I don't know muh about the history on family in the us. I know family camefrom Enland.. Would somome tell me about Downings family in the us. Shauna From Shauna Downing The History of Specai Ed Women Teachers of the Deaf --------------------------------- Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page

There are 100s, maybe thousands, of different Downing families in the US. There is no way one can tell you "about Downings family in the us." To find out about your specific Downing family you need to know at least some basic information. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.9.1/51 - Release Date: 7/18/2005

Dear Shauna, You want to know about all several hundred thousand U.S. Downings? Do we look like The Library of Congress and the National Archives? ? ! ! <grin> The Downings have arrived in the U.S. at many different times in our history (probably a few still trickle in), from several different homelands. The earliest arrived in the early 1600's. Some lived in the south, but more of the Colonial (pre-Revolutionary War) Downings in America, lived in New England. From there they spread westward throughout the entire U.S. Some colonial settlers were wealthy arisocrats like Emanuel Downing, Some were penniless. I have hundreds of pages on my own little branch of the family. My immigrant ancestor was John Downing. He was born about 1638 in Ireland. John Downing gave a sworn deposition, June 24, 1661 before Daniel Denison, Salem Quarterly Court, Essex Co, MA saying that he and other boys, including three or four of his own townsmen, had been "taken up by force and stolen" in Ireland, loaded on the ship Goodfellow. The boys were brought to Virginia and Ipswich Massachusetts by Captain George Dell where they were sold into servitude. You can't start back in Colonial times to trace your family tree. Picture yourself in a HUGE forest, trees in every direction as far as you can see. In front of you is a great big tree with a Y shaped trunk, that belongs to just you and your family. One half is your Dad's Downing family, the other side is your Mom's. The bottom branches are low, sturdy and easy to reach. They are like your parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles. Talk to them and write down all the dates they were born, married, died, and where these events occurred. They can tell you who THEIR grand-parents were and maybe where they came from. Now you are up in the bottom limbs, looking for a place to put your foot and a handhold to even climb higher. Go to FamilySearch.org, Rootsweb.com, etc., and see if your ancestors are listed in the databanks. Do a Google search for the name + genealogy. Check the web-sites of the Genealogical Societies in the areas your ancestors lived. Go to the local Libraries. Read their obituaries (newspapers usually are saved on microfilm at the library or historical society) You are building a treehouse platform, a sturdy base to climb from. You have reached the next higher limbs of your tree. You probably found the name and birthdate of someone born in 1930 or before. Great! Now you can check the census records. The entire family will be listed in the census every 10 years giving ages and state where they and their parents were born. This is how I find most of my ancestors. You locate the children with their parents. The entire 1880 census is free on-line and searchable. When you have verified they are the people you are looking for, then you use the parents names and ages to find the previous generation. You climb limb by limb up the tree, exploring the branches. The further from the trunk and the higher you go, the harder it gets to climb, and the weaker (and harder to prove) the branches are. When you ask a question about the entire Downing family and expect that to help you find your roots, and get to the base of your particular tree, that is like flying over that huge forest where your tree is located, parachuting out, and expecting to land safely in the one special tree that belongs to just you, so you can climb down. Impossible. Get a notebook and go interview the oldest members of your family. They will probably be thrilled somebody is paying attention to their every word and cares about them and the memories they have to share. Then report your discoveries back to us. Anne Adrian, MI From: "Shauna Downing" Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 12:12 PM > I don't know muh about the history on family in the us. I know family camefrom Enland.. > Would somome tell me about Downings family in the us.