William Watson's (limited) Genealogy Work

Goals

I'm a bit of a dabbler. I tend to do a little bit of a number of things, rather than devote most of my time to one pastime. Thus, I do not expect to become a genealogist with the focus that some have achieved. This could change, of course, but that's my current expectation.

For the time being, I think I will have a few different levels of detail that I would wish to accumulate for different portions of the data I gather. In all cases, I intend to fully document the sources from which I gather the data I have, noting that I did NOT do a thorough job of this in the past, and that some of my sources also did NOT do so. (In particular, I note that neither of my parents, nor my late aunt Doris, nor Oscar Hatcher noted any sources for their data, as far as I know.) I intend to note sources going forward, and incrementally to add source notes for data already in hand.

  1. For my direct ancestors, I would like to work towards locating actual documentation of their births, deaths, and marriages. I'd also be happy to have additional notes on their lives, homes, and occupations.
  2. For "close" relations, say my father's cousins and their descendants, I'd like to record their statistics, marriages, and descendants. I do not plan to pursue records for these people, but at least try to note the connections as best believed to be the case, partially as a means of maintaining family connections, and partially as a means of providing continuity of data for any who wish to start looking for records on their own.
  3. For other relations, I'm happy to accumulate what data folks wish to send me. Somehow I seem to be one of the members of various branches of the family who has a visible collection of genealogy data. I'm happy to note corrections, and willing to add data sent me by others, knowing that sometimes the data my not have solid documentation behind it. As noted above, I intend to record the sources who provide the data to me, such that anyone else doing research could follow back to that source for further information. If I get only names, dates, and a supplier of data, that will suffice. If someone wishes to send me more, I'll accept it, but probably not try to elicit it.

Database

You can find a copy of my genealogical database out on Rootsweb. I push out an updates irregularly, so the data on rootsweb will almost always lag behind what I have locally.

Sources

This is a partial list of sources, less comprehensive than indicative of the varying quality of the data. I have received mail message with further clarifications, corrections, and additions, from members of many branches of the family. In no way do I wish to denigrate the efforts of those people. Rather my small efforts seem sometimes to do little more than to stitch together these fragments.

Watson
Watson information comes largely by work done by my late father and his late sister Doris. They did much of this work in the early 1970s, in advance of a trip taken by their father to "middle" Tennessee, where he was born.
Nash
Information on the Nashes (my father's brother's wife's family) comes from a high school report done by my cousin Gay, probably in the early to mid 1970s. None of this information has sources recorded, and some seems quite at odds with that available elsewhere on the internet.
Riddle
  • My grandmother's family bible, listing many births, deaths, etc., of William Robert Riddle and Lou Ann Hatcher's descendants
  • Conversations with many Riddle relations
  • Wayne Puccinelli, who supplied data on Amanda Arizona Riddle and her descendants.
Hatcher
  • The Hatcher Families Genealogy Association, coordinated by Nel Hatcher. This site represents the collaboration of many researchers, ably and somewhat incredibly organized by Nel. My grandmother appears in the resulting database.
  • Oscar Hatcher's "Gene Sheets" - from the 1970s
  • Mail messages exchanged with various relations
  • Conversations with current living relations. Sometimes this conversation yields photos (like this one from 1947) with some identification of people.
Marable
Herr & Klehn
  • Mostly from my late mother's research, which turned up copies of California death certificates, Kansas deed records, and Kansas cemetary records.
  • Genealogical Record of Reverend Hans Herr and his Direct Lineal Descendants from his birth A. D. 1639 to the present time containing the names, etc., of 13223 persons, "Compiled, arranged, indexed in alphabetical order, and published by Theodore W. Herr, Genealogist", Lancaster, PA, 1908. This book has internal inconsistancies, and several people have sent me notes about corrections.
Spitler
An impressive collection (PDF) of transcriptions of census and other records collected by Thom Carlson. Printed, they take up over 40 pages.
Gueffroy
"The Gueffroy Saga" as told to Bonny Knott.
Brown & Robinson
  • Significant digging through UK census records available through Ancestry.com. These take the family back to the start of the UK census, in Thurrock, Stanford-le-hope, and environs, on the north bank of the Thames.
  • A small amount of my own work at the British Family Research Centre.
  • Mail messages exchanged with other relatives

Some Recent changes

I have made significant additional progress, on several branches of my extended family. While I have tried to note the data sources for the data items, I have not been as good about keeping a log showing my progress.