Need some Help with my Family Tree

[Terry Soloman]

My family goes back to pre-Mayflower America, on both my mother and father's sides. Having some trouble finding the history of some distant relatives on Ancestry.com, and I'm looking for a paid helper that knows how to get through the roadblocks newbies like me get stopped by. If you can help or know someone that can, I have a budget of $300.00 Here is what I know so far:

My Partial Bloodline, dating back to the 1300s:




Robert Leigh died of Plague

1372–1415

BIRTH 1372 • Cheshire, England

DEATH 26 SEP 1415

17th great-grandfather




Robert Legh

1410–1479

BIRTH 1410 • , Cheshire, England

DEATH 1479 • Chorley, Lancashire, , England

17th great-grandfather




Robert Lee

1395–

BIRTH ABT 1395 • Langley, England

DEATH Unknown

16th great-grandfather




James Ridley

1402–1479

BIRTH 1402 • 1673464, Shropshire, England

DEATH 21 JAN 1479 • Cheshire, England

16th great-grandfather




Ralph Lee

1420–1471

BIRTH 1420 • Langley, England

DEATH 1471

15th great-grandfather




Sir Richard Leigh

1446–1508

BIRTH 1446 • Langley, Shropshire, England

DEATH 1508 • Willington, Durham, England

14th great-grandfather




James Gunn

1420–1464

BIRTH 1420 • Caithness, Stirlingshire, Scotland

DEATH 1464 • St Tears, Scotland

14th great-grandfather




Daniel Gunne

1460–1560

BIRTH ABT. 1460 • Roslyn, Scotland, UK

DEATH 1560 • Saintbury, Gloucestershire, England

13th great-grandfather




Richard Gunne

1495–1587

BIRTH 1495 • Saintbury, Gloucestershire, England

DEATH 28 JAN 1587 • Saintbury, Gloucestershire, England

12th great-grandfather




Sir Richard GUNNE

1519–1587

BIRTH 1519 • Saintbury, Glouchestershire, England

DEATH 1587 • Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland

11th great-grandfather




Nathaniel Jameson

1576–

BIRTH BET. 1576–1580 • Massachusetts USA

DEATH Unknown

11th great-grandfather




Philip Fowler Jr. GG 9LT

1590–1679

BIRTH 1590 • Marlborough, Wiltshire, England

DEATH 24 JUN 1679 • Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

10th great-grandfather




James Jameson

1610–1661

BIRTH 1610 • Scotland

DEATH 21 JAN 1661 • Boston, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

10th great-grandfather




William Copp

1589–1670

BIRTH 1589 • Hatton, Warwickshire, England

DEATH 27 FEBRUARY 1670 • Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA

9th great-grandfather




John Haskell

1620–

BIRTH 1620 • Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts

DEATH Unknown

9th great-grandfather




Ebenezer Howard Heywood

1638–1690

BIRTH ABT 1638 • Massachusetts

DEATH 1690 • Salem Essex Massachusetts

8th great-grandfather




Capt. Joseph Allen

1653–1724

BIRTH 13 OCT 1653 • Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

DEATH 06 OCT 1724 • Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

7th great-grandfather




John Chapman

1702–1775

BIRTH 24 JANUARY 1702 • Charles Parish, York, Virginia, United States

DEATH 29 DECEMBER 1775 • Spotsylvania, Spotsylvania, Virginia, United States

6th great-grandfather




John Chapman

1750–1785

BIRTH 1750 • Virginia

DEATH 1785

5th great-grandfather Corporal, Continental Army




Joshua Morris

1752–1795

BIRTH 17 DEC 1752 • Culpeper, (Orange Co) Virginia, United States

DEATH 1795 • Teays Valley, Kanawha, Virginia, USA

5th great-grandfather




Henry Chapman

1777–1859

BIRTH 1 AUG 1777 • Montgomery, Montgomery County, Virginia, United States

DEATH 22 NOV 1859 • Teay Valley, Putnam County or Cabell County, West Virginia, USA

4th great-grandfather




Henry Williams

1790–1883

BIRTH 1790 • Pennsylvania, Somerset, Pennsylvania, United States

DEATH JUN 1883 • United States

4th great-grandfather




John Hance

1820–1868

BIRTH 1820 • , , Pennsylvania, USA

DEATH 16 OCT 1868 • , Bell, Texas, USA

3rd great-grandfather




James Rowe

1852–1889

BIRTH MAR 1852 • Monmouthshire, Wales, United Kingdom

DEATH 08 DEC 1889 • Walker, Northumberland, England

2nd great-grandfather




James Forrest

BIRTH Scotland

DEATH Unknown

2nd great-grandfather




Edward Paugh Goodwin

1872–1933

BIRTH 12 SEPT 1872 • Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA

DEATH 6 MAY 1933 • Montgomery, Montgomery, Alabama, USA

great-grandfather




John G. Rowe

1887–1920

BIRTH 1887 • England

DEATH 1920 • Dolomite, Jefferson, Alabama

great-grandfather




Bartlett Strother Goodwin

1898–1967

BIRTH 25 JUN 1898 • Ravenwood, West Virginia, USA

DEATH 19 MAR 1967 • Miller, Georgia

maternal grandfather



Earl P. Soloman
Florida, about 1900

Paternal grandfater

 

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[Peyton Manning]

I cannot help, but I would like to find out where I came from
you think ancestry is good?

 

[uglymailman]

Terry, just a shot but have you googled the names? I'd think the Sir Richard Gunne might hit. I did that for Great Great Grandma and found where some distant cousin had done our whole family tree back to 1700. Going back 300 plus years further is cool. Good luck.

 

[smokeythecat]

Terry, I used to do professional research and the easiest way is to tie into somebody else's work. When you get back as far as you have, that's where it normally dead ends. The records back then are not good. My oldest line goes back to Edward I of England.

 

[Mackaydon]

Have you tried contacting your local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church)?
They probably have been to Cheshire England and copied and archived all the parish records that may have existed 'back in the day'.
Unless your earliest known ancestor is of prominence (nobility) the chances are great there may be no earlier record.
Don........
.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Thanks all! Yes Jeff, Ancestry.com is a good resource. I signed up for two free weeks, and then a monthly fee if I want to continue. I just got my application for Sons of the American Revolution, so It will be cool to join - something I can pass down to my kids and grandkids. It is $2,500.00 to START with a professional to flesh out your family tree, so, I guess I'll just keep plugging away on my own.

 

[Kace]

Hi Terry.... I'd be happy to help with tips... the best thing I've found is to contact a researcher in the areas of countries you need to research and barter to research for them in the US... they have as hard of a time as we do. It costs You and them Nothing... all bartering, and like was mentioned above, LDS is great especially if you have one in your area... I have one pretty close to me that I could do some research if you need it... Just PM me.

I did it in Ireland, Italy, England and Sweden... I was able to go back to 1673 before I stopped due to my time constraints.

All of the researchers I dealt with just said to let them know when I was ready to start on each of our lines again.

Kace

 

[CaptEsteban]

I research my family & manage a DNA Group of my surname project. Be VERY careful in doing your ancestry trees, etc. Other people's family trees on Ancestry.com, & other sites, are ONLY as accurate as the information they have typed in. There are many mistake in some trees posted on there. If you are certain the individual info in the tree is accurate, it is OK to use it. If unsure, use that info as a " hint " to help you do further research. Written records are proof , so just don't " copy & paste ."

 

[Keith Jackson]

Be VERY careful in doing your ancestry trees, etc. Other people's family trees on Ancestry.com, & other sites, are ONLY as accurate as the information they have typed in. There are many mistake in some trees posted on there.

I know this to be the case. Somewhere is all the genealogy stuff my mother has is part of a family tree going back to some of the French royalty. I was doing some online searching one time and found a warning to those who were using a particular set of relations because there had been some problems found with them. Of course, the problem set was a part of my tree.

 

[sprailroad]

The Capt. & Keith are correct. You really cannot go by what others had typed in, so many can lead you WAY WAY of course, I had learned that the hard way. They can be like "VDI" numbers, OK as a reference point, but not as "the" answer. As much as you "want" to go further back, you just can not take what others have as though it were carved in stone. Sooooo many same and similar names, places and dates of births etc., the list goes on. I ended up having to delete several generations and more until I learned that. It can be and is very tricky at best. Example might be "Nathaniel Jameson", b. 1576-1580 Massachusetts. If that was a name, date and place from another tree without any documentation, but simply "there", chances are or could be very, very slim. Year 1580 is 40 years Before the "Mayflower" of 1620, then to jump back to England only 10 years later to Phillip Fowler, back to a "Jameson" 1610 of Scotland, a very daunting task, even more so when "Jameson" itself is a common name. It is a interesting, yet very time consuming and often frustrating "hobby". Do remember, just because others have typed in names without "anything" shown to back it up, does not make it so. Lots of time and effort, but sometimes it can be "eye opening" and interesting. Also remember, records ONLY exist if they were ever kept, and then if they survived, otherwise.....?? Great good luck with it all Terry....

 

[Terry Soloman]

Thanks All! I sent away for my DNA kit, and called Ancestry to see if I could get professional help. After reviewing my Tree, they told me it will cost $4,000.00 to track down and certify my family history. WOW! Anyway, I started a go fund me page so my kids can help me out!

 

[Gare]

Ancestry.com is NOT a good place. If someone puts in wrong info it just shows and it still is wrong. Terry PM me your phone number i will give you some info that will get you in the right directtion

 

[fyrffytr1]

I use familysearch.org It is free and run by the Later Day Saints. It won't hurt for you to try. I get e-mail from them whenever a possible new ancestor shows up.

https://www.familysearch.org/

 

[Stringtyer]

Terry ... I don't know how long you have been doing family research so I'll base my comments on the assumption that you are reasonably new at genealogy. By the way, this is a fun hobby if you enjoy doing clean research and don't mind going down a few empty rabbit hole now and then. Don't get too far ahead of yourself ... it makes it tough to clean up the messes later.

You are probably aware of the essential rules: (1) the only thing you can be sure of is who your mother is, (2) you have to question everything until you have solid sources to support your findings, and (3) don't be too proud or too ashamed of what you find. You can be reasonably sure of who your father is if you believe what your mom tells you :-).

Questions: Do you have a good pedigree chart started (with you as the first person)? Do you have solid records for the generations you can remember?

I've been doing family research for many years and am happy to share what I know. PM me if you would like and maybe I can give you some good research methods and ideas.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Thank you to the members that have reached out to me with important hints and tips to help me as I stumble through a very tough learning curve! The personal messages, Emails and phone calls have all been fantastic!

Researching a Family Tree is Hard!!! I had to go back to square one after talking to several of you, and realizing I was making some rookie mistakes. Now I am comparing information from four different sources, including FamilySearch.org, the Mormon Genealogy service. Here is what I know FOR SURE as of right now. We all qualify for the Son's / Daughter's of the American Revolution. • Re: John Burch (1750-1818) Rev Pvt VA, my 5th Great Grandfather. I'm tracking down the Civil War and War of 1812 family members now, using muster and pension rolls. Exciting!!!

 

[Keith Jackson]

I use familysearch.org It is free and run by the Later Day Saints. It won't hurt for you to try. I get e-mail from them whenever a possible new ancestor shows up.

https://www.familysearch.org/

Thanks for the tip. I just signed up for an account. I am sure that my sister-in-law already has one. Hopefully I can tie into her work. What is really ironic is that while going through some stuff yesterday, I found out that one of my relatives back on my mother's side was apparently an important man in the early Mormon church.

 

[Terry Soloman]

I continue to learn, and as I get help from folks here, and on other forums, I correct mistakes, and cut down on wild goose chases. No wonder the professionals want $2,500.00 just to get started! I just threw away 37-hours of research, and $15.00 in copies, because I made a rookie mistake and had to go back to square four! Embarrassing and a bummer! Thank you all for the posts, emails and calls - I REALLY appreciate the help. Here is something cool I found on my Great Grandfather, a Spanish American War veteran!

 

[Peyton Manning]

Thanks All! I sent away for my DNA kit, and called Ancestry to see if I could get professional help. After reviewing my Tree, they told me it will cost $4,000.00 to track down and certify my family history. WOW! Anyway, I started a go fund me page so my kids can help me out!

kids? wow, you were able to reproduce?

 

[CaptEsteban]

Patience is a key, too. Don't expect to find a lot of ACCURATE information, overnight. Several of us have been researching my family for 40+ years ! We have finally gotten positive proof of my direct ancestor born in 1704 ! The way it looks, we may never get back any earlier than that.
In the beginning, focus on your direct paternal line . You can go back & " fill in the blanks ," later. [ Wive's & children's names.,, etc.] Try to find at least one piece of positive info about each person you add to your tree. This can be from census, military records, birth & death certificates, etc.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Thanks CaptEsteban, I'm definitely learning about patience! Yes, accurate info does take time. I'm lucky we have DNA now, and I can be certain of many of my relations.

Ahh Jeff, you crack me up buddy! Of course, my ex-wives all said the same thing