George Hubbard was my 9th great-grandfather. While his will had already been transcribed, I still wished to include it here on my blog.
The transcription I am presenting is from "1000 years of Hubbard History, 866-1895," Edward Warren Day, Harlan Page Hubbard, New York, 1895 as shared by Craig Hubbard on RootsWeb.com: Descendants of George Hubbard (1601-1685) of Middletown, CT and Related Lines," as updated February 18, 2013 and accessed by myself on February 23, 2013.
His will is published in "Early Connecticut Probate Records, Vol 1, Hartford District, p. 325, Charles W. Manwaring, Hartford, CT, 19902. His original will is on file in the Hall of Records at Hartford, Connecticut, in a box labeled "Wills - H, 1647 to 1750," and bears a date of May 22, 1681.
HUBBARD, George, Middletown. He died 16 March, 1684/5. Invt. £243-10-00. Taken 13 May, 1685, by Hiles Hamlin, Nathaniel White, William Warde. Legatees: the Widow, son Joseph age 42 years, Daniel 41, Samuel 37, Nathaniel 33, Richard 30, Mary (the wife of Thomas Ranny) 44, Elizabeth (the wife of Thomas Wetmore) 25 years of age. Will dated 02 May 1681.
I, George Hubbard of Middletown, bieng about 80 years of age, yet in comfortable health of bodie and having the use of my understanding as formerly, do make this my last Will & Testament:
Imprimis: I give to my Eldest son Joseph HUBBARD, besids what I have formerly given him, one Acre of my meadow At a place called pasen chauge on the East sid of the Great River, to ly on the North sid the Cricke which Runs through my Land. It. I give to my son Danill HUBBARD, besids what I gave him formaly, two Acres of Swompe at the west end of my Long meadow swompe Next the bogie meadow. It. I give to my son Samuel, besides what I formerly gave him, the on halfe of my halfe mile Lott on the East sid the grat River, divided by the List in 1673. It. I give to my son Nathaniel HUBBARD my peice of bogie meadow, being about on acre & quartre, Lying Next Mr. Giles Hamlins meadow; more over I give to my sayd son the one halfe of my Leaven acre Lott at the South End of the towne; I give allso to my sayd son the on Halfe of my Great Lott at the Long Swanp, as allso the on halfe of my great Lott in the westermost Rang of Lotts. It. I give to my daughter Elizabeth HUBBARD All the Rest of my Land on the East sid the Great River, besides what is formerly Desposed of, both which is Layd out & which is Lotted for by the List of Estate in the yeare 1673, only my half mille Lott excepted; It. I give to my daughter Mary Rany fourty shillings out of my Estate, but on further consideration insstead of that fourty shillings I give my sayd daughter the on halfe of my halfe Mille Lott on the East sid the Great River, devied by the List in 1673. It. I give to my son Richard HUBBARD my hous I now Dwell in & my barne and all other building, with my home Lott they stand on; as also my Long meadow Land & the Rest of my Long meadow swampe besids that which I have given to my son Danill, hee allowing my son Daniel a Lamas higway to goe to the Swampe I give him if need Require; more over I give to my sayd son the other halfe of the Leaven Acre Lott at the south end of the towne, as allso the other halfe of my Great Lott at the Long Swampe, & Likewise the other halfe of my geat Lott in the Westermost Rang of Lotts. Moreover it is my meaning herein, and my will is, that my sayd son Richard shall be my sole Executor, Injoyning him to provid Comfortable for his mother During her widlow hood, And to pay all my Just Debts for my Desent Buriall; move over I give to my Loving wife Elizabeth HUBBARD all my household Goods During her Natural Live, and after he Deseas my will is that my household Goods be equally Divided between Nathaniel And Richard & Elizabeth, Except the Great Kettle, which I will to my son. And farther it is my will that my Loving wife shall have the South end of my hous To Dwell in by her self if shee see cause, & rome in the seler for nesesary use During her widow hood. More over on farther Consideration my will is that my wife Shall have falfe my hom Lott & halfe my orchard during ther widow hud, and also on Cowe, And soe to provid for her selfe, & that my son Richard shall pay her three pownds pr year of Corent pay of the Country During her natural Life.
GEORGE X HUBBARD, senior
Upon farhter Consideration I see cause to give the whole eleven acres of Land over the two Sticks brooke by the fulling mill to my Son Nathaniel.
GEORGE X HUBBARD, senior
Signed in the presents of us:
Sar. Samuel X Ward
John Hall senior
Ebenezer HUBBARD
I Request my Loving brethern Robert Warner & Deacon John Hall to be the over seers to the performance of my will. 27 February, 1683/4.
Court Record, Page 112 -- 3d September, 1685: Will Proven.
At George's death, his inventory showed him worth £243, 10s, and possessed of a dwelling-house and home lot worth £50, "2 1/3 acres of long meadow" worth £18, 10s, "3 acres of meadow (at Pessenchaug) on the east side of the Great River" worth £9, a tract at Long Hill of 226 acres, another "parcell west from the towne" of 300 acres, one "parcell on the east side of the Great River" of 464 acres, and the "one-halfe Lott" of 30 acres, a total of over one thousand acres.
Showing posts with label Rany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rany. Show all posts
Monday, June 29, 2020
Sunday, February 2, 2020
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 4): Close to Home
Amy Johnson Crow from Generations Cafe is hosting a blog writing prompt this year called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Since I need a swift kick in the you-know-what to get me blogging more regularly again, I thought I'd jump in. I like that she gives us "permission" to interpret the prompt however we wish and share it however we wish. It doesn't have to be a blog post; it could be a family video, a letter to a child or grandchild, an e-mail, etc. I'm actually jumping back a week to address the prompt "Close to Home."
My Ranney family roots in the United States are definitely rooted in Middletown, Connecticut. My 9th great-grandfather, Thomas Rany, immigrated from Scotland about 1658 and settled in Middletown. He married Mary Hubbard, daughter of George and Elizabeth Watts Hubbard, in Middletown in May 1659. He was the first of six generations that were born or lived in Middletown until the Ohio Reserve opened up and the Ranneys migrated westward.
First a little history on Middletown. It is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state. It is 16 miles south of Hartford and was originally included in the County of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Native American name, Mattabeseck. A mere three years later, the name was changed to Middletown. This was chosen because the site was approximately halfway between Windsor and Saybrook on the Great River. Middlesex County was formed in 1785. The city was originally a busy saling port and then an industrial center.
The land on the western bank of the Connecticut River where Middletown now lies was home to the Mattabesett Native Americans (also spelled Mattabesec, Mattabeseck, and Mattabesek) and the area was named after them. At the time the first European settlers arrived, the Mattabesetts were a part of a group of tribes in the Connecticut Valley, under a single chief named Sowheag.
Plans were drawn up for the settlement as early as 1646, and the first Europeans arrived from nearby Connecticut colonies in 1650. The town was established in 1651. Life was not easy for these early colonial Puritans; cleaning the land and building homes, and tending farms in the rocky soil of New England was a labor-intensive ordeal. Law, too, was often harsh among the Puritans; offenses legally punishable by death in the Connecticut colonies included, "witchcraft, blasphemy, cursing or smiting of parents, and incorrigible stubbornness of children."
Other Indians, the Pequot Mohegans, arrived in the Middletown area in the latter half of the 17th century. They were traditional allies of the English colonists, but enemies of the Mattabesett and other local tribes. Upon arrival, conflict between them and the local tribes ensued. Sowheag hoped that the colonists would intervene. They did not. Smallpox also afflicted the Mattabesett, lessening their ability to resist and their cohesion as a tribe. Records show that Sowheag was forced to sell off most of the Mattabesett property to the local colonists. By 1676, the Puritans owned all but 300 acres of the former Mattabesett territory. Similar stories of tragic interaction between Native Americans and colonists were common in 17th century New England.
During the 18th Century, Middletown became the largest and most prosperous settlement in Connecticut. By the time of the American Revolution, Middletown was a thriving port with one-third of its citizens involved in merchant and maritime activities. The port's decline began in the early 19th century with strained American-British relations and resulting trade restrictions, which led to the War of 1812. My family (or at least the direct line) left the area at different times between 1790-1810.
As I mentioned, Thomas Rany (or Ranney) was the first of my direct line to live in Middletown. I found this quote about him during my research:
Thomas (1616-1713) and Mary (1642-1721) had 11 children (that I know of). I am descended from their oldest child:
Thomas (1661-1726) who married Rebecca Willett (abt 1663-1731) of Hartford on March 29, 1691 in Hartford. They had 7 children (again, that I know of) and I am descended from their 5th child:
Nathaniel (1702-1766) who married Rachel Sage (1708-1755) on January 16, 1734. They had 8 children, and I am descended from their oldest:
Nathaniel, Jr (1735-1800) who was born in Middletown and married Prudence Willard (1739-1803) on March 10, 1757 in Middletown. Between 1790-1800, Nathaniel Jr and Prudence left Middletown and headed west to Ohio. Nathaniel died in 1800 in Summit County, Ohio. Nathaniel and Prudence had 12 children, and I am descended from their 2nd child:
Comfort (1759-1859) was born in Middletown and married Ruth Lenora Treat (dates unknown). I am only aware of two children they had, and I am descended from the oldest:
Comfort (1788-1823), born in Middletown, married Elizabeth Hubbard (1790-1868) on December 25, 1808 in Haddam, another town in Middlesex County. All of their children were born in Ohio. So they must have migrated immediately upon marrying - between 1808-1809, as their first child was born November 28, 1809.)
Sources:
A new and accurate map of Connecticut and Rhode Island, from best authorities. [London, 1780] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/99466763/>.
Akron and Summit County, Ohio, 1825-1928, Scottt Dix Kenfield, Supervising Editor, 1928
Cronin, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. 2003, Hill and Wang, New York.
The Hamlin Family, A Genealogy of Capt. Giles Hamlin of Middletown, Connecticut, 1654-1900 by Hon. H. Franklin Andrews, 1900.
Middlesex County Historical Society and Wesleyan University Library's Special Collections Archives. The History of Middletown "Part I: 1650–1800." Prepared by Jeff Harmon. Cited from the City of Middletown website Archived May 15, 2006, at Archive.today January 1, 2007.
Middletown Upper Houses: A History of the North Society of Middletown from 1650 to 1800, C.C. Adams, (New York, 1908)
Warner, Elizabeth. A Pictorial History of Middletown.Greater Middletown Preservation Trust. Donning Publishers. Norfolk, Virginia, 1990.
Wikipedia contributors. (2020, January 21). Middletown, Connecticut. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:38, February 2, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Middletown,_Connecticut&oldid=936817405
My Ranney family roots in the United States are definitely rooted in Middletown, Connecticut. My 9th great-grandfather, Thomas Rany, immigrated from Scotland about 1658 and settled in Middletown. He married Mary Hubbard, daughter of George and Elizabeth Watts Hubbard, in Middletown in May 1659. He was the first of six generations that were born or lived in Middletown until the Ohio Reserve opened up and the Ranneys migrated westward.
First a little history on Middletown. It is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state. It is 16 miles south of Hartford and was originally included in the County of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Native American name, Mattabeseck. A mere three years later, the name was changed to Middletown. This was chosen because the site was approximately halfway between Windsor and Saybrook on the Great River. Middlesex County was formed in 1785. The city was originally a busy saling port and then an industrial center.
The land on the western bank of the Connecticut River where Middletown now lies was home to the Mattabesett Native Americans (also spelled Mattabesec, Mattabeseck, and Mattabesek) and the area was named after them. At the time the first European settlers arrived, the Mattabesetts were a part of a group of tribes in the Connecticut Valley, under a single chief named Sowheag.
Plans were drawn up for the settlement as early as 1646, and the first Europeans arrived from nearby Connecticut colonies in 1650. The town was established in 1651. Life was not easy for these early colonial Puritans; cleaning the land and building homes, and tending farms in the rocky soil of New England was a labor-intensive ordeal. Law, too, was often harsh among the Puritans; offenses legally punishable by death in the Connecticut colonies included, "witchcraft, blasphemy, cursing or smiting of parents, and incorrigible stubbornness of children."
Other Indians, the Pequot Mohegans, arrived in the Middletown area in the latter half of the 17th century. They were traditional allies of the English colonists, but enemies of the Mattabesett and other local tribes. Upon arrival, conflict between them and the local tribes ensued. Sowheag hoped that the colonists would intervene. They did not. Smallpox also afflicted the Mattabesett, lessening their ability to resist and their cohesion as a tribe. Records show that Sowheag was forced to sell off most of the Mattabesett property to the local colonists. By 1676, the Puritans owned all but 300 acres of the former Mattabesett territory. Similar stories of tragic interaction between Native Americans and colonists were common in 17th century New England.
During the 18th Century, Middletown became the largest and most prosperous settlement in Connecticut. By the time of the American Revolution, Middletown was a thriving port with one-third of its citizens involved in merchant and maritime activities. The port's decline began in the early 19th century with strained American-British relations and resulting trade restrictions, which led to the War of 1812. My family (or at least the direct line) left the area at different times between 1790-1810.
As I mentioned, Thomas Rany (or Ranney) was the first of my direct line to live in Middletown. I found this quote about him during my research:
"Thomas Ranney was admitted an inhabitant of Middletown and granted a home there, February 9, 1658, next to that of Thomas Hopewell; who lived on the corner of Main and Church Streets. In 1663 he had located to what is now Cromwell Ct.; he frequently held town offices."
Thomas (1616-1713) and Mary (1642-1721) had 11 children (that I know of). I am descended from their oldest child:
Thomas (1661-1726) who married Rebecca Willett (abt 1663-1731) of Hartford on March 29, 1691 in Hartford. They had 7 children (again, that I know of) and I am descended from their 5th child:
Nathaniel (1702-1766) who married Rachel Sage (1708-1755) on January 16, 1734. They had 8 children, and I am descended from their oldest:
Nathaniel, Jr (1735-1800) who was born in Middletown and married Prudence Willard (1739-1803) on March 10, 1757 in Middletown. Between 1790-1800, Nathaniel Jr and Prudence left Middletown and headed west to Ohio. Nathaniel died in 1800 in Summit County, Ohio. Nathaniel and Prudence had 12 children, and I am descended from their 2nd child:
Comfort (1759-1859) was born in Middletown and married Ruth Lenora Treat (dates unknown). I am only aware of two children they had, and I am descended from the oldest:
Comfort (1788-1823), born in Middletown, married Elizabeth Hubbard (1790-1868) on December 25, 1808 in Haddam, another town in Middlesex County. All of their children were born in Ohio. So they must have migrated immediately upon marrying - between 1808-1809, as their first child was born November 28, 1809.)
"Soon after their [Comfort and Elizabeth] marriage, they removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where Mr. Ranney, who was a ship carpenter by trade, engaged in shipbuilding."Comfort Ranney (1788-1823) was the last of my direct line of Ranneys to be born or live in Middletown, Connecticut. About 150 years of Ranneys.
Sources:
A new and accurate map of Connecticut and Rhode Island, from best authorities. [London, 1780] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/99466763/>.
Akron and Summit County, Ohio, 1825-1928, Scottt Dix Kenfield, Supervising Editor, 1928
Cronin, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. 2003, Hill and Wang, New York.
The Hamlin Family, A Genealogy of Capt. Giles Hamlin of Middletown, Connecticut, 1654-1900 by Hon. H. Franklin Andrews, 1900.
Middlesex County Historical Society and Wesleyan University Library's Special Collections Archives. The History of Middletown "Part I: 1650–1800." Prepared by Jeff Harmon. Cited from the City of Middletown website Archived May 15, 2006, at Archive.today January 1, 2007.
Middletown Upper Houses: A History of the North Society of Middletown from 1650 to 1800, C.C. Adams, (New York, 1908)
Warner, Elizabeth. A Pictorial History of Middletown.Greater Middletown Preservation Trust. Donning Publishers. Norfolk, Virginia, 1990.
Wikipedia contributors. (2020, January 21). Middletown, Connecticut. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:38, February 2, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Middletown,_Connecticut&oldid=936817405
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Surnames?
From Randy over at Genea-Musings:
Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):
1) Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.
2) Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.
3) Tell us how many surnames are in your database and, if possible, which Surname has the most entries. If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5! Or 10!
4) Write about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a status or comment on Facebook, or in Google Plus Stream post.
NOTE: If you can't figure out how to do this in your GMP (Genealogy Management Program), use the Help button and search for "count persons" then follow directions.
Here's mine:
I used Family Tree Maker 2012. This ended up being the simplest report I've ever tried to pull together. In FTM2012, go to Publish, Person Reports, and then choose "Surname Report." Under "Individuals to Include," I checked "Include All Individuals." After taking a look at the resulting report, which sorted the surnames alphabetically, I went back and also checked "Sort by Surname Count" so the names with the highest number of entries would rise to the top!
The report gives me a total count of individuals with each surname, along with a breakdown by male and female. It also lists the earliest and latest dates each surname is recorded (dates of birth).
This did not take long at all, and I have a 28 page list. The top 10, along with the date ranges, are as follows:
1) TAPLEY - 658 individuals (pretty evenly split with 343 males and 309 females) with a date range of 1691 - 2010
2) POWELL - 172 individuals (172 Male; 91 Female) with a date range of 1715 to 1963
3) MNU (Maiden Name Unknown) - 161 individuals (all female, of course!) with a date range of 1730 to 1936
4) DRAKE - 156 individuals (93 male; 63 female) with a date range of 1647 to 1967
5) HUBBARD - 151 individuals (70 male; 81 female) with a date range of 1601 to 1893
6) RANNEY (and RANNY and RANY) - 146 individuals (79 male; 67 female) with a date range of 1616 to 1951
7) PRICE - 134 individuals (72 male; 61 female) with a date range of 1680 to 1956
8) CLAXTON - 90 individuals (52 male; 36 female) with a date range of 1806 to 1974
9) RUSSELL - 73 individuals (39 male; 27 female) with a date range of 1782 to 1916
10) SMITH - 72 individuals (43 male; 29 female) with a date range of 1791 - 1984
Surprises? Yes! I was surprised that Russell and Smith made the top 10, but Schwalls or Page did not. I was also surprised that I only have 12 individuals with no (or unknown) last name!
Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It's Saturday Night again -
time for some more Genealogy Fun!!
1) Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.
2) Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.
3) Tell us how many surnames are in your database and, if possible, which Surname has the most entries. If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5! Or 10!
4) Write about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a status or comment on Facebook, or in Google Plus Stream post.
NOTE: If you can't figure out how to do this in your GMP (Genealogy Management Program), use the Help button and search for "count persons" then follow directions.
Here's mine:
I used Family Tree Maker 2012. This ended up being the simplest report I've ever tried to pull together. In FTM2012, go to Publish, Person Reports, and then choose "Surname Report." Under "Individuals to Include," I checked "Include All Individuals." After taking a look at the resulting report, which sorted the surnames alphabetically, I went back and also checked "Sort by Surname Count" so the names with the highest number of entries would rise to the top!
The report gives me a total count of individuals with each surname, along with a breakdown by male and female. It also lists the earliest and latest dates each surname is recorded (dates of birth).
This did not take long at all, and I have a 28 page list. The top 10, along with the date ranges, are as follows:
1) TAPLEY - 658 individuals (pretty evenly split with 343 males and 309 females) with a date range of 1691 - 2010
2) POWELL - 172 individuals (172 Male; 91 Female) with a date range of 1715 to 1963
3) MNU (Maiden Name Unknown) - 161 individuals (all female, of course!) with a date range of 1730 to 1936
4) DRAKE - 156 individuals (93 male; 63 female) with a date range of 1647 to 1967
5) HUBBARD - 151 individuals (70 male; 81 female) with a date range of 1601 to 1893
6) RANNEY (and RANNY and RANY) - 146 individuals (79 male; 67 female) with a date range of 1616 to 1951
7) PRICE - 134 individuals (72 male; 61 female) with a date range of 1680 to 1956
8) CLAXTON - 90 individuals (52 male; 36 female) with a date range of 1806 to 1974
9) RUSSELL - 73 individuals (39 male; 27 female) with a date range of 1782 to 1916
10) SMITH - 72 individuals (43 male; 29 female) with a date range of 1791 - 1984
Surprises? Yes! I was surprised that Russell and Smith made the top 10, but Schwalls or Page did not. I was also surprised that I only have 12 individuals with no (or unknown) last name!
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Thankful Thursday: Without their sacrifices, I wouldn't be here
Today is Thankful Thursday and it also happens to be St. Valentine's Day. So as Daisy-dog and I were returning from a McDonald's run with my dinner, thanks to a Valentine's gift of McDonald's gift cards from my mother (Thanks, Mom!), I began to think about my family, my ancestors, and how the brave things they did made it possible for me to be the person I am today. It was their sacrifices and hard work that created a family and left a legacy that I am thrilled to track down today. Here are a few things they did that I am thankful for:
- That several of my ancestors gave up the life they knew in their home countries and made the oftentimes treacherous and certainly terrifying voyage to the New World to make a life in America. Among those:
* George Hubbard (my 9th great-grandfather) left England and came to Hartford, Connecticut before 1639.
* Richard Watts (my 10th great-grandfather) brought his family, including his daughter, Elizabeth, who married George Hubbard, from England before 1640.
* Thomas Rany (my 9th great-grandfather) left Scotland and settled in Middletown, Connecticut about 1657.
* Hosea Tapley (my 6th great-grandfather) left England and came to North Carolina between 1691 - 1743.
* Johann Conrad Hesser (my 6th great-grandfather) came from Germany sometime in the 1700's.
* George Schwalls Sr. (my 2nd great-grandfather) left Germany and came to Georgia in the 1850's.
- I am thankful that my 3rd great-grandmother, Sarah Tapley, was ahead of her time. She bore and raised her children out of wedlock with her head held high, and she obviously raised them to be proud and productive members of society.
- I am thankful that so many of my ancestors and family members served in the military and fought for their country during the greatest conflicts in our history, including:
* Nathaniel Ranney, my 6th great-grandfather, served in the American Revolutionary War.
* Archibald Odom, my 4th great-grandfather, served as a horseman in the Georgia Militia during the War of 1812.
* Francis M. Tapley, my great grand uncle, was killed at the Crater near Petersburg, Virginia, during the Civil War.
* James Madison "Jim" Tapley, my great-grandfather and Francis's brother, fought during the Civil War and fortunately made it home.
* George Schwalls, Sr. also fought in the Civil War after only having been in this country for a few years and suffered several health problems resulting from his service.
* James William Drake, my 2nd great-grandfather, along with at least three of his brothers: Francis Milton, John Saffold, and Richard Franklin, all fought during the Civil War.
* Comfort Ranney, my 2nd great-grandfather, fought during the Civil War... on the Northern side.
* Charles Morgan Tapley, my grandfather, served in the U.S. Navy twice, including in action during World War II.
* My uncle, John Russell "Russ" Tapley, who served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
* My cousin, James Cullen "J.C." Tapley, gave his life in Italy during World War II.
* My brother, Harry Earl Tapley, was a career Marine and served during the Vietnam War.
* And all the others who served.
- I am thankful that a childless couple named Charles K. and Sarah Melissa Schoonover Carter adopted an orphaned baby girl and doted on her their entire lives. That little girl was my great-grandmother, Bessie Carter Ranney.
- I am thankful that my grandmother, Ethel Irene Ranney Tapley, persevered and retained her sweet soul despite being unable to walk and confined to a wheelchair for over half her life.
- I am thankful that my grandmother, Nealie Drake Tapley, was such a strong, God-fearing woman. She raised five sons and a daughter by herself, worked many jobs to feed her family, and still found the energy to drive her horse and buggy over 10 miles each way on Sunday to play the piano at Powell's Chapel.
- I am especially thankful for my mother, Linda Irene Tapley, who is always there for me.
- I am thankful and proud that I have been able to devote a good part of my life to preserving my family's stories, histories, heirlooms, and facts. I do not write this blog because I don't have a life; I write this blog because it enriches my life.
Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Surname Saturday: Ranney, Ranny, and Rany
The name Ranney, along with its variants of Ranny, Rany, Rannie, Rainy, Ranye, Raynie, Reny, and Ryne, are found in Scottish records as early as 1453. They were Septs to the MacDonnell Clan of Keppoch. (Scottish Clans contained septs or branches, which were founded when powerful or prominent clansmen established their own important families. Clans often had many septs that were often related through marriage. During difficult times, the families sought to ally themselves with larger, more powerful clans for protection from enemies and other feuding clans. This practice was effective in building respect, devotion, and familiarity between different families within the same clan. Nowadays, this relationship is all but lost, but today septs often proudly wear the Clan tartan. - From www.houseofnames.com/wiki/Septs)
The Clan tartan:
I have information about 12 generations of my maternal Ranney line:
- Thomas Rany
My 10th great-grandfather. Birth and date information unknown, except the assumption that he was born in Scotland. His spouse is unknown and the only child I know about is:
- Thomas Rany
My 9th great-grandfather. He was born in 1616 in Montrose, Scotland and died 21 Jun 1713 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut. He married May 1659 in Middletown, Connecticut, Mary Hubbard, born 16 Jan 1642 in Hartford, Connecticut and died 18 Dec 1721. They had the following children:
Thomas Ranney
John Ranny
Joseph Ranny
Mary Ranny
Elizabeth Ranny
Esther Ranny
Hannah Ranney
Margaret Ranney
Ebenezer Ranny
Mercy Ranny
Abigail Ranny
- Thomas Ranney
My 8th great-grandfather. He was born 01 Mar 1661 in Middletown, Connecticut and died 06 Feb 1726. He married 29 Mar 1691 in Hartford, Connecticut, Rebecca Willett, who was born about 1663 in Hartford. They had the following children:
Thomas Ranney
Willett Ranney
George Ranney
Rebecca Ranney
Nathaniel Ranney
Ann Ranney
Margaret Ranney
- Nathaniel Ranney
My 7th great-grandfather. He was born 17 Jun 1702 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut and died 25 Sep 1766. He married 16 Jan 1734, Rachel Sage, born 01 Jan 1708 and died 24 Feb 1755. They had the following children:
Nathaniel Ranney
Ozias Ranney
Rachel Ranney
Naomi Ranney
Abraham Ranney
Amos Ranney
- Nathaniel Ranney
My 6th great-grandfather. He was born 16 Jul 1735 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut and died 13 May 1800. He married 10 Mar 1757, Prudence Willard, date of birth unknown and died 24 Sep 1803. They had the following children:
Thomas Willard Ranney
Comfort Ranney
Nathaniel Ranney
Prudence Ranney
Rachel Ranney
David Ranney
Daniel Ranney
Alle Ranney
Hannah Ranney
Anne Ranney
Huldah Ranney
Willard Ranney
- Comfort Ranney
My 5th great-grandfather. He was born 19 Dec 1759 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut and died in 1859 in Buffalo, New York while en route to the Western Reserve of Ohio. He was married to Ruth Lenora Treat, date of birth unknown and died before 1812. They had the following children:
Comfort Ranney
Jacob Ranney
- Comfort Ranney
My 4th great-grandfather. He was born 20 Mar 1788 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut and died 14 Jul 1823 in Hudson, Summit County, Ohio. He married 25 Dec 1808 in Haddam, Connecticut, Elizabeth Hubbard, a distant cousin, who was born 02 Apr 1790 in Haddam, Connecticut and died 04 Jan 1868. They had the following children:
Luther Boardman Ranney
Laura Maria Ranney
Julia A Ranney
Eliza Samantha Ranney
Ruth Leonora Ranney
Elizabeth Jerusha Ranney
Moses Ranney
Sarah Florilla Ranney
- Luther Boardman Ranney
My 3rd great-grandfather. He was born 28 Nov 1809 in Hudson, Summit County, Ohio and died 10 Nov 1890. He was married to (1) Sarah Maria Carter, born 1812 in Ohio and died 29 Jul 1846. They had the following children:
Martha Ann Ranney
Mary Elizabeth Ranney
Comfort Ranney
Harriet Sophia Ranney
Sarah Maria Ranney
Luther married (2) Carolinne Clapp, born 03 May 1821 in Westhampton, Massachusetts and died 26 May 1895. They had the following children:
Julia Ann Ranney
Luther Kelsey Ranney
Carrie May Ranney
- Comfort Ranney
Luther Boardman Ranney
Sarah Marie Ranney
Luella S Ranney
James Comfort Ranney
- Luther Boardman Ranney
My great-grandfather was born 11 Mar 1870 in Chapin, Saginaw County, Michigan and died 9 Oct 1943 in San Bernardino, San Bernardino County, California. He was married to Bessie Alice Carter who was born 09 Feb 1883 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and died 14 Apr 1960 in Redlands, San Bernardino County, California. They had the following children:
Baby Boy Ranney (died at 4 days old)
Kenneth Carter Ranney
Alice Lucille Ranney
Ethel Irene Ranney
- Ethel Irene Ranney
Robert Avery "Bob" Plumlee
Ethel married (2) 03 Dec 1939 in Redlands, Charles Morgan Tapley, born 27 Jun 1907 in Johnson County, Georgia and died 12 Nov 1973 in Swainsboro, Emanuel County, Georgia. They had one child:
- Linda Irene Tapley (my mother)
- And that leads to ME.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Who I am... right down to my chromosones
 |
| www.csb.yale.edu |
Her mother, my grandmother, Ethel Ranney Tapley, had some sort of degenerative muscular disease. It struck in the 1940s, when my mother was a baby. Eventually, my grandmother weakened to the point that she was in a wheelchair the rest of her life. At the time, doctors were unable to diagnose the exact condition she had. It resembled multiple sclerosis (MS), so I just told people that was it, to make explanation easier.
My uncle, my mother's brother, also had some sort of similar disease. That is, similar to MS or Lou Gehrig's in how it presents. Also, my grandmother's first cousin had some sort of "creeping paralysis." It began in his feet and moved up throughout his body.
So of course, this made my mother and me nervous. It was always in the back of my mind...could I come down with MS or something similar at some point? Is it genetic? I'm sure it worried Mom, also.
In addition, heart disease is rampant in the Tapley family. I have even said that I already know, barring accident, what I will die of... a heart attack. My father, brother, sister, uncles (all of them), my aunt, my grandparents... all had heart disease. Yes, I meant rampant.
Thus our reasoning for wanting to find out, genetically, what our chances are for contracting diseases and/or other health conditions.
Day before yesterday, I got my results. (Mom's will probably arrive in a week or so.) It was very exciting. I poured over them for hours, not fully understanding all of it, but taking it all in anyway. I will try to share here what is clear to me at this point:
My maternal haplogroup is U5a1a1.
From the 23andme website:
"Haplogroup U5 arose among early colonizers of Europe around 40,000 years ago; maternal descendants of those early colonizers persist in the region to this day. After the last Ice Age two subgroups of U5 expanded across Europe and into northern Africa and the Near East." and
"U5 is one of the oldest haplogroups in Europe. It probably arose when modern humans first moved into western Eurasia from the Near East about 40,000 years ago. As the earliest members of U5 spread across the new territory they would have encountered some oddly familiar inhabitants; the Neanderthals, a close relative of Homo sapiens, had been living in the region for more than 200,000 years. But the Neanderthals proved no match for the new arrivals - by 28,000 years ago they were gone, driven extinct by either competition or outright warfare.
The 9% of Europeans who carry the U5 haplogroup today can trace their maternal ancestry directly back to those early colonizers of Europe. The haplogroup is especially common among the Basque, whose unique language is thought to be descended from that of the first Europeans.
Haplogroup U5 has two primary branches, U5a and U5b, that appear to have arisen around the time that mile-thick glaciers covered the northern half of Europe. During that period humans were confined to small enclaves in the southern part of the continent, where both U5a and U5b differentiated into even more haplogroups.
The process continued after the ice melted and allowed humans to repopulate the continent, spreading branches of U5 to widely scattered regions. The haplogroup had clearly reached Britain by 9,000 years ago; mitochondrial DNA extracted from an ancient skeleton discovered in the English town of Cheddar belonged to U5a.
Haplogroup U5a1 originated in Europe during the Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago. At the time people were confined to small refuges in the southern part of the continent. When the glaciers began receding about 15,000 years ago people began migrating northward, carrying U5a1 and other haplogroups with them. Today U5a1 is most commonly found in places such as Norway and northern Germany.
Other members of the U5a1 haplogroup moved south into the Near East, perhaps in search of a warmer, more hospitable climate than the dry, glaciated tundra of Ice Age Europe. Today their maternal descendants can be found at low levels (less than 2%) in Turkey, Iran, and Syria."
The location of my haplogroup circa 500 years ago, before the time of intercontinental travel, is in the Scandinavian region, i.e., Norway, Sweden, Finland. This is significant to my mother and me because my great-grandmother, her grandmother Bessie Carter Ranney, was adopted and the story passed down in the family was that her birth mother was Norwegian.
Under the "Ancestry Painting" page of my results, I find the chromosome view. "Trace the ancestry of your chromosones, one segment at a time." Every one of my chromosomes are dark blue, which means I am 100% European. No surprises there. No hidden Asian or African ancestors. There are a few grey segments mixed in with the blue, about which the site states "Grey segments indicate regions where 23andme's genotyping chips has no markers." I do not know what THAT means; I just hope it doesn't mean I'm partially alien.
On the Global Similarity page, it states, "See your genetic similarity to groups of people from around the world." I went to the Advanced View, and drilled down from World, to European, to Northern European, to... well, this is where the surprise comes in. It showed I am most similar genetically to two Northern European groups. The first is German. Well, that's not a surprise because I have German ancestors on my mother's side... my elusive great-great-grandfather, George Schwalls, and the Hessers. However, the other group was French! I have never discovered a French ancestor in my tree! What is this?!
 | |
| The dark green, larger symbol represents me. |
Here's what the site said about "French (various regions)": "The French population is a diverse one thanks to their country's wide range of landscapes, including the coastal plains of the north and west and the mountain ranges of the south and southeast.
About 2,500 years ago the region was occupied by people called Gauls, who spoke Celtic languages. Just over 2,000 years ago the Romans under Julius Caesar conquered the region, imposing their culture and language. Five hundred years later, Germanic speaking peoples, including the Franks (from whom the name France is derived), invaded the eastern part of the region controlled by the Gauls. Today French culture and genes reflect the influences of each set of peoples."
So it sounds to me as if the French people are a melting pot, much like the United States.
I thought what was written on the site about the German people was interesting: "The Germans are the second largest ethnic group in Europe, after the Russians. They occupy a diverse territory that stretches from the northern fringes of the Alps to the low-lying coastal regions along the North and Baltic Seas. There are also significant numbers of people with German ancestry in many North and South American countries, especially the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina.
Though Germany itself was only unified as a country in 1871, a common Germanic linguistic and archaeological tradition had developed in central Europe by about 2,000 years ago. The word "German" was first applied to tribes living east of the Rhine River along the Roman Empire's northern frontier. As Rome declined and fell, these tribes expanded from their homeland to merge with neighboring populations—the Jutes mixed with the Danes to the north, and the Angles migrated west to England where they encountered the Saxons. Those migrations spread Germanic languages throughout northwestern Europe."
I have many questions about my results; many of which I cannot even put into words as yet. One question I do have about this global similarity is why "Scottish" is not listed. English and Irish are listed (just not for me). I know that Thomas Rany (the ancestor of all my Ranney family) was from Scotland. But Scottish was not even listed as a global group.
That about sums up my ancestry results from 23andme. I know there is a glaring omission of a paternal haplogroup. Unfortunately, my father and all my uncles are gone so I cannot ask them to do a DNA test. I do have a first cousin that I want to work up to asking. I am not at all sure he would agree to do it, but I need to try because soon there will be no close male relatives left to test.
While writing this post, I discovered that the Relative Finder feature, which matches you up with others in the database who might be related to you, has populated. I will update my results in that area in a later post. Also, since this post has become a book, I will wait and cover the health results in another post, also.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)