From the Blair Bruidhinn,
     The newsletter of 
   The Clan Blair Society
A poem by Elizabeth Morse:
                                  
                                       GENERATIONS  
                              My life cycles ever around
                                   My memories grow
                       Entwining the memories of generations
                        My mind holds the echoes of my past.
                              The visions of my childhood,
                 The dreams of my parents and my grandparents,
              The tears of my frustrations, and the glow of my joys.
              
                              My life ticks out my destiny.
           Vitalizing the lives of my children and my children's children 
                           Enriching the streams of my life.
               All the genes and tracings of my ancestors echo
         And imprint a mold for the living cycle of my life and theirs
                        As it makes its way toward the sea.

                         The rivers of the generations fuse
          The contributions of all my ancestral voices in my memory.
                            My loves, my faith, my causes.
                 In the cocoon of my heart, I do not stand alone.
                   Watching the circling of the wheels of my life,
                  For the generations of my ancestors support me.
                                                        
                               
                               WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE
   Those of us who research our family's ancestry have a special bond. We do it 
for the love of it. Having been a genealogist for over 40 years, I've learned that 
it's a lifetime pursuit that is never finished. Once you catch "the genealogy bug" 
there is no turning back, there is no cure!
   REMEMBER: "Old genealogists never die, they just lose their census!"
   What better way to gain a personal relationship to history, or to "discover" 
ourselves, than by researching and discovering our ancestors? Who needs fiction 
when the truth is not only 'stranger' but much more fascinating? Another great 
perk is finding cousins you didn't even know you had!
   Information on this website is edited periodically, also photos etc., so please 
check back for additions and updates.
   
NOTE: The GuestBook above:
   If you leave your name, email and the lines you are researching-they will then be 
in my "website file". I am notified when a new GuestBook entry is made and then check 
back to them periodically. (Others can read these entries but your email address is 
private and seen only by me.)
   
CHECK OUT: Useful Links at the left.
   
CHECK OUT: Sources
    In the upper left corner-are some of my favorites. 
   
WEBSITES: 
   Some other good websites for research and sharing are:
   boards.ancestry.com
   ancestry.com/community
   lists.rootsweb.com
   Cyndislist.com,
   linkpendium.com 
   cousinconnect.com
   mycinnamontoast.com
     
   I have too many websites (Surnames, Family Societies, Genealogy Information 
Exchanges, Historical, Military, State, and County Archives etc.) to list here but 
will be glad to share them if you contact me.
   There are also many good sources for 'royal descent' and descendants of 
Charlemagne: websites, books and organizations. 
  "Royalty for Commoners" by Roderick W. Stuart is a very helpful book.   
   'Rulers':www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Rulers/
is a well done site and has a fine list of royal houses and descendant charts.
   Of course, good researchers soon learn that 'not all sources are created equal'.
Just because it's in print or online-doesn't make it so.
   CHECK AND COMPARE ALL DATA CAREFULLY!
        
PURPOSE OF THIS WEBSITE: 
   This website is not designed to "publish my book online"-with thousands of names-
but for researchers to CONNECT and NETWORK with their surnames and lines of descent. 
The focus of this website is to enable 'cousins' to find these crucial connections-
the 'golden links'. 
     Once you connect to early lines-or to Charlemagne etc.-other generations 
and information are available in numerous historical and genealogical sources.
      
GENEALOGY SOFTWARE PROGRAMS:
   There are several good ones on the market but I can definitely recommend the LEGACY 
software program.  It (and others) are consistently rated superior to the overrated
Family Tree Maker-which like a lot a people-I was 'suckered' into at first. Objective 
reviewers never rate FTM best overall. It is owned by Ancestry.com-that's why 'all the 
hype'. Don't believe it and DO your homework before you buy!.
   FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE: familytreemagazine.com
   (no relation to the software program) is a good source for genealogy software 
reviews and has wonderful information for family researchers in general.
   
LET'S SHARE: 
   I have over 5600 names in my Legacy Program-with lines of direct descent of many 
other earlier ancestors and relatives listed within biographical and historical notes. 
   I also have numerous books and surname files with some lines traced back to 
CHARLEMAGNE and beyond to ROMAN times. Of course, most of our lines can't be traced 
back that far but we do the best we can with the data available.
   The information in our ancestor's and relative's 'bios' on this website is just a 
small part of the data I have on them. I also have much more information on COLLATERAL 
lines: siblings, cousins, children, marriages, descendants and photos which I will be 
GLAD TO SHARE if you you contact me. What is the point of these years of research if 
it is not to share it with others, as others have shared with us?
   
   Our family's history is truly the history of the western world. The book I am
writing will be entitled:
                                  PIONEERS AND PRINCES
   The PIXLEYS came from England and settled in colonial New England-first in 
Massachusetts then to Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. They went west by 
way of Wisconsin, Kansas and Nebraska.  
   My Grandmother Pixley's DELLNOW ancestors may have been of Irish descent and came
from Ohio and West Virginia. Her LANCET line originated in England; they went to 
Germany and eventually emigrated to Indiana and Kansas.    
   The BLAIRS were Scots-Irish who came to York Co., Pennsylvania-married into 
the FLEMING family-who had married into the influential Randolph family of Virginia.
Col. William RANDOLPH and his wife, Mary ISHAM are called the "Adam and Eve of 
Virginia" and are our "royal connection". 
   Thomas Jefferson is a cousin-his mother was a Randolph; we connect to numerous 
founding fathers and mothers. Other cousins include Robert E. Lee, Presidents William 
Henry Harrison, John Tyler and John Madison's wife-Dolly.
   My Grandmother Blair's FRIDAY and FOREMAN families were of German descent.
The KRICKS emigrated from the Palatinate in Germany and were among the 
earliest "Pennsylvania Dutch" settlers in Berks and later Lancaster County. 
   [Note: The carved and mounted coats-of-arms shown on the website are from 
the records of York Insignia Ltd., York, England who made them.] 
   
   
OUR FAMILY'S ANCESTORS INCLUDE: 
   Malcolm Canmore-King of Scotland, William the Conqueror (and his adversary King 
Harold), Lady Godiva, El Cid, Mark Antony, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Frederick Barbarossa, 
Byzantine rulers, Viking warriors, Medieval knights and Crusaders-Colonial, 
Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers.
   Also John of Gaunt who-for most Americans-is the connection to the royal lines of 
Europe. 
   We descend from thirteen signers (Sureties) of the Magna Carta, the so-called Magna 
Carta Barons: the two de Clares & Bigods, de Bohun, d'Albini, Fitzrobert, de Lacie, 
de Mowbray, de Quincy, de Vere, Roos and Malet. We are related to four others by
collateral descent: Marshall, Percy, Mandeville and Saye.
   Ironically, we also descend from King John who was forced by them to sign it!
   And some of our ancestors died in battle, fighting each other...Ah well!
   
   There were the noble and the ignoble: Alfred the Great was really great; 
Aethelred the Unready was really unready-And if you like 'soap operas', there is the 
one starring our 'grandparents' King Edward II and Queen Isabella: she literally 'did 
him in'. But-as shown in the movie-she never met "Braveheart", darn it! (However, we 
do have other Wallace ancestors.)
   So we are proud of many of them, not so proud of others, but they make up the 
fabric of history and of OUR history. 
   It's interesting to ponder the fact that if even ONE of these names was missing-
WE'D be missing!
   
                                OF HEROES AND HEROINES
   Most meaningful-for those lucky enough to claim this heritage-is the story of the 
courageous men and women who came to a new land to make a new life; they were among 
the earliest colonists, settlers and pioneers. Only a few of our ancestors were landed 
gentry, "Virginia Cavaliers" or of aristocratic descent. Most arrived on these shores 
with little more than the clothes on their backs and faced hardships that we today can 
hardly comprehend. With their beliefs in hard work, education and self-sacrifice, they 
endured, perservered-fought for their new country and left us a priceless legacy: 
                                              AMERICA. 
   And Here's To The Ladies: 
   Those unsung heroines-wives, mistresses and concubines-many without even a name to 
remember them...Most had little control over their lives, some bartered into marriage, 
no more than chattel-having child after child. Yet it is amazing how many of them-
through intellect, ingenuity, self-reliance, and sheer force of will-did manage-not 
only to survive but to wield power and leave their stamp on history!
                TRUE HEROES AND HEROINES: We must never forget them.  
   
   Genealogy is fun, but can also be frustrating! Some of these lines-especially the 
early ones with multiple 'descent from siblings' and cousins marrying-"circle back 
upon themselves". They can become so convoluted that tracing them is rather 
like "trying to navigate a spiderweb". Hopefully we can help each other climb the 
often complicated and confusing branches of our family tree.
   What a special legacy to leave to those who come after us:
                                
                                     "Hold high the torch      
                                   You did not light its glow.
                            It was given to you by other hands
                                   you know.
                              It's your task to keep it burning
                                   bright
                            And pass it on when someone else 
                                   needs light."                  
                            
                               From the Eleusis of Chi Omega

  From "On Eagle's Wing" by John Anderson
 A musical celebrating the Scots-Irish-2004:

                              "You gave your future to me,
                               You made me what I became.
                             You have your future through me
                              I am proud to carry your name."