6 Gen Goal

Making progress!

I was hoping to go back 6 generations on each branch of hubby’s tree, and got my hopes up for going even further when the first branch was so easy to research. (Several cousins* had been there before me, highlighting the way.)

But on the second branch - hubby’s paternal grandmother - I’m hitting dead ends a lot sooner. Could be because Smyth/Smith is a common surname? Or record keeping was done differently in Ireland than England? Plus, it appears to have been tradition to name boys after the dad, and girls after the mom. Which is great, until you get 3 generations of “John Henry” and two of them married women named Hester. Confusing! Planning to try this one again after I finish the last two branches. 

Favorite finds - probate records for Henry Broadway Foster, farmer and woodsman, from 1873,  - hubby’s 2x great granddad on his mother’s side - 

and marriage records for Benjamin Foster and Sarah Davis, from 1764, Henry Broadway’s grandparents, so hubby’s 4th greats? So amazing. 

* I’m digging through all the available records, one by one, to make my own accurate (as possible) timeline. But it’s nice to see what others have put together as verification (or for laughs. A couple have gone waaaaaay off the rails. See 3 consecutive John Henry’s, above.)