Introduction

My motivation for research into my family history was the stories that my grandmother Lois Lena Parks used to tell about her ancestors. However, once I became more involved in the research over the past 30 years, and how the various historical and political times shaped her family history, I became more and more fascinated with all facet's of my family.

There were in my family, like most families, stories that were passed down from generation to generation. Some of them have been substantiated, but others turned out to be just lore. Still, I have found so much more than I could have ever anticipated finding. A heritage which I have found rich in culture and history.

My genealogical detective work has led me to many fascinating places and to many more question's about the people that shaped my family over the past 350 years in the United States and Canada. This detective work has led me back further in time to England, Germany and Hungary. It has been a fascinating exercise in solving the mystery of one family and moving on to another with each unanswered question raising several more. The adventure is in the discovery of each connection.

They were simple, God-fearing, hard working folks that came to a new land for many different reason's. They were mainly farmers and labourers shaping a new world. Some of their descendants went on to become clergymen, farmers, carpenters, merchants, politicians, store keepers, soldiers, surveyors, teachers and more. Some of our families were pillars of the community and some were scalawags, some were rich, some lost their land for taxes, some were good parents, and some left just after their children were born. Never would I have believed that I would find my family so prominent in the early years of this nation, many even before it was a nation.

I have found the journey into my heritage rich in culture and history. The majority of my family came to the eastern shores when it was first being colonized. They went west as the country developed, clearing the land, and making a place for themselves and their families in a rugged and beautiful new land. They came here with a dream for new beginnings.

The lineage of these surnames is all over the globe, as is to be expected with any American family. My "roots" are mainly in the States of Michigan, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Iowa many also lived across the shore in Ontario Canada, and across the sea in Yorkshire and Sussex, England as well as Germany and Hungary. There also has been a tail about Walsh ancestry, I have not found this yet.

Some of the surnames you will find here are

Bradshaw in USA and Canada

Brewins with an s at the end in USA and England

Butler from 1700's New York

Coons from New York to Michigan early 1800

Crosthwaite in England, Canada and United States

Douglass in England

Erdelyi from Hungary and United States

Fedewa/Vidua/Wedua from Arft, Archbishopric of Trier, Langenfeld, Eifel, Province of Rhein, Preussen, Westphalia Michigan early 1800's

Harris from USA and Canada

Jefferson in Penn. to Michigan early 1900's

Lord mid 1700's Conn., and New York

Lowther from Westmeath, Ireland early 1700's to Bucks County, Pennsylvania then on to Canada

Mansfield in Michigan early 1800's

Miller from Germany lived in Penn. early 1900's moved to Michigan 1920's

Morfitt in Yorkshire England

Muller from Acht, Archbishopric of Trier, Langenfeld, Eifel, Rheinland, Preussen, Germany and Michigan

Newell Canada to USA early 1800's

Nurenberg Germany to Michigan early 1800's

Orosz in Hungary

Robert Parke came to USA in 1630 from England and landed in Mass., then moved to Connecticut the name was changed to Parks sometime in the mid to late 1700's

Powell from the Jackson Co., Michigan area early 1800"s

Pung from the Clinton Co., Michigan area early 1800's

Rustine form Jackson Co., Michigan area early 1800's

Sanford from Massachusetts 1700's

Savage from Vermont 1700 and 1800 and in Michigan

Schueller

Servatius from Langenfeld, Archbishopric of Trier 1600's

Shaw early 1800's in Jackson Co., Michigan

Tambling/Tomblin, from Massachusetts 1700's

Toth from Hungary late 1800's ended up in Detroit Michigan in 1900