When Did We Come to America

Not quite 1600, but picture was taken when we were on
Guam, bringing military families to the south Pacific.

The interesting thing about genealogical research is that you have lots of names and when you first begin doing research none of them mean very much to you. In fact, if you go back beyond your grandparents most of us only find strangers. I was aware of 2 of my great grandmothers, but I didn't know them well and by the time I was old enough to understand the value of knowing them they were gone.

I indicated in a previous blog on "Mining Data" that I am delving into our family. I have thus far only scratched the surface and in reality, that scratch can't even be seen unless you look very very closely. Yet, that kinship I am beginning to feel will turn that scratch into a door, a door that will illuminate our ancestors for our future generations - at least I hope it will.

I have about 20 hours of work in just reviewing the McLean and Goff Ancestor Lines. Yet I have found some wonderful information. Some of the nuggets I found include:

• The first Iowa Ancestor from these 2 lines was Jane (Genny) Farnsworth who died in Page County, Iowa in 1749. Tim always likes to know how long the McLean's have been around Iowa. So it seems we've had a presence for 250 years, even if it wasn't in the McLean name.
• Five first-generation Americans were born before 1600: (1) Richard Bidwell, Sr (1577) in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; (2) Elizabeth Harris (1595) in Henrico, VA, just inland from Jamestown; (3) Robert King (c. 1595 in Hempstead, NY; (4) Mrs. Cool (how cool is that name) (1522) in Gowanus, Brookly, Kings, NY; and (5) Eli Braconie or Brackhoenige (1574) in New York.
• We have one ancestor, "Ann," who was born in Barbados, West Indies

We are not johnny-come-lately's to America. Our ancestors have been here, in some cases, for almost 2 centuries before the Declaration of Independence. We can all qualify as sons or daughters of the American Revolution.

Where did the McLean and Goff Ancestor Lines come from? I am amazed at our diversity. Never again will I be Irish, or Scottish, or anything other than American. The table below is quite illustrative of the diversity of our ancestors. England, representing almost 64% of our ancestors is clearly our ancestral home, from this limited study. As we get into the Merriam line it will be almost 90% English and the Johns line will not. It has a heavy Dutch influence.

In a future post I'll talk about surnames. As a teaser, the name McLean only appears one time in looking at first-generation ancestors and immigrant ancestors. Our surname could just as easilly have been Smith, Brinson, Steiner, York, Holllingshead, or Amonett, to just name a few. The graphic below (click on it to make it bigger) gives you an idea of all the different surnames that I found just in the McLean, Goff, and part of the Merriam lines. I'm still working on the John's line and trying to finish the Merriam line.

I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I do writing them. As I complete this study I will make the spreadsheets of first-generation Americans and immigrant Americans available to you. But please be patient, this is a work of love and it does take time.

PS - Don't think I'm ignoring the Longcor line, I just haven't gotten that far yet.