Name Origins

I miss my family quite a bit this holiday season as I worked all the way through Christmas helping deliver those Yule babes.

Happy Christmas!

I’ve been diving back in to some of our family history stuff and figured I’d share some information I’ve been gathering. Where we can’t trace our exact lineage, our family names can sometimes tell us a little bit more about where our ancestors might have lived.

Humphrey

Meaning

Humphrey is a masculine name made up of the Germanic elements hun, “bear cub,” or “warrior,” and frid/fred, “peace.” Many online sites directly translate the name as the paradoxical “peaceful warrior.” Variations include Hunfrith, Hunfrid, Humfrey, Homfrey, Onfroi, Humphry, and Humphries.

A peaceful bear. Source.

Origins

Our name comes from the Old French personal name Humfrey, introduced to Britain by the Normans. Families bearing the Humphrey name are most commonly of English origin, then Irish, followed by British, Welsh, Scottish, and finally German.

Incidence

There were tons of other Humphrey families in the area when my Papa, Jack Allen Humphrey, was born in Baytown, Texas in 1932.

Humphrey families distribution in 1920’s America. Source: Ancestry.com

Other Humphreys

There is a long list of historical Humphreys, such as Governor and Vice President Hubert H Humphrey. It was also borne by a 9th-century saint, bishop of Therouanne, called Hunfrid of Prüm, who had a following in England among Norman settlers. Humphrey is one of those last names that can also be a first name, like actor Humphrey Bogart.

Wolski

Meaning

A person from Wola.

Origins

Wolski is a Polish or Eastern German name of Slavic origin. Families bearing the Wolski name are usually German in origin, followed by Prussian, Austrian, Russian, Polish, and then Hungarian.

Incidence

Wolski is actually pretty uncommon in the US. In 1920, there were no Wolskis in Texas, but there were quite a few in Illinois! My grandma, Anna Humphrey nee Wolski moved to Texas in the 1950’s when she married my grandfather.

Wolski families distribution in 1920’s America. Source: Ancestry.com 

 

Other Wolskis

Wojciech “Wojtek” Wolski is a famous Polish-Canadian hockey player.

Colvin

Meaning

Variant of Colville, meaning a person from Colville in Seine-Maritime, France.

Origins

Scottish and English. Families bearing the Colvin name are most often of Irish origin, then Scottish, English, British, French, then German.

Incidence

My grandpa, George Lee Colvin, was in born in Ohio in 1924, among many other Colvin families. A fairly common name, though not quite as common as Humphrey and nowhere near as popular as Williams.

Colvin families distribution in 1920’s America. Source: Ancestry.com

Other Colvins

Claudette Colvin is a famous Alabaman civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on the bus months before Rosa Parks, at the age of 15.

Williams

Meaning

Williams is a patronymic, a name derives from a father or ancestor, of William.

Origins

English. Families with the name Williams are overwhelmingly of English origin, followed by Welsh, British, Irish, Scottish, and then German.

Incidence

The numbers reflect how extremely common the Williams name is. My grandma, Ruth Twila Williams, was born in Colorado in 1928.

Distribution of Williams families in 1920’s America. Source: Ancestry.com 

Other Williamses

Too many to count!

 

23andMe

A couple of months ago, I sent about 3 mL of my saliva to a genetic analysis company called 23andMe. I didn’t expect to find anything exciting, but I liked the idea of contributing to research and seeing if I was a carrier for any genetic disorders.

As far as ancestry goes, it turns out I am very, very white; a little whiter than I expected, actually. Here’s a screenshot of my ancestry composition. According to the website, this analysis is created by comparing my DNA to other people’s DNA whose ancestry is known.

Screenshot from my 23andMe account.

I assume the 4% East Asian & Native American is Native American, likely on Papa’s maternal side from Mexico. I haven’t been able to go back very far down that line as I only have the ancestry membership to U.S. records. In a couple months, when I’ve made more progress, I plan to get the expansion membership, which allows access to 80+ other countries.

Here is the breakdown of European DNA that makes up my genome. My siblings probably have a similar breakdown, but it wouldn’t be the exact same.

Seems consistent with what I’ve found so far.

Less that 4% of my DNA comes from Neanderthals, but that seems to be more than most people. I have 287 out of the 2872 Neanderthal variants that 23andMe tests for.

Haplogroups

As a person with two X chromosomes, without any male family members’ genetic information, I only know my maternal haplogroup. It is based on an analysis of my mitochondrial DNA, which can only be inherited from one’s mother: a microscopic expression of my matriarchal line. This tells me where a small portion of my ancestors – on my maternal side – originated, 13,000 years ago. It belongs to haplogroup H, the most common branch of the haplogroup trees in Europe, specifically a subset called H1c.

Doggerland = Atlantis? Our maternal line descends from mermaids? This may be evidence.

Of course, it doesn’t stop there. The mitochondrial DNA line goes back, through a couple of generations, to roughly 125,000 years ago.

Note that the L3 haplogroup leaves Africa. source for image

Haplogroups N, then R, then HV source for image

Actually, this is my favorite stuff from the 23andMe. Sure, this information is basically what you would expect to find for someone of known European descent, but it is just so cool to think about!

Carrier Status and Wellness

At this point in time, 23andMe tests for 36 genetic variants associated with certain conditions, ranging from autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, to sickle cell anemia, to different types of muscular dystrophy. I am, fortunately, apparently not a carrier for any of these conditions.

The wellness report offers only a few pieces of fun information:

• The presence of the CYP1A2 and AHR genes suggest that I likely consume more caffeine than most people. Maybe – is one or two sodas a week more than most people?
• With the presence of the LCT gene, I am likely lactose intolerant, but usually I eat dairy without incident.
• The BTBD9 gene makes it more likely that I move a lot while I’m sleeping. Maybe I should do one of those sleep-measurement apps to see if that is true.
• I am unlikely to flush while drinking alcohol, thanks to the ALDH2 gene. This one is accurate.
• The ADA gene makes it less likely that I sleep deeply.  Thanks, ADA gene, you made night shift grand.
• My muscle composition, determined by the ACTN3 gene, is likely more similar to a sprinter than a marathoner. Is this why I hate running long distances so much? Yeah, not because I’m lazy.

I hope more information becomes available, I would like to know more about genetic predispositions to things like cancer, heart disease, etc. Eventually, I’d like to compile a family medical history, as well. It will be helpful to have an accessible record of conditions that run in our family.

Phenotypical Traits

My genes match mostly do match with the traits that are most likely to be displayed. I do have detached earlobes (74% likely), dark eyes (65% likely), dark brown hair (67%), light beige skin (39%), freckles (63%), and a little bit of a unibrow (41%, cute). I don’t have a widow’s peak (72% likely), or cheek dimples (58%). I prefer savory to sweet snacks (57%).

Some people have said that I have a cleft chin, but it is more like a dimple that a true cleft, in my opinion – it says I’m 83% likely not to have one. Also, my hair texture isn’t quite consistent with what my genes wanted to predict:

I would probably characterize my curls as big, but I guess it could conceivably be called wavy. 

It is 60% likely that I had little baby hair, but I don’t know, I think I had some.

I guess it can’t be characterized as “a lot” either.

I will update this post as new information becomes available.

❤ K

New Family Tree Program

Today I began to input all the information I have from Ancestry.com into MacFamilyTree 8. It is so sleek! The actual program is really beautiful and interactive. It looks like this:

I’ve uploaded this tree-in-progress to MacFamilyTree’s website. This will allow everyone to be able to view the family tree without having to pay Ancestry.com’s monthly fee. However, it will take me a while to verify and catch up with what I’ve got in that database. I am going to post what I have already because it’s pretty neat. So far, the earliest this goes back is 1746.

Family tree from Kellen’s perspective (password: briarpatch) The website is not as dynamic and interactive as the program itself. It’s pretty basic, but interesting anyway.

With the information I have in Ancestry.com, the very earliest that I have been able to go back is the 1300’s: A Justice named Henry De Greene was born 1310, in Norton, Northhamptonshire, England, and he is apparently my 18th great-grandfather on Papa’s paternal side. He married a woman named Catherine De Drayton, and it appears they had six children: Margaret, Thomas, Henry, Amabilia, Simon, and Agnes. He died in August of 1369 or 1370.

It is not for certain that this is our ancestor as there are a lot of opportunities to mess up one of these connections, especially over almost 20 generations!  So we will find out if this is all correct as this project develops. But it is fun to entertain, anyway!

Let me know if I need to correct anything or if you have any questions!

Happy Belated Mother’s Day!

❤ Kellen

 

Family Tree Expansion and Early American Humphries

Ancestry.com is easiest to use when you have specific birth dates and birthplaces. Some names are pretty common and therefore yield ambiguous results. Last time I went home to La Porte, I was able to borrow some documents that Papa had containing this type of information going back to Uriah Humphries, who was born in 1740, in St Stephens, Northumberland, Virginia.

The family tree from my perspective: Uriah Humphries to Kellen Humphrey

The work that people have already done on the Ancestry.com network is extensive, and I was able to reach back much further without hardly lifting a finger. After punching in a couple of dates, the following image is what I was able to come up with. Papa told me the work he did on the genealogy information he compiled took a lot of dedication as it included phone calls to churches and local government buildings, traveling to visit graves, and keeping in touch with distant relatives. This was far easier, though maybe not quite as enriching.

Uriah Humphries to John Tignor, his great great grandfather.

The earliest ancestor of ours I can find is named John Tignor. He was born in or around 1560, in Sussex, England.  So far, I am not sure if he died in England or if he immigrated to Virginia before his death. When John was 25 years old, his son, Thomas Tignor, was also born in Sussex – this was in 1585. It is unclear if John Tignor was the first in that line of our family to cross the Atlantic, or if it was his son, Thomas. In 1656, Thomas died at 71 years in Middlesex, Virginia. None of this information came with a primary source, so this could possibly be information passed down through the generations. The reliability of it might not be 100%, but it’s still pretty interesting.

I am certainly interested in going back along the Humphries name line a little further, but there is a roadblock at the information on Uriah’s grandparents, his father Joseph Humphries II’s parents. Another source that Papa had, a book printed in 1988 by William and Dorothy Humphries called “Looking Back – Humphries Ancestry,” states that Joseph Humphries senior was born in 1908 and died in Edward County, Virginia. However, google tells me that only a Prince Edward County, VA exists, so let’s assume that is where he died, for now. Looking Back also states that his wife, Joseph Humphries’s mother, was named Mary with the possible last name of Smith.

Joseph Humphries II (November 8th, 1702-February 19th, 1769), or Joseph Humphries Jr, was born and died in Northumberland County, Virginia. He is buried in Heathsville, specifically, according to the Find a Grave Index. During his lifetime, he was married twice, and apparently had fourteen children. One of his fourteen children was Uriah L Humphries, my 5th great grandfather. Below are listed his children but I haven’t quite sorted out who belongs with which mother on the Ancestry account.

The children of Joseph Humphries II.

Humphries Ancestry – Looking Back: Page 2 A list of which child belongs to which mother, where they were born, and an observation that though most of these children were born in Virginia, many moved south to Georgia or North Carolina.

Humphries Ancestry – Looking Back: Page 1 Narrative history of Joseph Humphries Jr

Humphries Ancestry – Looking Back: Page 5 Joseph Humphries simplified will. It is of note that, among shillings and furniture, Joseph willed the lives of several black americans over to his children: a woman named Sue, a girl named Jemine, a girl named Frank, a boy named Anthony, and a boy named Charles.

Humphries Ancestry – Looking Back: Page 7 A list of some of Uriah’s children, including a not about Uriah’s livelihood. Of historical note, he was a soldier in Captain Posey’s Company of Regular Militia, and served in the French and Indian War of 1758, for which he asked bounty land in 1780. He furnished horses for Colonel William Christian’s Cherokee Indian expedition in 1776.

Humphries Ancesry – Looking Back: Page 8 Narrative history of Uriah Humphries. It discusses his divorce from Sarah Stratham in 1798. It lists various land and slave transactions. A toddler named Fan (sold for $1), a four year old named Apie ($1), a 35-year old woman named Suse ($2), and a man named Hiram ($40) were sold by Uriah in Tennessee in 1808. Uriah also had roles as constable (1773), surveyor (1774), and juror (1771). It discusses his settling in Clarke County, Georgia with his second wife, Nancy.

Humphries Ancestry – Looking Back: Page 9 Narrative history of Uriah Humphries continued. It discusses how land was distributed among his different children after the virginian ones contested his 1816 will. It talks about the confusion about his marriages and whether some of his children were illegitimate. It states that he did not inherit from his father, Joseph Humphries Jr.

I hope some of this is interesting to you all! Thanks for reading!

❤ Kellen

Ethel and I at the Austin Kite Festival, March 6th, 2016

 

Rosie’s Family History

Rosie Hampel passed away just this past Sunday, February 14th, 2016. She was 97 years old. Link to her obituary

The recording linked below tells of of our ancestor’s origins and their travels to North America.

Rosamunde’s Family History Audio

c. 1921 Euphrosine, Rosamunde & Adolf Wolski. Taken in France, where Rosie was born. (credit: Lisa Bonhage Hardie)

Starting Out

The project is going to begin on a free website so we can keep everything organized. Jill suggested we get a domain name and I love the idea, but I want something much more substantial before we take the plunge on that. I had been trying to figure out if I needed to join Ancestry.com to best organize all of the information for this project. Luckily, they have a two week trial period and I currently am not enrolled in any classes, so it is as good a time as ever to try to dive into this.

Not much has been accomplished, so far, but I will provide updates on new information as I go along.

When I was at home to see Jonathan in LPHS’s Oklahoma!, a couple of weeks ago, I got to speak to Granna and Papa about what they already had. Papa worked extensively on genealogy stuff a while back, and has tons to show for it! I am going to bring a scanner back to La Porte next time I am there and start making PDF versions of all the records he has. That will help me flesh out what I have on our family tree on the Humphrey side. First and foremost, I want to gather birth dates, marriage dates, death dates. This will give us a framework and then we can add photos, anecdotes, videos, audio, and other interesting information.