Ancestry: Introduction
A piece of every generation is passed on to the next. Physical characteristics, behavioral, and belief systems. I’ve come to better understand that knowing where we come from can help us to understand ourselves. I’ve decided to break down the chapters in this book into time intervals of 50 years. The most ancient records I found for all the branches of my family is between 1550 and 1600, so that is where I will begin in the next chapter.
I want to focus on the geographical locations where my ancestors came from and describe the locations where they lived and a little about what is known about their lives. The most amazing aspect that I discovered is that all four of the family trees 450 years ago at the beginning of their fantastic journey all came from the same small island between 1550 and 1600 A.D. The island of Scotland and England.
For most of my life I thought that my mother’s side of the family came from Ireland and my father’s side of the family came from Germany just based on the sound of the names. When researching for this book I used the Ancestry.com website to determine the family trees on the mother’s and father’s side of both of my parents. Below is a table showing the family names of my grandparents on both sides. One of the branches on my mother’s side so that include my family’s Mayflower connection.
My paternal grandfather, with the last name of “Steele”, I will refer to tree #1, or simply “Steele” Tree
My paternal grandmother, with the last name of “Tyner”, will be tree #2, or simply “Tyner” Tree.
My maternal grandfather, with the last name of “McClish”, will be tree #3, or simply “McClish” Tree
My maternal grandmother, with the last name of “Chipman”, will be tree #4 or simply “Chipman” Tree
Since I am starting my family tree with the year 1550 in England, let me describe briefly the history of the people of England prior to 1550. My oldest daughter, Julie (Steele) Alexander had her DNA tested with Ancestry DNA and her results are shown in picture attached. This is explained very accurately by the video link that I provided on the main ancestry page. With the invasions from the western Europe and later Scandinavia the DNA results correspond to what I have found in my research.
Where it All Began: England and Scotland
The name “England” is derived from the Old English name “Englaland”, which means “land of the Angles”. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in England during the early middle ages. The Angles came from the Anglia peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area which is the present day German state. The name “Scotland” comes from “Scoti”, the Latin name for the Gaels. Scotland dates back to the Roman Empire and both countries were highly influenced by the Romans.
England occupies the southern part and Scotland with the most northern one third of the island known as Britannia. Since I am describing my journey to my existence in the state of Indiana, the Hoosier state, I will begin by saying that Indiana has an area of 94,000 square miles. England has a geographic area of 50,000 square miles, just slight more than half the size of Indiana. Scotland has 30,000 square miles in area. In total area combine, that would be approx 80,000 square miles, 20% less than the size of Indiana.
To imagine that the ancestors all of the branches of my family tree originated on this island country of this small size is extraordinary. How could there be such history and world conquest from a people living on such a small island in the north Atlantic ocean? A country that produced such culture, art, and literature. The counties of England are shown in the map shown. I will be referring to these counties as I progress through the ancestry.