Part 1.1 About the Research of Henry Irvin DeGraw - A Very Modest Man

The Ancestors of Henry Irvin DeGraw

A Very Modest Man

Family History Narrative 

A Chronological Compilation of Researched Facts 

Part 1

For Randy and Maree DeGraw
by Kristine Herron May 2018
 
Introduction

"The Ancestors of Henry Irvin DeGraw" is a series of 9 parts, each tracing the lives of the different ancestors of the father of Randy DeGraw.

Randy is my brother-in-law, married to my husband's sister, Maree Herron.

However, during the course of this research project, he became a cousin.  Confirmed connections placed that at 6.4 generations.  How could that be?  The science of DNA is not just finding a link, but then researching until a common denominator can be found.

To do that, every one of Henry Irvin DeGraw's family had to be traced from him, to the first arrivals to settle in America.  There it was, the common surname, my 12th great grandparents.

Twelve generations takes a person back to the 16th century.  It is also half way between the ancestors of King William The Conqueror and present generations.

To be able to firstly establish that link, is really quite amazing, and to be able to do it sitting in front of a computer screen, without having to dig through ancient manuscripts and trawl through dusty libraries seeking very old records, in three continents.

Technology has allowed an incredible amount of information to be available at one's fingertips.
Thankfully many dedicated people have made that possible.  The people who developed and manage Wikipedia, another to whom we, who research, are indebted to.

Even though all this information is freely available, it still has to be checked where possible to ensure that the printed word is fact.  Very often it is not.

A couple of years ago, while undertaking a huge project on the area in which I lived, there became a need to change the totally incorrect information which the people at Wikipedia had compiled.
That need changed then, my approach to research, often resulting in having to move in a totally different direction.  But the one aspect of technology which was completely unknown, was the science of DNA and its ability to "connect" people who share common ancestors.   That was until this project was about half way completed.

For the American Family of Henry Irvin DeGraw, this is one part of a chapter of your ancestors, but it is the complete chapter of the life of Henry.

Henry like his brothers and his cousins served in the Navy in World War 2.  He was a very modest man, in describing his service to his children.

Who would have thought, this 70 year old grandmother from Australia would be involved in such a significant research project about early America?

My area of expertise was my own English and Scottish family, nearly all the family secrets had been exposed, that was until science and genealogy changed not only the DeGraw family history, but mine as well.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to learn the amazing stories of my cousin's ancestors.

Scientific Advances

Before undertaking the research of the DeGraw family, Randy DeGraw was just my brother-in-law. married to my husband's sister, Maree Herron. His talents with wood-working were well known, and many pieces adorn our home.

He wasn't aware of too much of his family history, but they were French and came to America with La Fayette, and fought the English.

Randy was born in America, in Michigan, and decided himself to be a Pioneer.

Instead of a 6 month voyage by ship, his trip was less than a day.  Even after 30 years or so living in Australia,  he still cannot lose his distinctive American accent!

His ancestors also faced the same language problems, and it was often the reason they felt the need to seek a new life in a new land.

That and religious persecution in the country of their birth.  They were from Belgium, and the region of their birth was described as Walloon, or Flemish.  They often spoke a mixture of French and Belgium, or Dutch language.

However, they did not come with LaFayette.

Nothing perhaps could have unsettled Randy further, than to learn that those old family stories of his French heritage, were his ancestors perspective on their early life, and indeed that was no doubt what they were also told by their parents.

Until he sat in front of my computer, that would be the story that he also would hand down through future generations.

Having researched our Herron side of the family, which was at time a definite challenge.

That resulted in finding new ancestors, just in time for Maree's 60th Birthday, to announce to her family, that they were "not who they thought they were".

Not descended from the aristocracy, the Annesleys from Ireland, but were in fact, Sedgwicks from Kent.  Their grandfather was a thief,  who changed his name, stole an identity and became a new person, in a new life, in a new country.

His actions denied the family any knowledge of the amazing family that they never knew.
In fact, those ancestors also played a part in the development of early America.
They were involved in the operation and plans of the settlement of Jamestown, and all the other settlements that followed.

Randy's Belgium family were also involved in the settlement of New York.

They really were Pioneers, and for that reason, became part of the early history of America.

Not many families would ever take some time to think about how many people they may have as ancestors.

We often just look at those people who have had an impact on our lives, without realising that they were also surrounded by those who had an impact on theirs!

Times were tough, much more than they are today, and people often do not appreciate the hardships, sacrifices and difficulties that those ancestors faced and lived with on a daily basis.

We all have a standard pattern of inheritance.

There are two people as parents
Four people as grandparents
Eight people as great grandparents
Sixteen people as great great grandparents
Thirty two people as great great grandparents
Sixty four people as great great great grandparents
One hundred and twenty eight people as great great great great grandparents.
 Or simply for every level, the number of family members doubles.
By the time you go back 25 generations, the number is in excess of 1 million.
Not everyone can trace their lineage that far, it all depended on their station in life.


Then added to those generations are the uncles and aunts who more often than not were also grand- parents.

Each of these lineages also brings cousins.  The chart below helps in establishing those relationships.
Consider then that each generation is based on around 25 years, the first settlers to America fall into the category of 8th generations of Henry Irvin DeGraw.

The "Extended Family Connections of the American DeGraw Family" follows the lineages of the great uncles and great aunts, and introduces their family ancestors.

With there being so many intermarriages, most of these family lines did, in the first few generations, join with another.

It all depended on where the family settled.  Whether it be New York Massachusetts or other settlements.

Just how did all the ancestors manage to establish themselves in a new land?

That takes organisation and money.  Who then financed the expeditions?

It is interesting to learn that the ancestors of Maree DeGraw were also involved.  Not only was her great grandfather a very wealthy shipbuilder,  but some of her family had links to Mr Fox, the Quaker preacher.

But like a great deal that happened in the time period of the early 1600's it was the wealthy merchants of London who invested expecting a good return on their money.  People under the direction of Sir Thomas Smythe, and various other influential members not only of Maree's family but mine!

Not only is Maree related to the Smythe family, into which one of my Isaacson ancestors married, her 4th great grandparents were Thomas Mudge and Elizabeth Kingdom.  That leads into the Brunel family, a man, who submitted plans to build the White House, and who was responsible for the Underground in London, among many of his engineering skills.

Where ever they called home, they made such worthy contributions to the community.



Researching one's family history is challenging and a huge learning experience.  The whole project has to be taken with an open mind.

Forget what may be discovered about the ancestors, good or bad, but take on board the incredible things they did, in order for us to live our lives as we do today.

Hardship and heartaches they had a plenty.  Battles fought and not all won.  Death and sickness was accepted, before any cures were found.


Progress over the centuries has been enormous, and we are part of another type of progress.
But in reality, just how many of us would swap places with our ancestors for one moment?

In the DeGraw ancestors are Kings and Queens, Dukes and Duchesses, Princes and Princesses, from all over Europe and England.  Knights and the Nobility, Priests and Merchants, Inventors and Explorers, Lord Mayors and Alderman, we have them all.

Illegitimate children feature heavily in our ancestry.  They fought in Wars and Battles, all to secure lands, and powerful positions.  They married so many times.  So many times that our grandparents became our grand uncles and aunts, their children married their step-siblings, or half siblings.

And that went on for hundreds of years. Between the covers of the book of the lives of the DeGraw Ancestors, are the most remarkable stories.

When one's ancestors can be traced as far back as when King William The Conqueror set forth across the English Channel and decided he would invade the island to the north, and be crowned King of England, he brought with him all his tried and trusty men.

So many of them feature in the lives of the American DeGraw family.

Consider though, what impact it would have on your perception of your heritage, if you found that not only were you related to those different Knight and Counts, known as William's trusty men, but of the King himself?

Modern times have introduced the marvel of being able to trace an ancestor by a comparison of DNA.  So many people are choosing this new method to work out their family lineage, but it is not worth the cost of the test, unless you have a fully documented family tree, and have an understanding of the different people who are your family.

Through this new medium, an amazing co-incidence occurred, between Randy DeGraw and myself.  We matched in our DNA.  That match, and the work involved in finding our common ancestor was very extensive.  The link is through a lady by the name of Mary Bond.

 But not only is she Mary Bond, she is a direct descendent of King William, making all the siblings in the lineage of Henry DeGraw, also direct descendants of the most famous King in History.

It has been a rewarding experience to find and follow the lineages of the DeGraw Family.

This story is an Introduction to those Ancestors who some who lived a Thousand Years ago, and others who changed our lives from being French Citizens, to becoming English.

What they forgot to change though was their DNA.

"A Window into the Past"

Relating Family History is simply a window into the past.  We learn of the immense struggles that our early ancestor faced, often when they chose to seek a life away from their family and friends.
Pioneers is the best word to describe them.  Often they were also some of the original settlers of an area.  America was not settled until around 1600.  King James was on the throne in England, and at the time America was a huge continent, and the English were still thinking about the best way forward, in order for them to claim the lands, and not France or Spain.

Wars were being fought with the Spaniards, and the last thing King James wanted was for them to take possession of the country.

After Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the world, it opened up huge new possibilities of trade.
The rest then is history.    But the English were not the only ones with an eye on this land, the Dutch were clever navigators, and they had opened trade routes in the Dutch East Indies and the West Indies.

They also thought it would be good to settle new lands.  The ancestors of Henry Irvin DeGraw come from both these backgrounds.  All have a story to tell, sometimes finding those stories is rather difficult, but all attempts have been made to share their lives with their descendants.
There are some amazing ancestors.  Ancestors who have contributed so much to the beginning of a new life in a new country, for reasons they chose.  For the English ancestors those reasons can be attributed to one person.

Sir Oliver Cromwell.

Sir Oliver Cromwell had some very radical views about religion and religious practices.  He forbade the congregation from their usual rituals, he demanded priests stop preaching sermons, he ruled with an iron fist, and he caused widespread destruction on churches across England.

From then he caused the same problems in Ireland.  He ordered women and children to be taken from their beds, and sent as slaves to West Indies.  He took lands from the Irish and generally wreaked havoc.

It was to escape his ideas that so many English families spent weeks onboard a cramped boat, in the hope of a free life, in a new country.

But instead, they then faced completely different sorts of challenges.  Indians, Warfare, Weather, and the requirement to work their lands, before applying to become a freeman.

The European ancestors came from different areas, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and once again they sought a new life, in order to enjoy their religious freedom.

These same people, became the  founding families of New York and many other Eastern States, were the DeGraw 7th great grandfathers.  They created villages, and towns from the earth.

They had an extremely hard life, in all aspects.

While the story of Henry's war years confirms that he was indeed a very modest man, so to were his ancestors, who all fought a different sort of war.

They fought a war against oppression, and freedom, and they, like every other country in the World, had to also work with, and acknowledge the original land owners.  Whether we hold personal feelings and opinions about the cultural aspects and the political aspects of the past, we cannot change one thing.  We have to accept what happened, whether our own family were involved or not.

The DeGraw family did not travel with LaFayette from France, but that certainly did not stop them from being involved in so many internal wars, the Civil War, the Revolution and others.
While the DeGraw ancestors represent a small number, of all the families who settled, they are a diverse group.  From Germany, Belgium, France, England and Scotland, their contribution to historical events over the past 500 years is something that ensures that their descendants would be very proud of their achievements.

Many of these people are totally unknown to their descendants.  Hopefully this research will bring them "alive" and you can get to know them.