I discovered an incredible amount of information in the year 2009, when I begin anew my search for my roots. I’m still looking to confirm or disprove my family’s legend of being a direct descendant of John Alden of the Mayflower. To my surprise however, I found a few things even more exciting…
Excerpts and edits from my writings of Fall-Winter 2009:
History one might think is an exacting science. An event that occurs is witnessed and documented, and instantly it becomes history. History is often times a core curriculum, standing just as worthy as mathematics, science, and language arts. It is to be studied and remembered, not as mere fiction but as a factual tale of the past. History is far from being so concise and trustworthy however. History is defined as “a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person, etc., usually written as a chronological account”. We’ve all heard accounts of “history books”, the term used as if there should be and is a solid, faultless account of all things, being written with a bias from the author, omitting and embellishing to benefit the author’s own agenda. But as we look at the definition of history more closely, we see that nothing in it should be assumed to guarantee any amount of truth or validity at all. By definition, history is nothing more than a simple telling of a tale.
Writers may wish to entertain, they may wish to educate, and they may wish to do both. History is written by writers and as such, while integrity and believability may be desired and indeed may be necessary to further the ongoing works of such a career, may be written for the guiles of the writer alone without a notion to what is true or accurate.
Even of our own selves we can err in what we see with our very own eyes. We may tell of a man in a yellow hat, when in truth the hat was actually unmistakably red. Indeed, even your own father may not be who you have grown up believing him to be. We have certainly heard sorrowful tales, if we know not of someone personally, who found out years into their lives that the only people known to them as their parents were not at all even related.
Thus we have this problem with history. History can only be relied upon as a gauge of the past. It must always be studied with the understanding that it may and most likely is askew, if not wholly inaccurate.
The saviors of history however, and which make history worthy at all and not a mere synonym of fiction, are independent corroboration and repudiation. Two may corroborate to lie. Indeed, two thousand even may. But when two thousand tell a tale, and retell a tale, or even two independent witnesses retell a tale, one may begin to gather the similarities and incongruence and begin to formulate at least an opinion of what actually took place. The lies, exaggerations, the omissions and the truth all become clearer.
Repudiation is an even stronger force in validating or rejecting history. There are often times many more who wish history to be rejected than to be held true. The early church and astronomers alike rejected the first notions that the Earth revolves around the sun. Many wish to disprove the existence of a man named Jesus whose very birth subsequently influenced how the entire world counts its years to this day. Through repudiation and corroboration however, the correct orbit of the Earth and Sun were discovered hundreds of years before NASA sent its first craft into space. Through repudiation and corroboration, the vast majority of secular and religious scholars alike attest to the existence and life of Jesus.
There are still those that believe the Earth is flat. There are still those who truly believe we have never sent a man to the moon and that the thousands of photos and films from NASA are all a Hollywood fabrication. There are those who still believe that Jesus is a fictional character, even as countless numbers willingly die in order to keep the “myth” alive. Even so, corroboration and repudiation work together, as people diligently strive to both prove and disprove the validity of a tale. This body of work, whether it be of a few or of many, whether it spans an hour or countless lifetimes, ultimately allows for an opinion to be made, by all who may wish to look, of whether or not a tale may or may not be true.
This is genealogy. Genealogy is the gathering of independent resources to tell a tale of a life, linking together many more related lives. It is the piecing together of little pieces of information found from an infinite variety of places to formulate a possible, and hopefully an accurate, picture of lives that bear fruit to more lives. In any ancestral line there will be inaccuracies. This unfortunately must be understood and accepted. Hopefully any inaccuracies are trivial and not purposeful, but even these, like any historical record, are also possible and sometimes are the case.
Yes, my dad is indeed a child of Adam, and so are all his children, grand children, great grandchildren and beyond. If you believe that the Bible is the word of God, you already know this about us all. But now this can be believed beyond a mere generality, beyond a mere legend or figurative tale. Indeed, errors are to be assumed to be present. This path uncovered could indeed be a complete fabrication by the originators of what has been documented. Having the benefit of being told by independent corroboration however, and being read and studied over hundreds of years without being wholly dismissed, the evidence is indeed compelling.
Until I or other scholars and historians uncover evidence more compelling than this, the following pages tell a story that from Adam I have indeed come…
of Adam
Adam > Seth > Enosh > Cainan > Mahalalel > Jared > Enoch > Mathuselah > Lamech > Noah > Shem > Arphaxad > Salah > Eber > Peleg > Reu > Serug > Nahor > Terah > Abram > Isaac > Jacob > Judah > Zerah > Darda[1] > Herikon > Tros[2] > Ilos > Laomedon > Priamos > Troan > Thor[3] > Loride > Henrede > Vingethor > Vingener > Vingner > Moda > Magne > Kesfet[4] > Bedwig > Hwala > Hathra > Itermon > Heremod > Sceldwa > Beowulf[5] > Tætwa > Geat > Godwulf > Finn > Frithuwulf > Frealaf > Frithuwald > Woden[6] > Bældæg > Brand > Frithugar > Freawine > Wig > Gewis > Esla > Elesa > Cerdic > Creoda > Cynric > Ceawlin > Cuthwine > Cutha > Ceolwold > Cenred > Ingild > Eoppa > Eafa > Ealhmund > Egbert > Æthelwulf > Alfred The Great[7] > Æthelflæd > Arnoul I Of Flanders > Elstrude deFlanders > Haloise deGuînes > Gilbert deBrionne > Emma Crispin > Osbert deConde > Osbert deCondet > Robert deCondet > Isobel Aquillion > Isolda Bardolf > John deGrey > Hawise deGrey > John Basset > Margaret Basset > Richard Martin > Richard Martin > Margaret Martin > Robert Chamberlayn > Constantia Chamberlayn > Ann Colepper > Agnes Ann Molyns > John Bennett > Robert Bennett > William Bennett > Robert Bennett > Hannah Bennett > Sarah Knight > Stephen Harding > Stephen Harding > Hannah Harding > Abner Tuttle > Moses Monroe Tuttle > Sarah Melvina Tuttle > Hettie May Miller > Katherine Mcclaughry > my father > me
[1] Compared to Solomon for his wisdom, 1Ki 4:31. This is the weakest link of Adam’s descendency to Darda and to the genealogies of Troy and of the Anglo-Saxon kings. There are no children listed within the Bible for Darda (also found as Dara in various translations). Outside of scripture, the father of Dardanus was Zeus (Greek) or Jupiter (Roman). The similarities between the Darda of 1Ki 4:31 and writings referring to Dardanus ancestor of Troy, along with much study and hypotheses by historians however, are compelling.
[2] First king of Troy
[3] The Norse god Thor, of which the legends originated from the life of the Trojan king, Tror
[4] Found as Sceaf in Anglo-Saxon genealogies and claimed to be born within Noah’s ark. Found as Seskaf in Norse genealogies and claimed to have been found in a small boat, or skiff, as a child. There is much modern debate over this name and lends much doubt to royal Anglo-Saxon genealogy. However, when studied alongside other Norse embellishments and legends (many Norse gods were actually Trojans), along with Danish (Viking) history (the oral telling of stories and being highly transient due to the seeking of better lands comprised a significant portion of their culture), one can see how erroneous stories of Sceaf have survived.
[5] When comparing genealogies, the legends of Beowulf are to have likely originated from the true life of the Trojan Bjaf.
[6] Woden is also known as Voden and Odin in various languages. Eventually worshiped as a god, Woden is viewed by virtually all historians to be the ancestor of all lines of English and Scandinavian royalty.
[7] King of England, the first to unite the Angles and the Saxons during Viking invasions of Britain in the 9th century.
