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An Uncommon Name

March 14, 2025

The first Parshall Terry was born in 1737 on Long Island. He was the eldest child of Jonathan Terry and his wife Jemima Parshall. It’s easy to see why his parents chose young Parshall’s name. They didn’t know it, but their unusual name choice would echo through the Terry Family for the next three hundred years.

 

That first Parshall Terry was my fifth great grandfather. Nearly all his descendants over the generations named a son Parshall. As I have researched these descendants, I’ve found that the use of the name Parshall is a clue as to whether a specific Terry Family belongs to “my” Terry line.

 

The second Parshall Terry, my fourth great grandfather, was a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War. He moved to Canada after the War and fathered a large family. A few years ago, I decided to follow the traces of this Canadian branch of the Terry family. Most of them were relatively easy to track, but one son, William, disappeared. An old family letter suggested that William had deserted his family in Canada and had come to the United States. The letter furthered stated that William died there sometime before 1850.

 

Unfortunately, William Terry is not an uncommon name. There were several William Terry’s in the U.S. before 1850. Records were sparse, and figuring out which William Terry might be the “right” William seemed impossible. Eventually, I ran across a burial record in a small cemetery in Illinois for a Parshall Terry. The record was for a young child, and his father’s name was William.

 

I immediately felt certain that I’d found the William Terry I’d been looking for. The name Parshall was only used in families who descended from the original Parshall Terry. I’ve never seen it in other Terry families.

 

Further research uncovered a will for a man named William Terry. He died in the town where the child Parshall was buried. Among William’s heirs were listed the names of his children in Canada. Little Parshall’s burial record had led me to the “right” William Terry.

 

Uncommon names can sometimes be a problem for researchers since they’re often misspelled and incorrectly indexed when records are digitized. Sometimes, though, an uncommon name can be the clue that ties a scattered family together. If you have uncommon names in your family tree, they’re worth checking. You never know which ones may hold the key to opening a long-locked door in your family research.

 

Carol Stetser

Researcher

Larimer County Genealogical Society

 

 

Farmers All

March 7, 2025

If you’ve spent much time building your family tree, you’ve probably learned that many of your ancestors were farmers. In my own family, six of my eight great grandparents lived on farms (The other two lived in Oslo, Norway, and my great grandfather was a lamplighter for the city).

 

It isn’t too surprising that so many of my family owned farms. After all, as recently as 1900, 60% of Americans lived in rural areas. A hundred years before that, in 1800, 90% of Americans lived on farms.

 

One of the main reasons that people came to America was the chance to own land. In Europe and other parts of the world, land ownership was for the upper classes. Average people had no chance to own property. America was the land of opportunity because it allowed people to obtain land and become self-sufficient.

 

In addition, in earlier times, cities were smaller. The world was less industrialized. Most people practiced subsistence farming to survive. Even if someone practiced a trade, he or she usually still farmed to grow plants and animals for food or for extra income.

 

My Revolutionary War ancestor, Parshall Terry, is an example of the kind of life that people often led during that time. Parshall was a tailor. Family lore states that he could make a man’s coat in a day – for only a dollar! Despite his proficiency with a needle, Parshall spent most of his adult life obtaining farming property. He grew most of his family’s food and sold wheat and other produce to the rebels during the Revolution.

 

Another Revolutionary War ancestor, Timothy Skinner, was a miller. He built and operated both flour and sawmills. His expertise in building these mills is well documented in journals and other documents from that time. He, too, purchased large tracts of land which he farmed.

 

Parshall Terry and Timothy Skinner were not unusual. Like many men of their times, they practiced trades, but they also farmed. Supermarkets and department stores were well in the future. If families wanted food or clothing, they needed to produce it themselves.

 

Nowadays, only about 2% of Americans are farmers. Between about 1900 and now, most of our families transitioned into a more urban or suburban life. Many of these families have lost all knowledge of their farming ancestors. Genealogical research can reconnect you to those lost farmers.

 

Carol Stetser

Researcher

Larimer County Genealogical Society

Family Lore

February 28, 2025

I always enjoyed the family stories that older members of the family told. As a genealogist, I’ve researched many of these family tales and learned that the tales are sometimes true but often aren’t. There are even a few that I can’t prove or disprove, despite decades of trying.

 

My maternal grandmother was the storyteller in my family. From my earliest childhood, I can recall her telling me stories of her ancestors. One of her favorite tales started with “Always remember, we have Maori blood.” Maoris are the indigenous Polynesian people who settled New Zealand long before the English colonized it.

 

Grandma seemed proud of her supposed Maori ancestors, so I was too. However, as I studied my family history, it became apparent that the odds were against our having any Maori blood. While my great grandmother was born in New Zealand, her parents had both immigrated from England a few years before her birth.

 

When DNA testing became routine, I took DNA tests at several companies. All of them showed me as being 100% northern European without even a smidgen of South Pacific Islander. I was disappointed but not surprised. Nothing in the document trail I’d uncovered hinted at even a drop of Maori blood.

 

Another of my grandmother’s stories dealt with her second great grandfather who she said was “high up in the Canadian government.” After the Maori letdown, I prepared for another bogus claim. Turns out this time Grandma was on the right track. My fourth great grandfather served in the first parliament of the Province of Ontario. Maybe not the highest echelons of government, but impressive.

 

The final story of my grandmother’s was about her grandfather who’d crossed the plains to Utah with Brigham Young. As any native of Utah knows, the pioneers first arrived in Utah on July 24, 1847. The 24th of July was the major summer holiday during my youth. I hoped to find an ancestor with a connection to that day.

 

One of my early genealogical projects was to verify my grandmother’s story about her grandfather. Determining when that distant grandfather arrived wasn’t simple. Early Utah records verify my grandfather’s arrival in Utah by 1850, but no records show the exact date.

 

The early pioneers were good record-keepers, and they kept lists of everyone for most wagon trains to Utah. They didn’t, however, keep track of the young men and teen-aged boys who served as extra wagon drivers and as herdsmen for the livestock that accompanied wagon trains. Since my ancestor was a teenager when he came to Utah, it’s likely he worked his way West.

 

My grandmother’s family lore turned out to be partly wrong, partly true and partly unprovable. Despite that, I enjoy the stories, and I’ll continue to tell them. I will, however, be sure to state that some of them have no basis in fact. They’re a link to my grandmother and her pride in her family.

 

Carol Stetser

Researcher

Larimer County Genealogical Society