A Random Adventure of The Family-Tree Creating

Yes, a random post. I so do apologize. It's been a while since I've posted one myself. 

Have you ever heard of Ancestry.com? It is a fun little website that allows you to track your ancestry. I tried this website many years ago and there was little there. However, I decided to give it another go since they are have a two-week free trial. Why not? I'm into that history and my family history has always had me curious. Plus, you can actually view many of the documents that provide "proof" of the existence of that supposed ancestor. 

And yes, they do have some pictures from time-to-time

They seriously have upped their game! They now have access to international documents, so those who have family did not come from the country they currently live in you can still track back as far as possible. I have made such progress! There is still much to do. Currently, I decided to just follow my biological Dad's direct male lineage, because I was getting overwhelmed since I have his side, my mom's adopted family, her biological, and my step-dad's family. One family tree at a time. The biggest mystery is my mom's biological family since they put her up for adoption when she was a baby. My mom gave me permission to go over her paperwork and track down her biological mother. THAT is going to be a journey for another day. The easiest line to follow was my biological Dad's male line. Plus, it has produced the most so far.

I have gone back the 12th century! I did not except that to occur. Of course the further I went back the harder it was to find even names about their poor brides (many were acquired through pillaging the Scottish villages in theory). The male line last name is Deaton. This last name had many alterations throughout history: Dighton, Dyghton, deDeighton deDyghton and Deighton. The name was changed to Deaton when Thomas Elijah Deaton made the daring jump to come over to America with his wife Mary Corington in 1701. All these last name changes and modifications intrigued me, so I did some research.

Before the last few hundred years the English language really had no fixed system of spelling (which I had learned in my History of the English language). Due to that, spelling variations not only occurred in every day words, but in names as well. This occurred with the Anglo Norman surnames the most. The family Deighton/DeDyghton brought these two names over to England after the wave of migration after the Norman Conquest in 1066.

The family and name scattered from Northern England on the border of Scotland to York. Some even hopped over to Ireland. In the late 1600s and early 1700s many migrated to American, Canada, and Australia.

The last person I could track on my Dad's male line was Sir Walter deDyghton who was born 1130 in Yorkshire. He was a little boy when he joined the Knight's Templar's (possibly with his father?) to their journey to the Second Holy Crusade. The war ended roughly around 1146 when he was 11. He, himself, then became a Knight and joined the Knight's Templar's. He only had three sons who lived to adulthood. His second son was my greatX grandfather, who was only 8 when Sir Walter died.

I'm so curious to see what else I will find! I doubt any of the other branches will go back this far particular branch did.

Honestly, this has become such an adventure, I plan on helping my friends with their family trees once I've exhausted myself and am done with my own family tree (many branches to go yet). Fair warning, there will be facts that pop up that may not excite you as much as others. One of my ancestors married a 7 year-old girl and that said girl had a child had 8 years old. I knew that this happened back then, but I was flabbergasted and not proud of this. However, I had to remind myself that this was extremely common especially in that time period. 

Have any known anyone or have done your own family tree? I highly recommend Ancestry.com as a source to complete your dreams of learning about your family tree. Not only is it fun, but it can be a family-bonding experience. My biological father and I have not had the best relationship, but this experience have made us a little bit closer. Many family secrets/mysteries have been brought to life and has been clarified. So far this has been a great experience. Again, I highly recommend this to those that are interested. 

P.S - Some of the stories and people in my family I've learned about has sparked some ideas in writing. :D I can't wait until I am graduated then I can work on my novel ideas.