Advent Calendar - The Christmas Tree

Bill and Betty Carrow and grandsons Peter and Ronnie Morrison

Carneys Point NJ 1969

Sister and I in 1953 ( below) and Christmas with my cousins in 1955 ( right).Just two of us but they had four more siblings after this.

My genealogy of my family has illuminated many things for me.Two generations of my family before me had a bumpier ride through life. I don't know how their Christmases all were, just a few sad anecdotes from Depression years.

My Grandfather lost his mother when he was only four. He never told me that although we were very close. He did tell me they were evicted often and their possessions scattered over the years from being tossed out at the curb. My first memory of Christmas was the bubble lights on his post WWII tree and my rag doll "Buttons" that he bought me.

In turn his wife Margaretta died when his oldest son was eight and the youngest of the four, My Mom was only 3.The three boys were for some years in St.John's Orphanage and must have spent Christmases with his family in Kensington.

Christmas in my family of origin was somewhat festive and our tree was picked out by us shortly after Thanksgiving and rooted.

My parents did the same when the grandchildren came.

Kreativ Blogger Award - who me?

I am very surprised and honored this morning to find I was nominated for the Kreativ Blogger Award by Mary Beaulieu from Ancestor Tracking. Mary was and always has been my inspiration to Blog about my 'folks'.

My task this morning is to tell 7 things about myself and then to nominate 7 other Bloggers for this award. I definitely need more coffee for this.

1. I began doing my family's genealogy upon my 'early retirement' in 2002 , quite possibly to keep my mind occupied. It has answered many questions for me, including why I need to keep my mind occupied.

2. The 'holes' or 'empty spots' in my family tree have played a role in how I lived my life. If I had had more information life could have been a bit less bumpy, both for myself and for my four children. This is my gift to them.

3. The more I uncover the more I want to know about those who came before me.I am absolutely positive that we are the sum total of all of these people. I have as Mary indicated in my nomination 'jumped the pond' and have contacted relatives in Ireland.

4. I believe that DNA is an amazing shortcut to our 'Brick Walls' in genealogy and that I am perfectly willing to use whatever is necessary to achieve success.This includes paid researchers, DNA and contacting perfect strangers here and abroad.

5. Partly for me and partly for my children and grandchildren I am thrilled to know that my unknown grandfather was likely Norwegian.There is a good possibility that it was my step-grandfather or at least someone he was acquainted with from his ship or his country.

6. My second great passion, books and reading reflects my need to unpuzzle things.My cousin Francis told me yesterday I should have been a detective and I missed my calling.Mysteries and specifically those from other cultures are what I immerse myself in.

7. My roots and my family's roots are in Southern New Jersey and across the Delaware River in Delaware and Philadelphia. I lived in the same small town for 56 years until moving to North Carolina in 2002 with my incredible husband who I have been with 9 years ago this week. He supports me in all of this,without him I would still be a social worker at a prison. I am blessed with him and my three sons, daughter and six very talented and beautiful grandchildren.

My nominated Blogs are those who have inspired me of course and Ancestor Tracking would always be first. Our ancestors trod distant paths together in both Delaware and Maryland in a time when others had not yet arrived.

Honorary award to Ancestor Tracking

1. Becky's Grace and Glory

2. The Genetic Genealogist

3. Trace My Origin

4. Of Trolls and Lemons

5. Genealem-genetic genealogy

6. Searching for the Lost Colony

7. Canada Genealogy

Surname Saturday Doohan/Dugan of Donegal

Another generation has been documented of the Doohan/Dugan family of Crossroads Donegal.

Mary Dugan Faunt and Rose Doohan Coyle, first cousins died young and left young children with no clear story of their origin.

A very small group of cousins have connected in this electronic age and are piecing together the family.

My Grandfather Ed Faunt who was 4 when his Mother died belonged to the "Sons of Donegal" and often sang a song about it. His cousin Jimmy Coyle has a memory of walking up Broad Street with his mother at 3 or 4 and no other recollection of her.

Norah Doohan McFadden of Crossroads sold Irish Sweepstake tickets to her cousins until her death after 1965. Her sister Catherine Doohan worked at Mt.Carmel Rectory 3rd and Snyder when she immigrated in 1928 and later moved to Norristown.

Rose Veronica Coyle granddaughter of Rose Doohan Coyle was Miss America in 1936. Everyone in our family has always been aware of this astonishing fact but not one of us could figure out how Rose Coyle is related to us. Now we do.

Patrick, Denis, Bryan(Bernard) and John Dugan/Doohan were brothers in Ireland. Just past Crossroads (now Falcarragh) is the 'Bridge of Sorrows' that took them out of the valley toward the port at Derry and left their families behind.John Dugan and his newly married wife emigrated to Philadelphia in 1865.They had no children and he prospered and one by one many of his nieces and nephews joined him there.

Search for my Grandfather

When I did the post on the search for 16 Great Greats it may have been obvious that there is a hole in my ancestry.Genetic Genealogy is pointing me to a place if not a name. That post indicated that a fair size chunk of my autosomal profile points a man who came from the Baltic region.

I was offered an opportunity to participate in the Beta test for 'Relative Finder' at 23andMe and jumped at the chance.I had wanted to test the full genome autosomal but balked at the price. Myself and hundreds and hundreds of the group of genealogists who believe that DNA is a short cut over big brick walls took the plunge.

Anecdotally I am convinced this unknown man was a merchant sailor who came into Baltimore.My teen aged Grandmother never gave up an identity as I understand it and Dad himself professed not to know who he was. We were told that his birth certificate was 'sealed' through his adoption by his grandmother.

Grandmother married a Norwegian sailor, Sigurd Boe, who many years later indicated he could be his father.He repeated this after Grandmom passed away but my father said " you're not my father, I don't know who my father was". Dad and Stepfather however, had many similarities; coloring,shoe size and both were very soft spoken.

I currently have 187 matches on 'Relative Finder' most of which are distant cousins.All of these persons have not yet made contact with me and none are closer than 3rd cousin.Most if not all of them seem to match my know Irish connections.

The genome wide autosomal allows for a more uniform look at who I inherited my DNA from.
Prior testing like mitoDNA and X markers and X strs pointed to my female to female lines.The X markers by their nature exclude anything of a paternal line and is sometimes referred to as the 'paternal grandmother test'.Dad as a male inherited a Y chromosome from his father and his other chromosome, the X, from his mother.

One of the advantages of a large testing group is the availability of population samples for geographic location. Dr. Doug McDonald is working with Scots and Irish populations and compared my genome with his model. He indicates that I am very very Irish in my ethnicity!

A small but clear subset of my genome looks different and from the region across the North Sea .

The conclusion falls right in line with what I have been told previously which is both Native and Baltic.The first look at my genome in 2006 was said to be a Northern Native American which fairly quickly resolved itself into Polish or Russian tribal.

He( McDonald) feels it points to somethings like Swedish or Finnish Saami or Lapps. That fits with everything else.I asked him if it was from the unknown grandfather or my known Swedish Swanson great grandfather and he feels it is likely both of them.

This makes absolute sense to me.Dad's birth certificate which I was able to acquire after his death notes a Louis Seybold as the father.The ethnicity there also points to the Baltic region perhaps.

Dad was quite blond and blue eyed and a great sailor also although his Carrow uncle was a ship captain and he grew up directly on the Delaware River banks.

Saami.Let me try it on for effect.

Destination - Chestertown Maryland

Destination Delmarva at Washington College in Chestertown Maryland was an event I am glad I attended this past Saturday. Sponsored by Colonial Roots, Delaware Genealogical Society and Maryland Genealogical and attended by at least 100 avid researchers, it was definitely not-to-be-missed.

My cousin and I traveled together and so thoroughly enjoyed driving past important markers in our ancestors lives.We are probably lucky it was cold and rainy or we would have stopped several times and been late both going and coming. Who knew that we would pass the Queen Anne Courthouse and St.Luke's Church? Someone did, of course but not these two from Salem County NJ and St.Georges Delaware who were enthralled at our proximity to our family history.We plan to drive up to the area on a non-rainy day and inspect "the road past where Henry Carrow lives" which has been memorialized in Queen Anne records.

Equally exciting for me was spending the day in the company of Mary Beaulieu my fellow blogger and compatriot in uncovering elusive Delmarva ancestors. The entire assemblage was so like minded as we scooped up newer publications like "Dorchester County Marriages" like they were gold nuggets and excitedly met others researching the same folks.

Russ McCabe is to be thanked for requesting as his "gold watch" at his recent retirement 100 copies of "East of the Mason-Dixon Line" and giving one to each attendee. I was awestruck when he told us how our ancestors traveled up from Accomac VA via the waterways which illustrated why they settled where they did. Russ told us of narratives like " my parents and I left Accomac in 1683 " which I must now go and find. His talk was absolutely one of the most exciting I have heard.

Sally Deakyne Burke and Peggy Deakyne Mealy, wonderful researchers and authors most impressed me with their interest in a common tie between my Carrow ancestors and their Deakynes. We mutually agreed to explore that tie in detail and I personally vowed to make sure my research is as accurate as it can be.

Ed Wright's Church records are always enlightening but he has shared much of that with me on other occasions. Rebecca Kolford gave a breathtaking talk on our female ancestors and how to illuminate their lives through their vital statistics and those of their family members. I won't soon forget her Whitman forebears.

Besides the rain and chill the only downside was that we had to make choices on which presentation we would attend. My gratitude to all those at the Delaware and Maryland societies who underwrote the workshops and provided the delectable bakery items that were ever available and were always ready to chat.

How They Came

Ellen Lynch Faunt and infant son William came to America in June 1969 on the ship City of Paris ahead of husband and older son Patrick. Ellen presumably had relatives to live with near New Jersey where we find the family in early 1870. but they have proved elusive.

A couple named Michael and Ellen Lynch are in Pennsylvania around the same time and the occupation, Greengrocer, fits with what I know of Ellen and William in Beverly NJ around 1880.
A big question mark for me is did the family "split up" or safety reasons or was it purely economics? Many Irish couples worked and saved and came one at a time but I am not sure this is the case.

William Faunt has a British Army pension and did not fit into a more typical profile of 19th century immigrants. The couple lived in Belfast after William was medically discharged from duty and he could do little heavy lifting so I am not sure he stayed behind to work his passage.
A second son also named William is born , and presumably dies in Belfast.Possibly Ellen is fleeing Ireland or the smoke of Belfast with her second William,her third son.

William Senior first is found as caretaker of Wall Rope Company in Beverly NJ and soon enough he and Ellen are listed as greengrocers.The family lived in rooms above the rope factory. Their oldest child, my great grandfather Patrick was not five when they came.Eventually he works in the rope factory and possibly helps his mother with the family greengrocer endeavor.Family lore indicates that Patrick's wife Mary Dugan is also a greengrocer.

Mary Dugan's uncle John Dugan comes to America first with his wife Rose Coyle.They are thought to have been childless and brought Mary and her brother Bernard to America one at a time.He seems to have been an entrepreneur although it is a little unclear in what capacity.A livery stable is a strong possibility. Possibly this is how the couple met as Patrick surely took the ferry to Philadelphia from the New Jersey side for his mother's produce.

The ship Alsatia when it sails in 1878 has a Sarah Coyle, possibly a cousin from Donegal on it so Mary does not come alone. Her brother Bernard comes several years later.Our speculation and that of an Irish researcher is that father Patrick Dugan is deceased by this time. Catherine McClafferty Dugan and the couple's last child James as well as other unknown siblings of Mary and Barney are still alive in the 1911 census.

William Faunt and his son Patrick do not live to grow old in America, victims of early heart attacks in 1889 and 1921. Ellen Faunt marries Charles Schneider, baker, in Beverly in 1890 and disappears from records after her American born daughters marry well.

Mary Dugan Faunt dies in 1902 of what sounds like a strangulated hernia possibly for the heavy lifting entailed in the produce business. Patrick raises six young children although tales abound of almost monthly evictions.The older siblings delay marrying until the two youngest boys have left home. Patrick fathers a son from a second marriage in 1918 but is dead in 1921.His son from that marriage George Patrick dies in Italy in WWII.

Don't we all think our family's emigration narratives unique and their struggles in America poignantly difficult? I surely do, but I am very grateful for their journeys.They did it for me and mine.

Tombstone Tuesday

These actually came to my attention last night which was Tuesday. My Great Grandfather Patrick Faunt was born in Limerick Ireland and is last found in records in the 1920 census with wife Florence and children Helen and George.

I failed to find a death for him after numerous tries.I believe this to be him and have records being searched this week. There is another Patrick living in the area but they spell their last name differently..Font.They are not sure they are related.I am sure they are as I have pulled about 50 Irish records including their Patrick.

Patrick's father William (1840-1889) is also buried in this cemetery St. Peter's in Riverside New Jersey as well as some infants born in America. William Faunt and Ellen his wife brought their two little boys to Beverly New Jersey in 1869, William had a military pension from the British Army.Pat's sisters Jennie Faunt Cooper and Nellie Faunt Hutchins who were born in America lived nearby in Burlington City.

Find A Grave has had both of these added since I last looked.George Patrick Faunt was killed in WWII and apparently was orphaned young. This was a fact of life for my Patrick as his first wife Mary Dugan died in 1902 leaving him with six young children to raise.Edward my grandfather had just turned four.

George Faunt's draft record indicates he supports his widowed mother.Poor dear.So many motherless and fatherless children in my immediate family.

Rest In Peace, Patrick and George and may perpetual light shine on you.

Early Delaware Edenfield family

The trusty and accomplished researcher who assists me with my Delaware and Maryland family lines has brought back an amazing amount of data.It is still a work in progress and maybe always will be but much of it is entrancing. In the Carrow family there are other lines and relatives, of course, including Edenfield, Maloney and Jones.


William F.Carrow who is a Civil War Veteran married Margaret Edenfield.Actually both he and Margaret married others during the war but were both widowed. They married in 1878 and she brought a child to the marriage.

I was hoping to find a way back to the first Edenfield, John who comes from Yorkshire and marries in Kent County Delaware by 1702 without hitting a minefield. The minefield comes in the person of Jonas Edenfield who has been called the"Pirate of Bombay Hook" for his enterprenurial efforts with the British warships during the Revolution and the sale of beef and rum.

However it seems at this point that the line goes from Thomas Edenfield who is father to my Margaret Carrow through another Thomas and then..guess what..Jonas and then another Jonas before the immigrant.

Good news here is that the first Jonas seemingly marries Tabitha Stedham who is of the "Old Swedes" Stidhams which is a plus. Another upbeat bit of news is that Jonas Sr.'s niece Lydia marries William Clayton which is the family of Caesar Rodney.

Jonas Stidham's partner in this endeavor on the marshes off Delaware was a Lucas Stedham who went on to "take the Oath" of allegiance to the new country and thus got off the hook.Jonas however may have only paid a minuscule fine which probably speaks to conflicted loyalties in the area.

There are a couple of decades of tax records to be scrutinized before my Thomas Edenfield who is orphaned quite young is officially in the Thomas, Thomas,Jonas, Jonas line but it is looking like a sure thing.The mists of time are being penetrated slightly for me to peek in.

More cousins in Beverly New Jersey ?

The daughters of Richard Swanson and Mary Agnes Rementer Swanson have by and large had happiness elude them.One notable exception was Bessie Katherine , youngest child,who married Dan Ulmer and seems to have fared very well.Of the six daughters three are dead at an early age leaving motherless children.

Margaret Swanson sister of my grandmother may have had another child before she passed away in 1923. Recently we found that Margaret had had a whirlwind courtship in 1906 which ended at some point in divorce.Her bridegroom was a Baseball player and local legend John Westley Reasnor and they eloped to the chagrin of his fans.

My cousin and I have been trying valiantly to unearth details.Margaret's son John Westley Reasnor, also a Baseball player of some renown goes by the name of John Westly. He and his two sisters are found in a children's home in 1920. Newspaper clippings of 1918 that reported that John Rasnor died in WWI in France were possibly inserted by him or a friend as he is found alive afterwards. Another news story in 1920 indicates his mother had a "Dream" that he was still alive and asked the local police to try to locate him. Is it possible she wants her grandchildren properly cared for and knows he is shirking his responsibilty?

Family stories are that the couple divorced and that Margaret is deceased by 1920. Imagine our surprise to find a cemetery record for Margaret Swanson Gorgand while other relatives interments were being searched. The spelling was very wrong but it seems that Margaret Swanson remarries by 1922 or at least by her death Feb. 7, 1923 to one Orest Gorgana or Gargana.She is buried in a Swanson family plot in Monument Cemetery in Beverly NJ .

The 1930 census shows Orest Gargana and a second wife Florence with Evelyn and Anthony.Evelyn does not seem to be a child of that new marriage as she is seven and they are married in 1925.

Our faithful Burlington County genealogy buddy researcher has found that Evelyn , if she is daughter to Margaret Swanson is raised in Beverly NJ as a daughter to Orest and Florence Gargana. Her obituary names them as parents and names Anthony,Rosemarie and Raymond as siblings.We await a birth record from NJ Archives to know for sure who Evelyn's mother was.

Questions that always linger for me is how in such a tiny town were such large secrets kept?
Why was life so hard for these girls in this family? Only one of the sisters lived to raise their children as one lost her only child and one lived with a man for many years without marriage or children. A last question would be poignant,did Margaret marry to try to provide a home for her children or did she place them in a home to try and salvage a life for herself?

UPDATE ~ Birth records show Evelyn Gargana is not the daughter of Margaret Swanson so this one time at least I can not be upset at the Swanson family lack of cohesiveness.

My Journey to find 16 Great Great Grandparents

Is it as good as it gets? I don't know but I continue to work at finding all 16 great greats despite the missing pieces. By utilizing both paper records and DNA I am getting pretty close to a full picture although my "head count" is down.

My father's father was unknown to us, and I believe, to him.His grandparents adopted and raised him and we were told his birth certificate was sealed. Six years after his death I was able to find his birth data and there was a name.

(1 and 2). Great Great Grandfather Seybold may have been born in North Germany or Poland.My Autosomal DNA and my X markers as well as Sister's( my only sibling) indicate that this man may have been from that area. POLISH
(3 and 4)Great Great grandmother ( same unknown group of folks) may have been from Russia or Estonia( or else we reverse this).Initially my autosomal profile was said to be Native American but it eventually has come to look more Siberian tribal. POLISH or RUSSIAN
(5)William F. Carrow's Delaware family was in America (Accomac Virginia) by 1643 and the immigrant was from the north of Ireland very likely Portglenone Antrim. IRISH
(6) Margaret Edenfield from Delaware also had early immigrants ( 1680)ENGLISH
(7)Patrick Kirwan emigrated to South Jersey in 1880 from County Wexford IRISH
(8)Elizabeth Sweeney's parents were from Tyrone. IRISH
(9)William Faunt was born in Fethard Tipperary where his Anglo-Norman line ( Walter L'Enfant) lived since 1270. IRISH
(8)Ellen Lynch was born near Bruff Limerick, not so far from where the Faunt family lived for centuries.They came to Beverly NJ in 1869.IRISH
(9)Patrick Dugan lived and died in an area of Donegal where Gaelic is still spoken.IRISH
(10) Catherine McClafferty also still spoke Gaelic in the 1911 census in Falcarragh Donegal.Patrick was deceased by then.IRISH
(11) John Swanson 's father Captain Charles Swanson was born in Gotheburg, served in the Swedish Navy and very likely fought in the Russian War before he emigrated to the Delaware Valley in 1813.SWEDISH
(12)Rebecca Spencer's family is most likely English or Irish.
(13))Charles Rementer's grandfather Peter came with other Palatinates and settled in Southwark, Philadelphia.He is thought to have been from Alsace-Lorraine.His children said he was from Germany ( Alsace was both German and French)GERMAN
(14)Margaret Lynch was from Cork Ireland.She emigrated during the famine to Rhode Island.
Mitochondrial DNA almost exact match indicates it is likely near Bantry Bay.IRISH

Since I have an approximation of DNA that "looks like" a reference population and since my paternal grandmother eventually married a Norwegian sailor I believe unknown Grandfather (and his forebears) was Polish/Russian.

Drumroll! This was fun.
IRISH 50%
POLISH/RUSSIAN 25 %
ENGLISH 12.5 %
GERMAN 6.25%
SWEDISH 6.25%

Captain Charles Swanson and his brother Andrew

Two men named Swanson are in the Southwark Philadelphia area in the 1830 census.

Andrew Swanson and his presumed brother Charles come in 1813 according to records.These same records indicate that the men are from Goteborg Sweden. Charles Swanson at least very likely served in the Swedish Navy in their war against Russia : "While the War of 1808-09 is not to be considered being of world historical proportions, it certainly was an important event in both Swedish and Finnish history" as when the war ended 110 ships were delivered into Russian hands as was Finland after 600 years the Swedish-Finnish union was dead.

Since Charles Swanson as well as Andrew were born in Goteborg they surely were Swedish but possibly had ties to Finland.To me the men of the family appear more like Finns as they are short and dark a trait that goes on for generations. ( see attached pictures of Richard Johnson Swanson and youngest son Addison)

Andrew Swanson identifies his birthplace in his death certificate in 1862.He is a merchant.

Andrew may leave only one child Catherine B. who marries Cyrus Wilson Foss a merchant who is born in Maine.Catherine B.Foss has two children and memorializes her parents with their names I suspect, Andrew Swanson Foss and Annie Waterman Foss. Andrew and Annie and their families remain in the Delaware Valley for generations.

Charles Swanson dies August 1850 of cholera and that document describes him as a pilot on the river.Posthumously at least he is called "Captain Charles Swanson" in his daughter Hannah Swanson Jackson's obituary.

His sons who followed his career continued to live in South Philadelphia and later Camden NJ these were James and Andrew.

The three men who are found in Beverly NJ seem to be involved in transportation and merchandising perhaps and this combination of occupations may reflect their origins.

The ship type listed in their 1813 passport is "Angare" which means steamship although that is surely not possible?

Civil War records for the Beverly NJ brothers are confusing.From what I have read many men from the Burlington County area went for the bonus money; some actually went to PA for the larger bonus( Bob Knoll has information on that). All three brothers, Edward, William and John may have served in some capacity in the conflict as records exist for all. although not an actual Civil War packet.I have ordered one for each of them from NJ Archives which is offering vouchers for a very reasonable sum.

I continue to try to piece together the Swanson in America tale.

The Time In Which They Came

I firmly believe that we learn a great deal by paying attention to and helping others with their genealogy. While trying to find some Dehortys and Sillivants for my genie and blogging buddy Mary at Ancestor Tracking I gained some knowledge that may affirm a privately held hypothesis.


Although some excellent researchers indicate that the Western Chesapeake shore was the stomping grounds of Catholics and that Accomac VA was mainly Protestant and English, since I believe my Carrow line was from Ireland I keep some opinions to myself.


The first Carrow I can definitely point to is in Virginia by 1643 when land is claimed for his transportation.That very likely means he came 2 or more years earlier in the throes of the British Civil War. A deceased researcher,named Sheehan, felt that John Carrow(Caroon/Carron) was of the line of Bryan Carragh a chieftain with ties to both O'Brien and Mac Donald clans near Portglenone Antrim Ireland, which was called "Bryan Carragh's Country".He stated that he fled Ireland under penalty of death for his part in the Civil War and that he went first to Bermuda, possibly under his own sail.


I cannot substantiate that and think it more likely that John takes ship in the usual way and we find him and at least two Thomas Carrows in very early Virginia. A Thomas Carrow (Carew) goes into the Carolinas via Isle of Wight area and the Blackwater River again very probably before he is found in Headright records in 1664.We know now that at least one North Carolina Carrow matches at least one Delaware Carrow in their male Y DNA exactly. Paper records indicate both lines firmly entrenched in their respective areas by the 1680s.

While pulling Dehortys and Sillivants out of their hiding places in first Accomac,Virginia and then Dorchester and Queen Anne MD I found some parallels and ties to my men. Dermon Sellivant and Mary Carrel are fined for "breaking the Sabbath" 22 May 1663 and Thomas Carrel and Dennis Sillivant are mentioned together also in Court records.

I later find Sillivants in the same places that were thought to be Catholic on the Wye River.Henry Carrow lives there both before and after his marriage to Mary Harris Ringgold. His brother John Carrow we believe is married to Elizabeth Hinds daughter of Thomas Hinds/Hines "Merchant of Drogheda Ireland" of Spread Eagle on the Chester River near the Wye. Mary Hinds leaves property to Elizabeth Carro and Rebecca Dear in 1739 and very specifically calls them her daughters.

A John Sullivaint and wife Sarah are affiliated with St.Joseph's Mission,Cordova and John is buried from this Mission at "Seth's graveyard" 15 March 1768.Where is Seth's graveyard?
When I did a little research I find this at "Catholics in Colonial Delmarva" on the St. Dennis church website " by 1662 the Wye River Basin had become a safe haven for the largest..Catholic populations on the eastern shore at that time" and " in Dorchester County, Raymond Staplefort a Catholic became High Sheriff in 1669" and " Jacobus Seth who made his home at 'Mount Mill' a Mass station where Jesuits visited" on Back Wye.

Although Thomas Hines himself belonged to the Church of Ireland, and neither Henry Carrow nor John Carrow have had any Catholic records surface, many of their life choices lend itself to affirming at least to me that the time of their coming points directly to religious strife.

A fine researcher has told me that the affiliation with Thomas Hinds indicates to him that the Carrow family also could have served as merchants. The only land owners for sure are John Carrow who inherits "Tackett's Lott' in Dorchester in 1734, Henry Carrow on the Wye River in 1750 and Timothy Carrow by 1692 in Duck Creek DE yet they are affluent enough.

The time in which they came..may have cured them of large land ownership as the family of Bryan Carragh in North Ireland lost their "country" or territory c. 1640 and began (so I have been told) to affilate themselves with the maternal grandmother's line and carry that name Carew or Carron to the New World.

Shortly before my Dad Bill Carrow died in 1998 we spoke of his family , one of our few conversations about them.He spent some months there in Londonderry during WWII and did some research."They were from the North of Ireland" he said "not England". I asked him if that meant they were protestants and he said "I don't know that". He told me that it was exactly like the book "Chesapeake" and "they were all up and down the Shore".

The time in which they came.

Swanson in Philadelphia and New Jersey

I did not know my Swanson grandmother, Margaretta, as she died when her children were small.What little I knew about the family was passed down orally and somewhat inaccurate.

The hole that Retta Swanson's passing left in my life was huge in my estimation.In addition to not knowing her personally was the absence of pictures and stories of her family. Some things filtered through over the years but it has only been the last few years that I have developed contacts to help me flesh out the family.One of these is another Swanson grandchild whose memories were even more scarce, so some of this is for Marge.

My research is sort of circular beginning in the middle with three Swanson men in Beverly Burlington County NJ. Edward, William and John Swanson do not interact in any way in the records but the tiny town of Beverly as home for all seemed to verify relationship.All three men indicated a father born in Sweden and possibly a mother also.


I first thought that there were also three Sweden born men in the vicinity in the prior generation but realize now there were likely only two.John Swanson who came in 1813 on later inspection had claimed he was English which left Andrew and Charles.

Charles Swanson and Andrew are both found in census documents in 1840 in Southwark Second District. Andrew is found additionally in the same area in 1830.Charles is naturalized 24 March 1827 and Andrew 6 July 1818.

Charles dies in August 1850 of Cholera after being ill only 1 day and his occupation is listed as "Boatman, pilot on river". An infant Sarah M.Swanson dies in July of the same thing, an epidemic perhaps in Southwark? Charles Swanson was married and Leticia or Lettice seems to be his widow who is found shortly afterwards in the household of her daughter Elizabeth and husband George Coffee also in Southwark.George Coffee seems to have lived nearby in the 1830 census.

Leticia lives until 1870 when she and Elizabeth Coffee are both widowed and living with another Swanson daughter Mary McDevitt. A young son/grandson George Coffee is later found living in Burlington County NJ .Letitia Swanson sometimes states she is born in Sweden and sometimes in New Jersey so perhaps she came as a child.

My circular research now takes me to Monument Cemetery in Beverly now online at interment.net.Shortly after the cemetery is established in 1865 Edward Swanson buries Margaret a teenager and baby Edward.All the Swanson men have plots adjacent to one another except John Swanson who had buried his first wife at St.Stephens in 1847 and will eventually rest there himself many years later.

James Swanson now pops into view, a seaman in South Philadelphia with children Letitia, Charles,Mary, Sophia and Georgianna living in the same neighborhood as Mary Swanson McDevitt. James is surely a son of Charles and Letitia and baby Sarah who dies of Cholera shortly before Charles did was their granddaughter, I think.

Records are being searched today at New Jersey Archives and if they exist may substantiate what has been found so far

Carrow men in early Colonial America

Today I posted this at a semi-private DNA website for the Carrow family.I think it has relevance so I am copying it here also.

We have 2 lines currently looking like a possibility both in Delaware and North Carolina in their Y (male) DNA. This leads me to look back at some men we have "tucked into" the family of John Carrow (Dorchester and Queen Anne) and John Carrow the Patriot for convenience sake actually.

Possibly more than one of the men in Accomac lived long enough to father a child.That was NOT always the norm in early Tidal Maryland and Virginia when the life expectancy was short.

We had these men early on:

Evan Carrew/Cariow who is found in records between 1666-1683 in both Accomac and Maryland.He is an educated man and worked as an accountant.He is last found in Cecil County MD very close to Kent Island as Under Sheriff. He does not seem to have lived in the household of John Carrow Constable.He is in Maryland by 1672 but defintely in Accomac records where he served as Deputy Constable between 1666-1669

Thomas Carrow who goes to North Carolina in 1663 and his descendants match in DNA ( in 2 cases) to Delaware Carrows. The line of John Carrow.

Also found in Accomac or at least Virginia records are these men:

Rowland( 1666) and Allen( Sept 1664 are each found once.

Henry Carrow serves in the Maryland Militia in 1678 and lays claim to 350 acres in St.Mary's.
He is NOT the Henry Carrow from Kent Island who lives 1685-1762 and leaves money in his will to John the Patriot of Kent Delaware as his "cousin' which denotes a blood relationship such as nephew.

Nor is he the Father Henry Carrow who is in St.Mary's in 1672 and is superior of the Maryland Mission and dies enroute back to England 5/16/1677.

James Carew sailed October 1678 from Waterford Ireland on the "St.George of London" into Maryland.

None of these men is linked to John Carrow Constable of Accomac but could surely be ancestor of a later generation of Carrows in the Chesapeake area including Delaware and North Carolina.

Not to be forgotten either is Timothy Carow/Cariow who is in Kent County Delaware in 1680 or before.He has cattle earmarks in 1686 is listed as a titheable for Richard Willson in 1693 and serves as Constable in Duck Creek in 1698.He dies in October 1700 and leaves his personal property to the children of "Widow Clifford": Thomas,John,Mary and Parnell. He did not leave his "real property" so possibly had issue.

There were others of course like another Thomas in Accomac, Andrew who is likely a brother to John in Dorcester and a family which includes another John ( Carrel), wife Eliza and children John , Richard and Mary in Isle of Wight county shortly after Thomas Carrow goes to Carolina.

Of the possible patriarchs here besides John Carrow whose line ends up in Delaware and Thomas Carrow who seems to have gone and stayed to the Carolinas (specifically of the Hyde/Beaufort border)two more appear significant to me:

Timothy Carrow Constable in Duck Creek Delaware and Evan Carrow who traverses from Accomac to St.Mary's to Cecil County MD north of Kent Island. Both of these men are alive long enough to amass property (cattle and land) which would enable them to marry and procreate.Neither seem to have lived until a child reaches adulthood.

John Carrow who is at Tackett's Lott in Dorchester County MD seems to be owner of that land for a reason on the Chicanicomico betweeen 1722-1734 when Thomas Tackett dies without an heir of his body.

DNA continues to add to the story and illuminate dark places.

1911 Irish Census and Kate Doogan

One of the greatest rewards of Genealogy as a hobby is finding relatives you never knew OR having them find you. Two years ago this post was forwarded to me by a great genie buddy from a list we belong to dated back to 2004:

"My first post here. Saw your postings on the name FAUNT in theBeverly, NJ area and am hoping you are still posting.I am researching the DUGAN side of my family but my father remembers a cousin named William Faunt who lived in Beverly, NJ"

What a thrill it was to be "found" and our Great grandparents Mary Dugan Faunt and Barney Dugan were brother and sister.

I am sure I have mentioned and will do so again that in my family of origin any information about relatives and especially pictures are very very scarce. Our poor dear Mary Dugan Faunt died in 1902 when Grandpop was 4 although he never mentioned that.His own first wife Retta died young and tragically also leaving him with 4 small children, surely a replay of his own childhood.

His father and his six surviving young children reportedly lived a somewhat hand-to mouth existance although exactly why is somewhat unclear. It is quite possible that Mary had contributed to the family income in a very meaningful way as a greengrocer in Kensington.

I know this only because once my mother said as we were passing under the Market-Frankford El in Northeast Philadelphia that her grandmother had been a greengrocer there under the tracks. Later on I found that Ellen Faunt the mother-in-law of Mary had also been a Greengrocer with her husband William in Beverly, so surely that connection is significant.

My Dugan cousin and I have worked together to try to piece the bits and pieces we have into a history that is more complete. His family also were not great sharers of tales of life in either the city or the "old Country" or maybe some of us were too young to take note of it.

We know that John Dugan the uncle of Mary and Barney figures signicantly in their life.My Mary's obituary mentions him as her relative so we suspect he was well known in Irish circles.

Barney lives with him when first he comes to America.

Mary Dugan comes to American in 1876 at 18 and Barney a few years later in 1879.An Irish researcher has told me that what possibly is a last child of Patrick Dugan( Doogan) and Catherine McClafferty ( aka Lafferty) is born in 1873 and Pat Doogan is listed as a farmer in Crossroads,Donegal.

We suspect that Patrick is deceased sometime after that as the 1901 census lists a Kate Doogan as widow living in the home of Ellen McCafferty her sister-in-law. A reason for the children to go to America surely and for John Dugan ( who seems to have been childless)to have assumed a parental role for his brother's children. Katherine Jane (Katie) Faunt is buried in John Dugan's cemetery plot in Philadelphia when she dies at 3 months old.

Are there more Dugans both in Falcarragh ( newer name for Crossroads) and Philadelphia?

Some tales of Dugans in Australia have surfaced as well as a sister Margaret, a name that Mary uses for a daughter.

The 1911 Irish census was inspected by myself, my cousin as well as the Irish researcher.

We are distinctly in favor of Kate Doogan 80 from Gortahork as likely being our GGreat Grandmother living still. This Kate a boarder living in the home of Edward and Sarah Curran as a boarder spoke Irish only as was blind.

Barney Dugan ( pictured above) is alive in Philadelphia although my Mary is deceased by this time.James Dugan and daughter Margaret is she indeed exists may also still be alive to contribute to Kate's board possibly? Barney Dugan and his son had some regular contact with Falcarragh until the 1930s.

Crossroads where Kate and Patrick had their last child is now called Falcarragh and Gortahork is the next town. Gaelic is still spoken, indeed the area is called a 'Gaeltacht' region and in 1911 apparently that is what Kate spoke although at that time most were bi-lingual.

I wish to find out what other family my Kate had and why she stayed there so far from her children in America.

The Trees In the Thicket

In Honor of genealogy blogger Janice Brown this award was created by Terry Thornton who issued a challange to all nominated bloggers to nominate the ten blogs which have nominated their writing the most.

The definition of a " Puckerbrush" thicket as told by Janice Brown is this:'On any land allowed to go fallow and left untended, a wild assortment of wild plants grow – in some areas, this wild growth results in such a thicket of plants that it is almost impossible to push your way through the growth.So it is with the growth of blogs --- so many that it is impossible to read them all. But in the puckerbrush eventually a few plants/trees become dominant and influence all who view them through the thick surrounding puckerbrush.And it is those outstanding blogs whose influence spreads beyond just the surrounding rabble of puckerbrush that I'm honoring.'

In honor of Janice Brown and in disbelief of finding myself in such an awe inspiring group of folks I want to try to find the ten blogs who have had the most influence on my own. First and foremost to Mary Beaulieu who amazingly included me in her list.Mary's blog ancestortracking was possibly the first I read.I followed her there from another list we both belong to and was truly inspired.Thank you Mary.

Since my focus is often Genetic Genealogy I next want to nominate Blaine Bettinger of thegeneticgenealogist.com for extraordinary devotion to our "newer type" of genealogy and for his help and enocuragement both on and off his blog.

Dienekes 'Anthropology Blog (dienekes.blogspot.com) in always very correct and informative about both DNA and anthropology both my passions.

Next to twobubblesoffcenter who just was nominated for "One Lovely Blog" because it is just that ,"one lovely blog" which provides a vivid depiction of the world many of our ancestors inhabited.

Vickie Everhart's lovely benotforgot. reminds us of our ancestors' existance in a poignant way.Her roots hopscotch across this country in a way I admire.Most of my own ancestors stuck like burrs to the Delmarva coastline refusing to budge.

Two Sides of the Ocean strikes a cord for me as my unknown grandfather may be Polish or German.

I am very short of my challenge of ten blogs to nominate and there are many others that I enjoy and am inspired by.

To those I have mentioned and those I have not Summa Cum Laude !

1911 Irish Census and Margaret Dwane Faunt

The 1911 Irish census is online for these counties at the National Archives of Ireland: Antrim,Cork ,Donegal,Down ,Dublin,Galway,Kerry,King's and Wexford.

What kinds of things can be found?

Margaret Faunt,widow of Patrick Faunt is found there.She may be the last of my own family remaining in Ireland. My William, younger brother to Patrick emigrates to Beverly NJ in 1869.When he dies in 1889 two of his nephews are also in America. I feel that is when Patrick dies but I do not know.

Margaret who marries Patrick in Fethard Tipperary in 1865, soon after he leaves the British Army is matriarch of a small family. No others are found yet but Tipperary and Limerick census is not online until July and August.

James Faunt, widower and his 9 year old daughter Mary M. and 8 year old son Patrick live there also. James (Vincent ) Faunt's older sister Mary ( Denhan?) also a widow live there also.
The address is Little Cross Street in Cork City which is in the Cornmarket District of Cork West.
James Faunt is a Confectioner's Baker.The house has 3 rooms and 3 front windows.

Blounts Creek North Carolina

Two weeks ago hubby and I went on a day trip to Bath NC and Blunt's Creek NC which are near each other.My North Carolina Carrow "Cousin" and wife were the tour guides.

What we have deduced using both DNA studies and extensive paper records supplied by both of us is that our common ancestors were either father and son or brothers born after 1643 possibly in Accomac Virginia.

A Thomas Carew is in Carolina when Records begin in 1663.John Carrew (aka Carrow) is Constable in Accomac Virginia c. 1667 and is found in records in 1663 there.

A John Carrow is in Colonial America by 1643.

DNA has matched a NC Carrow and a Delaware Carrow 37/37 on their Y (male) line.

I am very grateful to have been part of this discovery process.

The "Carrow House"in Bath is pictured on this Blog also.

Patriot Ancestors and Patriotism

A Memorial Day week thought that has circled about is that Patriotism and Patriot Ancestors are not synonymous. I was born in the last month of WWII and belonged in actuality to the "Baby Boom". My generation had much anger in the 60s and many boys from my small Delaware Valley town did not return from Vietnam.I was very anti-war as a young adult.


My Irish ancestors who most recently immigrated were those I knew most about, although still not much it seems. I understand or thought I did the reason for their coming, Ireland's Gorta Mor. It seems I was incorrect in some ways.



To start with William Faunt who emigrated to New Jersey in 1869 had a British Army pension to live on.He was almost immediately living in Beverly NJ with his young family so may have had a job prior to his departure..They did not come because of hunger or any particular discrimination except the usual anti-Catholic bias.He and his wife lived in Belfast and lost an infant there ( two infants named William born in Belfast).Did so many tensions in Belfast began in 1867-8
?
When I began to do my family genealogy a few years ago I learned much more about all of them.
In their way many if not most of them were happy and grateful to their new Native land.The new Irish immigrants were eager to assimilate and did not seem to suffer greatly from anti-Irish sentiment. They had saleable skills for the most part and relatives who employed them.Ellen Lynch Faunt and William were Greengrocers in Beverly NJ and apparently she employed Mary Dugan her daughter-in-law.Mary's uncle John Dugan was also an entrepreneur.

And so it went. I have two lines who were not recent immigrants and there I have discovered both Patriot status and my own Patriotism. I am proud of these folks who appear on both my Dad's side of the family and Mom's.

Peter Rementer has been established as a new Patriot in the D.A.R. just this year.I am working now on two other men who are related to him. What a grateful, faithful group they were to the new land.

John Hunneker( Honaker) was wheelwright who served in the Philadelphia City Guards under Captain Jacob Bright.His family may have been Swiss. His daughter Catherine married a Rementer.

Adam Mayer's daughter Mary Magdalene was the wife of Peter Rementer.Adam also served in the Philadelphia Militia.

Henry Norbeck was Grandfather of John Honaker and his patriotic service included paying a Supply Tax which fed and clothed local soldiers and the general war effort.He may have come from Norway via Rotterdam.

John Swanson and his brother William from Beverly NJ served in the Civil War .
William F.Carrow and most of his brothers from Delaware did also. James Sweeney a farmer from Quinton NJ has an ornate headstone that looks like other Civil War monuments and he likely served the war effort in some way.

On Dad's Carrow side both William Keys and John Carrow, a younger man, served the cause.John Carrow's son married William Keys' daughter Mary.

Tomorrow ( still Memorial Day week) I will go to the Delaware Archvives to try to find if John Jones can join this exalted group.I have tried to find Harriet Jones Carrow's actual line for some time and now it is confirmed.I will look for records that will confirm this line and the Maloneys who they intermarried with.

My father William Charles Carrow and my Faunt uncles served very honorably in WWII.
Dad told me in later years that he would not fight again unless the enemy was "landing at Atlantic City". I have moved much more to the center in recent years and have great pride in my family patriots.

Michael Faunt, Blacksmith

A genealogy buddy who is from the very small town where my Faunt family emigrated to in 1869 found me a funeral record on Michael Faunt.Michael was the baby of the family and the only surviving son born in America. A son William ( there were two) died in Belfast prior to their coming and another son Edward died within months of his birth in 1885.

Michael, unlike his infant brothers lived to adulthood and died of consumption at the age of 31. Nine children were born to the couple and four died in early infancy.I have speculated that they immigrated after the death of their second son the first William in Belfast. Ellen and baby Willliam Joseph emigrated first before William and my Patrick.Was it a reaction to the infant death or just because? I wish I knew.

Michael's funeral expenses paint a picture of the man and the family enclosed on a ledger sheet.His older brother William received the bill as both parents were deceased by 1911.
He was single and a Blacksmith like his father, grandfather and his Uncle Patrick who remained in Ireland.They needed three carriages and Michael wore new patent leather shoes to his eternal rest.

My own Grandfather Edward Faunt had a fixation about new shoes and death.To this day I cannot set shoes on a bed or a table as it is bad luck and a death will follow. After seeing "Far and Away" I can only assume it is due to having the deceased "Waked" on the bed or table in the old country. Grandpop would have attended this funeral in one of the three coaches and at 13 he was already in the workforce.

Who then is the Michael Faunt who has a child, Walter decease in June 1901 of cholera? Walter is a family name in this line and there are still Walter Faunts( William Walter) living in New Jersey.Cousins perhaps?

I have long wondered who Ellen Faunt and baby William lived with when the came, 6 months before William Sr. with his military pension which they surely used to live on. Six months is not a time span long enough to track them as the 1870 census is taken within a year and they are in Beverly.

A George Faunt lives in Philadelphia and according to the Census I find him in he is born in America and surely not related to my family? That is what I have thought for several years.Patrick my great grandfather names his son from his second marriage George Patrick; he is killed in Italy in WWII.

I have indicated to other Faunts that it is one very small family descending from William born in Fethard Tipperary.Some have not been so sure. Maybe they are right.

1940 and 2010 Census Musings

I feel like I have been waiting for the 1940 census for a long, long time.In actuality, I've been waiting only since I have been "doing" my family history in mid 2002 when I early retired.

I have done remarkably well finding relatives on many continents and learning the rudiments of DNA research since then.

Possibly in an effort to "hurry" the 1940 census public release, I begin tomorrow training for a medium term job with the 2010 census.Employing magical thinking, perhaps, I am willing the new set of data to arrive faster by collecting something for posterity.Likely I am just occupying myself gainfully while marking time.

In actuality I have probably used Census data through my career as a Social Worker/Sociology instructor since 1985.In New Jersey census and other social and criminal data collections has historically been employed in grant writing where a large part of agency funding is derived from. I personally wrote and administered two long term Children's Trust Fund and at least two Violence Against Women ( VAWA) programs.

Extracting information from past data collections has worked well for me in my genealogy hobby also. I am able to derive meaning from how my relatives conducted their lives during the Great Depression and how families split into "Haves" and "Have Not" factions. How some of them were able to erase any memory of their very recent Irish roots and be very American and the brother's family kept to old habits and patterns.Social data sheds light on such behavior.

In Ireland the years prior to the British Civil Wars and just after the Great Famine were years of social change. My Faunt family used military careers and guild memberships to keep afloat in the anti-Catholic discriminatory centuries.They did not live within city walls like the Protestant English but close by due to their hereditary occupations.They were largely literate and lived in the same Valley for 600 years since they came with the Normans.

In 1867 and 1868 my William Faunt and family lived in Belfast prior to immigration and after his discharge from the British Army.How much of the decision to go to America had to do with rising tension in that area? I know that two sons were born to them there, both named William and surely one died young. Ellen Faunt and baby Will came first in the Spring of 1869 and William the elder and my Patrick came in the Fall. Contrary to what I once thought they were not "Famine immigrants" and came for another reason. Social data in the old country and the new country paints a picture of the time in which they came.

Beverly New Jersey, a tiny Victorian town nestled on the banks of the Delaware seems like an unlikely destination for them.In actuality it was a melting pot and very friendly as a newly established town to immigrants. A Catholic ministry flourished and a new church sprang up.My William Faunt either came with a job promise due to his military service or was hired immediately at Wall Rope where he was caretaker and his family lived in "rooms above the factory".

I have followed the family with my eye on the past through the lens of past census.I left them in 1930 in the Depression years and early glimpses of 1940 census fragments at ancestry.com show them flourishing near Penns Grove NJ as DuPont employees. Two of my great grandfathers, Patrick Faunt and Grover Carrow as well as many of their brothers and siblings are there also early in the century from both Burlington County NJ and rural Delaware.

Other lines in my family had immigrated to South Jersey from Ireland as farmers in a Garden State.Patrick Kirwan and his father-in-law James Sweeney both farmed and drove teams of horses to markets.

Mary Dugan who married Pat Faunt as well as my Ellen Lynch Faunt were greengrocers both in Beverly NJ and into Philadelphia where the family lived also, traveling to the city on the same type of ferries I knew as a child.The Dugans were builders as well as entreprenours there as John Dugan, Mary's uncle may had had both a livery stable and a saloon.

All of this I have learned through government collections efforts now available to family researchers. With the tantalizing new 1940 "census fragments" I have already learned of other marriages, divorces and children born.

Tomorrow I will be training for a new look at populations but will not and cannot leave my family genealogy passion behind.I have new Carrow and Faunt cousins who I am busily fitting into my tree.Look for me at odd times but I will be around.