My current research is found here:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=slebel
 

ll my life, I've been interested in finding out more about my ancestors. Some of our family stories have proved true, other stories haven't. Yes, we have a gypsy in our family, despite being told otherwise by her grandson. No, we don't have a squaw in the family that my grandfather was sure existed.

y grandfather Le Bel's side was already researched to the nth degree. As there were so relatively few families that settled the St. Lawrence River area, everybody is related to everybody. Period. All I had to do was find out how our family fit into the over-all picture. The Le Bel database had our branch already in it, but it wasn't known how we were connected. That was fixed when I verified that my Great Grandfather Joseph Le Bel had married Demerise Rivard. She was the missing link. So it has been with other branches of the tree. Once I find out how we fit in, the rest of the research is already out there. Mind you, it's not all correct, with contradicting dates and parentage.

meaningful goal that came to my mind was to find out how far back in this country my family went. Right away I could discount three of my four grandparent's family lines. My entire mother's side of the family is pretty much right off the boat from Germany and I haven't found much about them, yet. My Grandfather Le Bel's family settled Quebec back in the 1630's and then finally moved to Massachusetts in the late 1800's. My Grandmother Le Bel's father's family settled Nova Scotia in the 1750's and then via Vermont came to Merrimac, Massachusetts around 1908. Until a few year's ago, where her mother's side came from was one of my life's mysteries.

realized early in life that we do come from a family of immigrants. Three of my eight great grandparents were born here in the United States. Only one of my great-great-grandparents (Jennie Belle Robertson) was born here. Her husband, Rufus Howieson's parents were supposedly from Scotland and England. Wrong, and this is where the fun really began.

hile Rufus' father was from Scotland, his mother Nancy Wadleigh, was born in either Fremont or Chester, New Hampshire. Going back from there takes us through Amesbury and Salisbury Massachusetts, Exeter, New Hampshire (briefly) and then to Wells, Maine.

nother rich find was that his daughter-in-law, Alma Emerson had ancestors that were amongst the earliest settlers of the very area where I grew up. Although she was born in Canada, you can follow her father's family backwards through Wolfboro, then Lee, then Madbury and Dover, New Hampshire, and then to Haverhill, and finally Ipswich Massachusetts. We're related to Hannah (Emerson) Dustin and John Greenleaf Whittier among other notable people in this line.

lma Emerson's mother's side were the original settlers of Connecticut and Rhode Island. It's through this line via Governor William Leete that we're related to Charlemagne. Another line to Charlemagne goes through Reverend William Sargent, as well.

hile genealogy is chiefly about researching dead relatives, I have made friends along the way with living distant cousins. We talk like old friends, even though we've never met. This adds to the enjoyment of what can be a very frustrating past-time.

fter researching the line of my family that settled in Amesbury, Massachusetts, I found that we are descended from King Edward the III at least three times with another line to his grandfather. Mind you when you go back 10 generations, you are equally descended from 1024 people. When you go back 20 generations you have 1,048,576 direct ancestors. The line goes as follows and I'm giving the birth dates to help keep track of time.

Elizabeth Plantagenet married Holand, Duke of Exeter b. 1350 His line is:
Joanne Plantagenet 1328 ("Fair Maid of Kent" - what a name!)
Edmund Plantagenet Earl of Woodstock 1301
King Edward Plantagenet the 1st 1239
 

For more information, email me at steve@asweepingview.com

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