Wheaton Wood

Deciphering our past Part Two: Sun Wheels to Druids

Posted on June 5, 2024 2 Comments

I began this post over two years ago with these lines: “With little to go on but a few samples of ancient DNA to guide us, I am going to offer a plausible story to tell one branch of the FGC22501 progeny story. I intuit to bridge the gap between the ancient FGC22501+ skeletons in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and the work of Vanessa van der Beke and her work on FGC53429+, a branch of the FGC22501+ family. They became chancellors and seneschals of western Europe. We will work forwards and backwards and hope to meet somewhere in the middle. Whilst I was working on this blog post we had a new member join the FGC22501 project who is from the Kutna Hora area about 35 miles Southeast of Prague. Not very far to move in 4,000 years!” However, I never posted it as it seemed incomplete. With time leaps of faith come closer to fruition.

ORIGINS BEFORE FGC22501

Where did FGC22501 come from? If you really want to know, Follow the Rivers! The Volga River to the Danube to the Vltava River in the Czech Republic. Tibor Fehér in his article Celtic and Italic from the West – The Genetic Evidence 2021, lays out what we know to date from DNA evidence from ancient human remains. [ CC BY 4.0 ] FGC22501 He has an ancestry thus:

R1b>P297>M269 originates from the Pontic-Caspian Steppes which are in today’s Ukraine and Southern Russia; P297 Found in Samara culture on the Volga River about 5500 BCE
R1b-M269>L52>P311>P312 dwelt in Eastern Poland in the late Corded Ware on the present Ukrainian Border, migrating there 2900-2500 BCE
R1b>P312>U152+ Bell Beaker earliest sample to date is RISE563 2571-2341 BCE from Osternhofen-Altenmarkt Germany
R1b>U152>L2 branch spreads from the Bell Beakers into the northern Alps, Bohemia and Poland extending down to Budapest along the Danube between 2500-2000 BCE
R1b>U152>L2 then spread around 2500-2000 BCE to present day Netherlands, Northwest Germany, Southern France, Iberia and British Isles
R1b>U152>L2>FGC22501 appears to have originated in Bohemia about 2484 BCE. Our skeleton match is 2200 BCE

BOHEMIAN CELTS:

**1841 Bohemia Map** (part) by William Lizars showing our Matching Skeletons and Location of Sculpture Head, and current tester on a 45 miles radius of Prague over about 4000 years

The inhabitants of Bohemia, which literally means the land of the Boii, were a Celtic speaking people and where we find the most distant known individual who were FGC22501+ about 4,000 years ago (or more). We do not know if this is where the first FGC22501 mutation occurred or if it happened in an individual from somewhere else. The Celts were the most widespread people in Europe and the wealthiest, before the Roman conquest. The meaning of Boii, from the Indo-European language, meaning ‘cow’ or ‘warrior.’ The Boii could be translated ‘the herding people’ or ‘the warrior people’. Most of what we know about these early tribes comes from observation by the Greeks and Romans beginning about 500 BCE. The Celtic people were very mobile and though not speaking the exact same language, their languages had the same Indio-European root. They knew themselves as “the People” and then by their tribal affiliation. The ‘Keltoi’ are first mentioned by the Greeks Hecateaus and Herodotus in the late sixth and fifth centuries BCE, in reference to their [the Greek’s] barbarian neighbors. They were admired by the Greeks for their fierceness and bravery in battle. Eventually there were hundreds of Celtic tribes, spread across Europe. They were people of oral tradition, story telling, legend and art. They left little evidence of a written language [Until the Ogam script in 400 CE] so we must rely on what was written about them by others combined with archeological finds and more recently with DNA of skeletal remains.

Boii Eastern Europe 100 BCE-100 CE
Laurel Wreath pattern, reflecting the God Apollo

Celtic Eastern European Boii Obol, simmering type from about 100 BCE- 100 C

We know that the Boii tribe lived during a period called Unetice Culture from about 2200-1500 BCE, during the time of our earliest three FGC22501 skeletons in Bohemia. This was followed by Urnfield Culture 1200-800 BCE, Hallstatt 800-450 BCE and finally La Tène Culture from 450 BCE to 1 BC. These cultures are determined by archeologists in studying their pottery, grave styles and grave goods. They do not refer specifically to the tribes but to the periods of time in which certain cultural elements were present. From the DNA we know that an individual man who was FGC22501+ died and was buried in Bohemia about 2200 BCE. We now have a tester with ancestry from the present day Czech Republic so we can expect some stayed put, and others migrated broadly across Europe. Other skeletons carry very different Y-DNA lines so even early on their was diversity.

As mentioned above “Follow the Rivers.” Most likely those that migrated to our target area in Eastern Gaul, known as Gallia Belgica, came via the Main River (see below) our skeletons were found near the Eger River (Ohre in Czech Republic ) which has it’s source in the Fichtel mountains at the German/Czech border. Others may have traveled west via the Vltava River which stretches south from Prague to meet the Danube river. Our branch may have follwed the Eger to the Main to the Rhine to the Moselle and Meuse Rivers.

Annotated Central Europe 919-1125 by William Shepherd Map 1911

About the 1st century CE the Celtic place Beda (Bitburg) was at the end of the trade route from southern Europe down the Rhine river and then to the cities of Lyon, Metz and Trier. About 400 BCE, Trevorum [now Trier] was a Celtic city that eventually would be conquered by the Romans. The (Gallic) Celts were mixing with the Romans in Trier and elsewhere and later became known as Gallo-Romans, losing their language through assimilation. Then later the Anglo-Saxons added another layer to the mix. Today the Celtic language and much of its cultural traditions, remain alive in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany.

THE COIN BRIDGE

We can use Celtic coin art as a gateway into what they valued and perhaps more about their beliefs. Celtic speaking cultures passed down their traditions, history and wisdom via song, ballad or story-telling— all oral arts. As Simon Lilly notes in his small volume Ancient Celtic Coin Art (2008) : “Iron Age coins are the least studied artifacts of Celtic art, yet are paradoxically one of the best sources for learning about pre-Christian Iron age beliefs.” Celtic coins were minted from the late 4th century BCE to the mid 1st century CE. They were initially copies of Greek designs, especially Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. The obverse usually featured a head and the reverse often a horse or boar. Over time their imagery became more and more abstract and more and more a reflection of Celtic beliefs. Celtic symbols of the axe, torque (neck ornament), triskele, hands and wheels with eight spokes are common. Their art were influenced through trade. Celts were often mercenaries to the Greeks and later some tribes provided mercenaries for the Romans. Sometimes Greek motifs and even letters were used, especially in southern France on Celtic tribal coins. The first Celtic minted coins probably came from Bratislava oppidum [hillfort] in current Slovakia.

Gaul about 200 BCE Droysens Atlas of 1882

D.W. Harding wrote in his book the Archeology of Celtic Art (2007): “One medium in which motifs and designs must have been intended to convey a ‘meaning’ is coinage.” pg 297 I would add that coins were a tribe’s means of identity. What they wanted to project into the world, and how they saw themselves. Again quoting Harding: “The depiction of individuals bearing swords or spears, or wearing torcs, together with cauldrons, wheels or sun-disc, and possibly even altars, underlines the aristocratic, heroic or ritual milieu that the coins invoke.” In studying Celtic coins I was impressed with how similar the symbols are with some we still use and recognize today. The Images below represent the Sun Wheel in various forms, with 5 annulets [rings] in a square pattern with a central annulet.

In the image below, the first image is from Spišský Štvrtok, Slovakia from 2000-600 BCE. The second is from the Celtic, Aduatuci tribe, in Northeastern Gaul [See map above] about 100 BCE-52CE . The third is from the Netherlands in the Anglo Saxon period about 690-715 CE. So we have spanned about 2,000 years with the same core image of 5 annulets.

3 clay wheel from Spišský Štvrtok, Bohemia 2000-600 BCE courtesy Jan Bouzek

The Celts understood the universe as something quite changeable, not at all fixed. The Celts appear to have understood reality across a broad spectrum and incorporated observation and science broadly speaking. Although we can ascertain the meaning of many symbols, it is likely they had many meanings and layers. One common theme in some of their art is a tendency towards abstraction, whimsy with hidden faces, animals and shape shifting as a coin is turned in different directions.

The annulets themselves are symbols for the sun and for gold. The four arms [leaf shapes or squiggles] represent motion as the sun traveling in a circular motion across the sky. The quartering as previously mentioned the denote the 4 equinoxes, seasons or cardinal directions. The wheel symbol is also believed to represent God’s chariot, as he pulls the sun across the sky. Lastly, the Anglo Saxon sceatta [Series E, variety L] has Five annulets with pellets inside, in each quadrant is a triangle of pellets. When anything appears in 3’s it is clear indication of the divine or other worldly experience. The square suggests an enclosure. This is emblematic of the Viereckschanzen the sacred square or rectilinear Druidic structures found across Celtic Europe. Sacred sites, churches, Viereckschanzen are all places of protection and sanctuary. The Druid or Priest, as spiritual leader, oracle and protector of the tribe would preside over events at the Viereckschanzen. It may have a temple or place of training as well as a place of collective worship or pilgrimage, during special events such as the solstices. Like the ancient stone circles, the Viereckschanzen, may have been oriented to track the solstices.

**Viereckschanze** Veröff. Gr. Bad. Samml. Karlsruhe II, 1899, Tafel XII: Gerichtstetten. CC BY 2.0

Celtic Oppida [hill forts] were tribal centers, where elected officials, presided over public affairs and where coins were minted. The political system of farms surrounded by clients and servants resembles the later medieval lords and serfs. Druids were the religious leaders in Celtic culture. They also acted as legal authorities, adjudicators, story tellers, medicine men/women as well as political advisors. It is said that the Druids were literate, but left no writing. It is believed their secret knowledge, was by custom, not to be written down as that would cause it to lose its power. Their mythology and wisdom was contained in the sacred verses taught by the Druids. This explains both the value of the Druid to the tribe and their power. Druids were influential, but they are barely visible in what they left behind, except for their rectangular sanctuaries called “Viereckschanzen”. These were usually located away from the Oppida, on sacred sites—perhaps acting as a temple or church. The Viereckschanzen were built primarily of wood and surrounded by a ditched enclosure, perhaps acting as a moat. The Viereckschanzen were constructed during the last phase of the La Tène period about 150-1 BCE and show mathematical knowledge in their construction and application of Pythagorean triangles, parallelograms, rectangles, lozenges, and squares. Example below of a Viereckschanzen in Gerichtstetten, Germany with archeological artifacts.

I am proposing that the Aduatuci tribe had imagery on their coin for a specific reason. The Ad(t)uatuci (tribe) and Aduatuca (place) are of Gaulish origin, but their actual identification as to meaning, is subject to debate. According to Gaulish language expert, Xavier Delamarre, the suffix ad- (‘towards’) attached to the root uātu- (‘Vātis, soothsayer, seer, prophet and philosophers) and the suffix -cā (feminine of -āco-, denoting the provenance or localization). An original Gaulish form *ad-uātu-cā as the ‘place of the soothsayer, or where one goes to prophesize. Thus the Atuatuci could mean the Prophet People or likely the tribe of Druids. The square of 4 annulets made of 3 triangles in the shape of the Viereckschanzen or “sacred enclosure” would be an incredibly powerful symbol and is consistent with the tribe’s identification as soothsayers.

**1831 Map of Thuin** by Philippe Vandermaelen Lobbes known as *Thudinium Castellum* in Roman times

Part of the Aduatuci tribe, were associated with the current site Tongeren, 65 miles to the east. However, a more recent discovery has located an Oppidia in Thuin which is closer to the target area on the border between France and Belgium. This is an elevated, wooded area south of Thuin as outlined in blue. Nearly 200 years ago this was the site of many chapels although only one remains. The Thuin area was used as a burial place in the 2nd and 3rd century, Gallo-Roman times. “One of the more spectacular discoveries of Roman provincial archaeology of the last few years is the plausible identification of a Late Iron Age fortification at Thuin (Belgium) as the oppidum of the Aduatuci, conquered by Caesar in 57 B.C” Fernandez-Gotz & Roymans pg 77 [see below for link] “Although it is clear that both the Eburones and the Aduatuci did not survive the conquest period as tribal groups, there are differing opinions among historians about the interpretation of Caesar’s narrative; some scholars take his account on the destruction of the above tribes very literally, while others (e.g. Heinrichs 2008) see it as a rhetorical act of political propaganda.” I would add that the Roman description of human sacrifices by the Celts may have been another bit of propaganda and has been questioned by researchers. Creating savages out of the “other” the “Keltoni” makes it easier to accept Roman genocide.

My theory is some of the Aduatuci survived, and they carried forward their sun wheel, tribal symbol. The most likely place they might escape to is the closest forest of Avesnois [about 6 miles] and perhaps moving southward to the Forest of Ardennes [about 35 miles] A similar pattern is seen on some coins of the Suessions tribe but the annulets are replaced with pellets.

Suessiones 100 BCE-52 CE Central Sun Wheel with Bird heads for motion

This may suggest that they had a close relationship. Perhaps some Aduatuci being absorbed into the Suessions tribe near Soissons, France about 90 miles west. Or the Aducati may have ventured south along the Meuse River to the Verdun area. This pattern may have been a sign of identification passed through many generations. A Secret symbol or remnant of the Druidic past. It was later adopted and used in Anglo Saxon coinage with the addition of crosses connecting them with Christ. Often pagan customs and iconography became subsumed in later cultural adaptation, so this is not unusual. So what I am suggested is that members of this Druidic tribe, become Episcopal nobility 700 years later. If the Druids passed down their secrets through families it does not seem at all strange that the scientific, political and religious knowledge would give them certain advantages in rising to positions of power. This of course is just a theory but it seems as plausible as any we can ascertain, with the evidence we have. Next up is how this sun wheel symbol bestows its power.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Coupland, Simon (2014) The Use of Coin in the Carolingian Empire in the Ninth Century from From Rory Naismith, Martin Allen and Elina Screen (eds), Early Medieval Monetary History: Studies in Memory of Mark Blackburn

Bouzek, Jan (2010) “STUDIA HERCYNIA XV PREHISTORY OF EUROPE AS SEEN FROM ITS CENTRE Czech lands from Paleolithic to the end of the La Tène period in European context” Prague

Fehér, Tibor. (2021). Celtic and Italic from the West – the Genetic Evidence. Academia Letters, Article 1782. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1782.
Green, Miranda (1996) Celtic Art: Symbols & Imagery London

Fernandez-Gotz, Manuel & Roymans, Nico (2015) Caesar in Gaul: New Perspectives on the Archaeology of Mass Violence Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal Mar 2015

Harding, D. W. (2007) Archeology of Celtic Art

Lily, Simon (2008) Ancient Celtic Coin Art

The Journey of one 4000 Year old Celtic Y-SNP FGC22501: Ten Years of Discovery

Posted on May 22, 2024 Leave a Comment

Background

To recap my first dive into Genetic Genealogy was giving my husband a Family Tree DNA Y37 kit for Valentine’s Day in 2011. It was purely out of frustration, as traditional genealogy had failed to connect him with either Thomas WHEADON (later WHEATON) of Branford, Connecticut or Robert WHEATON of Salem and Rehoboth, Massachusetts. The Y37 proved he was of the Robert WHEATON line.

It wasn’t long before we went from testing YSTRS to YSNPS. He was part of the large R1b Haplogroup which is the largest group in the British Isles today with about 2/3 of the English males tested being R1b; about 3/4 in Wales and 4/5ths of the Irish. In continental Europe the percentages are generally at lower frequencies although it still accounts for a large portion. Furthermore, he was found to be a part of the subclade U152 (also known as S28) which only accounts for around 8% in England and then the subclade L2 is even a much smaller subclade. [See top part of Abbreviated Phylogenetic Tree below].

Full Genomes Corporation: Y Elite

In 2013 Full Genomes Corporation was launched and a group of WHEATONs funded a Y Elite test that would test 14 million base pairs on the Y chromosome with reliable mappings. Through my own error I sent to the kit to the wrong person (same first and last name) and in the end it was my husband whose YDNA was tested as a proxy for all the Robert WHEATON descendants.

So in 2014 the results came back with 51 newly named Y-DNA SNPS from FGC22500-FGC22550 all under L2. [the numbering is sequential and is not indicative of which happened first. For instance FGC22500 happened after FGC22501]. The only match in the beginning was a sample of a man in Los Angeles with mixed European and Hispanic ancestry who was FGC22501+. Matches were few and far between and time frames were unclear in the beginning. It was believed that L2 formed in the Italian Alps as that was where it is most prevalent today. That seems less likely as more ancient remains have been discovered. It may have been closer to Prague where we find the earliest FGC22500+ to date. This man was born about 2200–1700 BCE or 3700-4200 years ago. The following graphic charts our branch [in green] and includes some of the other major branches but not all.

FGC22501 Project at Family Tree DNA

In November of 2016 the Celtic FGC22501and Subclades Project was approved by Bennett Greenspan himself. In the first year we added 10 members. At this date in 2024 we have reached 173 Y Kits and 107 Big Y tests. We have 73 Haplotypes identified. Considering this project has been the work of Vanessa Van de Beke, Jan Suhr and myself I feel as citizen scientists we have accomplished quite a lot. There are many L2 subclades but to my knowledge we are the only L2 subclade project, most are housed in the U152 Umbrella project.

Celtic FGC22501 and Subclades Project Joins courtesy of FTDNA

The FGC22501 Diaspora

The parent of FGC22500 is L2. There are over a dozen L2+ skeletons in the Prague area of the Czech Republic. We are lucky that one of those skeletons from Jinonice, Prague 5 is FGC22500+. No one expected the explosion of YSNPS that have been discovered as the testing of the Y chromosome has advanced. Both modern and ancient DNA is rewriting human history. As mentioned above there are 73 haplotypes under FGC22501, as identified by FTDNA. As you can see in the Phylogenetic chart above after the formation of FGC22501 about 4,500 years ago we have 3 main branches : Y3774, FGC22538 and FTC75677 forming about 4,300 to 4,000 years ago. As you can see from this map what we have is an explosion of descendants of FGC22501 spreading across Europe. In the screenshot of the map below the darker colors are the oldest. Stars are subclade FGC22516 and Squares are subclade Y3744.

To see the interactive map click here.

Our Prague Skeleton Digging Deeper

The excavations at the site Jinonice Prague – garden nursery took place in 1984-1986 during the construction of a subway. A total of 29 graves were found, dated to the older phases of the Únětice culture. The skeletal remains of 36 individuals were found, with predominance of adults between 20-40 years of age. The burial ground was not excavated completely. With the exception of two graves, grave goods, mainly pottery, were found in all graves. Grave 94 is the one that tested positive for FGC22500 which is slightly younger than FGC22501. We are getting more and more info on how these people lived. A reconstruction of a rich woman of Únětice culture from Pardubice (68 miles west of Prague), gives us a glimpse into what they looked like. Czech scientists reveal striking look of a Bronze Age woman from Bohemia (click on link to see).

**I7202/Grave 94**: 2200–1700 BCE. Right-sided crouched burial, head towards the south. Sex: M. Age: adult (20–30 years).
Grave goods: two vessels (bowl, cup), flint arrowhead and bronze hair rings

La Tène Culture Pot 450-400 BC Prague Zde, CC BY-SA 4.0 Wiki

See images below for example of Únětice grave sites from Czech with typical grave goods.

Amber necklace and metal artifacts from the Únětice grave site, Czech Republic by Čeněk Ryzner (1845-1923) Public Domain

Pottery and Grave goods Čeněk Ryzner (1845-1923) Únětice grave site Public Domain

Below is one of the few known sculptures of the La Tène culture from about 40 miles east of Prague and 24.5 from Teplice, Radosevice (the two cemeteries where FGC22501+ burials are known).

La Tène Limestone carved Head from Mšecké Žehrovice c150-50 BC CC

**1841 Bohemia Map** (part) by William Lizars showing our Matching Skeletons and Location of Sculpture Head
30 miles radius of Prague over about 1500-2000 years

in Radovesice (top of 3) the Bell Beaker graves come from an excavation in the pre-mine of the brown coal mine . They were discovered in two locations, which are approximately 800 meters apart. This yielded our second individuals I14984 FGC22516 c. 330-280 BCE and I15951-FGC22516 c. 270 BCE believed to be father and son.

So in less than ten years we have come quite a long way. Each man who is FGC22501+ can track back to a common ancestor about 4,000 years ago in the Czech republic. In a future blog post we will go into detail into one downstream SNP: FGC4211 who Vanessa has traced to Chancellors and Seneshals of western Europe.

The Trouble with Clowns: Self disclosure in Writing

Posted on May 2, 2024 3 Comments

This piece is very short but it speaks volumes about who I am as a person and some of my early relationships without telling the story of who I am in a typical autobiographical style. All writing is biographical no matter what you write about, because you are always disclosing bits and pieces of yourself. When we lift the veil we may not like what we see, and our readers may recoil. That is the risk we take in writing.

I have an unsettled relationship with clowns. My mother adored clowns and I always felt uneasy around them. That disconnect between my mother and I, in respect to clowns, is emblematic of our relationship. We simply perceived the world from completely different vantage points.

Before I get into the details I have to share my only positive clown memory. It is a story my mother often told about the clown that sat on top of her jewelry box. She was in the hospital after my birth. My father came for a visit and outside the hospital he was was approached by a young boy selling hand made clowns. My father bought one and took it to my mother. So it sat for the remainder of my mother’s life as a sentinel to the only child my parent’s had, that survived. My mother loved clowns—so by extension she must have loved me.

The next clown I remember was a framed colored photo of Emmett Kelly with his classic sad clown face. It was hung in my room and I found in troubling and unsettling. It was there for many years, a testament to my mother’s passion for clowns and the circus. When I was finally old enough to have a say, I asked for its removal, much to my mother’s dismay. We went to the Ringling Brothers Circus and again I found it all rather confusing. It did not have the effect on me, that it had on my mother. It delighted her and yet made me sad.

I remember when I was about 10 my mother for Valentine’s Day got my brother and I stuffed animals that included an autograph pen so you could have your friends sign them. My brother got the muted orange dog and I got the red and yellow and blue clown. I don’t remember if I broke into tears straight away, or later. However, I do remember my Mom insisting that the clown was the better of the two. My mother liked clowns, so I should be delighted she chose the clown for me. I wasn’t and she never got that. And sadly it didn’t matter if I tried to explain it to her—she simply could not put herself in my shoes. And I was the opposite. I was always putting myself in everyone else’s shoes, in my attempt to understand why people did what they did. I was wired to try and understand.

When I had children my mother insisted on taking us all to the circus and although decades had past my feelings remained the same. Rather than amuse me and make me laugh and uplift my spirits, I felt out of sorts. Even sad.

This all came to my attention recently when I was talking to someone about comedy. And how so much comedy and humor is at someone else’s expense. There is a fine line between funny and exploitation. Perhaps, this was because I was teased and humiliated as a kid. It is probably the reason I react so strongly against bullying and why I find some comedy–not at all funny. There’s a difference between laughing with someone and laughing at some one. Laughing at our human condition and the silly things we do and laughing, often cruelly, at someone that we place beneath us.

In retrospect I could not reconcile the sadness on a clowns face with something that was supposed to make me happy. Or even a happy clown, like the Bozo of my youth, I could not reconcile with the sadness that lurked inside. I simply do not inhabit a superficial world, where I can take things at face value. One of the nice things about aging is, I know I have lots of company. My apologies to any clown lovers out there, that I may have offended.

The Fear of Writing Family History Stories

Posted on May 1, 2024 2 Comments

In my last genealogy class, a member said, “now I see why you want us to write stories!” I got to thinking about all the things that hold us back. Here’s a non-comprehensive list:

I am not a writer
What I write sounds stupid
No one is interested anyway
I don’t know how to write a story
I have nothing to say, that hasn’t been said
I might embarrass myself or another family member
I might make a mistake
I don’t know what to write about

So let’s take that last one first: “I don’t know what to write about.” This one is easy, pick anything. Pick something you know about or if you want more of a challenge pick something you want to know more about. Write what you Know, and Research what you don’t.

“I am not a writer.” Most family historians aren’t either. If you write, you are a writer. If you don’t write your stories and the stories of your ancestors, that you know about, they will be lost.

“What I wrote sounds stupid.” Yep, it does, so what? When you first started doing anything—did you do it perfectly? Of course not. Lighten up, take a few risks and have some fun. Or if you are in a mores serious mood. Out with the skeletons and traumas and family secrets. It doesn’t sound nearly as stupid if its juicy!

“No one is interested anyway.” You are right. No body cares or only a few. But later—when you are gone or a hundred years from now it will matter. Someone will read something you wrote and they will say, now I know what that was like? I never knew.

“I don’t know how to write a story.” Do you know how to tell someone about something that happened to you? Of course you do. So when you start putting words down on the page hear the conversation in your head as if you were telling it to someone. Just jot down or type or use google translate to type out what you would say. Do not worry about spelling or grammar or anything else. Whatever you get down—that is a draft. That is where we start.

“I have nothing to say, that hasn’t been said.” True. But the way you say it, the way you tell the story is from your unique perspective and that is important. You are important. Doesn’t matter whether it has been said a thousand times—you still must say it, in your own voice.

“I might embarrass myself or another family member?” Yep. So what. You have never embarrassed yourself or someone else? Did you survive? Did they? Everything worth doing in life involves risks. Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway. (also the title of a book)

“I might make a mistake.” Uh huh? So what? It’s just a draft. You can throw it out and start all over. You can edit and improve on it. You can ask for feedback. We learn the most from our mistakes. What works or what doesn’t its all a learning process.

“I don’t know what to write about.” Got that covered here is a whole page of ideas and prompts for you. Link to Family History Writing.

So enough with the excuses let’s do it!

“The Wild Inside”: Our Grizzly Ancestry

Posted on April 21, 2024 3 Comments

This like many stories is a web of what connects us to a past. A spark alights, a memory leads us to our own wild insides. We think we stand alone, but we are connected even to our extinct past. Man and beast we are the same, yet different. Our most innate drives and passions are passed down through generations in ways that we take for granted. This journey reminded me of where I come from.

My local library, like many libraries, has bookshelves of donated books for sale. Most are a dollar for hardbacks and 50 cents for a paperback. For a few years I volunteered on processing the donations and now I occasionally peruse them. My latest purchase was a suspense novel called “The Wild Inside” a first novel of Christine Carbo, published in 2015. The cover attracted me with a lone grizzly bear in a snowy landscape. The description was a bit off putting, but I bought it anyway. The main character, when he was 14, was camping with his father in Glacier National Park and his father was attacked and killed by a grizzly bear. Years later he is investigating the death of another man by a grizzly bear.

I love the serendipity of finding a book and then finding something meaningful in its pages. This turned out to be that sort of book. My father liked bears. I like bears. My grandfather liked bears. I have never seen a grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis) in the wild, but I have seen American black bears (Ursus americanus) at Grand Teton National Park and occasionally they are spotted in my area in Northern California.

I have always felt the bitter irony of the California State flag bearing (oh dear, excuse the unintentional pun), the image of a California Grizzly bear, which is also our state animal. The last one was killed in the state in 1922 . Two years later, one was spotted several times in Sequoia National Park, then disappeared. The Grizzly was declared extinct here in 1924, and now a hundred years later, our flag still bears her image. It is estimated that 10,000 grizzlies once lived in California and yet none remain. In perhaps a warning to us all.

When I finished the book it inspired me to re-read my grandfather’s poem “The Last Grizzly.” According to his annotated copy of “Artifacts” (his collection of poems), his poem was first written in the 1920’s. In his 1964 letter to the California State Department of Fish and Game he had a recollection about a grizzly article he thought from the 1930’s but he wrote “it could have been referring back to the 1922 incident.” The reply had nothing further after 1922. The inquiry and reply below.

But I found the mention of the 1924 visits of a Grizzly Bear to Sequoia National Park, in the San Francisco Bulletin, Fri, Dec 26, 1924 Page 6. I suspect this may have been the impetus for his original poem. This article is worth a read, dispelling many grizzly bear myths.

My grandfather and father were both great admirer’s of nature. Both fly fisherman and hunters, when their need to fill their bellies, was great. My father, his brother and my grandparents spent a snowy winter in the Trinity Alps, living in a canvas tent. My father set snare traps to catch hares during those challenging years of the Great Depression. They were both great admirers of the naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton. I am sure they would think me remiss if I did not mention his book published in 1904, “Monarch the Big Bear of Tallac” the story of a Grizzly Bear near Lake Tahoe. What I remember most about Seton, I wrote about in a report in grammar school. On Seton’s 21st birthday his father presented him with an bill for all of the expenses connected with his upbringing, including the fee of the doctor who delivered him. He paid the bill, it is said, and never spoke to his father again. That story, and the brutality of it, is one I never forgot. These stories passed down through families are seldom recorded, but shape us none the less. Seton founded the organization the “Woodcraft Indians” in 1902 and invited the local youth to join. The group was open to girls and boys. An extraordinary man ahead of his time and remembered mostly for having being instrumental in the founding of the Boy Scouts of America and for his being an early writer of wild animal based fiction stories. He was also an artist whose spare use of line, my Dad greatly admired.

Drawing by Ernest Thompson Seton from
“Monarch the Big Bear”

Here I offer my grandfather’s Poem

“The Last Grizzly”

O Grizzly King, accept the bitterness
Implicit in the words I speak to you;
Nor think I seek forgiveness for my kind,
With hope to mitigate their sordid act;
For you, the Patron—bear with me awhile—
The Patron of this sovereign State lie slain;
The State itself your slayer, unrebuked,
Except for these too feeble words of mine.

In what long-hidden wilderness retreat
Did you seclude that massive frame so well,
That howsoever diligent the ones
Who guard us from the power of the beast,
They did not mark your range; nor even see
Your mighty tracks, until this fateful day?

It has been said that you were gone, ere now;
Ere this a mockery, the Golden Bear.
Ah, well, a day; a year; what matter? Just
So you are gone! For you were dangerous,
And fierce. Your goaded charge had raised
The hair on far too many frightened heads.

You were not one to feel the choking noose,
In passive resignation; nor the force
Of rifled death, against whose brutal stroke
The Rhino’s armored hide avails him not.
But when chains, tormented by the goad;
Rope-wracked and torn; awaiting to be dragged
To some corral to fight a hapless bull,—
That also did not seek the senseless fight—
if then the vast frustration grew too great;
And you would ask, and get, God’s leave to die,
and simply cease, the laughing Don would say,
“He dies of rage!”, not caring to recall
His tons of horses pulling, all opposed,
On rawhide lassos looped about your neck—
And more, vaquero-ridden, standing by
To choke you down, if need be, so to void
Their fellows risk, or hold their chains
that simplified their next brutality.

“He dies of rage!” the laughing Don would say,
As if to hide your torture with that lie.
So the crime of fighting for your own,
Te People passed a judgement on your head;
And you have paid. The state claimed your life:
“For seeking food on your own usurped range.”

You took a calf or two, or maybe three,
Against the awful levy on your race,
That filled the bellies of the gold-mad men
Who trespassed on the land God gave to you.

Myself, sometime, have ranged about the wood,
And from a distance watched, to learn your way;
But you were on good behavior then;
Not acting your reputed self. I saw
No arrogance displayed as you did pry
With eager nose, and claws, in rotten logs,
For ants and termites; and I watched you dig
For lily bulbs, and roots, among the stones—
You filled yourself with fungi, succulent;
With bugs and grubs; and berries in their time,
While mulling over heavy memories
Of honey-bees, and hives in hollow trees.

At such a time you were not bad to see,
But much akin to small and curious boys,
Searching in attic, erstwhile unexplored.

Such scenes are gone, with drowsy summer days;
And insect’s drone, in manzanita grove;
And lupine blue; and poppy-gilded slope—
All gone for you—unless perchance, there be
An ursine garden in Elysium,
Where golden asphodels drip honey-dew.

My grandfather mentions in his notes many attributes of the Grizzly, especially from Harold McCracken’s 1955 book: “The Beast that Walks like Man.” I wonder if that was the greatest of man’s fear, that the Grizzly was both intelligent, thoughtful and terrifying when he rose up like man.

I am past the age, when my grandfather died and can not ask him questions, that I would ask him now. My title above is a play on words “Our Grizzly Ancestry” in the double meaning of grizzled as in old, and in grizzly as in brutal. At times I felt reading his poem again, that it was a metaphor for the native peoples who revered the Grizzly and were feared as savages. Grizzlies reduced to caricatures of their complex natures and labels that aim to justify their extermination. It is a not so gentle reminder of the arrogance of man, and his folly in thinking he has dominion over the earth. His brutality to both nature and his fellow man, exceeds any seen in wild beasts.

And finally in reflection, I see in my grandfather, my children and hopefully their progeny, a desire to understand and do homage to the natural world, which we are gifted, but a brief stay.

Irish Genealogy Resources

Posted on March 2, 2024 3 Comments

This is a page of resources I have put together for my Genealogy Class. I hope they may be of interest to a broader audience as well. Some of these are pretty obscure so I hope that it expands your list of Irish resources.

HINT: Finding Irish Origins for Immigrants

In general there are two overlooked places to find genealogical information as to place of origin for Irish immigrants. First is tombstones which often list the place of origin. The second is Newspaper obituaries or ads in either local papers or in papers like the Irish American Weekly (1849-1914). While writing this I went to my husband’s HALEY line. I read over Patrick HALEY’s obituary carefully. Within the obit the name was also spelled HEALY but I had overlooked was that he came over with his wife and a David MURRAY who also settled in Emporium, Cameron County, PA. Bingo I found David MURRAY and Patrick on the same Ship’s passenger list. I had been searching for Patrick Haley for decades. It was spelled Patrk HEALY on the manifest. Another example of the friends and family research plan. I also had expected that he went from Ireland to New York and It appears he actually left from Liverpool ENGLAND!

Ship’s Passenger List: Patrk HEALY wife Honora from Ireland on the ship R. Robisnson from Liverpool to New York in 1863 just above entry for Davd MURRAY and wife Jane

General & Getting Started

Surnames

Irish Surnames John Grenham’s great site for searching Irish surnames
Ireland Names and Surnames
Origenes Maps Surnames, Ulster surnames, Castles, Clans etc
Irish Surname Maps Barry Griffith

Immigration

Irish Immigration Database Mellon Migration Centre
Immigrant Letters from America University of Galway 7,000 complete letters
National Museum of Liverpool (often a port of embarkation for Irish immigrants)
Irish Newspaper Archives $$$ Free to members of NEGHS
How to locate parish of Origin Ireland XO

Census or alternatives

Census Records from the National Archives 1821-1851 (fragments) ; 1901; 1911
Ireland Tithe Applotment Books, 1814-1855 @ Family Search need account -free
Ireland, Tithe Applotment Books, 1805-1837 @ Ancestry.com (need subscription)
Northern Ireland, Tithe Applotment Books, 1822-1837 @ Family Search

Records Sources

Catholic Records

Irish Catholic Parish Registers from St Louis County Library
Irish Catholic Church Records Roberta Estes
Finding Your Ancestors in Catholic Parish Registers

Ulster Scots / Scots -Irish in America

Scots Irish in America Origins & Migrations Rhonda R. McClure via NEGHS video. Highly recommend. Great introduction
Ulster Settlers
Ulster Historical Foundation
1718 Migration of Ulster Scots to America
Derry Records
Plantations in Ulster 1600-41 A collection of Documents
Ulster Ancestry
Name search Ulster records search

Land Records, Deeds, aka Memorials

Introduction to the Memorials and Transcription Books at the Registry of Deeds, Dr Patrick Walsh
Northern Ireland Registry of Deeds
Republic of Ireland Registry of Deeds
Images of the Memorial Book on Family Search
Registry of Deeds Indexing Project
Using Irish Landed Estate Papers to find your ancestors Gillian Hunt Roots Tech 2022 Video
Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records: A Guide for Family Historians Chris Paton book
Understanding Irish Land Divisions Rhonda R. McClure via NEGHS video

Maps

Ireland’s History in Maps
Maps based on Griffith’s Evaluation
1846 Old Ireland Map
Origenes Maps Surnames, Ulster surnames, Castles, Clans etc
Irish Surname Maps
Ireland Map Collections at UCD and on the Web: Historic Maps from Univ College Dublin
Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer
Clan Names of Ireland Map
David Rumsey Map Collection

Finding a Barony, town, parish etc.

Irish Historic Town Atlas from St Louis County Library
The Irish Townlands
Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland. Dublin: Alexander Thom
Irish Townlands Survey
Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837 Goof for looking up place names

Specific Area

ANTRIM

Bill MacAffre’s site for Antrim and Derry

CORK

Skibbereen Heritage Centre West Cork

DERRY

Bill MacAffre’s site for Antrim and Derry

Visiting Ireland

Planning your Irish Research Trip David Ryan Roots Tech 2022 Video on YouTube
How to Trace your Irish Ancestry during a visit to Dublin Frommer’s
Ireland Castles
Excavations at Elag Castle
My Ireland Heritage Tours
Cobh Heritage Centre Cobh, County Cork
Ireland National Archives
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

DNA

Origins of the Irish and Scots as revealed by their DNA
The Irish DNA Atlas: providing a map of Irish genetics in and out of Ireland – Dr Edmund Gilbert
Ancient Ireland’s Y and Mitochondrial DNA – Do You Match??? Roberta Estes
Emerging Dynasties in a Maritime World by Cathy Swift YouTube from Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2014
DNA vs The Irish Anals By Brad Larkin YouTube from Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2014
Using Y-DNA to Research your Surname Maurice Gleeson YouTube 2018
Dr. Maurice Gleeson Presentations and downloads
Ireland and the Slave Trade Maurice Gleeson

Irish Genealogy Blogs

OUR LEGACY: Leaving Breadcrumbs

Posted on February 20, 2024 3 Comments

In my genealogy class last week, I was asked, “why do you write“. My first answer was I write for myself. My second answer was I write for posterity. But since then I have been pondering this provocative question. Which really is a broader question? Why do we exist? What are we here for? What will we leave behind? What will our legacy be? Will we soon be forgotten? I am not sure I am prepared to answer those existential questions. However, I am prepared to grapple with these things.

From “The Fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm” 1881 drawing by Heinrich Merte

My last blog post was Write What You Know: Research What You Don’t & Beware of Artificial Intelligence Generated Answers and I wrote about how we need to view our ancestors in context. That we cannot view their lives in isolation as if they lived devoid of family, friends, geography, history and what was happening around them. So in part I write to look at my own life in the context of history and the ancestors who laid the groundwork for my existence. I am essentially looking for myself in my own context. But more than that, I also write to understand. I want to understand the past, as it informs the present.

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
George Santayana

I write to understand what I don’t know. I write because it forces you to do your homework and not just rest on the work of others. In my first genealogy class one of the members said, “my family has all been done, there’s nothing to do.” I am fairly certain they no longer feel that way. It’s not just our ancestors that we seek to understand, but it is ourselves. I write and encourage others to write, because it takes courage and I want others to be inspired to take the risk. Especially these days it isn’t always easy to put yourself out there. Especially when no one seems to be listening. But that should not deter us, do it anyway. The doing of it, is its own reward.

As I research and discover more about my ancestors, it brings broader themes of history into focus and it casts an illuminating light on my own family history. Whether you are adopted, or your family kept lots of secrets or whether books have been written of your family there is always more to discover from your unique perspective. No two human beings see things the same way. Whether siblings or spouses each will have different insights and different recollections of events. We are the result of millions of years of genetic experimentation and expression along with the shaping hands of our moment in time and space.

I write because I am curious; because I am wired to seek understanding. And it isn’t just understanding—I care about the answers. I care about how the choices we make outlive us and ripple and reverberate through time. We walk along the sandy shoreline, leaving footprints in the sand. Those prints are short lived, washed away in an incoming tide. Gandhi said it better than I:

“Whatever you do in life will be insignificant but it is very important that you do it because you can’t know. You can’t ever really know the meaning of your life. And you don’t need to. Every life has a meaning, whether it lasts one hundred years or one hundred seconds. Every life, and every death, changes the world in its own way. You can’t know. So don’t take it for granted. But don’t take it too seriously. Don’t postpone what you want. Don’t leave anything misunderstood. Make sure the people you care about know. Make sure they know how you really feel. Because just like that…It could end.”
Mahatma Gandhi

We are unique and we have something to communicate. It’s not up to us what if anything survives us: history decides. Whether it is me retracing the path of YDNA from Prague 4000 years ago to a WHEATON, born over 400 years ago which traces to my husband. It matters. My great grandmother’s diary matters. Another great grandmother’s colored pencil drawings matter. They are all breadcrumbs leading us to places we never imagined.

They give us glimpses into what mattered to them. Art painted on a cave wall. Grave goods from 4,000 year old burials. Carvings on a prison wall in The Tower of London. There is always an attempt by some of the powerful to eliminate the silenced voices from history. Resist.

Tower of London Carvings and their attributions

So take the risk, write the letter, the story. Paint the scene, give voice to the voiceless. Leave your breadcrumbs for others to discover.

Maps & Mapping Resources for Genealogists and Family Historians

Posted on February 19, 2024 3 Comments

If you are a regular Wheaton Wood blog post follower you will know I love maps. For my genealogy class I compiled some of my favorite Map resources below. In general I use out of copyright maps and those that are as close to the time frame as when my ancestors lived in a location as I can find. This is an active post, meaning I may add to it from time to time. You may wish to bookmark it for future reference.

HINT: Google a library or an archive for the specific area you are researching—from a town to a country. Search archives or museums in the county, state or country of interest for maps. For instance the Google Search:

“Archive North Carolina maps” yields these top hits:

North Carolina State Archives Maps
North Carolina Maps Home at the University of Chapel Hill

HINT TWO: Do not make the mistake of only looking in the place you think a map might be located. For instance below you will find the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection located at the University of Texas. It includes this large list of maps pertaining to Mexico.

HINT THREE: Check out Etsy and Ebay for old maps and atlases.

GENERAL & USA

Google & My Maps (must have a Google account) My maps is a Google product that allows you to drop pins and create migration routes. Measure areas and much more. Here’s a short Youtube video on My Maps to get you started. But you can look for more YouTube videos with greater depth.

David Rumsey’s Historical Maps Collection – Probably my favorite large map repository. With two features I love. Geo-referencing which allows you to overlay an old map onto a current map. And the new feature “Text on Maps” which allows you to search for a place on a map. Each of those little images sows the term “Alamance” on a map. Hovering over any of the images tells you more about the map. Clicking will take you write to that spot on the map. If you do a surname search this takes you to towns and places with that name but it also includes some individual names on Plat Maps from County Atlases. This will become a more and more powerful tool no doubt. Give it a try it is awesome! It is available by Using the down error in the corner of the search box. Make sure you are in “Text on Maps.”

David Rumsey Map Collection Search “Text on Maps” tool results for the search Alamance

Old Maps Online Collection 400,000 maps for library, university, and national institutions. Each map links to the original website that houses it.
Library Of Congress Map Collection
Library of Congress Sanborn Collection These are very detailed maps of U.S. cities and towns in the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally created for fire insurance companies to assess liability.
Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Harvard Map Collection
NY Public Library Digital Collection

TOPOGRAPHICAL

USGS Topographic Maps
My Topo Maps $

US LAND PATENTS & PLATS

US Dept of Land Management provides access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, between 1788 and the present. Amazing!
US Place names The U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) was created in 1890 to maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the Federal Government.

SURNAME DISTRIBUTION MAPS

WORLD

Use Family Search for maps. Go to Family Search Catalog. Then search by place and look for Maps in results list.

United Kingdom

National Library of Scotland for all UK maps
UK Maps Geograph Photos by location across the UK
Family Search Historic UK Map Collection
England in 1086 Domesday Map

Some Others

Canada Archives Maps
Germany Geograph Photos across Germany by location
European Maps
Norwegian Maps
Swedish Maps

Write What You Know: Research What You Don’t & Beware of Artificial Intelligence Generated Answers.

Posted on February 15, 2024 5 Comments

If you are a follower you know I encourage you to turn your family trees into stories. But sometimes it is hard to know how to do that. Well you start with what you know about an ancestor or family. That is where tools like Family Group Sheets, Individual Research Checklists and Timelines come in handy. These are ways to organize information that you know and see what is missing. If you use Ancestry or a similar online program you will be familiar with a view that shows a timeline on the left side, like this one in Ancestry’s Facts view:

So you are placing the individual “Frederick” within the context of time and family. If you switch on Ancestry to the Life Story view it starts shifting you into a narrative format as shown below

You will notice they insert maps and make observations about the family. There may be short articles on historical events.

CAUTION

But now there is a new twist you can have Ancestry AI suggest a question and give you an answer via Artificial Intelligence. The problem is in the first question I tried the answer was partly, VERY WRONG. This is in BETA but it troubles me. The Question was “What was Breitenau, Bavaria, Germany like when Frederick Georg was born?” Below is the answer as reported by ancestry AI.

Generally speaking this a correct, but one horribly wrong statement made me distrust it wholesale. The wrong statement shifts a fundamental part of understanding Frederick MOSER and his parents. This is the patently false statement “Religion played a significant role in the lives of the people in Breitenau. The village had a Catholic church, which served as the spiritual center of the community. The villagers attended mass regularly and participated in religious ceremonies and processions.” There was no Catholic Church in Breitenau. It is in a predominately Protestant area of Bavaria and the church was Lutheran then, as it is today. This is a very small village and it has ONLY one church. Furthermore both Frederick’s parents were descendants of Austrian exulanten. These were protestants who fled Catholic Austria during the early 17th century, for protestant areas of Germany. Do not rely on Artificial intelligence or those nice little historical details to write your stories for you. The only way to do it properly is to do your own research.

HOW TO RESEARCH an ANCESTOR’S STORY

And what does that mean? It means to familiarize your self with the geography, the maps, and local history of the place your ancestors lived. The WHAT, WHERE and WHY of your ancestors story.

What was the area known for?
Were there wars between indigenous people and immigrants?
Were there divisions between religious or ethnic groups?
Were there wars or economic divisions that occurred before or during your ancestors lifetime?
Who lived nearby?
Why did they move here and not somewhere else?

HISTORIES

Immerse yourself in where they lived. It’s wonderful if you have the opportunity to visit, but in the absence of that search for time appropriate maps. Or at least as close to the time frame in question. If you can drive down the road in Google Street View. Look around. What do you see? Do a search for a county or regional history. My favorite way to do that is to do a search for: “Archive the History of [the name of the county or region].” So a search would yield something like this:

This immediately gets you able to read Histories of Lee County Iowa that are out of copyright. I can search for ancestors but I can also look for details about population, agriculture, churches, military service, history etc. Because this brings up history that is uncopyrighted I can freely quote descriptions of life and the areas my ancestors lived. Sometimes it will even have delightful stories about your ancestors, like the one I wrote about in Ice Cream Melons & Foxes.

MAPS

Second I like to research maps. Perhaps my favorite map resource is David Rumsey Map Collection. There are many great features but two favorites are the Georeferencing or overlaying of current and historical maps. And a NEW feature is: Search by Text-on-Maps! Have a look at what a search for Alamance looks like. Each one of those images will take you to a map with the word Alamance in it.

So first we looked at some background history and then maps. What next? The sky can be the limit but here are a few places I tend to check. I especially like Family Search for looking for an existing genealogy that may cover your ancestors. So here I have clicked on Catalog then on Surnames and Entered the surname “MOSER” This will yield hundreds of published and unpublished manuscripts that contain the MOSER family.

GENEALOGIES

Which brings us to your “Friends and Family” searches. Even if you can’t find something about your family you might find something about their neighbors. So go back to your Census records and take a closer look. Was your family living in a Jewish neighborhood? Or were most of the people in the area Irish? Who did your ancestor marry? Who were her/his in-laws? Who did their children marry? The names you come up with can be clues to finding out more about your ancestor. You can go back and search for them as above.

NEWSPAPERS

Now depending on how deep you want to go—you may wish to explore newspapers to see what was going on in your ancestors lifetime. If you are lucky maybe you’ll find a mention or an obituary. But pay attention to other things that were being reported on locally. Was there a series of droughts? A drop in cotton prices or maybe labor riots. All this familiarity withe what was going on during your ancestors lifetime will inform what you write about and how you understand their challenges. I have a civil war ancestor who was legally charged with taking care of his “slow” brother under and agreement with his father.

MOSER BIBLIOGRAPHY

Posted on February 15, 2024 Leave a Comment

This is a living blog post: new sources will be added. This regards the series of blog posts on German Immigration and the MOSER family. Please feel free to email me with additions or corrections. Hotlinks are included as available.