A year ago I began searching for and adding “collateral” relatives, descendants from early ancestors in lines parallel to my own. This is a monumental undertaking, but it does have the added joy of learning about and coming into contact with more distant relatives. In that time I have heard from relatives in the Hosier/Robinson families, Thompson and Cameron families, Kinley family, and many others.

These additions are found in the “Anderson, Horney, Haacke, Holmes” genealogy at Ancestry.com (http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/22667726/person/1278696223). This link will take you to me as the home person in the tree. Note that Ancestry.com is a subscription site, you will have to be a “member” in order to view those pages.

I also took some time to write about myself and my family a bit. I will be bringing those stories to this site in the near future. These stories meander across my life journey with a few philosophical musing thrown in here and there.

The Anderson, Holmes, Horney and Haacke Families

The history stories of individual families are coming a long and will be added as they are complete. Part of the time away and the exploration of the collateral families is intended to add content to the family history.

I continue to marvel at the degree to which my early paternal ancestors were part of the Quaker communities in the New World. These Quaker families were actively involved in the making of this country. In New England they participated in whaling and the early commercial development. They were present during the Revolutionary War and have been said to participate in that struggle. Following the War for Independence, they moved to the “northwest” frontier in Ohio where they built an American presence. Later they joined the west-ward movement into the great plains, settling in Iowa in the mid-1850s. They joined the Union forces in the Great Civil war, they were also connected to the “underground railway” that helped escaping slave on their way north to Canada and freedom.

Their livers were pretty ordinary throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, most were farmers, some were professionals, all were likely moderatly religious participants in their communities.

The Turner, Richards, Hoefert, Evans Families

I have returned to my maternal ancestors, though I had declared research on these families pretty much complete in 2008 when I finished a monograph on them. Much to my delight, Ancestry.com has brought to light additional information about these folks, often from the contribution of other family historians like me.

I have now added ancestors in these families from the 18th century in the United States. Some of these additions came from the prompting and contribution of distant family relatives.

Travel and Visitations to Ancestral Homes

In the coming year, my wife and I plan to visit some of the areas where my family lived in the 19th Century – primarily Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. A trip to New England, Delaware and North Carolina will have to wait till another year.