52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Origins

The theme for this week is "Origins". Genealogists often get the question, "Where is your family from?". 

I do get asked that question, so I'm using this post to document what I know about my family's origins and what is still a mystery. Most of my maternal ancestors eventually settled in Queen Anne's County, Maryland or nearby counties. The chart below shows some of my maternal immigrant ancestors and my best guess at where they're from. Italics indicate data where I haven't found any supporting records. While some of these lines can be traced down to my ancestors, some of them get a bit murky in the middle and it's presumed that my lines are related to the immigrant ancestors.

The origins of my Chilcutt, Covey, Godwin and Meredith ancestors are unknown and I haven't traced my Councill line back further than Henry Councill. There was a Dennis Councill/Councell in the estate records of a Jacobus Seth in Talbot County, Maryland as early as 1698. It's possible that he is Henry Councill's father or other relation, but I haven't seen any proof of that so far.

Maternal Immigrant Ancestors

The next chart shows the main lines for my paternal immigrant ancestors. Most of them arrived in the US in the 1800s so the relationships are easier to prove than with my maternal side. The exceptions are my Matson and Clevenger lines. John Matson still remains mostly a mystery. He is the ancestor of my great-great-grandmother Mary Ann Matson Creeden. He was married to Nancy Ann Clevenger and they moved from Virginia to Clinton County, Ohio in the early 1800s. Mary is also related to the Clevengers through her mother Dortha Clevenger.

Paternal Immigrant Ancestors

A final note is that these origins match up pretty well with the ethnicity estimates from Ancestry DNA tests for me, my sister and my mother. My estimates show roughly 1/3 England/NW Europe, 1/3 Germanic Europe and 1/3 a  mix from Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Sweden/Denmark. The English and Welsh are from my maternal side, while the Germanic Europe and Sweden/Denmark are paternal. I have Irish and Scottish ancestry on both sides. The Meredith surname originated in Wales, so that's a possibility for the Welsh ancestry.

#52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow.

Fearless Females - Immigration

March 27 — Do you know the immigration story of one or more female ancestors? Do you have any passenger lists, passports, or other documentation? Interesting family stories?

The United Kingdom

I have not had much success finding definite passenger lists or immigration documentation for any of my ancestors.

In 1845, my Pulskamp ancestors Herman Heinrich Pulskamp and his wife Maria Katherine Steinke Pulskamp came to Franklin County, IN with their children, but I don't have any documentation on what ship they came over on.

My Niehaus ancestors Carl Theodor Heinrich Niehaus and Catharina Panshar Niehaus came over in 1865 according to Wildeshausen emigrants, but I've been unable to find a passenger list for them.

My mother's ancestors were all in the US by the 1700's, but I don't have the lines traced back far enough to know who the immigrant ancestors were.

I have a possible passenger list for my gg-grandfather Timothy Creeden on the United Kingdom in 1866. If that is the correct list, it appears that he came alone. He married in Ohio in 1868 and his wife's family also goes back into the US to at least the 1700's.

Some interesting info on the United Kingdom ship:

The UNITED KINGDOM was a 1,305 gross ton ship, length 245ft x beam 32.1ft, clipper stem, one funnel, three masts(ship rigged for sail), iron construction, single screw and a speed of 10 knots. There was accommodation for 96-saloon cabin, 182-forward cabin and 244-steerage class passengers. Built by Robert Steele & Co, Greenock, she was launched for the Anchor Line on 13th Jun.1857. She started her maiden voyage on 4th Aug.1857 when she left Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire, Ireland) for Madras with troops of Irish regiments for the Indian Mutiny. Her first Glasgow - Quebec - Montreal voyage started 15th Apr.1859 and on 30th Nov.1859 she started the first of her winter sailings between Glasgow and New York. From Aug.1865 she sailed to New York only, and on 19th Apr.1869 left New York for Glasgow and disappeared with the loss of 80 lives. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.1,p.451] [Merchant Fleets by Duncan Haws, vol.9, Anchor Line]