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And other odd stories. I suppose no one ever tried to prove that whopper but there are many others that crop up in our family lore. In my family there were three stories that were repeated.
First, we were descended from Sir Francis Drake -- but don't tell anyone because he was a dirty rotten pirate. Well, The Vice Admiral never had children so that would be a difficult achievement. He was a privateer and explorer and only flirted with being a pirate based on your point of view. (We have a common ancestor with Drake.) Once upon a time there was rumored to be a vast Drake fortune that belonged to his rightful heirs so lots of people became direct descendants.
Second, the two brothers myth. I've heard various versions of this and some might be true -- two brothers came to America together (sometimes three) and were separated either intentionally or by fate and never contacted or were heard from again. Sometimes the brothers fought on opposing sides in the Civil War. In our case the brothers were fleeing Russia/Ukraine from a rich and abusive father and they each took a different surname (though similar) and one went north and one went south...never contacting each other again. My ancestor claimed to be from Bavaria when naturalized so he was seriously hiding from something. I think DNA testing might show that some of these stories were true but how would you know. I have some Ukrainian and Russian DNA cousins so that part seems to be true.
Third, an ancestor had multiple families all across the eastern US which accounts for the name cropping up in various communities. Love 'em and leave 'em. Well, since most of this guy's time, after arriving in the US, is easily accounted for and he was pretty busy with his one known family this is just crazy talk. I've tried to piece together some of those families and only a few seem to be connected by a common ancestor in Pomerania a few generations back.
I was once a volunteer correspondence researcher at a state archives for several years and we would get letters from all over the country from people doing family research. A lot of people claim to be descended from or related to Daniel Boone and many of those panned out. There were a couple folks who were relatives of James Beckwith/Jim Beckwourth, former slave, fur trapper, scout and one-time chief of the Crow nation. That seemed to be a valid claim -- he had half brothers. There was one letter about a family being connected to Sacagawea that was very interesting to research but her identity and life story are too shrouded in myth and mystery (it is likely that she has living relatives). The stories that great grandpa was the only soldier survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn were, unfortunately, just stories.
There certainly are a lot of stories out there and as you point out they often come in oft repeated formulas.
The brothers one went north and one went south is a common one. Though certainly sometimes true usually I've found this either false, or baseless. Often it's an attempt to connect the surnamed ancestry from the South to a prestigious line in the North. Though some families did go North/South or South/North I've found it's actually pretty rare most Southern families tie back to colonial Virginia, Carolina, or Pennsylvania immigration and rarely have any ties to the families that landed in the New England area. DNA has shown that many of such families are in fact completely different Y DNA as well.
With that said, again there are exceptions. I know one of my own lines no one expect to find a connection with a Shaddock family of South Carolina in the 1700s... though Y DNA matched an established Shaddock/Shattuck family in New England. At a pretty high level match.
Before the DNA it wasn't something that was expected (though some research of Shattucks that likely came down was done for leads). Obviously after Y DNA shows a relation research centered on that and as it turns out finds a pretty good fit.
Again this, in my own experience, is the exception rather than the rule. Often if people connect North/South families in the colonial times (or often later) I usually find no evidence for it.
The "brothers" narrative is mostly just easy and again sometimes a way to connect one surname to another because it's desirable.
The Sir Francis Drake is a good one as well, especially considering he has no known descendants. Every Drake surname wants to claim him lol. I saw one Drake (not related, I had thought so for a while but discovered it was unrelated to my Drakes) in the US in the 19th or 18th century literally named "Sir Francis Drake" as in "Sir" was part of his name lol.
Those old newspaper articles about alleged inheritance for Drakes are pretty interesting. Kind of like our prince e-mail scams.
I always liked the ones that had the family tree back to Jesus (and I have seen them!!!).
Yeah those are interesting. Or similarly ones that trace back to Adam and Eve. Very similar to how medieval genealogies and earlier would trace back to a legendary King, or Norse lines tracing back to a Norse God.
Yeah those are interesting. Or similarly ones that trace back to Adam and Eve. Very similar to how medieval genealogies and earlier would trace back to a legendary King, or Norse lines tracing back to a Norse God.
Yep! Years ago I found a distant relative on Rootsweb who traced our common ancestor back to Adam and Eve. Right. It was goofy and they had an obvious religious agenda. I left it alone.
The Sir Francis Drake is a good one as well, especially considering he has no known descendants. Every Drake surname wants to claim him lol. I saw one Drake (not related, I had thought so for a while but discovered it was unrelated to my Drakes) in the US in the 19th or 18th century literally named "Sir Francis Drake" as in "Sir" was part of his name lol.
Those old newspaper articles about alleged inheritance for Drakes are pretty interesting. Kind of like our prince e-mail scams.
I have learned that there is often a grain of truth in these old family stories. Although Admiral Sir Francis Drake had no children, his baronetcy passed to his nephew of the same name. And the baronetcy was passed on (later becoming extinct):
"Sir Francis, third baronet (Thomas 7), baptized May 1, 1642, in Buckland Monachorum; buried January 15, 1718, in Meavy; married first, February 6, 1664-5, Dorothy, Daughter of Sir John Bampfield, baronet, buried January 30, 1679, in Buckland Monachorum. Children, born in Buckland "
No less a family than the Churchill family claimed a relationship to the Admiral; the first Winston Churchill (1620-1688) married Lady Elizabeth Drake, a relative of Drake (Manchester, 1983:93)
Manchester, William (1983). The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874–1932. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-316-54503-1.
Here is a genealogy of Drake's brother, some of whose descendants are in America:
Lots of connections of my Dobbs/ Wayne/ Duplin Branch family to Christopher Branch of RD500 fame. Exceedingly Unlikely. This group does not have the same DNA as confirmed descendants of Christopher Branch. They are related somehow to the George Branch of Isle of Wight who has no known royal descent.
I have learned that there is often a grain of truth in these old family stories. Although Admiral Sir Francis Drake had no children, his baronetcy passed to his nephew of the same name. And the baronetcy was passed on (later becoming extinct):
"Sir Francis, third baronet (Thomas 7), baptized May 1, 1642, in Buckland Monachorum; buried January 15, 1718, in Meavy; married first, February 6, 1664-5, Dorothy, Daughter of Sir John Bampfield, baronet, buried January 30, 1679, in Buckland Monachorum. Children, born in Buckland "
No less a family than the Churchill family claimed a relationship to the Admiral; the first Winston Churchill (1620-1688) married Lady Elizabeth Drake, a relative of Drake (Manchester, 1983:93)
Manchester, William (1983). The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874–1932. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-316-54503-1.
Here is a genealogy of Drake's brother, some of whose descendants are in America:
Ohh absolutely, I'm fairly familiar with the Drake genealogies, including the noble ones like Sir Francis Drake and his likely distantly related Drakes of Ashe (who were not happy when Sir Francis Drake took similar arms)
As that page points out
Quote:
The membership of the association consisted principally of Drakes from new Jersey and New York State. It is interesting to note that the most active members were descendants of John of Windsor, Conn., and Thomas of Weymouth, Mass., whom recent investigations have proved to have belonged to an entirely separate family.
The vast majority of claimed Drake relations to Francis Drake (and to Drake of Ashe) are basically made up fanciful genealogies. Back in the 19th century there was an activity of really bad American genealogy trying to connect colonial ancestors to notable families. Unfortunately many of those really bad genealogies have been copied and distributed into many other sources for over 100 years. Drake genealogies can be some of the worst.
and see how many completely unrelated Drakes there really are (note there are two pages)
I descend from a Benjamin Drake of Davidson County, TN which clusters with descendants of Captain Francis Drake of Piscataway New Jersey likely making him an immigrant ancestor of my Benjamin. It is unknown how my Benjamin exactly descends or connects to him. Likewise it is unknown what Captain Francis Drake's parentage really is. Many theories existed on weak genealogy, including the fact he lived next to a Nathaniel Drake who was the son of a Robert Drake of NH, though DNA has disproven this (which serves as a good warning against names and proximity being the key guide).
I always liked the ones that had the family tree back to Jesus (and I have seen them!!!).
Who was Jesus Jr.?
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