by Bruce D. Despain

Introduction

The ancestries connected to the next two sections represent the data I have entered into the computer using the Personal Ancestral File (PAF). This software allows the Latter-day Saints to include temple ordinance events for individuals. Members of the church have diligently performed such ordinances by proxy for their dead ancestors since 1843. It is the records associated with this temple work that has become the common source of most of the data in these sections. One thing to be aware of concerning this work is that the people gathering their original sources for the data were not professional genealogists. They were prone to take many publications and work of professed genealogists at face value. A second very important consideration is that there was a strong tendency to accept pedigrees that we view as speculative. The philosophy behind this was basically that it would be better to perform the ordinances for the individuals represented than omit it and thereby prevent an ancestor from having the opportunity provided.

In many cases I have been able to consult the original sources and so sometimes I have left off spurious ancestry. However, the version I have in PAF includes very few references to more original sources. The reader should also note that as a matter of course when I refer to spouses of the children of ancestors, there is but rarely an individual identifier or date for their marriage sealing. The other spouses of ancestors are treated similarly as individuals.

The third section linked to these pedigrees is a collection of lineage charts. This method of display selects the male line as primary and lays out each generation of my ancestral couples. In contrast to the normal pedigree the top of the lineage displays the earliest person traced on the male line. Thus movement from top to bottom goes forward chronologically. In every case but one the lineage ends with a female ancestor, each one provided with hyperlinks to the lineage and generation of their husband. The number on the left of each couple refers to the degree of relationship to my children measured in generations. The DESPAIN lineage is numbered as 1 and is the only lineage that includes generation number one beginning with a male (myself). Each lineage is numbered consecutively according to the generation at which it branches. These are the numbers provided at the right side of the chart. I have provided lineage numbers for most of the females when there is further data on them in the previous two sections. Those with a hyperlink allow the user to navigate to the lineage chart of the respective female ancestor.

There is a priority in building displays for the lineages. My original intent was to show the relationship to me of each of the people for whom there are biographies available on this site. These are listed in the contents of the Biographical Collection on this site. Similarly there are hyperlinks provided to return to the items in the Biographical Collection from here. It turned out that is was possible and convenient to provide hyperlinks on the DESPAIN lineage to The Despain Family on this site. It is possible (but hardly convenient) to provide hyperlinks on the other lineages to the ancestries in these sections. The lineage charts indicate the beginning and ending year in parentheses. The first year is the (probable) birth year of the earliest known male ancestor in the line, whereas the last year is the (probable) marriage year of the female at the foot of the chart to the male in the union.

The lineage charts make use of a number of symbols for event types, many adapted from the traditional symbols used in European genealogy. These are as follows:

born (brn)
 married (mrd)
 deceased (dcd)
 christened (chr)
 banns published (bns)
 common law (clm)
 buried (brd)
 will proved (wpd)
 will dated (wdd)
 inventory taken (inv)
 administration (adm)
 communion [adult baptism] (bap)
 living [document] (liv)

Some of these may need a little explanation. Most are mentioned in my work The Science of Genealogy (Empirical laws: “symbols”) on this site. Christening includes all infant baptisms occurring near birth, so that it could also refer to circumcision, when applicable. Banns is expanded to include contracts, announcements, licenses, and such documents occurring in anticipation of the marriage. The common law marriages I have found so far on my pedigree are one ceremony not acknowledged by the state and then the relationships of a mistress or concubine that result in issue. The burial might also refer to funeral or memorial services and obituary notices. The date of the will being proved might substitute for such an event, but has its own symbol and the place is the testator’s residence. The date the will is always previous to the death and can predate it considerably. Inventory refers to the listing of assets made by adminstrators on an estate. When there is no will, or when there is a will annexed, this symbol is outlined with a broken line. I have expanded the first communion symbol to refer also to an adult baptism, since it marks the official beginning of membership in the religious institution. Most other documents are lumped together as proving the fact that the person was “living” at a time and place. This is most useful during such times and places where not enough information is available to estimate (est), calculate (cal), or guess at (about, before, after) these parameters.

I appologize for the navigation, which is still a bit primitive with a number of broken links. But there are some inherent perplexities as well. While the lineage chart is convenient for showing male lines, the Scandinavian and the earlier Welsh pedigrees do not fit such a mold. There is no way to isolate any one identifier from the people of a lineage (or just the female at the bottom) to serve as a name for the lineage. The listing just puts some relevant localities in parentheses. Such lineages make comparison of genealogical data to similar studies of DNA structures problematic. Presently such studies rely on the Y-chromosome for the male lineage — that of a male descendent in the male lineage as I have defined it. Another DNA structure that is studied in genealogy is the mitochondrial DNA which is passed down the female lineage. To navigate the female lineage, one must move to a different (male) lineage chart at each generation.

Ancestral Families of Some of My Ancestors

Ancestral Families of Some of My Wife's Ancestors

A Grand Union of Lineages

Works of Wonder | Despain Family Genealogical Collection