Personal Interests

Genealogy

In March, 1998, I published a book tracing the descendants of one set of my third great grandparents, William E. Faucett (1798-1873) and Elizabeth Wallis (1805-1860).

If you would like to see the results of that research, including a link to download the current edition of the manuscript, please feel free to wander to my family genealogy page.

The family Bible, Confederate service records, and the United States Federal Census indicate that my great great grandfather, William Franklin Faucett, was born in 1833. His cemetery marker, however, indicates he was born in 1824—before his parents married. Several published sources state he was married to Eliza Summerville Hazell, daughter of a neighbor, Bennett Hazell, prior to the Civil War by whom he had at least five children. These five Faucett children can be found living in the home of Bennett Hazell in the 1860 United States Federal Census following the death of their mother. On the off chance that this is correct—and the other resources are wrong—, here is a tree showing the alleged descendants of William F. Faucett an Eliza Summerville Hazell.

In the process of collecting genealogy information for my book, I accumulated quite a number of very interesting ancestors.

If I trek back through my family tree, I find that if I go back to Elizabethan England, I find a common ancestor of my parents. My father descends three ways from Thomas Taylor (1574–1618) and Margaret Swinderby (abt 1578–1672), who lived in Hadleigh, Suffolk, England. My mother descends one way from this couple. On the other hand, the first wife of President Jefferson Davis and five Presidents of the United States also descend from this couple. I should remark here that the ancestry of President Abraham Lincoln is disputed.

On the anniversary of the ninetieth birthday of President George H. W. Bush, I discovered that my tenth great grandparents, Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soule, are also the ancestors of three Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

I descend many different ways from William the Conqueror.

I also descend many different ways from Alfred The Great.

I also descend many different ways from Emperor Charlemagne.

Like everyone else in the world I (at least mythologically) descend from Adam and Eve. This web sites shows the 69 known ways I descend from Adam and Eve.

And just because my father expressed an interest, I've posted here a web site showing the descent of both my parents from the famous (or perhaps infamous) Lady Godiva.