The Genealogy Homepage of Thomas Lester McKibbin

Time is hastening on and we
What our fathers are shall be,--
Shadow-shapes of memory!
Joined to that vast multitude
Where the great are but the good,
And the mind of strength shall prove
weaker than the heart of love.
--Whittier

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Hello and Welcome,

This page is envisioned as the starting point from which I hope to encompass all of my genealogical interests. From here, you will be able to search and explore up-to-date versions of my database, and if you find something of interest, feel free to download what you need. Along with the database, I will be presenting a number of genealogical publications including biographies and historical overviews. You will be able to browse all such items from this page. Lastly, you will find here a number of interesting research links, which are particularly relevant to the families contained in the database.

My genealogical research has been focused primarily on the following family surnames: McKibbin, Eddowes, Lee, Caughey, Vessell, Lester, Thornton and Woollens. I have also done some general genealogical research on the following geographical locations: Fulton Co., Pennsylvania; Chester Co., Pennsylvania; Philadelphia ca. 1800; as well as the city of Belfast in co. Antrim in Northern Ireland.

Anyone wishing to contact me may do so at the email address below. I wholeheartedly welcome discussion and exchange with anyone having similar or related interests. Any questions or queries will be addressed as quickly as is possible. Happy Hunting!!!

Thomas Lester McKibbin
stomach17@hotmail.com

Genealogical Publications by Thomas Lester McKibbin:

My Genealogical Database. This will take you to the online version of my database. You can browse it as a series of webpages and there is a search engine available. To browse bibliographical information on all sources referenced within the database by their reference numbers, you must browse the Source Index below.

Source Citation Index This large page contains a list of all my sources used in the construction of my genealogy database. Included are reference numbers, a brief description, repository locations. Reference numbers reflect the source numbers used in the "Individual" and "Family" pages contained with in the above database.

The Descendents of William McKibbin This is a link to my other Webpage on Genealogy.com, which is devoted to the Descendents of William McKibbin, seacaptain of Philadelphia. Here you will find a brief biographical sketch of Captain William McKibbin (ca. 1781-1832) who made thirteen voyages between Philadelphia, Pa. and Canton, China. There are also photographs available for download.

William McKibbin (ca. 1781-1832). Here is a more developed biography of Captain William McKibbin, authored by myself. **** Under Construction. ****

Ralph Eddowes (1751-1833). Here is a biography of Ralph Eddowes, Merchant, Political Reformer and Unitarian minister of Philadelphia. *** Under Construction. ****

Research Institutions and Websites:

The Belfast Newsletter This is a database abstraction from The Belfast Newsletter , a commercial newspaper published in Belfast to this day. The database covers a period between the journal's founding in 1737 up to 1800. To see information for years after 1800, you have to physically visit the newspaper's repository, The Linen Hall Library in downtown Belfast.

PRONI The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, located in Belfast.

Royal Genealogy This is the University of Hull Royal Genealogy Database. It is fully searchable and covers a wide breadth of history.

Independence Seaport Museum and Library. Located on Penn's Landing in Philadelphia, this fun museum and excellent library is devoted to the maratime history of Philadelphia--including the early China Trade.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Located at 1300 Locust Street in Philadelphia, this archive is one of the finest I've encountered for Genealogical Research. If you have ancestors from Philadelphia, then this site should be visited in person.

Mariners-L An Archive of the Mariners-L mailing list at Rootsweb. Good place to go for discussion of your maratime ancestors!

The Genealogy Homepage of Graeme Wall This gentleman's homepage provides information of the Kenrick family of Wynn Hall, Ruabon, Dengbighshire, Wales. There are also some resources for researchers interested in British migration to Argentina.

Linux Genealogy Software:

In the early 90's I was a DOS-based bulletin board system (BBS) operator in downtown Philadelphia. I began experimenting with linux in 1993 in an effort to create an efficient multi-user online system. Not long after I discovered linux, the internet became increasingly public and BBS systems increasingly obsolete when compared with the power of the web. Although my BBS closed shop quietly in 1994, I continued to use and learn about Linux/Unix. Today I use this operating system for ALL of my computing and no longer own a Windows machine.

Lifelines is a Genealogical Software program written by Tom Wetmore in the early 1990s for Unix systems. It is quick, efficent and very stable, not unlike Linux itself. It allows users to enter and edit data with a text editor directly into GEDCOM format, which in turn gives users a close "hands-on" understanding of the databases they create. In addition, it has a powerful scripting language which allows users to develop their own reports programs. I have used lifelines since I began doing genealogy in 1998. For its efficency alone, I would recommend this software to anyone!

For more information, check out some of the sites below:

Lifelines Software Homepage This is the Official Homepage of those who are currently working on Lifelines development.

Tom Wetmore's Homepage for Lifelines From the original author. This is out of date, but still useful.

The following are the Websites of fellow lifeliners:

Paul McBride's Genealogy Homepage This excellent webpage covers many aspects of Genealogy and Computing.
Scott McGee's Genealogy Homepage Fellow lifeliner who developed a means of generating websites via lifelines
Robert Simms' Genealogy Homepage. Devoted to a number of families and designed to be helpful for beginners.
Dan Hirschberg's Genealogy Homepage From the man who ported Lifelines to DOS.
Dennis Nicklaus' Genealogy Homepage This man has authored many reports programs for Lifelines.

GRAMPS A relative newcomer to the Linux Genealogy scene. GRAMPS (the Genealogical Research and Analysis Management Programming System has a pretty interface using the Gnome/GTK library set. I'll be keeping an eye on this one...

This page went online 29 Apr 2002. Since that day you are visitor number: