About

In 1981, my mother received an invitation to the McNutt family reunion. Along with the invitation was a list of the descendants of James Nutt. There were (if I remember correctly) thirteen pages of names, and I was generation 8 in the USA.

As a kid who grew up in rural Ohio, I was stunned to find I had relatives in far off places like Singapore, the Philippines, Sydney, Australia. Even California sounded exotic when you compared it to Farmdale. Shortly after that, I think mom realized I was genuinely interested,  and she gave me enough information that I could start my first family tree. And it grew from there.

A note about what's here: I wanted to present our history to you, in a more relatable fashion, but still be accurate.  I've tried to include proof (sources) such as birth records, marriage licenses, census records and death certificates. Sometimes those aren't available, so I've used other secondary sources. Hopefully, if I've said it here, it's an accurate fact. You will not see any links to royalty in our tree - so far. Speaking of which, anything that I have not proven that is published here will be stated as theoretical right up front. I'm a skeptic, so I won't be giving you far fetched tales which have no hope of being true - But if it's a piece of family legend, I'll note it as such. Legends are still fun.

When I think about my family history, I don't think about old musty books or piles of paperwork with boring facts and dates. I think about their adventures, hardships, and their everyday life in relation to mine. These were strong people. They survived wars, the Great Depression, being driven out of their homes, ocean crossings, disease and hunger, they celebrated, danced, sang, laughed and cried. They were our people. They made history. Our grandparents were carpenters, mill wrights, farmers, cheese makers, seamstress's. They taught school in one room school houses, became judges, and were settlers in early America. What did their eyes see, as the first six settlers of Green Township, Ohio?  How thick and tall were the trees? How did they survive the winter in a log cabin when I'm freezing in my comfy home? One of our grandfathers helped settle the great coal strike, one family lost five children in about two weeks, an uncle was murdered. I want to share their stories, what I've collected so far, and I want to share Our stories, for our grandchildren.

Some Blog posts will tell the stories of a Family Group and their place in history, where they settled, siblings, and any stories that may coincide with that group. Other posts will concentrate on one Individual, because we know enough about that person to tell a larger story. These Individual pages will be updated. If I find out more about Grandpa Hatch, I'll add it to his page, and post an "newly updated" date at the top.

The Direct Line page is an alphabetical surname listing of all direct descendants/ancestors, and links to the corresponding Blog Post. At the top is a link to Ancestry.com, where I'm compiling the official family tree.

Under the Extended Family tab, you'll find a list of our aunts, uncles and cousins, grouped by Family Unit under the father and mother where applicable, with links to the corresponding Blog post. For the most part, these only go back a few generations.

Photo's & Ephemera includes not just photos, but map images, newspaper clippings, scans of documents. These should be printable for you, if you want to use them to join one of the many societies or historical groups we are eligible for. See the Resources page for more information about these.

The Resources tab lists some great historical archives, books our family is mentioned in, and links to historical events that affected our family. If you like history, you might find this page interesting. The most recent link is to an online copy of ""A twentieth century history of Trumbull County, Ohio"

Please communicate with me. Let me know what you want to hear, or if you have something to share. Pictures, memories, information... send me an email, comment, call me up. Tell me it's great, or it's wrong - it doesn't matter, just let me know how I'm doing.

Thanks!

Jennifer