52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week # 26 Theme - Identity

The word Identity would normally make me think of an individual discovery, but my entry is for a whole family line. When I was growing up, my father, Dan Griffin, in Oklahoma, would say "Our Griffin family is NOT the Virginia Griffins."  It stuck in my mind and when I began genealogy searching, I kept it as a clue.  My knowledge of his Griffin family stopped with my Gt Grandfather, Samuel Young Griffin, who was a Union Veteran and died in Kansas, where he had homesteaded.  As we traced his heritage, and the "Identity" of this family, we found his father and grandfather in an area of Virginia that would become West Virginia.  But Daddy said we were NOT the Virginia Griffins.  Further research showed that our Griffin ancestors came from Connecticut before claiming land in Bath/ Pocahontas County in West Virginia.  Before Connecticut, our immigrant Griffin came from Wales in the 1600s.  I believe that family tradition had passed along the "Not Virginia Griffins" because Virginians would have been Southern sympathizers.  The area of our family was in a Union area. Some families even being split by their loyalties.  My father and grandfather knew of the Union Veteran, Samuel Griffin, and wanted to carry on that conviction.  I am proud of that identity and those who carried it.  The Griffin name is still being passed along in given names of many descendants.

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week # 25 Theme  :   Broken Branch

One Broken Branch is in Gerry's Burris tree.  I have written before about the various spellings of my husband's maternal surname of Burris (Buris, Burrows, Burroughs, Burrous, etc).  When we started to build his tree, we knew that his Great Grandfather was Mathew Burris, probably born in Missouri.  Much searching of census records located a Mathew Barrows, of the correct age, in 1870 in the home of a Bathan family in Osage, Benton, Arkansas.  I put that on the back burner because of spelling and location (although it later became true). Then in an 1860 Arkansas census, I found Mathew Buris in the home of Josiah and Elizabeth Buris.  This seemed to give us another generation, so we started working on the history of Josiah Buris (various spellings). Google searches gave us some postings of old letters which told us that Josiah (or sometimes Jessiah) had at least 4 wives... one left him widowed, others he left and may not have married at all in one case.   Another letter/ story supposed that he came to Arkansas on the Trail of Tears although he was not Native American (not true).  Mystery man.... just showed up in Arkansas, 1840, having been born in Tennessee.  Before 1850, family members were not listed in census records. So we hit a brick wall as to his parentage.

Until DNA came along.  Gerry had his DNA tested on Ancestry, which gives you a long list of matches, many of which have trees attached.  Among these matches were quite a few people with the various spellings of Burris in their trees, and ancestors located in Tennessee and Arkansas.  As we followed their trees, we seemed to find that Gerry had DNA matches descended from Anthony Burrows 1770-1822. Josiah was born in 1825, so not a son of Anthony.  But the will of Anthony Burrows showed several sons who might be of age to be father of Josiah.  By process of elimination (for instance, some families went to Alabama or Mississippi at the time that Josiah was born... so eliminated) we found a son of Anthony named William who could definitely be the connection.  However, there is no proof to this possibility.  There are some coincidences, and  maybe I can visit a courthouse in Fayette Co TN where this William lived and died, but the only lead for now, is the DNA.

Thus, Gerry's branch is broken between Josiah and Anthony, although we feel that William is the proof we need.  I won't be posting William on Gerry's tree until we find proof.  Photo is of Anthony's land, Pear Place,  granted in 1806, still called Burrows Cove in Grundy County, Tennessee. 

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week #24   theme-  Popular Name

I'm squeaking in my contribution at the last minute for this week, as I couldn't find anyone with a popular name. Then it hit me during a restless night of no sleep... my tree is FILLED with the name Elizabeth. So it is popular within the direct ancestry of our family.  I'll just follow one paternal branch, back to France 1642, Elizabeth Beauchamp, possibly named for Elisabeth, Princess of France.  Beauchamp was  mother of immigrant Peter Rucker (b. 1660 Germany).  Peter had a mother, wife,  mother in law,  daughter , and a grand daughter (latter is direct line) named Elizabeth.   The grand daughter, Elizabeth Offill Jackson, (1732 Spotsylvania Co., VA), had a son, Drury Jackson, who married Elizabeth Bryan(t).  Their daughter Elizabeth Jackson married Mr. James Rodgers and became my 3Gt Grandmother.  She died young, leaving many children, among them my 2 Gt. Grandmother Elizabeth M. Rodgers.  James Rodgers brought his family over the mountain range in Virginia to settle in the area of Buckeye, which would become Pocahontas Co, West Virginia. 

At this point, my family members may recognize some of the names, since we are getting closer to our known history.  Elizabeth M. Rodgers married William Griffin and had 12 boys and 2 girls... no Elizabeth !   But after the Civil War, when they again moved west, settling in Kansas, their son Samuel Young Griffin chose an Elizabeth for a bride...  Elizabeth Ann "Lizzie" Terry... my Gt Grandparents. 

This is where the line of "Elizabeths" stops in my family.  Lizzie and Sam had a baby girl who only lived a few months, the twin sister of my Grandpa Charlie. Her name was Mata E. Griffin.  Nowhere is her middle name found... so far.  But I'm going to believe that it is Elizabeth, for her mother and grandmother (and on and on) 💗.  

There are versions which pop up through out our trees... Eliza, Beth, Betsy, Bess, etc.   Reminds me of a Mother Goose rhyme/ riddle.

"Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy and Bess, All went together to seek a bird's nest. 

They found a nest with  five eggs in, They all took one and left four in."

😊