Heraldry Used In Tree Climbing (1)

Brick walls come in all shapes, sizes, and thickness.  Over the years, with a surname like JONES, you can imagine the number of obstacles that presented themselves along the way.   The purpose of this blog has been to communicate the different approaches I have used that might be helpful in your own tree climbing experiences.  The next several posts will begin a series on one method that has been the most fun, helpful, and yet most difficult.  It is the method using the topic called "Heraldry".

There were several stages in this process that need to be told. It really begins when after some 20 years of tree climbing, I was able to connect my family tree from Kentucky, which began in 1811, back to its roots in Virginia.   "Pewmansend Creek" [in present Caroline County] was the geographic landmark that helped make the connections.   It was the use of  "Heraldry" that took this Virginia location across the great pond to Wales. 

Of course, this did not happen all at once.  From my earliest days of tree climbing [starting at age 9], an interest in all things pertaining to knights, castles, swords, shields, coat of arms, and such things had a special attraction.   However, it was not until a book by Sir Bernard Burke was found during one of my many trips to "rare book stores" that got me going in earnest.   The title page is shown:

In this text it states: "Heraldry may be defined  'the art of blazoning, assigning, and marshalling coat armour' or more particularly 'the art of arranging and explaining in proper terms all that relates or appertains to the bearing of Arms, Creast, Badges, Quarterings, and other hereditary marks of honour".

Whew, quite a mouth full.  Anyway, this text was to serve as a reference and resource for this stage of the process.  It has served me well.   Let's keep going.  The next group of posts will describe this adventure.

Deciding DNA

Starting my tree climbing experience some years ago, a number of brick walls have been encountered. [Started tree climbing at age 9!] You might imagine with a surname JONES that there would be more than a few brick walls along the way.

Beginning with my family's stories, the adventure started in the Bluegrass of Kentucky.  My maternal side kept many pictures, and the stories were readily passed down through the generations and many family reunions.  My paternal side was somewhat different, and the family stories were fewer.  At any rate, Kentucky was the beginning, and the branches led back to Virgina.  A lot of years were spent digging around this area, and it was not always clear which direction one should attempt.  Finally, the branches led to London, then to the county of Kent, then to Rochester, and finally to an area of Wales outlined in the figure which follows:

The drawing is mine, showing a number of locations that were slowly put together.  It was here, along the Vale of the Dee, where my JONES family started, or at least I believed it to be.  This only took about 30 years or so of various brick walls.

It was some five years back, that all this stuff about DNA became available.  Find your roots, and be certain of your origins.  What if I check my DNA and found out I really was from China???  Not sure I wanted to do this, now some 50 years into the family's story.  Did I trust my genealogy, or did I find out some other story.

Struggling some two years to decide to do my DNA, the "bullet" was finally bitten (as we would say in Kentucky) and that jaw swab was taken.  Sweating some two months for the results, they returned that I was haplogroup R, and haplotype R1b1b. [Now labeled R1b1a2] 

It took a few months to try and figure out what all this DNA stuff  meant. [Being a physician helped]  I put together the following table:

Hmm...Wales...lets see...at the top!  R1b1b [Now R1b1a2] it is!  What a deal!  My 50 some years of genealogy before computers and the internet held true...deciding DNA it is.

My Research Notebooks

Genealogy offers many ways to climb out the old family tree branches.  Now after some 55 years of climbing around my own family's tree branches, I thought it might be helpful to list how all these years of research have been collected and stored.  Very early, I began a single notebook which became my family tree as I knew it. [Started at age 9!]  This gradually expanded as my exploration became wider and more interesting to my mind.  Year after year, the number and quality of the work increased such that a collection of these notebooks began.   By 10 to 15 years into this tree climbing, I needed a way to organize and store the research.  Color coding was the way, by placing various dots on the notebook edges that matched the same subject or historical research.

Finally, by 250 notebooks, it became evident that I needed a way to find this research as the need was presented.  So, believe it or not, a blog was started on July 6, 2012 to code and summarize each notebook by its "number" and "subject matter".  The blog is:  tjgresearchnotebooks.blogspot.com.

You may check out this blog to identify my tree climbing research.  A way is available to search the blog using the "Search This Blog" line in the upper right of the blog page. Each numbered notebook has a central theme, and the content identified.  At present there are over 260 notebooks!  Feel free to climbing around a little yourself... no telling what you might find.

Recognizing Resources

Tree climbing will often take you in many directions.  Out this branch...out that branch...and sometimes falling out of the tree.  Getting up and starting again can be a challenge.  Recognizing resources can be a help when a few of the branches seem impossible.

These resources may come from a variety of locations.  People, places, and things, may be some of them.  A library, a court house, a book store, or any number of things may help.  For me, a University Library was always most helpful.  Special collections, reference rooms, archives, etc...etc... may open many doors.  Every state has at least one university library ready to help. [Parking always seems to be a problem!]

What have been your resources?  Please post a comment to help share your own experiences.  Falling out of trees...as long as you haven't broken anything...dust yourself off and look for some resources.