A summary of my family's genealogical connections

I have been keeping a family database - from which I generate the Family Tree - on computer for a over a decade. The family database now contains over 12,000 individuals, many anecdotes, and over 2200 surnames. My genealogy program is The Master Genealogist v8.02.  I use it (TMG) to compile my family database, and I use Second Site v4.0 to generate the Family Tree from the database, updating this website every couple of weeks. I compiled it originally for the Oct 1990 HARGREAVES Family Reunion in Tumut, NSW, Australia, attended by over 600 relatives from all over the world. We celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Australian branch of my mother's family by the patriarchs HENRY HARGREAVES and SUSANNAH BLOMLEY:

HENRY authored The Letter, an historical document in the Mitchell Library in Sydney, summarizing their life. HENRY and SUSANNAH were not criminals, "transportation" to New South Wales having ceased in 1840 shortly before they emigrated there (The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australian Founding by Robert Hughes, Knopf, NY, 1987).

My father's side of the family might not be so clean. In fact, a century-old controversy continues to excite emotions on this very issue. See Fountain Murders for details.

Some principal historical "flows" of people contributing to my line are the following. Following a single surname - eg, Smith - is one way to organize genealogical research, but it is no more genetically interesting than any other path back through one's tree - and rather hopeless in the case of Smith. Note that n preceding generations contribute 2ⁿ surnames - of equal genetic importance. For example, 10 generations back give 1024 surnames, each contributing 1/1024^th of ones genetic makeup. And 14 generations give 16,384 surnames and contributors. So the following is just a sampling. One of my surprises, having always assumed my family were relatively recent immigrants, has been the discovery that my roots are American a long way back, to the founding of NJ and CT:

The DURAND family goes back, in the US, to 1685 when Dr JOHN (or JEAN) DURAND, a Huguenot, was run out of La Rochelle, France in the famous religious persecution brought on by Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes. (The Huguenots were French Calvinist Protestants.) He ran to Derby CT. This family has been well documented in the publication DURAND Family: Descendants of Dr. JOHN DURAND, A Huguenot, Born 1664, La Rochelle, France by Samuel R Durand, 1965, a photocopy of which can be obtained from Higginson Books. MARY HORTENSE DURAND PARROTT, my g² (=great great) grandmother, is a direct descendant. Dr JOHN DURAND is my g⁷ grandfather, and JEHAN DURAND and ELIZABET ARNAUD, born about 1615, are my g⁹ grandparents. I have done my own research and believe this line is well-proved, and that the DURAND Family book can be trusted down to MARY HORTENSE DURAND PARROTT, and from thereon to my family by strong family records. I have just published a book on the DURAND's.

	Here's an impressive Durand cousin, Prof William Frederick Durand, one of the first aeronautical engineers, who literally wrote the textbooks of the field while a professor at Stanford. The Aeronautical Engineering building there is named for him, and his credits go on and on. After an early career in nautical engineering, he entered the new field of airplanes, where among many other things, he contributed the variable-pitch propeller. He set up one of the first wind tunnels to accomplish this. He worked on Hoover Dam, Grand Coulee Dam, Otis Valley water project for Los Angeles. He urged the US to master jet propulsion. He was a charter member of NACA, the forerunner of NASA. He received the Award of Merit from US President Truman. And so forth.
	Here's another, Asher Brown Durand, famous landscape artist, attributed with making New York City an art center. The NY Historical Society has 20-30 of his works. The portrait to the left is by Daniel Huntington; the two to the right are by the artist himself (near right) and by John Trumbull (far). See Asher B Durand's paintings for more details and samples of his work. There are many of his paintings, especially his portraits, in my Durand book. See White Mountain Art & Artists (where I got the portrait at left).

The OGDEN family in the US goes back to about 1641 when JOHN "The Pilgrim" OGDEN first appears in the record in America. Subsequently, in 1665, he moved to NJ where he became a founding father of Elizabethtown. He is not to be confused with the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony who emigrated in 1620. This family is very interesting and accomplished. It has been well documented in the book The OGDEN Family in America, Elizabethtown Branch, and Their English Ancestry, JOHN ODGEN the Pilgrim and His Descendants 1640-1906, Their History, Biography & Genealogy, compiled by William Ogden Wheeler, 1907, a photocopy of which can be obtained from Higginson Books. A recent book is John Ogden, The Pilgrim (1609-1682), by Jack Harpster, 2006, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. This book rids the John Ogden history of fallacious foundations introduced by the infamous genealogical charlatan, Gustav Anjou. Another excellent source for this family, and of the era of the founding of our country, is History of Elizabeth, New Jersey; including the Early History of Union County, by Rev Edwin F Hatfield, 1868, and also available from Higginson. HENRIETTA OGDEN PARROTT, my g³ grandmother, is a direct descendant of "Good Old JOHN", as he is also known, my g⁹ grandfather. The book traces the family back to ROBERT and JOAN OGDEN, he born before 1453 in Nutley, Hampshire, England. They are my g¹⁴ grandparents. I believe this line is also well-proved, trusting in the OGDEN Family book down to HENRIETTA ODGEN PARROTT, and from thereon to my family by strong family records. HENRIETTA OGDEN was the wife of SYLVESTER PARROTT, and their son JOHN MITCHELL PARROTT was the husband of MARY HORTENSE DURAND, mentioned above. And, to tie them all together, SYLVESTER PARROTT is g grandson of WILLIAM PARROTT and ABIGAIL SHIPMAN, mentioned below.

Here's a well-known Ogden cousin, Thomas Alva Edison (left), famous inventor. Durand cousin Nelson Crawford Durand worked for him (see the book)! As head of the Dictaphone Division. Another is Prof John Ogden, founder of Fisk University in Nashville TN, home of the Jubilee Singers (book from which I got the Ogden picture) and where former VP Al Gore taught for a while.

The PARROTT family has been traced back to SAM PARROTT in Elizabethtown, NJ - now (the vicinity of) Elizabeth - in 1714 (when his son WILLIAM was born). He is my g⁷ grandfather. The principal reference for this family is Family Records, or Genealogies of the First Settlers of Passaic Valley (and Vicinity,) above Chatham -- with Their Ancestors and Descendants, as Far as Can Now Be Ascertained, compiled by John Littell, 1852, republished 1997 by Family Line Publications, Rear 63 East Main Street, Westminster MD 21157, 1-800-876-6103. I have trusted this book a great deal. It is an extensive listing, based on people's memories, and appears to have no evidence, such as deeds and legal documents, to back it. Nevertheless, those of its records for which I have alternative evidence are all correct, leading me to trust it. This establishes the line back to WILLIAM PARROTT and ABIGAIL SHIPMAN. The existence of his father comes from an inscription recorded by my great aunt: "In memory of WM PARROT and ABIGAIL his wife, son of SAM. PARROT of Elizabethtown. He was born there 9/19/1714 & was one of the 1st settlers in this locality. Lived near (now) Union Village where he d. 11/1784. It is believed he & his wife were buried in neighboring Pres. Church yard, with which church he was actively identified - erected 1911 by a great grandson." Unfortunately, we do not know where this inscription can be found, nor who the great grandson was.

The HARGREAVES family has been traced back to Lancashire, England, in 1789. A major emigration, to Australia, occurred in 1840, then two separate emigrations from there to Texas and New Mexico brought the family to the US. RICHARD HARGREAVES is my g³ grandfather. This line is well-proved; members of the several branches of the family have been keeping track of one another for many, many years. The essential reference work is Henry Hargreaves and his Descendants, the Story of a Pioneer Family, 1840-1990, edited by Colin Hargreaves, printed by Westlakes Printers Pty. Ltd., 17-19 Second Street, Boolaroo, NSW, Australia, (049) 58 1333, for the Hargreaves Sesquicentennial of 1990. I have parish records from the homebase of my Hargreaves family, the Padiham-Burnley area of Lancashire, showing the name back to the 1300s. The name is so common there, however, that tracing Hargreaves in Lancashire is like tracing Smiths in the US. Three famous Hargreaves that are almost surely NOT our relatives are the discover of gold in Australia (who set off the gold rush there), the inventor of the spinning jenny in England (which helped kickstart the Industrial Revolution), and the little girl for whom Alice in Wonderland was written (Hargreaves was her married name).

The SANDERS (SAUNDERS) family has been traced to England in 1625. The family came to Virginia in the 1600s. "Billy Jaybird" SANDERS, my g² grandfather emigrated from Rockingham County, NC to Giles County, TN in the early 1800s. This family is strongly traced to his father JAMES SANDERS Sr, my g³ grandfather due to a detailed family bible. There is some evidence for predecessors to these, but it is inconclusive. This family is intertwined with the following one. Old family Bibles figure strongly in both these families

The BELLENFANT family has been traced to France in late 1700s. JEAN "John" BELLENFANT is my g³ grandfather. The line is proved back to him. They were in the US by the late 1700s. A family myth is that JEAN came over with Lafayette during the Revolution. The times and places are consistent but no known documentation supports this. Nevertheless the name Lafayette figures prominently in family names, my favorite being General Lafayette Witt (General is his first name).  Certainly several members of the extended family fought in the Revolutionary War. My best source on this family of interesting names is an unpublished compilation The Bellenfant Family (Bellefont, Bellenfaute, Ballanfant): Johnson, Sanders, Winn, McClaran by Mrs J A Wilkinson. Family Bibles figure in the history of the Bellenfants, the Sanders, and the Johnsons, listed in this title.

The McKINDREY family has been traced to Ireland in the 1800s. They were in the US by the late 1800s, perhaps because of the great potato famine. The McKindrey name is ultimately derived from the name Henry (as in MacHenry, MacHendry, Henderson, etc), and is common - as MacKendry - in County Antrim in far northeast (Northern) Ireland, next to Scotland. It is part of a sept of names of the Clan MacNaughton that traces its semi-legendary history back to King Nachtan, an 8^th-century Pictish king in early Scotland. SINA MAUDIE McKINDREY is my grandmother. (McKindrey seems to be a US spelling only.) This line is well-proved so far as it goes, to my g grandfather WILLIAM McKINDREY.

The GILILLAND family has been traced to 1706 in County Antrim, (Northern) Ireland. The name is a derivative of MacClelland which came to Northern Ireland as part of the Ulster Plantation from Scotland. These are the so-called Scotch-Irish. The line back to JOHN GILILLAND (3), my g⁴ grandfather, is well-proved. My best sources for this family are The Loving Irish - The Gillilands, compiled by Martrue H Greenwood, now out of print, and a heavily researched notebook of Gilillands, prepared by Maurine Webb, for submission to the LDS collection.

I will add the JOHNSON, BAKER, RIGGS, RUTAN, SHAW families to this list eventually. See my Riggs pages.

This sampling shows a mixture of French, English, Irish, and Scotch, with Australia and Ireland as waypoints for some. The history in the US goes back to pre-Revolutionary times in the original colonies. There are contributions from the French Huguenot diaspora of 1685, the Industrial Revolution diaspora from England in the 1800s, the Potato Famine diaspora from Ireland in the 1800s, and beginning with my wife's family, the Jewish diaspora from central Europe of the 1900s.

See the Family Tree Index surname list for the direct genetic surnames (in UPPERCASE) that I know - about 50 of them (cf 1024 possible surnames in 10 generations).