My Ancestral Lines

I am bound to them though I cannot look into their eyes or hear their voices.

I honor their history.  I cherish their lives. I will tell their story.

I will remember them for I am the result of the very love, struggle, sacrifice, and journey of thousands.

- Unknown

I began researching my ancestry and recording it on webpages in November of 1999, exactly 26 years from the date I am writing this now.   I became curious about my ancestry after I had children of my own, and in response, my mother sent me boxes of old papers, photos, books and bibles that had been handed down to her from her mother. At first glance, the old papers were just that, fragile, unfamiliar, and extremely difficult to read.

The pivotal piece of paper was a neatly folded apprenticeship contract, dated July 7, 1749, probably opened only a few times over the 250 years between when it was written and when I received it from my mother.  In this document, a mother (at that time unknown to me) placed her 8½-year-old son into an apprenticeship to learn the trade of weaving in colonial Rhode Island. The name of this boy, Lancelot Larkham, was on most of the other old papers I had, but the dates clearly spanned the duration of his life. Being a mother of boys, myself, I was immediately fascinated by the circumstances that led to a young child being apprenticed in colonial New England, and I was inspired to learn who he was and how he was connected to me. I have since learned quite a bit more about that 8½-year-old boy. He was my fifth great-grandfather, and in the process of putting together the puzzle pieces of his life, I have also discovered many new, fascinating pieces of the puzzle that, in a way, make up who I am.

My ancestry is both atypical and quintessentially American. DNA analysis shows that I am a mix of Northwestern (British Isles, French, German and Scandinavian) and Southern European (Greek and Balkan) ancestry, but also Western Asian with ancestry from Anatolia and the Caucasus.

My maternal grandfather's ancestry is certainly the most exotic legacy left to me, as his parents were of Asia Minor and Pontic Greek ancestry, his father was born in the fishing village of Vathy on the Cyzicus Peninsula that extends into the Sea of Marmara in Asia Minor.  His mother was born in the ancient city of Constantinople, a descendant of the early Greeks who settled along the southern coast of the Black Sea, across from Russia. To peruse photographs of this beautiful young couple leaves me with great wonder, as their world was so vastly different from my own.  I marvel at the strength and tenacity of these young people who traveled so far to realize their own particular dream.

My maternal grandmother's ancestry is what I describe as quintessentially "Swamp Yankee".   Most of her ancestors came to America during New England's Great Migration of 1629 to 1640, finding their way from Massachusetts to settle southeastern Connecticut and western Rhode Island.  Her family names include Adams, Allyn, Burdick,  Button, Chapman, Clark, Cole, Crandall, Culver, Denison, Eddy, Geer, Gorton, Green, Heath, Hutchinson, Kenyon, Larkham, Maxson, Miner, Mumford, Palmer, Rogers, Sherman, Spicer, Stanton, Stark, Tracy, Walton and more.

My paternal heritage is equally fascinating to me. My grandmother’s family represents both early and later arrivals to America: the Allreds of North Carolina are believed to have come from Lancashire, England to Pennsylvania and then North Carolina before the Revolution, while my Sorensen and Thompsen great-great-grandparents crossed the icy waters from Vejle, Denmark, arriving in America at the Port of New Orleans to make their home in the vastly different landscape of southern Utah during the mid-1800s.  

My paternal grandfather’s Russell ancestors emigrated from Lanarkshire, Scotland, to the rugged frontier of the Wyoming Territory in the 1870s. His lineage traces deep roots across the Western Highlands, Central Scotland, the Hebrides, and likely back to northwestern France during the Norman Conquest.

          These are the people who, in part, make up who I am.  For all their hopes, dreams, achievements, fears, faults and inadequacies, they are mine and I have taken great joy in learning of their lives.         

The background paper for this page is from Ender Design's Realm Graphics collection.

The leaf graphic on this page is a scan of a stencils I made using the stencil,
Mountain Laurel, produced by Jan Dressler Stencils.

Last updated: Tuesday, November 11, 2025 10:49:41 AM