Welcome to my genealogical realm.
The information you read on these pages is a literally a compilation of thousands of hours of work, both of my own research and other’s. Please keep that in mind when you post this information elsewhere, and give credit where it is due. On each family page you will find information pertaining to the other people who have contributed to my research, as well as other sources that information has been found under. If you would like to contact one of these contributor’s please let me know, if I have a valid email address, I will be happy to pass it along.
Every month I receive emails from people who have information to correct or contribute, and I am grateful to find that these pages have helped so many. I also receive several emails asking for assistance on lines that have nothing to do with my own. Before you email me on a family member with an oral tradition as being Native American, please read the information I have on Native American research, as well as the information on the Choctaw pages if your family is from that nation. While I am quite knowledgeable on where to find the Choctaw information, most of the information I use is on these pages or a link to where to find information is provided, most often I cannot provide you with any other information, nor do I have the time to help you do your own research. If your question pertains to someone listed on these pages, I may or may not have more information; it all depends on whom you are referring to, and what is already listed. The Choctaw and Cherokee Proud Association site also lists email groups that may be of help to you if the research pertains to the Cherokee or Choctaw nations.
Another source of assistance for you in your research can be found on my internet research tips page. In it, I discuss different areas where you can find information on the web, as well as a review of some of the subscription sites that are available. Whether or not you chose to subscribe is up to you, the decision must be made based on your needs, and your financial situation. As I have personally subscribed to all of these, I will try to honestly evaluate how they have helped in my own research. Another section to the site, Genealogy 101, I hope will be of assistance to you. I cannot stress enough that while this is a rewarding, and addicting hobby, it often takes time, patience, and hours of work to sometimes accomplish very little. Utilize the resources at hand, and eventually you will find your tree growing in the manner you wish.
A few notes on my research to clarify some issues are also in order. First, as a pet peeve, I cannot stand to not have a date of birth in my gedcom. Especially since so many of the families have multiple folks with the same name in separate and the same generations, estimating birth dates helps me to find someone in my file much easier. If the exact date of birth is known, or the year can be estimated from a census, it will be displayed. If not, I generally estimate an age of 15 at least for the mother and 20 for the father. Now keep in mind, that can very greatly, I have women in my tree who had children as early as 12, and as old as 52. I realize my system isn’t perfect; it’s just one of my quirks. The same goes for date of death. If the person is born before 1910, unless, in a few cases, I know they are still alive, there date of death is listed as unknown. The reason for that is less personal preference, it just prevents my family tree program from making them private when I privatize the file. It is irritating to me to find someone listed as private who died over 100 years ago in a gedcom. We all have our pet peeves, those are two of mine.
Second, as for the translation of Native American names and places, keep in mind, that most of the records were written phonetically, so there are varied spellings often found for these names. I have attempted to go with the most common usage as I have seen it, but, I am by no means fluent in Choctaw, so the accurate spelling and meaning are a mystery to me. As a side note, anyone who has searched the early censuses know how poorly many of the names are spelled, literacy in the 18th and 19th century was not the same as it is today, so I would like to point out to those who insist so and so must be so and so based on the American translation of the native American name to recall, we really don’t know, records were poorly kept by the whites, and the native Americans didn’t bother with any written records for many years. Similarities between names can be coincidental, depending on who was doing the translating.
Third, I am trying to remove all references to surnames on women which are oral only, and include those in the notes instead. I believe I have gotten most of them, but there may be some I have overlooked. Please pardon the over sight. Additionally, I am attempting to clarify theory and oral history more completely in the note sections on the individuals, if you have something to add, please let me know.
Fourth, and lastly, while ideally genealogy is an exact science, the truth is, especially in areas where records were burned, destroyed, or never existed, we have to gather as much information as we can find, and then formulate theories. I realize, in some cases, what I have to say on some of these families varies a great deal from the oral, or written histories. I am making every attempt to clarify and explain the theories, and facts on the families as I redo their pages. Please be patient it takes almost as long to redo the pages on this site, as it did to do some of the research.
On a personal note, I am expecting my first child in December 2003, and I am sure part of my nesting is a desire to get this site and my genealogy files in order, for soon, I doubt I will have the freedom to spend the time on it I have in the past. My goal is to get the entire site redone, and the newest information added by the end of November. As a way to defer the hosting costs of this site, I have become an affiliate with a few genealogy related sites. If you notice the new banners, that is the reason.
Again, thank you for visiting my realm; I hope you enjoy your visit.
The table of contents can be found next.
More about these pages...
I am indebted to several people along the way, as genealogists
themselves are part of a family. The generosity, and
willingness to share information is unbelievable. Much of what
I have I owe to three people, Loren Adams, a distant cousin
who wrote a book on the Rogers and Adams families in the
1980's. My father's family was researched by my Aunt's
Leahmanda Barnes and Patricia Alsup, who long before
computers and message boards gathered the information I
have. I have found some information on these lines along the
way, but most of my research has been on the one side of my
family not explored, the family of my maternal grandfather's
mother the Trahern's.
Much of the information on these and other pages is verified,
but some is not, so if you find an error, please let me know. If
you want to use my information, you are more than welcome,
however, you may want to verify some of the facts for yourself.
You can always email me with questions. In some cases, this is
all the information I have, in others, I have more, and can be of
more help. A partial list of surnames is listed on the bottom of
this page. As part of this project, I plan on adding stories and
information on some of the folks in my tree. As I do so, you will
see links attached to these pages. Also a note, to protect the
privacy of individuals, the information on the pages only goes
through my grandparents generations. Since some are still
alive, the information has also been privatized by my program.
It is not my attention to snub anyone, but I do not want to
inadvertently cause someone's identity to be "borrowed" off
the Internet.
Acknowledgments are now on each page with source material.
Names of people you see have sent me copies of documents,
information from documents, or their own research. Sandra
Riley has sent me information on most of the Choctaw families,
Dusty (Choctaw southeast mailing list coordinator) has done
countless lookups. When I first started I didn't write down who
sent me information, so if you gave me information and it is
omitted please let me know. I get several emails each month
with additional information on these families, in some cases
those folks are not credited.
Surnames divided by location and primary migratory path are
West Florida Spanish Territory (South Carolina or Georgia to
present day Baldwin, Escambia and Conecuh Counties in
Alabama, and Escambia, Santa Rosa and Walton Counties of
Florida) Earliest 1786 latest 1840 most by 1820...
MCCURDY, HARDY, PYBURN, CHITTY, STAPLETON, BOWEN,
CAMPBELL, ARD, MALONE, AND COBB
Pike and Crenshaw Counties Alabama to Baker Florida
(after1900, families originated in SC in 1790 migrated about
1820 to Alabama)
BAKER, BARNES, FRANKLIN, COLQUIT, NOWLING, BRUNSON,
AND EILAND
Choctaw Nation Mississippi/Alabama to Choctaw Nation,
Oklahoma to present day Haskell, Leflore and Bryan Counties
Oklahoma...
BRASHEARS, LEFLORE, FOLSOM, DANIELS, JUZAN, TRAHERN,
KINCADE, HARDAWAY, RIDDLE, WALKER, WALL, HALL,
NEWTON, BOWERS, BOND, MONCRIEF, MCCLAIN, MCLAIN,
AINSWORTH, MCCURTAIN, HAWKINS, GARDNER, FLACK,
COLBERT, AND DESCENDANTS OF PUSHMATAHA AND HIS
SISTER, NAHOMTIMA.
Scott/Lee/Russell Counties of Virginia to Hawkins County
Tennessee to Hamilton County Tennesee and Dekalb County
Georgia to Yell, Logan and Johnson Counties of Arkansas
ROGERS (Associated with Wallen and Hixon families in
Tennesee, McBride, Nelms, Heffington, Hodges, and Fink
families in Arkansas), ADAMS
There are more, at present my tree has at present about
30,000 individuals. To search by a specific name, I suggest
searching my gedcom file at Rootsweb, which has about 5,000
people on it at present. Gedcom.
A note to anyone researching the Mieirs family. My family
started with this name in 1950 when my Grandfather, Claudius
Byron Hagar legally changed his name to Raymond Mieirs. I am
sorry, but we are not connected to any of the Mieirs family in
Washington.
