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Diana, Goddess
of the Hunt — for Ancestors!
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| How to Read the Genealogies in Gary Boyd Roberts's Books |
| A kinsman and fellow researcher was having a frustrating time understanding
the genealogies in Gary Boyd Roberts's book, Notable Kin, vol. I
(1998. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston), and she asked
me to explain them to her. Below, I am sharing that explanation with
you.
As an example, I have chosen Julia CHILD, the chef and TV personality. I deliberately picked her as an example because 1) she is our cousin and, 2) she has one of the longer, more complicated genealogies. Most of the lineages are shorter and easier to follow. |
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Roberts separates the generations by semi-colons and the couples within
a generation by commas. Where surnames are duplicated in a generation,
he will note in parentheses which set of parents produced which child.
Not all lines are known or followed, so the number of couples does not
double with each generation. Italics are Roberts's own and indicate
shared ancestors with the late Princess Diana (see Roberts's book, American
Ancestors and Cousins of the Princess of Wales. 1984. Genealogical
Publ. Co., Baltimore). Roberts's entry for Julia CHILD (p. 20) reads
as follows:
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| In following Julia's ancestry, we find that the McWilliams
line drops out almost immediately because Roberts only traced the lines
through her maternal grandparents. The Mitchell
line is followed the longest. Other lines are followed in the male
line for a generation or two or three or four, then daughter out and another
line is followed.
Roberts leaves me somewhat uncertain about the Mitchells. He tells us Thomas Mitchell and Margaret Williams (10th generation) are the parents of Experience Mitchell (in the 9th). Fine. One would guess from his given name that Experience in the 11th is the grandfather of Experience in the 9th, but then, why are the names of Experience Mitchell and Jane Cooke not italicized? If Thomas Mitchell is an ancestor of Princess Diana, so are his parents, so their names should be italicized, too. And we don't know how Elizabeth Mitchell fits in. Is she a sister of Thomas's? A sample lineage from the above would be: John WASHBURN, Jr., & Elizabeth MITCHELL
For another sample lineage derived from the above, see the common ancestry of Julia Child and my mother, Nina Gale (Straub) Matthiesen. |
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| Everything I have is online at this web site. I have no further information, so please don't write asking me if I do. On the other hand, if you feel I've made an error, please don't hesitate to notify me. |
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