BORN IN THE USA, BUT…
My family tree, going back about eleven generations, includes more than 1500 individuals in the following known families (in alphabetical order): Appleman, Bankes (Germany), Bopard, Bosman, Bruge, Carman, Cox, Crawford (Scotland), Davis, Fairfax, Good, Grey, Groff/Graf (Switzerland), Guth, Habermann, Harrison, Hickerson, Hughes, Humphrey, Jaggle, Johnson, Kaufmann, Kempf (Germany), Keller (Switzerland), Kiesel (Germany), Kolb, Landes, Lewis, Marshall, Mayer, Mercer, Peugh, Plucker, Rickey, Rielin, Roberts (England), Schnellinger, Shelton, Smith, Sporri (Switzerland), Standiford, Stauffer, Stellwagen (Germany), Stewart, Still, Stoneburner, Stouffer, Strickler, Tatman, Taylor, Tutt, Updike, Wallace (Ireland), Weaver/Weber (5MB), Wilson, and Wohlschlager/Wollenschlager (Germany). Recent family roots seem to point to English, Scotch, Irish, and Germanic origins; genetically speaking, the R1b1b2 (formerly R1b1c) subclade would have originated in Central Asia/South Central Siberia while the mtDNA Haplogroup K (16224C, 16311C, 16362C, and 16519C) would suggest the Alps, Ireland, or the United Kingdom. Perhaps my very distant cousin, Alexander McCall Smith said it best: I am “of very obscure origins from some dim and undistinguished town in a potato-growing area somewhere.”
Before 1200, most folks answered to a single given name; many surnames emerged from occupational activities. So, Richardson, literally, is a patronymic, "son of Richard." Probably part of the wave of European immigration after the Norman Conquest of William the Conqueror, which overran Saxon England in 1066. Comes from an Old German name 'Ricard' meaning powerful or brave ruler or chief; Latin filius Ricardi. In Scotland, the Richardson "sept" belongs to the Buchanan (ancient, hunting, and modern) or the Ogilvie (ancient or hunting-for the fall season) clan (or family, dating from the 13th century). Originally, the more colors the higher the rank of the person (i.e., one for a servant to seven for a chief). Possible family motto: "Pretio Prudentia Praestat", which is translated by Nathaniel Holmes Morrison in an expressive form "Longheadedness is above price." Personally, I prefer "In adversity, faith; in triumph, humility"--in triumphus, humilitas; in adversum, fides...
|
1st
Gen |
2nd Gen |
3rd Gen |
4th Gen |
5th Gen |
6th Gen |
7th Gen |
8th Gen |
9th Gen |
10th Gen |
11th Gen |
12th Gen |
13th Gen |
|
1 |
2 |
4 |
8 |
16 |
32 |
64 |
128 |
256 |
512 |
1024 |
2048 |
4096 |
|
totals |
3 |
6 |
12 |
24 |
48 |
96 |
192 |
384 |
768 |
1536 |
3072 |
6144 |