National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-06
ANERICAY PE0uGREE.S.

The Home Journal has been investigating ths
subject, and says: Within the last two genera
| tons there have been printed in America a
multitude OF volumes upon the subject of
family history. There is scarcely family Of
any prominence which has not its book of
genealogy, compiled with long and assiduous
research; and scores of our citizens have spent
long years in digging among nusty old docu-
ments, in scraping the earth away from half
buried grsvestones, In chasing frorn one end to
the other Of the old country upon the yaguest
and most shallow indications, searching for the
scattered links of their family's history. Most
Oh this kind of research has been fruitIess, and
very lew Of the oldest American families have
record extending beyond their emigration to
this country. Dry and uninviting as this species
of study would be to most people, vet the re-
suits are interesting to oil.
1t is hopeful and comfortable reflection
nowadays, when we are contin ualIy reminded
by the men Of science that the physical diseases
and moral infirmities of men are entailed unon
their descendants, that the noblest qualities are
not less transmissible from parent to child.
There is such . thing as commendable pride
in being able to trace our descent from long
line Of worthy men; and even those who do not
know who or what their great7grand fathers
were ought to take as much interest In such
records as those whose names dangle from the
wide-spreading branches of the tallest family
trees, Tor they may be sure that their unwrft-
ten family history is as long, and may be more
honorable, than the most voluminOus genealo-
g1cal memoirs, and that they have an ancestry
quite as ancient as the Towards or Mon.mor-
encys.
1t is a subject which broadens the under
lafa md nd al IL
our views Of human destiny. An ino9iry into
the origfn-whether gentle or simple-of those
families whose names are most respected in
America cannot be without interest The his
tory of the Webster family is recorded in a
small volume by the eminent photographer,
Noah Webster, from the time of John Web
ster, who was Governor of Connecticut in 1855
Daniel Webster is from another race. His
ancestor was an early settler at Hampton, N.
H., and came from Qrmsby, Norfolk county,
England. The family of James Buchanan is
descended from Que of the numerous branches
of the great Scotch family of that name. One
of his ancestors sold an estate in Scotland and
settled in Ireland; and his SOB, General Thomas
Buchanan, came to America in the last century
and took up his abode in Cumberland county,
Pa.
Ex-senator Foote, who was prominent In the
rebellion, traces his descent from Richard
Footc, bro:her-in-laT of Bradshaw, the re-
5lCr4C. 4HO nun. OOuu O6uLWOEbl OF CHICAGO,
and other prominent bearers of this name, are
descended, through several Colonial gov
errors and other magistrates, It is said, from q
cadet of the family of the Earl of Stafford.
The Bowdoin family, from which BoWdoin
College has its name, are the descendants of
Huguenot Pierre Baudouin, grandfather of
Governor Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, BAY
Colony, whose daughter marnsd Sir John
Temple, of Maiden, Mass, prominent figure
In revolutionary history He belonged to the
famous Temple family, of which the great Sir
William Temple and the late Viscount Palmer
ton were members, and of which the Dukes of
Buckingham arc branch. Their descendants
bear the name of BoWdoin, in accordance with
the will of Governor Bowdoin.
The name Of Prentiss, illustrated by theor
tor, Sargent 8. Prentiss, is first found in COL
onial annals represented by Valentine .Prentiss,
of RoXbury, Mass, in 1881. The Sumner
family, which gave Massachusetts, coIonly
governor, and Is represented in our time by
Senator and General Sumner, migrated ia 1904
from Bicester, in Oxfordshire, England. The
Dana family sprung from Richard Dana, who
lived at Cambridge, in 1640; but they are IN
able to discover even the land from which they
originally came, for the name is unknown in
England. Late investigations have completely
disproYed the formerly received genealogy of
the Washingtons, which derived them from the
North of England baronets of the name; and
the Father of his Country is as entirely with
out a pedigree as the obscurest democrats
among US.
One of the most curious cases of this search
after pedigree is the belief which has seized
upon the minds of many, as soon as they awoke
to the idea their families had an existence as
families before they came to these shores, that
they must find large estates awaiting them in
the old country. The Houghton family, not
many years ago, sent an agent over to England
TO establish their claims to the property of their
ancestors, who came to this country in 1910,
and were not a little surprised to find that
there was no property waiting for them to step
into. Among others, the Willough by and
Ingraham families have formed associations
for the purpose of investigating similar claims:
| and the Holt family, when they assumed that
they were The heirs of the family OF Chief JUS
tice Holt, with singular credulity based theiI
claim upon a pedigree which was entirely
W thou! foundation.