Update History
September 2023
Updates to the discussion about the Swenys beginning at Sweny, Part 1. Provided a more thorough discussion about the gap years in what we know about Edmund Sweny, Jr.'s children at Sweny, Part 2; in particular, see the last paragraph under Generation 3. Also, added a more complete discussion at Sweny, Part 3 about the possible scenarios for the birth of Samuuel Prewtt.
May 2023
Updated discussion of Abraham Sweny/Swinney of Spotsylvania Co., Va. at Sweny, Part 4. Included new records found in the Virginia counties of Amelia and Lunenburg.
January 2023
Made significant changes to The Hocker/Hawker Family. Added more narrative and sources for the patriarchs, John Hocker and Elizabeth Wright.
October 2022
Made minor changes to the page on Lucenia Mullins. Updated the chart and narrative around the SNP Tree for the Sweeneys/Whites/Blaylocks/Pruitts at Sweny, Part 1.
June 2022
Added a new page for Lucenia Mullins which attempts to address the ambiguities around her name, parents and children.
May 2022
Made extensive updates to Seals, Part 4 including drilling down on the evidence for the name and family ties of Laney Jane (Sulfridge) Seals's first husband, now identified as McDaniel (Mack) Sulfridge. Also, provided expanded information on the founding of Seal Chapel Missionary Baptist Church and it's role as a school from 1909 through the early 1950s. Shared a photo of students from 1916 and a newspaper article about a reunion that occurred in 1995.
April 2022
Made comprehensive updates to every page of The Brown Family including changing the father and mother of John W. Brown. It is now pretty apparent that his father was Thomas Brown, not John Brown and his mother was Sarah (Webb) Brown. This may tip the weight of evidence regarding John W. Brown's middle name towards Webb rather than "unknown" or Wade. See Brown, Part 2, for further discussion. Besides numerous other changes and additions, we expanded Elmore Grant Brown's life story in Part 3.
March 2022
Added a Note to Memory Lane, Part 1, to clarify the circumstances around Thelma and Ralph Pruiett being born in the same home on Garland Street in Linwood, Ohio. Updated Pruiett, Part 7, to provide context for William Ellis Pruiett and Erma May Brown being married in Indiana in 1915.
February 2022
Updated Sweny, Part 3, to provide more details around the migration of Mary Sweny and her daughter Frances to central Virginia. Also added a new page on The Search for Elizabeth Sweny, the second wife of Edmund Sweny [III]. The link to this page is on Sweny, Part 2, which also has an expanded discussion of Edmund Sweny [III]'s second wife and family.
December 2021
Added a new page for The Ford Family. This page traces Icyphenia Ford's family back to Henry Ford through her mother Sally and grandparents, Elisha Ford and Rebecca Haley. The permanent link is at Pruiett, Part 5, where Icyphenia Ford, the wife of Thomas S. Pruett, is first mentioned.
June - August 2021
Continuing to update all family lines. Duplicated family tree on WikiTree where I'm fleshing out Biographies for principal and extended family members.
May 2021
Added information about Michael Turner, Sr. and his life in Pennsylvania and Ohio after he left Loudoun Co., Va. Added information about Michael Turner, Jr.'s third wife, Jeanette Brent, and her son, Dr. C. P. Brent.
April 2021
Provided a discussion of Thomas Prewitt (The Immigrant) and the lack of evidence for his connection to early Virginia Pruitts and his unlikely connection to a Salisbury, England christening (see Pruiett, Part 1).
January - March 2021
Made extensive updates to Pruiett, Sweny, Hawker, Seals and Parker. Detailed early generations of Swenys in Sweny, Part 2.
September 2020
Added a new section on the Swenys with a menu link at the top and bottom of every page. It has become clear that our Pruietts are descended from a Sweny/Sweeney/Swinney family that likely came to Colonial America in the 17th century. This section explores this issue, laying out the evidence for Edmund Sweny, Sr. being the progenitor of our Pruiett line.
August 2020
Made significant updates to Parker, Part 1; Parker, Part 2; and Parker, Part 3. Added more detail about Josiah Parker and his children and Barnett J. (Barney) Parker and Barney's children. Added more information about the Free Soil Farm where Barney Parker was superintendent from 1915 until 1929.
May 2020
Made significant updates to Pruiett, Part 4; Pruiett, Part 5; and Pruiett, Part 7. Added discussions about the location of Thomas Pruitt's farm, the deed that granted rights to his land to his first three children, and information about the movements of Icyphenia Pruitt in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
April 2020
Updated information on the Hocker/Hawker page including adding Robert Hocker's will, Philip Hocker's will and marriage and birth records from Queen Anne Parish (St. Barnabas) and Prince George's Parish (Rock Creek) in Maryland. Added a discussion to Pruiett, Part 1, regarding the likelihood of Margaret Pruitt being the wife of Philip Hocker and why Margaret Snowden should not be considered a likely candidate.
March 2020
Added a discussion of possible parents for Florence V. (Prickett) Brown. While Florence Prickett does not appear in the 1850 Census when she would have been 8 years old, she likely appears in the 1860 census as Viola Pricket, an 18 year old "Domestic" in the household of Isaac Ferris of Spencer Township in Hamilton Co., Ohio.
October 2019
Included a copy on my Rosamond Prewtt page of the 1697 Last Will and Testament of Edmund Sweny of Elizabeth City Co., Va. Researchers generally indicate this is the will of Edmund, Sr. who emigrated to Virginia around 1655. I believe this is Edmund Sweny, Jr.'s Last Will and provide the rationale for that belief.
August 2019
Provided more details about Rosamond Prewtt including more extensive information about the Y-DNA and geographical evidence supporting the idea that she was the mother of our Samuel Pruitt and that Samuel's father may have been a Sweeeny/Swinney.
July 2019
Added the 1737 lease agreement between Samuel Pruitt and Nathaniel Beall in Pruiett, Part 2. This was a seven year agreement to lease approximately 100 acres of the 900 acre tract known as Easy Purchase. It was NOT an agreement to purchase the land as many have reported. Made other changes to Pruiett, Parts 1, 2 and 3, including the rationale for keeping the wives of John Pruitt, Sr. and John Pruitt, Jr. as "Unknown." Based on historical records, the "wives" reported by some researchers, Alice Addison and Elizabeth Day, could not have lived in the same physical locations as our John Pruitts.
July 2019
Added Bucks Co., Pa. tax records for Hubbert Brown for the period 1796 through 1806 to Brown, Part 1. Hubbert Brown seems to also have been known as Joshua Hubbert Brown in Bucks Co. records. These records provide a further clue as to when Hubbert Brown left Bucks Co. for Ohio.
March 2018
Included grandparents and great grandparents of Icyphenia B. Ford in family pedigree charts on home page.
March 2018
Updated discussion in Pruiett, Part 5, regarding the parents of Icyphenia B. Ford and her mother's connection to William Jeffreys, a Revolutionary War veteran.
March 2018
Updated discussion in Pruiett, Part 1, regarding Rosamond Prewtt and the increasing chance that she may be the matriarch of our Pruitt line in America. Includes a link to a standalone page providing information on two headrights and one birth record pertaining to Rosamond Prewtt/Prentt/Pruett/Brent, as various transcriptions have spelled her last name. Also includes information on Y-DNA evidence that Samuel Pruitt's line shares a common ancestor within the last 10 generations with Sweeneys and Whites.
March 2015
Edited discussion in Turner, Part 1, about possible Turner/Dreher origins in Alsace. Added original document and translation regarding marriage of Hans (Johann) Michael Dreher and Eva Margaretha Dubler in Alsace, Preuschdorf, Bas-Rhin, France.
February 2015
Added two newspaper articles to Turner, Part 5. One article, dated February 25, 1889, is about the Golden Wedding anniversary celebration for Andrew Jackson Turner and Sarah (Scammahorn) Turner. The other is about the wedding of Elmore Grant Brown and Jeanette Turner on August 27, 1890.
January 2015
Corrected the names of the parents of the John C. Seal who, while a member of the 4th Tennessee Infantry (Union), died in a hospital at Cumberland Gap in 1862.
March 2013
Added Mexican War Service information for William Seals (see Seals, Part 2) and updated Civil War records for nine Seals family members (see Seals, Part 3).
February 2013
Updated birth, death and residence information for numerous Seals family members.
November 2012
Added several marriage records and death certificates for Browns and Turners.
December 2011
Added the "inventory of the goods and chattels" of Samuel Pruitt I and the final accounting of his estate to Pruiett, Part 2.
September 2011
Revised narrative in Pruiett, Part 7, to reflect the likelihood that Robert D. Climer wrote the letter, dated May 8, 1905, to Charles Pruett, age 11, just before Charles died on June 11, 1905.
July 2011
Added marriage records and updated other information for Climers living in Hamilton County, Ohio in late 1800s and early 1900s; also updated Army service records for Robert D. Climer.
June 2011
Added numerous copies of marriage records for Browns, Turners and Seals.
May 2011
Added information on the possible ancestors of Samuel Pruitt I including the implications of recent DNA tests and a Northumberland Co., Va. birth record for a Samuell Prewitt (see Pruiett, Part 1). Added three Court documents regarding the estate of Asa Prewitt and the guardianships established for his four sons (see Pruiett, Part 4).
February 2011
Updated the narrative and posted copies of the marriage-related documents for Lewis Turner and Anna Maria Beltz and Michael Turner, Jr. and Elizabeth Beltz. See Turner, Part 1, paragraph 6.
Updated pedigree charts and converted them to pdf's.
October 2010
Extensively updated Turner, Parts 1, 2, and 3 including speculation that Michael Turner/Dreher might have been born in Alsace, France and additional information about the children living with Michael Turner in the 1830s and 1840s.
August 2010
Provided additional information around the death of Charles Pruiett, son of Asa Pruiett and Mary Alice Climer including a letter possibly written by his grandmother Icyphenia Pruett a month before his death.
July 2010
Provided additional information on the children of Michael Turner, Jr. Included a picture of Michael Turner, Jr.'s headstone in the Milford IOOF Cemetery in Milford, Clermont Co., Ohio.
Made extensive updates to Brown, Parts 1 - 3, including the 1800 census record for Hubbard (Hubbert) Brown who lived in Middletown Township, Bucks Co., Penn. at that time and adding the children and spouses of Hubbard Brown's four identified sons. Also, provided images of Brown family headstones from the Flagg Spring Cemetery in Newtown, Hamilton Co., Ohio. It was Thomas Brown's headstone which led to the discovery of Hubbard Brown's census record in Bucks Co., Penn.
June 2010
Updated several marriage dates and dates of death for Seals, Parts 1 - 3. Also, included information about Laney Jane Seal's previous marriage to David Sulfridge and the fact that Arthur Sulfridge, who was living with James W. and Laney Jane Seal in 1900, was born of that union.
Updated numerous dates for births, marriages, and deaths of Hawkers under Pruiett, Part 1, Hawker and Seals, Part 1. Added information regarding the speculation about the ancestry of Samuel Pruitt I.
May 2010
Updated numerous marriage dates and dates of death for Turner, Parts 2 - 5.
Added death certificate for William Edgar Climer. Also, added picture of William Jenkins Climer and updated picture of Mary Jane (Wyrick) Climer.
April 2010
Updated information regarding Martha Malott, the mother of Susan Malott who married Daniel Turner, based on new information provided by a Malott descendant including the fact that she married several times after her first husband, Peter Malott, died. Also, added second and third wives of Michael Turner, Jr. including six children by his second wife who is presumed to be another Martha Malott, daughter of Daniel Malott. Also, added two documents from Clermont Co., Ohio records which provide insight into the children of Michael Turner, Jr. and their spouses as well as his third wife. My thanks to Kathleen McIntyre for sharing these documents with me. See Turner, Parts 3 and 4.
March 2010
Updated information regarding the will of Samuel Pruitt I and added some biographical information on Henry Dalton.
February 2010
Clarified and expanded on information regarding the wife of William Seale. Neither Nancy Anna "Nanny" Butts nor Susannah Nancy "Nanna" Temple appear to be credible candidates.
January 2010
Added William H. Turner's 1882 biographical sketch. Provided additional background information and speculation on where Turners may have lived prior to 1790s. Updated dates of birth, marriage and death for several of Andrew J. and Sarah Turner's children based on Ohio death certificates and census records.
June 2009
Added images of the William C. Pruett homestead and cemetery in Halifax Co., Va. (see Pruiett, Part 5). Added information about Josiah Parker's daughter, Eliza, including her death certificate. Also, with appreciation to Sherry Daniels, added marriage licenses for Barney Parker and his brother, Phenandis Parker.
May 2009
Added information and maps regarding the location of the property, Easy Purchase, that Samuel Pruitt I leased from Nathaniel Beall in 1737. With thanks to Rick Clymer, added information on William Jenkins Clymer, the brother of Isaac Climer.
March 2009
Corrected the spelling of the Scammahorn name on the Turner family pages. Added information about the Scammahorn family including the fact that Sarah and Elizabeth Scammahorn were the daughters of Isaac and Sarah Scammahorn who lived in southwestern Pennsylvania before moving to Highland Co., Ohio. Also, added additional information about the Scammahorn/Schermerhorn ancestry on the family pedigree charts.
December 2008
Expanded Pruiett pages from four to seven in order to shorten each page. No new material was added at this time. The same was done for the Turner's, expanding from three to five pages without adding any new information, and the Climer's, expanding from one to two pages, and adding a paragraph on Isaac Climer's Civil War service with the 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry.
Added a "Family Migrations" map to the home page to convey the migration patterns of our ancestors.
November 2008
Updated information on Samuel Pruitt I including adding a copy of his will. The latest information is that he lived in the area that became Montgomery County, Maryland, near the northwest border of the future District of Columbia. He lived on a tract of land called Easy Purchase, but was a renter, not the owner. Added Pittsylvania Co. personal property tax records for 1789 and 1800.
Added 1800 Tithables and Census Records for Michael Turner, Sr., Michael Turner, Jr., Lewis Turner and Andrew Beltz.
Added narrative on the Civil War service records of the sons of Thomas S. Prewitt and William C. Pruett.
October 2008
Added 1900 census record for Icyphenia Pruett. She was still living in Pittsylvania County at that time.
September 2008
Updated Turner history, particularly details about the children of Michael Turner, Sr. and Michael Turner, Jr., based on information provided by Lucy Turner Cronin. Also, added Mary A. Forbes as a child of Ebenezer and Phoebe Forbes including her marriage to James J. Turner, the grandson of Isaac Turner who was the brother of Michael Turner, Jr.
September 2008
Updated Climer narrative to reflect information found in census records and other sources.
Updated Hawker narrative to include information found in forums and Web sites and purportedly based somewhat on primary sources. Unfortunately, some of the early Hocker/Hawker genealogy is speculative and the best that can be done is to document that which seems to make the most sense based on primary sources from later generations.
August 2008
Updated Pruiett, Brown, Turner, Climer, Parker and Seals to include copies of census records and other primary documents. Updated narratives to reflect information consistent with these primary records. Added two photographs to Climer page.
Added Zachariah Prewitt's 1840 Will and marriage documents for Thomas Pruett and Icyphenia Ford and Acy Pruett and Mary Alice Climer.
July 2008
Added pictures to Brown, Turner, Parker, Seals, Memory Lane and Memories. Updated narrative in Turner to reflect information provided by Lucy Turner Cronin and others. Added a copy of Eben Forbes Turner's recollections.
January 2007
Complete overhaul of site graphics and addition of family pedigree charts.
March 2001
Updated Climer history by adding 4 pictures and revising and expanding narrative with information provided by Anne Cobb.
October 2000
Added Ruth Pruiett - Memories (7 pages)