We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot

Welcome to my ancestry blog. I’m Ronald Davis (if you knew me when I lived in Alabama) or Ron Davis (if you met me in college or thereafter).

In the summer of my 66th year I decided to look into my ancestry. I learned quite a lot, and a lot of it was very interesting. One of my reasons for blogging is just to keep the information straight in my mind. More importantly, though, I hope it will be of interest to my cousins and their descendents. And, of course, friends and strangers are welcome to visit as well.

Click on About My People to read a summary of the story—the view from 30,000 feet. Select the Davis, Duncan, Givens, or Hare links at the top of the page to see a summary of what I’ve learned about the family trees of my four grandparents, Nimrod Davis, Sr., Lelia Duncan Davis, S.L. Givens, Sr., and Lorena Hare Givens. To read all the posts I’ve written about specific ancestors of my grandparents, click on the Davis, Duncan, Givens, and Hare links under “Categories,” at the right.

Cousins and Common Ancestors identifies numerous matches between people in my family tree and the family trees of other ancestry.com subscribers identified as distant cousins of my by autosomal DNA testing.

The Immigrants page summarizes what I know about the names and stories of 51 of my ancestors who left the Old Word for the New World. (In the cases of immigrants with longer and more interesting stories, I created separate posts, all of which may be found by selecting the Immigrants link at the right under “Categories.” The same applies to Quakers, Revolutionaries and Tories, Early Alabamians, and Confederates: summaries may be found by selecting the links at the top of this page, specific posts by selecting the relevant “category” at right.)

Quakers outlines the story of the seventeenth century spiritual seekers whose religious quest resonates strongly with me.

Many of my ancestors fought in the Revolution, though a few were on the wrong side of history; to learn about them click on Revolutionaries and Tories.

Seven direct male ancestors—not to mention brothers, cousins, and uncles—served in the Confederate Army. Their experiences were varied; see Some Wore Gray.

Sources and Methods describes, unsurprisingly, the sources and methods I used. A separate post is devoted to DNA Evidence, an important part of the picture. My observations on the standard of proof employed in this exercise are found in Proof (or, if you prefer, “Proof”).

The ten or so most surprising things I learned on this journey are set forth in the post on Surprises.

There is an associated family tree (with the screen name rdavis1619) at ancestry.com. If you would like to see it but need an “invitation” to do so, send an email to rdavis1@earthlink.net (and tell me who you are, unless it’s obvious) and I’ll send you the “invitation.”

Likewise, if you think something on site is wrong, or if you have information to add, send me an email (identifying yourself if necessary). If I agree with you, I’ll make the change.