Over representation of famous 'Civil War' (US) ancestors?

[Paperblank]

I am trying to find my American grandfather over in WW2 and find I have these connections - the name Sevier is a little similar to the one I have. I had no idea who John Sevier even was until now.


From strongest DNA match: I am still convinced that you and I share the same Sevier Ancestor. My ggg grandmother was Mary Ann Sevier. She married John Halterman and one of their children was Melvert Halterman who married a Lane.

From another more remote connection:

What does look interesting is the part about the governor of Tennessee. One of my great-grandfathers was William Blount, the first territorial governor of Tennessee. That is my maternal line.

I also seem to have quite a few genetic connections that claim links with Sherrill (of Bonny Kate fame) and other famous names associated with the Civil War and this period of history??

How to join the dots?

Grateful for any tips. Thanks.

[Ksquinn]

What do you already know about your grandfather who was in World War II?
The National Archives in St. Louis maintains all military personnel records.

If you have a name, and know which branch of the military that your grandfather served in, you can check out this website.

You will need to print out the .PDF document request form rather than due the electronic request, which is for direct descendents (children, spouses).

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/

[PDHOTLEN]

What is so fascinating about the Civil War, genealogically speaking? By that time my direct maternal branch had already divided itself into Yankees and Confederates. And my paternal side was still in the process of immigrating to this country. As for the surname Blount, I have that name in my direct maternal line back in Medieval England.

[Paperblank]

Thanks for replies.

Re: NARA/NPRC - have done huge work with them already. One possible surname alone took me nearly 2 years to try to eliminate. Have been working with Niels Zussblatt there - who works incredibly hard - for more than ten years now. No go. Name doesn't check out quite in the way we have it plus lots to hamper search there not least fire in early 70s destroying many of the records (although they've worked hard to try to make sense of them).

Mum and I have tried every avenue you can think of - really - apart from DNA. So this is our final push.

Re: Blount - my connection is directly linked to Governor at Tennessee 'Blount' though that's the thing; and he came directly after (I think) John Sevier who another connection (my strongest one) also directly links to.

In fact many of my connections seem shot through with connections to Sevier, Sherrill etc.

I was wondering - just as many I know in the UK went into genealogy in the hope of connecting with Royalty - there may be many who are keen to identify with American heroes/heroines? If not then I have a skewed response heavily weighted with Sevier connections. But what now? Many are too distant to nail down? May be coincidence?

[Ksquinn]

Do you by chance have any pictures of this World War II grandfather? If you have any pictures, it would be possible to identify the unit that he was in. Since you mentioned the UK, I would assume that you are talking about the European Theater of Operations (ETO) which would make him Army or Army Air Corps.

I have had a little luck with NARA/NPRC in the past working on maternal line. My great grandfather on the maternal line was an Army officer in the war and his records were destroyed in the fire. It took a long time, but they were able to reconstruct the records easily enough.

Do you know if he survived the war? If not, and if he was an aviator, a report was written about each aircraft lost during the war, called Missing Air Crew Reports. A lot of these have been digitized, and can be accessed at Fold. One of my mother's relatives was a bomber pilot during the war and was killed in action over Germany --- and I was able to find a detailed report written by witnesses and the surviving crew members after they were released from a Stalag.

[Paperblank]

Thanks. Agree if you have the right name it's usually a matter of time despite the setbacks - unfortunately we have very little information not least a name that isn't quite right. We really have done everything you can think of - I know about what resources are available that relate on line and have done research on the area where (we think) they met in absolute painstaking detail. I've even spoken to dialect experts as to how the name may have been heard. We've scoured PRO for references to where birth mother may have worked, checked war record (there isn't one) and so on and so forth. So much have we done that I am now involved in other searches for other people. There isn't the tiniest pebble - in search terms - we've not turned over and examined.

DNA is our last hope and we have all these references to a family that I can't currently make head or tail of and distant relatives who don't want to engage as don't see the point - too hard to prove a connection many (but not all) tell me. We won't let that defeat us, we've come this far. Thanks again.

Off to Ancestry to search on one possible link to the family mentioned up thread but nothing to say whether they connect to my Mother and I or not.

[mollyblum]

I was just going to let you know of the particular "twang" that someone from St. Louis Missouri might speak with when I noticed you said you spoke with a dialect expert. I assume you have also considered that they may have been foreign born, used their middle name for their first name or a nickname or an Americanized version of their real name. For example my great-Uncle went by Gus but his real name was Gershon. My Uncle Jules was really Julius. My great- grandfather's brother Guillermo went by William.

A lot of my Blumenthal relations shortened their names to Blum or Blonder for some reason.

Just things to keep in mind. Not sure if you are saying his name sounds like Sevier but that sounds French or French-Canadian and could be a mix of things or just a mis-pronunciation.

AB

Thanks. Agree if you have the right name it's usually a matter of time despite the setbacks - unfortunately we have very little information not least a name that isn't quite right. We really have done everything you can think of - I know about what resources are available that relate on line and have done research on the area where (we think) they met in absolute painstaking detail. I've even spoken to dialect experts as to how the name may have been heard. We've scoured PRO for references to where birth mother may have worked, checked war record (there isn't one) and so on and so forth. So much have we done that I am now involved in other searches for other people. There isn't the tiniest pebble - in search terms - we've not turned over and examined.

DNA is our last hope and we have all these references to a family that I can't currently make head or tail of and distant relatives who don't want to engage as don't see the point - too hard to prove a connection many (but not all) tell me. We won't let that defeat us, we've come this far. Thanks again.

Off to Ancestry to search on one possible link to the family mentioned up thread but nothing to say whether they connect to my Mother and I or not.

[katerennie4]

Thanks for replies.

Re: NARA/NPRC - have done huge work with them already. One possible surname alone took me nearly 2 years to try to eliminate. Have been working with Niels Zussblatt there - who works incredibly hard - for more than ten years now. No go. Name doesn't check out quite in the way we have it plus lots to hamper search there not least fire in early 70s destroying many of the records (although they've worked hard to try to make sense of them).

Mum and I have tried every avenue you can think of - really - apart from DNA. So this is our final push.

Re: Blount - my connection is directly linked to Governor at Tennessee 'Blount' though that's the thing; and he came directly after (I think) John Sevier who another connection (my strongest one) also directly links to.

In fact many of my connections seem shot through with connections to Sevier, Sherrill etc.

I was wondering - just as many I know in the UK went into genealogy in the hope of connecting with Royalty - there may be many who are keen to identify with American heroes/heroines? If not then I have a skewed response heavily weighted with Sevier connections. But what now? Many are too distant to nail down? May be coincidence?

Do you mind me asking what name you had for your American grandfather?

I know the frustration of WW2 records. My own grandfather's records were burned up in that fire. Add to the fact my grandmother didn't keep the letters he sent, he never talked about it after he came back, and his uniform/other memorabilia was lost in a house fire and I only know small bits now. He was in the Army Air Corps, he was a sergeant, he served in both Europe and the Pacific fronts, and he had a scar on his cheek from a bayonet wound.

I admit, I sometimes wonder if I'll find my grandfather had other kids. He and my grandmother didn't marry until 1955, when they were 31, even though they dated in highschool and kept in contact regularly. I know she dated other people in the interim, I imagine he must of as well.

[tomcat]

Not famous folk want to be related to famous folk. No mystery in that.

(What is interesting is the frame that makes them famous ... rather than infamous or inconsequential ... just depends on one's point of view and if one's point of view is affirmed by the dominant historical narrative).

[PDHOTLEN]

Actually, it will probably turn out that I am wrong about my maternal line. Going back beyond the Revolutionary War, it is entirely based on what I found on Ancestry.com. (ha ha). As for famous people, I've seen famous outlaw surnames a couple of times. One I recall is "Younger". That was an in-law name back in England (married a sister of my direct line). In the case of Blount, I have a John (Sir Knight) Blount/De Blount in the 1200s. But I'd have to look it up beyond that. He was probably of Norman lineage.

[PDHOTLEN]

I was just poking around on Ancestry again, in my maternal side. A long time ago I snooped in that era, but had let it lapse. What I'm talking about is a downstream maternal line going from a sister of my maternal great-grandmother. Back then, a few years ago, I found a possible connection to one of those early blonde bombshell movie stars (Jean Harlow or a similar one). I haven't tried to trace that down this time. But now I see a possible connection to Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe fame. I'm probably wrong, but...? I think I remember him saying that he had Mississippi roots. And a daughter of that maternal line of my great-grandmother's sister that I mentioned above married a Scarborough of Mississippi, although she herself was born and died in Iowa (if I remember correctly). So maybe we don't have to go back to Medieval times to find famous people on our trees. And there may be some other kind of Hollywood connection via names in FF. But I won't go into that.