future visitors to my website. If you have an "unanswered"
question in your research, you can share it on the message board for anyone
to see and possibly answer. The board will also contains some of my current
research notations.
Family Tree Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
These are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions sent to me about my family
tree research.
Who are you related to in your database? Assuming there is no error involved, I am distantly related to everyone
in the database, or I am related to the spouse of that person. If you are
curious of my relation, simply send me an e-mail and I can determine the
specific relation that I have with someone in the database, and can readily
identify who my common ancestors would be with that person.
What is your privacy policy, or why are the names of living individuals
listed? I do not post or share anything but the names of living individuals. Some may have have "privacy" concerns about being listed. So upon a courteous request, I will promptly delete someone from my database permanently. Those that are concerned about "privacy" are normally concerned with being linked to their mother's maiden name, etc. It should noted that this information may be already commonly available as a "public record." The most prominent example are marriage and obituary announcements in newspapers. Additions to my database frequently come from online obituaries, where family structures and maiden names generally are clearly outlined.
Would you like to receive updates and corrections, or photos not shown
on your site? The answer is definitely "yes," but you may want to drop me an e-mail first, before going through any effort. The reason being is that I do not enter into my database anyone that I am not related to. So you may want to check with me to ensure proper relation of the people in question. For example, if I am distantly related to a husband, while I obviously include the wife's name, generally I will have no relation to the ancestors of the wife and would not enter anything on her ancestry. |
Family Tree Database
My family tree database is viewable and searchable online, and contains
virtually all of my research since 1998. The database contains over 29,000
individuals, and transcriptions of records and documents.
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This is the primary version of my family tree database. If you found my website via Ancestry.com
or Rootsweb.com, you will want to visit this database as a "next step"
as the database is not truncated. You may find a "close" relative
listed, or even yourself.
Updated: April 20, 2007 |
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This secondary version of my database is part of the Ancestry.com search engine and is
indexed with millions of other names. The database is automatically truncated
(or filtered) and the names of all living individuals are listed only as
"living person."
Updated: April 20, 2007
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This secondary version of my database is part of the Rootsweb WorldConnect search engine
and is indexed with millions of other names. The database is automatically
truncated (or filtered) and the names of all living individuals are listed
only as "living person."
Updated: April 20, 2007 |
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If you interested in examining my ancestry, click here for a link to my record in the database.
The surnames of my ancestors include:
Barron, Becthler, Bembenek, Bennett, Boenning, Broeyels, Butterfield, Campbell,
Duffrin, Effing, Elkins, Endersby, Gibbs, Gumanov, Harrison, Holland, Hollon,
Johnson, Jones, Kockert, Langham, Long, Larenday, Maisel, Mazur, Meyering,
Muchmore, Osborne, Papineau, Nienhaus, Pfeiffer, Richmond, Roettgers, Scmitt,
Shepherd, Stockbridge, Szwarz, Wierzba, Worland, Wright.
My nationalities include:
English (1/4+), Polish (1/4), German (1/8th+), Swedish (1/8th), Scottish
(1/16th), and some unknown, which more than likely English.
Famous or Notable Ancestors:
I have absolutely none. But this 5th great grandfather and another 5th great grandfather fought in the American Revolution. This 2nd great grandfather was in the Civil War with the Union Cavalry. And as a "conversation
piece", my 2nd great grandmother bears an amazing resemblance to the actor and comedian Robin Williams. |
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Family Tree Photographs & Documents
Below are links to pages that contains photographs and scanned images of
documents and records. The pages are separated for my direct ancestors,
and another page for distant cousins and other relatives.
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Photographs & Documents of My Ancestors
This page contains photographs and scanned images of documents for my direct
ancestors. |
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Photographs & Documents of Distant Cousins
This page contains photographs and scanned images of documents for distant
cousins and other relatives. |
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Family Tree Publications
Below are publications related to specific surnames of my ancestors. It
should be noted that the information contained in each is current only
as of the publication date listed. As they are several years old, significantly
more current, updated, and corrected information is contained in my family
tree database.
The Descendants of George Holland
First Edition (2000)
823 pages - 2.8MB
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The Descendants of George Holland
Draft Update - Descendants Only (April 20, 2007)
667 pages - 2.6MB
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Nienhaus Family History & Genealogy
Second Edition (2000)
255 pages - 3.0MB
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Family Tree Website Links
The following are links to some helpful websites related to family tree
research, in general.
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| Ancestry.com is one of the most comprehensive websites for family tree
research. Most of the records are fee based, and one of the most useful
subscriptions is for census records. |
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| Family Tree Maker is the software that I have been using since 1998 to
record and track all of my family tree information. It also contains additional
features to create charts and books.. |
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| RootsWeb is a free website that contains a variety of resources that are
helpful in family tree research. The "RootsWeb Guide to Tracing Family
Trees" is particularly helpful. |
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