Welcome to the Stevens/Southworth/Medieval Database
on the RootsWeb Freepages !
According to my counter supplied by RootsWeb, you are visitor number
. . . . . Last updated on 27 Aug 2003.
Feel free to contact me by email with anything relating to genealogy at pittsborojim@earthlink.net.
In addition to this website, I have duplicated this database at the
following locations:
Rootsweb
WorldConnect
Ancestry.com
Gencircles
ALPHABETICAL INDEX BY INDIVIDUAL. . . . SURNAME INDEX
What will I find here ?
At it's core, this is my own personal ancestry. I am an A (North) American and my "gateway" ancestor from England is Constant Southworth (RIN 162), who came to Plymouth Colony in 1629.For the best website on the Southworth Family see Kerry Southworth's SOUTHWORTH HOME PAGE.
You can, of course, follow the line of descent from Constant Southworth back to me, James Allen Stevens (RIN 1), and then explore all of my ancestors and relatives, but I know that 99.9999% of you hitting this website would rather watch grass grow than do that ! . . . But, as they say on those infomercials . . .
Wait ! There's more ! !
The Constant Southworth pedigree goes back to King Edward I of England (RIN 728). I believe that my genealogy contains as complete and accurate a pedigree of him as can be found anywhere on the internet.There are many more medieval lines and individuals included than just my ancestors. Some familes not directly related to me have members who married children of my ancestors. Some had members who were second spouses of my ancestors. These are also included in my database. I enjoy exploring the myriad intermarriages between "my" ancestors' families and include the findings in my database. The rusult is that if you are a descendant of KING Edward III (RIN 4246*) of England, you may find my database of some use.
Even though they are not my ancestors, I have included the the line of descent from King Edward II (RIN 4240*) forward to King Henry VII (RIN 5242*) and the primary lines of descent for the houses of York and Lancaster during this time period.
My database contains, as far as I know, the first online compilation of the early families of Chebeague Island, Cumberland County, Maine. My great grandfather, Joseph Greely Mansfield (RIN 55), is a good entry point to that portion of the database. These Chebeague Island genealogies are from the 1967 third edition of the 1949 book, "Stone Sloops of Chebeague", compiled by Z. William Hauk. The actual genealogies were compiled by the eminent local genealogist, the late Katherine P. Tinker.
The latest update to this database has added many descendants of Robert Mansfield (RIN 9980) of Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts. My work builds upon that of Geneva Daland and James S. Mansfield as published in their 1980 book "Mansfield Genealogy" and upon the work of Robert Anderson. I am in the process of systematically extracting information from the censuses of Maine and of Essex Co., Massachusetts. This is still a project in progress. More to come. Additions and corrections are eagerly solicited!
For those of you interested in descents from antiquity check out the website of LUKE STEVENS (my son). Actually, he has now removed these lines from his website, as he is working on a book on the subject. But visit his site anyway - It's pretty cool !
Why this website ?
There are lots of genealogy sites on the web. You deserve to know why I have cluttered it with yet another.My disclaimer - I claim little as an original researcher. Most of my information has been compiled from sources readily available to the general public.
An important note regarding numbering: The software I used to
compile my database automatically assigns an unchangable unique reference
number, called a RIN, to each individual. If I were to GEDCOM a portion
of my database to someone, the software for the person receiving the file
would assign identification numbers to individuals which would be different
than my RINs. The reason this is a problem is that, in my notes, I make
references to other individuals in my file by RIN. I have found a solution.
My software has a field which can be used to assign another id number which
can be any number I want it to be. I have put the RIN into that field also.
This
is the number that is listed as the "reference no." for individuals on
this web site. Now if you download a partial GEDCOM, the cross reference
numbers that I used in my notes will be the same as that id number. The
point is, when you read "RIN" in my notes, interpret it as simply "id number"
if you are using a file compiled from a partial GEDCOM. If you are working
online directly from my web site, there will be no problem or confusion.
Simply take "RIN" to mean "Reference No.."
- For descendants of Constant Southworth only - applies ONLY to the European medieval portion of the database:
- The "*" appearing after an individual's name indicates that he/she is NOT one of CONSTANT SOUTHWORTH"s ancestors. I believe I am 100% accurate on this. An "*" in my notes appended to a RIN also means not an ancestor, however the same disclaimer re. ALLCAPS, below, applies here also.
- When an individual's name in my notes in rendered in ALLCAPS, this
means that he/she is an ancestor of Constant Southworth. I have tried to
use this convention as much as possible, but I know there are inconsistencies.
There will be cases where I have rendered a name in ALLCAPS and then later
found out that he/she was not an ancestor after all. No way to run down
all the xrefs ! Works the other way too. Sometimes I will cite the name
of someone that I did not think was an ancestor, later to discover that
he/she actually was. And, alas, sometimes I have simply forgotten to use
ALLCAPS when I should have. When I run accross these errors, of course,
I correct them.
Why use Jim Stevens' "Stevens/Southworth/Medieval Database" for your research ?
- Documentation. As a new researcher years ago, I had no idea of the importance of documenting the sources for my links. This led to numerous headaches later in my research experience. As a result, I have become fanatical about citing sources. I have invested countless hours in going back through my work and documenting each individual link (not just the whole line) whenever possible. This allows you to more accurately judge the reliability of a link in my genealogy. If there is no source cited, accept the link only with careful reservation !
- "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came To America Before 1700", 7th ed. (1992), by Frederick Lewis Weis; with additions and corrections by Walter Lee Shepherd, Jr.; assisted by David Faris. This is the most widely respected general genealogical reference available at an affordable price to the general public.
- The "Complete Peerage", by G.E. Cokayne. Uncontested as the most respected compilation for the genealogies of the English nobility. It is a twelve volume work and is available in many large public libraries. It contains a wealth of biographical information as well as genealogical
- The GEN-MEDIEVAL mailing list and its mirror usenet newsgroup, soc.genealogy.medieval. This online forum has been, and continues to be, a tool of inestimable value in my research. The regular participants have a wealth of knowledge and are extremely gracious in their willingness to share it. This is the cutting edge of genealogical research ! You will find many excerpts from their postings in my notes.
- On the 29 April 2002 update of this site, I have added much new data on early Massachusetts and Maine families. A good deal of this information was extracted from the 1967 third edition of the 1949 book, "The Stone Sloops of Chebeague - and the men who sailed them". It was compiled by Z. William Hauk, at T Wharf, Boston, and Chebeague Island, Maine. This inredible little work has a wealth of information on the early families of Chebeague Island and incorporates the genealogies compiled by the local genealogist, Katherine P. Tinker, who made a life's work of recording them. As far as I have been able to ascertain, I am the first person to take those genealogies and make them available on the internet. The fact that Chebeague Island was an isolated community has resulted in a very interesting situation in which about twenty families have intermarried literally hundreds of times.
- Many other sources, too numerous to list here, have been used also. They are cited in my notes.
My main sources:
- My site can be used as a companion to the Weis' "Ancestral Roots. . ." mentioned above. I think this is a really useful and unique feature of my database. For every individual in my database who appears in Weis AR7, I have attempted to list every reference to him/her by both line number and generation number. If you have ever tried to use the index in AR7 to locate all references to a particular individual you will appreciate this feature ! Of course, not every individual listed in AR7 is (or is closely related to) an ancestor of mine - or of King Edward I - so I do not have 100% coverage. I roughly estimate that my database covers somewhat over half the listings in AR7.
- For the history buff - I was a lover of history long before I became interested in genealogy. I have put a lot more biographical and historical information into my notes than you will find at most web sites. I have a whole lot more work to do in this regard and will be constantly adding notes.
- Uncertain links - Many databases do not discriminate beween universally accepted links and highly doubtful ones and the degrees of gray between these extremes. Sometimes there is more than one highly respected theory regarding the parentage of an individual. When I am aware of these controversies, I make it a point to discuss them in my notes.