Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Farthest Flung Ancestor

 From Randy (my cousin) over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  Our family trees contain historical persons who came from places all over the world. Each of our ancestral lines came from somewhere.

2)  Can you identify your Farthest Flung Ancestor? Who in  your ancestral tree came from the most geographically distant place from where you live now? What brought them (or their descendants) to where your family ended up?

3) Please share!

Here's mine:

  Like Randy, I don't know exactly who my Farthest Flung Ancestor is.  I live in Augusta, Georgia, USA, and my ancestry is 100% European, spread out among England, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France with some Finland and Norway sprinkled in.  I have not identified where all of my ancestors were born, but I do know about England, Germany, and Scotland.  Therefore, here are my top 4 candidates, the furthest flung first:

    *  Johann Conrad Hesser was born in 1725 in Palantinnate, Germany (which is now part of the Rhineland-Palatinate region). This area is approximately 4,450 miles from Augusta.  He immigrated to the new world in 1752. 

    *  John Drake was born in 1647 in South Petherton, Somerset, England and came to America around 1658 and settled in Virginia.  His birthplace is 4,160 miles from here. 

    *  Hosea Tapley was born 04 Jan 1691 somewhere in England.  This is approximately 4,122 miles from Augusta.  He came to the colonies early on - just before 1708-1710 when his first child was born in Virginia.

    *  Thomas Rany (later generations Ranney) was my earliest ancestor to arrive in this land.  He was born 1616 in Montrose, Angus, Scotland.  This is 3,960 miles from here.  He immigrated about 1657.  

(I used Google Search to find the approximate mileage between locations.)

  Unfortunately, I do not know the reasons any of my ancestors chose to come to the New World.  Perhaps for religious reasons.  Maybe to have a better life.  The chance to own land.  All of the above.  I do believe the Tapleys and the Drakes found their way south because of opportunities to own land.  The Hessers and the Ranys (Ranneys) migrated to the Midwest for the same reason.