We have a forum!!!

[Cooley Hurd]

:thumbsup:

Hi everybody! Welcome to the Ancestry/Genealogy Group - a forum that I hope will provide a place for DU genealogists to exchanges ideas and methods of research. I've been researching my ancestry for about a year and have traced my roots back five generations (and, in some cases, up to eight generations:wow:). And all of this from my computer.:)

So... tell me about your family.;):hi:

[brook]

1. Cool beans!

You've done well in a short time . While I've gone back 12+ generations on parts of my family, I'm stymied at the 3rd in another branch. But, oh when those stone walls give way - what a thrill!

I'm so glad you started this group - I'm looking forward to lots of fun and interesting stories, hints and exchanges!

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Wow! 12 generations?

That's impressive!:thumbsup: The farthest back I've gotten on one surname is 8 generations but, admittedly, that's only because someone else had already done it and posted it on rootsweb.:blush:

By far, the most thrilling thing for me in my research has been to finally put names to the faces in the old family photographs. It's almost like resurrecting them...:)

We all owe thanks to Rhiannon12866 for getting the ball rolling on the group - she came up with the idea kicked the lounge thread mercilessly.:applause:

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Mother of God! 12 generations! I cannot even do that with my dog,

Let alone, myself! Yikes! You are to be commended! And maybe you can help the rest of us! I mainly only know my family, since they came to this country, grandparents or great-grandparents, except for the one WASP limb of the tree, which has been here since the 1600s. And there is a book, so I am set. I'm really looking forward to this, as well! I am the one, in my family, who knows everyone, at least on my limb, so I am hoping I can get more information. I'm looking forward to the adventure.

Rhiannon:hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

16. Wow cool!

12 generations? Amazing! We have one branch of my dad's side to the 1600s (Crittendens) and another (Fish) to 1475 England. I've never actually sat down and counted how many that is though!

I'm hoping I can be a big help here. I've recently gone hardcore, and can help do lookups for folks through the godfrey library when I have time.

FSC

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Well, you know about mine.

My maternal grandparents came from Poland, my paternal great-grandparents, from Ireland. They're the ones I'm most interested in tracing. I have recently learned, from my Dad's cousins, of a relative in Ireland who's trying to do the same thing and has been very helpful. Two of them have met him and he may cross the pond, one of these days, giving me the chance. I have been to Ireland, but not to do family history. I hope to get the chance. I thank you for your help and hope that I can also help others.

Rhi:hi:

[Cooley Hurd]

5. You're lucky that others in your extended family are also researching...

...that helped me in researching my Hurd line. Like I said, internet message boards are a great tool in genealogy research - something only afforded researchers in the last two decades.

And, thank YOU for suggesting the idea - we're off and running!:hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

9. It's mainly just my aunt, and she was married to my father's brother

But I do now have info from two of my father's cousins, who I could just call! I know these people! My aunt sent me copies of letters from both of them, but I know them much better than she does. One lives in Scotia, the other in Johnstown, the ones who traveled to Ireland to meet the Irish relative, who is also doing research. I think he's also my father's generation and I now have his e-mail address. I just have to decide what to say to him. I am lucky to know a lot, since I was the one who hung out with my grandmother, so I got to meet and know so many in my Irish grandfather's family. That's the part of my family I'm most hoping to trace.:-)

And it was you who got this board going! I just posted a thread.:-)

[woodsprite]

34. This is great! Now I can DU for politics, news AND genealogy.

So far, due to a really lucky find and an email from some kind soul on the Chester Co. Rootsweb group, I have one tiny branch of my family going back to 1593. I have other gggrandparents only back to 1835 and everyone was born in the USA - Chester Co(PA)/Cecil Co(MD), New Castle Co(DE), or Sussex Co(DE)/Wicomico Co(MD).

My three biggest roadblocks seem to be a Davis that married a Davis, I can't seem to find the parent of a Nathaniel Hearn from 1835 in Wicomico Co. (MD), and there are at least 16 different ways to spell/misspell the name MacGuinness. I believe if we got everyone rounded up in my family that we are from Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England, but right now, I can only vouch for one line from England (Palmers).

I hope to pick up on some tips from the more seasoned researchers among you.

[CBHagman]

6. All from your computer, CH?

Tell me more. Is it the extended support from other researchers that really made the difference?

I have found the following to be helpful:

*Gleaning information from letters, prayer cards (from funerals), photographs.

*Contacting relatives by phone, letter, and e-mail.

*Sending good, old-fashioned requests to the vital records office or whoever is keeping the records. New Jersey really set the record for taking the longest, due to their privacy records (I had to prove my relationship to my own father!).

*Dropping by the cemetery, where possible, to, um, dig up information. :evilgrin:

*Using message boards, but only if actual relatives post there! I've found a couple of cousins that way.

*Using FamilySearch and EllisIsland.org judiciously.

*GOING TO THE LIBRARY OR ARCHIVES. I've done a fair amount of research at the Library of Congress (city directories, newspaper obits, etc.) and the National Archives (Census records, etc.)

*Getting help from a genealogical research society in the county where my relatives lived. Love those volunteers!

[Cooley Hurd]

12. Well, I probably exaggerated a bit...

I did find some of my info by tromping thru local cemeteries, but almost all of my research was done thru a paid subscription (about $200 a year) on Ancestry.com and from the rootsweb.com message boards (they have it categorized by surname and locations). The USgenweb.com also maintains individual county and state sites in which you can find such info as cemetery transcriptions, church records, etc...

Here's some links:

http://ancestry.com (I believe the social security death index is free, as well as the 1880 census)...
http://www.usgenweb.com/
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/script/main/rw

Happy huntiing!:hi:

[CBHagman]

14. I've used some of those.

Researchers on a budget should be aware that some libraries and research centers (for example, the Library of Congress's local history and genealogy room, and the National Archives) provide free access to some paid subscription websites. It might save you having to unroll all that microfilm.

However, I have found GenWeb, FamilySearch, and two message boards really useful. Check out the county websites at GenWeb, people.

[JohnKleeb]

7. Well I cant say all about my family now

but lets make it clear, I am an ethnic mutt, German, Irish, Slovak, and Slovene, and had a slave great great grandmother ;), I kid that was my april fool's joke, prior to the 50's, I don't think anyone in my family stepped foot in the south.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. No one in your family was a slave and you are not black!

And you know it. We all are pretty much ethnic mutts, but the fun is in finding out where all our relatives came from, and how. It must have taken a lot of courage.:-)

[JohnKleeb]

10. Ok, Ok my great great grandmother

was Mexican. ;)

[Rhiannon12866]

11. No she was not! I know you, John, and about your family

Your family came from Ireland and Eastern Europe, same as mine.:banghead:

[JohnKleeb]

13. hahahaha

ok you forgot Germany though.

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Sorry!

At least I didn't forget Poland, LOL!:D

[sandnsea]

17. Hello!!!

I just found this group, I've been looking and waiting for it to start up.

I've researched parts of my line back to France in the 1600's. One of the women went to Canada as part of the Filles Du Roi, they were given doweries and such to go to Canada and get married. That led to the one who was an original settler of Detroit, whose granddaughter married into my direct family line. My direct line I've only been able to trace to a French fort in the early 1700's at Kaskaskia Illinois. My great grandmother's line goes back to an indentured servant who came to Jamestown in the 1600's and became one of the members of the House of Burgesses.

But my mother and grandmother's lines, zippo. I can't find anything on them. Weird.

It'll be fun to see how other people get through their hurdles, etc.

[Cooley Hurd]

18. Welcome, sandnsea!

I know there were a lot of French settlers in my neck of the woods here in Saratoga Co, NY - all of my neighbors have French names.

Glad you found the group!:hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

32. And I also welcome you, sandnsea!

We've met elsewhere! Good luck with this and I sure hope that we can help!:hi:

[shugah]

19. hi!

great idea for a group!

i've been fiddling with genealogy off and on for a few years now. i'm lucky that one branch of the family tree has been researched very thoroughly already. also lucky that most of the family names i work with are unique and unusual (basically if run across someone with the same surname as my birth name, or my mother's birth name, or my grandmother's birth name, i know that i am related to them! ;-) ).

i've been away from it for awhile, but recently became custodian to the old family photos so i am ready to dive back in!

i'm looking forward to reading the posts here - particularly in regard to finding new resources for searching out information.

i would be very curious to hear peoples opinions on the best $ spent for research purposes. there are so many "offers" one runs into when researching, and thus far, i've not bought any, but am at the point where i would be glad of "shortcuts" and a little more ease in finding information i am looking for.

[Cooley Hurd]

25. Welcome to AG group, shugah!

:hi:

I've been using ancestry.com for over a year, although they're a bit pricey. The downside to using their service is that you feed the beast that is making free online genealogy research more and more scarce. The upside is that they do have a pretty good database that encompasses a myriad of sources. I must stress that they don't have everything, however. What I would do is utilize all of the advice/sources that you'll find here, and if you run into any brick walls, you can ask someone here with an ancestry.com membership to perhaps perform a lookup for you.

Glad you're here!:hi:

[shugah]

31. thanks for the welcome CH

ancestry.com is a bit on the pricey side. they do have the 2 week free trial, which i'll probably take advantage of, but i want to be sure i have everything i'll want to check on ready to go first.

i won't mind paying the $ if they can deliver - it's just that i'm afraid when you stress they don't have everything that the everything they don't have is exactly what i'm looking for ;-) even checking the free online birth records in MN between 1900-1907 my grandfather who was born in MN in 1907 does not show up.

on edit: wrong tags

[GOPFighter]

20. Genealogy - a great hobby!

Perfect for those of us who love history, research, writing, and solving mysteries (the most fun of all).

My focus is on my Gr-gr-gr-gr-great-grandfather who brought the family name to Philadelphia from Germany in 1738. I'm trying to identify all of his offspring up to the present. That's an impossible task, I know. It's fascinating to track the migration patterns over the generations. It's also fun to unearth titillating behavior, like the cousin who was 28 in the 1880 census and 31 in the 1900 census married to an 18 year old girl and a 2 year old son. Or another cousin, a single male about 26 in then 1930 census who was living alone with a young lady listed as his "Maid". He married his Maid a few years later. Gee, a shack job in 1930!

Of course I also found out my dad was born a suspiciously short time after his parents marriage. Hmmmm.

:evilgrin:

[Cooley Hurd]

26. Welcome GOPFighter!

:hi:

There's a database of arrivals from Germany to Philly (1700-1775) on ancestry.com. If you post his name, I'll look him up - most passenger lists include every passenger, not just head of household. It might be possible to glean whom he emigrated with.

Also, I'd beware of some info contained in US census records. I've found erroneous info in many of the documents pertaining to my family. Census records are a good place to start, but don't rely on them solely.

Hope this group helps in your quest!:thumbsup:

[GOPFighter]

30. Thanks for the offer, CH

I was fortunate to have the Library of Congress nearby and found my ancestor came to Philly on the ship Davy. He was listed on the passenger manifest and I even found his signitaure!

I subscribe to Ancestry.com also and it has been a great help. It's nice to go on line and do research late at night. I also subscribed to their digital newspaper collection, but haven't found it very helpful.

[Spider Jerusalem]

21. Yeah, the Internet has proved to be a great tool for me, too.

The ease of sharing information and ability to access census and vital records databases has been a tremendous help. And discovering that some of my lines have already been extensively researched made things a bit easier. The online census records have been helpful, up to a point; any census prior to 1850 (I think) only lists the head of household, and not spouses/children, so the censuses of 1840 and earlier haven't been of much help.


Most of my ancestors seem to've emigrated to America before the Revolution; the direct male line goes back to the mid-1600's in Maryland, and another goes back to an ancestor who arrived in Jamestown in 1608. And my ancestors seem to've settled mostly in the area from Pennsylvania to Virginia, with the exception of a few New Englanders. Pretty diverse group...Early Pennsylvania Gemans who arrived in the 1750's, Catholics coming to Maryland because of religious persecution, Puritans fleeing England after the Restoration, "gentleman" adventurers in search of land and fortune, indentured servants, and so on. Kind of fascinating to see the reflection of the first 200 years of American history in your own family.

And I've actually been able to trace a few lines back pretty far, thanks to the fact that they connect with gentry/nobility in Plantagenet and Tudor England, and thence to royalty (otherwise I'd have been SOL, since records for "commoners" are nonexistent at that point)...the most distant ancestor in my database is something like 49 generations back.

[Cooley Hurd]

27. Welcome to the group, SJ!

:hi:

Information pre-1800 is scant, especially on the internet (I assume that it's difficult to scan such ancient documents). One thing that I hope comes out of this group is to network DU genealogists that can help one another with local searches.

Fascinating story of your family!:thumbsup:

[BlackVelvetElvis]

22. I think I'm going to enjoy this forum!

Thanks to those that started it.
I started researching in 1977 for a school project and got hooked (I also love history). It has not only helped me learn more about local histories but find out a little about who I am.
Most of my info has been aquired through like-minded relatives who search archives. The internet has added alot to it but I take some of it with a grain of salt.
The most wonderful find was a cousin who had a few pages of a printed autobiography of my GG grandfather, a circuit Methodist minister who was born in 1842. He gives his "testimonial" and speaks of his alchoholic parents, his service in during the Civil War, his rowdy friends, his early life as a blacksmith and how he was saved from a lifetime of drinking (because he wanted to be a better father). The copies also have some hymns that he wrote (with music). I would love to find the pages that are missing.
My family comes from Marion Co., SC, Southampton Co., Va, Forsyth/Stokes/Columbus cs, NC. Globally, they came from Lancashire, England, Palatine Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and the Lumbee tribe of NC.

[Rhiannon12866]

24. Wow! I love history, as well!

Maybe that's also the reason I'm attracted to this group! I have a book, from my paternal grandmother, which I've poured over, just a history of her family, but it fascinated me. They were Dutch and came here in the 1600s. The book was commissioned by her aunt. I know much less about my Irish and Polish relatives and hope to find out more. They haven't been here as long, but I'd like to know their histories as well.:shrug:

And your family story certainly sounds fascinating! It's a great project and I hope we can help. Let us know more, as you know it. I'd certainly like to know more. I think that actual histories are better than historical novels, any day, because we know that people actually lived them. I've already learned more, and will post what I have when I pin it down. I now have the e-mail address of a relative in Ireland, who I plan to contact. I am so glad we started this.:-)

[Cooley Hurd]

28. Welcome BVE!

:hi:

In my research, I'm always putting into perspective the times in which my ancestors lived - for example, my great-great Grandfather, John (my surname) was born during the Washington Administration! Also, my great-great-great-great Grandfather, Cooley Hurd, fought with the CT militia during the Revolutionary War. I'm a history nut, and by doing this, it helps in undertsanding them as well as providing "color" about their lives and times.

I hope the group is helpful in your research!:thumbsup:

[underseasurveyor]

23. Well far on and right out man ;-)

A genealogy forum on DU I just discovered was here :thumbsup: yay

Sounds like you've had pretty good luck searching out your history. That's great :-)

I wish could say my search has been as fruitful as yours.......but
:sigh: oh well :-(
I'm close to hiring a pro researcher to help me try to find any records of my father's bio parents. He was adopted in 1930 or 31 in the midwest and he's been gone O8) since I was 13 months old. So it would be nice since I never had a chance to know him at least I would know the other half of the blood I have and have passed on to my son :-)

And the other side of the family all came from Canada and Scotland mostly and I have only a few scraps of family info here and there and so far I can't get back any farther than the 1860's. Kinda stuck there but a cousin did the English part of the family and was able to get back to the late 1500's. So yeah it's cool to go back that far and....Ponder.

I also enjoy the art in penmanship on some of the online, scanned census images from the 1700 and 1800's that are hand written in script. Absolutely beautiful handwriting.

Genealogy can be frustrating as hell but god I have fun doing it.

Glad this place is here.

[Cooley Hurd]

29. Welcome, temperancedissent !

:hi:

You might not have to hire anyone to help in your genealogy research - that's what we're here for!:hi:

Glad to see you here!:thumbsup:

[Greylyn58]

33. Well I've been able to trace part's of my family

On my Dad's side I can trace part of his family back 10 generations to 1570 England. Learned some interesting stuff along the way that had been family legends. Was able to confirm some of them.

On my Mom's side, I was able to trace her father's(my grandfather) name back 12 generations to 1609 England and my grandfather's mother's family back 10 generations to 1660 England.

Other family names are causing me grief because I can't seem to get anywhere, but wherever I do make a small break-through it is exciting.

One thing I did find is that there where lots of children on both sides.

[Daphne08]

35. I just discovered this forum today.

Duh. :D

I've been researching for years online and have traced a couple of family lines back to late 1700's, but I've also hit brick walls. Very frustrating.

[Cybergata]

36. I just found this forum a few days ago...

because I sort of hid myself from things political since the last election. I was just too depress and giving up all hope. I came back for the summer, and here is this wonderful forum with everyone gone.

Explain your brick wall? Maybe someone reading your post can help you,

My brick wall is for lack of records or lost records or my inability to read the very dim, close to impossible microfiche written in misspelled Spanish. I can't find the parents of my GG grandfather Ramon Lopez. I believe my GG grandmother was either his second or third wife since he died when my G grandfather, Celso Lopez, was very young. I find that many woman in Spanish Colonial New Mexico died of childbirth in their 40s, and the men remarry. There are also those women who had a dozen children, and have outlived a few husbands, some of these husband died fighting the Apache or Comanche or a periodic outbreak of a disease.

Another brick wall is for the lack of records for my Anglo-American female ancestors. The records either don't name them or don't give their birth name. I have found many of my ancestors between my father's direct male line (Lopez ending with Ramon Lopez born around 1790) and my Mother's direct maternal line (ends with Katherine Ross born around 1802). I have many of those ancestors in between traced back to their European roots before 1600.

Sometimes bricks come down for me when I go back and look at information that I looked at before, but didn't have the knowledge I had gained since the last time I looked at the that source. I found my Luna ancestors that way. Sometimes brick walls come down when I post on a rootsweb forum asking others for help on a possible shared ancestor. I found my Cooley ancestors that way.

[Spider Jerusalem]

37. Some brick walls are easier to break through than others.

Sometimes, the records just aren't there. This is especially common for someone whose ancestors were Irish Catholics, and whose births weren't recorded in Anglican parish registers; for people whose ancestors emigrated to certain parts of the American South, where many records were lost to fire during the Civil War; and for people whose ancestors were part of the pioneer migration westward to the unsettled frontier country (Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, etc) in the late 1700's-early 1800's (all of my 'brick walls' are for one or another of the above reasons).

[iverglas]

38. long ago and far away ...

The ancestors ... and your post. ;)

Is your Katherine Ross perchance connected with the Quaker Ross family?

Here's some info about the Hopewell meeting in the 1700s:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~quakers/hopewell.htm
http://www.drwilliams.org/iDoc/index.htm?url=http://www.drwilliams.org/iDoc/hopewell.htm
(wait for it to load)

As I gather, the Quaker families in question moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia in the 1730s. Alexander Ross was the patriarch. His daughter Mary married Samuel Littler's son John, I believe is how it goes. I think it's his wife who was Katharine Ross -- earlier than yours, of course, but a name connection.

John Ross and Katharine (Catherine) Chambers had several children:
http://users.owt.com/flesher/gen/thomas/fam00317.htm
-- including sons John, George and David, born 1735, 1748 and ?. One of them could have had a granddaughter named Katherine ...

... if your Ross family was in the US that early, and if and if ...

[iverglas]

39. aargh, too late to edit

John Ross and Katharine (Catherine) Chambers had several children

should of course be

*Alexancer* Ross and Katharine (Catherine) Chambers had several children

[Cybergata]

40. Thanks for the email

I don't have the time to browse through any forums during the school year. Tomorrow is our last day before summer break. Too bad I'm not done with all the grading I need to do.

My Katherine Ross is actually Sarah Ross (my mistake), was born around 1800 in Meadville, Crawford. Pennsylvania, died in Waterford, Erie, Pennsylvania in 1866, and her father's name was Francis Ross. She married James Walker.

I must have been typing too fast and thinking too little when I wrote my original post. I would love to connect Sarah to Quakers in Pennsylvania, but I just don't have any evidence to connect her with anyone but Francis Ross. I do have German/Swiss Mennonite ancestors who emigrated to Pennsylvania, then to Virginia, and ended up in Indiana for a while before they moved to Nebraska.

I'll check out the site you have given me just out of interest sake, but I doubt that I could ever connect Sarah to them :-(

[catchnrelease]

41. Hey, I just found this forum too!

Last night, just as I was leaving DU, I saw a mention of this forum and for a few minutes checked it out. Very cool!

I originally started researching my family in the late '80s and early '90s. At that time I was looking at my Dad's lines which were all up in Wisconsin.....French-Canadian, Menominee and Germans. Since there was no computer availability for researching, and I live in CA and no prospect of spending time researching in person, I did some at the National Archives about an hour from home. Very slow and tedious, altho' I did manage to find family members in censuses. In the end, I made contact with a pro researcher in Green Bay, and over the next 10 years (no kidding) she found a ton of info for me. Luckily she didn't charge a lot at a time, just a moderate amount each month depending on what time she put in and costs. Over that decade I imagine it added up to over a thousand, but I don't like to think about that, lol. Anyway, she finally hit some dead ends in Canada and Germany that even she couldn't get past. So we kind of ended the partnership, altho' she will give me advice now and then on what to try on my own.

For a few years I kind of let it go, then in the last couple of years got the bug again, and am working on my Mom's side. They are German and Irish, all from the IA, MO, KS areas. I finally broke down and subscribed to Ancestry and have been doing fairly well here and there. My younger sister also helps out. Just this past couple of months, we have managed to make contact with 3 "cousins" from the 4 lines coming down from the Irish side. So now all of the 4 lines are represented by living people. Happily, some of these cousins have had a little info and are helping out to fill in holes.

I'm still missing out the bit that is most important to me, I want to know where our first Irish immigrant ancestors came from in Ireland. It's become an obsession. There are some tantalizing clues coming from the cousins, but I'm not sure they are fact or family fable. Am waiting to hear back from one, as to where she got this info.

Ah well, I'm sure that's more than enough babbling from me, but I was excited to find this forum. I don't post often, but maybe this forum will get me going...........

PS Cooley Hurd, I have to laugh at the irony, the Irish family I'm obsessed with is Cooley!

[Cybergata]

42. Cooley and Google Books

I was obsessed with Cecilia Cooley, until someone pointed out that her name was Selah Cooley. Her grand daughter was named Cecilia Walker, and Cecilia Walker's grand daughter and my grandmother was named Mabel Cecilia. I started reading The Cooley Genealogy: The Descendants of Ensign Benjamin Cooley, by Mortimer Elwyn Cooley. I found the book at my local genealogy library, and then found it in the New England Historic and Genealogical Society on line database.

Are you having difficulty finding a Cooley, because I have a membership to NEHGS & access to their database. I could look for you. I also have some Cooley information on my genealogy website. The earliest Cooley I have, Benjamin, can be found at http://cybergata.com/roots/6579.htm

When I started researching about 5 years ago, there wasn't a lot of really good information on line. I wasn't very serious about it at the time and stopped for a few years. Someone I worked with sparked my interest, and when I started searching on line, I was amazed at how much genealogical information was on line at the time. I has increased greatly every year since. The newest tool I found is google books. I put in some name of ancestors who needed some more information or a source, in the google book search. It took some time searching, but I found a lot of New England resources. Some books you can only get sections of, some the entire book. If you are registered with google, the more sections you can access in some books. Sometimes you can get snippets, but sometimes those are great snippets.

Here is an example: I typed in the name Benjamin Cooley, and found a whole page of publications that I can have total access to (remember, I am a google member and have my settings to always be logged on). One of my favorite resources showed up, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, the NEHGS's periodical that has been published since 1858 or 1853. I can't remember which date. Although I am a member of NEHGS and can access this document on their website, I found that reading it in google books is much easier. Not all the Registers are available through google books, but here is where you can find the issue with Benjamin Cooley:

http://books.google.com/books?id=nGKyccFK2loC&pg=PA267&dq=Benjamin+Cooley

To anyone who feels frustrated by their brick walls, I read the post I wrote last year, and I have to feel amazed at just how far I've gone and how many ancestors I've found since I wrote my first post here. It just take a lot of work, help from all the good people who love genealogy, and good sources.

[catchnrelease]

43. Thanks

for the info on the google books, I hadn't heard about that source. Will check it out.

I know there is a huge Cooley group, with a website that has info going way back, etc. But I don't think "my" Cooleys are part of that family. At least as far as I can tell. My gr-gr grandfather, Denis Cooley was the first of our Cooleys to come to the US, and it seems like he was on his own and a farmer. A newly found distant cousin says that his grandfather(one of Denis' sons) passed down that Denis came in through Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Apparently he then went down to St Louis where he married, in 1847. Over the years I've looked at many of the Cooley groups listings and never found anything that seems to fit. But I do keep an open mind, if I have learned one thing from doing genealogy research, it's that you can never tell what you might find. The surprises are half the fun.

If you do happen to come across someone that matches what I described above, I would really appreciate hearing from you. I'll take a look at your links.

:hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

44. The first name, in this case, is Cooley, not the last, which is Hurd.

That was his first relative in this country, Cooley Hurd, and his screen name on DU, and who started this group with me two years ago, and we're so pleased that it has done well, and he really has a wealth of knowledge, so maybe he can help you, too. I'll point your post out to him. Welcome, my friend, and we're so glad that you found us here!

Rhiannon:hi: