WEEK 7 – Immigration
By Cynthia Keefer Patton
Ever wonder if your ancestors immigrated through Ellis
Island? Did any of them come over on the Mayflower? These are probably the
original questions that get people started in the hobby of genealogy. You
remember the old conversations with aunts and grandparents.
“We are from Germany. My people were Scotch-Irish.”
But where were my ancestors from and when did they
immigrate?
IRELAND – I have several families that immigrated from
Ireland, mostly Northern Ireland, as early as 1740. They were John Cathcart
(Kithcart) from Balleymoney in Antrim; Sarah White from Ulster; William Andrews
from Portglenome; and Robert McNitt from Laggan in Ulster.
ENGLAND – From here came William H. P. Mitchell native of
Devonshire; Jane Anne Pellow from Cornwall; George Dicks from Wiltshire;
Alexander Thomas from Cornwall, Wales; and Emma Priddy from Blaenavon,
Monmouthshire, Wales.
GERMANY – From this region I have Francis Echard born in
Otterberg, Bayern; Johan George Hoffheintz of Rittershausen; and my maiden name
ancestor Johan Henry Keefer from Baden.
I have yet to really explore and verify all these places of
origin, and will start later this fall in Ireland setting out to visit my
ancestral homelands. After that, on to England, Wales, and Germany. I am sure
this will help me understand more about how they lived, where they lived, and
how much their lives changed after they made the journey to America.
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