I started doing my family tree about three years ago, with the help of cousins in the
UK. It started out as an interesting way to pass the time during the first winter after retiring, and has snowballed
into a major interest. Here are some of the names I started with:
GRANDPARENTS: PEIRSON, COVELL, ASKEW, BLACKETT
GREAT-GRANDPARENTS: as above, also RAMSAY, RISPIN, PARKIN, DAVIDSON.
Other surnames of interest: HARTFORTH, ADDISON, BRYDON, ATTERTON, and several others.
Thanks in great part to research done by my cousin David Wallace (a Covell connection),
and a lady named Pamela Rispin, I have information through one direct line dating back to around 1530, when an ancestor named Johannes Maij settled in North Yorkshire, England. MAIJ, when
anglicized from the native Dutch, becomes MAY.
In the past two years of researching, I have not discovered anyone rich or famous associated
with my family in any way, though an aunt was elected to the title of "Miss Redcar of 1937", and a female
ancestor was known as the "Witch of Marske" in her heyday.
When I got a little stuck on my own tree, I started working on Bob's McNamee ancestors, and
once again got a very good start from an existing tree constructed by John Illes in Canada.
I hope to get much more information, some interesting links, and even some amusing family
stories up on these pages before too long.
